Dago emerged from the Academy Dean's Office, casually found a long bench in a corridor somewhere in the castle, and sat there quietly, watching the people come and go.
There were quite a few people in the corridor, most of them wearing Apprentice robes, and a small number wearing Mentor robes. The two were easy to distinguish: Apprentice robes were all gray-based, with the academy emblem embroidered on the chest with silk thread.
Mentor robes, however, were different. They had a white base, with beautiful patterns embroidered on the edges and corners, and the academy emblem on the chest was embroidered with silver thread.
Dago also noticed that the collars and cuffs of these Mentor robes were embroidered with intricate Wizard runes, each rune appearing to be alive, shimmering with a faint light under the illumination.
Its texture looked extremely soft, as if woven from delicate spider silk, yet it possessed a resilient quality.
As time slowly passed, fewer and fewer people walked in the corridor; it seemed they were preparing for class.
"This can't go on; otherwise, these ten low-level magic stones will just become a ticket for an academy tour!"
Dago thought anxiously.
He couldn't worry about that much anymore. Hugging his black-bound book, he followed behind a Wizard wearing a Mentor robe with blue dots.
From her back, she appeared to be an elderly female Wizard, her hair completely white, like the first snow of winter.
After turning two corners, Dago followed the old Mentor into a small, arched classroom. The old desks, chairs, and blackboard all showed signs of age, indicating it was an old classroom.
Only a few Apprentice Wizards sat at the desks and chairs, some flipping through books, others whispering to each other. There weren't many Apprentice Wizards, only about ten in total.
Dago, holding his book, casually found an empty desk and chair in the corner of the classroom and sat down. He glanced at the podium.
The old Mentor sat quietly at the podium, looking at the sparse students below, a hint of disappointment in her eyes.
In the depths of her eyes, as if traversing time, there was an ancient, weathered look, carrying memories of the past.
"Apprentices, today we will mainly study the detailed pronunciation techniques for the sixth syllable of the Hail Spell, a basic ice-element spell. First, the tongue against the upper palate..."
A kind smile on her face, she adjusted the reading glasses on her nose, and her slightly weathered voice rang out. Her voice was like a rusty key, unlocking the students' eyes, instantly attracting their attention.
Dago looked at the stage with a bewildered expression. He felt her words were like the seeds of proliferating vines, burrowing into his ears and taking root, growing into Roman columns in his cochlea.
He listened to the entire class in a fog, gaining absolutely nothing in thirty minutes.
When the class ended, the Apprentices packed up their books and left the classroom.
Only Dago remained seated, negotiating with his mind, trying to salvage some lingering knowledge.
The old Wizard saw his comical appearance, shook her head with a smile, packed up her thick teaching materials, and prepared to leave the classroom.
Dago quickly picked up his book, got up, and stopped her in the corridor outside the classroom.
"Hello, Mentor Rosalind, I am Dago, a newly enrolled Apprentice at the academy. I accidentally followed you into this classroom. Would you be willing to be my guide at the academy?"
Dago asked Rosalind sincerely. He had only learned the old Mentor's name by asking an Apprentice two seats away during the lecture.
For this, he was glared at fiercely by that Apprentice, but at least he got the old Mentor's name.
"Don't you know this is a classroom specifically for teaching ice-element spells? I see that your attitude towards learning is very sincere, so I can become your guide at the academy."
"However, I'm quite busy lately and don't have time to teach Apprentices individually. I have an ice-element spell here, which I'll give to you as a welcoming gift."
Rosalind pulled a thin manuscript from the thick teaching materials in her arms and handed it to Dago. It was filled with her elegant handwriting.
Dago felt that she was like a warm stove at the old alley entrance, always providing warmth when needed.
"Your sincerity has moved me. Although the number of Wizards practicing ice-element spells in the academy is gradually decreasing, I still hope to contribute to it."
"Here, I must emphasize to you that ice-element Wizardry has its drawbacks. As your cultivation deepens, it will gradually affect your mental power and even your soul, thereby repelling other schools of Wizardry."
"That's why fewer and fewer Apprentices practice ice-element Wizardry. I hope you consider it carefully; this is a path that becomes increasingly difficult to turn back from."
Mentor Rosalind earnestly admonished Dago.
Dago took her words to heart. He accepted the A4-sized manuscript, his eyes welling up with tears as he thanked her.
Mentor Rosalind said no more, gave him a deep look, and turned to leave.
Dago carefully tucked the manuscript into his black-bound book, then wandered around the academy castle to familiarize himself with the environment until he was tired, at which point he returned to his Shelter.
........
At the Shelter, Dago changed into light hunting gear and sat on a wooden stump outside the Shelter. It was already past five in the afternoon.
Under the soft sunlight, Dago read the manuscript in his hand. Actually, he had also briefly looked through the black Wizard book, which was obscure and difficult to understand, requiring a certain reading foundation.
After weighing his options, he chose the simpler ice-element spell – Ice Crystal Technique.
This was the Wizardry recorded on the manuscript Mentor Rosalind had given him.
The principle of casting Ice Crystal Technique was very simple: it involved summoning strange energy particles hidden in the spirit world through a spell, and then manipulating them to aggregate with mental power.
