Chapter 11: The First Lesson

“What’s wrong with the fire element?” Kus’s gaunt face showed a hint of anxiety.

Roland took a deep breath to calm himself before speaking. “Uncle Kus, when I was absorbing the lightning and darkness elements, I found that the fire element was automatically being drawn in as well. But I didn’t deliberately try to absorb the fire element!”

Kus, upon hearing this, became puzzled. He had lived for one or two thousand years, yet he had never heard of elements entering the dantian on their own, without deliberate absorption. However, his vast experience led him to ponder for a moment before saying, “Don’t panic, boy. Try not absorbing any elements deliberately and see what happens. Also, carefully check your body and see if anything unusual stands out.”

Roland agreed, closed his eyes slightly, and soon slipped into a meditative state. This time, he absorbed no elements at all, simply sensing quietly.

He ‘saw’ countless violet, black, and red light points floating around him, drifting outside his body without entering. Then, Roland tried to absorb only the darkness element. Instantly, a flood of black light points surged into his body, and soon the red light points followed closely, rushing in as well. The violet points remained outside, drifting about without entering.

Next, he tried absorbing only the lightning element. This time, the darkness element did not flow in, but the fire element still automatically entered his middle dantian.

He did not stop absorbing the lightning element, but focused on sensing the flow of the fire element. After a moment, he was shocked to discover that the fire element drawn into his body did not go straight to the middle dantian. Instead, it first entered the white stone beneath his brow!

The fire element lingered inside the white stone for a while before traveling along several meridians to reach the middle dantian. Comparing the difference, Roland realized that the fire element emerging from the white stone was extraordinarily pure; in other words, the white stone could automatically absorb and refine the fire element!

Roland immediately shared this discovery with Kus, leaving the legendary Archmage utterly dumbfounded, unable to speak for quite some time, as it surpassed his understanding.

“The white stone can automatically absorb and refine fire elements during your meditation! This is unbelievable. Why didn’t anything like this happen when I refined the white stone myself… Wait, that’s right, you felt no pain at all when refining the white stone earlier. Could it be…”

“What is it, Uncle Kus?” Roland hadn’t caught up with his train of thought.

“Could it be that only those with fire affinity can truly harmonize with this white stone?” Kus speculated.

Roland pondered, “But that can’t be. So many died on that ‘haunted ground’ outside Bosang Town—surely at least one of them must have had fire affinity…”

“That’s true… By the way, boy, did you test your elemental affinity before refining the white stone?”

“Of course I did. Why?”

Kus’s spirit revived, and he quickly asked, “What were the results?”

“The same as now: top-tier affinity for lightning and darkness, high affinity for fire.” Roland answered earnestly.

“So strong even before refining the white stone!” Kus’s eyes widened. “When I refined this stone, I found it could enhance elemental affinity and mental strength, so I was sure that ordinary people, after refining it, would gain enough power to pass the magician’s test. But I never expected your elemental affinity to be so high beforehand. Perhaps this explains the earlier mysteries, and now, it seems that the trace of time or space energy in your body may have existed even before you refined the white stone!”

“High elemental affinity, combined with fire attribute—is that what triggered the stone’s true potential?” Roland asked.

Kus nodded, “Yes, that’s the only explanation for now. Oh, boy, I have some bad news for you.”

“Hm?”

“You’re going to be late for class!”

“Ah!” Roland suddenly realized that he had spent the whole morning unknowingly cultivating. It was already afternoon. He immediately called for Little Black, jumped onto his donkey, and raced toward the classroom.

When he arrived, panting before the classroom door, he saw a tall figure just entering.

“Heavens, why is there only one classroom door?” He was late, and the teacher had already entered. Roland considered sneaking in through the back, but to his dismay, found there was only a front entrance. Left with no choice, he braced himself and walked in through the front.

The classroom was unusually quiet. Roland felt countless eyes fixed upon him, especially one gaze from behind that made his heart tremble. He hurried to an empty seat and sat down, slowly raising his head to glance at the teacher at the podium.

The teacher was a tall, robust man, whose gaze now swept over to Roland.

“Students, let me make this clear: from now on, you don’t have to attend my classes, but if you do come, I don’t want you to arrive after me. Otherwise, don’t bother coming in at all. Do you all understand?”

“We understand!” Several voices replied, and a few students sitting near Roland turned and snickered at him.

