Chapter 90

Luo Yisi was also a veteran instructor of the accelerated class, aware that students' inner monologues in the first lesson would distract them too much to absorb anything, so he didn't push the pace.

"In a few weeks, it'll become clear."

To truly gauge progress, you must observe the apprentices' self-study of the reading list—then a few small quizzes will make everything obvious.

Since there was no teaching pressure, he could naturally take it easy.

After swiftly covering the universal textbook, introduction, overview of wizards, and history of magic—all required courses—he began "chitchatting" about "anecdotes" to spark the apprentices' interest in the magical world.

"Red dragons are greedy and warlike, blue dragons vain and arrogant, green dragons cunning and treacherous, black dragons venomous and vengeful, white dragons stupid and brutal."

When questioning the apprentices and expressing his own interest in dragon language and dragons, Luo Yisi directly shared his knowledge about evil dragons.

The impressions involving dragons were overwhelmingly negative—and this was also the general public's view, though wizards seemed to elaborate on it more.

Dragons are divided into alignments; the five common colored evil dragons indeed have terrible reputations.

It is said that sixteen years ago, a colossal red dragon destroyed the royal capital.

Red dragons' warlike nature and arrogance are infamous; in many places, the sudden descent of red wings is regarded as an unstoppable natural disaster.

"This is prejudice! This is prejudice!"

Lord Lord Lord Kuku, whom Li En had expected to join in mocking the dragons, instead declared that Luo Yisi's words were full of prejudice.

"Huh? Aren't they that bad?" Li En was surprised—had the infamous evil dragons been a misunderstanding?

"No! The great evil dragons possess all these flaws! Greedy, warlike, vain, arrogant, brutal—(omitting thirty negative terms listed above). If you think they only have one or two of these flaws, you'll suffer for it!"

Li En was speechless—you're the one with the prejudice.

"Really! Truly! Evil dragons have every flaw! What this little wizard said? Just the most obvious ones!"

"You're dragon-blooded. You must be careful, restrain yourself, be careful!"

No power comes without cost—especially power borrowed from dragons.

Red dragons are famously warlike, frenzied, and arrogant—(omitting at least a dozen negative adjectives)—yet many places still carefully guard against red dragon lineages.

"Huh, you even prepared a Tiamat advanced model for me?"

If one colored dragon is this evil, what kind of evil would Tiamat, the dragon goddess who unites five of them, possess?

"So you must restrain yourself! Power itself may be neither good nor evil, but human nature and reason can suppress and overcome it. Hold power—don't let power control you. Nature can be overcome."

Lord Lord Lord Kuku tried to persuade Li En; Li En nodded, agreeing.

This class lasted over four hours, with two breaks—mostly because the teacher needed to drink water.

During breaks, while the instructor was away, the apprentices introduced themselves to each other.

The seven apprentices left Li En with an average impression; his introduction as "Holy Knight and Sorcerer" made others' expressions peculiar.

They probably couldn't say it outright, but their "Did you get lost?" expressions were obvious.

The apprentices still exchanged contact information, but their expressions grew even more peculiar when they saw Li En's address: "South Gate District."

Their relationships were lukewarm; after class, everyone naturally returned home—though normally there were social gatherings—but Li En's presence made the class atmosphere too strange.

Perhaps some of them were already eager to go home and ask who Li En really was.

"This one and this one," Li En naturally went to buy the books on the reading list after class.

The instructor had kindly marked the bookstore locations, but the more Li En bought, the paler his face became.

These things were absurdly expensive—fewer than fifty books cost over a hundred gold coins, and this was only the beginning.

"Hurry up! Hurry up, next!"

Lord Lord Lord Kuku, pushing the cart, was delighted.

"Hey, don't perch on my shoulder," Li En grumbled—not because it was heavy; Kusula was far lighter than this armor.

"Why not? Lord Lord Lord Kuku made a disguise!" Lord Lord Lord Kuku was confused.

"It's this disguise." To avoid trouble, Kusula had created a fake outer skin—but…

"... a pink-furred giant teddy bear. I, a grown man, carrying this on my shoulder? I'll never be able to live as a human again."

The only casing large enough to fit Kusula that Li En could find was this oversized toy children loved.

Thus, the two transformed from a con artist alchemist and his metal lizard golem into a holy knight and his girly pink-furred teddy bear.

Li En sighed but ultimately didn't refuse the bear's company—or its habit of sitting on his shoulder to read (really, Lord Lord Lord Kuku just wanted to read faster). Li En's skin had long since thickened; he just complained now, lest Lord Lord Lord Kuku get even more unbearable.

As he placed each book down, Li En's heart ached more.

He didn't understand—if he'd been friendlier with the other apprentices, shown more warmth, they might've told him: go to the used bookstores, where you can get nearly new complete magic introductory sets for half price.

Why? Too many apprentices dropped out midway.

If he shamelessly posted buy notices along this street, with patience and wasted time, he could even get them for three-tenths the price.

"By the way, what auxiliary studies should I pick when I reach the second circle?" Since Lord Lord Lord Kuku was here, Li En naturally hoped he'd help plan his development.

Li En hadn't even entered the path yet, and he was already thinking about flying.

But both Li En and Lord Lord Lord Kuku considered it natural—Li En was unlikely to be blocked outside the second circle.

