123: Chapter 123 Testing Talent

Lida's expression stiffened slightly, his heart filled with envy for Nie Ning's incredible luck and talent.

To be able to become a wizard like this—it was simply against all reason!

If it were an ordinary person, even obtaining a Meditation Technique would be useless.

Because for an ordinary person, cultivation was like a turtle's crawl; they might not even sense Elemental Power after eight or ten years of practice. This was also why wizard inheritances never trickled down to commoners.

If it took decades of cultivation just to struggle to light a small fire, then what was the point of practicing at all?

An ordinary person's life is less than a hundred years; cultivation would undoubtedly be nothing more than a waste of life.

And for someone like Nie Ning, who could cultivate just by picking up a Meditation Technique and even achieve success—forget Ska City, you wouldn't find two like him in the entire Wilbes Republic.

"Reporting to my lord, The Federation tests the aptitude of eligible people in the city every few years. Therefore, a Spirit Testing Instrument is kept in the warehouse."

Lida paused for a moment and looked up at Nie Ning. "Does my lord wish to perform an aptitude test?"

"I do want to give it a try."

Nie Ning nodded, then spoke again to ask, "Then do you know if people without talent can have their attributes detected?"

Actually, it didn't matter to him whether he tested or not; after all, he had his status panel, and his own attributes were clear at a glance.

He mainly wanted to know if ordinary people could be tested, as that was the crux of the matter.

"Everyone has attributes; it's just that the intensity varies. Naturally, they can be detected."

After Lida finished speaking, he couldn't help but find it a bit strange.

Why was Nie Ning asking this? Could it be that he had a friend who wanted to be tested?

"My lord, if you have relatives or friends who wish to be tested, you can just bring them here. It just so happens that it's been nearly two years since the city residents were last tested, so they can be tested together."

Nie Ning waved his hand. "Let's wait a bit on the testing. I'll need to use the Spirit Testing Instrument for my experiments recently. We'll talk about it after I'm done."

Now that he knew it would work, it was enough. He couldn't wait for the exotic beast meat any longer, so he decided to take a risk.

"Then shall I bring it over for you?"

Lida's brow twitched slightly as he asked.

"Let's go together. It's just about time for me to get off work."

Nie Ning looked at the clock in the room.

It was almost morning; in a while, he would have to return to the manor for work.

Seeing this, Lida said no more and led Nie Ning toward the warehouse.

After obtaining the item he wanted, Nie Ning did not linger and returned directly to Hervais Manor.

...

The next day, evening.

Wizard Tower basement.

At this moment, in a spacious room, a square stone pillar engraved with runes stood in the center, with a round, transparent crystal ball connected to the top.

This was the Spirit Testing Instrument used to test elemental attributes.

"I hope you don't disappoint me."

Nie Ning muttered under his breath, then pulled several people wearing shackles and handcuffs out from an adjacent room.

These people were death row inmates from the city—in other words, Nie Ning's test subjects.

The death row inmates all looked at Nie Ning in fear and trepidation.

Clearly, their sentencing papers had not yet been issued; they didn't understand why they had been blindfolded and brought to a place like this.

Just then, a burly man with a scar on his neck suddenly lunged at Nie Ning.

Nie Ning's brow furrowed slightly. He kicked and broke the burly man's thigh, then flashed aside to avoid the spot where the man collapsed.

Looking at the wailing burly man, Nie Ning stepped forward and crushed the man's other two limbs, then looked up at the other prisoners.

"Anyone else who dares to cause trouble will end up like this!"

Nie Ning scanned the room, and the prisoners he looked at all clutched their crotches and lowered their heads.

That man was the strongest among them, with strength that had even reached the High-Tier Knight level.

Even though his cultivation had been crippled, he wasn't someone just anyone could handle.

"Now, those whose names I call, step up and touch that crystal ball."

Nie Ning took a ledger out of his spatial ring, which contained records of the crimes committed by the prisoners.

It had to be said that after reading it, Nie Ning felt that not a single one of these people was innocent enough to be spared from death.

From rape and robbery to murder and arson, they had it all; there was even a human trafficker among them.

...

As Nie Ning began calling names, the first prisoner stepped forward to begin the test.

The moment the prisoner's hand touched the crystal ball, a small yellow dot appeared in the center of the sphere.

If one didn't look closely, it was almost as if there was nothing there at all.

'Indeed unsuitable for cultivation.'

Nie Ning shook his head inwardly as he watched.

With such a tiny amount of Elemental Power, they wouldn't be able to sense elements even if they practiced a Meditation Technique.

Nie Ning released his Spiritual Power to sense the elemental attribute.

It wasn't a rare light element, just an ordinary fire attribute.

A flash of disappointment crossed Nie Ning's eyes, and then he had the next person proceed with the test.

But the results exceeded Nie Ning's expectations. Among these twenty prisoners, there were 10 fire elements, 6 metal elements, 2 wood elements, and 2 earth elements.

Ultimately, Nie Ning reached a conclusion: fire elements had the highest crime rate...

Highest my foot!

Nie Ning's face darkened, nearly coughing up blood from frustration.

What he wanted were rare elemental attributes, not these common ones.

Besides, why was the crime rate for fire elements so high? Could it be that attributes really correlated with criminal tendencies? Should he write a book on the subject?

Seeing Nie Ning's constantly changing expression, the group of prisoners couldn't help but take a fearful step back.

Although they didn't know what Nie Ning was doing, it clearly wasn't anything good for them.

Nie Ning looked at the prisoners and sighed.

Fortunately, this place lacked many things, but it didn't lack death row inmates.

Since this batch was no good, he would just try another.

...

Next, Nie Ning had Butler Horun help him bring out all the prisoners who had been arrested and processed in the city.

After testing nearly two hundred people, Nie Ning finally found two prisoners with the rare Dark-Wind elemental attribute.

To Nie Ning's surprise, there was even one prisoner among them who possessed a Mid-Grade fire element.

Nie Ning looked at the young prisoner, who had a look of joy on his face.

He looked refined and had the air of a gentleman, clearly having received a high-level education; he was a complete contrast to the other fierce-looking prisoners.

Moreover, the man seemed to know what Nie Ning was doing.

Upon seeing that he possessed a Mid-Grade fire element, he didn't even try to hide the joy on his face.

But who would have thought that such a person was actually a high-IQ serial psychopathic killer?

According to the records, this man had killed thirteen ordinary people in total, torturing his victims to death, and he enjoyed collecting their eyeballs as trophies.

If a thief hadn't seen his collection of eyeballs while stealing from him, this beast in human skin might have gotten away with it.

With a wave of his hand, Nie Ning unleashed a Lightning Edge Blade, instantly severing the young man's legs.

"Why? Aren't you looking for people with wizard aptitude? I have it! Why are you doing this!"

The young man clutched his severed legs, wailing in agony.

...