The process that it took Chen Heng to become a Third Rank Apprentice was much simpler than for others.
Long ago, even when he had been at the Hunter's House, he had been close to becoming a Third Rank Apprentice.
After returning home, even though he had been doing many experiments, he had not let up on doing Meditation.
As such, a year ago, he had successfully become a Third Rank Apprentice.
From how Chen Heng saw it, this was quite normal.
With his experience as a True Lord and his talent, it would be strange if the speed at which he progressed was not this fast.
In fact, it could even be said that he was suppressing his progression.
If it wasn't for the fact that he had felt that he was progressing too quickly at the Hunter's House, he would have been able to become a Third Rank Apprentice at that time.
Since he did not have to worry about this anymore after returning home, he naturally ranked up quite quickly.
However, for Griffin, this kind of speed was still too shocking, and it took him a long time to come back to his senses.
"Very good."
Only after a long time did he speak again, a gratified look on his face, "Looks like our Doyle family is finally going to have a true Sorcerer in this generation."
Becoming a true Sorcerer was undoubtedly Griffin's life dream.
After staying by Griffin's side since he was young, the goal that Chen Heng had been given was also to become a true Sorcerer.
Now, it seemed that he would finally be able to fulfil this goal.
"Given your age, you can slowly get ready over the next ten or so years to break through to true Sorcerer," Griffin said, "With your Level 4 Sorcerer talent, you have more than a 50% chance of becoming a true Sorcerer. Adding on how much time you have, you have at least a 70% chance of success."
Hearing this, Chen Heng could not help but inwardly frown, "Only 70%?"
Perhaps to someone like Griffin, 70% was already a very high figure.
From how Chen Heng saw it, a 70% high was still somewhat risky.
With his conditions, only a 90% chance would seem dependable.
However, there was no need to say this in front of Griffin.
As such, he nodded and did not say anything else.
Sitting on the bed, Griffin was still very excited.
Chen Heng took this opportunity to observe him.
Through his efforts over the past two years, Griffin's current mental state was more or less stable.
Moreover, because of Moon God Energy, his body had gone through positive changes.
Right now, his condition seemed quite good.
However, it was evident that Griffin did not have much life span left.
After all, if he was an ordinary person, he would already be inside a coffin.
Even though Sorcerers' lifespans were longer than that of ordinary people's, they were not extremely long.
Furthermore, Griffin was just a Third Rank Apprentice, not a true Sorcerer.
The reason why he had been able to live this long was because he had done various modifications to his body and extended his lifespan.
Chen Heng had seen similar modifications at the Hunter's House.
In actuality, for Sorcerers, similar modifications were quite common, no matter if it was to increase one's power or lifespan.
It was just that with Griffin's current condition, it would be impossible for him to go through further modifications.
If he tried to do any more modifications, he might just die during the process.
However, if he did not do any modifications, he would not have much time to live—unless he could become a true Sorcerer in the time he had remaining.
Thinking about that, Chen Heng could not help but shake his head.
If one was to put their hopes in becoming a true Sorcerer to live longer, they might as well rely on a miracle during a modification.
At least that way, they would have a slight chance of success.
With Griffin's current condition, trying to become a true Sorcerer would be suicide.
As Charlie's student and the descendent of Griffin, a Third Rank Apprentice, Chen Heng was incredibly clear as to the process of becoming a true Sorcerer.
Under normal circumstances, becoming a true Sorcerer required a powerful constitution.
This was because during the rank-up process, Sorcerers needed to burn their lifeforce to gain greater power.
Following this, a Sorcerer's mind was tested.
Only Sorcerers with powerful bodies and minds could succeed.
This was what Chen Heng had learned both from Charlie's teachings, as well as from Yana's Legacy Stone.
As for Griffin, both his mind and body had great problems.
If he tried to become a true Sorcerer, he would most likely fall without doing much.
Rather than relying on this, it was better to gamble on modifying his body.
