I was an apprentice in Ferren

Chapter 178 The Fire of Knowledge
DuPont dismissed Annie's friendly reminder with a casual glance.

Even when he was just a Level 2 apprentice, he wasn't afraid of his opponent. Before, Conor didn't dare to step into the ring. Now, would he care about this guy who had been locked up for half a month and was a bit mentally unstable?

Unless the other party dares to ambush him with a few people, he doesn't care if they play dirty tricks; this guy is no longer worthy of being his opponent.

It's not even worth his time to think about it.

This isn't to say that DuPont has become arrogant; rather, if the other party really gets cornered and resorts to desperate measures, it would actually be a very interesting situation for him.

He's been a bit short on cash lately, so it's great that the other party is willing to come and give him a big gift package.

However, if the other party engages in such irrational behavior as infighting, they are unlikely to dare to attack you. Unable to vent their pent-up resentment, they vent their twisted malice on their own people.

It's a bit clownish.

Just as he was about to meditate again, several people approached him. The leader, tall and handsome, handed DuPont a notebook: "Vice President, could you please take a look at the program for the celebration ceremony? Is there anything that needs to be changed?"

"You're too kind, senior." DuPont took the notebook, pretended to flip through it, and didn't find any problems with the script, but still raised an eyebrow: "Do you still have last year's program?"

The senior student hesitated slightly after hearing this, but still nodded: "It's still there, but you need to go to the archives to get it. Do you have any questions?"

"I see no problem with the program and content, but the flow of the performance seems a bit different from what I remember?" DuPont looked at the end: "I remember in previous years the last performance was the Light Show by the Energy Shaping Department, so why was it changed to the middle? And why is the Architecture Department at the end?"

The matter of being the final act is neither important nor unimportant, but it's still quite embarrassing if you're not good at it. In previous years, the first act was placed last, and I'm afraid some people will gossip about it.

“That’s how it is normally.” Perhaps because of the hot weather, the student council member wiped his sweat. “However, the president is not here this year, and since you, the vice president, represent the architecture department, the architecture department will naturally be listed last.”

Perhaps fearing that DuPont might misunderstand, he quickly added, "These are all the rules from previous years. You can look them up, Vice President. They are definitely not arbitrary changes."

“The president hasn’t graduated yet, so let’s just do it as usual.” DuPont shook his head in rejection, and seeing the other party’s troubled expression, he added, “How about this, the architecture department is second to last, so after the performance, it will be the energy performance directly. The rest will be arranged as in previous years. If there are no problems, let’s do it this way.”

The officers exchanged glances, nodded, and took their leave. DuPont returned to the civil engineering classroom and rehearsed again. He was relieved to find that the results were good.

There is a common stereotype that monks are physically weak, but physical strength and agility are the most important attributes for monks, second only to intelligence.

Putting everything else aside, the minimum constitution of earth and wood mages is 14, and most of them have agility above 12. They can also borrow agility belts from the school. Learning music scores and playing musical instruments is not a difficult thing for mages.

However, none of us are particularly charming, so there's really no future in playing this game. It's just a last-minute spree for Midsummer Festival, with the sole purpose of picking up a female student and spending a romantic summer together.

As for why he didn't pursue the female senior in college...
"Thanks, but I have plans." DuPont once again declined the invitation from the senior student, Tifflin, ignoring her hint that they could "go for a stroll in the back hills sometime."

There's no such thing as being passive among the senior students at the magic academy. They're worldly-wise and will actively pursue anyone they're interested in, or simply won't if they're not.

It's obvious that younger female students are easier to fool.

As the sun cooled and the students finished their dinner, Lavoisier, with a mysterious smile on his face, nodded silently after the teachers and students bowed. He then nodded to a man beside him who was wearing a white shirt and trousers, a black and gold brocade vest, and a clown mask.

The latter began to sing a difficult-to-understand poem, and then the pile of firewood in the central courtyard, sprinkled with dragon's blood resin and astral dust, began to tremble. From the pile, supported by golems, came the clown's chanting. As the song began, a ghostly blue flame gradually rose from the pile, shooting skyward and seemingly reaching a hundred meters high in the blink of an eye. Yet, it had no heat; looking directly at it was blinding, causing some of last year's freshmen to instinctively cover their eyes.

Seeing the somewhat chaotic scene, Lavoisier paid no attention and simply sat down in the center of the stage, saying, "The ceremony begins!"

Having waited for a long time, the fourth-year students at the front were the first to throw the parchments they had prepared into the blue flames. As the parchments turned to ashes, some shining words would occasionally flash above their heads, including obscure ancient Elvish and rough dragon languages, and occasionally human languages.

The apprentices, having dropped the parchment, quickly grabbed pens and began copying down the gleaming characters. Even the apprentices watching from the sidelines picked up paper and pens to copy down answers that interested them, though their authenticity was questionable.

Whether it's true or not, I'll just copy it first.

However, these characters only last for 10 seconds, after which they will extinguish one by one. Because the flame of knowledge can only last for 1 hour, when the characters disappear, the apprentice who asked the question must give up his place and leave quickly, even if he has not memorized them all. Otherwise, he may be disqualified next year.

The square was eerily quiet for a moment, with only the tense breathing of the apprentices and the scratching of quill pens as they copied text. Occasionally, someone would get frustrated because their question was the same as someone else's but the answer was different.

The group was remarkably orderly, with even some instructors taking notes and some even using the first-level reading spell.

Some of the apprentices' questions were even assigned by the mentors themselves, who had prepared for this day long ago.

This flame is a gift from Oghma, the god of knowledge, known as the namer of all things. It is one of the ways mages repay His respect. In some ways, mages worship Him even more than Mystra. However, due to their positions, some mages believe in this god, but he is not the mainstream.

Some mage academies in evil-aligned kingdoms do not have this ceremony during Midsummer.

Among those present, DuPont was the busiest.

The reason is simple: he can use the system to record the answers.

What made him unable to suppress his smile was that, perhaps due to the blessing of the god of knowledge, these answers provided far more experience points and understanding than the courses at the academy offered.

[You have learned about the spell: Haste. Thanks to the blessing of the God of Knowledge, your understanding of this spell has increased by 8%, and your experience points have increased by 150.]

[The information provided regarding Advanced Invisibility is for the Invisibility spell itself, since you have already learned that spell; there are no additional benefits.]

[The Knowledge Flame's knowledge of Haste is incorrect; this spell module is Slow. Your understanding of Slow has increased by 5%, and your experience points have increased by 80.]

[You have learned about the Super Magic Technique: Spell Enhancement. Your proficiency in this technique has increased by 5%, and your experience points have increased by 200.]

Looking at these answers, DuPont was quite satisfied with his copying.

After all that, the God of Knowledge's wrong answer isn't entirely wrong, but rather it might lead to misunderstanding. As long as you can learn it, it's still correct knowledge.

It’s been done!

(End of this chapter)