The two words ’Spell’... he can still understand; it is the extraordinary power that only a wizard can control. But the words after that, what could they be? They feel so inexplicable, just like the entrance exam at Atlantis University when he was solving the questions.
Ma Qiu furrowed his brow deeply and thought for a mont before looking to the side.
In this plaza, besides the people behind the desks and him, there were many others—young people who had recently passed the Atlantis University exams, quite a number, at least close to a thousand.
These people were constantly asking questions in front of various desks.
Ma Qiu watched for a while, pursed his lips a bit, and thoughtfully approached.
Walking up to the nearest desk, Ma Qiu didn’t speak, but heard soone nearby asking, "What are you doing here?"
Behind the desk sat an elderly man in a blue robe, who glanced at the questioner and pointed to the wooden sign beside the desk that reads "Magic Creatures", then said, "Creatures, understand? Exploring the mysteries of life, analyzing diseases, plagues, reproduction, and the principles of the body. Hmm, I know you don’t understand, but I can tell you, this discipline will lead the trends of this era in the near future. If you’re interested, you can follow to learn."
"Studying diseases and plagues?" The questioner’s complexion changed upon hearing this, muttering softly, not even daring to et the gaze of the gray-robed elder before slinking away, followed by a large group of people, including Ma Qiu.
Ma Qiu wasn’t really afraid; actually, he had been tornted by illness for a long ti when he was young, and was sowhat curious about diseases. But he was more eager to know what others behind the desks were researching, hoping to hear and see more.
Thus, Ma Qiu quietly squeezed over to another desk.
Behind this desk sat an old man wearing a top hat and holding a golden monocle, smiling and speaking: "If you wish to learn from , then you will discover the secrets of the Ancient Wizard Civilization, the depth of history, and the changes of ti. In other words, you may explore deep ruins with , searching, researching ancient artifacts, unraveling their past and secrets."
"Then... Teacher, what exactly will we study?" soone interestedly asked.
"This study includes a lot, at least to understand history, understand materials, understand chanics. Finally, a bit of magic runes and spells." The old man replied.
"But..." The questioner hesitated for a mont, "But... Teacher, I don’t have wizard talent, so how can I learn magic runes and spells?"
"No wizard talent?" The old man took a deep look at the speaker and smiled, "That’s just what you think, that you have no wizard talent."
"No, no." The speaker shook his head, "It was the ’Tokstai Association’ that said I don’t have wizard talent. Their wizards tested with a crystal ball; absolutely certain."
"That’s only what they concluded, that you have no wizard talent." The old man’s tone didn’t change, "In fact, wizard talent isn’t important, at least not in Atlantis, particularly at Atlantis University. Compared to that, what’s more important is your learning talent and effort level. If you’re truly smart, have a strong learning ability, and are willing to work hard, even if you supposedly lack wizard talent, Atlantis University can still teach you magic runes and spells."
"How is that possible?" The speaker was full of disbelief.
The old man didn’t explain further, simply smiled subtly and seed to imply, "Knowledge can make many seemingly impossible things beco commonplace. The only question is, do you have the ability to receive this knowledge?"
"This..."
Seeing the speaker fall into thought, Ma Qiu’s eyes shimred as he stepped sideways.
Even without wizard talent, can spells be learned? He was sowhat excited by the old man’s words—after all, who wouldn’t wish to wield extraordinary power? However, the more this intrigued him, the more he wanted to know what others behind the desks would say.
Afterward, Ma Qiu toured most of the desks on the plaza and heard all kinds of conversations.
In these conversations, there were so that extrely shocked him.
For example, beside one desk, a sign labeled "Magic High Energy Material Science" stood, and behind it sat a blue-robed wizard and a beautiful girl with long hair. The blue-robed wizard was taciturn, saying nothing, while the girl explained the content of this discipline: it tried to produce a material that first destroys a room, then a courtyard, then a street, a city, and finally the entire world!
This was insanity... like a follower of the devil...
Ma Qiu felt a wave of horror upon hearing this.
Of course, this was an exception; besides it, there were fields he found very interesting.
For instance, beside another desk was a sign labeled "Magic Linguistics", with a red-robed wizard behind it. The red-robed wizard eloquently explained the content of his discipline, which was to study the relationship between magic spells and the results of spell casting.
Isn’t the relationship straightforward—chant the spell to release the magic?
As Ma Qiu was bewildered, a regular student helped Ma Qiu pose the question to the red-robed wizard.
Not so! The red-robed wizard shook his head quickly, stating that the relationship between spells and magic wasn’t that simple. In fact, research indicates that spells only influence a portion of magic, not all of it. Experienced wizards can even release magic easily without using spells, known as ’Silent Spell’, though it is sowhat difficult.
And inexperienced wizards need spells as aids to increase the success rate of releasing magic. Notably, because everyone’s intonation and language mastery vary, the chanted spells actually aren’t identical. With this condition, generally, only if the chanted spells differ significantly will the magic fail; otherwise, it rely decreases the magic power.
What is the reason behind this? To what extent do spells affect magic, and whether spells count as a language need further research.
To learn this discipline doesn’t require wizard talent, but language proficiency is essential—one must at least master another language fluently aside from their mother tongue. Therefore, those with such abilities may consider learning from him; they will surely not be treated poorly—said the red-robed wizard at the end.
Ma Qiu was sowhat tempted, as he fit the criteria well. Yet he resisted the urge to enroll imdiately and continued exploring many strange disciplines.
For example, beside one desk was a sign labeled "Magic Mathematics", behind which sat a gray-robed wizard. The gray-haired wizard’s face looked as if he was owed money, too lazy to pay attention to anyone, just holding a quill and writing non-stop on a papyrus scroll.
Unable to withstand the constant inquiries, the gray-robed wizard forcefully handed out a piece of paper, shouting: "Prove the problem on this paper, or at least have a proof idea, then speak with ."
The paper was scrawled with ssy handwriting:
Given that cutting one apple into two halves renders each as half of the apple, and cutting one apple into twelve pieces renders each as one-twelfth of the apple. Also given that two apples minus one apple equals ’positive one’ apple, and one apple minus two apples equals ’negative one’ apple.
Then, if ’positive one’ apple plus ’positive two’ apples plus ’positive three’ apples plus ’positive four’ apples and so forth up to ’positive infinity’ apples, why does the final result equal ’negative one-twelfth’ apple?
Ma Qiu: ???
In another instance, at a desk labeled "Magic Philosophy", sat a purple-robed wizard and a pale, tall teenager. To every inquirer, the tall teenager would provide roughly the sa explanatory answer: "Studying this discipline may lead to getting nothing, yet realizing that getting nothing is the best outco."
Ma Qiu: ???
After spending a long ti, Ma Qiu finished browsing all the desks in the plaza, standing in the center, looking left and right, feeling so confusion.
He now understood that coming to this plaza was to choose a discipline, which would be his direction for study and research for the next three years. Aside from peculiar subjects like "Magic Mathematics" and "Magic Philosophy", he was interested in many fields like "Magic Linguistics", "Magic Biology", "Magic Fluid chanics", "Magic Ancient Artifact Studies"...
Which one should he ultimately choose?
He felt as though choosing a discipline was like opening a door, different doors leading to different ends. His future, in large part, depended on what he decided today.
Then...
"Whew—"
After thinking for a long ti, Ma Qiu took a deep breath and walked towards one of the desks, mimicking the others to submit his application to the wizard behind the desk.
...
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