Mercenary Wars

Chapter 234 Elemental View

As Dean Randolph finished speaking, the Patrick marble relief wall behind him suddenly emitted a bright, pure white light. This light seemed to emanate from the carvings of the relief, while still maintaining the lines and contours of the carving, and at the same time became brighter and brighter, soon becoming somewhat dazzling.

Just as some students subconsciously squinted, these holy lights suddenly transformed into thousands of arcs of light, first radiating and dancing, then, as if guided by a weaver, intertwining with each other in exquisite patterns, finally weaving a dome of light that enveloped everyone's heads.

Then, amidst the exclamations of many students, the scene on the light screen suddenly changed, transforming from spotless white into a night sky dotted with stars.

The edge of the "night sky" is filled with ever-changing stars, and the horizon seems to disappear into the infinite distance under the starlight.

In the center of the night sky was a golden field, an illusion, yet so lifelike. A gentle breeze blew, causing the flowers and grasses to sway in the wind, making one wonder if there really was a vast field lying upside down above one's head.

"Look, there's someone over there!" Some sharp-eyed trainees pointed to a spot in the field.

Everyone quickly noticed a small figure strolling in a corner of the field. The figure walked very slowly, as if deep in thought about some important question.

As the scenery changes, the tiny figure gradually grows larger, allowing people to see his face clearly—Saint Grostedt.

To be precise, it was the young St. Grostedt. He wore a simple robe, and his face radiated the youthful vigor and thirst for knowledge characteristic of young people.

Epic music played in unison, its melody sometimes melodious like a morning bell, sometimes stirring like a war drum, perfectly matching every movement of the saints.

The students gradually realized: "St. Grostete strolled across the golden plains..."

"This is the content of the relief!"

The scene continued to change, and as many students had expected, the illusions in the sky demonstrated the deeds of Saint Grostedt depicted in the relief.

It resembles an opera in form, but is far more breathtaking. After all, opera requires real actors, while these illusions are completely unrestrained, changing at will, a pure manifestation of the designer's imagination, and the scene appears to fill the entire sky, boundless and limitless.

Therefore, the students frequently exclaimed in surprise during the viewing, creating a very lively atmosphere.

In the dreamlike narrative, the passage of time is cleverly presented, as if people are witnessing the growth of a saint.

From youth to middle age, and from middle age to old age, Saint Grostedt endured many hardships and eventually became the familiar figure, a white-haired old man somewhat resembling Randolph.

The students already felt that Randolph and St. Grossetter looked somewhat alike, and the illusions only reinforced this impression, with some of their silhouettes even causing confusion.

Gao Jiano carefully observed the facial features in the illusion, and the more he looked, the more obvious the coincidences seemed, prompting him to ponder.

The true appearance of Saint Grostedt is long lost to history; the current image of Saint Grostedt is merely the result of artistic embellishment by later generations.

This image looks so much like Randolph... Could it be that Randolph designed it using himself as a face model?
In the illusion, the elderly Saint Groste walks through the temple, visually appearing to get closer and closer to the crowd.

Finally, the kind and wise Saint Grostedt spoke slowly, saying, "Knowledge is power, but it must be used for good..."

The voice was deep and majestic, as if a saint were giving earnest instruction to the crowd, causing many students to involuntarily straighten their backs and become solemn.

Then the illusion ended, and stars enveloped everyone.

Dean Randolph said, “Knowledge is power, that’s the creed of all magicians. Of course, we must also remember the second part—but it must be used for the right purpose. Mosa is the right purpose; He guides us with His boundless wisdom and compassion, and we use everything He has given us…”

Thank God, this is something that must be mentioned and even repeatedly mentioned in all speeches, even by the "high-ranking archmages" respected by the Pope.

Gaucano was already used to this.

After a passionate speech, Dean Randolph changed the subject: "The history of Ax Magic Academy is older than that of many countries. When St. Groste was founded, it was just a seminary attached to the town church, with only a few dozen teachers and students. Today, we are one of the largest and best magic academies on the entire continent..."

