Glan Natural Science Academy

On Ryger’s Frostfire bird notebook, the structural parts used by the elemental bubble to secret defensive bubbles were completely plotted out. It was as detailed as the drawing of the previous frog specimen.

Ryger felt the energy field inside his body.

His familiarity now, where it would move as he willed, was a far cry from when he started, when he needed to close his eyes and use his heart to sense it. Air Bubble had already become second nature, like moving a finger.

“By the way, senior sister, I heard senior brother Satro say that before finding a medium partner, a scholar’s energy field is only able to complete the structural imitation of level 0 basic academic skills. Why can’t they analyse a level 1 academic skill ahead of time and imitate it using energy field?”

Enid did not need to think before answering. “To be exact, a level 0 energy field is a human’s own natural magnetic field. As a level 0 energy field, it’s not possible for it to imitate the complex structural parts of a level 1 creature. 

She continued, “Because of unknown reasons, humans’ energy fields are subjected to this world’s natural rejection. So, we need the help of medium partners to make our energy field undergo a qualitative change so that we are able to imitate the attributes of higher class, more complex biological specimens. Not only that, after having a medium partner, training our energy field through our medium partner can save us time and energy, and provide us with more time to use on studying.”

So a medium partner is so important! No wonder mentor kept worrying that senior sister wouldn’t be able to complete her graduation test. There’s less than a year’s worth of time till the graduation test but senior sister still doesn’t have a medium partner, which means that she haven’t master any level 1 academic skill. Even if her basic academic skills are slightly evolved, who can tell if there’s any outstanding scholars among them who have already completed their level 1 academic skill’s evolution?

“If a medium partner is so important, why aren’t you getting yours as soon as possible?”

 Enid rolled her eyes. “You think I don’t want to? A medium partner is more or less a scholar’s new lease of potential. It’ll grant scholars different abilities and determine the speed at which their energy field accumulates. Cayleigh’s ability of polymorphism, for example, helped the old man a lot. Although getting a medium partner late will hold up my graduation test, choosing a medium partner at random will spell an end to my life as a scholar!”

“So that’s how it is!”

Ryger understood. It’s not that his senior sister is lazy. It’s just that she’s planning ahead for her future.

Enid grinned and said, “Thankfully your senior sister’s got good gains this time out. If everything goes as planned, I’ll have enough money to buy the ice fox in a few months!”

Life was not easy. 200 gold coins were an astonishing amount of money. That was the case for even Enid who had Mentor Kubo as her father.

“Senior sister, I still have some gold coins left from what mentor gave me. Together with the magic folding fan – it’s not like I can use it now with my energy field – after selling it, it should be enough…”

“Forget about it!” Said Enid sulkily. “I’m your senior sister, not junior sister. You worry more about yourself than me! With the strength of your energy field now, you can only emulate a basic academic skill. If you have time to worry for me, you should worry more about yourself so that you don’t get reprimanded by my old man!”

In spite of saying, she felt the concern that her junior brother had for him and her heart warmed. Dimples appeared on her face.

“Mmn…” Responded Ryger.

 

……

The next day.

Ryger didn’t go to class 11 and instead brought with him the elemental bubble specimen and Air Bubble thesis that he had prepared meticulously the night before to the teaching office.

There were already 2 people queuing in before him.

The grading of academic contribution points was a secretive process. Ryger could only sit on the corridor’s chair and silently wait for his turn. Those who came after Ryger had it worse – they had no chairs to sit on.

After a good amount of time.

Those in front had their grading finished. The protector owl by the door looked at the name-list in his hand and called, “Ryger.”

“Here!”

He took a deep breath, got up, and after gesturing at the owl, took his items and pushed open the thick, heavy door.

The room was quite spacious.

What caught Ryger’s attention was a clock made of purely white marble directly opposite. Atop the clock, a statue of a young boy stood. The spout of the statue’s ‘urine’ formed a fountain and landed into the mouth of a marble herring below. The pendulum moved incessantly and made a ‘tick-tock, tick-tock’ sound.