"Focus on auxiliary studies that improve your logical thinking and calculation skills—architecture design is good, and it trains spatial imagination. Practical arcane knowledge is also useful; history helps immensely when excavating underground ruins. Herbalism is important too—no, wait, no." After thinking, the "teddy bear" slipped into teaching mode and shook his head.

His conclusion: Li En couldn't be measured by ordinary wizard apprentice standards.

"See who you draw," Lord Lord Lord Kuku gave a subtly realistic answer.

"Huh, alright." After thinking, Li En agreed—it was realistic, and made sense.

Self-study could never match the speed of borrowing divine spirit experience and talent.

"What branch suits me best at the third circle?" Li En looked even further ahead.

"Start with Evocation. Dragon-blooded and dragon-bloodline users are naturally elemental conduits." In Lord Lord Lord Kuku's view, dragons themselves were kings of the elements; dragon-blooded had no reason not to specialize in Evocation—controlling, shaping, and manipulating energy and elements.

Li En hesitated—he didn't want to become what people called a brute wizard.

He'd heard Evocation was viewed oddly in wizard circles; "Fireball Mage" didn't sound like a respectable title.

"What was your first awakened divine spell?" Lord Lord Lord Kuku asked directly in return.

"Uh, Holy Fire Halo, but isn't that a divine spell?"

"The eight schools of magic are never limited to a mage's spells; they are a classification based on the operational characteristics of supernatural power. Most divine spells and supernatural abilities are included."

Li En still wanted to argue a bit; he thought the spell that hypnotized opponents with a mere snap of the fingers was very cool.

Or the Abjuration that simply pointed a finger and bounced an opponent's spell back was also quite good.

"Smite Evil is an Evocation spell." Well, one sentence from Lord Lord Kuku ended the match.

"Healing Light Wounds is also an Evocation spell." This left Li En a bit confused, but after thinking about it, such divine spells seemed to control "positive energy," so it actually made sense.

"Holy Fire Halo is still an Evocation spell, and Paladins have a huge number of Evocation spells."

"Alright, I will seriously study Evocation." Li En raised his hand and surrendered.

The victorious Lord Lord Kuku nodded. Although his own specialty was Transmutation (Alchemy), mastering Evocation to the extreme was not merely about playing with and manipulating energy and elements.

In Lord Lord Kuku's view, Red Dragon Sorcerers were born with an Evocation Saint Body, Paladins had a host of Evocation divine spells (Li En specialized in the Evocation spell Smite Evil), and Li En was completely an Evocation Saint Body; it would be a pity not to study it.

However, he was also a bit worried that Li En was too suited for Evocation.

"But, you must restrain yourself! Restrain yourself!"

The power of magic is also the power of the elements; it will transform the user's temperament. But one can also look at it from another angle: certain personalities are particularly suited to certain types of spells.

And Evocation is famous for producing grumpy old brothers and fiery old sisters.

Some say it might be because they live with the elements for a long time and are eroded by the elements' nature. This actually has some merit; among dragons, the Chromatic Dragons who specialize in elemental spells really aren't good dragons.

Apprentices and novices and old hands who truly love magic have too many topics to discuss about magic. Li En also heard quite a few sorcerer jokes, dragon jokes, and warrior jokes. Uh, no mage jokes; Lord Lord Kuku seemed to dislike telling them.

Later, Li En would know that the targeted jokes within the mage community, especially between the various schools, were simply too numerous; otherwise, the nickname "Evocation Barbarian" wouldn't have been known even to an outsider like Li En.

Finally, having sorted out most of the matters in hand, Li En could go back and relax a bit.

Returning to his own home, Li En, who had not returned home the night before, was punished. Miss Lana ignored him!

"Stinky friend, went out to play alone again!" The little one pouted, not even looking at Li En.

Fortunately, Li En had a trump card. He casually gave Lord Lord Kuku's disguised "Bear Skin" to Miss Lana, saying he had bought it specifically as a gift for her (Lord Lord Kuku: Shameless! I have never seen such a shameless person!)

But sometimes a lie works better than the truth, instantly turning Miss Lana's cloudy mood sunny, making her happy all at once.

After running around holding the little bear, she specifically came back, stood on her tiptoes, and kissed Li En's cheek once.

Then, blushing, she ran away again.

"Really, who taught her?" Li En smiled rather subtly, but did not notice the subtle expression on the face of the maid Young Lady behind him.

Hearing the maid say that the household was very stable, that Miss Lana had slept very well last night, and that eating, drinking, and studying had all gone smoothly, Li En also breathed a sigh of relief.

Once her mind matures a bit more, perhaps she can go to school.

After confirming everything went smoothly, Li En naturally went back to reading.

Following the method taught by Lord Lord Kuku, he first let a thread of thought browse the knowledge points in the memory book, then let it slowly analyze them.

Following Lord Lord Kuku's suggestion, Li En did not start rushing to attempt learning a First-Ring spell.

He first studied those "miscellaneous subjects" to build a foundation, and his advantages in the most difficult areas of Draconic and mathematics made his progress seem quite good.

Just as he was diligently studying and reading, at dusk, an unexpected visitor suddenly arrived.

"Li En. Fulfill your promise." The other "daughter," cloaked in a hood, had originally planned to wait two days, but came to the door today.

It seemed that she, a Red Dragon Bloodline and Evocation user, was quite lacking in patience.

(End of Chapter)