By Imperial Decree, Gret Copies Books

"He's outright copying!"

The boy shouted. Seeing Magister German ignore him, he jumped forcefully, his face flushed red with anger:

"Fine! You won't do anything about this! --I'm telling my grandpa! Do you guys at the Magic Tower even want to pass this year's assessment!"

Who is this brat? Such a big mouth! He can decide the Magic Tower's assessment? This brat isn't some second-generation mage, no, third-generation mage, is he?

Gret quickly bent down, took out all the papers from his backpack, tidied them up slightly, and handed them over. Magister German flipped through them one by one, suddenly let out a cold snort, and threw the draft paper in front of Gret:

"I told you to tidy them up, and this is how you tidied them?"

"Ah... Oh?"

When did you tell me to copy?

Gret flinched. But the Magister's words clearly smoothed over the issue of him privately copying books, which was greatly beneficial to him. Gret wasn't stupid and immediately lowered his head to admit his mistake:

"It was my carelessness."

"You haven't even figured out capitalization! The alphabetical order is a complete mess! --Recopy it!"

"Ah... Ah? Yes!" Gret was overjoyed and quickly agreed. The Magister no longer paid attention to him, walking away with his hands behind his back. After two steps, he gave a second command:

"Copy two, keep one for yourself. Submit it within half a month!"

"Yes!" Gret answered loudly. He could copy books now! He could copy them openly! This was great!

The dictionary was indeed useful!

I knew it, anyone who wants to learn a new language can't resist the charm of a dictionary! You know Magic Script, don't you want to learn Elvish? Don't you want to learn Draconic? Huh, are there Draconic and Elvish in this world?

He collected his thoughts, quickly caught up, and followed behind the Magister to see him off. Magister German walked a few steps, suddenly stopped, and said to his disciple:

"Keep an eye on him!"

His tone was slightly stern. Eliot quickly agreed, and Magister German swayed as he left on his own. Eliot maintained his posture of seeing him off until his teacher's figure disappeared into the elevator, then turned to look at Gret.

"I'm sorry for causing you trouble." Gret quickly apologized.

When that child was shouting earlier, Eliot pretended not to see and walked away. Gret saw it clearly from the library. Reflecting on it now, Magister German had clearly noticed Eliot's deliberate inaction, and Gret truly felt sorry for him.

As soon as Gret apologized, Eliot, who had been looking a bit dejected, his expression softened. He picked up the draft paper and flipped through it, then suddenly raised his hand and patted Gret hard:

"You're really lucky!"

"Yeah." Gret smiled relaxedly, a little shaken. Eliot glanced at the boy beside him and shook his head:

"Do you know you've caught a good time? --The Magic Council assesses each Magic Tower annually. How many Mage Apprentices they've taught, whether they've improved new Magic, all count towards the score. If the score is low, the funding they receive is less, and they'll be tight on funds for the whole next year.

With the assessment period in June approaching, research hasn't been going smoothly... Your little gadget here, it's quite interesting and can be used to stall them a bit..."

Thank goodness! Copying the dictionary was useful after all! Gret let out a sigh of relief, his shoulders immediately slumping. Magister Eliot flipped through two more pages of the draft, suddenly threw his head back, and sighed loudly:

"Teacher told me to manage you... Sigh, you don't even know the letters, teaching you will be so troublesome. I'm rushing to do experiments, how about this--"

He muttered a few words, then suddenly raised his hand and pointed at Gret's forehead. A cool spiritual light flashed, and Gret felt his head swell as if an immense amount of information had been stuffed into it. Eliot waved his hand:

"Study on your own, I'm leaving!"

Gret suddenly turned his head. On the book pages spread out on the table, the Magic Script he hadn't memorized, hadn't learned, and didn't recognize at all, now clearly conveyed the meaning of every character.

Level 1 Magic: Comprehend Languages?

The words flashed through Gret's mind. In his previous life, he had seen this spell in web novels and games. It seemed to have a time limit, with the duration determined by the mage's level. This meant that once the time limit expired, he would forget everything?

Gret didn't have time to thank him. With swift strokes, he first arranged all the letters in order and copied them onto a piece of paper. When he looked back, Eliot was already far away, walking with hurried steps.

"Thank you!" Gret yelled, clinging to the doorframe. He turned and rushed to the bookshelf, racing against time, and first pulled out Basic Meditation.

Meditation is the foundation of a mage! The sooner, the better! While the effect of Comprehend Languages hasn't worn off, he should memorize this book first, so he can follow it when he gets back!

He opened the title page, Gret's gaze swept over it, and he breathed a sigh of relief.

"Meditation is a lifelong pursuit for mages.

--Hella Yuriel, Magic Calendar 382"

Thank goodness, he could understand it.

This book was written in Magic Script, not some strange characters, so he didn't have to find ways to decipher it. He recognized every character on it. The senior who wrote this book was truly friendly...

Gret concentrated his mind and read word by word. Whether it was written for new juniors or because the author was naturally approachable, Basic Meditation was written in a very simple and easy-to-understand manner. It clearly stated the meaning of meditation from the outset:

Meditation is the way mages temper their spiritual power, and then use that spiritual power to observe and reflect the world.

emmm...

He knew every character.

He understood every word.

But put together... What is spiritual power? Is it my attention? My thinking ability? The activity level of my brainwaves?

It's invisible, intangible. Would an electroencephalogram help now?

Or, could the brain-computer interfaces developed by Musk and others help extend spiritual power outside the body?

Or perhaps, it's not brainwaves, but the magnetic field of the brain's nerves?

Gret suppressed his urge to complain and calmly began reading. Time was limited, and he wasn't sure if he'd have enough to copy everything down, so he had to read and memorize simultaneously. After finishing the first read-through, he started his second. When he was halfway through the book, his mind suddenly felt fuzzy, and then...

The text on the pages turned into large swathes of distorted patterns, occasionally interspersed with a few words he recognized.

Magic duration expired.

An "OVER" sounded, and everything was instantly wiped clean, not even leaving a shred of memory behind.

Gret sighed in frustration. He spread out a fresh sheet of paper, flipped to the first page of Basic Meditation, and, relying on the illustrations and the scattered few words on the page for reminders, began to write it out from memory, line by line.

The meaning of meditation.

What is meditation.

How to begin meditation, how to quiet one's Spirit and enter a state between sleep and wakefulness, first concentrating, then dispersing.

How to use Spirit to touch the world, what one might feel during the first meditation, what are the taboos...

Line by line, page by page, without realizing it, a stack of paper filled with writing piled up to Gret's left.

An unexpected gain!

Tonight, he could attempt his first meditation!

Magic world, here I come!

I deleted a chapter of my draft today, my heart is so tired, please comfort me...

Please give me some collections... recommendation votes... monthly votes... book reviews are fine too...

Smoothing it out