"What's wrong? What did it say?" Luo Wei asked.

"Nothing," Troy replied gravely, "I've just never heard it make such a coquettish sound before."

"Really? I think it sounds quite nice!" Just as Luo Wei finished speaking, the griffin lowered its massive eagle head and nuzzled her shoulder with its smooth crown.

Troy closed his eyes: "It can understand what you're saying. It has already agreed to your request."

Luo Wei stroked the griffin's sleek feathers and exclaimed, "How clever!"

She looked into the griffin's golden eyes and tentatively asked, "Griffin, did you agree?"

The griffin lifted its neck, made a few gurgling sounds in its throat, and suddenly lowered its head to spit out a saliva-covered leather package.

"My money!"

Troy's eyes bulged.

"You deceived me! You didn't swallow it at all!"

The griffin pressed one claw on the wooden box, completely ignoring him, and turned to look at Luo Wei with a "chirp-chirp."

Luo Wei showed a warm smile and stroked the griffin's smooth feathers again: "Thank you, I'll just take a few magic stones, the rest is still yours."

The griffin deftly used its front claw to open the leather wrapping, revealing a wooden box secured with locks. With a gentle hook of its talon, it opened the box and picked out more than a dozen magic stones from the dazzling collection.

Red, blue, yellow, purple, cyan - it carefully pointed at them with its claw tip, then picked up five different stones and presented them to Luo Wei.

Luo Wei quickly accepted them.

It released its grip, searched through the box again, found a white stone and a black stone, and gave these to Luo Wei as well.

Troy stared in disbelief: "Light element and dark element magic stones? How did these two types end up in my box? Wait, why are there extra items inside..."

Before he could take a closer look, the griffin pushed him away with one claw.

"Squawk!" The griffin quickly closed the box, wrapped it back in the leather, lowered its head, and swallowed it into its throat.

This practiced motion suggested it had done this many times before.

"My money box! Spit it out and give it back to me!"

Troy rushed forward to pry open its beak.

"Squawk—"

The griffin let out a powerful eagle cry, kicked Troy away, flew to the corner where it grabbed a fat sheep in each claw, and soared into the sky.

Luo Wei put the seven magic stones in her pocket and noticed several sheep still in the corner. She asked curiously, "It's not going to eat the rest?"

Troy replied dejectedly: "No, it's just going to take them back alive and raise them to eat slowly."

"Griffins know how to raise sheep?"

"Yes, it has claimed a mountaintop seventy kilometers away in the deep mountains as its pasture."

"This griffin really knows how to plan for the long term," Luo Wei secretly admired nature's wonders, then turned to look at Troy, "What's wrong with you? You look like you're about to die."

"My money..."

"That's not your money," Luo Wei teased, "That's the griffin's treasure chest."

Troy seemed to have suffered a massive blow, standing motionless in the courtyard like a stone statue.

Later in the afternoon, Roman and Tom returned from school.

"Miss, what's wrong with Troy?" Roman walked into the living room with his leather schoolbag, his big eyes looking curiously at Troy who was emanating a "keep away" aura outside.

You might be reading a pirated copy. Look for the official release to support the author.

"He probably discovered that after years of digging through manure, the treasure wasn't in the manure at all."

"Huh? Troy was looking for treasure in manure?" Roman's face showed complete shock.

"How many times have I told you to call him Uncle," Luo Wei corrected him.

Roman pouted; he didn't want to call Troy uncle - it made him feel so young.

"Troy, you've been in a daze for so long, isn't it time to move around? Come in and test Roman's magic aptitude!" Luo Wei ordered.

Troy walked in with lifeless eyes.

Luo Wei arranged the seven magic stones on the table: "How do we test?"

Troy glanced at the table, feeling even worse - these were all supposed to be his!

Except for the white and black stones.

He listlessly told Roman: "Just pick them up and try them one by one. Focus your mind; if you have affinity with the corresponding element, the magic stone will light up."

Roman nervously approached the table, his small hand hovering over the magic stones for a moment before reaching for the whitest stone.

