Competitors

"Many opposed your inclusion among the teaching assistants. To silence them, I have no choice but to arrange your quarters in the student district for the time being. Once you have mastered the necessary abilities, the situation will naturally change." Pointing to the cluster of buildings ahead, Alona explained to Lanlos.

He nodded; as for the reason, the youth knew it well. Strength is the most important measure of value. For a young man who has only just caught a glimpse of the path to become an assistant tasked with educating others, it is naturally unwelcome and unfair to other assistants with genuine talent. To put it bluntly, he was a beneficiary of nepotism, and keeping a low profile was mandatory.

Seeing that he showed no dissatisfaction, Alona nodded. After giving a few simple instructions, she turned away. However, before Lanlos could bid her farewell, the woman suddenly spoke: "By the way, how is that old fellow Fergus?"

Fergus...

His forward steps hung suspended in the air. With his back to the door, his face in the backlight appeared blurred and indistinct: "Something happened at Golden Branch Village. The news should reach Silvermoon City soon."

Alona turned back, her startled eyes fixed on the youth's motionless back. She did not speak for a long time.

"Is, is that so?" Alona murmured, as if talking to herself. "Stubborn old man, if only he had listened to me back then..."

"Ha, sorry, I made you recall such unpleasant things. If you need anything else, remember to tell me immediately. I'll head back now." Quickly checking her emotions, Alona gave a dry laugh, waved her hand with a hint of panic, and turned to walk out the door.

Though he could only listen, Lanlos could still hear her noticeably heavy and chaotic footsteps. It was as if she were stepping on ice blades, each step landing on his own heart.

Given his own low charisma, the fact that Alona could treat him with such an attitude made it obvious that Fergus's recommendation letter was the key to it all.

Old man, I never expected that you would still help me so much in the end.

Lanlos remained in the same posture for a long time, not moving, the sound of those scattered footsteps replaying in his ears. Just now, he hadn't turned back; he dared not turn back. He dared not learn how important Fergus was to Alona, nor dared he delve into the grief and misery the families and friends of the victims would feel upon hearing the tragic news. He was afraid—afraid that if he closed his eyes, all he would see were those families crying and screaming, demanding his life.

As he was now, he could do nothing.

But...

Bright green flames flashed in his eyes, and an irregular, cone-shaped crystal quietly floated before him.

But he was not destined to be a failure forever.

After several deep breaths, Lanlos calmed his restless emotions, slowly sat down, took out the courseware and lecture notes Alona had given him, and began to read them word by word.

Although Alona had made it clear that since the enrollment period for the year had already passed, he was only there to learn under the guise of an assistant, he still had to familiarize himself with the basic workflow and content. Just as she said, he would not let her lose face.

The bright, charming sunlight not only awakened the young men and women seeking knowledge but also the young elf who had just joined the ranks of the teaching assistants.

Doing anything with the impression of being hardworking is always a good thing, especially when he knew he would be getting paid. Lanlos woke up early today to prepare the necessary materials and stepped onto the suspended corridor before anyone else.

No, not everyone.

Pushing open the classroom door, Lanlos was stunned. An elf in robes was busy fiddling with textbooks and teaching aids: "Who are you?"

"You're late." Without looking back, the elf focused on his work. Although it was just pre-class preparation, his meticulous attitude made Lanlos feel that he was in for a difficult time.

"Mentor Alona's classes are twice a week, starting promptly at nine o'clock. As assistants, we must prepare the necessary textbooks and tools for the mentor before then. But it is already past eight; you have less than an hour. The apprentices will arrive one after another, and this is far from enough..." Lansan spoke to the youth in a emotionless tone while tinkering with the items on the table—no, it should be called 'lecturing'.

Rigid.

This word surfaced in Lanlos's mind, and he subconsciously recalled the truly rigid assistant Alona had mentioned.

"Are you Lansan?"

"Lansan Paileron." The expressionless elf finally looked up, his scrutinizing gaze fixed on Lanlos's eyes. "Mentor Alona's... assistant."

The other party emphasized those two words representing his status heavily. Lanlos, being self-aware, naturally understood what he meant. Although he felt indignant, facts speak louder than words; he was indeed a beneficiary of nepotism.

Endure it.

Lanlos offered a fawning smile, placed his lecture notes and courseware on the table, and reached out: "You must be the Lansan whom the mentor speaks so highly of? Haha, I have long admired you. Compared to a senior like you, I lack experience and skill. Whether in work, study, or life, I will have to trouble you for your guidance and tolerance."

