Apart from Adam, who passed the night without a word, the other Mage apprentices gathered in their little groups and excitedly discussed the new life already taking shape before them — the transcendent profession of Mage had finally arrived somewhere they could actually touch it.
They were, after all, only underage kids, and a passing conflict did not leave that heavy a shadow behind. Once they were gathered together, Randy quickly put the earlier unpleasantness out of his mind and started worrying about a different problem instead — his soul talent: Curse.
Curse plainly did not belong among the ordinary categories, and the awkward part was that this did not mean it was powerful. It was simply because it was useless.
Quentin patted him encouragingly. "The Mage said soul affinity matters, but it isn't the main factor in whether you can become a Mage. You don't need to worry so much. Hmph — if you ask me, that guy is the one who should be worried."
Everyone knew he meant Adam. Cristel, whose heart was still innocent and kind, said with some concern, "Is it really all right for us to shut Adam out like this? We come from the same place, after all — shouldn't we be helping each other? And didn't the Mage say that what happened wasn't Adam's fault?" She meant Adam's choice to smash the rune group only at the very end.
Randy snorted coldly. "We're not the ones shutting anyone out. He's the one who looks down on us, if you ask me — just look at the way he acts. He's probably laughing at us all as fools in his head. Hmph. He'll pay for that arrogance."
"But—"
"We're about to get our hands on deeper knowledge, and our strength will only keep growing. Does he still think he's back on that ship where he can throw his weight around? Those apprentices from the Mage Continent don't exactly treat us kindly, and at a time like this he still won't stand with the group — has to be a lone wolf," Quentin said mockingly. "I'm waiting for the day he comes crawling to us for help."
Ophelia found the conversation grating. She thought again of what Adam had said a month ago — that an alliance of the weak meant nothing. For some reason the words kept surfacing inside her, leaving her restless. "All right, I think we should get some rest. Being late on the very first day will surely leave a bad impression on the Mage."
With that, Ophelia left without another word. She and Cristel shared a room; once the door was shut, Cristel said softly, "Miss Ophelia, we blamed Adam wrongly, didn't we?"
Ophelia's steps paused for a moment, but in the end she said nothing. Cristel did not press her either, and went back into the room alone.
Early the next morning, Adam finished a whole night of rune tracing. Having studied the spiritual-power solidification rune and optimized it up to this point, he had a vague line of thought taking shape. Just as a spell was formed from a rune group, could the spiritual-power solidification rune also be traced in groups — combining one different rune structure after another into a still more complex pattern — and strengthen spiritual power more efficiently that way?
At that thought, Adam could not help looking forward to the classes even more. From today on, a Mage's training would come with systematic guidance, far more efficient than groping his own way forward alone.
It was again the senior apprentice who had led the way yesterday. He gathered the new batch of apprentices together and handed out the basic supplies needed to live at Mordo Academy: gray robes, identity tokens, detailed maps — all of it, of course, for a fee.
The academy was efficient. Overnight it had settled the accounts for the island apprentices' contributions aboard the ship, and seeing the pile of energy stones in Adam's hands, plainly larger than anyone else's, along with the secondary ether crystal he had been given, everyone's displeasure with him only deepened.
Adam first read the class schedule through carefully. It seemed the first year really was the compulsory stage: every course's hours were staggered so that apprentices would never miss one class because of another. And the first class this morning was rune knowledge.
The map marked the locations of the academy's major facilities, and Adam was drawn to a building called the mission hall. Just then the senior apprentice happened to say, "Apart from the first year, almost nothing in this academy is free. Even when something seems free at the time, you'll pay a greater price for it later. But the academy encourages apprentices to create value for themselves. If you feel your resources are running short, you can go to the mission hall and take on missions. The pay will not disappoint you."
"Some missions," he said, his expression turning a little strange, "will give you a very thrilling experience. Still, you lot are lucky. The tower has just lost a war, so there are far fewer apprentices than in past years, which leaves a huge backlog of missions with no one to complete them. You should have no trouble feeding yourselves — assuming you aren't genuinely stupid."
"Hold on to your identity tokens and enter your room information into them. From now on your dormitory is your private territory — you have the right to kill anyone who intrudes without permission, and you bear no responsibility for it whatsoever. The energy stones in your hands can also be deposited into your token; the cafeteria provides that service for a mere one percent fee."
