Chapter 20: The Trade

First returning to his own dormitory, Xia Duo filled a wooden cup with half a cup of warm water (about 500 milliliters) in the Wei Sheng Jian's swirling water basin, then, holding the cup in one hand and bread in the other, he began searching for Dien's dormitory while eating.

02163 was Dien's dormitory number, while Xia Duo's was 02404; they were not far apart.

The dense rows of doors on both sides of the circular corridor did feel rather eerie, and Xia Duo subconsciously quickened his pace.

"02163, this is it."

The door was closed. Xia Duo knocked first, but there was no answer from inside. Xia Duo did not barge in directly, but instead waited outside while eating.

By this time, quite a few Apprentices had returned to their dormitories. As they passed Xia Duo, only a few cast puzzled glances at him, but none stopped to ask questions; most didn't even look, as if Xia Duo didn't exist.

What an incredibly rational and self-disciplined group of people!

Xia Duo sighed inwardly; if the School before his transmigration had such an atmosphere, it would have been terrifying.

Although Xia Duo did not believe so many people could defy the nature of seeking pleasure, the facts were right here—

No scheming, no backstabbing, no climbing through connections; interpersonal relationships were cold to the extreme.

Could the Official Mages above be the same way?

The few Official Mages Xia Duo had dealt with were indeed like this, such as Mage Leonard and the two Mages at the registration office and the Material Requisition Office, but he had also seen the scene of the Mages collectively reveling during the Midsummer Festival; it was truly baffling!

Clearly, the Mages had their own set of life and social norms, and these were things Xia Duo would need to discover slowly.

The two loaves of bread were quickly finished with the warm water. Xia Duo was more than half full. Compared to the food at the Old Neil Inn, the food provided to Apprentices by the Mage Tower was simple, but much more refined.

At the very least, in the two loaves of bread, Xia Duo did not find even a single grain of sand or wood chip. He was already looking forward to tomorrow's breakfast and lunch.

……

After finishing the bread, Dien had still not returned. Someone like Xia Duo wandering around the doorway with nothing to do was quite conspicuous. Although no one came to reproach him, the looks they gave when passing by carried obvious disdain.

However, Dien was the only one who could be considered an acquaintance for now, so Xia Duo had to bite the bullet and continue waiting. Before today, he had never felt guilty for waiting.

The environment truly is the most influential thing!

Fortunately, he did not wait too long before he saw Dien from afar. His features were quite distinct—a head of fiery red hair, which was quite rare even in the Mage Tower.

Dien also spotted Xia Duo waiting at his dormitory door. His face could not hide his shock, and he immediately walked quickly toward Xia Duo, his tone carrying a hint of jealousy—

"Xia Duo, we meet again. I didn't expect you to actually be an Official Apprentice."

Seeing Dien again and hearing this tone, combined with the atmosphere he had witnessed inside the Mage Tower, Xia Duo felt settled in his heart and became even more certain of his previous thoughts.

"Dien, we meet again. Are we going to talk right here outside the door?"

"Oh, please come in."

Dien pushed the door open and invited Xia Duo inside. The layout of Dien's dormitory was the same as Xia Duo's—a bedroom and a Wei Sheng Jian. After entering, Dien gave the only chair to Xia Duo.

"Please sit."

Dien seemed a bit reserved. Only after Xia Duo sat down did he perch slightly on the edge of the bed and ask, "Xia Duo, what do you need from me? I obtained that box of matches through a fair trade. Even if you report it to the Mage, it won't be of any use."

"Rest assured, I'm not here for the matches. Those matches are already yours."

Xia Duo gave a wry smile inwardly. He hadn't expected that just because his name was now on his mage robe, Dien's attitude would change so much. But it was just as well; Xia Duo stated his purpose.

"You should know that I am not yet familiar with Netherese script. I would like to ask you to tutor me, and in exchange, I can help you ask questions to the Mage."

Yes, Dien was at the very bottom of the Mage Tower, a pure tool-person whose name no one cared about. When he first saw that some Apprentices had names on their robes and others did not, this idea had vaguely formed in Xia Duo's mind.

To trade with Dien.

Xia Duo currently had no money and no connections. All he had was the Official Apprentice status provided to him by Mu Yan, and this status allowed him to ask questions to the Official Mages who taught classes.

Of course, choosing Dien was simply because he was the first person to take the initiative to communicate with Xia Duo.

If Dien were unwilling, Xia Duo could easily find other "nameless" Apprentices; the channel to ask questions to an Official Mage was definitely a hard currency.

Come to think of it, there might be only one such Apprentice in the entire Mage Tower like Xia Duo, who didn't meet the qualifications for an Official Apprentice but possessed the status of one.

He didn't need the opportunity to ask an Official Mage questions for the time being, so selling or exchanging it for the resources he needed was actually a good choice, and it was an absolute seller's market.

Other Apprentices with the Permission Level to ask questions might not necessarily give their limited opportunities to others; they might not even have enough for themselves!

Therefore, upon hearing Xia Duo's proposal, Dien's first reaction was great joy, followed by suspicion, "Really? Really, as long as I teach you Netherese script, you are willing to help me ask the Mage questions?"

"Really!"

"That's great! I've always had a question about 【Mending】 that I couldn't figure out. If it weren't for that, I would have become an Official Apprentice long ago. Xia Duo, thank you so much. I'll return that box of matches to you."

Dien began to ramble incoherently, actually pulling the box of matches from the inner pocket of his mage robe, and even grabbing a handful of Silver Coins, intending to stuff them into Xia Duo's hands.

Xia Duo naturally refused, "Dien, there's no need for that. The matches were indeed obtained through your trade, and I learned something from it. As for the Silver Coins, there's no need either; put them away."

In fact, Xia Duo had considered the issue of Dien deliberately delaying his learning progress in order to master 【Mending】, but on second thought, the opportunity to ask questions was so precious that anyone else would likely have the same possibility.

Take Xia Duo himself; if he were in Dien's position, he would certainly delay the other person's learning progress as much as possible to trade for more opportunities to ask questions.

Rather than switching to someone else, it was better to try cooperating with Dien first.

This was actually a contest of learning, depending on whether Xia Duo could learn the script first or Dien could solve the problem with 【Mending】.

Regarding the learning of language and script, Xia Duo still had experience. He was able to learn to speak Netherese Common in over half a year, so he must have had certain techniques. Counting the languages from before his transmigration, he could be considered a language expert who knew several foreign languages (a forced expert~~).

The learning methods contained in Modern Education, while seemingly unremarkable, had been verified by countless people. Although Netheril had been established for over 800 years, in terms of education, it couldn't catch up to Xia Duo's motherland before his transmigration even with a whip.

That was truly the result of batch after batch of educators pouring their hearts and blood into research. As for Netheril, although there were institutions like the Mage Tower that were similar to universities, the cold communication between Apprentices clearly could not collide to produce any excellent learning methods.

It basically relied entirely on individual talent.