Chapter 2: Peter the Polymath

Ace was not idle either. Since awakening his memories from his previous life , he noticed that his mother, Marina, was powerless to control Romon. Ace secretly saved money through various means, such as buying wine for Romon and reselling scrap iron pieces from the blacksmithing. He was close to saving up one Gold Thales.

The cost of learning literacy for one month was thirty Silver Thales. One hundred Silver Thales equals one Gold Thales , which was enough for about three months of study.

The common language of this world uses an alphabet. By memorizing the alphabet and phonetic symbols, summarizing the grammar structure, and combining it with the native pronunciation environment, three months is enough to learn and write the language.

Ace hadn’t considered using his knowledge from his previous life to innovate and make money right now. Whether it was making wine, glass, or new farming methods, he had indeed dabbled in them in his past life.

However, this is a world with Deities, the supernatural, and temple priests. Before reaching adulthood and becoming a Citizen, all abnormal innovations could be dangerous. There were quite a few Freemen exiled by the Citizens’ jury every year.

Only by becoming part of the city-state’s ruling class could he use his past life’s knowledge to make money and fund his search for the path to the supernatural.

Unknowingly, the sword blank had been ground into a sharp short sword. Ace fitted the short sword with a wooden handle , leaned against the extinguished furnace fire, and looked outside the door, his eyes firm and full of hope.

It was already evening. Marina and Ace were eating dinner: black bread that was a little hard from baking, spread with a little butter, and served with oatmeal.

Ace had become accustomed to such simple dinners. He ate bite by bite, chatting casually with his mother, Marina.

Romon actually returned just after Ace and Marina finished eating. This was unlike him; usually, he would wait until the moon was high in the center of the sky before stumbling home in the moonlight.

Late at night, Ace tossed and turned, unable to sleep.

He got up and pulled out a pottery jar wrapped in coarse cloth from under the bed. He carefully opened it ; inside was a pile of Silver Thales. He counted them one by one : there were 97 in total.

The city-state does not have the public schools of his previous life. Knowledge is basically monopolized by the Nobles and Citizens. Some knowledgeable Citizens are willing to teach students for a fee. The market price is about 30 Silver Thales per month.

In the city-state, the choice of a literacy teacher basically determines one’s future career.

If the teacher is a judge in the jury court, the student will definitely be engaged in judicial and litigation-related work in the future.

If the teacher is a musician, the student will also follow the elegant path of performance. As for his future path, Ace had decided: he wanted to study under Peter the famous polymath of the city-state.

Peter is recognized as the most knowledgeable person in the entire city-state. He is a city-state scholar with wide-ranging interests and a very rich collection of books at home.

Becoming his student was the best choice for Ace , as it would allow him to gain the widest possible range of knowledge and search for the secrets of the supernatural.

The next morning, the summer sun rose early. Ace was awakened by the noise of Romon exercising.

He got up and dressed , rubbing his sleepy eyes, watching Romon work out. As a descendant of a Citizen, Ace’s family inherited an excellent exercise method created by Ronamos for ordinary people, specifically for training physical functions and fighting skills.

Ace washed his face and began his morning exercise with Romon. He had no aversion to this and studied very seriously. After all, this is a very dangerous world with many supernatural beings , and having a little more power for self-preservation wouldn’t hurt.

There are heroes guarding inside the city. If one lives inside the city, there is certainly no danger, but there is also no chance to encounter or even capture supernatural creatures.

Only in the remote wilderness outside the city-state do low-level Monsters roam. They are difficult to clear out, like weeds, and heroes disdain to do such troublesome work.

Young Nobles, and Citizens or Monster Hunters with strong fighting skills, go there to fight the low-level Monsters. The Nobles and Citizens go for exercise, while the Monster Hunters go for bounty.

Seven or eight veterans, who have been rigorously trained like Romon, can hunt no more than three low-level Monsters at a time in the wilderness.

Ace is ten years old this year. He plans to persist in practicing fighting skills in the next few years , hoping to have similar strength to Romon by the time he reaches adulthood , and then organize a team of Monster Hunters to hunt and study the Monsters.

Ace’s fighting talent is actually average , but diligence can compensate for clumsiness. He believes that as long as he persists in reasonable exercise, he will still have decent strength by adulthood.

After the two finished exercising, during breakfast, Ace seriously spoke to his parents:

“I am ten years old this year. If I want to become a Citizen, this is already a relatively late time to start learning literacy. I have been saving money for the past three years, and now I have enough for about three months of tuition. I want to go to Peter the Polymath to learn literacy. He accepts a certain number of students every summer , and according to the pattern I have observed, enrollment will begin in the next few days.”

Romon listened and fell silent.

“It is my fault. I have been drinking and indulging these past few years and haven’t saved enough tuition for you. I heard that Peter teaches very well , and it takes almost three years or more of study to pass the literacy exam. Moreover, learning is a difficult and long-term commitment, and money is absolutely essential.”

