Dream Life Vol II Chapter 25: “Class”

　Classes began on September 2, the second day of the academy.

　Classes for first-year students consisted of classroom lectures in the morning from 8:00 a.m. to noon, and practical skills in the afternoon from 1:00 p.m. to 3:00 p.m. –The afternoon classes, from 1:00 to 3:00 p.m., consisted of practical skills.

　In addition to magic lessons, general education such as arithmetic, history, and geography are also required for the morning classes.

　I knew from the time I took the written exam that the level of the classroom lecture was very low.

　Since I had too much free time during class, I tried to discuss this issue.

　First of all, one of the reasons for the low level of classroom learning is the world’s education system.

　There are no public educational institutions in any country, and these are supplemented by private tutors for aristocrats and above, and private temples and kindergartens for commoners. In either case, the level of knowledge of those who are taught is determined by the ability of the teachers at tutors and temples.

　Therefore, there are variations in the way each teacher teaches, and here at a higher/educational institution like the Tyria Magic Academy, it is expected to start with low-level classes to meet a certain standard.

　In fact, Quentin Wagman, who got involved on the first day, has sufficient knowledge – still not far behind Sharon – and it shows the results of learning from good teachers in Doctus.

　The next possible factor is the admission examination system here.

　This is “the” Magic Academy, and it is not an exaggeration to say that pass or fail is determined by magical talent. Therefore, parents try to teach magic to their magically talented children, even if it means cutting back on other lessons. As a result, the level of knowledge of those who pass is low, and the level of classroom learning is lowered so as not to create dropouts.

　In fact, in this one group, those with magic level 3 or above came, and most of them can use [Fireball], [Ice Needle], and other offensive magic, although they cannot use them at the actual battle level.

(I guess that means they can’t teach me what I want to learn for the lower grades. Huh, what the heck…) (Zack)

　And then there were the practical classes, which were also just repetitions of basic techniques such as chanting spells and how to gather the power of spirits.

　There is a reason for this is with a first-year student’s MP, a little bit of casting magic would quickly result in symptoms of running out of magic power. For this reason, the instructors at the academy seem to have thought about the content of the lessons so that the students do not run out of magic.

(Two hours of practical training is too boring. Even Sharon seems to be wondering if this is a good idea. If I try to do it at my own pace, the practical instructor would stop me…) (Zack)

　The practical skills were being taught by a male instructor in his mid-twenties named Chambers, who has the attributes of fire and earth. He was holding a thin stick like a conductor’s baton in his right hand and had us chanting the spells.

“Accurate chanting of spells is the fastest way to improve your magic. You must chant the spells that match your attributes, written here, over and over again, without putting any magic power into them!” (Chamber)

　I was so taken aback by the rudimentary lesson of chanting spells that I asked Mr. Chambers to give me some other instructions. But he immediately got angry and yelled at me not to do anything uninstructed.

　I said, “But just casting spells doesn’t work. Magic is how well you use magic power…” I argued a little, “Shut up!” he yelled, cutting me off.

　Then he stood looking down at me.

“Every year, the top student says the same thing. If I let them use magic as they wish, they will soon run out of magic and be carried to the first aid room. They seem confident that they can use some, but they need to put that kind of pride aside.” (Chambers)

“I have a level 25 wind attribute. And in actual combat I…” (Zack)

　When I continued to insist, Dr. Chambers shouted at me, “Follow my instructions! He yelled at me and swung a stick down on me.

　I reflexively avoided it.

　Mr. Chambers glared at me, but I pretended not to notice and joined in the chanting of the incantation.

　As I chanted the incantation, an idea occurred to me.

(I was going to do the spell chanting.　Since I’m being asked to chant spells, I might be able to do compound magic better if I practice gathering the power of spirits with different attributes from the spells…) (Zack)

　Here’s what I came up with.

　Simultaneously, use the power of spirits of the wind attribute while chanting fire attribute spells. I thought that if I practiced what felt something like parallel thinking, thinking of fire attribute spells with my mouth and wind attribute spells in my mind, I would have an advantage when creating compound magic of the two attributes.

　Then, while chanting the spell of the [Fireball] with the other students, I constructed the magic of the [Wind Blade].

“O Ignis, God of Fire, commander of the world’s fires. I seek thy fierce flames of your kin, spirits, I offer the power of mine life to thee as payment. Burn my enemies, balls of fire, Fireball!” (Zack)

　And yet, in my mind, I chanted.

“O Wentus, God of Wind, who commands all the winds in the world. Grant mine thy blades of wind, I offer the power of mine life to thee as payment. Come forth! Tear my enemies apart, whirlwind of blades, Wind Blade.” (Zack)

　I thought about it, and the power of the spirit of fire gathered.

　When I concentrate on the incantation I am chanting in my mind, I neglect the incantation I am chanting with my mouth, and the incantation becomes a mess.

