Thousand-Faced Dragon

Chapter 259 Times have changed

Compared to Kuku's enviable teacher-student relationship, Rean's is a bit too realistic.

"But this seems like a good thing. He's being way too enthusiastic. I need to think about whether he's after something."

Rean thought it was great. Just as Kuku had said before, with the inheritance of heroic spirits, all he needed was a stable guide. Or to put it another way, an "automatic answering machine" that could check his information, point out the way, and help him identify any gaps in his knowledge.

Heroic spirits will ensure their upper limit and even pave new paths, but someone also needs to help stabilize their lower limit and make up for their foundation.

Even Rean himself felt a little regretful.

After all, it seems unlikely that he will be able to learn any "inheritance" from this archmage, who is much more powerful than he expected.

"Forget it, we don't care."

But people who say they don't care about something usually do care about it a little.

Rean left, leaving Archmage Alcaster in the room, holding the scroll, growing increasingly alarmed as he read it.

"Four hours and twenty minutes." The seemingly young old monk looked at the answers on the exam paper and began to doubt his life.

The greatest test for contemporary spellcasters is not even knowledge and logic, but rather "mental strength" and "concentration".

Simultaneously focusing on two or even three things is a fundamental skill for mages, but this does not mean double the consumption. At first, you won't feel the consumption, but as time goes on, the consumption of energy, mental strength, and concentration will increase dramatically.

Rean was unaware that this was actually a test the mages were giving their apprentices, a way of intimidating them.

Your tutor keeps asking you difficult subjective questions, and you have to grit your teeth and calculate an endless amount of data.

It's like using both emotional thinking and rational calculation simultaneously, and with the increasing pressure of time, the difficulty will inevitably collapse sooner or later.

The questions themselves are not important; what's important is forcing test takers to answer them carefully. When you finally start to do random calculations or give answers that are not related to the question, you've probably reached your limit.

Few apprentices can avoid embarrassment in such tests; it's just a matter of when they embarrass themselves.

In this process, the monks who served as examiners often gained authority as well.

This is a classic "introduction test and intimidation stick" that Kuku didn't know because it was too old.

But it was precisely because of Rean's completely unprepared attitude, and the nearly five hours of high-speed calculation and logical thinking training that made the Archmage increasingly doubt his life.

"Who knows, we might actually meet someone amazing this time."

Kuku's era is too ancient, and the world of mages is constantly changing. With the continuous development of new technologies and the overcoming of various difficulties, the primitive and unimprovable "computing power" and "mental power" have become even more important.

This is similar to how old-fashioned calculators look at memory, CPU, hard drive, and other aspects, and the absence of defects is the most important thing. However, with the continuous advancement of technology and the invention of various "cloud technologies," "cloud storage," and "assistive calculations," all hardware has become less important. Only "computing power" and "network speed" have become the core of everything.

The same applies to the world of mages. With the development and completion of various spell models, professional abilities, auxiliary items, etc., the quantitative aspect of "the user's computational talent" as the source of the engine becomes particularly important.

In an era where everything is scarce, every component is naturally important, requiring a balanced capability across all aspects. Once most capabilities are in place, key parameters (graphics card, network) are needed to break through the limits, and that's when the long end comes into play.

This test is designed to assess this aspect, which explains why Rean had to be re-evaluated. In fact, five hours is not Rean's limit; he could actually go on for a whole day, but Alcaste himself needed to rest.

If this "magician's hellish millstone trial" could wear down the teacher to the point of collapse, Rean would probably become famous overnight.

Alcaster's previous decision to take Rean as his apprentice was largely due to political factors. After all, there are many apprentices among the archmages, but only a very few can truly become disciples. There is no loss in simply having a nominal title.

"Who was in charge of his early education?" The old master finally summoned his disciple.

"Master, it's Royce."

Soon, Royce was brought before the Archmage.

Seeing the archmage showing signs of fatigue, Royce, a third-circle mage, was filled with unease, wondering if it was Rean, whom he had recommended, who had caused the trouble.

"How many times did Rean Sudar attend the introductory classes, and how well did he learn?"

These things are actually included in the recommendation letters. But obviously, the high mages don't care much about the apprentices' preschool materials; they'd rather review them themselves for a more accurate assessment.

"This was his first time attending the introductory class, and he came a total of five times. It took him about a month from when he first started learning magic to reaching the second level."

At this moment, not only the well-informed Alcaster couldn't hold back, but even his "graduate students" glared at him with eyes that said, "What are you talking about?"

"you sure?"

You've reached the second ring road in less than a month? Why don't you just become a demigod before you turn thirty? Learn from that outrageous Lex Luthor, the completely unreasonable Lex Luthor.

"Of course, he didn't know anything at first, but every time he had a class, you could feel his incredible progress; it was like half a year in a week."

