I was an apprentice in Ferren

Chapter 209 Reshuffle the cards
Although everyone was bewildered that the bandit suppression was nearly halfway complete, when they saw the 20 bandit corpses thrown out, some were so frightened that they took several steps back, some looked disgusted, and some looked disappointed, feeling that they had lost their chance for promotion, but most people still looked relaxed.

However, when the reward of 10 gold coins for each soldier and 20 gold coins for each officer was distributed, all the soldiers' doubts vanished, and they all praised the Baron for his wisdom.

Although marching in the desert was tough and tiring, getting two months' worth of full attendance pay without doing anything is incredibly lucrative.

Especially when the militiamen received these rewards, their faces were beaming with joy.

It's important to know that militia members don't receive a salary. They only receive a small allowance for attendance, and they even have to pay for their own meals.

They only receive half the soldiers' salary and free meals during militia training in the winter and summer, when farmers are not engaged in farming.

It's fair to say that if it weren't for the highly skilled retired instructors at the militia training camp, who could have truly become adventurers under their rigorous training, no one would be willing to do such a tough job.

Although militia training will basically only produce the warrior profession, as long as you become an adventurer, you can earn several hundred silver coins per adventure mission. Even if it's split among several people, it's much better than doing odd jobs in the city.

Furthermore, the adventurer profession is quite free; you can do whatever you want and have fun whenever you want. When you quit, you can marry a village girl and plenty of girls will be willing to marry you. You can also retire as a soldier and receive a fixed salary. Isn't that a wonderful life?

Even now, I haven't become a professional yet, but I can make money just by going out for a stroll. Where can I find such an easy job?

If ordinary people received these, Franklin's bounty was certainly substantial.

Originally, DuPont thought that since they were one of their own and had made contributions, giving them 1000 gold coins to spend was nothing, but the Baron rejected it outright.

“Your uncle is completely unrepentant. He’ll just spend all his money on gambling or womanizing.” The baron said with a look of exasperation, “Give him 300 gold coins to make him happy. Any more than that is a waste, and he might even gamble it out and owe more money. That would only hurt him.”

Indeed, the situation was not much different from what the Baron had said. After handing out the money, Franklin knew that his brother-in-law must have made a fortune, otherwise he wouldn't be so generous: "Well, brother-in-law, this money is only enough for me to pay off most of my debts in Nas City. Could you give me a little more so that I can have some fun when I get back?"

"Still having fun? Irene is already a third-circle mage, and what about you!" The baron was too lazy to even scold his brother-in-law anymore. He was clearly quite talented, even better at playing music than many formal bards, but this guy probably slept with too many women and didn't put any effort into activating the power of magic.

"Once you've raised your poet rank, then you can think about money!"

After the reward money was distributed, the soldiers in the makeshift camp were in high spirits. Since they only needed to spend three days in the desert, the baron simply let the three part-time cooks cook as much meat as they wanted.

"The enemy is in complete disarray. Now, please enjoy the food to your heart's content. There will be a reward of 100 for each jackal we catch. We will let these carrion-eating bastards know that Huangsha Town does not raise livestock!"

The soldiers shouted loudly, and in no time, the camp was filled with the sounds of slaughtering sheep. After eating, they rested briefly in the camp, and when the sun was less intense, everyone was fully armed and began searching for possible enemies in groups of ten.

Whether you're a soldier or an adventurer, real combat experience and frequent bloodshed are crucial. Without these experiences, these rookie recruits are likely to only be able to unleash half of their full potential when faced with a crisis, or even be overwhelmed and at a loss by the enemy.

Only by experiencing life and death can one calmly unleash their full potential.

The next level is being able to maintain one's advantage in various environments, discover or even create weaknesses in the enemy, and then deliver a fatal blow.

Reaching this level means you're at least a level 5 adventurer. As long as the intelligence doesn't go too wrong, or you force yourself to explore missions beyond your capabilities, retiring peacefully shouldn't be too difficult.

Thinking about this, the Baron couldn't help but ponder the changes at DuPont.

Two and a half years have passed, and this little guy has actually grown to this extent. He can even hold the upper hand when fighting against the humanoid avatar of the Blue Dragon, suppressing it and forcing it to reveal its true form.

