The Wonders of Mage Hand

Hearing Du Pont's question, the clerk inside didn't even raise his eyebrows, just focusing on the day's newspaper: "You didn't complete this week's assignment, so why would you get next week's?"

He yawned after speaking, glancing at Du Pont: "The academy doesn't often grant sick leave, so don't let them down. Go back if you're okay."

How can this guy be so clueless? Doesn't he know it's nap time?

As a former go-getter who could hold his own on a construction site, Du Pont's skin was as thick as a city wall. He pretended not to understand and chuckled, preparing to leave, but he couldn't help feeling a bit melancholy.

If he could freeload successfully, his confidence would increase significantly. But unfortunately, it seemed like fools were rare in this world, and it was difficult to swindle some startup capital.

However, after glancing at the copper badge on the person's chest and seeing that there was no one else in the room, Du Pont quickly came up with a new plan. He quietly took out a finished scroll and placed it on the desk: "Teacher William, I've been sick recently and my health is really bad, so my efficiency isn't as good as before. I was wondering if you could make an exception..."

"Hmm?" William's impatient expression disappeared upon hearing this, but the next moment, he frowned, a hint of coldness flashing in his eyes as he looked at the somewhat restrained Du Pont: "Student, if others find out you're doing this, it's a serious offense in the academy. You could be confined for a week or even expelled."

"Ah?" Du Pont looked shocked: "Teacher, didn't I just pick up the scroll you accidentally dropped on the ground? This scroll is definitely not copied by me, teacher, you can take a look."

"Oh?" William carefully looked at Du Pont's chest badge and then at the name on the scroll. Only then did a smile appear on his face, but it quickly disappeared: "That's true, but you really didn't submit 10 scrolls. This is a bit difficult."

"But the school didn't say that only people who submit scrolls can receive parchment," Du Pont coughed lightly: "I don't think recording sick leave, receiving scrolls, and collecting scrolls are all recorded in one book, right? The people collecting scrolls and distributing parchment tomorrow will also have their own responsibilities.

If someone really investigates, then it'll be that I was confused from being sick and received it twice. I'll just make up for this one then. And you, teacher, are so busy with work, you wouldn't pay attention to such a small matter, let alone those leaders who wouldn't care about the loss of these few parchments, right?"

"." William listened thoughtfully, subconsciously looked at the office where he was the only employee, put the scroll into his pocket, and coughed lightly: "Everyone comes to submit on Saturday morning, if you're late, I won't care."

Hearing this, a knowing smile appeared on Du Pont's face, and he directly greeted him and turned to leave.

Why didn't he give it to me now when there are few people and it's private, but wants to give it to me when there are many people?

Of course, it's because it's busier when there are more people, and it's easier for things to go wrong.

Thinking of this, Du Pont felt a little excited.

There are no ordinary people in the important departments of the Mage Academy. Even ordinary employees have some spellcasting abilities. Many employees are hired by the academy after graduating as apprentices. Although their income can't compare with adventurers, it's stable and there's not much danger.

Being able to work in a lucrative department like the finance department naturally means that they don't have much magical talent but definitely have some connections. But in the special environment of the Mage Academy, their salaries will definitely not be higher than those of the teaching teachers, and the allowances they receive will not be more than those of the powerful mentors. After all, the level of a mage can't be faked.

William is just a bronze badge, which means his mage level should be below level 5, like himself. It's just that he graduated early and is an employee, so his status is one level higher than his own. But in the eyes of the academy's higher-ups, he may not be considered a person of importance.

If his connections were particularly strong, he wouldn't be squatting here.

In the case of hopeless promotion and general status, would the people in this department honestly take a fixed salary?

There are such people, but obviously more people in the Mage Academy are quick-witted. Du Pont tested it a little, and the effect was pretty good.

Using public resources to enrich one's own wallet, and being able to shift the blame to others to clear one's own name if something goes wrong, it's unlikely that anyone wouldn't do this kind of cost-free business.

It's just a pity that you can't take long-term leave in the academy, and this loophole can't be used many times. But in the short term, he earned 6 Gold Coins. If he has a closer relationship with William in the future, there may be other benefits.

There's an old saying called the four ironclad relationships in life: going to school together, fighting together, sharing stolen goods together, and whoring together. Although this sentence is vulgar, it also makes sense to some extent, but Du Pont only believes in one of them.

As long as there is a common interest, friendship can last forever.

There was still half an hour left for lunch break, and Du Pont wasn't sleepy but didn't want to affect his afternoon class state because of copying scrolls, so he went to the library to find some free books to read.

The library's administrator was a pretty young lady, but she was sleeping soundly on the table. Du Pont didn't disturb her, but wrote his name on the registration book next to her, and then browsed this library that supposedly had 20,000 books.

