I was an apprentice in Ferren

Chapter 11 The Wonderful Uses of the Mage's Hand

Upon hearing DuPont's question, the cashier in the room didn't even raise an eyebrow, simply continuing to read today's newspaper: "You didn't finish your task this week, so why are you asking for next week's?"

After saying that, he yawned and glanced at DuPont: "It's not common for students to apply for sick leave like this in the academy. Don't let the academy down. Go back if you're alright."

How can this person be so clueless? Don't they know it's nap time?

As a promising young man who had once been well-connected on construction sites, DuPont had a thick skin. He pretended not to understand what the other person was saying, chuckled, and prepared to turn and leave, but he couldn't help feeling a little melancholy.

If he could successfully get something for free, he would feel much more confident. But unfortunately, fools seem to be rare in this world, and it's difficult to even swindle some start-up capital.

However, after glancing at the brass badge on the man's chest and seeing that there was no one else in the room, DuPont quickly came up with a new plan. He quietly took out a finished scroll and placed it on the table: "Professor William, I've been sick lately and my health is really poor. My efficiency is not as good as usual. I wonder if you could make an exception?"

"Hmm?" William's impatient expression disappeared after hearing this, but the next second he frowned and a cold glint flashed in his eyes as he looked at the somewhat restrained DuPont: "Student, if others find out what you did, it will be a serious offense in the academy. You could be put in solitary confinement for a week or even expelled."

"Huh?" DuPont looked shocked. "Teacher, I just picked up the scroll you accidentally dropped on the ground. This scroll is definitely not copied by me. You can take a look, teacher."

"Oh?" William examined DuPont's name tag closely, then looked at the name on the scroll. A smile appeared on his face, but it quickly vanished. "That's true, but you didn't hand in 10 scrolls. That's a bit of a problem."

“But the school didn’t say that only those who handed in scrolls could receive the parchment.” DuPont coughed lightly. “I don’t think recording sick leave, receiving scrolls, and collecting scrolls should be done with just one book, right? Tomorrow, those collecting scrolls and those distributing parchment will each have their own responsibilities.”

"If someone really comes to check, I can just say I was sick and confused and received an extra one, and I'll just make up for it. Teacher, you're so busy with work, how could you possibly notice such a small thing? Besides, those leaders wouldn't care about the gain or loss of a few pieces of parchment."

William seemed thoughtful after hearing this, and subconsciously glanced at the office where he was the only employee. He put the scroll into his pocket, coughed lightly, and said, "Everyone is supposed to hand it in on Saturday morning. If you're late, I won't take responsibility."

Upon hearing this, DuPont smiled knowingly, greeted him, and turned to leave.

Why doesn't he post it now when there are fewer people and it's private, but instead posts it when there are more people?

Of course, it's busier when there are more people, and things are more likely to go wrong.

Thinking about this, DuPont felt a surge of excitement.

There are no ordinary people in the important departments of the mage academy. Even ordinary employees have some spellcasting ability. Many employees are apprentices who have graduated and then work in the academy. Although their income cannot compare with that of adventurers, it is more stable and there is not much danger.

Working in a lucrative department like the finance office naturally means you might not have much magical talent, but you definitely have connections. However, in the special environment of a mage academy, their salaries will never be higher than those of the teachers, and their stipends will not be more than those of the powerful instructors, since mage levels are something that cannot be faked.

William was only a bronze medalist, which meant that his mage level was probably below level 5, the same as William's. He was just an employee who graduated earlier and was one level higher than William, but in the eyes of the academy's higher-ups, he might not be considered a person of importance.

If he had really strong connections, he wouldn't be squatting here.

If there's no hope for promotion and the position is mediocre, would people in such departments simply accept a fixed salary?

Such people do exist, but there are obviously more quick-witted people in the mage academy. DuPont made a small test, and the effect was quite good.

Using public resources to enrich oneself, and then shifting the blame to others to clear one's name when things go wrong—it's hard to imagine anyone resisting this risk-free business.

Unfortunately, long-term leave is not allowed within the academy, so this loophole can only be exploited a few times. However, in the short term, he earned 6 gold coins, and if he becomes closer to William in the future, there might be other benefits.

There's an old saying about the four ironclad bonds in life: studying together, fighting together, sharing loot, and visiting prostitutes together. While the saying is crude, it holds some truth, but DuPont only believed in one of them.

Friendships can last as long as there are shared interests.

With half an hour left before lunch break, DuPont wasn't sleepy but didn't want to let copying papers affect his afternoon classes, so he went to the library to find some free books to read.

The librarian was a pretty young woman, but she was fast asleep at the table. DuPont didn't disturb her; he simply wrote his name in the register next to him and then browsed the library, which was said to have 20,000 books.

