Wizard: My skills can be upgraded indefinitely.

Golden Statue Street was even quieter this morning than yesterday.

When Ian awoke from his meditation, a few pale rays of sunlight were already filtering through the branches of the old sycamore tree.

The concentration of magic in the air here is significantly higher than in Anoria, but it is also much "deeper".

It was as if it was being suppressed by some invisible order, and its flow was somewhat sluggish.

When he pushed open the door, Adele was already waiting in the courtyard.

She changed into a formal dark blue robe, her hair neatly tied back, revealing her delicate face.

Delia stood half a step to her side, holding a small leather document bag in her hand.

Old Finn peeked out from the workshop's front hall, looked at Edel, and his lips moved as if he wanted to say something.

In the end, he simply lowered his head in silence and continued wiping the things in his hands.

"Let's go," Adele said calmly.

The area in the southern part of the city where this place is located is characterized by low, old buildings and narrow streets.

The further east you go, the wider the streets become and the taller the buildings grow.

The invisible pressure in the air grew heavier and heavier.

Ian's mental perception spread out cautiously, like the finest spider silk.

He could "hear" the auras of at least four peak-level first-class wizards in the five-story stone building on the left.

On the right side of the tower, beneath the tower, came the faint rumble of an energy furnace, mixed with the clanging of metal being forged—that was the alchemy workshop.

Further away, there was a building entirely constructed of dark blue boulders, its spire piercing the low-hanging clouds...

The Tower of Time.

Even from a great distance, Ian could feel the tower emanating a vast and abyss-like energy.

It's not just a simple accumulation of magic concentration; it's something deeper and more obscure.

The ripples of time, like invisible tides, wash over the entire city wave after wave.

Within his spiritual sea, the pale golden crystallized core trembled slightly.

The [Seed of Stars] he cultivated was already at the edge of the rules of stars and time.

The aura emanating from this tower caused a very faint tremor in the stellar power within his body.

"That's the family's main tower."

Adele followed his gaze, her voice devoid of emotion.

"The place where the elders and core members lived was also... the last place my father stayed before he fell into a coma."

Ian looked away without saying a word.

After walking for about twenty more minutes, Adele stopped in front of a particularly large gray stone building.

The building is rectangular, without any superfluous carvings, like a giant rock that has been forcibly smoothed and brutally smashed onto this land.

Above the lintel are four cold, ancient characters.

Family Affairs Office.

Two guards dressed in dark silver armor stood at the entrance.

Ian noticed that their auras were not those of wizards, but rather those of some kind of enhanced warriors, their auras solid and their muscles bulging.

Upon seeing Edel, one of the guards stepped forward, holding a halberd across the doorway.

"identity."

His voice was like a stone being rubbed together, without any inflection.

Edel took out a palm-sized silver badge, which the guard took and pressed onto a recessed stone slab by the door.

The stone slab glowed faintly, scanning across the surface of the badge.

Three seconds later, the guard handed the badge back and stepped aside.

"Please come in."

Inside the door was a long, dimly lit corridor.

Ian could sense that behind the tightly closed stone doors on both sides of the corridor, eyes were fixed on them through peepholes or sensing runes.

Most of those gazes were indifferent and scrutinizing, as if they were assessing the value of a piece of goods.

At the end of the corridor stood a massive black metal door, five meters high.

Adele stopped in front of the door, took a deep breath, and placed her hand on the emblem.

The silver patterns lit up, spreading across the entire door like ripples on water.

A heavy mechanical hum came from inside the door, and then the giant door slid open silently.

Behind the door was an extremely spacious hall.

The dome is a single piece of polished black crystal, reflecting the hundreds of silver-white light spheres suspended below.

In the center of the hall were more than a dozen long tables made of black wood.

On both sides of the hall, several passageways lead deeper into the hall, with guards standing at the entrances, their auras even more solid.

At this moment, in addition to the staff who work in the office, there were a few other groups of people standing scattered around the hall.

They were all dressed in different styles of robes made of luxurious materials, and were accompanied by attendants or guards.

They maintained a clear distance from each other, and when their eyes occasionally met, an invisible sharpness appeared in the air.

Edel's arrival instantly lowered the volume of the hall.

More than a dozen pairs of eyes were cast at us from different directions.

There was curiosity, scrutiny, undisguised contempt, and also deep-seated scheming.

Ian stood half a step to Adele's side, the hem of his black robe hanging down, his face expressionless.

His mental strength was so restrained that it remained at the most ordinary level of the early stage of the second level, like an inconspicuous stone.

Gaga huddled deep inside the hood on his shoulder, even his breathing was very soft.

Ignoring the stares, Adele straightened her back and walked straight to a stand-alone counter on the right side of the hall.

A middle-aged male witch sat behind the counter.

He wore a dark gray robe with a silver family affairs officer badge pinned to his chest.

At the mid-stage of the second level, his aura was solid, and his eyes were as shrewd and indifferent as abacus beads.

