Wizard: Starting from the Skill Tree-Chapter 356: Earl Hardy’s Past

Chapter 356: Chapter 356: Earl Hardy’s Past
After Duke became a Level 1 Arcanist, he learned that applying to become a Level 2 Arcanist requires one thousand arcane points and also involves the certification session.
Gathering points is relatively easy; the hard part is passing the certification, as becoming a Level 2 Arcanist is not that simple.
After the certification ended, Grace came over with folded arms and said, "Kid, you did well. You’ve reached this point even faster than Vivian did. Seems like I should have taken you in back then."
Back then, Grace said that Duke’s spiritual power aptitude wasn’t sufficient, so she didn’t allow him to enter the Thorn Holy Tower.
But in reality, that was just an excuse. Even if Duke had a better spiritual power aptitude, she wouldn’t have let him enter the Thorn Holy Tower, mainly because she didn’t want the trouble.
In Grace’s view, since Duke had already gotten the token from Black Sail, he could just join Black Sail. Among the four great wizard organizations on the West Coast, there’s none that is weak; it doesn’t make much difference where you join.
Taking in Vivian was just to fulfill a promise made to Earl Hardy back then. As a Level 3 Wizard, Grace would always keep her promises, even though Hardy was just an ordinary person with some spiritual power aptitude.
Otherwise, even if Vivian had excellent spiritual power aptitude, Grace would not have taken her as a student.
Now Duke also realized that spiritual power aptitude is merely the starting point on the path to becoming a wizard, and how far one can go is not solely determined by it.
"Thank you, Lady Grace, for taking care of Vivian. She has been working hard too," Duke expressed his gratitude.
Grace nodded and said, "Vivian is fine. I really like this little girl; she possesses a spirit of determination. She knows that the opportunity to become a wizard doesn’t come easily; her opportunity was exchanged by little Hardy."
"Earl Hardy exchanged for it?" Duke pondered over something.
"You didn’t know? Initially, I promised to take Earl Hardy off Florence Continent to come to the Thorn Holy Tower to study becoming a wizard since he also had some wizard aptitude. But Earl Hardy gave up this opportunity to take care of his wife, and I then promised to give his descendants a chance," Grace explained.
It was only then that Duke understood why Earl Hardy could use the Red Glove, a demonized item, yet never became a wizard.
He indeed had never heard anything about Earl Hardy’s wife before, only about some concubines, and never any news of his wife.
Actually, Earl Hardy’s wife passed away shortly after giving birth to Vivian. Her health had not been good, and giving birth to Vivian had almost exhausted her strength.
Earl Hardy had a deep affection for his wife; he didn’t want to leave when her health was frail, and thus he gave up the opportunity to become a wizard.
After his wife’s death, it became Earl Hardy’s greatest wish to take good care of this family and ensure better development for their descendants.
Moreover, after meeting wizards and understanding more about them, he realized that if any of his descendants became a wizard, it would provide a foundation for the family’s continued development.
Thus followed the story that Vivian, working hard on Knight training, did so not to disappoint the sacrifices her father and mother made.
After joining the Thorn Holy Tower, Vivian worked even harder, possibly even being more diligent than Duke, only that she lacked a skill tree.
Vivian’s personal effort, coupled with the resources and support poured in by Grace, made reaching this point unsurprising.
Grace smiled, "Anyway, you two little fellows just keep striving; you are just at the beginning of the wizard’s path."
In her eyes, even though Duke had become a Liquidation Wizard, he was just setting sail on the wizard’s path.
"We will do our best, Lady Grace," Duke respectfully replied.
To a wizard like Grace, who had lived for over a thousand years, Duke and his peers truly are nothing but kids, both in terms of power and heritage, and they have a long way to go.
After finishing her conversation with Duke, Grace left Harbor City. She had actually come specifically for Duke.
The Arcane Master Association recently inquired whether she was available to participate in a wizard’s arcane master certification exam, which she originally intended to refuse, but upon seeing it was Duke, she became interested.
Duke’s performance left her very satisfied, creating a deeper impression of this young man.
After watching Grace leave, Duke turned to Caroline beside him and said, "I plan to use some arcane points to exchange for things, how should I proceed?"
"Mr. Duke, please follow me," Caroline respectfully said, leading the way, with her skirt wrapped around an incredibly rounded and alluring shape.
Caroline was a bit surprised to see Duke successfully pass the Level 1 Arcanist certification. Many take the certification, but very few pass.
Moreover, she noticed that Duke seemed quite familiar with Lady Grace, suggesting they’ve known each other for a long time, which led her to subconsciously believe Duke’s background was not ordinary.
Though Duke was a wizard of Black Sail, he seemed so familiar with Lady Grace of the Thorn Holy Tower, implying there might be some force behind him, which made Caroline even more respectful towards Duke.
Under Caroline’s respectful and slightly awed guidance, Duke was brought to the Arcane Master Association’s internal resource exchange area.
This place is a separate hall protected and concealed by multiple spatial folds and magic arrays, with extremely tight security.
The resource exchange in the Arcane Master Association is different from Black Sail; with Black Sail, one only needs to operate on the Black Sail Badge, and a dark demon will deliver it.
However, with the Arcane Master Association, one has to come inside the association for the exchange.
Arcane Master Association’s internal exchanges require the consumption of arcane points but will record your total lifelong arcane point history. Consuming some points won’t impact your arcane point accumulation.
For example, Duke currently has 181 arcane points, needing another 819 points to meet the base requirement to apply for the Level 2 Arcanist certification.
Even if he uses up all of his 181 points, he only needs to earn 819 more arcane points to apply for the Level 2 Arcanist certification.
So, consuming arcane points does not affect the assessment of the arcane master level, allowing for free usage.
However, arcane points are extremely precious and hard-won, and Duke needs to consider carefully how to use them.
Caroline, with her identity badge, initiated identification at a crystal-formed rune array in the hall, after which the door deep within the hall opened.
"Mr. Duke, please proceed inside. I’m sorry I cannot accompany you further," Caroline bowed from the side.