Flattering others while belittling oneself, though laughable to speak of, is the most common stepping stone in social interaction. Because human nature is inherently narcissistic, people easily accept praise but struggle to endure criticism. This hypocritical trap is often aimed precisely at this type of person.

Unfortunately, Lansan did not seem to belong to this category.

"If your skills are lacking, don't mislead the students!" Seemingly provoked by Lanlos's nonchalant attitude, Lansan's tone suddenly became agitated. "Setting aside ability, we are doing educational work. We are cultivating the future of Quel'Thalas; it is a serious matter of great responsibility. But you? You haven't even straightened out your basic attitude. Where did you get the confidence to engage in this profession?!"

"Do you know? Because of you, what has Alona's reputation become? A beginner as an assistant? It is a complete mismatch of virtue and position, harming others and oneself! I really don't know who recommended you; it is truly lawless!"

"Heh." Although the other party's words were reasonable, even a clay figurine has three parts of temper. Lanlos gave a cold smile, looking at the other with a look of contempt. He didn't get angry, nor did he talk back; he just stared at him quietly with a look of inexplicable contempt and pity.

"What, do you think I'm wrong?" Lansan had only been venting his emotions and soon realized his speech was excessive, but seeing the mocking look in the other's eyes, anger welled up from his heart.

"You're right." Unexpectedly, before Lansan could go further, the youth stepped back himself. But a momentary retreat was not an admission of defeat; it was very likely, a buildup of power.

"You are right. I am mismatched for this position and have no qualifications to teach him knowledge and theory. But if the education in your eyes is merely reciting words from a book to students, then I suggest you stop doing this line of work."

"What did you say?!" Being insulted by a newcomer who got in through the back door, Lansan was naturally furious. But before he could go up and grab the other's collar, the young man stepped back and walked to the lectern.

"In my view, education is one tree shaking another tree, one cloud pushing another cloud, one soul awakening another soul." Lanlos opened the lecture notes he had brought, picked them up gently, and displayed page after page of dense writing.

"Anyone can teach by rote, and anyone can learn to read and write. But this is not education; these are just labels for the identities of mentor and student, merely the foundation."

"Indeed, I cannot satisfy this foundation, nor can I be a mentor who educates and nurtures. But I understand my positioning very well, or rather, precisely because of this, my existence is indispensable."

Lansan didn't know when he had taken the lecture notes from the youth's hand. He flipped through them again and again, his eyes wide with shock and disbelief. The once neat notes were covered in lines and filled with questions.

Some questions were meaningless or laughably silly. 'Why do casters have to wear robes?' 'What are the roles and differences between staves and wands?' 'Why must spell arrays be constructed to cast spells?'

Other questions were thought-provoking. 'Why does mana exist in any space, yet the naked eye cannot observe it?' 'Why does the magical radiance seen by the naked eye come in so many different colors like blue, purple, even red and green?' 'What is the difference between the definitions of Arcane and magic?' 'What social value can the development of magic specifically bring?'

Of course, what shocked him most was that many more questions were things he, a senior who had been an assistant for over a hundred years, could not understand. 'Is mana a wave or a particle?' 'Is there an inevitable connection between the reason mana exists within a living body and the respiratory, digestive, and reproductive systems?' 'If a space contains no macroscopic organisms and no microscopic particles, can that space still exist if mana is removed?' 'Is the essence of spellcasting the conversion between energy and energy, matter and matter, or is it the conversion of energy into matter, or matter into energy?'

Such questions, ranging from shallow to deep, were posed from the perspective of a naive, newly enrolled student, to a scholar seeking truth, and even from a perspective he could not comprehend.

"Did you... write this?" Lansan's voice trembled slightly.

"I have read through these lecture notes several times. I marked every point of confusion and every question I had on them, only to find that as I flipped through the notes to resolve these basic issues, even more theoretical questions began to emerge. But since these notes are foundational by design and cannot address deeper inquiries, some rather wild ideas began to sprout in my mind."

"Although it may seem ridiculous, I wrote them all down. Because I know that as a beginner, if I can raise such questions, then other magic apprentices might have them as well."

In this world, the study of magic is inseparable from innate talent. Take Fastherin, for example: the basic requirement for enrollment is the ability to channel Arcane on one's own. Therefore, in the educational methods Lansan is familiar with, no one ever asks how to channel Arcane or why one is able to do so.

Although the curriculum includes lectures on theory and definitions, they are inherently dry and have no direct bearing on how many spells an apprentice masters or how much their power increases. Consequently, these topics are naturally glossed over during instruction. If an apprentice does not dig deep to ask, the mentor will not provide an in-depth explanation.