Roland pretended not to notice, listening with utmost seriousness.

“You may call me Professor Sofit. Let me introduce our Lightning Magic. Among the seven branches, lightning magic is the fastest. In terms of attack power, there are forbidden spells like Heaven’s Thunder and Divine Judgment, both of immense might. So, our lightning branch has a very promising future…”

As Professor Sofit spoke, saliva flying, Kus’s ghostly figure materialized, clicking his tongue. “This teacher can really boast! No matter how powerful lightning magic is, I could summon a few powerful undead and wipe him out in seconds!”

Roland was both amused and helpless. Of course, a handful of undead against one person would be easy, but in a one-on-one duel, the advantages of lightning magic would shine.

The hour-long lecture quickly ended. On his way to the darkness branch classroom, Roland was still immersed in the awe-inspiring demonstration Professor Sofit had given. To showcase lightning magic’s power, Sofit led them to a distant clearing, where he flashed with violet light and cast a seventh-level spell: Spherical Lightning. A glowing orb the size of a human head struck a massive tree dozens of meters away, splitting it in two!

The dazzling violet light and thunderous roar kept echoing in Roland’s mind.

He entered the darkness branch classroom, found a seat, and finally calmed himself, suppressing memories of the previous lesson and preparing for his first darkness magic class.

Since Kus was an Archmage of the darkness branch, Roland planned to mainly learn from him, coming to the academy’s classes only once every week or two.

Now, sitting in the classroom, he no longer felt the awkwardness of being late for lightning class. He looked around and found that fewer students studied darkness magic than lightning—fewer than twenty, and each one seemed less lively, sitting quietly and waiting for the teacher.

Soon, footsteps sounded at the door, and a teacher entered. Roland was surprised—it was Professor Harvey, the very one who had recruited him from Bosang Town.

Professor Harvey smiled and surveyed the classroom, finally resting his gaze on Roland and nodding to him.

“I expect you all know me already. Yes, among all the branches, our darkness branch always has the fewest students, so I’m often sent around the empire to recruit new talent. It’s tiring, but at least I know more about you than any other teacher.”

He paused and continued, “This batch of students is the most gifted I’ve ever taught. Some of you even have top-tier affinity for two elements, and nineteen times the mental strength of an ordinary person!” At this, Harvey’s gaze fell on Roland.

Roland felt embarrassed under his intense gaze and lowered his head.

“Top-tier dual affinity, nineteen times mental strength…” Quiet whispers stirred in the classroom.

Professor Harvey coughed, and the murmurs subsided as he continued, “Of course, the other students’ talents are also excellent. Though our darkness branch is always the smallest, over the thousand years since Porter Academy was founded, we’ve produced no shortage of outstanding talents—especially ‘Thomas,’ famed for his swift progress and regarded as one of our academy’s two peerless geniuses. He came from our branch, three hundred years ago!”

“Boom!” The classroom erupted. The students, inspired by Harvey’s passionate speech, felt their blood racing.

Thomas, the legend of Porter Academy, had reached seventh-level mage and graduated before the age of thirty—a feat rare not just in the Europa Empire, but across the entire Aragon Continent. No one expected he had once attended this very class.

“Our current students, I believe, rival Harvey’s batch in talent. So I’ve decided to appoint a class leader in the darkness branch—someone to help supervise cultivation and gather everyone’s questions, which can then be brought directly to me. With our joint efforts, perhaps we’ll see a second Thomas emerge!”

“Wow, that’s a great job—you get the teacher’s guidance anytime!”

“Yeah, it’s like having extra lessons!”

“If only I could be class leader…”

Professor Harvey gestured for silence, and the discussion faded. “As for the class leader, based on my understanding of you all, I’ve already made a decision.” Once again, his gaze fell on Roland.

“Roland, I believe you’re the most suitable for this role. What do you say?” Professor Harvey smiled.

“Me?” Roland groaned inwardly. He and Kus had already decided that, with Kus’s expertise as an Archmage, he would teach Roland most effectively, while the academy teachers, though knowledgeable, couldn’t match Kus’s cultivation. Roland had planned to attend class only once every week or two, but now Harvey wanted him as class leader, requiring daily attendance and wasting too much time.

“Yes, Roland. Professor Harvey believes you’ll make an excellent class leader. Don’t you agree?” Harvey was already at Roland’s side, gazing at him with hopeful anticipation.