Learning

The next day was February 9.

After listening to the school leaders' opening ceremony speeches, Garen learned the academy's class schedule.

Earth-style classes ran from eight to ten in the morning, Fire-style from ten thirty to twelve thirty, Water-style from two to four in the afternoon, Wind-style from four thirty to six thirty, Lightning-style from seven to nine in the evening, and Light Element from nine thirty until eleven thirty at night.

The schedule worked out pretty well. After his morning workout and warrior training, Garen could go study Fire-style magic.

After training for a while at noon, he could go study Wind-style magic.

The classes were pretty easy, and the schedule gave him a good balance between work and rest.

In the evening, he could return to his dorm and meditate to refine his magic power. Perfect.

After the opening ceremony on the first day, classes were dismissed, and everyone was free to do as they pleased.

Garen went to the hills behind the academy. After finding a quiet, secluded clearing, he began practicing his Tiger Blood Battle Qi.

February 10. The first-year Fire-style classroom.

The classroom was enormous, large enough to hold hundreds of students. Garen had just finished his morning battle qi training and had arrived right on time. He'd barely taken a seat when a young female teacher walked in.

"Hello, everyone. I'm Angela, your first-year Fire-style magic instructor. We have more than a dozen new students in class today. Come up and introduce yourselves."

Soon, the new students had all introduced themselves. They came from all over the Yulan Continent, and Garen went up to give a brief introduction of himself as well.

But as soon as he introduced himself, the teacher fixed her eyes on him, and a stir rippled through the students below.

It seemed his talent had already spread throughout the academy.

When the students' chatter grew louder and louder, Angela spoke up at just the right moment.

"Okay, everyone's introduced themselves. I can see that you're all envious of Garen's talent, but I want you to remember that every one of you is a genius. As long as you study diligently and train hard, you can all become powerful mages."

"There was once a mage on the Yulan Continent with only moderate elemental affinity who trained all the way to the Saint Realm. Every one of you here has better talent than he did, so talent alone doesn't determine everything."

After the teacher's rousing pep talk, the students were all fired up. Who wouldn't want to reach the Saint Realm? Those who did were invincible on the continent and had endless lifespans.

"Next, I'll explain what Fire-style magic is. Of all the kinds of magic, Fire-style has the greatest explosive power..."

The class began with the students introducing themselves, followed by Angela going on about how powerful Fire-style magic was. It had high burst damage, and a single combo could kill someone outright. She spent an hour on that before finally covering some useful material in the second half.

The class was soon over, and Garen had found it fascinating. He had to admit, the senior student who taught at Ernst Institute explained things in an easy-to-understand way and analyzed Fire-style magic in great detail.

After going back to review what the teacher had covered that day and eating lunch, Garen did some more warrior training before heading to the first-year Wind-style classroom in the afternoon.

"Hey, Garen."

He'd just entered the room when he heard someone greet him.

"Linley, you're early."

The one who had greeted him was Linley, who lived in the dorm room next door.

Garen casually walked over to him and took an empty seat beside him.

He glanced around and spotted a cute little girl on Linley's other side, watching him.

Could that be Delia? Linley really is lucky with the ladies. She's clearly going to be a beauty.

Garen thought to himself.

After they chatted briefly, a senior student walked into the classroom.

"Hello, everyone. I'm Trey, a sixth-year student. Starting today, I'll be teaching your Wind-style magic classes. I live in dorm room 0298, so if you have any questions after class, feel free to come find me."

As usual, the new students introduced themselves first. Then the Wind-style instructor praised Wind-style magic before finally beginning the lesson.

Wind-style magic really was impressive. It was the only type of magic that let people fly before reaching the Saint Realm.

Garen could transform into a White Tiger Warrior, and he yearned to fly. Then he'd truly be like a tiger with wings.

But he was still a long way from being able to fly freely. He'd have to reach the seventh level.

Immersed in training his battle qi and studying magic, he found each day flying by, full and satisfying.

A month later, Garen's Warrior Level had reached Level 4, and his Tiger-Striped Warrior transformation had reached Level 6. In an ordinary town, he would have counted as a minor expert.

Garen

Warrior Level: Level 4 (7/5000 experience)

Transformation Level: Level 6

Looking at his experience bar, he saw that he needed 5,000 experience to reach Level 5.

His battle qi training now earned him 30 experience a day, so he'd be able to reach Level 5 in about half a year. After making a plan, he threw himself back into training.

Half a year passed in the blink of an eye.

Garen's Warrior Level finally reached Level 5.

Warrior Level: Level 5 (6/10000 experience)

Transformation Level: Level 7

A Level 7 warrior was an expert in an ordinary duchy.

As expected, leveling up got harder the higher he climbed. It would take a full year to earn 10,000 experience.

Whether it was Warrior Level or Magic Level, things were easy enough before Level 6. But the jump from Level 6 to Level 7 was a major hurdle, and leveling up would probably get much slower after that.

Immersed in the ocean of magic, he studied all kinds of incantations, runes, and magical techniques. Time seemed to fly through his hands, and every moment brought new discoveries and challenges.

He trained his Tiger Blood Battle Qi, explored the limits of his physical strength, and mastered the techniques needed to control it.

Year after year passed. In the blink of an eye, three and a half years had gone by.

Garen was now twelve years old, and he'd grown to a height of 1.65 meters.

He was now a fifth-year student at Ernst Institute.

Two and a half years earlier, his Warrior Level had reached Level 6, and after transforming, he'd just entered Level 8. Then, within a month, his Magic Level had risen to Level 4 as well.

He'd wanted to apply to train in the Magical Beast Mountain Range (to kill monsters and level up), but the academy wouldn't allow it. Students had to be in their fifth year before they could go out on training expeditions.

He couldn't tell his teachers the secret of his Tiger-Striped Warrior transformation, so for the next two and a half years, he'd devoted most of his efforts to practicing magic. At last, his Magic Level had reached Level 5.

A Level 5 mage at twelve years old was absolutely a genius among geniuses.

Warrior Level: Level 6 (13678/50000 experience)

Transformation Level: Level 8

Magic Level: Level 5 (472/10000 experience)

After reaching Level 5 as a mage, he and Dixie advanced to Level 5 in the same year and were hailed as Ernst's "Two Great Geniuses."

Since he lived next door to Linley, Garen often saw him working on stone sculptures. He knew Linley's moment of explosive growth was coming. If he kept training at a steady pace without finding a way to level up quickly, he might be surpassed too, just like Dixie.

For a while, the academy wouldn't approve his request to go on an expedition, and meditating to refine his magic power was slow. So he bought a Flat Blade and secretly tried sculpting stone in the hills behind the academy. Unfortunately, he had no one to teach him, and he was too shy to ask Linley for advice. His sculptures looked like they'd been chewed by a dog, and the work left him exhausted every day. After a few days, he gave up.

After reaching Level 5 as a mage, Garen applied to go on an expedition again. This time, his application was approved.

I'm coming, Magical Beast Mountain Range.

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