The other apprentices still didn't believe it, but the teacher nodded silently, which meant it made sense. "It must be true that he spent five hours in the 'Grinding Mill Trial' and was still in good spirits. I thought he could keep going, so I ended it early."

The implication is that with his incredible energy expenditure, his learning progress must be astonishing.

Now, no one doubted Royce anymore. There are geniuses who become official mages in a month, and there are even more outrageous geniuses in history, but someone who easily passes through "hell" probably doesn't seem like a normal person.

It's like a leaky bucket; no matter how big the volume inside is, there's no reason why it shouldn't overflow.

That kind of trial can be called devilish because in the later stages, it causes mental distraction, dazed attention, and decreased intelligence; it is a nightmare for all those who experience it.

"Truly worthy of being called a classical paladin; such willpower and resolve."

It seems that this is the only explanation, and this will naturally become the cornerstone of his progress.

"Perhaps we will all witness the birth of a legend."

The archmage, who had initially been quite interested in the "palm knight," suddenly realized that the paladin might not be so bad after all.

Meanwhile, Rean, who continued to act as the absurd client in the Mage Street, was unaware of all this. Instead, he was quite annoyed by the calculations and questions that followed. Part of this test was the mental torture that long-term calculations would cause to ordinary people, but this was obviously not a problem for Rean, who had come from a sea of ​​problems.

"With a little more time, we can calculate it more clearly."

The later questions were either difficult or very tedious and complicated to calculate, clearly a war of attrition.

Rean sighed. He figured he probably wasn't qualified. Considering Kuku's outrageous split personality scenario, he really wasn't up to the task.

"Take it slow. I'll accept it even if it's at the bottom. At least the Thousand-Faced Dragon has good growth potential. Hopefully, the next hero will be more reliable."

Rean could sense that Lex's possession was beginning to fade, which was often a sign that he was about to leave.

Rean couldn't wait for him to get lost. Although the guy had helped a little, he had left behind a lot of trouble.

But in other people's eyes, he might be the real trouble.

"Dude, stop messing with us. Listen to your demands. You want fire enhancement, you want light enhancement, and you even want healing abilities. Do you want a weapon or a staff? Even a staff isn't this outrageous. Multiple enhancements are basically top-tier weapons or even artifacts. Why don't you just buy a few staffs and make do?"

These words were like a wake-up call; Rean suddenly realized the truth.

He had his horizons broadened by the heroes and the others. If he really wanted a fully enhanced weapon, even a custom-made one wouldn't be available. But if he wanted a simple staff or something similar, it would be much cheaper.

"For the flame-enhanced staff, just buy it from my cheap teacher. There are definitely many Evokers there, and they might even have sword-shaped weapons. As for those enhanced with Holy Light and Positive Energy, buy Divine Weapons from the Church of Benevolent Gods. Warhammers, scepters, and the like are much easier to find. If you can get a Holy Sword from the Judgment school, it will solve all your Holy Light needs."

However, considering Rean's multi-class nature, he will likely need to equip himself with multiple weapons.

He had always cast spells with almost no equipment or gear, while other mages had a lot of equipment and other support, which put him at a significant disadvantage.

What gave him an even bigger headache was the "homework" assigned by his tutor.

"An analysis of the Third Ring Fireball spell. Is this really something I can do right now?"

Rean remained a "day student," unlike the mage apprentices who followed their teachers. He was only required to come once a week.

First, prove that you are capable of keeping up with the progress.
"The Fireball spell assignments will be checked next week. Isn't that a bit too much?" Rean was a little numb. The complexity of a third-circle spell compared to a second-circle spell is ten times greater.

I haven't even analyzed many second-ring spells yet. With my current level, isn't it a bit too fast to force my way to the third ring?

The teacher didn't require me to successfully advance to the next level, but I should at least be able to explain a part of it. Judging from today's questions, I can't just bluff my way through.

This assignment was also in the leather bag. The sheer amount of magical knowledge made Rean's scalp tingle, and it seemed he would have to work overtime again starting tonight.

"This is really troublesome; I have so many things to take care of."

With a sigh, Rean stopped analyzing the second thought process of a second-circle spell and cast a third-circle Fireball.

There are already more than a dozen related knowledge catalogs just from the very beginning; it looks like I'll have to find more books.

Learn as much as you can, create a new folder, and start something new.
"Huh? This doesn't seem too difficult."

To Rean's surprise, although the spell model of Fireball was much more complex and required a lot of calculation, the speed at which he could analyze it seemed to have increased several times over.

Is it the bloodline of the red dragon? Or has he made progress? Or has the dragon speech sorcerer mastered a similar model?

Rean was unaware of this, but at this rate, it seemed he could indeed give his mentor a surprise.

"It's probably impossible to fully analyze it, and my mental and magical power still need to be accumulated. There's no need to rush the advancement. But analyzing most of it, to the point where I can master it at any time, shouldn't be a problem at all."

(End of this chapter)