That's an amazing skill.

Although many dragons are savage by nature and are portrayed as mindless villains in various stories, committing all sorts of atrocities such as burning, killing, and looting.

As a result, countless dragon-slaying heroes emerged, with numerous examples of those who rose to heroism by stepping on the corpses of dragons and those who devoured them to gain infamy.

However, unlike the metal dragons of the good faction, very few of the five-colored evil dragons can actually live to be 200 years old and reach adulthood.

Because of their innately powerful physique and the ability to grow stronger simply by sleeping, most of the five-colored dragons are arrogant and consider themselves the most powerful creatures. Even a giant dragon like the green dragon, which is known for its ruthlessness and cunning, is an absolute overlord in its own territory.

There's a Chinese idiom that says "act according to your ability," but many of the five-colored dragons clearly don't understand this principle. The idea that they are the boss and themselves the second-in-command can be described as the personality of many dragons. If you slap them with your claws, they might go out and cause trouble.

As a result, many colorful dragons might not even live to adulthood before being hunted down by adventurers, and their treasures and leather armor would become the wealth of these dragon-slaying warriors, creating a new legend.

This is also the main reason why the Five-Colored Dragon has a good fertility rate, even with several dragons in one litter, but its numbers are still small.

They really love to court death.

However, to live to adulthood means that this dragon has lived for 200 years. They must have faced countless hunters and pursuers, yet they were still able to defeat all their enemies with their own strength or wisdom, standing proudly in the world.

At this point, many dragons will also begin to ponder the power of their bloodline. Dragon language spellcasting does not require spellcasting materials or unique spellcasting gestures, and its power is much stronger than that of humans.

The combination of their already powerful physique and almost instantaneous spellcasting amplifies the dragons' combat strength exponentially. It can be said that, apart from having a smaller number of spells, they are virtually invincible as long as they remain cautious and avoid traps.

Having lived for hundreds of years, they know the principle of running away when they can't win. Even if they lose their nest, it doesn't matter. At worst, they can come back in 50 years when their enemies are old and kill their whole family, and take all the wealth their enemies have accumulated as interest.

This is another aspect of how troublesome dragons can be.

The baron originally planned to send his youngest son abroad to study after paying off the debt incurred for DuPont's tuition. Besides hoping that his son would succeed and not have to suffer in this barren land, he also had the intention of avoiding disaster.

Dragons don't take revenge on themselves; they're not usually so idle as to travel far and wide to search for their enemies' bloodlines for retribution.

Instead of wasting time on this, they would be better off exploiting the people in their territory, or devising schemes to seize greater power and become the mastermind behind a city or even a country.

Perhaps this blue dragon was planning all of this, but it is clear that the other party was caught off guard and his greatest wish in life was fulfilled.

Although she had told him that revenge was meaningless and would only perpetuate the cycle of hatred, she only hoped that they could be safe and happy in the future.

But whether you can do it is one thing, whether you can actually do it is another.

Now that his great revenge has been achieved, the calamity that had been hanging over the DuPont family has vanished, and his lover's weapon has been found, he can't help but feel extremely relieved, even to the point of being somewhat bewildered.

Even the debts that used to feel too heavy have now been paid off, and I still have a lot of valuables on hand. Why do I suddenly seem to have lost the will to work hard?
While the Baron was confused, he began training his troops, while DuPont was feeling somewhat tense.

After trying to maintain her ladylike image for half an hour, Veronica couldn't hold back any longer and started yelling at her bewildered disciple.

"Madam, what exactly did you learn at the academy? Learning spell models is supposed to complement incantations. You're learning them one by one and then assembling them together. Is this some kind of assembly line work in a forging factory? Who taught you to do this?"

DuPont was shocked, realizing that his slow academic progress had been hampered by the college: "I learned all the proper procedures in class, I definitely didn't use any random methods on my own."

"These are all taught to idiots, because they can't remember the spell models and therefore need to learn them by rote. They have to combine the individual models and then try to connect them with the spell. Only mediocre people need to learn like this!"

