Chapter 90. What Kind of Course Is This?
Inside a classroom, many apprentices sat below, waiting for the teacher to arrive. What made the scene different was the expressions on their faces—excitent, anticipation, and perhaps a hint of nervousness.
Osien nervously glanced around. His hand repeatedly rubbed against the desk as he waited for soone—his friend.
Finally, a familiar figure suddenly appeared at the doorway.
The mont the person appeared, all the apprentices’ attention shifted toward the entrance. The noisy classroom abruptly fell silent.
Kane had just reached the classroom door. The loud chatter outside suddenly quieted the mont he stepped in, which left him sowhat confused.
Fortunately, within a few seconds the apprentices realized that the person entering was not the teacher they had imagined, but rely soone wearing the sa apprentice robe as themselves.
Their attention quickly shifted away, and the noise in the classroom returned—louder than before.
At that mont, Osien raised his right hand from the back row and waved it slightly, signaling Kane where he was.
Kane hurried over.
“Hi, Osien. Why did you all co so early? I arrived half an hour ahead of ti, and I am still slower than all of you… The classroom is almost full.”
Osien stared at Kane with disbelief, as though he could not understand why he would say such a thing.
“What are you talking about? Today is our first class here, isn’t it? Besides, don’t you want to learn more spells? Or do you want to end up like those apprentices last year who failed to learn any spells and were sent to Antir?”
Kane scratched his head.
“But do we really need to get up this early? How long are we going to have to wait here?”
“I barely slept last night. I woke up at six this morning, so I ca early. I suppose everyone else probably did the sa.”
Only then did Kane finally understand why these apprentices had arrived so early.
Just a few days ago, this group of apprentices had only just arrived in the City of Apprentices, Lodris.
Everywhere they looked, they saw spellcasters. It was not uncommon to witness soone casting spells, which filled the apprentices with longing. They all wished they could be the one casting those spells.
Yesterday, each of them had received a spell of their own. Naturally, that made them even more excited. And today was their first class, so it was only natural that everyone felt thrilled.
But Kane was different.
Although his family was not part of any professional class, his father was still an ordinary citizen of the city. Their life was modest, but they never had to worry about food.
When he was a child, he had once encountered a spellcaster—an experience that had left a deep impression on him, one he had never forgotten.
The man wore a tattered robe filled with patches and holes. He was curled up by the roadside like a beggar.
Yet he could not even be a beggar, because begging in that area was controlled by gangs. Once, when Kane passed by, he saw several n pinning the spellcaster against a wall…
Later, the man once asked him for the dry piece of bread he held in his hand.
Kane had been chewing that sa piece of bread for three days. He would rather go hungry than take another bite of it, so he simply handed it over.
The man devoured the bread imdiately and seed very pleased. In return, he perford a spell for Kane.
Even now, Kane could not forget the mont he saw a white ray shoot out and strike the wall. His mouth had remained open in shock for a long ti.
When he finally ca back to his senses, he hurriedly asked why soone capable of such miraculous magic was still begging on the street.
The man had smiled and said,
“My magical talent is not good enough. When I studied in the City of Apprentices, this was the only spell I learned. Nowadays, even the city guards can cast several spells—they are all people who returned from the City of Apprentices.”
“So this is the only life left for . What use is knowing just one spell? I cannot even defeat a single monster outside the city. I am less useful than a trained soldier.”
Kane had never forgotten those words.
When he later discovered that he possessed ntal talent, those words ca back to him. He understood that coming to the City of Apprentices did not an he would automatically beco one of those “mage lords” the soldiers spoke about.
Because of that, Kane was not overly fascinated by the spells cast by other mages.
He always rembered that if he truly wanted to beco a respectable spellcaster, he would have to work twice as hard.
Even yesterday he had been unable to sleep, but he forced himself to lie quietly in bed, clearing his mind so he could arrive in the classroom today with full energy.
I must study spells properly and beco a true mage.
He stared at the empty podium as he thought this.
At that mont, the classroom suddenly fell silent.
A man wearing a green robe walked in, pushing a cart filled with books.
“Welco, apprentices. This should be your first class since arriving in the City of Apprentices… Two of you, co and distribute these books. They are the textbooks for this course.”
While the books were being handed out, Elan continued speaking.
“This course is also mandatory. If you fail to pass it, even if you have learned spells, you will still be unable to graduate.”
Yet none of the apprentices looked frightened upon hearing this. Instead, their faces showed pure confidence. Every one of them believed they could pass the course.
The mont Kane received the textbook, he imdiately began flipping through it on the desk.
After only a quick glance, he already knew that the contents were beyond his understanding.
“By the way, this course is conducted with the support of the Forge Furnace School. If you perform exceptionally well, you may gain the opportunity to enter the Forge Furnace School…”
Upon hearing this news, the well-inford apprentices already knew what joining a school ant. A wave of excited voices erupted from the crowd, drowning out all other sounds in the classroom.
Osien turned his head and asked, “What is a school? Why are they so surprised?”
Kane patiently explained.
“A school is…”
“Oh, I see. That does not sound difficult at all. Then we must definitely join that school.”
Osien’s face was filled with excitent.
But Kane understood very clearly that if joining a school were truly that easy, the spellcaster he had t years ago would not have fallen into such a miserable situation.
Elan opened the textbook in his hands and began the lecture.
“Objects…”
The atmosphere in the classroom instantly beca oppressive, because the apprentices quickly realized that they could not understand anything.
Elan’s teaching thod was rather unusual. He believed that only the final section—the principles of the Steam Engine—required detailed explanation.
The earlier material, although it made up ninety percent of the content, rely served as supporting knowledge.
As a result, before even half the class had passed, he had already covered three chapters, leaving the apprentices frantically flipping through pages to keep up.
Kane was no exception. His mind felt like a tangled ss. He could not understand anything and could only chanically turn to the next page.
Then he noticed sothing strange.
Osien did not look confused at all. Instead, he was reading the textbook with genuine interest.
“You can understand this?”
Osien slowly turned his head and replied,
“More or less. I understand a little. It feels sowhat similar to the carpentry work I help my father with.”
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