Yu Xunge had just finished drawing the bagpipes when Yudun assigned her new coursework: break [Naughty Kitchen] down into at least five skills, with no restrictions on their ranks.
At that moment, Yu Xunge was immensely glad she had once unlocked the Divine Curriculum related to magical theory, which kept her from being completely illiterate in magic.
When Queque and Maple Sugar returned from their break outside, Yudun assigned them the same coursework, and later did the same for Dawn Cicada and Rage Prayer.
Only when all five apprentices had returned to the classroom did Yudun put down her book and formally begin teaching in her even voice. Everything before that had been like an entrance assessment.
"Magic runes are the language of the 'soul.' Every part of a magic rune has meaning. When your soul cries out, you have a chance of comprehending an ability based on what it wants to express. For you as you are now, that means a 'skill.'
"The soul has no voice, but the power and effects its language produces can let your enemies see what you are thinking. That is how it expresses itself.
"Magic runes were not invented by living beings. They existed from the very beginning of life. By conversing with our own souls and studying the skills we comprehend ourselves, we come to understand and analyze ourselves, and thereby study the meaning of magic runes.
"Researchers divide skills into two categories. One consists of abilities that living beings awaken when their souls cry out. The other consists of abilities we create ourselves by organizing and piecing together magic runes after studying them. Neither is superior. If we must distinguish between them, perhaps the former is speaking, while the latter is purposeful writing."
From the moment Yudun began speaking, all the