Veronica was speechless. Lavoisier was truly carefree; he wouldn't even teach her the most basic methods if he said he wouldn't compete with her for apprentices, and now she wanted to start teaching from the very basics. Wasn't this a waste of her time? "That Sun Elf, yes, I'm talking to you! You teach him! My god, how come you're like this too? What's your intelligence? Has training new recruits on Everlasting Island gotten this bad?"

The sun elf was so frustrated by the insults that she wanted to cry, but she couldn't even retort: ​​"I also study at the academy, where there are dedicated instructors..."

So what exactly is your IQ?

"Awakened at 18"

"So you're saying you're born 16? I think you elves usually awaken around 100 years old, no wonder you can only be unorthodox sword chanters." Veronica rolled her eyes: "Is this how you pointy-eared kids are taught in academies now? So the real learning methods for geniuses are monopolized by nobles or archmages?"

The sun elf looked at the moon flower with a pitiful expression, while the moon elf was also somewhat embarrassed: "I'm not a mage, I don't understand these things."

"Fine, give me five thousand gold coins for DuPont's sake." Veronica held out her hand directly. Moonflower's eyes lit up, and she quickly handed over the money. "Cuixing, hurry and serve the tea. Thank you, Master."

“It’s just a little guidance, no need to be so formal.” Veronica waved her hand to interrupt, pulling both of them to the table.

"Arcane magic, spells, and gestures complement each other. It can be said that magic cannot be generated if any one link is missing, and the most basic element is the gathering of arcane energy."

"It's much more convenient now. As long as you're in a place with arcane energy, you can use your clumsy hands and incantations to assemble the spell model. Once it matches the spell model on the magic network, you can cast the spell."

"But this is the dumbest method. What if you can't connect to the magic network one day? What if you can't sense arcane energy in the dead magic zone? Are you just going to become mute and only be able to shoot your own people in the back with a crossbow?"

"Always use your brain first. A reasonable strategy before casting a spell is the most important thing. Then, skillfully mobilize arcane energy and use your most familiar method to pull the spell off the magic network. If you can't do that, then let the arcane energy fill your spell model and detonate it on the spot before it connects to the magic network. At that time, the enemy may not even have time to counter."

"The same applies to casting spells and learning magic. How slow would it be to disassemble and reassemble them one by one? Although spell models are complex, since the dragons developed magic, it was these monsters who used their bloodline and arcane energy to resonate and achieve unnatural effects that the physical body could not achieve."

"Although their methods of use are primitive and outdated, even the arcane mages of the Nether era, who were comparable to the magic barbarians, were far more skilled than them. But dragons are indeed the fastest and least costly to cast spells, and they never need to worry about problems like spell failure."

“Mortals cannot compare to dragons. We spend a lot of time learning magic, but that doesn’t mean we can’t learn and cast magic in the way dragons do.” Veronica said, her fingers moving, and arcane lines of various colors shone in the center of the room. They rapidly combined with the female mage’s fingers, and soon the group felt a gentle breeze.

The art of creating wind.

“A skilled mage not only needs to be able to drag spells from the magic net, but also needs to be able to create their own and adapt them to the situation. The same applies to learning magic.” Veronica said, shifting her hand and instantly casting a Fox of Cunning on DuPont.

“The spell model is complex and ever-changing. If you are not careful and make a mistake in any part, the consequences will be incalculable. Although the academy produces a large number of apprentices and there are also a number of deaths every year, if an apprentice dies during the school, the tuition fee will be refunded and compensation will be paid. This has led to your learning method: rote memorization. Although it is slow to take effect, it is definitely a method that will not make mistakes.”

"But have you considered that many models can be simplified? Does your final spell model need so much repetitive construction? Even if you still need to cast spells with both hands, can't you try to mobilize some additional power using the spell's incantation at this point?"

"Of course, there are risks involved, especially when learning spells, things can often go wrong. When learning advanced magic, you have to be extremely careful, lest you accidentally give yourself a stroke."

However, this method saves a lot of time when learning spells of the same or lower level. Trying to cast spells from a spellbook on the fly is not only slow, but also prone to errors in dangerous situations. The embarrassment is a minor issue compared to that.

