Chapter 197: First Encounter
Translator: Kris_Liu Editor: Vermillion
When the bell was ringing for the end of the class, Lucien directly collected all the test papers and left the class. Then, the students started their heated discussion, “You guys know Mr. X?” asked Grant, the head boy of the class. Grant had black, curly hair and deep-set, black eyes.
As Grant was asking, more students paid attention to Annick, Heidi and Layria, trying to get more information about their new teacher.
Annick nodded, as he really respected Grant, who was hard-working and talented, “We knew Mr. Evans before. That’s right.”
“Great! He looks pretty cool!” Grant was very impressed by Lucien’s words, “I’ve never met any teachers like him! Mr. X’s not like these stubborn teachers at all. Sometimes I already understood what was being taught, but I was still not allowed to do my own stuff… What a waste of time!”
Heidi’s face twitched a bit, and then he said seriously, “It’s true that Mr. Evans doesn’t really care about whether we pay attention to his class, and he keeps saying that we gotta be responsible for our own choices and the consequences if we do not work hard, but this is just one aspect of his teaching, and he’s still got another side…”
Lucien’s words were very direct, and they won support from most of the apprentices. The students felt that Mr. X was someone who really understood them, and he was a cool teacher that possibly could become their good friend.
“What’s the other side?” asked Grant curiously.
“You’ll see,” answered the three apprentices together. They all remembered what they had experienced with Mr. Evans before.
“Hope you guys won’t hate Mr. Evans,” said Heidi meaningfully.
The rest of the students were very confused, yet also curious. Then the bell of the next class, Basic Magic Potion, stopped their discussion.
…
In the teachers’ office.
Carrying the test papers, as soon as Lucien entered the office, five teachers, three being men and two women, smiled and nodded to him, while another seven remained quite cold, burying themselves in their own work.
Lucien also nodded to the teachers who were nice to him, knowing that these five teachers were all friends of Rock, who had already told them everything. As for the other seven teachers, they did not get along well at all with Rock, so they decided to ignore Lucien, a sorcerer who only had seven arcana credits and no arcana level.
“Teaching Ancient Languages and Magic Creatures shouldn’t be challenging to you, Lucien.” When Vilnia, a blond female sorcerer, walked by Lucien’s desk, she kindly reminded him, “You’d better spend more of your time on studying basic arcana.”
Vilnia was about twenty-five or six, a level one arcanist and second circle sorcerer, specializing in Illusion and Force. As a lady who got both mature charm and the beauty of youth, she was already married and her husband was a viscount. Every morning she took the magic train to come to work from Rentato, capital of Holm.
Because Rentato and Allyn were very close to each other, the commuting time was only ten minutes, and as a sorcerer and a noble lady, a round-trip ticket only cost Vilnia two Nars.
“Thanks for your reminder, Ms. Vilnia. I’ll keep it in mind.” Lucien smiled politely.
“Polite and good-looking young man.” Vilnia joked, “When you visit Rentato, feel free to come to my place and be our guest.”
Among all the female teachers in this school, which accounted for one third of the whole teaching staff, some were beautiful, some were charming, and some looked terrifying because of some failed experiments or magic powers which could erode one’s appearance.
When Vilnia left the office, Lucien first checked the test papers to know the basic level of the class, Thorn Tree, in Ancient Languages. Then he took out a pile of paper and his quill and started reviewing a second circle spell, Mirror, which had been successfully analyzed before.
Lucien was very interested in this spell once used by the murloc mage, which could help the caster confuse his or her enemy. As the knowledge involved in this basic Illusion spell could also be found in Astrology and Elements, Lucien decided to turn Mirror into his first second circle magic, and thus to make his next breakthrough to become a second circle sorcerer.
…
Douglas, in the magic lab tower.
Finishing the first lesson of Introduction of Magic Creatures in another class, Blood Bird, Lucien hurriedly arrived here.
“Hello, may I have an alchemical laboratory?” Lucien politely asked the old sorcerer managing the tower.
The old level one arcanist, second circle sorcerer, Ines, responded seriously, “Sorry, Mr. Evans, all the magic labs have been borrowed. Please come earlier tomorrow.”
“All of the labs?” Lucien looked up at the five-story magic tower. Although it was not very spacious, there were at least ten magic labs on each floor. Lucien could not believe his ears.
Ines calmly replied, “Mr. Evans, we have to reserve twenty labs for our students and the several level two arcanists. For the rest of the labs, you know, first come, first served.”
“We have this many teachers who need to do experiments?” asked Lucien, feeling a bit frustrated and surprised.
“No all of them are doing experiments,” said Ines. “Some are making potions and some are testing their summoning rites. Everyone knows that one of the best things working here in this school is that one can use the labs for free.”
“I totally understand, Mr. Ines.” Lucien did not want to give up easily, “Can I use one of the reserved labs first? Then I can leave when the person arrives.”
Building a well-equipped lab here was very expensive, and Lucien could not afford it right now.
“No.” Ines shook his head, “We have rules, unless you’re a level two arcanist who enjoys privileges.”
When Lucien was feeling quite frustrated, a low voice came from behind, “Are you Lucien Evans?”
Lucien turned around and saw a tall, ordinary-looking man wearing a black jacket, looking like a strong bear.
“Yes, I’m Lucien Evans… Uh… X. And you?” Lucien nodded.
“I guess so.” The tall man smiled, “You don’t look familiar to me. Nice to meet you, I’m K.”
“So we have the same name.” Lucien looked at K curiously.
“Rock was about to introduce me to you this afternoon, but I wasn’t in the office,” said K a bit shyly, “You’re looking for a lab?”
“Yes… but I think I’m too late.” Lucien nodded frustratedly.
“Then what about sharing one with me?” suggested K sincerely. “What are you gonna do today?”
“That’ll be awesome!” said Lucien excitedly, then with a second thought, he asked politely, “I’m making a magic potion today. Will I disturb your work?”
“Not a problem. There are plenty of alchemical circles in the lab. We can share.” K was very generous.
“Thank you, K. Like Rock said, you’re really a nice person,” said Lucien sincerely.
“I’ve received lots of help from others as well. Let’s go.” K was quite shy, which did not agree with his big and tall figure.
With K’s permission, Ines let the two people walk upstairs without saying anything.
