Young people have no sense of fair play

Froya adjusted her glasses reflexively, utterly incredulous.

Roland's submission to Arcana had actually been accepted. And because three archmages had unanimously recommended it, it had bumped other papers back in the schedule to receive priority publication.

"This makes absolutely no sense!"

Froya leaned close to the light screen projected by the Tower Spirit and scrutinized it again. Only when the Tower Spirit asked whether she wanted the screen repositioned to protect her eyesight did she finally raise her head, her face full of bewilderment, and shake her twin ponytails vigorously.

"Author: Roland. Institution: Orvisto Wizard Tower...

I wasn't mistaken. It really is him!"

After checking everything carefully once more and confirming that this was not simply someone with the same name, Froya finally managed to accept the reality, albeit barely. Her emotions were still surging, however, and refused to settle for a long time.

Young people have no sense of fair play! Sneak-attacking your senior like that!

Thinking that she should not be the only one left reeling, Froya forwarded the news to several communication groups she frequented.

"Look at him, then look at yourselves! Aren't you ashamed to spend all day chatting nonsense on the magic network?"

This was a communication network for the Mage Tower's internal members, and everyone in it was one of Roland's seniors.

"What happened? Has someone else from our tower published an article in Arcana?"

"Let me see... Roland..."

"That name sounds unfamiliar. Which senior is he? Come out and say hello!"

"Wait, am I reading this right? He's an Apprentice Mage—and a new student who only enrolled this year!"

"What? A new student?"

"Is this for real?"

At first, nobody had paid much attention.

The Orvisto Mage Tower ranked among the Runes School's leading Mage Towers. It was perfectly reasonable for someone here to publish an article in Arcana.

Beyond envy, they really had nothing to make a fuss about.

If they had time to spare worrying about others, they would be better off putting in more effort and producing a paper of their own.

But if an Apprentice Mage had done it—especially a new student who had only enrolled this year—that was an entirely different matter.

Even across many cohorts, or dozens of them, such a feat was unprecedented.

For a moment, the entire group erupted, unable to settle down at all.

Whether they were Apprentice Mages like Roland, Skord, and Yvonne, only a year or two ahead of them, or graduates who had stayed at the tower and taken up jobs, they all expressed their shock and disbelief.

"Four years as an apprentice, three years working at the tower-seven whole years before I published one paper in Arcana. Seven whole years!

Good heavens! Compare yourself to others and you'll die of shame; compare goods and you'll throw yours away!" (P.S. Translated from Atrelin.)

"Stop showing off, senior. At least you've published in Arcana before. I still haven't published a single paper there."

"Exactly! For pitiful nobodies like us, we'd be secretly celebrating if we could coauthor a few papers in Runes and just barely qualify as teaching assistants."

"By the way, Senior Froya, who exactly is this Roland? Where did he come from?"

Everyone was curious about that question.

Froya adjusted her glasses, a gleam flashing across the lenses, and replied proudly, "He's one of the new students under my charge, of course."

Everyone chimed in, "You only became the new student coordinator this year, and your very first batch already has a genius like that?"

"I'm dying of envy! How about we swap?"

"Yes! Take pity on me and let me ride his coattails too. Please!"

The group's conversation soon shifted to investigating Roland's background and teasing Froya.

A whole crowd joked and bantered, shamelessly asking to share in the benefits.

The simple fact was that not all people could be judged by the same standard.

Some Apprentice Mages were rigidly focused on exams, remaining stuck in a student's mindset for years.

They never had any direction when searching for research topics, buzzing about like headless flies. Even after someone painstakingly guided them, set their topics, and supplied resources, they remained clueless, capable of nothing but taking exams.

Some Apprentice Mages lacked initiative but at least had a spark of insight. Point them in the right direction, and they could find their own topics. With a little guidance, their studies and results would turn out fine; they merely required some looking after.

These were the sort who returned what you invested in them. How much they achieved depended on your ability and how much effort you devoted to them.

But people were not machines, and resources were not unlimited. Keeping that up over the long term was exhausting too.

Then there were Apprentice Mages who explored on their own and devised their own research topics. Before you even understood what was happening, they had shot ahead at breakneck speed.

If you were shameless enough, you might even ask them to give you a helping hand instead.

Those were the ones who truly deserved to be called academic stars.

Having new students like that under your charge undoubtedly saved both worry and effort. It could not have been more comfortable.

And then there was the final kind, like Roland: young, utterly lacking in fair play, and opening with Arcana right out of the gate, throwing everyone else off balance.

That was no longer an academic star, but an academic god.

Nobody knew where his limits lay, or what his future held.

But becoming an archmage was clearly within reach, leaving them with little more than the urge to ride his coattails.

All anyone wanted now was to get on board quickly, lest they fail even to catch a mouthful of dust later.

Having heard and seen plenty of such things, Froya clearly understood the importance of having a connection like him. She gave a couple of smug little hums and replied triumphantly, "In your dreams!"

After showing off for a while, Froya headed to the fourth floor to find Roland, accompanied by several idle seniors who had come over specifically to join the fun.

But they discovered that he was not in his quarters.

Instead, Skord and Yvonne, who lived on the same floor, were soon called out and told the good news.

Skord and Yvonne were delighted to hear it.

"It really was accepted! That's wonderful!"

"R-Roland really is amazing!"

As Roland's classmates, they naturally shared a close bond with him and were undoubtedly happy for him from the bottom of their hearts.

"Where has Roland run off to? Why isn't he in his room?"

Froya asked.

"He should still be in the library. I only came back a little while ago, and he was still there then."

Many magical books had to be stored in physical form, so visits to the library were indispensable for a wizard.

"Look at me! I got so excited I completely forgot. Come on, let's go find him together and tell him the good news!"

Froya swished her twin ponytails, resisted the urge to use a dimensional jump straight to the seventh floor, and headed toward the Floating Stairway with everyone else.