Glan Natural Science Academy

   New branches and twigs should have been growing in early spring. But the trees and flowers of the Glan Natural Sciences Academy appeared to be of special breeds. They remained lush even after the entire winter.

Soon, the two of them came to the front of a five-storey building made of white granite.

Emerald-green vines sprawled over the two sides of the building and delicate carvings on the granite could be seen faintly through the gaps between the winding vines. The most attractive part of the building was gigantic stone pillars carved meticulously into the form of book-holding scholars. They statues had their heads lowered and were supporting the roof with their shoulders.
 
“This is the lecture building, the first floor is where all the classrooms of first-year students are, the second and third floors are for the senior students and even high up is the public activity hall. But the senior students are usually out on study journeys and rarely at the Academy.”

There was a statue of an old man in front of the lecture building.
 
The statue had endured the baptism of time and was somewhat eroded. Even still, it was faintly visible that it was of an old man holding a book and who seemed to have been baptized by the many difficulties he had experienced.

Enid said, “This is the great Pioneer Antonio, one of the three great pioneers in human history. He discovered the objectivity of biological evolution and survival of the fittest. It was also because of him that the Glan Principality’s natural sciences academy is able to become one of the two strongest and most thriving academies now. My old man is a ardent admirer of his!”
 
“Three pioneers? I know of the one that published Heliocentrism, Pioneer Baniwens but who is the last one?” Asked Ryger curiously.

Since the pioneer that was burned to death by the Church had wide-ranging influences, matters of his death were spread widely not only among the scholars and clergymen, but also among the common people. But because it was related to the Church’s faith of Light, few people would mention the pioneer in public. This was true for all the academies’ scholars too.

 

“Adolfo Gauss1, from the Sealand Principality’s natural sciences academy! The great Pioneer Adolfo Gauss used logical foundations of mathematics to reveal the objectivity of the natural environment such as how tides occur because of the movement of the moon, earthquakes because of the crust’s movements, and how hurricanes and hails are the flow of the world’s natural energy. With it, he laid down the foundation for academic discipline of natural law, also called elemental magic by the commoners.”

Ryger immediately thought of Auen’s fireball.
 
Needless to say, the Sealand Natural Sciences Academy must be another top academic institution comparable to the Glan Academy.

The lecture building was very quiet and empty.

Ryger saw the large letters in front of the teaching building,  which was the same as the one on the stone monument at the main entrance, and couldn’t help but read it out again, “Respect the teachers, pass on the torch.”

“That’s the school motto. It tells us that all the knowledge we learn is all gained by those before us through arduous explorations. That we must respect the fruits of their efforts and also our mentors and seniors from the bottom of our hearts. Only then can knowledge be passed on from generations to generations and can we move towards a rational, civilized and bright world.”

Enid appeared to be trying to appear mature in front of Ryger.

“Oh!” Ryger nodded seriously.

The cornerstone of the scholar’s knowledge was none other than inheritance!

Scholars, too, have beliefs. But unlike the Church and the many temples that believed in deities, what the scholars believed in were the academic topics and knowledge concepts that the scholars’ forefathers defended and persevered on. Some academic disciplines even needed the persistent, continuous efforts of several generations to be validated and proved!

Later generations of scholars believed in their forefathers. At the same time, they also believed that they would be able to surpass their forefathers, carrying forward and expanding on the legacy of knowledge!

The inheritance of knowledge. The way scholars develop was truly something special.

“There’s not many people inside. School doesn’t officially start until two days later. Let’s go somewhere else.” After staying in front of the lecture building for a slight moment, they both left.
 
Following Enid, Ryger crossed a lakeside corridor.

On the lake, black-headed gulls swam in flocks.

“The Academy is divided into two parts, the inner and outer part. Further ahead is the inner part where only scholars who have completed the graduation exam and received a natural scholar’s academic certificate can enter. Do you see the tallest building there? That is the Royal Research Institute of Glan, also known as Scholar’s Tower. Those outside call it the magic tower. How is it? It looks spectacular, right? “

When they first entered the Academy, Auen kept shouting excitedly after seeing the tall tower. Ryger had thought nothing of it at that time.

