The air was heavy as lead, leaving everyone struggling to breathe.
Instructor Lecia's cold, hard numbers—seventy percent, multiplied by twenty percent—had produced a daunting final figure: fourteen percent.
After a moment, the first apprentice stood, shattering the dead silence with the harsh scrape of their chair against the floor.
It was as if the crowd had been startled awake, and they began to surge chaotically toward the exit.
The arrogance they had all worn upon arrival was gone, replaced by vacant, heavy expressions.
Allen moved with the crowd, his steps steady. His heart hammered in his chest, and his blood ran hot with a completely different kind of excitement.
'A fourteen percent pass rate,' he thought. 'It isn't an impassable chasm, but a clear-cut filtering mechanism.'
'Where there are rules, there are loopholes. Where there's a system, there's an optimal solution. The academy's cruelty is, paradoxically, what makes it fair.'
By the time he reached the plaza in front of the Central Library, Vera and Colin were already there.
They looked exceptionally small, dwarfed by the magnificent library.
Vera sat on the steps with her head down, arms wrapped around her shoulders.
Colin, meanwhile, paced back and forth, his face even paler than before.
"Fourteen percent... Out of our entire group... fewer than one hundred and fifty of us will become true Wizards."
Vera's voice cracked. She looked up at Allen, her eyes filled with helplessness. "Allen, can... can we do it? Those courses... just hearing their names is..."
"And the Magic Stones,"
Colin added, his voice dry. "Assistant Carl said learning costs money. I... I only have a stipend of two hundred Magic Stones. What's that enough for? If I fall behind in the courses and get expelled..."
He didn't dare to finish the thought. For someone who had gambled everything to come here, the consequences were unbearable.
"Are you literate?" Allen didn't offer any comfort. Instead, he asked a seemingly unrelated question.
Vera and Colin both froze for a second before nodding instinctively.
"I can read the kingdom's common tongue," Vera said quietly.
"Me too... My father was the town scribe. He taught me," Colin added.
"Then you're not in the worst-case scenario."
Allen's tone was calm, yet it held a power that soothed their nerves. "Assistant Carl mentioned that 'the illiterate should hurry up and learn.' That means some of the new students lack even basic reading and writing skills. We already have a head start."
He paused, his gaze sweeping over them. "As for the courses, did you notice how the list was categorized? 'Basic Theory,' 'Practical Skills,' and 'General Studies on the Path of the Wizard.'"
"This shows the knowledge system is structured. Theory is the foundation for understanding the world, and practice is the application—the means of acquiring power."
His words were so clear and methodical that they dispelled some of the fear-induced chaos in their minds.
"You probably haven't realized it yet,"
Allen continued, "but the greatest value of these general courses lies in their 'universality' and 'foundational nature.' They provide everyone with the same underlying logic. This means that as long as we master the theory, we'll be able to understand the essence of most magical phenomena. For me, that's a good thing."
His gaze shifted to the apprentices hurrying in the distance. "As for the Magic Stone problem, the academy has a task hall. Where there's demand, there's a market. And where there's a market, you can make money."
"However, we currently know nothing about the cost of living here, the difficulty of the tasks, or the value of our own abilities. So, our goal right now isn't to worry about the future. It's to figure out three things: the cost of learning, the efficiency of earning money, and our own learning speed."
'A preliminary business model surfaced in his mind: selling knowledge.'
'On Earth, it was a tired, overused model, but here, it might just be an untapped blue ocean.'
"I have a rough idea,"
Allen said, looking at them. "The theory courses probably won't be a problem for me. If you run into trouble with your studies, I can help you. For free."
He saw their eyes light up and changed his tone. "But, I need you to do me a favor. As we begin our studies, pay attention to how many people are falling behind, what they're struggling with most, and what price they'd be willing to pay to have their 'questions answered.' Treat it as a task. Observe and take notes."
Vera and Colin nodded, only half-understanding.
They didn't understand what Allen was planning, but they understood the phrase "I can help you." It was like a lifeline. Vera instinctively believed that he, a former Prince, could do anything.
"Have you noticed? Everyone here speaks the same language."
Allen turned toward the Central Library's doors. "It's not surprising. The Wizard Organization recruits apprentices from countless planes. If every plane used its own language, the communication costs would be unacceptably high. So, on the planes where they've established stable connections, mandating a 'Wizarding Common Tongue' is the most efficient and economical method of management."
Allen had noticed this from the moment he arrived at the academy. It was a necessary prerequisite for all of his plans.
"Let's go. We'll check out the library." With that, he led the way up the steps.
The three of them walked into the Central Library in silence.
An invisible energy field hung at the entrance. The instant they passed through it, the clamor of the outside world was completely cut off. An aroma enveloped them—a mixture of aged paper, ink, and the faint scent of dissipating Magic Power.
The space was larger than they could have imagined.
Rows of darkwood bookshelves, dozens of meters tall, stood like a silent army of giants, stretching up into the shadows of a dome far beyond their line of sight.
The aisles between the shelves were wide enough for two horse-drawn carriages to pass side-by-side.
Orbs of soft, white light floated in midair, tirelessly illuminating this ocean of knowledge.
Countless black Magic Carpets silently drifted up and down beside the shelves, carrying apprentices who were retrieving books from the highest reaches.