"We have three major schools, fourteen sub-schools, twenty-seven chair professors, a collection of over one million books, and have trained hundreds of great masters."

"...Now, as new students, you will study as Avis, Orsini, and Laziville. About two years later, you will enter a branch school."

“Avis can enter four branches of the school, including the theoretical arcane school, the spacetime school, the rune school, and the God and Soul school.”

"Orsini has five branches: the natural history school, the spell school, the prophecy school, the dream school, and the literature school."

"Raziville also has five schools of thought: the Fire and Wind School, the Water and Earth School, the Alchemy School, the Monster School, and the Magical Construction School."

"Here you will be exposed to the richest wisdom and the most outstanding teachers... but I hope you will not only follow the teachers' instructions, but also actively explore."

“I hope you will ascend the ‘Stairway of Mystery,’ wander in the ‘Emerald Dream,’ and stroll across the ‘Golden Plains’…”

The Mysterious Staircase.

Emerald Dream.

Golden plains.

These three are special spaces created by the Ax Magic Academy using magic. They each have a unique magical environment and learning value, and are also known as the "Three Great Secret Realms". They are the most magical places in the academy.

Of course, these three places are not so easy to get into.

In particular, the "Golden Plains" requires reservations well in advance to have a chance to enter.

One of the things Gaogano was busy with yesterday was making appointments for Golden Plains and Emerald Dream.

The Mysterious Staircase doesn't really require reservations.

After all, the students who came out of Emerald Dreamland and Golden Plains were all very excited. They wanted to go back again and again. Some students who did not study properly after entering were even banned from entering again for a certain period of time.

The students who emerged from the Mysterious Staircase were all haggard, and most of them did not want to go a second time. Some of them were even rescued by their teachers.

Finally, Dean Randolph said, "As I have said many times, Axes Academy of Magic encourages exploration. There are many places here worth exploring, and some places that even I have not fully explored... Explore, dear students, you will experience the greatness of thought and knowledge here!"

"Clap clap clap!" Loud applause erupted from the audience.

After that, there were several more procedures, including speeches by the Dean of Student Affairs and three vice deans.

The Dean of Students was a middle-aged woman named Maureen who always seemed to be in a rush. She spoke rapidly, as if she had a thousand things to deal with. This wasn't surprising; after all, the so-called "Dean of Students" was essentially a large-scale academic advisor, responsible for relieving the Dean of all sorts of tedious and uninteresting tasks—probably the most demanding teaching position in the entire Axes Magic Academy. Of course, this position also had its advantages—it offered the possibility of being promoted to chair professor at the lowest possible standard.

The three vice deans are the dean's assistants and are also chair professors, each responsible for a school of thought.

The vice dean in charge of Avis was Albert, whom Gaucano had met during the spellcasting test; the one in charge of Orsini was Isidor; and the one in charge of Laziville was Roger.

Isidore was an elegant nobleman who always spoke with a faint smile, his voice as smooth as silk. Rogiel, on the other hand, was more rugged, speaking directly and forcefully, and his fiery red hair made his identity as a fire elementalist self-evident.

That concludes my remarks.

Randolph and the three vice-principals returned to the St. Grossetian platform, this time each of them carrying a staff.

After standing on the platform, the four began chanting incantations.

As the incantation began, the stars in the illusory sky twinkled, their light dazzling. Each star seemed to respond to the mages' call, its twinkling frequency gradually synchronizing perfectly with the rhythm of the incantation.

The incantation is quite lengthy. And the difficulty of casting it seems to be quite high.

As decision-makers at the Ax Magic Academy, all four were top-tier magicians across the continent, yet most of them still showed signs of strain on their faces.

Only Dean Randolph remained calm and composed, which showed that he indeed possessed spellcasting abilities that surpassed everyone else.

Albert was the one who had the hardest time.

It's probably because he's the youngest.

In short, his expression looked like he was carrying a heavy load, with his brows furrowed.

Not only that, his thick hair began to "shimmer," sometimes appearing and sometimes disappearing, which sparked a lot of discussion among the trainees.

"What's wrong with Vice Dean Albert's hair?"

