Xiao Chen got off the carriage in front of the towering magic tower.
He looked up. The five connected magic towers were like castles in the clouds, occupying most of the field of vision. Below the five towers was a four or five-story dome building. This was the headquarters of the Kingdom Magic Association and also the regular entrance to the five magic towers.
Xiao Chen took out an invitation from his bosom and input his spiritual power into it. The invitation gave off a faint glow, and a bird formed by the light broke through the paper of the invitation and flew into the window of the dome building. A moment later, the arch of the Magic Association slowly opened, and a young man in a wizard's robe walked out of the doorway. The young man was of medium height, and walked calmly. He had good upbringing. He was also very neatly dressed, with his hair combed meticulously, and the crescent badge of a low-level wizard was neatly pinned on his chest. But Xiao Chen noticed that his wizard robe was a little worn, and the sleeves and collar were worn white.
He came to Xiao Chen, performed a magician's salute, and said, "Mr. Xiao Chen, the Kingdom Magic Association and the Royal Magic Tower welcome you. I am Feng Qi, the deacon of the Magic Association. I will take you to the Spirit Refining Tower for the assessment of joining the association."
Xiao Chentong returned the greeting by touching his forehead with his hand. He asked, "Can my followers come in with me?"
"Sorry, you can only bring people in after you become a member of the association." Feng Qi said.
"Ah? We can't get in?" Catalina said regretfully.
"Lord Xiao, what about your safety..." Roger said with some embarrassment.
"Don't worry. I can take care of myself. Once I pass the assessment, you can go in next time."
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Xiao Chen followed Feng Qi into the Magic Association. This room was indeed like Master Ikasa's Spirit Eye Tower, a different world all its own.
After walking through a short corridor, they came to a hall. The dome of the hall was very high and made of translucent material. It reached directly to the sky. The sunlight penetrated gently and illuminated the entire room.
There were corridors all around, which were quite similar to shopping malls on Earth, except that the decoration style was much more classical, and the facades of the walls were made of rocks, supplemented by various relief decorations. Of course, there were also various large and small magic circles. Xiao Chen glanced around and could not recognize many of them, but he was sure that anyone who looked for trouble here would get into big trouble.
Xiao Chen looked up and saw that there were five floors in total, with many people walking around on each floor. In the middle of the square on the ground floor, there was a large platform, which occupied one-third of the square. The front half of the platform was open, and the back half had a wall with five doors on it. Several golems with a metallic luster guarded each doorway. The area around the platform was built to look like a garden, with many plants and rest areas.
"The Magic Association is a place to deal with wizard affairs, discuss magic research, and buy and sell magic resources. The first floor is the garden and the passage to the five magic towers. The second floor is the shop and reception room, the third floor is the library and information center, the fourth floor is the public laboratory, and the fifth floor is the private rooms of the great magicians and high-level wizards. These five gates guarded by golems lead to the five royal magic towers." Feng Qi explained on the side.
"I've always had a question, why is it the 'Kingdom' Magic Association and the 'Royal' Magic Tower?" Xiao Chen asked.
Feng Qi pondered for a while and said, "The Royal Magic Tower is loyal to the imperial family. If there are members of the royal family who practice magic, they will join a magic tower. However, there are many independent magic towers in the kingdom, and their relationship with the royal family is more like cooperation. These magicians need a place to communicate, and the royal family also hopes to have a platform to communicate with them. This is the original origin of the Kingdom Magic Association."
"Which one are you?"
"I am a mage from the Spirit Refining Tower, but not a royal mage."
"Oh? Do you want to maintain a certain degree of independence?" Xiao Chen asked curiously.
Feng Qi laughed and said, "No, not every mage is qualified to be a royal mage. If you pledge allegiance to the royal family, the royal family will provide corresponding resources. Only mages who are favored by them have the opportunity to pledge allegiance. There are people like me in the five royal towers who want to pledge allegiance but cannot."
"But I think you have a very good talent." Xiao Chen asked doubtfully, "You look very young. You must have become a formal mage before the age of 20, right?"
"Eighteen years and four months." The pride on Feng Qi's face disappeared in an instant. "You will learn about these things in the magic tower slowly in the future. Let's go for the assessment first today."
Xiao Chen followed him thoughtfully. After walking a few steps, he heard two mages fighting for the laboratory upstairs. They greeted each other's mother and grandmother, and their voices were so loud that they could be heard directly from the fourth floor to the first floor.
Feng Qi saw Xiao Chen stop and listen, and smiled, "This happens every day, you will get used to it in the future. It's okay, at most you will talk a lot, no one in the Magic Association dares to do it."
"Should every magic tower have these facilities? Why would anyone come to the Magic Association to fight for them?"
"Some magicians come from all over the kingdom, and they can't carry their experimental equipment with them. Once they need to prepare potions, test formations, make scrolls or enchanted items, they naturally need to borrow these facilities." Feng Qi smiled bitterly, "But even for local low-level magicians like us, how many opportunities do we have to use the equipment in the Magic Tower? Magicians from the royal family always occupy the best private laboratories, and the royal magicians also have their own turf. Most of the public laboratories in the Magic Tower are occupied by prospective royal magicians, and the leftovers belong to people like us."
Xiao Chen listened quietly and felt that this Royal Magic Tower was becoming more and more interesting.
The two came to the platform in the room, and Xiao Chen saw five doors with words written on them: Healer's Tower, Spirit Refining Tower, Sky-Splitting Tower, Ice Tower, and Shining Wings Tower. The names of the first four towers gave some idea of their appearance, but the last one was completely unclear as to what it was used for.
Feng Qi came to the golem of the Spirit Refining Tower. This golem looked like a robot, made of black metal and full of power. It was covered with large and small silver magic circles, and its body was connected by various transmission components. It seemed that it could do some actions that humans could not do. There were two sets of retracted steel blades on the outside of its forearms. Xiao Chen believed that once this two-meter-and-a-half-meter-tall golem started moving, it would definitely be an efficient killing weapon.
"Gama, this is Mr. Xiao Chen, who is to be assessed by Master Kona. Please open the door to the Spirit Refining Tower."
The golem turned its head and looked at Xiao Chen. Its originally light blue eyes glowed red as it scanned Xiao Chen up and down.
"Inspection passed. You can go." The voice coming from the golem was actually a female voice. Xiao Chen looked at Feng Qi.
"I know what you want to ask. Yes, there is a woman's soul inside Gama's body. At least I will treat her as a human being." Feng Qi whispered.
The door was already opened. Xiao Chen looked back at Gama and stepped into the light gate.