Most of the books here weren't of much value. Some were simply travel guides from various places or the most popular romance novels. Du Pont glanced at them and found some erotic knight novels, but he felt his blood rush after reading a few pages.

Chapter One: My Gnome Landlord Has a Barbarian Wife

Forget it, reading this now will affect my state. Du Pont quickly skimmed through it and had the system store it, waiting to take it out to adjust his mood when he was tired of copying scrolls in the future.

I should read something useful now, like this "A Guide to Using Mage Hand," which is a collection of everyone's opinions.

School of Transmutation cantrip: Mage Hand. It is one of the compulsory subjects for mages and can help mages deal with some trivial matters such as holding water glasses, holding candles, and finding things. Even famous Archmage will rely on this small spell.

A certain Archmage's notes: "The person who invented Mage Hand is definitely a genius. It's simply comparable to one's own third hand and can be controlled at will. To some extent, it's more useful than those clumsy apprentices."

A certain mage apprentice's notes: "Since learning Mage Hand, I no longer need to bother my girlfriend to ask you to do this and that when I get home, and I no longer need to be afraid of oil splashing on my body when cooking."

A certain anonymous person's notes: "Although Mage Hand is larger than a human hand, it has real weight and feel. It is unexpectedly convenient when doing certain things. You just need to keep your nerves tense to avoid messing up and breaking the skin, but to some extent, isn't this also a kind of fun?"

Seeing this, Du Pont only felt a little outrageous, but there was actually a tracking record of this person below, with few words but shocking Du Pont.

"I married my Mage Hand."

Damn it, who made this thing into a book and put it in the library? It should pay me for reading it!

He washed his eyes and returned to the classroom for class. Perhaps because his injury had healed, Du Pont felt that the afternoon's courses were much smoother to listen to. The course Experience Points increased by an additional 6 points, bringing the total to 30, bringing Du Pont's total Experience Points to 454/2000.

It's just a pity that the last Golem class didn't add Experience Points.

This was a rare Dwarves mage. It was said that he was a war mage who participated in the Battle of Mithril Hall in the north. He had lost an arm but had a thick Mithril arm. The gold medal on his chest was very dazzling, and his loud voice could prevent people from dozing off. However, not many people were interested in his course. Basically, only the miserable civil engineering students who had to take it were attending.

"Flesh is weak, but stone may not be reliable! After so many years of practice, I have found that Mithril is definitely an excellent material for making Golem. Golem of the same size, the density of Mithril is only one-fifth of that of Adamantine, the output is only 10% weaker, but the agility is greatly improved. The only disadvantage is that it is too expensive. When any of you have money in the future, you can ask me for the blueprints."

"Ahem, I'm getting off topic. Now I'll tell you something practical, how to create a Clay Golem on the spot in the shortest amount of time. This is the latest joint achievement of Haluar and Mithril Hall. Once the spell is successfully cast, even if the soil quality is poor, it can be used, but the Golem core cannot be reduced and needs to maintain a focused state. After testing, it can greatly reduce the summoning time in relatively humid areas."

Although many people were absent-minded, Du Pont found it quite interesting.

The reason why everyone wasn't interested in this course was actually very simple: making Golem was expensive, but using them was very troublesome. And this professor also had common Dwarves habits: always bragging and talking nonsense.

The lowest-level Clay Golem cost a full two thousand pounds. The simple core and too bulky body made it easy to be kited in actual combat and unable to catch up with the enemy. The academy basically only used it to do odd jobs and hard work.

Compared with the Iron Golem, a large toy similar to a war weapon that can fight, this can be said to be purely the lowest of the low. If you go out to fight, you can only use it as a guard and mobile shield by your side.

Rather than a Golem, it is better to say that it is an obedient large earth elemental puppet.

However, summoning a large earth elemental is a fifth-circle spell. As long as there is a Golem core, he can make it with his level of elementary Golem knowledge. Of course, the things made will definitely be very different from the mentor on the stage, but this is real combat power.

Unfortunately, the price of golem cores was exorbitant. Even a one-time-use, substandard Clay Golem core cost 100 Gold Coins, which was completely out of his reach.

Maybe I can research how to make golem cores myself in the future.

Dinner was still fifty coppers. After eating, Charles mysteriously said he had a date tonight and left the Mage Academy directly. Du Pont shook his head and continued copying scrolls.

His copying speed had improved again, reaching 28 and a half minutes, but the fatigue remained.

And the system had also changed his scroll copying rating.

[1st-Circle Spell Scroll Success Rate: 60%. In a calm and focused state, the user's copying success rate can be increased to 80%~95%.]

Seeing this line of text, Du Pont felt happy, but continuing to copy wouldn't be so good for his condition. He put away his pen and ink, preparing to go to the kitchen to carry out a small plan.

The sound of slaughtering pigs this morning had given him an idea. There shouldn't be anyone in the cafeteria at this hour.