James went on, "Under the current Mage promotion system, total spiritual power isn't the decisive factor, but the advantages it brings are still enormous. At the same rank, your soul can hold far more mana and cast far more spells than anyone else. It doesn't help much with research, but it helps enormously in battle. If you can become a war Mage, you'll find it much easier to get through the weak stage."
"War Mage?"
James waved a hand. "Mm. That's a classification the Mage Council applies to Mages once they've become full-fledged. It's still far off for you — no need to know about it now."
Adam asked, puzzled, "Mr. James, even if my total spiritual power is high, isn't that my own business?"
Amid his excitement, a measure of anticipation showed in James's expression. "No, no, no. It's your gift, true, but it's very useful to me as well."
"For instance?"
"Come with me."
James grabbed Adam and headed deeper into the laboratory. Adam didn't try to break free. As for resisting — the power a high-rank apprentice commands is certainly beyond anything I can handle right now. I might as well see what James wants to do.
Places like laboratories are extremely important secrets on Earth; every researcher guards his results closely, and the Mage World is no exception. James swiped his identity token three times along the way before he finally led Adam to the innermost room.
Research on knowledge obviously can't rely on idle speculation — every conclusion needs countless rigorous empirical tests to support it. Adam was very curious about the Mages' research environment. He had once imagined what a laboratory would look like: countless delicate magitech instruments, say, or rows of tanks packed with alien specimens, test tubes full of weirdly colored liquids, and so on.
"It looks a little... ordinary?"
Faced with James's proud expression, that was what Adam said.
James's laboratory was one huge, pure-black room. No large instruments were in sight; the space was filled with layer upon layer of optical projections displaying all sorts of rune models. There were plenty of crystal balls, and on every workbench lay a thick "illustrated notebook."
Probably because Adam really was important to him, James had shed the cold manner of their first meeting. Very amicably, he said, "Ordinary? You're actually calling this place ordinary? Have you seen other laboratories?"
Adam described what he had imagined, and James explained, "Those things do exist, but they belong to laboratories in other research directions. What I research here is mainly 'the structural stability of spiritual-power solidification runes and the construction of complete rune groups.'"
"In other words, research on meditation methods?"
James nodded. "Exactly. That's also why I can serve as the first-year rune knowledge instructor."
Adam's gaze swept the room, but he didn't rashly extend his spiritual power to record anything — doing something tantamount to directly stealing another's research results would never earn James's forgiveness. Still, he was extremely interested in this field, and it happened to be exactly the direction he meant to work hard on at this stage.
In that case, put together with his own superhuman total spiritual power, James's reason for seeking him out had to be — you want me to be your test subject?
James shook his head. "Not a test subject — my assistant, taking part in the experiments. During the experiments I'll share the results with you, and I'll pay you handsomely."
"Assistant? What would I have to do?"
Seeing that Adam hadn't refused outright, James excitedly clapped him on the shoulder. "Simple. You build the rune groups I create into your body, and I record your feedback. From that I judge whether a meditation method has any value."
That didn't sound bad. For Adam, devoting one thread to testing different rune groups wouldn't harm his body, he'd get paid on top of it, and he could gain knowledge by researching alongside a senior apprentice. There's no good reason to refuse, is there?
Still, Adam wouldn't agree so easily. After all, he had arrived at the academy only a day ago; there was a great deal he didn't understand, and making a hasty decision was never a good idea.
"I'll think it over carefully and give you my answer after the next rune class." Then Adam said to James, "But before that, Mr. James — what about my question?"
A little downcast that Adam hadn't agreed on the spot, James lost his earlier excitement and anticipation. In a muffled voice he said, "Once a Mage with a soul inclination has settled on a path, they can try to fuse the knowledge along the path that inclination reveals into rune groups and construct a meditation method of their own. The Mage Armor such meditation methods form after advancing to full-fledged Mage carries a strong personal inclination, and it often possesses a special, powerful ability."
So that was it. In other words, so long as they met the minimum, every apprentice had a chance to advance to full-fledged Mage — but that small minority blessed with excellent aptitude would gain greater strength the moment they advanced, acquiring something like an innate spell.
Having gotten his answer, Adam ignored James's gloom and took his leave. The day's classes weren't over; there was an element knowledge class in the afternoon, held on the other side of the academy, so he needed to head over early.