Now, he was looking at the tower up close through a metal fence. For a moment, Ryger actually felt that he was like an ant standing at the foot of a giant, puny, insignificant and weak, looking up to the tower’s vastness.

The oppressive force coming head-on was the aura of truth stemming from the exploration of natural laws by scholars. Standing among the aura, it felt like a big hand slowly wiping away a dense layer of dust, peeling away layers after layers of a dark fog, seeking to understand itself, understand the world, understand the vast universe.

“He he, wait till I pass the graduation exam this year and get my natural certificate. I can go in and play then!” Muttered Enid excitedly.

“So an academic certificate is that important! I was thinking why magicians rarely stay in one place back when I was reading biographies. It’s because they are all striving for higher titles.” Ryger whispered.

Enid rolled her eyes and said, “Ryger, don’t say something like ‘magicians’ in front of any other scholars in the future. You will get laughed at.”

“Huh? Alright!”

Ryger realized he made a blunder and slowed down a bit. “Then… what about mentor Kubo, what academic qualification is he at?”

“Him? He already received the mystic academic certificate from the Royal Committee on Fellowship when he married my mother 20 years ago. He always dreamt of getting into the Royal Committee on Fellowship.”

Enid thought of something then added, “If we think of truth as a large tree and knowledge as the fruits on the tree, then the initiate scholars are a bunch of people limping around, studying hard how to pick the fruits on the ground while the natural scholars are those picking the low-hanging fruits. As for the arcane and mystic scholars, they’re those who keep trying to pick the fruits of knowledge higher up the tree.
 
“Huh?”

This metaphor was very peculiar in describing the process of exploring the True Law2. An image of a bunch of people working hard to take the tree’s fruit emerged in Ryger’s head.

Needless to say, the metaphor couldn’t have come from Enid herself…

 Most likely, it came from her father, mentor Kubo.

 

“What about… royal fellows?”

Enid, who was leading the way, made a ‘hmm’ sound and pondered for a moment. She said, “probably those plucking the fruits that others can’t see. No matter what, the thing is that they’re amazing. All the academies’ corridors have their portraits hung there. The old man too always dreamt of having his portraits up there after he dies! “

If a royal fellow was so powerful then Ryger couldn’t even begin to imagine what a pioneer was capable of.

Together with Enid, Ryger walked round the long iron fence and came to a busy street of stalls.

“This is Scholar Street, people outside also like to call the magic store street, or the first street. Mercenaries often come here to buy magic tools3 and potions, and also to sell some natural specimens or precious materials from their adventure out there.

This was exactly the busy street, with stalls for as far as the eye could see, that Ryger saw when he entered the Academy. The street had a very large area and occupied a sizable portion of the Academy’s outer. It provided the Academy with a lot of revenue.

Enid seemed to have another purpose for coming here.

The two went straight through the busy street and came to a store named ‘Aminerthus’ Glance’.

Legend has it that Aminerthus was the god of beauty born after the Ancient War. Unlike the untraceable ancient gods of the human kingdoms, she was a god born after the sorcerer’s uprising and Ancient War, a person who became a god. And although she lacked divine power, she was still believed in by many young girls because of religious teachings.

The store’s owner was a charming middle-aged lady with a white neck and an eye-catching pearl pendant. After seeing Enid, she smiled and said, “Miss Enid, here to see your frost elf fox again?”

“Mmn mmn!” Enid nodded her head excitedly.

The owner quickly took out a cage from the depths of the store containing a tiny, snow-white fox. The fox’s coat was entirely white without any specks or blemishes. It looked with its big soulful eyes at Enid and Ryger, appearing cute and sad.

The fox’s breath seemed to be extremely cold, to the point where there was a layer of frost on the cage.
 
“Proteus!” Ryger recognized at a glance that this baby fox was a proteus that had the innate abilities of frost.