At the top of the room was a yellow-greenish mirror. The silhouette of people reflected on it was a little distorted. It appeared to be the one-way mirror mentioned in 《Anlides’s Travels》. Perhaps there was someone up looking at Ryger unnoticed by him.

“Greetings, mentors!”

Ryger bowed towards the three unfamiliar mentors and handed over his elemental bubble specimen and Air Bubble Thesis.

The three mentors consisted of two male and one female. All three looked to be quite old, similar to Mentor Kubo. They were wearing uniform, black scholar clothes and drinking tea whose strong smell enveloped the entire room. They looked at Ryger’s specimen and thesis.

One of the male mentors, a person with slightly dark and wrinkled skin, especially at his forehead, looked at the elemental bubble and calmly inquired, “This elemental specimen, how did you obtain it?”

“My senior sister gifted it to me.” Answered Ryger honestly.

The old man nodded and wrote something on a paper while saying, “Although it’s only a level 0 creature and there’s no mutations, it is still an elemental which is relatively rare in kingdoms. I can give you 3 points.”

Then, the old man looked at the other two mentors.

The two were perusing Ryger’s Air Bubble thesis that he had prepared meticulously for a night.

After a while, the female mentor raised her head and looked at Ryger with slight appreciation and encouragement, causing him to feel cordial and feel as though he saw Anna’s grandfather.

“I see that the discussion part of your Air Bubble thesis writes about the line-face-solid theory and treats the flow of energy as a complex process of flow of spatiotemporal medium. A very bold idea. Are these your own ideas or did somebody help you?”

Ryger looked at the female mentor who seemed to have a slight expectation of him and confidently replied, “It’s something that I thought of based on Pioneer Antonio’s 《The Secrets of Evolution》. When I observed closely with my mentor’s microscope, the elemental bubble’s movement of energy was very similar to what Pioneer Antonio wrote. So I included it in the thesis.”

The female mentor nodded.

“Even many higher class scholars believe that such an intellectual problem is something that is almost fantastical, not to mention a newly-enrolled initiate student. For you to be able to have such bold thinking already is truly admirable. I hope that you’ll continue working hard in the future. 5 points from me!”

“Thank you!”

The last mentor, a slightly fat man, was still flipping through Ryger’s thesis and reading it. After hearing the female mentor giving it 5 points, he rubbed his forehead then looked at Ryger. His face spoke of a very serious attitude.

“Tell me, what are your future imaginations of making Air Bubble as your first academic skill.”

“Uhh…”

Ryger was taken aback for a moment. He then replied, “I can add some poison to Air Bubble and complete an academic evolution.”

“And?”

Faced with the male mentor who had a completely different attitude with the female mentor, Ryger felt awkward. After thinking while biting his lips for some time, Ryger shook his head. As though noticing his own inadequateness, he got nervous. Sweat dripped down his forehead.

The slightly fat male mentor wrote down his evaluation. He didn’t bother hiding his disappointment and discontent.

“Since you’ve chosen Air Bubble as the first basic academic skill in your life, you should be full of limitless imaginations regarding its future. The more out-there and the more impossible it is, the more you will work hard and the potential it has! Mentor Starrina, I do not agree with you. I can only give him 2 points!”

Ryger stood still, dazed. Each and every word of the slightly fat mentor caused him great shock. He opened his mouth and wanted to refute the mentor. But he was at a loss for words.

Only now did he realise that it was as this mentor said – he himself was so naïve. He didn’t have any imaginations or ideas towards Air Bubble’s future. Even the learning of it wasn’t because of his own desire, but merely because his senior sister arranged it for him.

Am I really going to rely on senior sister’s help to become mentor’s pride and joy?

All sorts of thoughts grew in him.

The mentors talked quietly among themselves. At last, the slightly fat mentor compromised and the two of them agreed to give Ryger’s Air Bubble 4 points.

4 points and 3 points. 7 in total.

Ryger lugged his heavy legs and slowly left the room.

~~~~~~

Spoilers about what this book is

Title

This book is about civilizations like in the Three-Body Problem. It’s about a MC who does what he feels necessary for his civilisation’s survival. It’s about an insane, crazy MC. It’s about PRAISING THE SUN

[collapse]