Chapter 149: Long Apprenticeship

For the rest of the day, most people talked only about Lee Woo Soo and Oracle’s article. After knight-mage training, Zane’s group immediately started discussing it while everyone ate their high-calorie snacks.

"I thought Zane was exaggerating a bit when he said things would be moving faster than expected, but I didn’t expect him to be right," Evelyn said, sighing deeply.

Keesha followed up. "It’s only been two months: can someone really be that talented?"

"It’s not about talent," Tom Nguyen replied, explaining Zane’s analysis.

"Okay, I feel much better, but I’m still jealous," Keesha stated.

Evelyn bit a piece of caramel chocolate. "Still, I feel the pressure. Maybe I should increase my training load."

Tom Nguyen —like Zane—ate dark chocolate. "What’s the point of hurrying? We’ll be an apprentice for a while."

"Are you cursing us?" Keesha asked while enjoying her white chocolate.

"Hmm? What do you mean?"

"You just said we’ll be stuck in the apprentice stage for a while."

"Aren’t we? Aren’t you guys planning to calculate your own Essence Rune?"

"Of course."

Tom looked at Keesha and realized something. "Haven’t you figured it out? You need pretty decent magic theory to calculate the Essence Rune, which won’t be taught until next school year. So, unless you’re like Zane and have spent a lot of time and effort in the Analytic Club, you can’t condense the first ring until September, and maybe even in the middle and late stages."

"Shit, why didn’t I think of that?"

Evelyn frowned. "There is gotta be a way, right?" While their future potential was nonnegotiable, she would prefer the best of both worlds.

"You can be like Evans and me and study magic theory independently, but besides that, I can’t think of anything."

Evelyn suddenly had an idea. "Zane, how about you tutor us?"

"No. I don’t have time for that."

"Come on."

"You guys can study on your own and join our study session. However, I don’t have time to tutor you personally. Wait, does the tower offer tutoring services? I bet they do. You could ask your professor."

"I’ll ask tomorrow."

The knights had no ships on this topic, so they kept quiet. However, Zane asked a question that directed the topic to them. "How long do you think before the first 1-star Knight appears?"

Khadijah—who was sharing a protein bar with Ahmed—shook her head. "I have no idea."

Devonte shrugged while enjoying his M&Ms.

"If I had to venture a guess: I’d say in another two to three months," Ahmed said.

Zane looked at Myk, who sighed deeply. "Our situation is more complex. Even if we meet the stat requirements, we can’t do anything without a Runescribe. The worst part is that the success rate is heavily dependent on their skills."

Zane patted his shoulder. Rune Warriors had it worse. Their transcendent path required the most resources and had the greatest limitations. And in some dimensions, they are heavily looked down upon and treated as high-tier labor forces.

"Forget knights," Tom Nguyen said. "I want to know when the first 1-ring mage will appear."

"It will probably be a while, maybe in six to seven months," Evelyn said. She had the best resources, and her mana was high, but her mental energy was rising slowly. And that’s not to mention the 0.7 barrier, which requires talent, time, effort, and resources to break. Evans agreed with that statement.

Zane shook again. "Once again, you’re wrong. It will probably be soon."

"No way," Tom Nguyen added. "Wait, are there practicing shamans who became mages?"

"Most definitely." Zane didn’t believe he was the only one with Shaman talents who chose to be a mage. And with those practitioners having already built up enough mental energy, it’s only a matter of time before one of them condenses their Essence Rune and becomes a first-ring mage.

"I wonder whether Lee Soo Woo received a title?" Khadijah asked.

"Highly likely," Ahmed replied. "It’s probably something like [Earth’s First Official Shaman]."

"But what quality?" Tom asked.

"My bet is Dark Blue," Zane chimed in.

"Isn’t that too high?"

"I think it’s too low," Khadijah added. "He’s the first of an entire dimension. I think the title is at least Light Red, maybe even a red one."

Tom Nguyen frowned. "If that’s the case, aren’t those first titles too strong?"