After chatting with Griffin for a while, Chen Heng left.
Griffin waking up was very good news for Chen Heng.
Even though Griffin was at the end of his life, he was still a Third Rank Apprentice.
With him here, Chen Heng could go explore other places and did not have to stay within the Doyle family.
Moreover, with Griffin's help, Chen Heng would have an assistant for many of his experiments, making things easier for him.
Time gradually passed.
Soon, it had been another two months.
During that time, Griffin revealed himself and represented the Doyle family to meet with another Sorcerer family.
At the meeting, he was smiling the whole time. Even though he was incredibly old, no one dared to take him lightly.
Because he had not revealed himself for two years, there had been some rumors, and people made all kinds of guesses.
Some people guessed that Griffin had actually died in an accident in an experiment and that Chen Heng was the only Sorcerer in the Doyle family.
Now that Griffin had revealed himself, all of those rumors were shattered.
Of course, Griffin's presence did not hold as much weight as it did in the past; over the past two years, Chen Heng had not been doing nothing.
His magic items had once again appeared in this continent.
Over the past two years, through his magic items, he had established connections with many Sorcerer families and obtained many things.
At the same time, during these two years, Chen Heng had long since leaked news of him becoming a Third Rank Apprentice.
With so many magic items and being a Third Rank Apprentice, Chen Heng was undoubtedly one of the most powerful existences in this continent.
Just this alone made it so that no one dared to oppose Chen Heng.
Because of this, the Doyle family had been continuously growing, and it was even a bit stronger than before Griffin had fallen unconscious.
Now, within the Doyle family, there was not just Chen Heng, a Third Rank Apprentice, but also his four students.
After his two years of teaching, his four students had all condensed magic power and had become Sorcerer Apprentices.
Even without Griffin, the Doyle family had five Sorcerers.
This was one of the top forces on this continent.
No other family had this many Sorcerers.
With this kind of strength, there was naturally no one who dared to act against the Doyle family.
As such, Griffin waking up did not have a massive effect.
Despite this, having a Third Rank Apprentice wake up was still good news to the Doyle family; at the very least, he would be able to expand the Doyle family's power.
Time gradually passed.
In the following period of time, Chen Heng just stayed in his laboratory and worked hard at Meditation to increase his mental energy and magic power.
With how powerful his mental energy was, even Griffin could not compare to him.
"Your mental energy has most likely already reached the level of true Sorcerers," Griffin said softly as he looked at Chen Heng.
"Even though I've reached this level, it's still not enough."
Chen Heng shook his head, "If I want to be even more steady, I still need to wait some time."
To ordinary Sorcerers, Chen Heng's mental energy was a very big advantage.
Because of his past experiences, his mental energy was naturally powerful. Even though he was not a true Sorcerer yet, his mental energy was not something that a Third Rank Apprentice could rival.
After many years of refining, his mental energy was even more powerful and was at the standard of a true Sorcerer.
In actuality, apart from magic power, Chen Heng was very close to becoming a true Sorcerer.
"If you want to become a true Sorcerer, apart from enough lifeforce, you also need sufficient mental energy and magic power," Griffin said with a look of admiration, "Ed, you are able to fulfill all three of those conditions."
To ordinary Sorcerers, Chen Heng's circumstances were incredibly good.
His mental energy was naturally powerful, so while the mental energy hurdle for most people was a great barrier, it was not a problem to him.
In terms of magic power, because of his powerful mental energy and his Level 4 Sorcerer talent, Chen Heng did not have any difficulties either. As time went on, it would reach the standard for a true Sorcerer.
Finally, in terms of lifeforce, that was not a problem either.
Not only was Chen Heng a Sorcerer, but he was also a Knight who had activated his Life Seed.
Compared to other Sorcerer Apprentices, his lifeforce was incredibly powerful.
Moreover, given his age, this was when his lifeforce was at its peak.
His circumstances were incredibly good.
If ordinary Sorcerers had even one of those things, they would be said to have a chance to become a true Sorcerer.
