Nascent Soul Rebirth: Starting as a Wizard

The airship eventually landed on the outer perimeter of the college at a multi-level take-off and landing platform, resembling a giant beehive, specifically designed to receive new students.

The platform is bustling with noise, yet it operates under an invisible, coercive order:

Airships of different models and from different places took off and landed frequently, emitting deafening roars, while large transport ships continuously spat out boxes of ore marked with runes from their unloading ports.

Neatly bound magical wood, tightly sealed jars of alchemical solutions, and even occasionally, living containers covered with black cloth, from which faint knocking sounds could be heard.

The academy's puppet guards, dressed in uniform dark blue uniforms, with sharp, piercing eyes and short staffs and anti-magic shackles at their waists, were numerous. They were stationed in groups of three, with one guard every five steps.

It not only closely monitors every loading and unloading of goods and the movement of people, but also remains vigilant against any possible disturbances or abnormal energy fluctuations.

All the new students were quickly guided off the boat like sheep and, according to their pre-assigned numbers, were directed into dozens of parallel lines.

The testing and registration process, separated by a brief magical barrier, was efficient, cold, and unquestionable, much like the sorting of parts on a factory assembly line.

The passageway where Solo was located had a rigorous and rigid process:

First, the identity information and referral certificate were verified. Catherine's referral letter, which was stamped with a unique magical emblem, played a key role here, and the verification circle lit up with a green light, indicating that it had passed.

Next came the basic magic affinity and mental stability test. Solo precisely controlled the fifteen mental runes, demonstrating a stable response befitting a junior apprentice.

Then, an expressionless grey-robed deacon apprentice used a silver tool with tiny crystal spikes at the tip to quickly implant a rice-grain-sized, six-sided, cylindrical magic chip, gleaming with a cold metallic light, under the skin on the inside of Solo's left wrist.

The moment the chip entered his body, he felt a slight coolness and a brief stinging pain, which then became linked to his life force and faint mental fluctuations.

"This is your identity document, emergency location beacon, basic resource quota certificate, and access permission carrier for certain areas. Damaging or attempting to illegally remove it will trigger an alarm and penalty mechanism."

The apprentice deacon explained in a flat, emotionless tone, then handed over a rough linen bag.

The bag contained a set of drab, coarse-textured apprentice robes and a thick, brick-like booklet with the title "Jade Academy Code, Survival Guide, and Essential Reading for New Students" printed on the cover.

And a crudely drawn parchment map that only marked the most basic living areas, the locations of the main teaching buildings, and large areas of red "restricted areas" warnings.

While waiting, Solo quickly flipped through the thick guidebook.

The text devotes considerable space to detailing and elaborating on the various schools of thought within the academy, each with its own distinct factions and research directions. The complexity, specialization, and even the sense of danger conveyed in the descriptions of some of these schools far exceeded his initial expectations.

The Natural Elements School: The largest and most deeply rooted school of thought, dedicated to deconstructing, mastering, and ultimately reconstructing the fundamental elemental laws of the world.

Its subdivisions are dazzling:

Earth element, Water and Frost element, Fire and Melt element, Storm and Thunder element, Radiance and Purification element, Shadow and Corrosion element…

This school of thought is closely related to the academy's large-scale strategic magic, environmental transformation projects, and island-wide energy supply network. Internally, due to competition for ideas and resources, factional infighting is extremely fierce and brutal.

Alchemy and Magic Construct School:

A pragmatic faction that emphasizes practice, creation, and material transformation.

Its core philosophy is "understand the rules, and then create the rules".

The research scope is extremely broad:

The smelting of magical metals, alloy formulation and rune embedding techniques, the design and manufacture of rune weapons, armor and various magical artifacts, combat/support/engineering constructs.

From fingernail-sized reconnaissance "metal bees" to house-sized battle golems equipped with multiple weapons, to the entire process of designing and manufacturing giant engineering structures used for mountain excavation.