"I mean, they are first, meaning the best," Devonte commented.

"True."

Zane looked at Devonte. "Do you think you could compete for the First Knight Title?"

"Probably not. Faletui’s stats are not only high, but they also grow ridiculously fast. The only thing I beat him at is mental energy, but not by much."

Tom Nguyen slapped his legs. "I just thought of something. Zane, do you think you’ll get the title for being Earth’s first Analyst?"

"Hmm? I never thought of that. If there is such a title, there is a chance — but only a slight one. I’m more curious if there is a title for second and third official shamans."

"I just thought of something." Everybody looked at Evelyn. "There is suspiciously little information about titles in the library. Besides the basic ones involving hunting a specific race, the other titles have little to no information."

"I thought about this," Khadijah said, wishing to provide her input. "I believe it’s because of two possibilities: the titles are random, so there is no point in recording them, or the criteria for each of them depends on the dimension. The tower’s information is about other dimensions, and they don’t know about Earth’s requirements or haven’t posted them."

"I disagreed," Tom Nguyen added. "We know the titles come from the Plane Will; we know many titles are shared among many dimensions; and we know titles such as [Goblin Hunter] have the same criteria across every dimension."

"I think she’s referring to the non-basic or traditional titles," Ahmed shared.

"The titles originated from the Soul Crest Magic, and this magic is a foreign concept brought to Earth. Wouldn’t it be normal for the tower or the people who created this magic to standardize it so it applies to every dimension?"

Khadijah shook her head. "Business-wise, that’s true. But desires don’t mean anything in the face of the real-world situation: every dimension is different. So, for this magic to work, it must adapt to the situation of every dimension or Plane Will."

"You guys are complicating things when there is a simpler explanation," Zane butted in. "The basic information is stored on the first floor of the library, while the truly valuable ones are stored on the higher floors."

Tom Nguyen wasn’t someone who gave up an argument easily. "Why put it on a higher floor? Why not put a high price on the knowledge?"

"By that logic, why does the tower lock any knowledge in the library? Why not put a high price on everything?" Zane countered. "Besides being money-hungry, these mages are highly hierarchical. They probably deem knowledge about titles as requiring a higher level of authority to access."

"...That’s a fair point."

After replenishing their energy, the group walked back to their dorm. On the way, Zane noticed Khadijah had the same nail polish as Keesha and Evelyn, and the three of them seemed closer. He took a mental note and didn’t say anything. His schedule was packed as usual, but it was also rewarding.

The following day, talk about Lee Woo Soo did not abate. On the contrary, it intensified and spread everywhere. Zane glanced at the student board, but his focus stayed on Oracle. Like him, a small number of individuals also became weary of Oracle, wondering about the source of their information.

After the mentoring session with Professor Burbank, Zane rushed to the Elite Class in a good mood. He was close to defeating Stage 3 Orc — he could feel it. However, as soon as he walked into the training hall, Evelyn called him and Tom over.

"Did something happen?"

"No, I just wanted to tell you there is a tutoring service — although it was designed to start next month," Evelyn explained. "I plan to hire one and was wondering if you two are interested? You can pay me for it next week."

"Wait, are you saying we can also be tutored or..." Tom Nguyen asked.

"There is a group packet. If you guys are interested, I’ll pay for it, and you can reimburse me later."

Tom Nguyen glanced at Zane. "That’s not a bad idea." Zane would never miss an opportunity to learn. "But what’s the schedule?"

"The sessions are five times a week, but we can choose our available time."

"That’s fine then." The group discussed and soon reached a consensus. Everybody had class from 9 AM to 11:30. The second class didn’t start until 3 PM, so they scheduled the tutoring class between the two. Finally, Zane focused on today’s training, determined to defeat that orc. Sadly, he still failed, but only by a small margin. Oh, well, there is always next time. If he didn’t succeed today, he’ll try again tomorrow, and the next day, until he defeats that damn thing.