Class was over, and the students were all excited. Although the first lesson had nominally been a theory class, it had largely fulfilled their expectations of the mysterious world. Most importantly, they had genuinely learned a great deal from Professor Jonester's lecture.
They had not all arrived at the Black Castle at the same time. Some had come two days earlier, some two days later. Many had already tried borrowing books to study on their own, but the library's lending rules had become much stricter.
A strange hourglass stood outside the library, with graduation marks on its lower half. The sand remained in the upper half without falling, but when a student placed a hand on it, the sand would begin to trickle down. The faster it fell, the stronger their mind and will, while the mark reached by the sand determined which books they could borrow.
This effectively prevented students from being corrupted by reading magic books while they were still inexperienced, but it also greatly restricted the books available to them. Most could only borrow ordinary written records.
Even so, many students found the books they borrowed painfully difficult to read. The knowledge belonged to an entirely different world from their common sense and previous studies, and reading it was mentally exhausting.
Yet Professor Jonester's morning lecture had left them wishing it would never end. The knowledge had flowed smoothly into their minds. Although much remained beyond their understanding, they had naturally begun to build a foundation in the basic concepts of mystical knowledge, and now had a direction to follow.
Even on their first day of classes, some of the more outgoing students had naturally started making friends. Some simply wanted company in an unfamiliar environment, while others chose their friends very selectively.
Everyone was heading to