The research and development of high-density magic engines and stable energy cores; integration of propulsion, protection, and weapon systems for magic ships, airships, sea vessels, and various other vehicles.

The research includes spatial expansion and folding technology, the principle of dimensional bags and the setting of large spatial stabilizing anchors, as well as the most advanced research on the fundamental elemental transformation that attempts to touch the essence of matter. The goals include converting lead into gold and even converting ordinary iron ore into strategic magical metals such as mithril. Although progress is slow, we have never given up.

This school of thought is directly linked to the academy's defense system, its external exploration fleet, its automated resource mining equipment, and even the high-end magical item market, giving it a superior status and significant resource allocation.

Potions, Rare Materials Science, and Life Cultivation School:

It's not just about using herbs to make healing potions.

This is a vast field that delves into the interaction of microscopic energy and matter.

This includes: hybridization and breeding of magical plants, targeted mutagenesis, and large-scale cultivation.

Identification, extraction, and refining of minerals, gems, magical biological tissues, and elemental sediments that possess magical activity or special energy reactions.

Research on the artificial synthesis of energy crystals, improvement of charging efficiency and stability.

The development of complex toxicology, detoxification and biological warfare agents; formulation and refining of various compound agents to temporarily or permanently enhance physical strength, mental resilience, elemental affinity, and even prolong life.

Research on highly effective therapeutic agents, limb regeneration solutions, and agents to alleviate soul damage.

And it has made initial forays into the interpretation of the genetic code of life and controlled mutagenesis experiments.

This school of thought also has the responsibility of providing specially formulated nutritional foods for hundreds of thousands of people across the island.

The vital responsibility of maintaining regular and wartime medicine reserves, as well as supplying experimental materials to other schools of thought, is the biological and chemical cornerstone for the Academy's continued operation.

The School of Bloodline Mysteries, Physical Enhancement, and Life Form Reshaping:

The forefront of "forbidden knowledge," a field shrouded in mystery, allure, and danger.

Explore the potential limits, origins, and reshaping possibilities of life forms.

The research direction is both terrifying and attractive:

Tracing the bloodlines of ancient mythical creatures, legendary individuals, or powerful beings from other worlds, they attempt to purify and activate these powers from their descendants or relics.

Theoretically, conducting cross-species and even cross-life form bloodline chimera experiments is the cornerstone for creating synthetic magical creatures such as griffins, manticores, and two-headed dragons.

To perform magical enhancements, alterations, or transplants of magical biological organs into specific organs, such as eyes, heart, bones, and skin.

By taking specially made potions, performing dangerous rituals, or undergoing energy infusions, one can gain a certain type of magical talent or elemental affinity.

Research on technologies to delay physical aging, preserve cell activity, and even achieve a kind of "eternal youth".

And the most sensitive and regulated—the customized cultivation or modification of biological weapons and special labor units for specific purposes, such as combat, labor force, and special environment operations.

The guide is vague, but it is enough to evoke images of the abnormally shaped, inhuman individuals among the slave army seen upon landing on the island.

Additionally, please note:

All research conducted by this school of thought is closely monitored by the "Ethics and Safety Committee," which is directly under the highest council of the academy.

All members are required to sign an absolute confidentiality and loyalty contract involving the soul upon joining, and regularly undergo rigorous mental and physical examinations that violate their privacy.

Most of their research findings are directly applied to the academy's covert operations or top-level projects.

Necromanticism, the study of souls, and the search for the boundary between life and death:

They are guardians and researchers of forbidden knowledge who walk in the gray area between life and death and are regarded as "necessary evils".

It focuses on the composition, nature, transfer, binding and dissipation of the soul, and the generation, collection, refinement and utilization of negative energy.

The definition and operational crossing of that blurred line between life and death involves a chilling scope:

The awakening, enhancement, control, and legionization of undead creatures such as skeletons, zombies, ghosts, liches, and even higher-level death knights and skeletal dragons.

Soul capture, imprisonment, interrogation, and fragmented research; negative energy erosion, protection, and the shaping of negative energy field environments.