Along the way he met plenty of apprentices who had just come out of the rune knowledge classroom. They chattered enthusiastically about the knowledge they had just received, constantly comparing how well they had grasped it with one another, exclaiming or sinking into dejected regret over every tiny bit of progress or every mistake.
Though it was midday, no one chose to go eat lunch — the cost was simply too high. With everyone's baseline knight-level physique, one meal a day was enough so long as there was no strenuous exertion.
Someone spotted Adam, but no one came over to greet him. Most of them had already decided that Adam was a fool. Friendship, socializing — those were investments too, and an investment that ate up time was undoubtedly unwise when placed on Adam.
Adam didn't care. He had no such emotion as loneliness; being alone was in fact more peaceful, and he didn't have to waste precious threads on useless conversation.
The closer he came to the classroom, the denser the surrounding ether grew. Adam even felt the energy around him turn "heavy," so that walking cost him more physical strength. The other apprentices fared worse: conversation stopped entirely, and everyone was throwing their full effort into resisting the pressure.
After several turns, Adam arrived before an enclosed building. On the light screen at the entrance was written: Newly admitted apprentices are strictly forbidden to diffuse spiritual power inside the Elemental Experiment Building. Otherwise, the consequences are your own.
Mages don't make baseless pronouncements; since the academy had issued the warning, no one dared disobey. Adam firmly reined in his spiritual power and walked in through the first gate.
What met his eyes was another light screen: Present your identity token.
Adam did as told. After that scan, he felt a force settle onto him, completely suppressing his spiritual power inside his body. The Fireball rune group he kept waiting in a thread vanished; every rune he was still in the middle of constructing shattered — even the one he had optimized himself — leaving only the few armor plates he had just finished on an experimental basis.
Because so many threads had been freed and the solidified spiritual power was spreading, the scanning ray swept over Adam's body once more, and then a still stronger suppressing force descended on him.
The other apprentices went through the same, but they had far less trouble than Adam; a single pass and they were let through.
The inside of the Elemental Experiment Building was far larger than it looked from outside — clearly an application of spatial folding technology. People came and went in a bustle, and runes surfaced on every door, presumably serving to seal them.
Adam followed the directions toward the classroom situated underground. Just as he set foot on the stairs, a laboratory on the other side of the building blew apart with a deafening crash, a violent burst of firelight erupting outward. The shockwave sent the apprentices behind him who hadn't reacted yet staggering, and the weaker ones were even blown into a rolling heap.
"What happened?!"
"Gods! That's terrifying!"
Panic-stricken voices spread through the hall. Everyone stopped and looked toward that laboratory. Several people had already been blown out of it, their clothes burned to tatters, and from the look of them they were half-cooked.
The high-rank apprentices in gray robes inside the building rushed toward the laboratory at top speed. Moments later a figure flew out of it, wreathed in surging fire elemental force, and raged in midair: "Idiots! Damn idiots! Didn't I tell you that rune has to be constructed meticulously, exactly to spec? You idiots, worse than a herd of swine! Send them for treatment, and then — you're expelled! Never come near my laboratory again! Idiots!"
"So this is what an elemental magic experiment looks like?" Adam murmured to himself. Everything here was new to him and valuable, and he didn't want to miss a single scene; it was just a pity there was no way to go inside the laboratory and look around.
Arriving at the classroom, Adam found that the instructor was someone he already knew. After everyone had taken their seats, the man said, "I am Blake, a level-two air elemental Mage, and your element knowledge instructor for this first year."
This was a tiered lecture hall, and Mage Blake floated at the very front. "I hope that little scene just now didn't frighten you too badly. Elemental magic is full of charm; it's the most beautiful scenery on a Mage's path — but it comes with extreme danger. Mage George's apprentices were comparatively lucky; they'll need a long time to recover, but at least their lives aren't in danger. You should know that every year many apprentices die in elemental experiments."
"Element knowledge classes are held only once a month. Over this year you must come to understand what elements are, and successfully construct the rune groups for three low-level elemental spells."
"Believe me, this is important. Unless you can show talent in other fields — like Miss Ophelia over there — you must learn at least three low-level spells. Otherwise, you'll be dismissed from the academy."