Glan Natural Science Academy

“Thoughts on Air Bubble’s future?”

The next few days, Ryger read 《A Basic Guide to Poison Brewing》and comprehended the basic knowledge about poison. But he still couldn’t help but think back to the grading a few days, of his ignorance and helplessness when questioned by that stern mentor.

“As my first academic skill, what is its future?”

When he was young, he had once thought of becoming an almighty wizard – controlling the weather at will, punishing villains, upholding justice while travelling the continent – but he never thought that his first academic skill would be to shoot bubbles!

Senior sister Enid had also said that a brilliant scholar who studies evolutionary secrets doesn’t just replicate the innate abilities of specimens. They also use it as a base for further evolution and, through wisdom, surpass the specimen on the testbed. A scholar who had mastered academic skills was far stronger than their specimens.

Ryger’s thoughts were jumbled up.

He no longer was in the mood to continue reading. With an agitated mind, he casually casted Air Bubble then poked the bubble.

Pop!

The bubble exploded and pain came from his hand. But Ryger didn’t seem to care. He looked at his hand. There were bruises on his hand, as if hit by a tree branch.

But that was it! Only bruises.

“In the end, it’s just a basic skill.”

Now, Ryger finally understood why Auen was that nervous when they faced off with the Blackwolf mercenaries. His Fireball was similar to Air Bubble. As level 0 basic skills, their position was quite awkward in real combat.

A level 0 Fireball would at most cause some burns. The reason the Blackwolf mercenaries backed off was more of an ingrained fear towards ‘magicians’.

Even among initiate scholars, their power fluctuates greatly due to the different amount of time spent on studying and variations of the levels of knowledge that they possess.

The weak among them was like Ryger – having completed mastery of only 1 skill, pathetically weak. Strong initiate scholars, meanwhile, have completed their level 1 skills and maybe even ameliorations of their skills. Together with some precious magic props, their might was beyond imagination.

According to plan, Ryger was to study poison because be it improving Air Bubble or attempting to study the StarCore necklace’s 《Self Control》, both required knowledge of poison as a foundation. But now, Ryger felt that he must begin defining a future for Air Bubble.

With this line of thought, Ryger looked at the time, rubbed his dark eye circles which formed because of his mental strain the past few days then ended his early reading and went to class 11.  

Ring!

As the class bell rang, Sokal walked into the classroom, rounded the room then sat next to Ryger while grinning.

“What happened for you to be so happy?” Asked Ryger nonchalantly.

“Haha, I got the news yesterday that my grandfather passed away.”

“Huh?”

After turning his head abruptly and confirming that Sokal was happy, he asked, “Your grandfather passed away? Aren’t you sad?”

“It’s a good thing! Although my grandfather has a lot of children, his fief is sufficiently large and he’s gotten some good things in recent years. The part of the heritage that he left for me is quite alright.”

Noticing Ryger’s stunned look, Sokal instantly understood what Ryger was thinking. “Haha, don’t worry. My grandfather is a staunch believer of the Light God. And he gave the Church a lot of money in recent years. Even after he’s dead, his soul is going to Heaven to enjoy himself. Who knows, maybe by the time I go there too, I’ll have another set of inheritance.”

Ryger frowned.

If he himself said such words and Mentor Kubo came to know it, he would surely come and lay waste to Ryger himself personally.

Soon, Mentor Jenny walked into the classroom and began another day’s worth of lessons.

It was still her adventuring experiences. Many students listened with rapt attention.

While listening to Mentor Jenny’s story, Ryger asked Sokal, “Interested in going out and collecting some specimens? For honour roll points.”

“Uh… nope.”

Sokal pouted his lips and said, “Look over there. Stella’s not coming to class today. She must have partnered up with somebody and went out collecting specimens!”

Ryger glanced over. The number of students in the class was originally low. Today, it was even less. “To the Accipit Jungle?”

“Of course not! Accipit Jungle? That’s a place that only third-year students are qualified to go. With her power, she’s only to act as feed for the proteuses there. She probably went to the Furnace Mountains.”

Furnace mountains?