"Yeah, it's so strange..."

"I understand! It's an illusion; his hair is an illusion!"

"What kind of magic is this? It actually made Vice Dean Albert lose his hair?"

Just as the students were discussing this, the vast starry sky suddenly shone brightly, and then drifted down, landing on everyone's heads.

The starlight, like gentle raindrops, softly surrounds everyone, bringing a warm and comfortable feeling.

A few lines of information flashed through Gao Jiano's mind.

[Status: Back-to-School Blessings]

[Level: Seven Rings]

[Effect: Spirit +3, Intelligence +3]

Duration: One month

A total of six attribute points are provided!
For a whole month!

Such a powerful effect, applied to a thousand targets simultaneously, explains why it required four top archmages to cast the spell together, and it seems they even drew upon the power of the relief. Gao Jiano also understood why Albert was struggling so much; the difficulty of such a large-scale, long-term buff spell was far beyond what ordinary people could imagine.

The effect of improving six attributes is very noticeable.

All the new students could feel the changes in themselves.

Feeling energetic and with an unprecedentedly active mind!

"This feeling... is like drinking several bottles of potion!"

"By Mosa, this is absolutely wonderful!"

"I feel I can switch to the Avis school—I want to study theoretical arcane magic and spacetime magic!"

Dean Randolph smiled and said, "This is a 'back-to-school blessing,' which can significantly improve your learning efficiency and last for a month. I hope you can make good use of this time to lay a solid foundation for your future magical studies."

"The admission ceremony has now concluded. Academic advisors will guide the new students to leave in an orderly manner."

One thousand new students left the lawn one after another.

Classes officially began the following day.

The first class for all new students is "Introduction to Magic".

Of course, the course titles differ slightly between the schools; the Avis school calls it "Introduction to Magic and Arcane," while the Orsini school calls it "Introduction to Magic and Spells."

The Laziville School is naturally known as "Introduction to Magic and Elements".

The instructors for this course are all associate deans or chair professors.

After all, everyone prefers easy, low-stakes courses, and only highly respected associate deans and chair professors can secure such courses.

The teacher for Gao Jiano's course was Associate Dean Roger.

Roger first gave the students a brief overview of the basics of magic, which he did very quickly.

After all, most students at Ax Magic Academy have a fairly good foundation in magic, and some may even have already obtained a level 5 or higher professional badge from the Mage Guild. They don't need to start learning from the most basic concepts and can go directly into more advanced content.

Let's quickly cover these basic concepts.

Take a ten-minute break in between.

Then Roger continued, "What we've been talking about so far is mostly uncontroversial knowledge, but in fact, the most important and fundamental knowledge is often controversial."

“This is also the philosophy of Ax Academy of Magic; we encourage the clash of different viewpoints.” He paused slightly. “Next, I’m going to talk about an extremely important and controversial issue.”

As he spoke, he picked up his wand.

In certain historical periods, wands were the primary spellcasting tool for wizards. But today, wands are often designed as specific spellcasting tools with narrow but convenient uses—such as writing on a whiteboard.

Vice Dean Roger picked up his wand and waved it lightly at the blackboard, instantly revealing a line of words.

"Elemental Perspective!"

Upon seeing the words on the blackboard, the students couldn't help but whisper among themselves.

Vice Dean Roger smiled: "The so-called elemental view is simply a perspective on elements. What are your perspectives on elements?"

"The basic substances that make up everything in the world." Many students gave the standard answer.

Vice Dean Roger nodded: "That's right. Traditionally, it is believed that elements are matter, basic matter. Everything we see in life is composed of one or more elements according to specific spatial laws... This view is easy to understand and is also known as the 'element matter theory'."

His explanation was concise and clear, but his tone hinted at an upcoming revelation of new perspectives.

The words "theory of elements and matter" appeared on the blackboard.

Then Roger continued, "But what you may not know is that there is another important view of elements—an element is a form of motion!"

As soon as he finished speaking, with the wave of the magic wand, another line of words appeared on the blackboard: "Theory of Elemental Motion!"

(End of this chapter)