Full Marks

In Loderis, the City of Apprentices, inside Cuilan Academy, there was a classroom with a sign that read, "Current Course: Identifying Materials for Potion-Making."

Many apprentices sat in their chairs, waiting for the grades for the course to be announced.

"I'll now read out the grades for this course."

At the front of the classroom, a brown-haired female teacher in a robe that exposed only her arms and face held a sheet of paper.

"Those who passed this course are York, Asta..."

Each time she read out a name, an apprentice breathed a sigh of relief, their clenched hands gradually relaxing.

"That's the complete list of students who passed this course."

At those words, quite a few apprentices wore pained, regretful expressions, cursing themselves for not studying harder and failing the course.

"Isn't Teacher Rita's course supposed to be easy to pass? How come I failed!?"

"Don't worry too much. It's not one of those courses you have to pass, so it won't affect your graduation."

Two apprentices quietly discussed this below.

"Also, there was one outstanding student in this course. I'm sorry to say there was only one... Fran, come down here."

The apprentices didn't react much. They hadn't heard the name often, so they just quietly asked their companions who she was.

A girl with long black hair stood up and walked down to Teacher Rita.

"Fran... full marks in theory and full marks in practical work... You're the first student in the more than ten years I've taught this course to get full marks in both sections. Can you tell me how you did it?"

Fran lowered her head slightly, looking very modest.

"I just happened to get tested on the parts I knew. If the questions had been a little more unusual, I wouldn't have known the answers..."

In her heart, Fran knew full well that she had earned those scores by grinding her proficiency. It had taken a whole week, working on this every single day.

"Getting first place through your own effort is a skill in itself." Rita smiled and continued.

"As a reward, I've decided to give you four Contribution Points, and... the Harmonization Method."

As she spoke, Rita handed Fran a sheet of silver paper.

Fran was a little surprised. Each course awarded Contribution Points to outstanding apprentices, but when there were many of them, most people usually got just one point.

Teachers had to be very impressed to give out three or more. No teacher would hand out four points lightly.

These Contribution Points could be used to exchange for precious knowledge. They were extremely scarce, and people were often looking to buy them.

As for the Harmonization Method, it was exactly what she had worked so hard for. Outstanding apprentices in this course could all obtain it.

Perhaps noticing her surprise, Rita continued with a smile:

"Once you've learned the Harmonization Method, come find me. I'll recommend you for membership in the Pharmacist Association."

"Thank you, Teacher Rita..."

"Go back to your seat. I still have something to say."

When Fran returned to her chair, Rita tapped on the desk, signaling the apprentices still chatting to quiet down.

"I'll repeat the academy head's announcement. Starting this year, all apprentices who can't cast a spell by the end of the year will have to serve in the military. Remember, that means everyone... Good. You're dismissed."

The apprentices got up and left, talking as they went.

"Military service? Does that mean there's a war somewhere?"

"Yeah, I heard there's a civil war going on over in Antir. I bet the academy head sold us apprentices off for a handsome price."

"Seriously, why did this have to happen in our year? I haven't even learned how to cast a spell yet!"

"In previous years, three out of every ten first-year apprentices couldn't cast a spell. With this policy pushing them, there should be a lot fewer this year..."

Fran left the classroom with the other apprentices, turning down every invitation to join some club or attend a social event. She still had a life-or-death task to handle.

She was one of the apprentices who couldn't cast a spell. If Rita knew, she might deduct some of the Contribution Points she'd awarded Fran.

After all, those sent to the battlefield might not make it back alive. Rita certainly wouldn't invest in her.

She had transmigrated here eight days ago, one night, and hadn't inherited the original host's spell proficiency. She had to use the remaining three months to catch up on a year's worth of progress.

Fran silently thought, Panel.

[Name: Fran

Profession: None

Attributes: Constitution 0.8, Spirit 1.4

Skills: Herb Identification (Mastery) (Proficiency: 1/10000): You can clearly identify the herbs listed in the Basic Herb Compendium.

Herb Processing (Mastery) (Proficiency: 13/10000): Your methods of processing herbs are as if the Basic Herb Compendium had written down your every move.

Magic Missile (Uninitiated) (Proficiency: 0/10): You don't know how to use this at all.]

This was the cheat that had come with Fran when she transmigrated. For now, its function was to show her current status.

And once she maxed out a proficiency, it would unreasonably boost her skill in that area, with no limit to how far it could go.

She had to admit, a Panel that rewarded effort and let her see her proficiency bar at all times really put her at ease.

Even though she had no money and no professional skills, she was confident she could pass the test and avoid that damned battlefield.

When apprentices enrolled, Cuilan Academy had each of them choose a basic spell. The original host had chosen Magic Missile.

According to the memories she'd retained, if the original host had just worked hard, she could have learned the spell by the end of the year.

But when Fran arrived, she ran into a major snag with the way magic was learned in this world.

She had thought, I've got this Panel. Learning a spell should be a piece of cake.

But learning Magic Missile required an external aid. She couldn't learn it on her own at all.

It wasn't the sort of magic where you just learned to use your spirit to draw on the elements and that was that.

Magic Missile required something called a Magic Stone to help with learning. According to the explanation on the handout she'd received,

apprentices didn't possess magic power of their own and needed external magic power to learn the spell.

Of course, once you learned it, you would naturally have magic power within you, and wouldn't need a Magic Stone anymore.

The Magic Stones the original host had bought with her monthly apprentice allowance wouldn't be enough for Fran to learn the spell, by her calculations.

That was why she had spent over a week ignoring everything else and grinding away at herb-related skills, earning full marks in both sections of the course.

This was the nearest upcoming course test. The next test the original host had signed up for wouldn't take place until two months later, when all the tests were held together.

Fortunately, the Panel's proficiency system had been very helpful. It had let her obtain the Harmonization Method, the solution to her predicament, as well as an unexpected bonus: four Contribution Points.

"That damned academy head! Why couldn't they have introduced this policy at any other time? It just had to happen when I got here, leaving me with so much to do."

If not for this, she could've just kept waiting for her monthly Magic Stone allowance. There'd have been no need to go through all this extra trouble.