The spell looked extremely simple, with only two syllables. Dago tried to pronounce them according to the description on the paper.
"Kryos... Thalassa..."
However, in practice, Dago found that pronouncing them was not simple at all.
After an hour of babbling practice, Dago's mouth was dry, and he still hadn't succeeded even once.
"This is too difficult!"
He looked at the thin manuscript, wondering if he had practiced something incorrectly.
"Forget it, I'll eat first. I'll have energy to practice after I'm full."
Sighing, he quickly went to wash rice and cook, adding some dried meat to boil with it, making a simple meal.
Unconsciously, the sky darkened, and twin moons hung in the sky.
The night curtain, like a giant black veil, quietly enveloped the Emerald Forest. Moonlight struggled to penetrate layers of branches and leaves, scattering mottled silver fragments on the ground.
The sounds of the forest were like a strange symphony. Cold wind swept through the treetops, emitting a low whine.
Dago lit a bonfire in the clearing, dispelling the darkness and bringing warmth.
He used the firelight to once again meticulously study the manuscript. This time, Dago was determined to engrave it firmly in his mind.
Mentor Rosalind's handwriting on the manuscript was beautiful, filling the entire page. Much of the knowledge was broken down and explained thoroughly, which gave Dago a deeper understanding of the Wizarding World.
Mentor Rosalind believed that spells were like a "key" that opened a door, connecting to another world.
Those strange energy particles could then emerge from behind the door and descend into the natural world.
Some strange energy particles disliked the heat of the natural world and would transfer that heat, through an unknown method, to strange energy particles that liked heat.
Energy only transfers; it does not disappear out of thin air. This was a truth discovered in the Wizarding World only in the last hundred years.
Strange energy particles that disliked heat were called ice elements in the Wizarding World.
Strange energy particles that liked heat were, naturally, fire elements.
These Wizardry that controlled the energy particles of the world, whether fire, earth, ice, wind... and other elements, or the acid, alkali, electrical, and mechanical energies brought about by the advancement of civilization, were collectively referred to as Evocation Wizards.
These Wizardry could cause a great deal of destruction to the natural world in a short time. Of course, Ice Crystal Technique did not possess that power; it was merely a basic ice-element spell.
Most of the knowledge was expanded upon by Mentor Rosalind from the Ice Crystal Technique.
Tucking the manuscript back into the black-bound book, Dago closed his eyes, carefully savoring every word on the paper. When he opened them again, a sapphire blue halo swirled in his pupils.
"Kryos... Thalassa..."
The strange and awkward syllables accurately left Dago's mouth.
The moment the spell was finished, a large chunk of his mental power disappeared, as if something had gnawed at it.
Dago looked around, and scattered ice elements, like dust, suddenly appeared around him. They floated in the air, continuously drawing heat from the surroundings.
The temperature around Dago plummeted, making him shiver.
He quickly used his mental power to gather the appearing ice elements one meter in front of him.
The ice elements rapidly converged in front of him into a pigeon-egg-sized blue energy sphere. A large amount of water vapor quickly sublimated and grew, with the blue energy sphere as its core.
As more water vapor replenished from a distance, the blue energy sphere, according to his will, grew into an arm-thick ice crystal pillar floating in the air.
Countless ice flowers slowly drifted down from the ice crystal pillar, appearing dreamlike under the moonlight. Dago's thought shifted slightly, and the ice crystal pillar shot out with a "whoosh."
The ice flowers trailed a magnificent tail behind the ice crystal pillar, which then plunged into a large tree about ten meters ahead with a "thump," and then vanished, melting into a puddle of water.
A huge wave of joy and accomplishment enveloped Dago, and a prompt appeared on his system panel.
"【Detectable skill for advancement: Ice Crystal Technique. Do you wish to advance?】"
Dago immediately selected yes, and the system panel changed.
"【《Wizard Universal Meditation Method》 (Entry 111/1000); Air Bullet (Entry 123/1000); Ice Crystal Technique (Novice 1/100)】"
"It seems that any spell I successfully cast for the first time can be loaded into the system."
Seeing Ice Crystal Technique loaded into the system panel, Dago thought with a sigh of relief.
His mind unexpectedly became much calmer. Instead of indulging in joy, he continued to practice.
Currently, with his total mental power, he could cast Ice Crystal Technique approximately twice before exhausting it. Ice Crystal Technique required much more mental power than Air Bullet, roughly three Air Bullets for one Ice Crystal Technique.
So, now he would meditate once, then cast Air Bullet three times, and Ice Crystal Technique once, repeating this cycle.
After three hours of cultivation, Dago finally dragged his tired body into the Shelter, changed out of his sweat-soaked hunting clothes, quickly showered, and then lay down on the small bed with a deerskin base.
He reviewed his evening's practice. As Ice Crystal Technique progressed, his control over ice elements became more proficient. Not only that, but as the progression value increased, the requirements for the spell syllables actually decreased.
So, in the future, perhaps he wouldn't need to chant spells to cast them. With beautiful fantasies about the future, he unconsciously drifted into dreamland.
