Second Year

With the new students arriving, Borne had also been promoted to a second-year student.

Borne glanced at the new semester's timetable and frowned.

Basic Theory of Magic

Principles of Spellcasting

Introduction to Spell Sources

The courses were mostly the same as the previous year's, and they were taught by elderly scholars (older people with extensive knowledge of magic but little magical power) and young teaching assistants who had stayed on at the school.

Borne had attended a few times, but after that, he never went again. The level was rather mediocre, and, more importantly, the lessons covered extremely basic knowledge.

It wasn't just Borne. The noble students had mastered these basics long before enrolling.

One could see how much effort the dean had put into narrowing the gap between commoners and nobles.

This year, more than 1,300 new students enrolled, 500 more than last year.

Eight hundred new students had enrolled last year, half of them commoners. This year, the number of nobles remained unchanged, while the number of commoners had increased.

The commoners who got in certainly had the necessary talent. What they lacked was access to information. The ability to read alone was enough to weed out ninety-nine percent of the students.

How many commoners could master Netherese script before enrolling, let alone the noble version?

For this reason, a new course, Introduction to Magic Script, had been added to the first-year curriculum.

Put simply, it taught students how to read. Ten classes were opened, and every single one was filled beyond capacity.

In the end, there was no choice but to add three more classes, and even that barely sufficed. Every student who signed up was a commoner.

To accommodate the commoners, the dean had to lower the difficulty of the curriculum several times.

As a result, the strength of the academy's graduates had declined year after year. The strongest graduate last year was the previous president of the Arcane Society, who was also the only intermediate Arcanist.

Borne sighed to himself. He'd long since stopped expecting much from the courses, but seeing them laid out still irritated him.

Fortunately, the Lehman Trading Company was gradually getting on track. Now all it needed was to establish a firm foothold, with Lehman overseeing the general direction. Borne no longer had to devote so much energy to it.

So he decided to have a proper talk with his grandfather.

He arrived at the familiar Wizard Tower and waved a hand, having the Tower Spirit send him straight to the floor where Count Ioulaum was.

As the vice dean of Giles Academy, Count Ioulaum had an entire floor of the Wizard Tower to himself. More importantly, he also had access to part of the tower's permissions.

That was why the count spent most of his time at the academy rather than at home. The laboratory on the top floor of the estate was basically useless—Borne had practically emptied it.

Of course, the main reason was that Netheril's top-grade equipment was almost all kept in the Wizard Tower.

Borne's eyes lit up as he gazed at the various magical devices in his grandfather's laboratory.

"Have some dignity. Wipe the drool off your face."

At the sound of the voice, Borne instinctively raised a hand, then immediately caught himself and turned around.

"Grandfather!"

The newcomer was Count Ioulaum.

After a brief exchange, Borne got straight to the point.

"You want to make an Ioun Stone yourself?"

Count Ioulaum's expression turned serious. "'Ioun Stones' are the pinnacle of Netherese craftsmanship and one of Netheril's greatest secrets. Even I can't just hand one over to you."

"High Yarrow mutation technique!"

"Hmm?"

"What if I said... I'd trade the Magical Plant Mutation Technique for it? Would that work?"

"Sure. Deal!"

The count agreed before Borne had even finished speaking.

Borne: ...

Seeing Borne's expression, the count was delighted. "Don't worry. Would your grandfather really let you get the short end of the stick?"

Borne gave him a sidelong look. His expression practically spelled out one word: Yes.

The count flew into a rage, wishing he could toss the little brat right out of there.

The count was quite satisfied with Borne as his heir. If he had to pick a flaw, it was that Borne was too independent and hardly ever needed his help.

Borne had astonishing talent for the arcane arts. When he needed money, he simply founded a trading company himself and built his own channels. Outsiders generally believed the count was behind it all, but in reality, he hadn't done a thing.

It was rare for his precious grandson to come to him for help, so even without the Magical Plant Mutation Technique in exchange, he would have found a way to get the Ioun Stone for him.

And in terms of practical value, the technique was worth hundreds of times more than that whatever-you-called-it craftsmanship!

Being able to mutate High Yarrow meant other varieties could be mutated too. Even if the quality was much poorer, they could still be produced in large quantities.

