Volume 2: Chapter 33 – Not Returning To School
“Why?” I immediately asked because I knew that I was the youngest to become a magic scholar. Why was it that I could not surpass Teacher Di? I had deeply believed in the past that I held extraordinary talent, enough to certainly become a Legendary Grand Magister like that of yore. Teacher Di’s words had astonished me, enough to shatter my self-confidence.
“Don’t worry. Listen to me explain,” Teacher Di paused for a moment, “You know how old I am this year?”
“About 80?”
“This year I’m 83. Do you know how old the vice principal is?”
“I don’t know. I’d think he’d be a bit younger than you!”
“This year he is 62. Before you came, he was the youngest to become a magic scholar. At the age of 20, he had already graduated from the Royal Advanced Magic Academy. At the age of 30 he had become a magister. Do you know why he hadn’t made an inch of progress with these remaining 30 years?”
I shook my head.
“Although they say there have been very few magisters, thousands of years ago, several hundred magisters existed. But there wasn’t even a single Grand Magister. After achieving the level of a magister, you will enter a bottleneck. You could only increase your magic skills and your magic foundation, incapable of increasing your magic power. At present, of the ten magisters on the continent there is no difference in the amount of magical power. We are only ranked by our fame and magic skill.”
“Is the bottleneck that difficult to break through? Then how do I have a chance?” I said a bit discouraged.
“Until now, there hadn’t been any great methods. Long ago, there had be many magisters experimenting but only three who bore fruit. One had given up. Another went insane. The last had injured his body with magic power and died.”
“Ah, it’s that hard?” I thought about giving up. After all, I’ve already made it this far. I’ll definitely become a magister, not a bad choice at all.
“This is why I didn’t want you to walk along my beaten path and attend the Royal Advanced Magic Academy. I know that if you attempt to improve your own magic power there, your final conclusion would be to give up. These years that we spent learning magic together, I’ve grown to understand your temperament.”
I scratched my head with an embarrassed chuckle.
“I don’t think that you must become a Grand Magister at any cost, but I do want you to try a new, different method. At the very least there is hope you will become a Grand Magister without using dangerous means.”
“Yes, there is hope. There is a final, crucial reason why magisters are incapable of improving, that is because their bodies are incapable to bearing that magic power. Furthermore, it is also because we are unable to genuinely understand the magic elements. Right now, your greatest advantage is your ability to become one with the magic elements. This is also the reason you are capable of creating many new spells.”
“Then what must I do? I’ll listen to you.”
Rotating around such a large circle, at last the final conclusion is said.
“It is actually quite simple. You will still attend the Royal Advanced Magic Academy. Just that I wish for you to attend it at a later time. I want you to travel for a few years and learn from that experience, and afterwards, return and continue advancing your studies.
“Travel and learn from experience?” This simple? I thought it would be something hard. But it is actually just to travel and have fun. “Alright, I also wanted to try traveling.”
“Don’t think it’ll be too easy. I do want you to travel and learn from your experiences but also want you to complete a few assignments. On your own terms, through your experiences of travel, you must raise your magic power to that of a magister. This is a truly difficult process. Therefore, you must not believe that you can just laze around while traveling. Secondly, you must temper your body and strengthen your physical capabilities. To the point that you may even learn to use some simple Dou Qi.
I interrupted Teacher Di, “A warrior’s Dou Qi? It is possible to use both Dou Qi and magic at the same time?”
“In theory, it is possible. But if you learn both, the final result will be that you will master neither. I don’t want you to practice Dou Qi to the point of ferociousness, only to the point where you have a strengthened, healthy body to use. You will still primarily practice magic.”
“Oh, so it’s like that.”
“There are many advantages to learn from experience, for example to increase your battle experience, to increase your understanding of magic through real combat. This is very significant. However, to learn from experience is also very dangerous. I will try to keep you away from these dangers as much as possible. While you are traveling and learning, I will still teach, giving you difficult assignments, such as looking for divine artifacts of the legends, a weapon that had once been used by the God of Creation- Holy Sword.
“Holy Sword? It truly exists?”
“Yes, in addition I also know its approximate location. As for whether or not you can obtain it will depend on your luck. It should prove to be of great assistance to you. Within the Holy Sword contains a remnant of the God of Creation’s holy power. This is a crucial to whether or not you can become a Grand Magister. That is why you must spare no effort looking for it.
There is such a great thing? Not bad, I must diligently look for it. “Be at ease, I can do it.”
“Right now, it isn’t far away from your graduation. In these coming days you must make a great effort with great diligence. Strive to improve a bit. This way you will be safer while traveling. After about a month, I can accompany you to your home and explain the situation to your parents. Afterwards, you can begin to travel and learn. My initial plan is to give you two years’ worth of time. After those two years, regardless of whether you completed your assignment, you must return.”
I nodded my head. It seems I won’t be able to have fun, this assignment is very important, I can’t fail to live up to Teacher Di’s expectations. I must try hard, I don’t want to become famous, but I wanted to become strong.
Leaving Teacher Di’s office, I immediately went back to the dormitory looking for Ma Ke. Currently he is my only close friend. (Because we had both chose to repeat a year. Apart from Green Hair, there was no one else that hadn’t advanced to Advanced Magic Academy. From the time I had placed first at the end of term competition, he suffered my influence. No longer was he annoying like before. As a result, he had become our friend. However, we didn’t stop calling him Green Hair. I should also mention that we had also befriended Hai Ri’s three siblings. Also, last year Hai Shui passed the entrance exam to the Royal Advanced Magic Academy.)
Currently, Ma Ke had almost reached the level of a Magic Scholar. The reason why I immediately went to go look for him was because I wanted him to travel with me and also learn from experience. With his assistance, achieving the goal ought to be much easier. He had already called me “Boss” for many years, there is no way that he’ll decline my request. I walked toward his dormitory, brimming with confidence.