Chapter 4: The Self-Cultivation of an Extra

Chapter 4: The Self-Cultivation of an Extra

Because she was delayed in the morning, Ocris was in a bit of a hurry. She quietly broke some minor rules of the academy. On the way, she grabbed Louis and Helen’s shoulders and cast ‘Apparition’.

The space around them suddenly stretched and twisted. When the surroundings slowly returned to normal, Louis found himself in a small bathroom.

The recent travel made Louis feel slightly dizzy and nauseous. Helen’s face was also pale. She couldn’t help but clutch her chest and gave a dry heave before recovering.

Louis’s Strength had just been increased by 1 point and was now 1.9. It seemed that if both his constitution and Mana were higher, he would have better tolerance for Magic.

When Louis came back to his senses, he noticed Ocris was secretly looking at his face with a strange gaze.

“Ahem, you did alright,” Ocris said with an unnatural expression. Then she pulled open the door leading to the outer room.

It was a large room, which looked big and beautiful. There were many sofas, bookshelves, paintings, and a Fireplace in the room. There were also many silver utensils that could move and talk.

Dozens of students of various ages were busy in the Lounge preparing some things. It looked like they were setting up chairs and magical props.

In one corner of the large room, several adult Wizards were drinking tea and chatting. When they saw Ocris come out of the bathroom, an older Wizard gave Ocris a slightly reproachful look. Then he smiled and walked forward with a few surrounding professors to greet her.

This Wizard seemed to be the vice dean of the house. He had once served in the Royal Court and could be considered half a teacher to Ocris.

Ocris brought Louis and Helen out and stood in the large room talking with the various professors.

It seemed Ocris was still quite popular at the academy. Many professors of the Sacred Oak Magic Academy seemed to be supporters of the Princess’s political faction.

However, just as Ocris had said, no one here seemed to call her Your Highness, nor did anyone pay too much attention to elaborate court etiquette. Many of the older Wizards even regarded Ocris as a student who made them proud.

“Our assessment is here,” Helen whispered to Louis. “Look at those test props—oh no, there’s a Mirror! It must be the Dark Magic Defense assessment.”

Compared to the Dark Magic Defense assessment, Louis was more concerned about another question. “Helen, how many of us are taking the test this time? Why are there so many people here?”

It seemed people were still constantly walking in through the door. It looked like a lot of people had come this time.

“It really is just the four of us,” Helen pursed her lips, looking at the people gradually taking their seats with a complicated expression. She said, “Those people are all here to observe. I heard Court Wizards, nobles, and officials from the Ministry of Magic are also coming today.”

Saying they came to observe was more like saying they came to watch a joke. Most of those people were from the Witch Queen’s faction. To please the Witch Queen, these people had likely already tampered with today’s assessment.

The Witch Queen did not want the Princess to stay at the academy.

If they could pass today’s hurdle, Sister Ocris could prove herself to her father the king and the Magic Council, allowing her to continue staying in the safe ivory tower of the academy.

But if something went wrong, then Ocris would have to leave the academy and follow the arrangements of her father and the Witch Queen. At that time, the Princess’s faction would also collapse like a tree with monkeys scattering, because the Witch Queen would not leave the Princess’s supporters in the academy.

Thinking of this, Helen felt a bit sorrowful. She couldn’t help but search the room. Soon, her gaze fell on the two young men sitting by the sofa near the fireplace, and she felt a slight sense of security. She quickly pulled Louis’s hand and walked over.

In this Sacred Oak Royal Magic Academy, most apprentices came from noble families. This could be seen from the behavior of those apprentices.

By the sofa near the fireplace, a pair of very conspicuous young nobles were sitting there resting.

They looked about seventeen or eighteen years old. The other apprentices seemed to be afraid of them. Occasionally, someone was beckoned over by them. Those summoned apprentices would respectfully give a noble salute and carefully listen to the two nobles’ words in hushed tones.

It seemed these two had very special statuses.

Louis noticed there were two empty seats beside that sofa. But no one dared to sit there.

Seeing Helen pulling him towards this sofa, Louis knew these two empty seats were probably for Helen and him.

But he did not recognize the two noble youths.

Louis’s expression was a bit strange. Apart from knowledge, his other memories were very fuzzy. These two gave him some impression, but he couldn’t remember many things.