With that, the senior apprentice left. According to the class schedule, the newcomers now had to hurry and enjoy their breakfast, then begin their first lesson.
The academy's cafeteria was enormous and split into two areas. There was no sign of any Mage in either — plainly Mages did not dine together with apprentices.
The food served in the first area contained no mortal grain; most of it was magical beast meat imbued with special energy. On a huge light screen each dish was priced in plain figures, with its effects spelled out one by one.
For example: a whole light bird, ten units of energy stones, with a weak effect of purifying spiritual power. A whole dreadfish, four units of energy stones, with a slight effect of dispelling mental fatigue. Apart from these foods with special functions, there was also the cheapest ordinary magical beast meat, with no effect at all, worth zero point five units of energy stones.
Adam walked to the counter and deposited the energy stones he held into his identity token — roughly eight hundred units. That clearly would not last him long. He had to find a steady source of income, or he was in danger of starving to death.
The other island apprentices looked deeply awkward. They had received even fewer energy stones; even eating only the cheapest food every day would leave them stretched thin. Until they had some source of income, they could only go to the second area and eat mortal food.
This only made the local apprentices nearby more contemptuous. They were natives; even though none of their parents were Mages, they worked for Mages and were paid in energy stones just the same, so they were naturally far better off than the island apprentices.
"Broke bastards," someone muttered with contempt.
The scornful voices made their faces burn red. William and Ophelia sighed softly; whatever else, on the first day at least, neither of them could simply stand by and watch their companions squirm like that.
"All right, fellows, it'll all work out. Come with me for now," William said softly, patting Quentin and Randy on the shoulder.
Adam went to the first area alone and sat down. Each table held a menu. Curious, Adam ordered the light bird on the menu's first line. A small protrusion rose from the table; Adam swiped his identity token over it, the charge was deducted automatically, and then a mechanical puppet walked over and presented the food.
These mechanical puppets were all the work of alchemy Mages. Though they were used as servers, Adam could still feel the overbearing aura radiating from their energy cores; a single puppet like this was absolutely not something the present Adam could contend with.
The taste of the food did no discredit to its expensive price. Magical beasts' bodies were as enormous as ever; this beast called a "bird" had more meat on it than a turkey back on Earth. Adam cut off a slice and put it in his mouth, and a fierce deliciousness exploded across his taste buds, bringing him enormous pleasure.
"No wonder the Mages ate so little at those banquets before. The food on the Mage Continent is really this good."
The deliciousness of the food left even Adam, who had never cared for base pleasures, somewhat enchanted. As he ate, the food's special energy merged into his body as well. "Purifying spiritual power" meant, as the name suggested, making spiritual power more condensed — but for Adam the effect was not great. It was better than nothing, and that was all.
Whatever the reason, for the first meal of the first day, every apprentice came to the first area. After they ate, heartfelt admiration showed on their faces — though the island apprentices, once the pleasure had passed, looked somewhat anxious.
After demolishing his food, Adam left the cafeteria alone and, following the map, found the rune knowledge classroom.
Since this was a low-level free course, there were no senior apprentices about. With half an hour still to go before the appointed time, the instructor was not there either, so Adam picked a seat at random and waited quietly.
Before long the other apprentices drifted in as well, and one second before class time the instructor walked into the room right on schedule. Without a single wasted word, he said, "James. That's my name. High-rank Mage apprentice. You don't need to call me Instructor. I will teach all knowledge only once; if there's anything you didn't understand, you can come find me after class — but make-up lessons cost money."
Adam temporarily halted the tasks on his other threads and fixed his eyes on James with full attention.
"Today's content is the essence of runes and the meditation method."
Adam realized that his past self had after all thrown away an opportunity. He had never imagined that the apprentices' very first lesson would teach the essence of runes.
As expected, what James said was no different from what Mage Blake had told him back then, and the other apprentices showed no surprise at it either. Plainly, this was merely the most basic of basics.
"Next, the meditation method."
"The name 'meditation method' is an ancient term from the Mage Plane. These days it has another name — the spiritual-power solidification rune group — but because that's too much of a mouthful, most Mages still call it by this one."
Adam caught the words keenly: rune group. As expected — the spiritual-power solidification rune did not exist on its own.