He was holding a rune pen and checking the crystal plate in front of him. He didn't even look up when he heard footsteps.

"Number, reason." His voice was dry, like he was reciting a document.

"Eddie Justt, seventh in line to the throne."

Adele's voice was calm. "Submit guest registration and return documents."

The middle-aged administrative officer finally raised his head.

He glanced at Adele, his gaze lingering on her face for a moment, a very slight, almost mocking smile curving his lips.

Then her gaze swept over Delia behind her, finally settling on Ian.

His gaze was like a knife, scraping across her from head to toe.

"Name, background," he asked Ian, his tone clearly impatient.

"Ian Marcus, Level 2, early stage, from the East Coast."

Ian's answer was concise: nobody here knew him, and he didn't mind using his real name.

Actually, there was another reason. He was afraid that these big families might have some strange witchcraft or lie detectors, which might backfire.

"East Coast?" The middle-aged administrative officer frowned, as if he had heard something dirty.

"That group of small islands on the outskirts?"

In the hall, low snickers could be heard from several groups of people standing in the crowd.

The sound wasn't loud, but it was particularly jarring in the quiet hall.

Ian's expression remained unchanged, but the silver glint deep in his eyes flashed for a moment before quickly fading away.

"According to family rules, a second-level wizard is qualified to register as a guest elder."

Adele's voice remained calm. "Please complete the formalities."

The middle-aged clerk glanced at her, pulled a yellowed parchment form from a drawer, and tapped it on the counter with a rune pen.

"That's right, please fill out the form."

The form contains many items: name, age, place of origin, faction affiliation, area of ​​expertise in witchcraft, whether there is any special bloodline or talent, past battle record...

There are dozens of items in total.

Ian took the form, picked up the spare quill pen next to him, and began to fill it out.

He wrote "sixty-five" in the age column, which he felt was a more appropriate age, even though he was only twenty-one.

He paused when he filled in "areas of expertise".

Adele stood beside him, her gaze fixed on the form, her fingers unconsciously clenching.

Ian picked up his pen and wrote in that column: "First-tier Potions Master".

The middle-aged administrative officer raised an eyebrow the moment the pen touched the paper.

The sounds of snickering were even more distinct from the surrounding areas.

"A first-tier potion master?" A somewhat shrill voice came from the left, carrying undisguised mockery.

"Miss Edel, where... did you find this treasure in some rural workshop?"

The speaker was a young second-level male wizard wearing a dark red robe embroidered with gold trim, and standing next to him was a second-level late-stage wizard with a cold and stern face.

The young wizard who dared to mock Adel in public must be a potential successor.

He was standing with his arms crossed, a playful smile on his lips, looking this way.

Adele did not turn around, nor did she respond.

She simply looked at the middle-aged administrative officer and said, "Please continue."

The middle-aged clerk smirked, took the form Ian had filled out, glanced at it, and then took out a silver badge about half the size of a palm from under the counter.

The front of the badge features the Just family coat of arms, while the back is engraved with Ian's name and a temporary number.

He tossed the badge onto the counter.

"The temporary guest badge grants access to non-core areas of the clan and allows the purchase of basic materials at a 10% discount in the internal market."

You must report your whereabouts to the Secretariat monthly, and the validity period is three months.

Three months later, the recommending heir must re-evaluate the guarantee before it can be renewed.

He spoke very quickly, as if reciting regulations, exuding a cold, businesslike demeanor.

Adele picked up the badge, her fingertips touching the cold metal, and paused slightly.

Three months.

This is the family's "observation period" for new guest retainers.

It also puts pressure on those who recommend successors.

If she cannot prove the value of this guest within three months, or if she herself loses her competitiveness, the badge will expire.

Those who fail to fulfill their duties are either expelled or... poached by other heirs.

She handed the badge to Ian.

Ian took it and focused his mental energy into the badge, discovering an intricate array of runes.

And a faint, almost imperceptible monitoring fluctuation connected to something in the center.

He pinned the badge to the lapel of his dark gray robe.

In the hall, the disdain in those eyes was even more undisguised.

"Return document." The middle-aged clerk pulled out another form. "Sign it."

Adele took the form, quickly glanced through it, picked up a quill pen, and signed her name at the end.

The middle-aged clerk collected the forms, entered the data into the crystal plate, and then waved his hand.

"That's fine."

The whole process took less than ten minutes.

Edel turned around, ready to leave.

Just as she turned around, two people walked out of the passageway on the left side of the hall.

The leader was a middle-aged male wizard wearing a dark blue robe, a late-stage level two wizard with a refined appearance and a gentle smile on his lips.

The leader was a middle-aged male wizard wearing a dark blue robe, a late-stage level two wizard with a refined appearance and a gentle smile on his lips.

But his eyes were like two deep wells, bottomless.

Behind him followed a young follower at the peak of the first level, carrying a stack of documents.

The middle-aged wizard paused slightly upon seeing Edel, a perfectly measured look of surprise on his face.