Joseph

Drew had spent three days making Shadow Potions at home. Three days later, the familiar knock sounded.

Drew picked up the bag containing the potions and opened the door.

Today, Deke wasn't the only one standing outside. There was an extra person with him. The man wore a pointed wizard's hat and a wizard's robe made of hemp.

An emblem of a book sat on the chest of the robe. From Karen's memories, Drew knew this meant the man was a novice wizard.

Drew said nothing. He handed the bag to Deke, then turned and stared at the novice wizard.

Deke tactfully said nothing and left with a bow. The novice wizard felt immense pressure, but he had no choice but to introduce himself.

"Greetings, Wizard Drew. My name is Joseph.

"I'm a resident of Lincoln Town.

"And as you can see, I'm a novice wizard." The wizard named Joseph pointed to the wizard's badge on his chest.

Drew looked at him without saying a word.

Joseph awkwardly continued, "Well, as fellow wizards, I should have come to visit you as soon as you arrived.

"But you're also an alchemist.

"I was worried I might disturb you while you were practicing alchemy, so I came to visit with Deke.

"Coming now means I can be sure you aren't practicing alchemy, so I won't disturb you."

"What do you want?"

"Just a normal exchange between wizards. I wanted to come by and pay you a formal visit."

"Good. We've met.

"My house is small, so I can't host you. Please leave."

"Wait, wait! I have something to discuss. Would you mind hearing my story?"

"I was born in this town and was found to have a talent for magic.

"The whole town was overjoyed. Everyone pooled their resources to help me study magic.

"But my talent wasn't good enough. After studying for several years, I could only reach the level of a novice wizard. No matter what I did, I couldn't advance to intermediate wizard. Eventually, I gave up and came back to teach students.

"I hoped to repay the townspeople by teaching more wizards. Fortunately, my students are more talented than I am, and several of them have already become official novice wizards.

"My more talented students are about to surpass me, and I can't teach them anymore.

"I've never become an intermediate wizard myself, so I wanted to ask you to share your experience advancing to that level. Would that be all right?"

"In my experience, once you become an official wizard, there's no bottleneck before the advanced level.

"As long as you build up enough power, you can advance to intermediate wizard. What's stopping you?"

"My mental strength is sufficient, but I can't form the magic runes.

"Their structures are so difficult they're driving me to my grave," Joseph said sheepishly.

Drew was speechless. Weren't all those with a talent for magic smart?

How could anyone be such an oddball that they couldn't figure out magic runes?

Other people either didn't have enough mental strength, or had suffered some kind of injury that hindered their advancement, such as damage to their soul or mental strength.

"Other than being unable to figure out the magic runes, do you meet all the other requirements?" Drew asked cautiously.

"Yes. I've been a novice wizard for many years, and I met the requirements for advancement long ago.

"It's just that those lines and patterns in the magic runes are so difficult."

"All right, I understand your situation.

"I won't give your students advice on advancing. There's no point. Becoming an intermediate wizard is a natural progression. If you meet the requirements, it's entirely possible.

"Your situation is an extreme case.

"But I do have a way to address it.

"Once you advance, you can share your experience with them," Drew said, turning down Joseph's request. It would be a complete waste of time and energy.

"What? You can really solve my problem and help me advance?" Joseph asked excitedly.

"I only said I have a method. Whether it can solve your problem is up to you," Drew said mysteriously.

"What do you want in return? I'll agree to anything I can do."

"Honestly, what do you have to offer me?

"I don't need money, and I wouldn't be interested in the treasures someone at your level could afford. Or you could become my follower. Would you be willing?" Drew asked casually.

Joseph mumbled without answering. "How about this? I'll spend the next few days preparing the method, and you can think about what you could offer me. Let's meet again in three days. For now, you can go home."

Joseph had no choice. Drew was already seeing him out, so he could only leave, looking back every few steps.

It was clear that if he hadn't needed to go home and think about what he could offer, Joseph would have spent the next three days camping outside Drew's house.

How exactly was Drew going to help Joseph advance?

The answer was to treat the root cause as well as the symptoms. Why couldn't Joseph advance?

Because he wasn't smart enough to figure out the magic runes.

He only needed to learn how to figure out the magic runes, and then he could advance.

The principle was simple, but how could Drew get Joseph's mind working?

After realizing that alchemy was basically chemistry experiments, Drew had also studied magic runes.

He discovered that magic runes were a lot like analytic geometry. Both involved lines and patterns, and both required abstract thinking and spatial imagination.

Drew wondered whether learning analytic geometry, starting with simple concepts and progressing to harder ones, could develop a person's abstract thinking and spatial imagination. Could it make it easier for someone to condense magic runes in their mental sea?

He was in the middle of researching this when, by sheer coincidence, a ready-made test subject showed up.

That's right. Joseph.

Joseph was the test subject Drew had chosen.

Why not just give Joseph the method instead of stringing him along?

First, Drew had only just begun his research, and the study materials weren't ready yet.

Second, people don't value things they get too easily. It's human nature.

If Joseph got it too easily, he wouldn't devote himself wholeheartedly to studying.

That might make his studies less effective. Only things gained through hardship and effort are truly cherished.

People work harder when they study, and give it 120 percent.

Otherwise, with a mind like Joseph's, if he didn't put in the effort, he might get eight of his nine orifices working and still end up completely clueless.

The system's database had been completely destroyed during the transmigration.

All the study materials were gone, but that was no problem for the all-purpose system.

The system said it had previously served as a learning system, so it had experience and a foundation to draw on.

It could put together a set of study materials from scratch. It would just take some time, which was why Drew had given Joseph three days.

Over the next three days, Drew would need to make time between his alchemy work to prepare the study materials.

Fortunately, Drew's alchemy success rate was extremely high, leaving him plenty of spare time.

He could work on the study materials without disrupting his alchemy.