Innumerable figures moved within the vast space. Some stood before the shelves, heads tilted back as they searched. Others sat on floating Magic Carpets, drifting slowly through the upper levels. Even more were gathered in the expansive reading area in the distance, heads buried in heavy tomes and scrolls of parchment.
The entire library was preternaturally quiet, the only sound the occasional, faint rustle of a turning page in the distance.
He walked to the nearest row of shelves. A plaque hung there, reading: [Planar Studies – Basic Section].
He reached for a book titled *Report on the Pan-Material Energy Cycle of Plane G0725*.
Before his fingertips could touch the spine, a pale blue screen of light covered in Runes materialized on the book's surface. A line of small text was clearly displayed on it:
[Access Requirement: Advanced Apprentice or higher. Fee: 3 Low-Level Magic Stones per 72-hour loan period.]
Nearby, Colin tried to pick up a copy of *An Illustrated Guide to Creatures of the Elemental Plane (Fire Elementals)* but was likewise blocked by a screen of light. The price was 5 Low-Level Magic Stones. Vera had her eye on a thin volume titled *Auxiliary Techniques for the Universal Meditation Method*, which cost 2 Low-Level Magic Stones.
Here, knowledge was a commodity with a clearly marked, and not insignificant, price.
For new students with an annual stipend of only two hundred Magic Stones, casually borrowing a few books could plunge them into financial hardship.
"Look over there," Allen said, motioning toward a corner.
An upper-year apprentice was standing before a device that looked like a terminal. He placed his identification card against it, and with a flash of light, the Magic Light Belts binding a heavy tome beside him audibly unlocked.
The apprentice expressionlessly picked up the book and walked away. The entire process was silent and efficient.
"There's a free section," Vera said, her sharp eyes having spotted a sign.
They followed the sign to a relatively remote section of the library.
There were far fewer shelves here, mostly filled with academy rulebooks and texts so basic they bordered on common knowledge.
Allen spotted his target. He walked straight to the end of the section and pulled a massive tome from the shelf, one that was easily a dozen centimeters thick: *Observational Report on the General Environment and Civilizations of the World of Gaia (3rd Edition)*.
The book had a rough, hardcover binding with no magical sheen. It was clearly one of the heavyweights of the free section.
'Know your enemy and know yourself, and you will not be imperiled in a hundred battles.'
Before he could explore this new world, he had to thoroughly understand his own "plane of origin."
This report, he suspected, contained profound information about Gaia.
Vera and Colin also picked out free books for themselves: *The Seven Towers Alliance Apprentice Code of Conduct* and *An Identification Guide to Basic Magical Materials*, respectively.
Carrying their books, the three of them found their way to the brightly lit reading area.
Hundreds of wide, long tables were arranged here, and nearly every seat was taken.
Most of the apprentices were alone, with small mountains of books piled before them. Their expressions were focused, pens scratching rapidly across notebooks as they took notes.
There were also small groups of two or three, but they all spoke in hushed whispers or used Feather Pens to write and sketch on a shared piece of parchment to carry on their discussions. The scholarly atmosphere was so thick one hardly dared to breathe too loudly.
They found an empty space and sat down.
Allen opened the heavy report. The chapter titles in the table of contents immediately captured his full attention.
"Chapter One: Universal Coordinates and Planar Crystal Wall Strength of the Gaia Plane."
"Chapter Two: Overview of Major Continental Shelf Geological Structures and Resource Distribution."
"Chapter Three: Assessment of the Social Structures and Civilization Levels of Major Sapient Races (Humans, Elves, Dwarves...)."
...
"Appendix Twenty-One: Record of Noble Lineages and Power Shifts Within the Gaia Human Kingdom."
'This wasn't a simple introduction. It was a cold, precise anatomical report on his own world, compiled by observers from a higher dimension.'
Allen even saw the names "Rhine Kingdom" and "Weisren Royal Family" in the appendix!
Before this report, his memories of being a Prince felt like an insect specimen being observed in a glass case.
He suppressed the turmoil in his heart and began to read voraciously.
DSeek's recording function activated at full capacity, converting page after page of text and charts into structured data and storing it deep within his memory.
Time slipped by unnoticed in the ocean of knowledge.
He wasn't sure how much time had passed before Vera gently tapped his arm.
"Allen, look."
She handed him her identification card. A line of glowing text had materialized on its smooth surface—a reminder for tomorrow's class.
[Morning, 1st & 2nd Periods. Location: Public Classroom Building A-3, Lecture Hall 07. Course: *Meditation Magic (Universal Version)*. Instructor: Assistant Carl.]
Meditation Magic.
Allen's gaze lifted from the *Gaia Report* and fell upon the simple line of text.
The suffocating pressure of the opening ceremony, the vast ocean of knowledge in the library—everything had been leading to this.
It was the first cornerstone on every Wizard's path, the first fulcrum for prying open the Sea of Magical Power, the true beginning of the transformation from mortal to transcendent.
'No matter how much theory you read, it's all just talk.'
Tomorrow, he would touch the most fundamental power of this world with his own two hands for the very first time.
He closed the heavy report. The dull THUD of the book shutting echoed with startling clarity in the quiet reading area.