Kawent's Thoughts

"If it weren't for you, I'm afraid I wouldn't have known how long it would take me to realize this."

Heisai sat to the side, acting carefree as he spoke.

However, his mood at this moment was exceptionally good. Anyone who found the path to becoming a god would feel just like him. That was the god-level, an existence comparable to the War God O'Brien and the High Priest.

At this point, Fang Yun already knew about Heisai's situation and felt a bit emotional in his heart. In the original story, it seemed Heisai also became a god within a few years, though no one knew what he had experienced.

He hadn't expected that after he arrived, he would actually provide the opportunity for Heisai.

This Heisai really was lucky.

But thinking about it carefully, Heisai's luck had always been quite good. Even after heading to the divine plane, things had gone relatively smoothly for him.

Even on Miluo Island, he had eventually met Linley.

"Alright, I'll be going now."

Heisai hadn't felt this eager to cultivate in a long time. "Today, I owe you a favor."

Even though he was about to become a god, Heisai still treated Fang Yun as an equal. After all, Fang Yun was at this same level and might even reach the god-level earlier than him.

By the time Fang Yun returned to the Ernst Institute at a leisurely pace, the day's matches had already concluded, with only the top three contestants determined.

Once the top three were decided, people had gained a clear understanding of the geniuses from the Ernst Institute and Wester Academy.

Among them, the most attention-grabbing was Dixie, followed by Linley. They were being called the two newest geniuses of the Ernst Institute.

As for Wester Academy, they naturally had some geniuses as well, but compared to Dixie and Linley, these geniuses were a bit lacking.

Dormitory 1987.

The four brothers were sitting together, each of them looking excited.

"Third brother, you've really brought glory to our 1987."

Yale couldn't help but speak up. "Honestly, how confident are you about taking first place?"

George and Reynolds were also looking at Linley.

Linley revealed a smile. "Ninety percent confidence."

Although his opponents were also level-two mages, their mental control was too poor, and he could easily defeat the others. Even though they all had the mental energy of level-two mages, there were still differences in strength.

"Haha, that's good then. Once you take first place, our dormitory must celebrate properly."

Yale laughed out loud.

George and Reynolds also laughed and chimed in.

"It's a pity there were so many level-two mages in the grade competition this time, otherwise I might have been able to get a decent ranking."

Reynolds said with some regret; he had been eliminated two days ago.

His own strength wasn't bad, but there were too many experts in this grade competition, so he hadn't even made it into the top ten. There were simply too many geniuses at the Ernst Institute.

Linley nodded without saying anything. In his heart, he felt rather heavy. After his match ended today, he had gone to watch the senior-grade matches, especially Dixie's.

A level-four mage!

And his control over mental energy was even more precise than his own.

Dixie was a month younger than him, yet he was already a level-four mage. As soon as the grade competition ended, he would successfully advance to the fourth grade.

The gap.

Linley felt a sense of powerlessness.

That night, Linley lay on his bed, the image of Dixie's match playing over and over in his mind.

Doehring Cowart sensed Linley's emotions and guessed some of what he was thinking. After all, Linley had been preoccupied ever since he watched Dixie's match.

"Linley, you can't sleep? Are you still thinking about Dixie's match from today?"

Doehring Cowart flew out of the Coiling Dragon Ring and spoke.

"Yeah."

Linley didn't hide his thoughts. "Dixie is younger than me, but he's already a level-four mage, while I'm still a level-two mage."

Doehring Cowart smiled. "Linley, when this Dixie enrolled, his mental energy was already 68 times that of his peers, putting him at the level of a level-three mage. He only needed to accumulate magic power to reach level three. Now, after being enrolled for so long, he has really only advanced from level three to level four."

Linley understood this; Dixie's talent was simply too strong—high mental energy and superior elemental affinity—so reaching this level was normal.

However, even so, this was a real, tangible gap between them. It was too large; he didn't even know how to begin catching up.

The further a mage progressed, the harder cultivation became. If one fell behind at the start, it would be even more impossible to catch up later.

"With Dixie's talent, the time it will take for him to go from a level-four mage to a level-five or even level-six mage will not be short."

Doehring Cowart said with certainty, "And during this time, I have a way for you to catch up to him."

"Catch up to Dixie?"

Linley didn't quite believe it in his heart. During his time studying at the Ernst Institute, he had become very clear about the gaps between mages.

Besides, Dixie's talent was inherently stronger than his. Even if he worked hard and Dixie worked hard, how could he possibly catch up to Dixie?

Seeming to see that Linley was skeptical, Doehring Cowart stroked his beard and said with a smile, "Linley, have you ever heard of stone carving?"

"Stone carving?"