"The white one is a light element magic stone. Light system mages are so rare you won't find one in hundreds of thousands of people. You'd better try the others, little guy," Troy raised an eyebrow.

"Hmph, I want to try this one first!"

Roman snorted unhappily and immediately grabbed the magic stone.

The more Troy told him not to try it, the more he wanted to!

"Suit yourself."

Troy wasn't in the mood to say more. This stone belonged to the griffin, who knows where it got it from, it might not even have any magical element left in it.

After all, light element magic stones were as rare as light system mages.

Roman gripped the pearly white stone tightly, his face reddening from Troy's dismissive "suit yourself."

Ten seconds passed, and Troy glanced at him: "Try another one, this one isn't lighting up."

"Stupid Troy, I just like this one!" Roman shouted defiantly.

He kept his head down, staring at the stone in his hand with reddened eyes, his arm starting to shake as if his whole body was straining.

"Forcing it won't help. If you don't have it, you don't have it."

Just as Troy finished speaking, a brilliant white light burst forth from Roman's hands.

"It lit up!" Roman joyfully opened his fingers, proudly presenting it to Luo Wei like a treasure, "Miss, it lit up!"

Luo Wei gently patted Roman's head: "I saw it. Roman, you're amazing! I knew you had magical talent!"

Roman grinned from ear to ear, then smugly held up the stone to show Troy: "Heh, didn't you say it wouldn't light up?"

Troy was stunned for a long while. How was this possible? A street beggar with the talent of a light system mage!

He snatched the magic stone from Roman's hand, held it for a moment to sense it, and watched as the stone's light grew dimmer until it disappeared, never lighting up again.

It wasn't a problem with the magic stone.

He looked at Roman in a daze, holding out his open hand: "Here, try it again?"

"I will!"

Roman, now brimming with confidence, took back the magic stone, held it in his hand, and sure enough, the stone lit up again.

Troy couldn't describe his current feelings: "Alright, put it down now. Try the others to see if you have affinity with any other elements."

"Oh." Roman tried each of the remaining stones one by one, but none of them lit up.

Luo Wei asked Troy: "How is his talent? Is it good or bad?"

Troy's voice trembled: "Extremely good. It's pure light element affinity. If we sent him to the Church, he could even become the next Holy Knight."

"I don't want to go to the Church!" Roman looked anxiously at Luo Wei, "Miss, don't send me away. I don't want to go to the Church, I only want to be your knight!"

Luo Wei quickly reassured him: "I won't send you away. How could I bear to part with you? I'm waiting for you to grow up and protect me."

Roman finally calmed down, though he shot another glare at Troy: "Stupid Troy!"

"Alright, stop arguing," Luo Wei put away the magic stones, "Come on, let's go to the cellar to test Luoxi."

"Having one is already incredible, there can't be two," Troy muttered.

The three of them walked down the dark stairs into the basement, where they smelled a damp, moldy odor.

Luo Wei knocked on the partition door and called Luoxi out, asking her to try sensing the magic stones as well.

Luoxi knew what this meant. Taking a deep breath, she reached out with her callused fingers toward the magic stones.

Like Roman, she picked up the white stone first, held it for a while, but there was no response.

Without Troy's prompting, she switched to the cyan wind element stone on her own.

Still no response.

Luoxi didn't look disappointed. She continued trying the blue water element stone, the yellow earth element stone, the purple lightning element stone, and the red fire element stone.

None of them lit up.

Troy secretly breathed a sigh of relief. This was the normal situation - how could everyone they found have magical talent, especially these little kids!

He watched as Luoxi silently picked up the last stone, counting to twenty with no response, yet she stubbornly held onto it, shaking her head slightly.

Dark element magic stones were everywhere, but mages with pure affinity for this element were even rarer than light system mages.

Moreover, dark system mages weren't well-received. There had been a few throughout history, all of them catastrophically destructive arch-villains. It was probably for the best that the stone didn't light up in this child's hands.

"""