Just think how many spellcasters that could train!

Why had the strength of the academy's graduates declined year after year? It was all because of a lack of resources!

There was no helping it. The Arcane Garden was only so large, while the number of students kept increasing.

Too many students and too few resources—quality was bound to suffer.

The count raised a hand and tapped the air with his index finger. A scroll appeared out of nowhere and landed in his palm.

"Here. These are some notes and techniques from when I made Ioun Stones. Take a look at them first. I can only give you the detailed method once the esteemed one approves."

With the goods in hand, Borne immediately made his escape.

"That brat..."

Once outside the Wizard Tower, Borne idly turned the scroll over in his hand, clearly in a good mood.

But before long, someone blocked his way. Borne hadn't expected anyone to corner him inside the academy.

Didn't they know his grandfather was the vice dean?!

The people who stopped Borne were members of the Arcane Society.

A lanky blond man said, "Kid, you were really hard to track down. Do you know how long we've been—"

"Fran! Have you forgotten what the president said?"

His companion cut the blond man off, then turned to Borne. "Sorry, Borne Ioulaum. My name is Rocky Nasif, and he's Fran Vanwick. We're members of the Arcane Society."

"What do you want?" Borne asked, his expression unfriendly.

"Well, our president would like to invite you to join the Arcane Society."

"Sorry, I'm not interested. If your president is serious, he can come and speak to me himself."

"This..."

Rocky looked troubled. The blond man had already been irritated, and when he heard Borne's response, he moved toward him.

"You brat, are you—"

Rocky quickly reached out to stop Fran.

"Oh? Are you trying to start something?"

A pale blue, oval-shaped magical barrier enveloped Borne. Dozens of pale blue weapons—knives, swords, spears, and more—formed from magic appeared around him.

After nearly a hundred revisions to Mage Hand, its effects were no longer limited to the shape of a hand.

The two men were completely stunned by the display. It was Borne's first time testing the spell's new effects, and they seemed pretty good. Unfortunately, his opponents were so weak they were scared stiff.

He'd have to wait and see how effective it was in a real fight. Then he cast Fly and left, leaving the two men standing there in stunned silence.

After watching Borne fly away, the two finally relaxed. When Fran saw Rocky's expression, he felt a faint twinge of regret, but it was soon replaced by pride in his family.

The two returned to the Arcane Society in silence to report to the president.

The new president was Skolin Vanwick.

As the newly appointed president of the Arcane Society, he needed to establish his authority as quickly as possible.

He thought of the previous president, who had wanted to invite Borne Ioulaum but hadn't succeeded.

The Arcane Society was under the academy's leadership. It assisted the academy in managing its students, held considerable authority, and knew a great deal of information that others didn't.

That was why so many students tried their hardest to join the Arcane Society.

After hearing their report, Skolin more or less understood what had happened. To avoid any mistakes, he had sent his own family member along to help persuade Borne, but instead of helping, he had nearly started a fight.

Skolin was speechless. If they hadn't been in front of outsiders, he would have given that fool a piece of his mind.

"All right. If he doesn't think much of us, then let it go."

"President, that kid ran his mouth and even told you to come see him personally..."

The blond man had only grown angrier on the way back. As a member of the Vanwick family, he had never had to put up with this sort of treatment. Seeing Skolin ready to let it go, he couldn't help speaking up.

Smack.

Skolin slapped the table and snapped, "I said to let it go. Didn't you hear me?"

The blond man jumped. Seeing the president lose his temper, he shrank back and said no more.

"Rocky, you can go. Fran, report to Anderson at the Enforcement Squad."

"Yes."

Rocky glanced at the blond man and left first.

Once the outsider was gone, the blond man hurried forward and pleaded, "Cous—"

He had barely started when he saw Skolin's dark expression and swallowed. "P-President, could I not go to the Enforcement Squad?"

"What? Say that again!"

"Could I go some...where else? Uh, all right, I'm going right now!"

The other members of the Arcane Society watched as the blond man darted out of the president's office and hurried away.

Thump.

The president's door closed by itself, and the members of the Arcane Society went back to their own business.