When night fell, Lin Qi left Yang City with Mo Feng. His destination was not the "capital", but a small, second-tier city at the border.

Lin Qi followed Mo Feng. In reality, he was now under Mo Feng's "personal protection" to avoid unexplainable murder.

It would be so easy for a mage to create an accident. A single "enchantment" spell to control the pilot could make the entire plane's passengers disappear into the ocean without a trace.

Although Lin Qi was disappointed that his first trip after graduation was spent with a thirty-year-old man with a stubble, he accepted the fact that his life was more important.

During these few days of travel, he had slowly come into contact with the power of the "secret faction" behind Mage Mo Feng.

These few days, Mo Feng had been in close contact with the top candidates of the freshly-created "Mage Apprentice" list.

Thinking about it, everyone on Planet Blue knew the importance of befriending a mage in advance.

One could never know when one would need more help in times of emergency. And because of the closed-door style of teaching mage apprentices, they would be beyond reach after entering the academy. This was how the practice of investing in certain students from the special high schools came about.

Those 'secret factions' in the Mage Association in need of fresh blood were all very on the ball in this aspect.

Nevertheless, those who needed to do things in such advance were those who did not have that much resources.

Foundations would invest in students during the high school stage. Smaller factions would contact them in the week before school started, while the larger factions chose to look for talents while they were already in apprenticeship. But for the top factions, only the best mages could even get a glimpse of their true appearance.

Upon hearing it for the first time, Lin Qi knew that it was impolite, but he still looked at Mo Feng strangely. Didn't this mean that the faction behind him was not strong enough?

However, after being "taught a lesson", he found out the value of having a large faction contacting an S-grade apprentice like him in advance.

They were a mid-tier power who could be rapidly nurtured!

Every ten years, the "secret factions" send rookies off to a "Dragon Competition".

It was rumored that there were heavy casualties resulting from the competition, but the final victor could obtain the legendary "Wishing Ring"!

The faction behind the winner could also obtain the resources of the Mage Association over the next ten years, which would result in a snowball effect. This could even affect the survival of many small factions.

Lin Qi felt his head ache as he listened.

The mages' Holy Grail War?

Planet Blue's Triwizard Tournament?

None of them sounded good. Most of the participants were short-lived.

Thinking of this, Lin Qi could not help but sigh.

As expected, no matter where they were, they couldn't escape the law of equivalent exchange.

The Association of Mages needed to maintain its dominance and constantly recruited the best to become mage apprentices, nurturing them into mages.

To continue surviving, the secret factions also needed to attract outstanding apprentices like them.

Lin Qi took advantage of this period, which might be his last time to relax over the next few years, to reorganize the thoughts in his mind. He thought about his current situation, the advantages and disadvantages, quietly analyzing everything.

In essence, memorizing "spell models" was a long, arduous process.

Being able to memorize 30% during the apprentice stage was already considered outstanding. However, in general, most of them only had a 60% chance of casting a spell properly. The spells typically go wrong the rest of the time.

With the accumulation of time, mages could integrate the models into muscle memory with repetitive actions, gradually increasing the spell success rate to 70%, 80%, 90% or even 100%.

A mage was a profession that became better as one grew older. The memories of a thousand-year-old mage would be more stable than that of a hundred-year-old mage, and so the former's spell success rate would also be higher.

Among a group of squabbling rookies who had just undergone a few years of training, a computational genius like him who had been forced to blossom by the pressure of death, he could become a miracle soldier.

Lin Qi came back to his senses. He now understood that no matter how wonderful Mo Feng's words were, in the end, he was just a chess piece caught in the inter-factional conflicts. An "early-stage pawn" who managed to develop faster than the rest. A slightly stronger pawn in the eyes of the secret factions.

To put it bluntly, a powerful keyboard warrior would still have to bow down to his leader in real life.

A man without desire could be strong.

However, Lin Qi was not too depressed. For example, Mo Feng was willing to become a pawn to become a stronger mage.

During this process just accepting things as they were, it would definitely be much better if the goals of the faction were the same as the mage's. Therefore, compatible ideals were also a key reason why many powerful mages chose certain "secret factions".

The faction protected him. He joined the faction. This was the most basic principle Mo Feng had explained to him over the past few days.

Thinking of this, Lin Qi took a sip of his mango pomelo sago cold drink. His teeth ached from the cold after which he looked in disdain at the paper straw that was wet with saliva.

No soul at all. Lin Qi set it aside.

For safety reasons, the hotel they were staying in, along with the super-large shopping plaza below, was a secret property of the faction. As long as Lin Qi did not venture out of the boundary or shout his name out loud, his life was still safe for the time being.

At this moment, he saw a group of high school students sitting quietly by the long table. He could not help smiling.

Their faces were full of smiles, as if they were in heaven, feeling as if they had been blessed and praised by life itself.

In fact, this group of high school students were just a "Starbucks atmosphere group" of Planet Blue.

Once upon a time, Lin Qi was also one of them—

Breathing the secret energy particles in the air, absorbing them into his body through a series of complex functions.

Because these secret energy particles were the beginning of the magical power of Planet Blue.

The "magic talent" test conducted on all students under the standard education system when they graduated from primary school was if they could sense the unobservable "secret energy particles" that were floating in the air.

In the past, Lin Qi had successfully perceived the "secret energy particles", which was why he was able to stand out from the masses and become the 20% of the population who had magic talent. From then on, he entered the special high school and was qualified to participate in the Mysterious Magic Unified College Entrance Examination six years later.

And as a reward for passing, this batch of students all cultivated the "Secret Energy Breathing Technique" together and used it to absorb the secret energy particles in the air into their bodies.

To cast a spell, one used the "secret energy particles" in his body as a medium to guide the secret energy particles in the air, transforming them into energy via the spell equation.

One gram of secret energy particles could be converted into 25 million kwh of energy. Converting this to cash, this would be the equivalent of RMB16 million.

At this moment, these middle school students were trying to inhale the secret energy particles in the air into their bodies, at the same time showing off that they were future mage apprentices.

But Lin Qi had always been puzzled, along with everyone else.

Where did these secret energy particles go after entering the body? Where were they stored? How much was being stored?

These were the top three life questions which plagued high school students.

At this, Mo Feng smiled and told him that after he officially entered the academy, he would know how many secret energy particles his body had accumulated.

At this moment, Lin Qi suddenly realized that Mo Feng was walking towards him with a punk teenage girl.