Chapter 143 - 142: Frost Gold Moon

Chapter 143: Chapter 142: Frost Gold Moon

For this attribute allocation, Gaode chose [Mage’s Hand]. The reason was simple: [Mage’s Hand] was an incredibly common Trick for Mages, one that could be relied upon indefinitely. Therefore, even if it lacked lethality, it was still worth one point of Origin.

As for his remaining [Scorpion] Origin, Gaode decided to save it for now. To acquire a "Super Specialization," he would need to learn a massive number of Magics in the future. It was better to save his Origin for Rare Magics—such as the [Insect Swarm Spawn] he was about to obtain. It was a very reasonable train of thought.

Frost Gold Moon, 1st.

It was the day of Cyrus Academy’s public recruitment. This was one of the liveliest days of the year for the academy. And it wasn’t just the academy; Saint Sean City also became exceptionally bustling because of the recruitment.

However, this liveliness had nothing to do with Gaode. He didn’t care about it, either.

In comparison, Gaode was far more concerned with the five zero-level basic Runes he needed to master today, and even more concerned about those tiny Poisonous Insects in the Cultivation Room. After all, they were tied to his compensation. With this in mind, Gaode opened the handwritten materials he needed to study today.

Then, for the first time in his "long" nine-day career in Rune Science, Gaode encountered a bottleneck. He pondered for a long while before finally stepping away from his workbench. He walked toward the small room with the tightly shut door and lightly, for the very first time, knocked on it.

"I’ve been waiting for you to come to me." The door opened automatically under the effect of a Rune. Jose O’Kenley, who had been prepared for this, smiled as he looked at Gaode standing in the doorway. "If you want to learn Runes well, diligence and inquisitiveness are both indispensable."

Gaode was too embarrassed to explain to Jose that it wasn’t a lack of inquisitiveness; he had fully understood all the materials from the previous days and simply had nothing to ask. However, answering like that would seem far too arrogant, and contradicting Jose wouldn’t be good anyway. Gaode never blindly worshipped authority, but that didn’t stop him from respecting his teachers. So, he opted to just smile awkwardly.

This was the first time Gaode had met his mentor. It was also the first time Jose had met his student. The two observed each other.

Jose perfectly fit Gaode’s impression of an Advanced mentor—specifically, those highly respected and venerable university professors from his previous life. His aged face bore the fine wrinkles left by time, yet he had a pair of exceptionally deep, clear eyes without a hint of cloudiness. He was like a reef in the sea, steadfastly standing tall despite enduring the relentless battering of the wind and waves.

On the table in front of Jose lay mountains of scratch paper and Rune diagrams, suggesting that he had been holed up in his room doing experiments all these days. As for Gaode, he also perfectly fit Jose’s impression of him. He was silent and calm, appearing entirely unremarkable but actually quite resilient. Like a stone in an outhouse—unassuming but incredibly tough.

In truth, Jose had long wanted to meet this student of his, who possessed boundless talent in the field of Rune Science. However, due to the way he had handled things in the beginning, their bizarre mode of interaction—separated by a single door—had persisted. Jose felt that, as the mentor, it was only right for Gaode to take the initiative to see him, no matter how you looked at it.

On the other hand, Gaode felt that since Jose had chosen this method of communication and teaching, it meant the busy mentor didn’t want to be disturbed. Thus, Gaode chose to bother him as little as possible.

Both were absolutely certain of their own judgments.

Having waited in vain for Gaode to come see him, Jose ended up getting into a silent contest of stubbornness with his student. He wasn’t a man who put on airs, but that didn’t mean he didn’t care about his pride. Occasionally, he even had a bit of a childish temper.

However, dragging things out for too long wasn’t good, either, because classes were about to start. Therefore, in order to force Gaode to come to him, Jose had "despicably" added a "tiny bit" of content from the Second Stage of the Rune Science curriculum into Gaode’s materials today. The effect was outstanding.

After a moment of silence, Gaode said respectfully, "Mentor, I have a question about today’s materials..."

Jose gave an expressionless grunt of acknowledgment.

"You took Rune Science as an elective?" Jose didn’t immediately answer Gaode’s question, asking this instead.

Gaode froze for a moment, then nodded. "Yes, the class is about to start soon."

"You don’t need to attend this class," Jose said flatly.

"Huh?" Gaode was caught off guard.

"Berg’s teaching style doesn’t suit you, and he can’t teach you anyway." Berg was the instructor for the First Stage course of Rune Science. A look of hesitation and conflict appeared on Gaode’s face.

"Just study under me. I’ve already applied for an exemption for you. You only need to participate in the final exam at the end of the term. If you pass, you’ll earn the credits for the course." Jose looked calmly at Gaode, his deep eyes seemingly able to see right through Gaode’s thoughts.

Sure enough, after Jose said this, the hesitation and conflict in Gaode’s expression vanished without a trace. He nodded. "I understand, Mentor."

"Also, do not reveal your learning progress in Rune Science to anyone on the outside," Jose added. "If anyone asks, just say I forbade you from disclosing it."

Gaode frowned slightly. This was a very strange request. However, he could vaguely sense that Jose seemed to be doing this for his own good. Regardless of Jose’s motives for making this request, it wouldn’t cost Gaode anything, so he nodded and agreed.

Looking at the young Gaode, Jose thought of himself from many years ago. Having outstanding talent was a good thing, but if one’s talent was too exceptional without the corresponding strength to match, it would turn into a disaster. This was an epiphany he had gained through personal, painful experience. Not to mention, Gaode’s talent was far... far more exceptional than his own ever was.

"As for the question you just asked..." Jose tapped the table with a weathered finger and provided a concise and clear answer to Gaode’s problem.

Gaode was in a very good mood when he left the Gavin Building. He had finally met his mentor today. Moreover, this mentor seemed quite amiable, giving him a sense of warmth he had only ever felt from those highly respected, venerable old professors in his previous life—a very rare thing in this world. Although, Gaode wasn’t exactly sure where this sense of warmth came from.

In truth, a famous quote from another field could perfectly explain all of this: "Only skill can relate to skill." Of course, Gaode hadn’t realized that this was the reason. In his eyes, no matter how you looked at it, he was just a beginner in Rune Science. There was simply no way a beginner and an Advanced Rune mentor could be described as "skill relating to skill."

Gaode didn’t care about the academy’s recruitment. However, while dining in the cafeteria that evening, he inevitably overheard some news regarding recruitment day.

For instance, Cyrus Academy had admitted a total of twenty-one Mages this year, making it the largest incoming class in the past five years. Among these twenty-one new students, there was even a fourteen-year-old First-Ring Mage. Reaching the level of a Third-class Mage Apprentice at that age was already an extremely difficult feat. Not to mention, this person had successfully advanced to a 1st-Ring Mage without taking a Ring Promotion Potion. Their exceptionally high aptitude as a Mage was on full display.

Even more outrageously, rumor had it that the Specialization granted by this person’s Awakening was an immensely powerful Super Magic Specialization. Because of this, despite not yet being an official student of the academy, he had already been reserved in advance by the head of the Magic Department to be taken on as a student...

Amidst the chatter of the bystanders, Gaode caught the name of this new student: Yulan.

The date advanced to the 2nd of the Frost Gold Moon.

Of the eight elective courses Gaode had registered for this year, one of them finally started today: Nolan Continent Geography and War Geography.