Chapter 217: Elective Courses
On the first day of school, according to the Academy's arrangements, apprentices of all grades were to gather at the square in front of the Magic Tower.
The purpose of the gathering was, of course, to welcome the newly admitted apprentices this year.
"There isn't a single apprentice with A-grade Talent this year either—"
Listening to Anthony-Black Sparrow call out the names of the first-year apprentices one by one and introduce their talents, Vivian, who was beside her, couldn't help but whisper gossip to Jia Na again.
"Yeah, I heard that this year, not only our Academy, but also Black Bone Forest and Mist Tower didn't recruit any apprentices with A-grade Talent."
Before the start of the school year, the Bai Wu Xie Club had organized a team-building event. From the mouths of Richard-Eva and a few others, Jia Na also heard a lot of gossip shared.
Among them were various pieces of unofficial news about the new students of each Academy this year.
"The path ahead is your own. I hope you can work hard and not let down your talent."
Anthony-Black Sparrow spoke quickly throughout, without being long-winded. After simply reading out some Academy regulations, he ended the gathering with a simple word of encouragement.
"Caw—newly admitted Little Apprentices, follow me this way."
As the event concluded, the apprentices of each grade also dispersed one after another. The relatively bewildered first-year apprentices, led by the Raven, entered the dormitories to complete various pre-enrollment procedures.
"? When did you buy a new wizard robe?"
Vivian, who had planned to pull Jia Na along to go shopping, couldn't help but have her eyes light up when she saw the dark green wizard robe Jia Na was wearing, which was very similar to her previous one but clearly more finely crafted.
"It's not one I bought new, it was given by the Spiritual Communication Group."
"Spiritual Communication Group?"
Hearing Jia Na's words, Vivian couldn't help but feel a little confused,
"Is this wizard robe a new product? How come I've never seen this style before?"
Vivian, who had just finished her seclusion yesterday, hadn't had time to go shopping during this period. Therefore, she naturally hadn't seen the poster announcing the new product launch being displayed in front of the Spiritual Communication Group building.
"It's the spring new arrival—Vivian, I have an early class, so I won't talk to you anymore."
"Ah? The class schedule hasn't even been released, where do you have a class from—. It's not an elective again, is it?"
"That's right, I'm leaving now."
After saying goodbye to Vivian in a hurry, Jia Na quickly walked towards the Magic Tower.
Watching Jia Na's departing back, Vivian, who was left alone, could only helplessly pout her lips, and then thoughtfully walked towards the outside of the Academy. The mechanical elevator door slowly opened. After thanking the Tower Spirit, Jia Na quickly entered the public classroom on the seventh floor of the Magic Tower.
"Jia Na?"
Just as Jia Na was preparing to find a seat in the front row, a familiar voice suddenly sounded from behind her. "Senior Hugh, good morning."
Unlike his usual mercenary adventurer attire, Hugh-Stone was rarely seen today wearing a relatively formal dark wizard robe.
"Morning—I remember you're only in your second year, right? Did you sign up for the 'Guardian Studies' course so early?"
As a Guardian Studies apprentice with B-grade 【Solid】 Talent, Hugh-Stone only officially began taking the 'Guardian Studies' course this year.
As a Guardian Studies apprentice whose major directly matched the course, Hugh-Stone was considered quite late in studying 'Guardian Studies'.
But there was no help for it. Hugh-Stone, who was enthusiastic about taking various mercenary missions, already found it very difficult just to ensure he didn't fail his 【Compulsory Courses】, let alone take other elective courses.
Therefore, it wasn't until his third year, when Hugh-Stone had only a few 【Compulsory Courses】 left, that he finally had time to take other elective courses.
"I don't do missions much usually, so I have relatively more free time. I just thought I'd study some courses I'm interested in ahead of time."
"You? You have relatively more time?"
Hearing Jia Na's words, Hugh-Stone's expression couldn't help but show some confusion.
"Don't you also have your work as an opera actress? Doesn't the time conflict?"
"The theater work is all scheduled on weekends and doesn't affect my studies during the week."
Saying this, Jia Na and Hugh-Stone sat down together in the empty seats in the second row.
"Tsk tsk, when I was in my second year, I couldn't even keep up with the 【Compulsory Courses】, yet you actually have the energy to take an extra elective course—truly strong."
In response to Hugh-Stone's praise, Jia Na just smiled and didn't tell him about the even more outrageous fact that she had also taken 'Intermediate Metamorphosis', 'Intermediate Medical Science', and 'Transformation Studies' as extra electives.
"Oh right, I remember you're a Summoning Studies apprentice, aren't you? Why did you decide to take 'Guardian Studies' as an elective?"
Looking at the 'Guardian Studies' textbook Jia Na took out from her thorn bracelet, Hugh-Stone, who was beside her and had even forgotten to bring his textbook, couldn't help but find a topic to talk about, feeling slightly awkward.
"Senior, don't you think that precisely because I'm a Summoning Studies apprentice, I should study this course even more?"
"That's true—"
Just as Jia Na said, in the impression of ordinary people, the combat power of a Summoning Studies apprentice entirely comes from their contracted creatures themselves.
Therefore, when fighting against a Summoning Studies apprentice, as long as the summoner is dealt with first, their contracted creatures will naturally fall apart without needing to be attacked.
It was precisely because of this that for Jia Na, as a Summoning Studies apprentice, studying the 'Guardian Studies' course was a very logical thing to do, it's just...
Looking at Jia Na's harmless and serene appearance, Hugh-Stone still clearly remembered how she had rampaged through the Swamp Secret Realm.
No matter how he looked at it, Jia Na didn't seem like a "fragile" Summoning Studies apprentice who would only hide behind her contracted creatures.
"Cough cough—"
Accompanied by a loud coughing sound, Professor Wuta, whose beard had almost grown down to his ankles, slowly walked into the classroom holding a thick textbook.
And with the appearance of Professor Wuta, the classroom, which had been a bit noisy, instantly quieted down.
"Good morning, apprentices."
"Good morning, Professor Wuta—"
——
Wuta, surname unknown, talent unknown, age unknown, currently responsible for teaching a total of five courses at White Coral Academy: 'Ancient Magic History', 'Elvish', 'Dragon Language', 'Guardian Studies', and 'Divination Studies'.
He only teaches one less course than Mary-Margaret, who is responsible for teaching 'Basic Spells', 'Intermediate Spells', 'Basic Herbalism', 'Intermediate Herbalism', 'Basic Biology', and 'Intermediate Biology', and can be considered a senior workhorse within White Coral Academy.
However, because Professor Wuta was always responsible for teaching relatively dry liberal arts courses like 'Ancient Magic History' and 'Elvish' in the first year, his presence wasn't as strong as Mary-Margaret's and Grace-Eva's.
Just like Lilith-Meg, although the 'Metamorphosis' course she teaches is a star course within the Academy, she doesn't have much presence among the first-year apprentices.