Arcane Wisdom

Learning costs money, and learning magic costs even more.

Gagnor was prepared, so he asked, "Master Hayes, what are your rates?"

"Private lessons, introductory course, twenty silver coins per session, one hour each," Master Hayes said slowly. "A maximum of ten sessions."

That's expensive!

Gagnor gasped. One hour of lessons cost more than his monthly salary.

Is this the world of mages...

Sensing his hesitation, Master Hayes said calmly, "My lessons are a bit more expensive than other mages in South Sea Town, but I don't like to talk nonsense, and I won't waste your time or money."

Gagnor thought for a moment. "Why only ten sessions?"

Master Hayes: "Those who haven't grasped the basics after ten sessions aren't suited to learning magic. This is a knowledge that doesn't welcome mediocrity. Only those magic teachers who only think about how to collect more tuition fees will constantly harp on about effort, making you invest endless, fruitless time."

Gagnor finally decided to trust Marcus's recommendation, gritted his teeth, paid the twenty silver coins for tuition, and immediately began his first magic lesson.

As Master Hayes said, he didn't like to talk nonsense. After receiving the tuition, he immediately began to impart knowledge: "In an ancient era that can no longer be verified, the sages discovered that with the right means, they could partially replicate the Holy Name's blessing... This is the origin of magic."

"Magic is mainly divided into four categories according to the elements, namely earth, water, fire, and wind. You should have heard of this before, but what I want to say is that the profundity of 'elementalism' far exceeds ordinary people's imagination. The four elements are just a broad division, and it is not without controversy..."

After briefly introducing a section of magic history, Master Hayes paused for a moment, then continued, "The basic prerequisite for learning magic is having mana. Do you know what mana is? Or rather, what is the essence of mana?"

"I don't know," Gagnor shook his head. Although he had heard of it long ago, he had no concept of what mana actually was.

Master Hayes wasn't surprised by this: "According to the mainstream 'body theory' viewpoint, mana is like the stamina of the soul. The body obtains stamina by chewing food, while the soul obtains mana by chewing elements."

"However, eating elements is not a natural ability of the soul, at least not for humans. In a natural state, the human soul often needs to rely on the body's meager sustenance to exist and think. Precisely because of this, humans do not belong to the 'magic race' and cannot master magic abilities from birth like elemental creatures."

"Fortunately, humans are not a 'non-magic race' either, but a 'semi-magic race'. With some special means, we can obtain the ability to eat elements, and thus obtain magic abilities."

"There are many so-called special means to obtain magic, and one of the most important is the basic spell for all mages—Arcane Wisdom."

After listening to Master Hayes's explanation, Gagnor nodded thoughtfully.

Master Hayes picked up the staff beside him. The staff was made of a valuable hardwood, with a Magic Core and three Magic Core Shards of different colors embedded at the top.

He said, "I will cast 'Arcane Wisdom' on you. For the next half hour, under the influence of this spell, you will gain perception of the soul and elements."

"If you have some magical talent, your soul can master the ability to eat elements and naturally understand the most basic spell, Arcane Wisdom, after at most three castings of Arcane Wisdom."

"Of course, if you want to cast Arcane Wisdom on others, you will need further study," he added, then gently pressed the staff against Gagnor's forehead.

Gagnor sat up straight, a little nervous.

Master Hayes began to chant a spell.

A few seconds later, a dazzling blue light lit up at the top of the staff, and then surged towards Gagnor's forehead.

Gagnor only felt a blur before his eyes, and his perception of the environment was completely different—many mottled light spots of various colors were floating in his perception.

His physical sensation also underwent some subtle changes, as if he suddenly had two bodies, but the two bodies were overlapping.

Master Hayes: "If you have an elemental blessing, use your blessing ability. This will help you achieve twice the result with half the effort."

Gagnor created a Swift Breeze.

During the process, he directly noticed that with his thoughts, the mottled light spots floating around immediately surged, and many light cyan spots were instantly extracted and then condensed into a ball, turning into the Swift Breeze he was familiar with.

Master Hayes: "Guide the element closer to your soul, and then 'chew' it. This feeling is very similar to the body's chewing, but don't use the mouth of the body. You need to overcome the body's instincts to allow the soul to have the ability to 'eat' independently..."

Following his instructions, Gagnor guided the Swift Breeze towards his soul. After trying for more than ten minutes, the panel popped up a series of messages.

[Gained Mana]
[Learned Lv1 Arcane Wisdom]
[Intelligence +1]
[Experience +50]

He has mana now?

He tried a few more times and quickly confirmed that his soul had indeed mastered the ability to "chew elements" and could obtain mana.

It went smoothly beyond Gagnor's expectations.

Maybe it has something to do with "Returning to Youth". After all, according to the description, in this state, he can not only grow physically, but also learn more effectively.

Gagnor told Master Hayes the result.

Master Hayes was also surprised when he learned of this. After being silent for two seconds, he suddenly sighed, "It's a pity you're too old, otherwise you might be able to enter Deep Blue Academy."

Deep Blue Academy... Gagnor also fantasized about going there to study magic, just like he fantasized about going to Tsinghua in his previous life.

However, the factor that prevented him from going to Tsinghua was intelligence, and there were many factors that prevented him from going to Deep Blue Academy, one of which was obviously poverty.

Deep Blue Academy, the most prestigious magic academy on the Falaro Continent, costs sixty gold coins per year.

Of course, sixty gold coins is just the standard tuition fee. The higher the magic talent, the more tuition is reduced. If it is a top genius, the tuition fee can be reduced to zero or even a negative number. Conversely, if the talent is not good, the tuition fee will also increase accordingly.

Some great nobles will even pay tens of thousands of gold coins as tuition fees in order to allow their sons, who have no magical talent, to enter Deep Blue Academy.

In short, this is a magic academy that only the truly rich and the truly talented are qualified to attend.

After listening to some more knowledge explanations, Gagnor suddenly thought of a question: "Master Hayes, I have a question. After food is chewed by the body, there is feces left over. What is left over after elements are chewed by the soul?"

Master Hayes was stunned, then shook his head: "I don't know. Some people think that nothing is left after elements are eaten by the soul, and others don't think so."

"This is one of the most profound questions in the entire field of magic. Perhaps only God knows the answer."