What Kind of Class Is This?

In a classroom, many apprentices sat below, waiting for the teacher to arrive. What was different about them was that their faces were filled with excitement, anticipation, and perhaps a little unease.

Ocien looked around nervously, his hands repeatedly rubbing against the table. He was waiting for someone, a friend of his.

Finally, a Ocien figure appeared at the door. The sudden appearance of the person at the door attracted the attention of all the apprentices, and the noise in the entire classroom fell silent.

As Kahn approached the classroom door, the noise outside suddenly quieted down considerably after he appeared, leaving him somewhat bewildered.

Fortunately, within seconds, the apprentices realized that the newcomer was not the teacher they had imagined, but someone dressed in apprentice robes just like them, and immediately looked away. The classroom noise returned, even more so than before.

At that moment, Ocien raised his right hand from the back row and waved it to let Kahn know that his friend was in the back.

He walked over quickly and said:

"Hey, Ocien, why are you all here so early? I arrived half an hour early, but I'm still not as fast as you guys... This classroom is almost full."

Ocien looked at Kahn with disbelief, seemingly not quite understanding why he thought that way.

"What are you talking about? Isn't today our first lesson here? Besides, don't you want to learn more magic? Do you want to end up like those apprentices who didn't learn any magic last year and be taken to Antir?"

Kahn scratched his head and said:

"There's no need to get up so early, how much longer are we going to have to wait here?"

"I didn't sleep well last night, this morning."

Kahn finally understood why these apprentices had arrived so early.

Just a few days ago, when this group of apprentices had just entered the City of Apprentices, Loderis, they saw spellcasters everywhere and often witnessed people casting spells, which made the apprentices yearn to be the ones casting spells.

After receiving their own spells yesterday, the apprentices were even more excited, especially since today was their first lesson, so they were naturally very excited.

But Kahn was different. Although Kahn's family wasn't exactly a Profession family—his father was a lower-middle-class citizen in the city—they lived frugally, but they still managed to make ends meet.

He met a spellcaster when he was a child, and that encounter left a deep impression on him that he still can't forget.

He was wearing a tattered robe, patched and riddled with holes, huddled by the roadside like a beggar.

However, he couldn't even be a beggar, because the begging business there was managed by gangsters. Once, when he passed by, he saw him being pinned against a wall by a large group of people...

Until one day, he asked for a piece of dry bread he had been eating for three days and would rather go hungry than eat another bite, so he handed it to him.

The beggar immediately began to wolf down the food, and was overjoyed. He then performed a magic trick for him.

He can never forget the shock he felt when he saw a white ray strike the wall, the shock that left him speechless for a long time.

When he came to his senses, he hurriedly asked why he was begging here when he clearly possessed such magical abilities.

The beggar chuckled and said:

"My magical Talent isn't good enough. I learned this spell in the City of Apprentices, but now even the city's guards can cast a few spells. They're all from the City of Apprentices."

"So this is all I can do. What's the use of just one spell? I can't even defeat a Magic Creature outside the city. I'm less useful than a trained soldier."

He remembered all those words. After learning that he had been diagnosed with Talent Mental Power, he recalled those words and realized that coming to the City of Apprentices did not mean he would become the "Master Mage" that the soldiers talked about.

Therefore, he wasn't very interested in the spells cast by those spellcasters; he always remembered that if he wanted to become a respectable spellcaster, he had to work twice as hard.

Even though he couldn't sleep yesterday, he forced himself to not think about anything in bed, which gave him the energy to come to the classroom.

He thought to himself, looking at the empty seat on the podium, "I must study magic well and become a true mage."

Just then, the classroom suddenly fell silent as a man in a green robe walked in carrying a cart full of books.

"Welcome, apprentices. This should be your first lesson in the City of Apprentices... Two apprentices, distribute these books; these are the textbooks for this course."

While waiting for the textbooks to be distributed, Elan continued to speak.

"This course is also a required course for you. If you cannot pass this course, even if you learn all the spells, you still cannot graduate."

None of the apprentices showed fear upon hearing these words; instead, they displayed genuine confidence, believing they could pass the course.

The moment Kahn got the textbook, he started flipping through it on the table. He only glanced at it a few times before realizing that he couldn't understand the contents.

"By the way, this course was made possible with the help of the Forge School. If you perform well in this course, you will have the opportunity to join the Forge School..."

Upon hearing this news, the well-informed apprentices below, who already knew what the School meant, raised their voices, drowning out all other noises in the classroom.

Ocien turned and asked:

"What is this School? Why are they so surprised?"

Kahn patiently explained;

"The School is..."

"Oh, I see. It's not that difficult. We must join this School."

Seeing Ocien's excited expression, Kahn knew in his heart that if joining School were so easy, that spellcaster wouldn't have ended up in such a state.

Elan opened his textbook and began his lecture.

"Object..."

The atmosphere in the classroom instantly became oppressive, because the apprentices realized that they couldn't understand anything at all.

Elan's teaching method was unique. He believed that only the final principle of the Steam Engine truly needed to be explained, while the preceding content, although accounting for 90%, was only meant to aid understanding.

So he finished three chapters before even reaching the halfway point of a lesson, leaving the apprentices exhausted from turning the pages.

Kahn was the same; his mind was a complete mess, he couldn't understand anything, and could only mechanically turn the page.

Just then, he noticed that Ocien not only didn't look dazed, but was actually looking at the textbook with great interest.

"Can you understand?"

Ocien slowly turned around and said.

"It was alright, I only understood a little bit. It's somewhat similar to when I helped my father with carpentry."