"Alan, did you write this poem yourself?"
Tanya raised a beautiful, heroic eyebrow, surprise in her eyes.
"I can't write such beautiful sentences!"
Alan shook his head and smiled innocently.
"My family runs a tavern, and bards often stop by. They get drunk, play the lute, and sing poetry. I write down any poems I like."
"Dad, I really like the poem that Junior Brother Alan recited. What do you think?"
PanSen glanced at his daughter, smiled, and nodded.
"My daughter has already started calling the child "Junior Brother."
As a father, how could he not understand?
"Little fellow, your literary accomplishments are quite good." PanSen looked at Allen with praise in his eyes. "I'm very pleased with your performance. From today on, you are PanSen's direct disciple!"
As for the two illiterate people who were still chewing on the end of their pens to solve equations, they ultimately failed to solve the unknown.
Although they didn't become PanSen's direct disciples, they also demonstrated their talents worthy of intensive cultivation.
They were taken away by Senior Sister Tanya for training.
Those who only passed the first level were considered outer disciples of the martial arts school.
They were taught by Second Senior Brother Taffman.
As for those who failed even the first level...
If they insisted on staying in the martial arts school, it was not impossible.
They would be registered disciples, starting with menial tasks.
Thereafter, monthly assessments would be conducted.
Only those who passed the assessments could become outer disciples.
...
The Pansen Martial Arts School offers both free and paid instruction for its disciples.
Paid courses require magic stones to purchase.
The only martial arts techniques that can be learned for free are "Hound Step" and "Bone-piercing Strength."
Alan already mastered them.
There are also two free-to-learn 0-level spells.
... Combining the "Arcane Mark" and "Communication" can greatly extend the range of communication, with the upper limit proportional to one's Spirit Attribute.
For example, Allen has a Spirit Attribute of 20.
Using the "Arcane Mark" combined with the "Communication" technique, one can send messages to acquaintances within a 20-kilometer radius.
In this communication method, the "Arcane Mark" effectively acts like a phone number or email address.
Every sorcerer has a unique Arcane Mark.
Just as everyone has a unique phone number.
Otherwise, the accuracy of communication cannot be guaranteed.
When Allen first began learning the "Arcane Mark," his first task was to create his own mark.
With so many sorcerers already in the world, creating a mark that wouldn't conflict with others required considerable thought.
Fortunately, Allen had a convenient advantage.
As a time traveler, he could encrypt messages in his native language.
It took less than a minute.
Alan had completed his self-created arcane seal.
He wrote it down on a piece of paper and showed it to his mentor.
Alan commented, writing down Alan's seal in his address book for easy communication between master and apprentice.
Alan's mouth twitched slightly.
He suppressed a smile.
Along and the "Arcane Seal" share a common characteristic: an extremely low barrier to entry.
Any warlock apprentice can master it.
A warlock's spells primarily rely on the awakening of their own bloodline.
A learned spell like this requires the aid of special teaching aids to ensure the transfer of knowledge. This is also the most unique aspect of the sorcerer's master-disciple relationship.
After completing his own mark, Alan received two reagent bottles and two syringes from his mentor.
The reagent bottles were filled with a substance similar to plasma.
Through the transparent glass wall,
you could see tiny tentacles extending from the plasma, slowly wriggling along the bottle wall...
This thing is actually alive!
Alan couldn't help but feel a chill.
The secrets of the "Mystic Mark" and "Communication" were all stored in these two masses of living flesh and blood.
Alan had to use a syringe to extract the plasma and inject it into himself.
After a period of time, the two foreign flesh and blood slurries would merge with his own blood.
Then, through atavistic meditation, he would awaken the "Mystic Mark" and "Communication."
By transplanting flesh and blood from foreign objects, one expands one's own bloodlineage and subsequently shares the bloodline's magic.
‐‐This is a crucial method for sorcerers to cultivate their skills.
‐‐The transmission of sorcerer knowledge cannot be accomplished through textbooks.
‐‐The only bond of inheritance is bloodline.
‐‐Therefore, sorcerers teach each other without written records.
‐‐The downside is that it is inefficient, preventing widespread printing and dissemination of knowledge.
‐‐However, there is also an advantage.
‐‐The absence of written records prevents cheap copying and dissemination, and enhances confidentiality.
‐‐For this reason, sorcerer inheritance has a strong inherent monopoly.
‐‐A large number of advanced martial arts and spells are treasured by major sorcerer families, hidden from public view.
‐‐Unless one joins a family and gains their trust, it is difficult to learn this valuable knowledge through other channels.
The major families in the sorcerer world establish a solid foundation for their rule through the monopoly of "bloodline-knowledge."
After the first class,
Alan bid farewell to his instructor, Pansen, and followed his second-in-command, Taffman, to the single dormitory arranged for him at the martial arts gym.
Upon arriving at the dormitory, Taffman, as a veteran, offered some advice to his junior:
"Accommodation is free, but the cafeteria charges a fee."
"With your physique, food alone must cost a considerable amount each month, right?"
"Indeed, I have a big appetite," Alan said, scratching his head sheepishly.
"You have a big appetite, so you'll need to save up some money for food," Taffman told Allen. "To survive in the academy, you need money, especially magic stones."
"Everyday necessities can be purchased with gold, silver, and copper coins."
"But transactions between sorcerers, such as paying for paid courses, are more often priced in magic stones," Taffman explained to Allen.
Magic stones are natural minerals imbued with magical energy.
While meditating, holding a magic stone and absorbing magical energy can improve meditation efficiency and accelerate cultivation progress.
Ordinary magic stones are attributeless.
Or, rather, they are a mixture of various attributes that balance each other, resulting in a macroscopic appearance of having no attributes.
Such magic stones can be absorbed by sorcerers of any school, but their cultivation efficiency is relatively low.
There are also attributed magic stones, such as fire magic stones, which contain the most fire energy and are suitable for fire sorcerers to absorb, achieving higher efficiency.
"We violent mages usually don't have any special attributes. We can only absorb attributeless magic stones to temper our bodies."
"But there are exceptions, such as Senior Sister Tanya," Taffman added.