Ryger had heard of it before. It was a mountain range not far from St Glan Castle which bordered the Sealand Principality.

It was said that in ancient times, the place where it’s situated now was originally an ocean in ancient times. With geological changes and volcanic eruptions, it formed a continuous mountain range.

Scholars have excavated large quantities of alkali minerals and fossils of aquatic beings. At the place where the Sealand Principality borders the Glan Principality, there was an inland sea where bizarre mutated creatures lived. It was an important place for new students of the Glan Natural Sciences Academy to collect specimens.

Hearing that someone in class started heading to the Furnace Mountains to collect natural specimens, Ryger no longer suppressed his rashness. He whispered, “I also want to go outside and collect specimens. Are you really not interested? We can team up!”

“Ah? Count me out. I don’t want to go adventuring. In any case, I don’t intend to fight for the honour roll. I might as well buy some mutant specimens from the older students or merchants then submit it to the Academy to get some points. Heh heh, I recently found that the coliseum’s business is very profitable. I’m planning to invest some.”

“Coliseum?”

Similar to the natural sciences academy and mercenary associations, each of the great principality’s coliseums were an independent force.

Ryger said amazedly, “You… invest in the coliseum?”

Sokal rolled his eyes. “I’m also thinking of an escape route for myself. If I really can’t beat that girl and the family’s gramps won’t allow me to go back, I can still get a peerage from Church. At worst, I’ll just establish a new family myself.”

 

……

After class, Ryger went to class 4’s entrance and waited.

“Auen!”

Auen, wearing black scholar clothes and talking with his friends while walking out the classroom, heard somebody calling him and turned. Seeing that it’s Ryger, his eyes shone.

“Your friend?” Asked a girl with short, red hair while looking at Ryger.

“Yeah. A moment.”

Auen walked up to Ryger and grumbled, “Where have you been the past few days? Ever since the Academy found remnants of the sorcerers, the Church came and took over security. I heard that the fight took place near your place so I went over. But then I couldn’t find any traces of you. I almost thought you were killed!”

“An accident happened that day and I suffered heavy injury. Fortunately, I was saved by my mentor.”

“Ah!” Auen looked at Ryger from head to toe. “Did I hear you right? You encountered that horrible sorcerer then survived? The Academy is saying now that the sorcerer that infiltrated the Academy is most likely a supreme sorcerer. Psst, come on, what did he look like?”

“How would I know? I only saw a shadow. I was shocked to death back then. When I woke up, I was already at my mentor’s house. I have no idea at all about how I managed to survive till now.”

Ryger felt fear now that he thought of it. In the short fight between mentor and that sorcerer, large parts of the ground was destroyed easily and the aftershocks caused the buildings on the two sides of the road to collapse. And even that was merely a probing engagement between the two of them. If it were a no holds barred fight, what would happen was hard to imagine!

Now, the Academy was subjected to the Church’s curfew and many things could not be said.

Auen looked at his classmates waiting for him and at the far-away radiant knights who were patrolling the streets, and no longer discussed the sensitive topic of sorcerers. He patted Ryger’s shoulder and said, “Haha, then why did you come look for me?”

“I’m currently staying at my mentor’s place so it’s not really convenient. If you have anything you can come over to class 11 and look for me. I came looking for you because I want to ask you something about the honour roll points. I want to go to the Furnace Mountains before this season ends to collect some specimens. Do you want to come together?” Asked Ryger, full of expectations.

“Class 11?” Auen looked at Ryger with shock. “If you’re in any other class, it’d be fine. But now, my class is competing fiercely with your class. I heard that the two students with the highest honour roll points are in your class. If my mentor wants to be promoted to head-of-year three years later, he really needs this qualification.”

Embarrassed, Auen pursed his lips and whispered, “That red-haired girl over there is Angina. We call her the Phoenix. She already has 88 contribution points and is the first in my class. Her mentor is our instructor. We already planned to go out together in a few days’ time…”

Auen didn’t say anything more but Ryger knew what he meant.

He didn’t blame Auen. He sighed slightly, exchanged some academic problems with Auen briefly before leaving.