I was an apprentice in Ferren

Chapter 51 Twist
As the last class ended on Friday, many apprentices and tutors left in carriages, leaving the once bustling college quiet.

As night deepened, a figure in a cloak quietly arrived at the door of the boys' dormitory. Looking at the door she had knocked on many times before, her expression was complicated.

When exactly did it become like this?

Friendship, money, or future prospects?
She hadn't thought about these issues much before, but as she grew older and the gap between apprentices widened, she finally made the right choice: to accept Connor's offer and follow his instructions.

Although it was somewhat humiliating, the resources she received from Connor did indeed allow her to make rapid progress in her studies, making copying scrolls much easier and enabling her to advance to the third-level mage faster than others.

But DuPont has changed so quickly these past few days that she almost doesn't recognize this classmate she's known for over two years anymore.

After the fight that day, she still believed Connor's reassurance that DuPont was just a brave fool and not worth worrying about.

Ultimately, mages rely on their brains and spells. Even combat mages need to rely on spell buffs and crowd control. No matter how good you are at fighting, can you beat a regular combatant?
But the news of DuPont's promotion to Level 3 today still made her ask herself the same question.

Did I really do something wrong?

But after thinking about it, she shook her head.

Although DuPont has indeed changed somewhat, he is still a poor student. Connor advanced earlier, has higher talent, and has a powerful family behind him. Apart from being inferior to DuPont in appearance and physique, he can be said to be completely superior.

Ah, if only I could have Connor's resources and a handsome guy like DuPont as my boyfriend.
However, when she knocked on the door, Annie lowered her eyes. When the door opened, she smiled gently and looked at DuPont, greeting him, "I didn't expect that nothing has changed here. There's the smell of ink. Are you copying a scroll?"

“Of course, the task still needs to be completed.” DuPont didn’t bother with formalities and tossed a piece of parchment to Annie: “Take a look for yourself.”

Upon seeing the nomination letter proposing the removal of her class monitor, Annie's charming smile froze.

She'd had plenty of dealings with that bastard Benjamin, but ever since she had Connor as her backer, she'd stopped paying attention to him. Now that she was handing this over, she was sure it would be approved in no time.

After a long while, she looked at DuPont with a hint of grievance, her voice strained: "What do you mean by showing me these?"

“It’s nothing. I went to see the homeroom teacher today.” DuPont turned his chair around, gesturing for the other person to sit down. “He wanted to sell me two books that supposedly improve copying efficiency for 600 gold. Did he do something similar to you after you successfully reached the second level of enlightenment?”

“Yes.” Annie’s expression was somewhat complicated. She looked at the scroll in her hand and couldn’t help but recall that greasy and lewd face: “What kind of third-circle spells did he enroll you in?”

"Flying and stone-shaping techniques."

Anne fell into deep thought after hearing this.

There are many useful spells in the third circle of magic. The most iconic and beloved by teammates is naturally the renowned Fireball. The Speed ​​Spell and Counterspell are also famous. The Dispel Magic and Lightning Bolt have their own unique uses.

Flying is a very practical spell. Experiencing the flight of birds is one of the dreams of many people. With this spell, the chance of escaping will be greatly increased. It is especially necessary to know this spell in dangerous environments such as construction sites. Combined with Feather Fall, it can be considered foolproof. In adventures, if there is no sharpshooter on the other side, you will basically be beaten to a pulp.

Aside from not being lethal, it can be considered a must-learn spell, although it's not ranked very high.

However, the stone-shaping technique is somewhat impractical.

Stone Shaping is a 4th-circle Transmutation spell that allows you to create marble/stone objects with a volume of 10 cubic meters or more than the caster's level using arcane artifacts or a small stone as a medium. It is one of the essential subjects for architecture mages.

With their expertise in architecture, civil engineers can use the third-circle spell slots to cast this spell and catch up with the project.

Although the quantity and size of marble created by the Ring Descending spell will be reduced, the quality of the marble is stable, and the fact that it can be created out of thin air is a great advantage for the engineering department.