“Of course!”

The store owner looked at Ryger, then at Enid, guessing the relationship the two had and smiled. “This frost elf fox is one of the rare, highly intelligent beings among proteuses. If you use it as a medium partner, not only will you get the benefit of having an intelligent medium partner which is the higher rate of growth of energy fields, but you can also use its special characteristics and make it your combat partner. It’s quality stuff that’s hard to come by for initiate scholars choosing their medium partner. “
 
The lady paused. Seeing how Ryger was lost in thought looking at the fox, she fiddled with the cage and said, “Don’t look at how it is now and think it’s pitiful. This little guy is very nimble. If you don’t pay attention to it for even a moment, chances are it’s gonna be missing.”
 
“I won’t run away.” The little fox actually spoke. With a little girl’s childish voice, no less. The fox looked at Ryger while lying down and said, “Hug me, I’m cold ……”

“Eh?”
 
Ryger was stunned but wasn’t going to get fooled easily.

Enid looked away from the frost fox and reluctantly said: “I’ve paid you one hundred and sixty gold coins and still lack forty gold coins. But I can’t give it to you today. This here is my new junior brother. I want to prepare a meeting gift for him.”

“Ahh, a new junior brother. You really do need to prepare a meeting gift!”

    The middle-aged beauty retrieved the cage and said with a smile, “Don’t worry girly. It wasn’t easy for you to save your pocket money for more than a year. I will take good care of this frost elf fox for you. With it as your medium partner, you will definitely pass the graduation exam!”

“Mmn!”

With a face full of longing, Enid nodded her head excitedly.

Ryger also got some information from the two’s conversation. It turned out that Enid had been pooling her money for more than a year to buy this fox as her medium partner and was still a little short of enough.

Two hundred gold coins?

It was such a large amount of money that it was hard to imagine for Ryger!

But if you think about it from another perspective, those who can come to the academy for further studies were generally nobles from all over the land. If that’s the case, then such exorbitant spending wouldn’t be strange at all.

Moreover, the ‘pocket money’ that Enid asked for from Kubo today was actually for a meeting gift for him?

Enid stood in front of the store with her eyes scattering about. She then seemed to have thought of a good idea and made a bizarre smile. “Right! I’ll have the spook bottle!”

The lady understood and also made a bizarre smile.

“Only you would think of giving something like this to your little junior brother!”

The lady took out a palm-sized, dark-green bottle and handed it to Enid, who in turn took her moneybag out and gave the lady a pile of silver coins .

“Thanks!”

Enid was all smiles as she led Ryger out of the store.

“He he, you probably don’t know what this spook bottle does. I’ll show you later. It’s really fun, you know.”

It was getting late. Daylight in early spring was very short.

Enid grabbed Ryger’s hand in a natural fashion and excitedly said, “Brother Peerless should be coming over anytime now. Come on, Ryger. Let’s go meet my mother and brother Peerless!”

Footnotes

高斯阿道夫. Originally, I would have translated it to something like ‘Gorsadolf’. But then apparently it isn’t 高斯阿道夫 but 高斯.阿道夫  which would be Gauss Adolf. But that sounds strange. The same goes for Antonio and Baniwens.  Apparently it’s not Antonio and Baniwens but Anton Nio and Banny Wenns. But since their full name is used whenever they are mentioned I’ll use Baniwens and Antonio. Note that the first few chinese characters of Baniwens’ name are the same as the one used in Copernicus. Mr. author really likes making me guess what he is trying to say with his incomplete sentences. It might seem odd that they’d use magic to describe these things considering how scholars eschew the word ‘magician’ when describing themselves. The Chinese characters used to describe them are different. For magician or magic, it’s 魔法. But for the magic tools, it’s 魔导. I’m not really sure how to differentiate them. I know 魔导技術 translates to magitech but I’m not particularly sure what else I can use with 魔导道具and 魔导药剂 other than magic. Keep that in mind as you read. You’ll see the terms used often later.