Classroom

The same went for physics. As a liberal arts law student, he did not actually have much solid knowledge to offer.

His memories of the conceptual material had already grown quite vague. Without someone drawing up an "outline of key knowledge points" to remind him what he had studied back then, Blade Tusk had no way to recall it systematically.

For many things, only when he faced a specific problem would his mind turn and give him that feeling of, Oh damn, isn't this that-whatever theorem?

And then there were the parts involving specific data. After all, this was knowledge from another world. Many conclusions that had been experimentally verified in his previous life were no longer suitable here.

So he had retained none of the figures for gravitational acceleration, the speed of light, the speed of sound, and so on. For the related knowledge points, he had only provided broad theoretical conjectures.

As for chemistry and microscopic physics, he had not touched them at all.

The existence of "magic" introduced far too many uncertainties into things like molecular structures and atomic theory.

He feared that if he simply took them out as a matter of course, he would dig an enormous pit and doom innocent descendants in the future.

In short, everything was deeply incomplete. To a great extent, every discipline was hollow at its core.

Thinking back to the novels he had read in his previous life, and comparing himself to those protagonists who knew astronomy above and geography below, Blade Tusk felt deeply ashamed.

Of course, the little Trolls of today could not access all that knowledge yet.

Literacy, basic knowledge of nature, and simple addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division were what they were currently learning.

And yes, every age group was learning the same things.

There was no helping it—the teaching staff was simply too scarce.

Otherwise, given the complexity of the knowledge currently being taught, having Witch Doctors teach it was not ideal at all. It was instead a tremendous waste.

But there was no helping it. This was a compromise forced upon them by reality.

Still, none of this could deny that the little Trolls' once "carefree" childhoods were indeed gradually shrinking.

Night Tusk stood on a crude lectern, pointing with a branch at the huge clay board behind him as he said, "This is 'r, i, ri, sun.' It refers to that enormous 'star' above our heads, believed to give off light while also bringing us warmth. When writing it, pay attention: vertical stroke first, then horizontal and vertical."

"Teacher, teacher!"

The little Trolls had already attended several classes. After experiencing the "teaching rod" a few times, they had generally come to understand the concept of "classroom discipline."

By now, they had learned that "you must raise your hand to speak."

Night Tusk looked at the little hand held perfectly straight not far below him and answered somewhat uneasily, "You. What do you want to ask?"

"Teacher! What is a 'star'? Why don't the 'stars' in the sky fall down? Why do they shine? Why do they give off heat?"

The crisp barrage of questions made veins bulge on Night Tusk's forehead.

He thought, How the hell would I know?

But he could not throw those words straight into a little Troll's face.

Witch Doctor Blade Tusk had said that no matter what happened during class, they must not dampen the little Trolls' curiosity.

But was this not making things difficult for Night Tusk?

He was just someone who memorized lesson plans. If he truly understood these things, he would have become a Witch Doctor long ago.

After racking his brains for a while, he barely recalled some related discussions among the Witch Doctors. Bracing himself, he reluctantly answered, "'Stars' are a hypothesis proposed by the wisest Witch Doctor, Blade Tusk. He believes that the 'sun' in the sky may be a gigantic ball of light, and that the 'light and heat' it emits are the source of energy for all living activity. Of course, this is only a hypothesis."

Having squeezed out his only bit of "solid knowledge," he saw that the little Trolls below were still stirring restlessly, as though fresh questions were brewing.

So he hurriedly added, "The Witch Doctors also said, 'Listening to class with questions is a good way to learn.' So you can bring your questions to physics class. That way, you will learn better. All right, now let us continue writing this character for 'sun.'"

Though the little ones below were still somewhat unwilling, they finally suppressed the urge to ask more questions and began learning to write with Night Tusk.

Seeing this, Night Tusk secretly let out a sigh of relief and began teaching the portion he was responsible for.

Night Tusk was still in charge of the common knowledge class.

He turned into a merciless lesson-plan-reciting machine, force-feeding the little Trolls one piece after another of knowledge called "common sense," though in reality hardly any Trolls understood it.

"When you climb the tallest tree beside the tribe and gaze toward the 'horizon,' you will find that the sun rises at one moment and sets at another. This cycle is called 'day and night.'"

"Through the Lamp-Time Timekeeping Method invented by Witch Doctor Blade Tusk, we have roughly discovered that 'day and night' are equal in length."

"The time when the sun first emerges from the 'horizon' is called by the Witch Doctors the 'day's starting point.' In the Lamp-Time Timekeeping Method, it is recorded as hour 0, 0 o'clock, or night hour 24, night 24 o'clock."

"The time when the sun climbs to the exact center above our heads is called by the Witch Doctors 'noon.' In the Lamp-Time Timekeeping Method, it is recorded as hour 12, or 12 o'clock."

"Twelve lamp-hours after that, the sun will completely set on the other side. This point is called the 'day's ending point,' or the 'night's starting point.' In the Lamp-Time Timekeeping Method, it is recorded as hour 24, 24 o'clock, or night hour 0, night 0 o'clock."

"In other words, 'daytime' lasts for 24 lamp-hours."

"Of those, the four hours from 0 o'clock to 4 o'clock are 'morning.' This is when you little Trolls usually get up, eat breakfast, and perform morning meditation."

"And this is when the warriors set out to hunt."

"From 4 to 10 o'clock, those six lamp-hours are called 'morning.' Half of our daily class time is concentrated in this period. Also, you little Trolls will eat 'morning meal' during this time."

"From 10 to 14 o'clock is 'noon.' If conditions allow, all Trolls generally eat a 'midday meal' at this time."

"From 14 to 20 o'clock is 'afternoon.' The other half of your classes, as well as 'afternoon meal,' are scheduled during this period."

"From 20 to 24 o'clock is evening. Lucky hunting parties return at this time, avoiding the forest, which becomes especially dangerous in the darkness. Those of you who are smaller will play, eat, and sleep during this time, while the older children must also help process the prey."

"After 24 o'clock, it becomes 'night.' Night likewise lasts 24 lamp-hours."

"Night is also divided into five stages: from night 0 to night 4 is 'early night'; from night 4 to night 10 is 'upper night'; from night 10 to night 14 is 'midnight'; from night 14 to night 20 is 'lower night'; and from night 20 to night 24 is 'pre-dawn.'"

"However, because there is nothing like the sun at night to serve as a marker of time for us—"

"Without 'lamps,' we have no way of determining which 'night interval' we are in."

"Also, the Black Forest is extraordinarily dangerous at night. Aside from hunting parties made up of a few of the strongest warriors, the vast majority of Trolls try to remain in the tribe at night."