The Cornflower Witch

Book 3: Chapter 27: Post-match Rewards

The scene of Sylutia participating in the competition was watched by two professors in the audience, and the more they watched, the more they liked her.

"Ah, if only she could enroll this year." The elderly man among them was already getting a bit impatient.

"Yes, such a promising seedling. Every day she spends outside, I'm afraid someone else will snatch her away." The woman beside him also nodded.

"The Mage Alliance has nearly two hundred thousand new students every year. Although the number is large, only about one in ten thousand among them truly has the hope of impacting the Sixth Tier. And with so many schools within the Alliance, everyone wants to grab the best students."

Having an excellent student is not just about strengthening the faction's power. It's also about ensuring that the skills and knowledge one has devoted a lifetime to researching can be passed down. Otherwise, upon death, a lifetime's research results can only turn into complex and obscure records. That kind of regret and sense of loss is difficult for ordinary people to understand.

For a mage, roughly 70% of their life is spent on the research and improvement of their craft. This can be said to constitute everything in their life—status, strength, monetary income, social respect, admiration from others, the satisfaction of self-actualization, and so on—all stem from this.

If, due to a lack of suitable students, this knowledge cannot be passed down, it can be said to be an extremely regrettable and painful thing. However, mage-related skills become increasingly complex and obscure at higher tiers, requiring the learning of vast amounts of prerequisite theoretical knowledge, mastering and becoming proficient in advanced techniques, before finally being able to learn the most core and essential parts. Because of this, finding a suitable student to inherit one's legacy is a very difficult matter.

The reason why the various schools of the Mage Alliance were initially willing to expend massive resources to expand enrollment and cultivate newcomers was also to find suitable people to pass down their knowledge as much as possible. Otherwise, a school lacking individuals who master the core secret arts would face the problem of their arts being lost within two generations, followed by rapid decline.

The vastness and depth of knowledge is both the Mage Alliance's strength and its weakness. The strength lies in making the Alliance's overall power a full tier stronger than the major surrounding forces and alliances. But the weakness is also that the overly numerous and obscure theoretical knowledge is exceptionally difficult to pass down; it's not something just anyone can learn.

You can expect a genius who has never attended school to master an extremely difficult sword technique purely by talent in a few days, but you cannot expect him to understand theoretical books filled with various formulas and symbols.The second round of the newcomer competition soon ended. After obtaining three victories, Sylutia decisively gave up on the subsequent matches, because the remaining contestants were all elite Third Tier members of the college, opponents she couldn't defeat in her current state. Even if she could win, she would probably have to exert herself to the utmost and reveal many of her trump cards, but there really was no need for that now.

After obtaining the reward voucher, Sylutia, as she wished, came to the library again, handed over the voucher, and told the staff the two secret arts she had chosen.

"Alright, Miss Hedra, please wait a moment." The staff member asked the young girl to wait briefly.

About ten minutes later, that staff member came over and notified Sylutia to go to the Inheritance Room.

"It's all prepared. Miss Hedra can go directly. Your luck is very good this time. The professor who recorded this secret art is actually on campus today because he's attending the Silver Bell Festival, so you can directly ask him about the learning method for this secret art."

"Learning a secret art directly from a professor of Rorik College?" Sylutia was surprised. She had previously thought it was just borrowing the Inheritance Gem to perceive the knowledge and complex feelings stored within.

"Yes, this is more effective than using the Inheritance Gem. After all, the professor can demonstrate for you on the spot and answer many questions." The staff member had a congratulatory expression. The senior and senior apprentice sister on the other side also nodded.

"Go with peace of mind. The professors are all very good people, no need to worry."

"Then I'll be going." The young girl nodded and then followed the staff member away.

After Sylutia left, Tigis and her grandmother continued to sit and wait in the library's main hall. Her grandmother looked at the two students and seemed to want to say something.

"You two came purely for that child, didn't you." She had pretty much figured out their identities and purpose.

"Ahem, this veteran, I'm not quite sure what you mean." The young man beside her turned his face away.

"Hehe, I may be old, but I'm not stupid." The old grandmother shook her head.

"I felt something was off when you introduced yourselves earlier as 'Shadow Star First Class' students."

"That child probably doesn't know what level students who can obtain 'Shadow Star First Class' each year are among their peers."

"According to the college's rules, students who are initially Third Tier when they enter start from 'Shadow Star Fifth Class' and advance upwards. But most people directly step into the Fourth Tier—that is, become 'Gold Star Fifth Class'—before they even manage to rise to 'Second Class'. So, while 'Shadow Star First Class' seems to be just for Third Tier students, in reality, those who can rapidly obtain this evaluation rank at this stage are without exception geniuses among their batch of students, and their numbers are extremely few."

"You tell me, two such geniuses, possessing extreme strength among their peers and holding the top evaluation ranks, actually gathering together, being so leisurely and enthusiastically helping an apprentice from another school whom they've never met before... just thinking about it makes this situation a bit unusual, doesn't it?"

"Of course, at first I just thought you two took a liking to that child. After all, Hedra is indeed cute and has good strength. But when you just mentioned the professor personally coming to teach, I immediately confirmed the guess I had previously abandoned."

"Let me guess, which mentor or professor instructed you two to come? To actually deploy such a luxurious lineup."

"Ahem." The two looked at each other, feeling they couldn't hide it anymore.

"Well, as expected, we couldn't hide it from you, veteran. My mentor is Professor Maledor, the powerful mage who currently masters the core secret art of 'Steel Shadow Magic Hand'." The young man introduced.

"My teacher is Professor Fucalin. She is also the sole inheritor of the 'Dream Phantom Substitute' secret art." The young woman beside him also answered and introduced.

"So it's these two... No wonder." The old grandmother thought for a moment and stopped reproaching them.

Seeing the old woman lost in reminiscence, the two became curious now. After all, although this elderly person before them was aged, she also had the aura of the Fifth Tier. She might have been a key figure within the college in the past.

"Might we ask, veteran, what is your name?" The two tentatively inquired.

"Me?... Hehe, when you go back, tell your teachers that I am the old tuner from the 'Glimmering Gold Workshop'. They will know."

"Glimmering Gold Workshop?" The two were somewhat unfamiliar with this.

"It seems to be a workshop specializing in making musical instruments, music boxes, and also clocks." One of them recalled a little.

"That's right. It's a not-so-large workshop, and it rarely accepts external orders now, so it's normal you don't know much about it." She stroked the head of her granddaughter beside her, reminiscing.

"But sixty years ago, it also had a brief period of glory. That's when I got to know your teachers." She said, smiling, her face kind and peaceful.

"Since Hedra has already chosen her secret arts, learning them will probably take quite some time. My granddaughter and I won't continue waiting. We still have to take her out to have a good time today."

"When Hedra comes out, give her this name card. Tell her she's welcome to visit the 'Glimmering Gold Workshop' in the future." After saying this, the old woman stood up, took the hand of Tigis beside her, and had her say goodbye to the two.

"Say goodbye to the big brother and big sister."

"Okay. Goodbye, brother and sister. Tigis is leaving first." She spoke timidly but with a serious expression, and as soon as she finished speaking, she turned and trotted off without looking back, following her grandmother.