The study of precognitive death, psychic abilities and limited communication across the boundaries of life and death, as well as certain taboo rituals involving large-scale extraction and transformation of life energy, which are covered by top-secret provisions.

The school's activities were strictly confined to the "Eternal Silence Zone" or "Corridor of Rebirth," deep underground within the academy and sealed off by multiple barriers.

Completely physically isolated from the main teaching area, with a historically small number of members, their whereabouts are shrouded in mystery, and their recruitment standards are so strict as to be almost perverse, requiring them to pass a series of tests that test the limits of humanity and reason.

Prophecy, astrology, and the School of Cause and Effect in Destiny:

A school of thought that attempts to peer into the fragments of the flow of time, decipher the mysteries of celestial movements, and make limited interventions into vague future trajectories or established causal chains.

The research process is fraught with uncertainty, costly, and has a low success rate.

This includes: large-scale astrological observation and interpretation, prediction of major events based on astrology, personalized prediction methods such as crystal ball divination, dream analysis, and capture of spiritual fragments, perception and early warning of a specific individual's vague destiny line or recent fortune, and attempts to conduct causal interference on a very small scale with a very low success rate.

For example, it can slightly increase the luck of a lottery draw, or delay the occurrence of an insignificant event for a moment. However, the limited time reversal technique can only view fragments of images from a specific location in the past within a very short period of time, and it is extremely costly and has many limitations.

This school of thought has always been one of the smallest in the academy, with exceptionally high requirements for talent, making its members often regarded by the academy's senior management as special "early warning systems" or "strategic risk consultants."

However, due to the ambiguity, multiple interpretations, and difficulty in verification of its predictions, its actual status within the academy is quite delicate, being both valued and frequently questioned.

Protective Magic, Barrier Art, and Countermeasures:

The school of thought specializing in all forms of defensive magical art is the cornerstone of the academy's safety.

The research focuses on extremely practical applications: magic shield technology from the individual to the legion level, from 'deflection fields' to 'city-level barriers', large permanent barriers such as the construction, energy supply, daily maintenance, and vulnerability repair of the concealment and defense barriers surrounding Sky Island.

The setting and breaking of magical traps, warning restrictions, spatial locks and various sealing spells; anti-prophecy, anti-reconnaissance, anti-detection technologies and information security; magical signal interference, shielding and forgery; spatial anchoring, blocking and preventing teleportation escape techniques.

And most specifically—developing specialized countermeasures and spell-breaking rituals against specific schools of thought, especially the core magic of elemental, necromancy, and summoning magic.

This school of thought is directly related to the Academy's security forces, the defense systems of war fortresses, and the protection of important laboratories and warehouses. Its members are usually taciturn, rigorous and pragmatic, and believe that "the best offense is an impenetrable defense."

Summoning, Contract Magic, and Dimensional Exploration Schools:

A school of thought focused on establishing connections, interacting with, and attempting to utilize native dimensional magical creatures, elemental beings, and unpredictable extradimensional beings.

The research direction is fraught with uncontrollable risks and temptations: summoning creatures from the elemental plane, negotiating, and signing long-term service contracts.

Driven by the domestication, breeding, and combat of rare or powerful demonic creatures in the native plane, as well as the detection, location, stability assessment, and establishment of temporary/permanent safe passages to other plane coordinates.

Summoning rituals, dangerous communications, contract signings, and countermeasures for otherworldly creatures, ranging from lowly magical insects to highly intelligent beings, consistently rank first in terms of casualty and mental pollution rates.

Research on dimensional theory, extradimensional geography, ecology and materials, as well as attempts to utilize the unique rules or resources of extradimensional planes to acquire or experiment with transdimensional materials.

Members of this school of thought are also required to sign numerous disclaimers and risk disclosure agreements, and their work is considered to be "dancing on the edge of the abyss."

However, successful individuals often gain powerful summoned creature allies, unique otherworldly knowledge, or rare materials.