It eliminates the hassle of gathering, manual labor, and transportation. A level 5 mage can cast it twice a day. If the construction site is far from the gathering site, the cost saved in round trips is much higher than the cost of a level 3 spell slot, and the time cost is vastly different. Only by mastering Stone Shaping can one have the opportunity to become a junior leader in the engineering department and avoid the fate of being a beast of burden.

Although essentially they are still treated like cattle and horses.

However, since someone can become a second-circle mage in the first semester of third grade, even someone with the brain of an ogre would know that DuPont would definitely not be willing to work on a construction site and play in the mud. But Benjamin still allocated the spells he was learning in this way, which was obviously an intentional suppression.

DuPont probably didn't buy the two books he was promoting, and that's why he held a grudge.

But this allocation is also reasonable. After all, DuPont is indeed an architectural wizard, and Benjamin's approach is just doing his job, so no one can find fault with it.

Thinking of this, Annie came up with a plan: "However, a friend of mine has these things, so I just brushed it off. He was a little angry but couldn't do anything about it. But those two books are indeed useful after looking through them. If you want to see them, I can try to borrow them for you to look at. Just return them to me within a week."

"Is this your friend Connor?" DuPont said coldly. "He was just put in solitary confinement for 15 days because of me, and you're asking him to lend me a book? Are you kidding me?"

Hearing this, Annie lowered her head, and after a few seconds her voice choked up: "I didn't know things between you two could escalate like this. It would have been fine if he had just lost some money and valuables, but that mentor Esso was so heartless."

“How is it that he’s being inhumane in upholding the law?” Dupont remained unmoved by the choked voice: “Annie, we used to be friends, but you disregarded the interests of our class for an outsider, shamelessly flattering and even betraying your friends. Didn’t you think about the consequences of doing this?”

Upon hearing DuPont's words, Annie, who had only been choking back tears, burst into sobs, tears streaming down her face: "Waaah... I had no choice, I owe him such a huge favor... DuPont, I really didn't mean it, but living here is just too hard."

"...Connor and Pete aren't crying, so why are you crying?" DuPont frowned and scolded, intending to quiet the girl down, but instead she cried even louder: "Waaah, I really don't know what to do..."

DuPont thought to himself, "Thank goodness we're not on Earth, or I'd be in deep trouble." He replied, "Alright, considering we were friends before, I'll let you have your way."

Before DuPont could finish speaking, Annie's tears stopped instantly. A look of joy flashed in her eyes as she began to unbutton her coat, her voice low and hesitant, "I'll do whatever you say."

This completely baffled DuPont.

What the hell do you want to do?

"Ahem." DuPont interrupted Annie's actions. This girl was too proactive; she was probably trying to set her up. "Connor has been put in solitary confinement. I don't know if he will retaliate after he gets out. If you hear anything from him later, remember to get back to him for me. I don't plan to make things difficult for you anymore, and I don't plan to submit this approved impeachment document."

“I see.” Anne nodded, her face sincere. “Of course, that’s no problem. In fact, Connor, well, he does have some of the temperament of a young nobleman, but he’s more interested in showing off his management skills to become the president of the apprenticeship council. The dean will personally give him some guidance then. You could say he’s got the desire to cause trouble, but he probably wouldn’t dare to actually harm anyone.”

"I didn't call you here to hear you praise him."

"Oh," Anne lowered her head, tugging at the hem of her skirt with a pitiful expression, "I'll help you."

"By the way, do you want to switch shifts?" As soon as these words were spoken, Annie looked up and asked incredulously, "You have this connection?"

“In this world, you can’t get things done just because you have connections, but I do have some.” DuPont said with a bright smile, a smile that made Annie a little uneasy. “You should know that besides possessing the most powerful magical abilities, Harua is also renowned in Faerûn for its civilization and rule of law. This is why apprentices from many other countries come here to study and further their education. Although many unspoken rules are deeply ingrained, anyone who blatantly tramples on the law will definitely be dealt with severely.”

Anne was stunned. "What does this mean?"

DuPont shook his head and simply tossed the petition to Annie: "If you don't understand, that's fine. It just means the time isn't right yet. You'll understand when it is."

Anne was somewhat bewildered after hearing this. DuPont was already preparing to see her out: "I won't keep you any longer. I'm going out again tomorrow. Let's keep in touch by mail. Goodbye."

(End of this chapter)