However, Chen Heng had all of them.
From how Griffin saw it, there was an extremely big chance of Chen Heng becoming a true Sorcerer.
Apart from some unexpected things, he could not imagine why Chen Heng would fail.
Chen Heng smiled as he looked at Griffin and said, "To be honest, a true Sorcerer is just the beginning. Moreover, I haven't even reached that step yet."
"That's right." Griffin nodded, feeling a bit complicated.
"How are the preparations for the test?" Chen Heng asked Griffin.
"We've started preparing," Griffin nodded as his expression became a bit grim, "Ed, are you really going to test those people for free?"
"It's not for free," Chen Heng said as he shook his head, "The cost is that if they have Sorcerer talent, they have to join us and become our people.'
Griffin shook his head, "But even then, they're from other families; we can't fully trust those who aren't from the Doyle family."
"It's not too bad," Chen Heng said as he smiled, "We don't need them to be fully loyal; we just need to guarantee that they will follow our directions, just like the academies."
Griffin's thinking was still limited to the family unit, and he believed that there was no point in testing anyone outside of the Doyle family.
After all, since they were not part of the Doyle family, so what if Chen Heng put all that effort into nurturing them?
It would just be benefitting outsiders.
However, that was not what Chen Heng thought.
In this age, especially among Sorcerers, people valued family greatly, and very few people would betray their family.
However, being limited to the family unit was a bit too restrictive.
After all, a family was limited in terms of numbers and strength, and it could not compare to other large groups.
If one wanted to obtain great power, one had to unify factions outside of one's family.
This was why Chen Heng was doing this.
Chen Heng's experiments had reached a bottleneck, and if he wanted to progress, he needed the help of other Sorcerers.
Out of everyone in the Doyle family, Chen Heng had only found two people with Sorcerer talent.
Adding on Griffin and himself, that was only four people.
This was not enough people to fulfil Chen Heng's plans.
As such, Chen Heng decided to test people outside of the family and obtain new blood.
"Just like an academy…"
Hearing Chen Heng's words, Griffin's eyes lit up, "Ed, could it be…"
He seemed to think of something and his voice trembled as he said, "Are you thinking… of establishing your own academy?"
Hearing Griffin's words, Chen Heng felt quite surprised.
However, now that he thought about it, it was not a bad idea.
In order to achieve his goals, he would have to take in students and obtain many Sorcerers' support.
In order to gather these Sorcerers into a Sorcerer organization, it might be necessary to establish an academy.
Something like the Hunter's House would be quite good.
All kinds of thoughts flashed in Chen Heng's mind as he nodded, "That sounds like a good idea. If possible, why not establish our own faction, an academy?"
"I understand."
Hearing Chen Heng's words, Griffin looked incredibly excited, "I understand what you're thinking, Ed. Don't worry, I'll make sure nothing goes wrong during the tests."
Looking at how excited Griffin was, Chen Heng felt quite surprised but still nodded.
No matter what, it was a good thing for Griffin to be so diligent.
It was better than going about it unwillingly with a gloomy face.
Time gradually passed.
Soon, people from various families over the continent began to gather at the Doyle family's territory.
The reason for this was to participate in the testing.
For Sorcerer families, this was a very rare opportunity.
To Chen Heng, it was not a big deal, but for the Sorcerers of this continent, it was not so simple.
Before Chen Heng came back, there were not many magic items in this region, and there were not even five Third Rank Apprentices.
As a Third Rank Apprentice who had come back from the Hunter's House, Griffin was one of the strongest in this region.
This showed just how behind the Sorcerers in this continent were.
While the region that Yana was from was ahead of the region that the Hunter's House was in, this region was behind.
From how Chen Heng saw it, setting up a testing Sorcerer Formation was not too difficult, but to ordinary Apprentices, it was very difficult.
Wanting to find Apprentices who were proficient in Sorcerer Formations as well as paying out 50 magic stones was not so simple.