Lucian wanted to find out what else his AI could do in this world, in his current body, but he had to focus on the class for the time being. As far as he was concerned, he had all the time in the world to figure out the specifics later, as he had to continue fitting the persona of his predecessor, and that meant adhering to his schedule like normal.
"Now where was I…?" The teacher continued speaking but couldn't quite manage to pick up where his previous memory trail left off.
"You were just about to introduce to us the political outlook of the world… sir." It took a student sitting in one of the front seats reminding him for his thoughts to come back to him. And once they did, it was practically like he never had to pause at all.
Yes, Lucian wanted to go back to his dorm or somewhere private to find out more about his AI, but it turned out this lecture was actually quite interesting. Learning about the politics and geography of this world was something he was very keen to do, so this was perfect timing for him.
His headache was all but gone now as well, and his mind had cleared up, so this was the perfect time to absorb some new knowledge.
"Oh yes! That's right. Ahem, so the lands we occupy, as I'm sure most of you are aware of already, are called the Barren Islands. We are but a small place, with no established kingdom to rule over us. Right now the strongest ruling power is Count Nessus, whose child sits right amongst us as we speak. Anyway…" The teacher rambled on.
'I didn't know that…' Lucian muttered inwardly, crossing his arms as he listened to the lecture.
Lucian had a frown on his face as he pinched his chin and pondered over what he had just heard from the teacher. The smartly dressed man said that everyone should know about the Barren Islands, yet there was no recollection of such a place in his inherited memories. It wasn't like there was a missing piece to the puzzle either; it was simply that the knowledge was never there in the first place.
'How the hell did this kid Lucian manage to weasel his way into this academy without first knowing such a basic fact?' He questioned himself.
Even for someone with such a lack of emotion like Lucian, it was almost laughable. It was clear that his father didn't raise him to be a smart boy, which was evident enough from the fact he was sent to a knight's academy, rather than to a normal school to become a scholar — a much more respectable occupation in these 'Barren Islands'. But to not even know this? Things were clearly dire in the Verdan family.
"… Outside of these Barren Islands, many other islands and continents exist with established powers dominant over each one of them. Compared to each of them, we are nothing but ants standing under an elephant's foot. At any moment this elephant could take a single step and crush us all to smithereens!"
Some of the young students' faces turned pale white after hearing what the teacher had to say; it was clear that this information was too much for their young and inexperienced minds to handle. Yet, to Lucian, this was all fresh and interesting knowledge that he was fully absorbing.
Learning about the outlook of this world was one of his primary goals after finding out he had transmigrated into this place. It seemed his choice of returning back to the classroom instead of following the teacher's advice and heading to the school nurse was a good one.
'Once I've learned all that this academy has to offer, I should get out of this backwards place before it's too late.' Lucian silently set himself a goal.
He'd already started to make plans in his mind regarding his next steps. Learning that he was placed smack bang in the middle of nowhere wasn't exactly what he wanted to hear, but he could find ways to make it to these so called 'elephants' the teacher was talking about.
"Though, many speculate that the lack of future prospects and resources on our Barren Islands is due to our lack of Mages. For those of you who don't know what Mages are, go ask your parents. They'll probably remember the last time they came to visit this place…" The teacher continued his lecture, maintaining the same mysterious air he tried so hard to put on.
'Mages?'
Lucian's ears perked up when he heard this word. It wasn't an unknown word to him, but it was to his predecessor. Back in his previous world, Mages were something of fiction — a type of scholar similar to scientists who study the magic arts rather than the real, fundamental laws of reality that make up the universe.
Mages were a rather popular concept among the youth of his world, and there were countless video games created surrounding that concept worth tens of billions, but as a scientist, he was never interested in the world of fiction.
So, why was something known only as fiction mentioned here in this world and spoken about with such reverence and fear, like these made up concepts were real enough to haunt them? Lucian had to dig deeper into this. He had to learn more — to satiate his ever growing curiosity. If it weren't for the fact that he had to continue living the persona of his predecessor, he would have run straight to the library to read up on this topic.
"This world is filled with all sorts of energies and laws, but unfortunately for us, the Barren Islands which we occupy are the place where they are the weakest and least dense. It's said that for one to become an Apprentice Mage here, it would take up half the wealth of an entire County to succeed! And that's just the Apprentice stage, you can forget ever becoming a Mage here!" The teacher continued enthusiastically.
He was very exuberant in his rambling; it seemed like telling stories was his passion, and working as a politics and history teacher was his medium of fulfilling this passion. Though, it was unfortunate he worked in a preparatory knight academy, where most of the students couldn't care less about the stories and histories he told. Though, this particular class where he discussed Mages was always the exception to this.
The young and energetic students always loved to hear the tales about the faraway lands and the feats of the elusive Mages. For them, these were more than just stories — they were myths, ones they could relate to. It was the goal of every noble child on the Barren Islands to become a Mage one day. But for one particular child named Lucian, he felt entirely out of place in this classroom.
'Just what is a Mage in this world…?'