(This is harder than I thought. But I have a vague idea of what I’m doing. In order to give a spirit my magical power to invoke magic, it is important to have an image in my mind. But Liddy told me that the image can be supplemented by chants. If this is the case, then for spells cast with the mouth, if a percentage of the image in one’s mind is allocated, the spell should work as magic, albeit a weaker one. Combine that with the magic invoked by the rest of the images, and I should be able to create compound magic…)

　For two hours I kept trying it.

　Fortunately, Mr. Chambers is unaware of what I am doing because he cannot see the spirits. Sometimes I make mistakes in casting spells, but he only seems to think I’m being unfaithful and doing it randomly.

　As expected, there was no sign of success in two hours, but I was happy to have found a way to make good use of this wasted time.

(I’ll let Sharon know when I get back. If it’s a combination of wind and fire, it should make powerful offensive magic. …Speaking of which, isn’t the [Fire Storm] a combination of fire and wind magic? Well, I’m not sure about that part…) (Zack)

　As expected, I didn’t feel like asking Professor Chambers, so I made a mental note to ask Liddy after I got home.

　After finishing the practical skills class, we returned to the classroom for a homeroom-like period, after which we were dismissed from the school.

　Aside from the practical skills, homeroom time seemed like a waste of time.

(If I go into the forest for this amount of time, I can gain a lot of experience. Even if I listen to the classes, it doesn’t make much sense unless I am a third grader or above… well, what should I do…) (Zack)

　Then homeroom is over and it’s time to leave school. Normally, students would leave the school immediately, but since they have not yet established friendships, many of them stay behind for some reason.

　The students in the dormitories are gradually leaving the classroom in groups of several, but about 30% of the commuting students seem to be stuck, wary that they will be left out of the class if they go home.

　I could have gone home since I didn’t have to worry about that, but Sharon thought I should make normal friendships. Therefore, I stayed in the classroom like the other students.

“Master Zack… No, Mr. Lockhart. Were you not heading home?” (Sharon)

　Sharon asked me that noticing my thoughts.

(I could invite someone over, but I don’t know what I’ll do. Apparently, she’s wary of others. I’m sure she’s concerned about what Quentin said yesterday… Since he’s the son of a councilor of the Magicians’ Guild…) (Zack)

　As for the organization of the Magicians’ Guild, as far as I know, it looks like this.

　The Council makes policy for the guild. And the chairman is generally called the Guild headmaster.

　The Council is the highest decision-making body, consisting of eight council members, three advisors who have been chairmen before, and the chairperson, for a total of 12 members.

　Council members are not elected but are nominated by their predecessors. Formally, they must be approved by the Council, but no Council member has ever been rejected by the Council.

　The term of office is ten years, during which the council members who fail to become chairperson will retire. Retirement, as it was called, is simply moving down to a daughter organization of the guild—the chairperson of the school board of the Academy is one such organization.

　This system may seem disadvantageous to long-lived elves, but normal elves are not interested in secular guild positions. For this reason, the only elves remaining in the guild are said to be deviants devoted to research.

　Under the council, there are committees for each individual policy, chaired by a councilor. The members of the committees are called councilors and are the core of the guild’s operations.

(Think of it this way, Quentin’s dad must be a real bigwig. The size of the organization is inferior to the Adventurers’ Guild or the Mercenaries’ Guild, but he is still a member of the top management of the only organization that unites magicians. He has a 12-year-old son, which means that he is not that old, and he is probably young. Anyone with even the slightest sensitivity to such things would be wary of us, even if we were kids. I don’t really care, I’m just concerned about Sharon…) (Zack)

　Sharon asked if we weren’t leaving further, so we just left the classroom.

　After we left, the air somehow loosened up, like they wanted us to leave.

(I could somehow tell by the Detection, but I don’t feel very good about it. I’ll talk to Liddy about it…) (Zack)

　We went straight home.

　On the way home, I asked Sharon what she thought of today’s class.

“Yes. The morning class was boring because I was learning only what Master Zack and Ms. Lydia had taught me. The practical class was the same. I wonder if that will continue for the rest of the day?” (Sharon)

“Aside from the classroom lecture, during the practical class I added an interesting twist. While I was chanting a spell, I’d picture a spell with a different attribute in my head…” (Zack)

　I tell her what I came up with and practiced during the practical skills class.

　Sharon didn’t seem to understand my idea at first, but her eyes lit up when she realized what I was thinking.

“It sounds interesting! I’ll also give it a try!” (Sharon)

　I went home and talked to Liddy about it.

“Why don’t you just skip class? It’s not like you can’t advance to the next level if you don’t attend class.” (Liddy)

　She said it without a hint of hesitation.

　I asked her, “Aren’t there any restrictions on attendance or anything like that?”

“What? I don’t think anyone counts attendance. I also holed myself up in the library when classes were too much of a bother, but I was able to graduate properly.” (Liddy)

(Come to think of it, they didn’t seem to be checking attendance on a roster or anything like that. If what Liddy says is true, it would be more efficient to study in the library. That might be the most efficient way. However, this would make it almost meaningless for me to enter the academy.) (Zack)

　The next day, I checked the rules of the academy and confirmed that attendance was not a requirement for advancement. As a result, I decided to study in the library with Sharon.