Learning

After familiarizing himself with his dorm room, Green circled the Academy, gathered complete Map information on its grounds, then headed back.

On his way back, the door to the neighboring room opened, and a black-haired apprentice stepped out. "Hello! Are you a new student too? I'm Castian Thorne! You can call me Thorne."

"Hello, my name's Green. I'm new too!" Green replied. Thorne seemed friendly, so there was no reason to give him the cold shoulder.

At Green's answer, Thorne smiled as though it confirmed what he had thought.

"Would you be interested in joining our New Student Mutual Aid Society? We can study together and share what we learn." Once Thorne knew Green was new, he promptly extended an invitation.

"Not interested. And one more thing: knowledge is extremely precious in the Wizarding World. That organization you joined won't last long." With that, Green opened his door and went inside, leaving Thorne standing there, dumbfounded.

Once inside, Green gave Thorne's so-called mutual aid society no further thought. Wizardry was much like mathematics: talent almost entirely determined how far someone could go. No number of mutual aid societies would make someone understand what they simply could not grasp. Those with greater talent who joined early on would soon realize the others were no help at all and only drained their energy. Naturally, they would leave the so-called society.

Over the next dozen or so days, Green lived like an ordinary student. Every day, he went to the Teaching Area to attend free introductory classes taught by various teachers, then headed to the Library to furiously record books: Basic Life Studies, Basic Anatomy, Basic Life Analysis, Basic Sorcery Model Construction, Flesh Analysis, and Origin and Use of Mental Power.

In just over a dozen days, all the publicly available knowledge Green could access in the Library had been stored in his mind. Absorbing such a vast amount in so short a time left even Green, with the physique of a Grand Knight, dizzy and groggy. He had no attention to spare for anything else and spent his time sorting through the knowledge in his head, linking its many branches together.

Green also realized how lucky he was. Students generally had to assist their teachers with experiments, help organize their research, or clean up. In short, they ran errands. But Lilian favored Green enough that he had to do none of it and could devote all his energy to studying.

Accommodation at the Academy was free, and new students had no other expenses, so Green did not need to worry about Magic Stones for the time being. He kept up this life for more than three months.

Today's the last class on Sorcery Model Principles, and Pharmacological Analysis is nearly finished too. Once those two courses are over, I can claim two established Sorcery Model templates from my mentor for free as a Second-Class Apprentice. Then I can officially begin Potion Preparation. Sitting in the front row, Green gazed at the blackboard as he thought.

"Is that Green the monster? I heard he never rests. He's like a mechanical puppet!" a girl in the back row whispered to another girl wearing glasses.

"That's not all! I heard Green's taking dozens of courses at once, and the teachers praise him in every single one. Wilder, the genetics teacher, even went to Lilian and asked her to let him have Green," the girl with glasses said, her face full of admiration.

The seating in the classroom was clearly divided; one glance showed that the students belonged to different groups. Everyone was quietly discussing Green. Fortunately, he had been through this so often that he was used to it.

"Ah, if only my mentor valued me like that!"

"Dream on. Green's exceptionally gifted. Lilian's School only accepts apprentices with First-Class Aptitude. If she favors him this much, his talent is probably even greater than we imagine."

"I heard Green was already a Second-Class Apprentice before he entered the Academy. Once today's class ends, he'll probably go claim his Sorcery Models, right?"

"Probably. The speed at which Green masters knowledge is absurd. There's still so much about Sorcery Model Principles I don't understand, but Green grasps almost every lesson as soon as it's over. I heard the Sorcery Model lectures he runs are wildly popular. Even First-Class Apprentices attend his Sunday classes. He must be raking in Magic Stones hand over fist."

"What a gap. We aren't even Third-Class Apprentices yet, and Green's already earning an income. Is this what the world of geniuses is like?"

"..."

"All right, stop talking. Mentor Karina is here." No one knew who said it, but discussion throughout the classroom stopped dead, and everyone sat up straight.

Green turned his gaze to the door as a beautiful woman in a white robe slowly entered. She had long green hair and golden eyes, and carried a black staff topped with a Green Gemstone.

"Welcome to my final class. Without further ado, I'll explain the last step in Sorcery Models: solidification. As I said in earlier classes, constructing a Sorcery Model requires weaving the corresponding model with Mental Power, then using it to draw in the appropriate elemental energy and finally releasing that energy to form what we call Sorcery. Throughout this process, the perfection of the model's construction, elemental affinity, and control over the flow of Mental Power all affect the final result."

At this point, Karina smiled faintly.

"Sorcery Models constructed this way are almost always single-use. If a Wizard had to rebuild a Sorcery Model in every battle, they would hardly ever manage to cast High-Level Sorcery. That is why we must complete Sorcery Solidification, so we can cast Sorcery at any time."

"Solidifying Sorcery is actually quite simple, though it does carry risks. The Sorcery Models we discussed before were generally constructed outside the body. To solidify one, you simply construct it in your Mental Space."

"The key points of Sorcery Model solidification are these. First, your Mental Power must meet the required threshold, or forcing the construction will cause severe backlash. Second, choose Sorcery for which you have a high affinity. Third..."

"In short, you must be careful, then careful again, when constructing a Sorcery Model. The number of permanent Sorcery spells one person can construct is limited!"

Green, who had been listening from his seat, smiled faintly at Karina's warning. The amount of space others had was limited, but with the Chip, Green did not care at all. Even constructing models on the spot posed no problem for him. The Chip could store hundreds, thousands, even tens of millions of Sorcery Models without difficulty.

"Well, students, if you're interested, you can purchase my advanced Sorcery Model construction course." With that, Karina quickly left the classroom. Every Wizard was busy; few would stay after a free class to answer apprentices' questions.