Linley was stunned for a moment, not knowing why Grandpa Doehring had suddenly brought this up, but he still nodded earnestly. "I know. Excellent stone carvings are worth tens of thousands, or even hundreds of thousands of gold coins."

He was certainly no stranger to stone carving. In particular, the experience of his father selling the family's "Fierce Lion" carving had even sparked in him the idea of learning the craft. However, he had never actually had any contact with it until now.

Learning to carve stone was also very difficult.

"Haha, hundreds of thousands of gold coins?"

Doehring Cowart laughed. "That certainly counts as a decent carving. However, it cannot be considered the most impressive work; the carvings of true masters can even reach a million gold coins."

"A million gold coins?!"

Linley's eyes widened, and he couldn't help but gasp.

A million gold coins—what kind of concept was that? Even if he sold the entire Baruch clan, they wouldn't be able to scrape together that much money.

If he could possess a master-level stone carving, it could directly resolve the family's current predicament.

"Of course, those who can be called masters are very few."

Doehring Cowart said.

Linley nodded. He knew this as well; let alone a million gold coins, even carving something worth a thousand gold coins was an extremely difficult task.

The family's "Fierce Lion" carving, in his eyes, was already a very excellent piece, yet it had only sold for six hundred gold coins.

"Grandpa Doehring, what does this stone carving have to do with me catching up to Dixie?"

Linley did not understand.

Doehring Cowart spoke with a hint of pride. "The method I have for you to catch up to Dixie is stone carving!"

"Stone carving to catch up to Dixie?"

Linley was somewhat confused.

Subsequently, Doehring Cowart explained the Pingdao School he had created himself.

After learning about the Pingdao School of carving from Doehring Cowart, Linley prepared his carving tools the very next day, ready to begin practicing.

He would not give up on something that could both improve his spiritual energy and potentially change his family's predicament.

Soon, the grade tournament officially concluded.

Linley won first place in the first grade as expected, becoming a "celebrity" among the first-years, and even many people throughout the entire academy knew of him. After all, a nine-year-old dual-element mage of the second rank was definitely considered a genius.

Of course, whether it was Linley or the other students at Wester Academy, everyone seemed somewhat dim and lusterless in front of Dixie.

A nine-year-old fourth-rank mage—looking across the entire Yulan Continent, he was currently the only one.

"The teacher has such a good eye."

Kawent looked at Dixie, who was practicing in the distance, and couldn't help but sigh in admiration.

After the grade tournament ended, Dixie had returned to his state of bitter cultivation. At his current pace, it was estimated that in six or seven years at most, he would reach the level of a sixth-rank mage.

In six or seven years, Dixie would be at most fifteen or sixteen years old. A fifteen or sixteen-year-old sixth-rank mage would be considered a top-tier genius even across the entire Yulan Continent.

It was no wonder the teacher had asked him to come and watch over such a genius.

Kawent was also speculating at this moment that Dixie's future achievements would likely reach at least the Saint level.

It was a pity that the Ernst Institute could only teach magic up to the sixth rank; otherwise, in such an academic environment, a genius like Dixie might have progressed even faster.

However, although there were no academies to teach magic beyond the sixth rank, the various major powers existed, and there were opportunities to learn seventh-rank magic or even higher-level spells.

Especially since Dixie was highly valued by the teacher, his progress would only accelerate from here on out.

Sigh.

Kawent suddenly felt a wave of emotion.

Magic academies only recruited genius youths like Dixie; people like him, even if they had some talent, would not be accepted.

Thinking of his own situation, a thought suddenly flashed through Kawent's mind. Perhaps... he could teach some adults how to learn magic?

People with talent on the Yulan Continent were basically tested for magic aptitude before the age of twelve. However, many people missed the opportunity for testing simply because they didn't have enough gold coins.

After all, a single aptitude test cost ten gold coins.

And among those who could not afford the fee, there were surely geniuses suitable for learning magic.

Besides that, the situation on Blue Star was different from the Yulan Continent; there were fewer mages on Blue Star, and there was no complete system at all. Even if one wanted to learn magic, they wouldn't be tested before the age of twelve.

In other words, a large number of lives on Blue Star had missed the normal stage for learning magic.

If he taught some adults to learn magic, he might be able to change the fate of some people.

Even if they couldn't become powerful experts, it would still be better than being an ordinary person.

This was just like the adult colleges back on Blue Star; although the learning efficiency was not as high as that of youths, they could still cultivate a large number of talents.

Magic, perhaps, was the same.

Even if they couldn't fully utilize the learner's potential, as long as they could bring out some of it, that would be enough.

Thinking of this, Kawent's eyes grew brighter and brighter.

He felt more and more that this matter was feasible.

Great and supreme deity, was all of this your guidance?