Not long afterward, the three sat facing one another in a café at Falando Academy, discussing every possible remedy available under the current system.
But the more they discussed it, the more intractable it seemed.
The matter really was not that easy to resolve.
Atrelin, the Arcane Empire, revered knowledge and respected all scholars and people of wisdom, especially the spellcasters who drew power from it-mages.
The empire was implementing a reform centered on truth. All old, obscure, and muddled knowledge was to be replaced by the Arcana of the new age.
Mages were no longer the ancient wizards of the old era, chanting cryptic incantations and spending their days studying potions and astrology, nor were they devotees of the fireball faith who knew only how to blanket an area with relentless bombardment. They were followers of science.
Scientific thinking under the name of the Arcana had developed into a new standard of truth.
They promoted modern Arcana education, allocating spell quotas corresponding to academic degrees through the Magic Network and granting the ability to cast spells.
A typical Atrelin citizen was instilled with the ideal of becoming a modern mage-an arcanist-from childhood and studied general knowledge at a local elementary school.
Upon reaching the legally prescribed age of eight, they took an assessment and entered higher schools-six years of junior secondary school and four years of senior secondary school-after which the best were selected for advanced study in mage towers.
Mage towers, research topics, Arcana achievements, money and wealth, eternal youth, power rivaling that of demon gods...
These were the defining themes of the age.
But not everyone qualified to ride that wave. Many dropped out midway through their studies for various reasons, changed careers, or inherited their fathers' trades and went off to forge iron or farm.
The mage tower entrance examination was the greatest obstacle on their path through life.
"If nothing else works, why not repeat the year and try again next year?" Cynthia suggested.
Atali shook her head. "That would cost at least a thousand gold coins..."
"My family does have some money," Cynthia said. "I could lend him some, but convincing my parents won't be easy. All I can do is try."
"Cynthia, thank you for the offer, but that won't work for me," Roland said.
"Why wouldn't it work?" Cynthia asked.
"The empire only provides compulsory education within the standard course of study. Can you afford to pay for your own schooling?
"Those commercial banks and planar colonization companies aren't going to invest in a penniless nobody like you, either."
"What I mean is... if I don't get into a mage tower, I might spend my whole life working and still never be able to repay it."
After a moment of silence, Roland firmly refused.
"Why do you have so little ambition?" Cynthia demanded in frustration.
Roland offered no explanation, only shaking his head with a wry smile.
Cynthia meant well, but she was far too naïve.
After turning it over in his mind, Roland finally said, "At this point, all I can do is avoid my previous topic as much as possible and rewrite the paper.
"In the Arcane Committee's eyes, Ramsey submitted his paper before I did, and his argument is more rigorous and thorough than mine. No matter how they look at it, he seems like the original author, while I end up looking like the plagiarist!"
The thought that insisting on submitting his original paper would inevitably give Ramsey a chance to turn the accusation back on him, and that he might not even be left in peace after falling back to the bottom of society, sent a chill down Roland's spine.
"This is despicable! Is there no fairness or justice in this world?"
Cynthia gritted her teeth, even angrier than Roland himself.
"There's only one day left until the submission deadline. Will you have enough time?"
Atali interjected, the worry in her eyes plain to see.
The graduation examination was already difficult enough. Having to deliberately avoid his strengths and familiar subjects was like dancing in shackles.
"Whether there's enough time or not, I have to try.
"Besides, I'm not holding out much hope of getting into a mage tower anymore. At least I can aim to graduate properly instead of leaving without a diploma."
Roland spoke calmly, putting on a composed front.
After saying goodbye to Atali and her close friend Cynthia, Roland did not return to his dormitory. Instead, he went to the library, found a secluded corner, and began planning his first true arcane paper since arriving in this world.
Writing a paper good enough to pass the examination in a single day would indeed have been asking too much of his predecessor.
But thanks to the education he had received in his previous life, Roland had some academic qualifications and an understanding of the history of the natural sciences. He also knew that certain fields had once developed a special research technique called "filling a gap in domestic research."
As it happened, his predecessor had majored in Runic Studies, a field closely tied to language, history, and sociology. His previous paper had also concerned a writing system of his own invention.
In other words, his predecessor, Ramsey, and the others were applying what they had learned to try to invent a simple language and writing system!
Roland might not understand magic, but this was familiar territory. His background was in linguistics, specifically historical linguistics.
Information had been readily available on Earth in his previous life, and competition among his peers had grown so intense that they were almost embarrassed to show their faces without having invented a language of their own. The gaming industry, known as the ninth art, also often needed linguists to help construct all manner of fictional languages and writing systems.
Moreover, as a world that truly existed, Earth naturally had things he could introduce to "fill gaps in Atrelin."
For example, a naturally developed set of symbols of civilization backed by thousands of years of history and culture-the Chinese language and its writing system!
As he activated the level-zero cantrip Copying Spell, a quill appeared out of thin air, floating before him. It moved at his will and began writing rapidly.
Roland decided to take the Oracle writing system as his subject, focusing on an overview of the script.
Oracle script was an ancient Chinese writing system, also known as "inscribed script," "oracle-bone divination inscriptions," "Yin Ruins script," or "tortoise-shell and animal-bone script." It was the earliest mature form of Chinese Characters currently known to scholars.
After divinations, the royal household of the late Shang Dynasty had carved these characters into tortoise shells or animal bones to record events, hence the name.
Because of the length limit, Roland concentrated on describing its function in recording divinations. He laid out its textual structure of prefaces, charges, prognostications, and verifications to establish the framework, while also "creating" basic characters for ten, hundred, thousand, and ten thousand, as well as heaven, earth, sun, moon, wind, rain, thunder, and lightning-roughly a hundred in all.
Perhaps because he had transmigrated and been reborn, his mental power had grown considerably, and his memories of his previous life had become clearer. Reproducing the impressions in his mind proved surprisingly easy.
In less than half a day, Roland finished the arcane paper that could determine his future and fate in this world.
Connecting to the Magic Network through a small teleportation array in the library, he placed his paper on it without hesitation and selected scan, then submit.
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