Just say it's not parallel.

I have to admit, people are different.

For a commoner like me, teaching a disciple feels like teaching a combination of Edison and Newton.

I feel more like a professor at some shady foreign university, throwing out a random topic and letting the student figure it out on their own. Then, I just sign my name as 'professor' at the end.

Anyway, the school is shady. The students pay tuition, but whether they learn anything or if their future degrees are recognized, who knows.

This is probably what they call "[learning by doing]."

Did you learn?

You learned... probably!?

When I taught Downs about "sliding friction," he independently came up with 4-ring Conjuration magic [Sticky Orb]. He can summon a snot-like blob of mucus that can suppress slow enemies, rendering them immobile.

When I taught him about "Thermodynamics," he conjured a bunch of fire spells.

If I could somehow connect these, if I could imagine what Downs would generally learn, then the most recent pinnacle of abstraction was when I taught him about "Atmospheric Pressure."

"Generally speaking, if we don't consider other factors like motive force, the higher the temperature, the faster the atmosphere expands and rises, and the lower the air pressure..."

I taught it, and after I finished, whatever Downs figured out was like opening a blind box.

A few minutes later, I felt like I saw a phantom light bulb light up above Downs's forehead.

"Master, I get it!"

"You get it again?"

"Yes! At very high places, the pressure is low. So, can I give myself pressure, make my pressure high, and then stand firmly anywhere?"

Downs's description was too abstract, and I couldn't keep up with my disciple's train of thought for a moment.

It doesn't matter if I don't understand, as long as the system does: "Try it."

After all, it won't be Master who dies from trying!

Downs immediately stood on the trunk of a large tree, completely parallel to the ground, at a 90-degree angle to the earth, heading straight for the treetop.

[Congratulations to the host, your disciple Downs has comprehended 4-level Transformation magic (Fictional Gravity). The caster can walk on any solid surface and can 'fall' in a specified direction according to their 'will'.]

Seeing this, I bared my teeth: This cheat is awesome, keep it enabled, it's interesting.

For a while, I thought my monstrous disciple would keep cheating all the way to becoming a Legendary Mage.

Until one day, I taught him about series and Parallel Circuit.

I wrote the most basic theorems on the blackboard:

Series: (1) There is only one path for the current. (2) The current in a series circuit is equal everywhere. (3) The total voltage in a series circuit is equal to the sum of the voltages at each point. (4) The equivalent resistance of series resistors is equal to the sum of each resistor.

Parallel: (1) There are several paths in the circuit. (2) In a Parallel Circuit, the voltage is equal everywhere.

After writing them, I put down the chalk, clapped my hands, and went fishing.

Who knew, ten minutes passed.

Twenty.

Thirty...

An hour.

This time, I didn't wait for the phrase 'Master, I get it'. Instead, I saw a dejected, confused, and even somewhat mentally broken face.

"Master, I, I, I really didn't understand anything. Am I too stupid?"

I was stunned for a moment. The words 'You are the worst batch of students I've ever taught' turned into: "You are a little stupid, but don't worry, you're at least not incurably stupid."

Young people have a certain drive, but what if one day they suddenly get tired, weary, and can't push forward anymore?

If I still held my original mindset that my disciple was courting disaster and would get into trouble sooner or later, and I needed to find a replacement quickly, I probably would have breathed a sigh of relief internally and promptly sold him out.

But without realizing it, we had been together for three months.

People are not made of wood.

Let alone a living person like this, even ordinary cats and dogs, after three months, you'd develop some affection.

"Master, I, I can still be saved?"

I reached out and flicked Downs on the forehead.

"Ow, it hurts!"

"You can be saved, it depends on whether you're truly obedient and can properly adjust your mindset."

"I'll be good!" Downs immediately sat up in the unique kneeling posture of this world, perfectly executed. He exuded an aura of pure obedience.

"Learning is like this. Often, progress is rapid and smooth in the early stages, with new things and discoveries every day. But then, one day, you'll suddenly find yourself unable to break through to a higher level."

"Ah!" Downs let out a small cry.

Lein waved the homemade cola glass bottle in his hand: "This is the Bottleneck!"

"Bottleneck?" Downs's voice was a near whisper.

Seeing his disciple's troubled expression, Lein suddenly felt a sense of being a true teacher. In the past, when he taught a physics law, the kid would somehow conjure up a different magic. As a teacher, Lein had felt no sense of accomplishment.

Over time, he'd become numb to it.

If it weren't for the incredibly useful buffs this darn disciple provided, Lein swore he'd be shouting, "I'm tired, just destroy it all!"

Now, he finally felt like he was guiding a lost lamb to the right path, not to some questionable website.

"Yes! Bottleneck. When you feel stuck, you need to find truly good books, ponder them deeply, and then accumulate strength for a breakthrough. Of course, not just any book. In my world, there are things like [One-click generate essay], which can write a hundred thousand words in a second. There's also [Quantum Reading], which can finish a book in eight seconds. And the worst are those readers who mock authors by saying, 'You can't even write as fast as I can read'..."

As Lein spoke, Downs's eyes widened, his mouth agape as if he could swallow an apple.

These absurd things, in Downs's worldview, were typical Arabian Nights.

Lein added with a sigh: "But such things have no Soul. You need to read books of the same genre, no, even occasionally reading books on music and art can help you understand things better..."

What Lein had intended to say was that web novels generated by automatic writing programs were unreadable. He had been speaking kindly and at length, but the moment he heard the word "Soul," Downs filtered out the rest of Lein's words, his mind suddenly buzzing with activity.

"[Soul!]"

"Yes! Soul." Seeing his good disciple's eyes light up, Lein suddenly had an ominous premonition.

The Master felt a bit scared: The Soul I'm talking about, are you sure you understand it the same way I do?

Soul, in the literal sense.

Downs shouted, "Master! I've had another epiphany!"

No, wait, this isn't scientific. You've had another epiphany?

Lein stared with his 'pay-to-win' eyes as his good disciple suddenly thrust out his left hand, grabbing at the air. A cluster of wind elements seemed to shriek as they were abruptly pulled from the void, letting out angry roars.

Downs ignored them, spreading his arms wide, as if opening a massive dictionary or unfurling a huge net.

At first glance, it looked like the level 3 evocation spell [Lightning Bolt].

Lein immediately noticed something was wrong. This 'bolt' of lightning was far too wide. And it wasn't one bolt, but three, no, a total of five.

Lein was stunned to realize: Five winding Lightning Bolts placed side-by-side, hovering in mid-air, didn't this scene look like...

Downs puffed out his chest proudly: "Thank you for your guidance, Master! The key to creating a 'Parallel Circuit' is to inject a wind element's [Soul] into each circuit!"

Just as the Master's mind was dealt a ridiculous blow, a system notification arrived: [Congratulations to the Host's disciple for comprehending Metamagic Feat (Widen Spell). This feat increases the spell's area of effect for burst, area, line, or cone spells. All spell parameters are doubled. This Metamagic Feat is permanently shared with the Master...]

The Master: "Damn it!"

Just tell me you didn't actually wire them in parallel.