Chapter 37: Inner Heart, Two Months Later

A flash of white light streaked by, and Xia Duo's vision blurred; he found himself appearing at the entrance of the Spell Laboratory. Xia Duo took a deep breath; he finally understood why that irritable guy from yesterday was the way he was.

He was also very irritable at this moment. He might have been able to successfully cast 【Light】 in an instant, but at this very critical moment, the Mage Tower had actually thrown him out!

Xia Duo was furious inside and wanted to curse out loud, but the moment he thought of the two lonely Gold Coins in his pocket, he immediately calmed down.

Taking a deep breath, Xia Duo returned to the dormitory, but he did not expect an unexpected person to be waiting at his door—

It was Xiao Neil.

Regarding Xiao Neil, Xia Duo's feelings were very complicated. There was the friendliness from the more than half a year they had spent together, and gratitude for his active teaching of the Netherese language, but at the same time, Lao Neil's actions also made Xia Duo feel angry.

——Life is precious, love is even more so, but for the sake of freedom, both can be cast aside.

In the eyes of a modern person, the most precious thing in the world might be freedom. Lao Neil had actually conspired with outsiders to enslave him and had even taken action; how could Xia Duo not be angry, how could he not want to kill him to vent his hatred?

Since joining the Mage Tower for such a long time, Xia Duo and Xiao Neil had chosen the same courses and saw each other every day, but Xia Duo had never taken the initiative to say a word to him, and Xiao Neil also seemed to be avoiding Xia Duo.

It was obvious that Xiao Neil was aware of his father's actions, but he had never explained a single word to Xia Duo. Even if he had just explained one sentence, Xia Duo would not have been so cold.

"Move!"

"Xia Duo—I want to learn Netherese script with you." Xiao Neil's face was embarrassed, his head buried very low, and his voice was very small. If the Dormitory Area environment hadn't been relatively quiet, Xia Duo would have almost been unable to hear it.

"Heh, when you came, didn't Lao Neil teach you what to do?"

"He did, but the Gold Coins I brought have been used up." Xiao Neil's voice became increasingly faint.

Hmph—

Xia Duo sneered in his heart. He came to him just because his Gold Coins were used up; did he really think of him as a slave? He was very disappointed with Xiao Neil's performance in his heart and had no interest in talking to him anymore.

He pushed him aside and was about to enter the room.

Xiao Neil hurriedly grabbed Xia Duo's sleeve, "Xia Duo, I even taught you the Netherese language!"

Once these words were spoken, Xia Duo's brows furrowed tightly, and the last trace of affection in his heart dissipated, "Leave. I'll give you one last piece of advice: go to Transcription Room No. 25 in the Library and find Aideliqi."

After saying this, he forcibly pulled Xiao Neil's hand away, pushed him aside, walked into the dormitory, and then closed the door.

Xia Duo did not regret his decision; on the contrary, because he was in an alien world, his decisions were always carefully considered. He and Xiao Neil might have gotten along very happily in the past, but to say that their relationship was truly that good, that was not necessarily the case.

Having just arrived in a strange world, Xia Duo could only act very friendly in order to protect himself, and even deliberately let everyone think he was a very kind person.

If one were to really speak of it, "those who are not of my race must have a different heart" was actually Xia Duo's truest thought.

It was just that after acting for so long, one would also set limits for oneself. Today, Xiao Neil's performance thoroughly allowed Xia Duo to see his own heart clearly.

……

Because his spell practice had been interrupted earlier and he had gone through such a troublesome matter with Xiao Neil, Xia Duo did not continue to study spells, but instead began to read the biographies of Archmages to deepen his understanding and memory of the Netherese script.

The next day, the Arcane Garden began a new round of sowing. Xia Duo still went over to show his face, then went under the shade of the trees to busy himself with his own affairs.

In the afternoon, he continued to attend Kelin's "Overview of Ring Spells" class. Of course, the overview part had long since ended, and this week they were talking about 【Read Magic】 and the spell analysis section.

After class, Xia Duo asked questions according to his own progress, Kelin answered, and he also received the remuneration from Donald and the others. However, Xia Duo noticed that there had been a personnel change in the Donald group of five—

That inspirational guy was gone, replaced by an Apprentice wearing the same style of refined robe as Donald; now the style of the five people was unified.

However, Xia Duo didn't care who they replaced; as long as there were Gold Coins for him, it was fine.

……

Life in the Mage Tower was incomparably regular, very much like Xia Duo's state during High School, but he was much more invested than he had been in High School. Time passed day by day like this, and Xia Duo lived an incomparably fulfilling life.

In a flash, two months had passed.

During this period, Xia Duo had already mastered 【Light】 and could cast it within one or two breaths. In addition to 【Light】, Xia Duo had also exchanged for the Learning Scrolls for 【Acid Splash】 and 【Mending】.

【Acid Splash】, this classic Apprentice-level Magic, was to add a bit of magical attack capability for himself, while 【Mending】 was the key for an Ordinary Apprentice to be promoted to an Official Apprentice.

This kind of promotion was not an increase in Spellcasting Level, but merely an elevation of rank within the Mage Tower.

Once one became an Official Apprentice, one could have many new Permission Levels, such as entering and leaving the Mage Tower freely, exchanging for Learning Scrolls, opening up more courses, asking questions after class, and most importantly—unlocking the Mage Tower mission system.

A Mage was a very money-consuming profession; Xia Duo had already deeply experienced this. Ordinary Apprentices were basically similar to servants, their wages were very low, and they had no extra income. Only after the excellent ones became Official Apprentices could they be considered to have truly joined the Mage Tower and have the opportunity to truly earn money.

For example, concocting simple magic potions, transcribing Apprentice-level Magic Scrolls, assisting the Territory Army with patrols, investigating abnormalities in the Territory, and so on.

If there were no such missions, it would be almost impossible for ordinary people to persist any longer. Even rich people needed these missions to train and incidentally earn a few Gold Coins.

In the past two months, Xia Duo had earned nearly 200 Gold Coins just by transcribing 【Light】 Scrolls. However, while he earned a lot, he spent even more. He was able to skillfully master 【Acid Splash】 and 【Light】 now because he spent a while soaking in the Spell Laboratory every day.

Added to the need to replenish learning materials and borrow books from the Library, if it weren't for the fact that he could also earn Gold Coins by answering questions and solving problems for Ordinary Apprentices, Xia Duo would have gone bankrupt long ago.

Now he was mainly focusing on 【Mending】. Today, he might not be comparable to Dien in terms of foundation, but in terms of the speed of learning 【Mending】, he was far ahead of Dien by who knows how many miles.

One had a Learning Scroll, with all the details of the spell available for viewing; the other could only learn through self-study and asking for advice. The progress was more than just a few miles behind!

……

This night, before "lights out," Xia Duo had just sent off the Donald group of five who had come for "make-up lessons" in the dormitory, when someone came to knock on the door. Xia Duo opened the door and saw that it was actually Dien.

"Dien, why is it you? You've been promoted to an Official Apprentice?!"

Xia Duo was surprised to find that Dien had already changed into a brand-new Mage robe, with his name embroidered on the left chest. It turned out that he had quietly passed the Mage Tower's assessment and succeeded in his promotion!

"Sigh, I regret it! If I had known, I wouldn't have promoted now, sigh—"

Although he had achieved his dream of two years, at this moment Dien was not happy at all; instead, he wore a face full of depression and reluctance.

"What's wrong?" Xia Duo asked curiously.

It was the first time he had seen Dien's mood so low, and he didn't know what it was because of. Was it Dien's own reason, or the Mage Tower's reason? Would it affect him?