‘Better talk less to avoid giving myself away.’

“Tyrus! Lufield!” Helen happily went over to them, as if seeing two saviors.

Tyrus and Lufield turned around. Seeing Helen, warm, sunny smiles appeared on their faces.

But when they saw Louis being dragged along by Helen, a trace of disgust flashed in their eyes.

They completely ignored Louis and started chatting with Helen.

Seeing the disgusted look in their eyes when they glanced at him, Louis felt a bit pleased inside.

‘It seems we do have some impression of each other—though a bad one. But this means my Presence is okay.’

Thinking about it, Louis decided not to try to assert his Presence with these two—they were just two extras, why bother?

He decided to read a book.

Sitting on the sofa, Louis casually picked up a book Helen had placed on the table and started flipping through it. After looking at it for a few moments, he found that those Magic Spells seemed to have become even simpler!

He glanced at his personal description. He found that in the area of knowledge, he was no longer ‘very solid’; he was now ‘highly accomplished’. Furthermore, Louis’s mind now contained much more understanding about various strange creatures—this should be the knowledge of the Faeries.

After recalling the knowledge he had now mastered, Louis continued flipping through the ‘Complete Guide to Everyday Basic Magic Spells’ in front of him. Now, when he looked at the spells in the book, he could actually see at a glance which parts of these spells were imperfect.

This seemed to suggest that with his current level of knowledge, he was already stronger than the person who wrote this book.

‘Faerie knowledge is truly remarkable.’

After looking at his description again, Louis checked his Magic Spells section and found some changes there too.

The ‘Quickly Refill’ spell, originally Lv2 (3/100), now became ‘Quickly Refill Lv2 (3/1)’.

He flipped through the Complete Guide to Everyday Basic Magic Spells and found several new spells. Among them were a few with Incantation Texts especially simple, similar to Quickly Refill. He directly memorized them. After chewing over them a few times, he felt he could casually cast them. He glanced at his ‘Magic Spells’ section. Sure enough, several new spells had appeared there. And they were all Lv1 (0/0).

Louis turned to the very back of the book and found an everyday spell with a very long incantation. This spell could make brooms, rags, and the like move by themselves to clean a room.

This spell was considered the most difficult one in this book—the incantation alone was five or six lines long.

But Louis felt it wasn’t much different from Quickly Refill.

Seeing that the three people around him weren’t paying attention, Louis softly recited this spell. However, he omitted all the parts that could be omitted.

In the end, this five- or six-line Incantation Text was recited by him in just a few short phrases.

Immediately after, Louis discovered that in the personal record in the book, a new entry appeared: ‘Cleaning Spell Lv3 (1/10)’.

‘Directly Lv3? And I cast it?’ Louis couldn’t help but look up. He saw Lufield on the opposite sofa, staring blankly at his golden-thread handkerchief.

Just moments ago, this effeminate man had been wiping his hands while exchanging sarcastic remarks with Tyrus. But then he discovered that the handkerchief in his hand suddenly broke free from his grip like a little person. It then bowed to him and began happily dancing on the table, wiping it until it shone like a Mirror!

“Who did that!” A flash of anger appeared in Lufield’s eyes. These lower-year students were really too audacious, daring to play a trick on him!

He looked up, searching for who was using a Wand to play a prank. The nearby students, seeing Lufield’s anger, quickly lowered their heads. Some who were holding wands were so frightened they immediately threw them aside.

Lufield searched for a while but couldn’t find the culprit. He felt the magical fluctuation just now was nearby. But among the people around, only Helen was covering her mouth and giggling.

Lufield suddenly grinned, his face blooming into a smile. “Helen, you are so mischievous. It seems your studies have been going well recently. You can even cast spells without a wand now!”

Tyrus also looked surprised. In this room, apart from the professors, only the three people sitting here could make a handkerchief dance. And to make a handkerchief dance silently while wiping the table until it was mirror-bright… probably only super Witches like Helen or Ocris, who had Sorcery King bloodline, could achieve that.

Obviously, Helen had recently become somewhat obsessed with this spell and showed off a bit. It was indeed quite astonishing.

Helen covered her mouth and laughed for a good while, not bothering to explain. She just quietly glanced at Louis, who was pretending to read his book.