World's Feedback

While Rainer slept soundly, making up for his exhausted spirit, Charlotte stood at a loss before the two boxes of books placed outside the dormitory door.

"Mrs. Freya brought these over this morning. They're from the principal."

Charlotte's roommate, Ivanna, had a lovely head of long light-golden hair. Her family ran a publishing business, so she was familiar with all sorts of anecdotes. Of course, that publishing house did not seem to be doing particularly well at the moment, but that was a matter for another time.

The Mrs. Freya she mentioned was something like Crescent Academy's steward, responsible for the students' daily lives, campus cleaning, and all sorts of miscellaneous affairs.

"Mr. Rainer?"

Confused, Charlotte immediately crouched down and opened the boxes.

"Wow—"

Ivanna was the one who exclaimed, while Charlotte was too astonished to speak.

The boxes were filled with heavy books, mostly related to Alchemy, along with academic journals from previous years. Borrowing these from the library required at least a teacher's authority or approval, not to mention a considerable rental fee. Yet Rainer had simply sent them directly to Charlotte.

In this world, knowledge was everything. Borrowing books alone could cost a mage a third of their educational funds. The value of these two boxes of books was at least equivalent to three years of Charlotte's tuition.

Charlotte had thought Rainer's offer to support her Alchemy studies had merely been an offhand remark, but he had actually sent her the materials so quickly.

"Ah, Charlotte, are you some kind of relative of the principal?"

Ivanna's Alchemy grades were ordinary, but she still recognized those few universally known academic journals and cried out softly.

"Shh, keep it down."

Charlotte did not want others to know that Rainer was funding her. Keeping a low profile was her principle, so she hurriedly had Ivanna carry the boxes into the dormitory. Only after closing the door did she let out a long breath.

Today was a day off, and most students were still sleeping in their beds. Hardly anyone in the corridor had noticed.

"You only went to the principal's office yesterday, and you got all this? I thought you'd been called in to be scolded."

Ivanna was good at reading people. When Charlotte had been summoned yesterday, Teacher Claire had clearly worn a stern expression. With that look, there was a ninety percent chance Charlotte had been called in for a reprimand. Yet she had returned unharmed and received such valuable gifts today. Ivanna truly could not understand it.

"I also..."

Before Charlotte could explain, a knock sounded at the door, making goosebumps rise all over her body.

"It's me. Is Charlotte there?"

Claire's voice came from outside the door, finally allowing Charlotte to relax. But then she grew curious again. What did Teacher Claire want from her?

"I'm here."

Charlotte opened the door and saw that Claire looked somewhat tired. In one hand, she held a black-and-white uniform; in the other, a stack of parchment.

"What is it, Teacher Claire?"

She instinctively still felt a trace of fear toward this dean of students. Pinching the hem of her clothes between her fingers, she looked at Claire before her.

"That guy asked me to bring this to you."

Claire handed the parchment to Charlotte. She did not say who "that guy" was, but from her tone, Charlotte knew it had to be Rainer.

Only after taking the parchment did Charlotte see the title on the first page.

<Discussion of the Special Gas Produced in Limestone Heating Experiments and Several Problems with Traditional Combustion Reaction Theory>.

There was no doubt that this concerned the experiment she had conducted yesterday.

Rainer had said he would write a paper, but how long had it been?

Less than a day had passed since last night, yet he had turned Charlotte's hypothesis into such a thick paper?

"He also said you should read this paper carefully. If there's anything you don't understand, anything you find unclear, or anything you have doubts about, mark it. Go to his office after dinner. Of course, I'll accompany you."

Claire instructed her. Though she did not like Rainer, she did not neglect a single task she was supposed to do.

"Okay, okay."

Charlotte nodded repeatedly, hugging the paper to her chest as though it were some priceless treasure.

"Then I'll be going."

Claire turned and left. She had always been this busy; in the students' eyes, this dean of students never seemed to have a moment to rest.

After watching her leave, Charlotte returned to the dormitory and looked solemnly at the paper in her hands.

"What's that?"

Ivanna leaned over, but after struggling through the paper's title once, she gave up on joining in the excitement.

She recognized nearly every word separately, but when they were put together, she had no idea what they meant.

Even so, she noticed the author's name beneath the title.

Rainer Ian Gray—wasn't that the name of the newly appointed principal?

"The principal wrote this? I heard from my father that the Ian Gray Family's third son was good for nothing except being handsome. I didn't expect him to be able to write something like this."

Ivanna was well informed, so she had naturally heard about Rainer's family.

"Mm, Ivanna, let me read it by myself first."

Charlotte replied. Without waiting for her roommate's opinion, she sat down beside her desk and began reading the paper.

Seeing Charlotte's serious, focused expression, Ivanna did not disturb her. She quietly left the dormitory with her textbooks to study on her own.

By the bright lamplight, Charlotte became completely immersed in the paper.

Although she had not had many opportunities to encounter cutting-edge academic papers, Charlotte had read several famous ones before and had her own standards for judging their quality. Without a doubt, the one before her belonged among the very best.

Charlotte had initially thought her experiment was quite simple, and that Rainer's thirty-odd pages might contain plenty of needless filler. But as she read on, she discovered that Rainer's language was precise and straightforward. He explained the key points in just a few sentences, while expanding on every relevant aspect thoroughly. Almost whenever Charlotte had a question, Rainer's next passage explained her confusion.

His discussion of combustion reactions was even more earth-shaking. Though they were merely words describing theory, to Charlotte they felt like the most impassioned and magnificent prose. Her breathing quickened, and her hands trembled slightly.

The young woman sat at a desk in a corner of Crescent Academy, but her thoughts had already flown somewhere far more distant. She saw blazing flames. Within those flames, some substance gleaming with brilliant light was guiding her forward. Charlotte tried to delve deeper, only to feel countless stars rise around her. The stars flickered in and out as they moved along elegant, orderly paths.

When her thoughts returned, Charlotte was drenched in sweat, yet an indescribable power surged within her. It was magical power that might not have accumulated even after several days of meditation, and it had formed inside her body merely because she had read a paper.

In the past, this had happened whenever a mage made a breakthrough in their understanding of the world's essence. But Charlotte had never imagined that she, a mage apprentice, would experience such a day as well.

Charlotte still did not know what she had seen earlier, but she felt that somewhere unseen, a great door was opening to her.

And the one leading her onward at that door was Rainer.