The moon elf was stunned. She secretly thought about it and tried it out, and found that the master was not lying to her.

Although her attempts yielded little improvement, such a radical overhaul of decades-old habits inevitably requires time to adapt. If she were to learn it, it could at least increase her release speed by 20%.

As for the learning speed, it's hard to say.

"So, in addition to wearing the intelligence headband, we also need to try a physical fitness belt to increase our learning speed?"

“That’s right. If you have a high physique, even if you make a mistake while casting a spell, the backlash will be less. Of course, it would be even better if there was a priest next to you.”

As she spoke, Veronica looked at DuPont with an ambiguous gaze: "You are even more gifted. I think your physique is no less than that of a bear. The risk of brain death for others is just a nosebleed for you. As long as you don't fail to cast spells repeatedly, you can keep going."

"..." DuPont thought to himself, "This is clearly a good thing, but why do I sound like I'm clueless? So what should I do now?"

"How's your study of the spellbook I gave you going?"

"I've almost mastered the second ring, but it feels like I can't cast anything except Shield in actual combat. It's best to cast Mage Armor in advance."

"Don't bother learning any new magic. Just focus on reorganizing the magic you already know these next few days." Veronica was truly exhausted; taking on apprentices was definitely not a good thing.

"You mean Princess Moonflower? I'll leave these two to you. If they feel unwell, treat their minor injuries. If that doesn't work, cure their illnesses. If they're still uncomfortable, let them rest for a while. I'm going to take a nap to recharge."

The female monk left without a word, leaving the group looking at each other in bewilderment. It was two maids who spoke first: "Your Highness, shouldn't we also change our learning methods?"

"You guys are struggling to cast even 4th-level spells, and most of what you know are just buff spells. Why are you just messing around? You might as well put that energy into improving your own class." The Moon Elf directly rejected the idea. This magic warrior only has a few spell slots, not to mention that the reason he became a magic warrior is because his mage talent is really average. If he were in Harua, he would probably be studying civil engineering like DuPont.

"Focus on doing your own thing well before thinking about anything else. We'll teach you when Cuixing has learned it."
-
DuPont had an extremely difficult three days.

Learning magic is inherently obscure, and it can be said to be several times more brain-intensive than writing a thesis: after all, there is no way to fool people or learn from others, and writing repetitive words will not be of any interest to either the magic network or arcane energy.

The intense concentration required was mentally taxing, and the added burden of the spell's backlash caused a concussion. Even during the effects of Nikkav's drug, DuPont vomited several times, his nose always filled with clear broth. He didn't know if it was brain matter spilling out or something else was wrong with his body.

However, after the moon elf examined him, she gave DuPont a piece of news that made him want to cry: "It's just a slight discomfort. He'll be fine after a rest. He doesn't even need the most basic healing spells."

"Okay, I'll light some incense for you. Don't be too tense, or you'll easily overexert yourself."

Compared to DuPont, Sun Elf is truly miserable, frequently spitting blood three feet away, and if the force is too great, it will put the whole person into a daze.

If it weren't for the large dose of Nikav's drug, this little bean sprout girl would probably have been on the verge of death several times in the past few days.

However, upon seeing that DuPont was still persisting, Suisei simply wiped away the blood, drank a bottle of healing potion, and continued to grit her teeth and endure.

This 5000 gold in apprenticeship fee can't be wasted; it's a significant sum for anyone.

What comforted DuPont the most these past few days was being able to lie on the Moon Elf's soft thighs and enjoy the royal massage techniques when night fell.

Although the princess's skills might not be as good as those of the young lady Tiflin whom he had hired for a single gold coin, the faint fragrance emanating from her body, the gentle caresses, and the ethereal music from the music box nearby all quickly dispelled DuPont's mental fatigue, making it much easier for him to fall asleep.

Looking at the sleeping DuPont, Yuehua gently pulled herself out and placed the pillow under him.

She was initially worried that the ill-tempered high priest might overthink things, but on the third day at noon, she stopped instructing the two of them and hurriedly left.

The reason is quite simple: a riot broke out among the students of a magic academy.

(End of this chapter)