Chapter 17: What is a Wizard?

After extracting the basic meditation technique, Richard nearly fainted but managed to practice it through sheer willpower. Once his mental strength was restored, he began working on the advanced meditation technique.

The advanced meditation technique introduced seven new mental runes. While this allowed Richard to stay longer in the sea of souls, it also doubled the difficulty of meditation.

After many failed attempts, luck finally aided Richard in successfully constructing ten mental runes.

This advanced technique let Richard linger in the sea of souls for four hours, twice the time of the basic technique.

Although it was just an additional two hours, the benefits in terms of mental strength growth were substantial, surpassing six hours of basic meditation.

Meditation couldn't be performed repeatedly in a short time, or the soul might become lost in the sea of souls and unable to return.

Thus, after meditating, Richard chose to revisit the library.

The academy's library was open day and night, and even at night, many apprentices frequented it.

Richard had much to learn, and he had plenty of time.

The entrance exam concluded swiftly, with over half of the nearly ten thousand apprentices dying. The survivors all entered the academy.

During this time, Richard used the library's free books to understand the wizarding world's structure and its various etiquettes. His mental strength also increased from 15 to 15.1 thanks to the advanced meditation technique.

With the exam over, the academy's free courses became available.

Each student had four free classes monthly, and additional classes required magic stones.

For the first three years, the academy provided one magic stone monthly. To earn more stones, apprentices needed to complete academy tasks or trade with peers.

New apprentices had a three-year grace period without mandatory tasks. After this, the academy assessed them, requiring at least one spell inscription and mental strength reaching 20 to remain—a prerequisite for becoming a low-level apprentice.

...

Dong—dong—dong!

The heavy bell tolled through the academy, signaling it was 8 AM.

Even in another world, Richard hadn't escaped the early class fate.

This class, Introduction to Alchemy, was Richard's first.

He sat in a tiered classroom on the Central Black Tower's third floor, Ellie beside him. The room was packed.

"Richard, why isn't the teacher here yet?"

Ellie glanced at Richard's profile, her mind racing.

They'd been in the academy for six days, yet Richard remained indifferent, spending his days buried in books or meditating. Their only meal together had been at her invitation.

Was she really so unappealing?

"Maybe they're delayed by something."

Richard absently replied while flipping through a borrowed spell theory book, lost in the sea of knowledge.

The book's discussion on wizard spells captivated him. Elemental, soul, necromancy, and curse spells each had unique characteristics and uses. It introduced a concept called a combat system.

A formidable wizard had a combat system, relying on core spells supported by minor ones for various scenarios, enabling them to face any foe in planar wars and wizard duels with composure.

If he were to build a combat system, he would definitely...

Tap, tap, tap, tap...

Approaching footsteps silenced the previously noisy classroom.

Bang.

The door swung open, and in walked a long-haired woman in a wizard robe, black boots clicking. Her tall, curvaceous figure and cold, alluring features, accentuated by narrow eyes, exuded a mysterious aura.

A mysterious black cat.

This was Richard's first impression of her.

Reaching the podium, she swiftly wrote a large phrase on the blackboard:

What is a Wizard?

"Hello, I'm Anna Dorsey, student of Alchemy School's Wizard Jolord. This class was originally my mentor's, but he's in a crucial alchemy experiment, so I'll be teaching it."

Anna's voice was calm yet carried an undeniable authority.

"So, can anyone tell me what a wizard is?"

Anna, holding a pointer, surveyed the room. Though she stood below the students, her gaze felt like she was looking down on them.

"You, tell me," Anna pointed at an apprentice.

"Uh... I think a wizard is someone who can use magic." The chosen apprentice, unprepared, gave a perfunctory answer.

"Good, that's indeed one trait of a wizard. Any other views?"

Anna gestured for him to sit and pointed at another.

"I believe a wizard is someone who uses magic to change the world."

Anna nodded, "That's also good, but still just the surface."

Anna asked several more apprentices, but their answers didn't satisfy her.

Finally, Anna's pointer landed on Richard.

"Apprentice, what do you think a wizard is?"

Richard met Anna's gaze. This woman, exuding authority from the start, was now staring at him, her eyes piercing as if to bore a hole through him. All others had avoided her gaze, but Richard chose to confront it.

Taking a deep breath, Richard looked at Anna and spoke:

"I believe wizards are madmen in pursuit of knowledge. Spells and magic are merely byproducts of this pursuit."

Silence enveloped the classroom, with all eyes on Richard.

His answer seemed absurd. Magic and spells were a wizard's hallmark and lifeline. How could they be mere byproducts?

"Very good."

Anna gestured for Richard to sit, then wrote his words on the blackboard.

"Wizards are madmen in pursuit of knowledge. This is the key to becoming a wizard. My mentor told me this, and now I tell you."

Anna's words sent a jolt through the apprentices. Their goal in joining the academy was to become wizards.

But how should they interpret this statement?

Every apprentice formed their own understanding.

Richard watched Anna on the podium. His words weren't original; they were those of the wizarding world's ruler, the chairman of the Council of Truth.

Initially, Richard thought the chairman was being pretentious.

I'm just pursuing knowledge; magic and spells are incidental, not worth mentioning.

But Anna's explanation offered Richard a new perspective.

"Madmen in pursuit of knowledge. Why become madmen if knowledge alone suffices?"

Richard pondered this, jotting a note:

"Perhaps it's not madmen pursuing knowledge, but pursuing knowledge requires becoming madmen."