Most of the books here are not of much value; some are simply travel guides to various places or the most popular romance novels. DuPont glanced at them and found that there were also some erotic and explicit chivalric novels. He felt his blood boil after just a few glances.

Chapter 1: My Dwarf Landlord Has a Barbarian Wife. Never mind, let's see how this affects things now. DuPont quickly glanced at it and had the system save it, so he could take it out later to relax when he was tired of copying documents.

Let's look at something useful now, like this book, "The Guide to Using the Mage's Hand," which compiles insights from various sources.

Transmutation magic: Wizard's Hand. It is one of the essential skills for mages, and can help them with mage tasks such as fetching water glasses, holding candles, and finding things. Even renowned archmages rely on this small spell.

A high mage's notes: "The person who invented the Mage's Hand was an absolute genius. It's practically a third hand, and you can control it at will. In some ways, it's far more useful than those clumsy apprentices."

A mage apprentice's notes: "Since I learned the Mage's Hand technique, I no longer need to worry about my girlfriend making me do things when I get home, and I no longer have to worry about getting oil splattered on me when I cook."

An anonymous person's notes: "Although the mage's hand is larger than a human's palm, it has real weight and feel, which is surprisingly convenient when doing certain things. It just requires you to be on high alert at all times to avoid accidentally hurting yourself, but in a way, isn't that also a kind of fun?"

Upon seeing this, DuPont felt it was somewhat unbelievable. However, there was also a tracking record of this person below, which was short but greatly shocked DuPont.

"I married my mage hand."

Damn it, who made this thing into a book and put it in the library? They should pay me for it!
After washing his eyes, he returned to the classroom. Perhaps because his injury had healed, DuPont's afternoon lectures sounded much smoother to him. He gained an extra 6 experience points from the lectures, bringing his total to 30, which increased his total experience points to 454/2000.

It's a bit of a shame that the last golem class doesn't grant experience points.

This is a rare dwarven mage, said to be a war mage who participated in the Battle of the Northern Mithril Hall. Despite missing an arm, he possesses a thick, mithril-like arm, and the gold medal on his chest is dazzling. His booming voice is enough to keep anyone awake. However, very few people are interested in his courses; they are mostly attended by the miserable civil engineering students for which it is a required course.

"Flesh and blood are weak, but stone is not necessarily reliable either! Through my many years of practice, I have found that mithril is definitely the best material for making golems. For golems of the same size, mithril has only one-fifth the density of adamantite, and its strength is only 10% weaker, but its agility is greatly improved. The only drawback is that it is too expensive. When any of you have money in the future, you can ask me for the blueprints."

"Ahem, I've digressed. Now I'll tell you something practical: how to create clay golems using readily available materials in the shortest amount of time. This is the latest joint achievement of Harua and the Mithril Hall. Once the spell is successfully cast, even poor soil can be used. However, the golem's core cannot shrink and you need to maintain focus. After testing, the summoning time can be significantly reduced in more humid areas."

Although many people were distracted, DuPont found it quite interesting.

The reason people weren't interested in the course was actually quite simple: making golems was expensive, but using them was cumbersome. Furthermore, the professor had a common dwarven vice: he loved to boast and talk nonsense.

The lowest-grade clay golem costs a full two thousand pounds. Its simple core and overly bulky body make it easy to kite in actual combat and impossible to catch up with enemies. In the academy, it is basically only used for chores and tiring tasks.

Compared to large toys like the Iron Golem that can fight, which resemble war weapons, this is practically a beggar's best. If you go out to war, it can only serve as a bodyguard and a mobile shield.

It's less a golem and more an obedient, large earth elemental puppet.

However, summoning a large earth elemental is a fifth-circle spell. As long as he has a golem core, he can make it with his basic golem skills. Of course, the result will be quite different from what the instructor on the stage said, but this is real combat power.

Unfortunately, golem cores are expensive; even a substandard earth golem core that can only be used once costs 100 gold coins, which is completely out of his reach.

We'll look into whether we can make our own golem cores later.

Dinner was still fifty copper coins. After dinner, Charles mysteriously said that he had an appointment that night and left the academy directly. DuPont shook his head and continued copying the scroll.

His copying speed has improved significantly, reaching 28 and a half minutes, but he is still tired.

The system also changed his copying rating.

[The success rate of copying a level 1 spell scroll is 60%. When the user remains calm and focused, the success rate can be increased to 80%~95%.]

DuPont was pleased to see this line of text, but his mood wasn't so good when he continued copying. He put away his pen and ink and prepared to go to the kitchen to carry out a small plan.

The sound of pigs being slaughtered this morning gave him an idea: there should be no one in the canteen by now.

(End of this chapter)