Ever since the Highborne learned to use spell arrays, the teaching of magical knowledge has become a formulaic process. It is like painting: one uses the mind to guide Arcane to construct a spell array, then activates it to cast the spell.

In the eyes of Lanlos, the content of these basic lecture notes is like a textbook catalog filled with a vast collection of formulas. It focuses solely on teaching students how to recognize and apply formulas, while how to actually understand them is mostly brushed aside.

Indeed, this allows for the rapid, quantitative cultivation of a large number of magi with decent spellcasting abilities, but there is no doubt that it does nothing to advance the field of magic as a discipline.

It is no wonder that while the proportion of spellcasters in Quel'Thalas is so high and their lifespans so long, there are only a handful of top-tier magi, and even the position of Grand Magister has not seen a change in thousands of years.

Of course, it is also possible that due to the social environment, Fastherin exists to cultivate a group of spellcasting machines proficient in Arcane, prioritizing national strength and international influence before considering any so-called academic advancement.

Lanlos does not deny the educational methods of Fastherin; after all, even if he were to study it himself, he would certainly focus on rote memorization of spell arrays for every spell. Only by remembering more and thinking more does the brain get used more frequently, making mental capacity more resilient, and the quality and quantity of Arcane control grow naturally.

However, these questions are not aimless; proficient application and deep understanding are not mutually exclusive. At the very least, when those curious apprentices ask such questions, the mentor has a responsibility to explain and guide them carefully, rather than fobbing them off with phrases like "you will understand in the future."

Curiosity and interest are the true keys for apprentices to open the door to mysteries.

Lansan flipped through the lecture notes, and the question marks annotated next to the analysis of each spell's function and utility seemed to transport him back to the scene hundreds of years ago when he first stepped through the door of magical knowledge. When did education start to become solely about how many spells an apprentice has learned? When exactly did his own curiosity and desire to explore disappear?

Holding the book filled with dense handwriting, the inexplicable admiration rising in his heart clashed violently with the scolding he had just delivered. The intensely conflicted and complex emotions made his hands, clutching the notes, increasingly difficult to steady.

"Stop shaking, I can't see anything."

A displeased complaint suddenly appeared in the empty classroom. Before the two could express their confusion, the air beside Lansan suddenly distorted, and the figure of Alona slowly became clear in their line of sight.

Invisibility? So you've been watching the show from the sidelines this whole time?

Lanlos froze, his eyes instantly filled with immense bitterness.

Snatching the lecture notes from the speechless Lansan, Alona flipped through them carefully before casting a playful smile at Lanlos. "In just two days, you kid have raised so many questions about the notes I compiled? It seems your opinion of me is not exactly small."

Seeing her wave the notes in her hand, the bitterness on Lanlos's face deepened. "Don't misunderstand. I originally wrote these for myself to read. From the very beginning, every time I read through them, I would generate questions, solve them, and then continue to ask more based on the answers I found, over and over again. This was just a way to spur and reflect on myself, as I am essentially starting from zero."

That was true. If it weren't for Lansan hounding him, he never would have thought to bring these things out to show off. Because of the influence of the demonic knowledge in his mind, he was afraid of having preconceived notions about magical knowledge that might cause negative consequences, so he wrote down every question, big or small.

Naturally, there were some terms on those pages related to his past life. This world does not teach micro-physics, nor does it teach wave-particle duality. If she were to probe deeply, he really wouldn't know how to answer. Fortunately, wisdom in this world is widespread, and Alona did not seem to react to those obscure terms.

"To be honest, until you came the day before yesterday, I also felt that Fergus recommending you was just him trying to find a way out for you." Alona flipped through the book page after page, the enigmatic smile on her face widening. "But now I realize that perhaps, you guy are a little bit extraordinary."

"Alona." Seeing this kid gain the mentor's approval, Lansan suddenly became anxious. "Don't be fooled by him, it's just a few questions..."

"But these questions have indeed been asked by apprentices before, and I have even thought about them myself." Interrupting him, Alona thought for a moment before continuing, "Anyway, this batch of students are all newcomers recruited within the last two years. Let's start this lesson from the beginning and see if everyone has similar questions."

"Get ready, class is about to start." Without giving Lansan a chance to retort, Alona made the decision unilaterally.

As for Lanlos, while he felt grateful for the "starting from the beginning" approach that clearly favored him, he couldn't help but complain internally. Two years still counts as a newcomer? Isn't your concept of time a bit too extravagant?