His expression was hesitant, mixed with various complex looks, as he watched Ace.

“Your grandfather once said that everyone has his destiny.”

“Destiny assigns responsibility to everyone. I failed the literacy exam, so I lost my Citizenship, and I also delayed you. I failed the trial of destiny and failed as a father.”

“You don’t have to worry about the future tuition. Our family is the descendant of a Citizen, and we still have some odds and ends. Today, let your mother accompany you to Peter’s place to register. We still have some blank parchment at home; bring that along. I will raise the rest of the tuition.”

Ace was surprised and touched by Romon’s words.

He always thought Romon was a good fellow, but not a good husband or father, because he never planned well for the family , only dwelling on past glory and numbing himself with alcohol.

He didn’t expect Romon to shoulder the responsibility of a father today , which brought him some warmth.

Ace and his mother, Marina, went together to the First District. This is the core area of the Medimus City-State , with neat and wide cobblestone roads , olive trees planted on both sides of the road , and high-end shops lining the streets , which were lively and prosperous.

The two walked through the bustling commercial area and arrived at a neighborhood of villas with beautiful surroundings.

“Ace, your father grew up here.”

Marina gripped Ace’s hand a little tightly, reflecting her mood.

She admired the life of the Citizens and hoped her son could enter the Citizen class , but she was also afraid of putting too much pressure on her child.

She didn’t talk much at home , diligently did the housework every day , and seeing her husband and son—having the family together—was a great happiness for her.

She also had many hopes : hoping her husband would care more for the family, and hoping her son would distinguish himself. It was just her nature that she rarely spoke them out loud.

Ace also felt his mother’s complex emotions. He let out a long sigh and said, “Our family will return here one day.”

The two arrived at the villa of Peter the Polymath. A neatly and plainly dressed servant came up to them , bowed slightly, and said with a smile: “Respected Lady, young Sir, are you here to seek knowledge?”

Marina returned the greeting somewhat nervously and said, “My child very much wishes to study knowledge under the respected Mr. Peter the Polymath. I wonder if you could lead us to see the respected Mr. Peter.”

“Of course, Lady. Knowledge opens its doors to every seeker of knowledge.” The servant bowed slightly and led the two into the villa.

In the living room, Ace waited with seven other children. His mother followed the servant to pay three months’ tuition , which was paid quarterly.

The seven children were about seven or eight years old , five boys and two girls. Ace currently had no desire to talk to the other children. His goal was very clear: to gain literacy, and then to obtain the qualification to borrow from Peter the Polymath’s private collection of books.

After a while, Peter arrived in the living room. He had a long goatee , was wearing a white robe with a red ribbon , and looked like a stern elder with a serious expression.

“I am your teacher, Peter. Your parents have sent you to me to learn knowledge and enrich your minds.”

“What you gain here depends on the extent of your effort. A diligent person, even if clumsy, can surpass ordinary people with perseverance. A lazy person, even if clever, is like fishing with a net; they are destined to gain nothing.”

Peter’s opening remarks made the children nervous. Ace nodded slightly. This teacher suited his taste. Although others in his previous life had praised him as a genius, he hated the word “genius” in both his past and present lives. All he had was the word “diligence”.

If he had to say so, it was the IQ of an ordinary genius plus absolute diligence. Attributing the success of others to “genius” is to erase their hard work and comfort oneself. People succeed not because of genius, but because they are clearly smarter than you but also work harder than you.

Diligence in learning, diligence in thinking, diligence in summarizing, and diligence in self-reflection—this is the necessary path to learning.

Peter then introduced an older disciple. His name was Morton , a red-haired young man with some acne on his face. He was Peter’s assistant and was responsible for the literacy enlightenment of the eight students.

Peter the Polymath is a famous scholar in the city-state. His assistant is essentially a personal disciple in a sense , and will have the opportunity to be recommended by Peter for a mid-to-low-level public office in the city-state in the future.

The students’ parents were seen off by Morton. They would pick up the students around six in the afternoon.

The eight students followed Morton to the backyard. Morton said, “Starting today, I am responsible for teaching you literacy. Please briefly introduce yourselves, and then we will begin the literacy lesson.”

After all the introductions were complete, Ace learned that among the eight people, three were Nobles. The others were also descendants of Citizens. Only he was a Freeman.

Children naturally form groups , and while it wasn’t deliberate discrimination, a subtle sense of distance still existed. Fortunately, Ace was not here to make friends, but to use the limited time to learn more knowledge.

“The so-called characters are actually the pronunciation of the language. To learn the characters, we must first learn the thirty-two common letters and their phonetic symbols…”

Accompanying Morton’s explanation, Ace realized that the writing system of this world was an alphabet. The first priority in learning was to memorize the letters and phonetic symbols, as well as the corresponding grammar structure.

(End of this chapter)