Chapter 36: Icebird—Liana

  Seeing Merrill successfully selected, the other worried children suddenly felt hope ighin them.

  The sed child to step forward was a boy standing at an impressive 1.8 meters tall. Though his appearance seemed quite mature, Matthew paid it no mind.

  Being a mage only depended on intelligeributes, not height, looks, gender, or race.

  The boy was visibly nervous as he grasped the testing crystal, closing his eyes and fog with all his might.

  Despite his best efforts, the crystal remained unlit. Matthew shook his head and calmly said:

  "You don't have the talent to be a mage, but you could bee an excellent druid."

  This young d, named Haggis, had an astonishing perception attribute of 15, charisma of 11, and both strength and stitution at 10.

  Normally, with such physical talents, he would be better suited to being a cleric or padin.

  However, a druid could be trolled more easily, uhe other two csses, so that was his only option.

  Haggis, though tall, still had an immature mind and couldn't tell the differeween a mage and a druid.

  He simply celebrated with a ched fist and then, remembering something, nervously asked:

  "So, did I get selected?"

  Matthew smiled warmly and nodded without hesitation:

  "Of course, you'll receive initial training as a professional. Once you bee one, you’ll be assigned a role."

  Yes, you'll be w for me soon enough!

  With Merrill and Haggis setting a good example,

  Mattheleasantly surprised to find that, despite most of the 15-year-olds tested g the talent to bee exceptional mages—like Merrill, at best able to bee low-level spellcasters—

  Nearly half of them still possessed potential to bee professionals in other fields.

  This was an outstanding ratio, which reminded Matthew of the future age in the Prime Material Pne when heroes would rise and legends would shine brightly.

  Ihey didn’t just appear out of nowhere; many "ordinary" children with potential to bee professionals were simply overlooked.

  Of course, Matthew khat the root cause of this was the distribution of resources, the petition for them, and the cost-effectiveness of nurturing talents.

  No matter the world, it was always the same!

  But in this world, resources and talent equaled power itself, so the css system was more entreheoretically enduring forever.

  However, Matthew wasn’t burdened by such s. Knowing what was ing, he chose to take in as many as he could.

  Ralph the steward meticulously recorded every child selected for their professional potential.

  Both personal and family information was recorded a fidential.

  These childrehe lord's valuable assets!

  While the physical development of the 15-year-olds had begun to settle, the 13- and 14-year-olds exhibited eveer potential.

  After some thought, Matthew decided to select many children whose attributes were within two points of qualifying.

  Top talent was essential!

  But a vast foundation was just as crucial.

  The 300 children aged 10 and up were quickly sorted.

  In total, 165 children with professional potential were selected, 14 of whom had mage potential.

  The most gifted child had an intelligence of 14, marking them as one of the more talented peers, with about a 5% ce of being a high-level mage—a small gem that had slipped through the cracks.

  The children under 10 were iionally left for st, as Matthew was curious to see if these ued ones would bring any surprises.

  The first few didn’t light the crystal, but their natural talents weren’t bad, with one or two attributes reag 8.

  Then came the tenth child—a small figure ed in a bck robe, walking forward alone.

  The other children g her with a mix of curiosity and fear, their expressions strange.

  The more unusual their reas, the more ied Matthew became. He spoke softly, with as geone as possible:

  "There’s o be afraid. I’m the lord of Bay Vilge. I’ll protect everyone’s safety, including yours. In my eyes, everyone is equal."

  His ge anding voice seemed to rex her a bit. She bit her lip softly.

  Although she no longer had much hope, she was still willing to try, for the sake of her bedridden mother.

  After all, if selected by the lord, even just getting a full meal would allow her to save some food for her mother.

  The rough linen cloak fell away, revealing silver-white hair and a thin, gaunt face.

  A faint chill emanated from her as Matthew calmly observed the frail-looking girl, his face betraying ion, though inside, he was struck by a powerful realization.

  "Icebird—Liana!"

  Ah a title like that had to possess at least legendary-css strength and have aplished feats of astonishing magnitude.

  Iure, iumultuous wars across the western nds, the name Icebird—Liana would appear frequently.

  As one of the top batants of the Witch , her stunniy and near-demigod sorceress power at level 29 were ofteioned by pyers.

  Her greatest feat was destroying the tral city of the Pfizer Trading pany, killing three legendary mages, and esg unscathed from the clutches of two demigod archmages.

  To put this into perspective, iure, after the fall of the heril Empire, Pfizer Trading would i vast resources and grow into a massive sving anization akin to a nation.

  Many tries and regions would suffer greatly us raids and attacks.

  Pyers whurly harassed the Pfizer Trading pany naturally regarded Icebird—Liana as a powerful, beautiful, and highly popur potential ally.

  However, many pyers who delved into the lore of Icebird—Liana found little information.

  She had been adopted by the Witch as a child…

  She had no family or friends...

  Her at suggested ins in the eastern provinces...

  She particurly hated criminal anizations like Pfizer Trading...

  She showed no mercy to evil forces, often disregarding her own safety!

  After destroying Pfizer, she inexplicably defected from the Witch and disappeared without a trace!

  The amount of information was staggering, and Matthew suspected she could gh several signifit turning points...

  Could destiny truly be decided in such fleeting moments?

  Who could say?

  Staring at this unremarkable, somewhat thin face, Matthew’s face bloomed with a bright smile. The long-awaited system notification finally appeared.

  He had found the real surprise!

  AnnouAfter one hour the chapter will be posted