Time passed, minute by minute.
After an unknown amount of time, the images on the light screen suddenly paused.
The gentle female voice spoke once more:
"Lesson One: Alphabet and Pronunciation, completed. You have mastered 56 basic letters and 56 basic pronunciations."
"Lesson Two: 'Letter Combinations and Spelling,' is about to begin."
...
It wasn't until his stomach began to growl that Ethan realized he had unknowingly completed five lesson units.
He stretched his somewhat stiff neck and glanced at the progress bar displayed on the light screen.
Lesson Three, "Simple Word Formation," had only just begun.
At this rate, after the next five lesson units, he would barely finish the content of the fourth lesson.
Ethan's gaze fell upon the long list of courses.
Wizard Tongue Basics, Intermediate, Advanced Proficiency.
Then there was Runic Writing, Ancient Wizard Tongue Analysis, Etymology, Incantation Structure...
The list was densely packed, totaling nearly a hundred lessons.
His lip couldn't help but twitch.
He already had a hundred-fold learning speed, yet it took five lesson units just to reach the third lesson.
If this were an ordinary person...
And this was only language.
Following this would be runic basics, wizardry model analysis, material identification... Every single course required magic stones, and every course required a massive amount of time.
Ethan suddenly began to understand what Blood Fury meant.
Ninety percent eliminated in ten years.
This wasn't just elimination; it was a filtration process.
Filtering out those without talent, filtering out those who didn't work hard, and even more so, filtering out those without resources.
Every step required magic stones.
What to do without magic stones?
Work.
Blood Fury had been very clear: there were countless jobs within the academy.
Sweeping floors, washing dishes, feeding magical beasts, organizing materials, acting as lab assistants, or running errands for teachers.
As long as one was willing to work, they wouldn't starve.
But not starving didn't mean one could survive for ten years.
Although Ethan didn't know the exact figures for the wages of those jobs, he could guess with his toes that they wouldn't be very high.
How much could one earn in an hour?
A fraction of a magic stone?
Working ten hours a day, how many magic stones could one earn?
Enough for how many lesson units?
Enough to buy how many materials?
Enough to support how many experiments?
And what about those from good backgrounds?
Someone like him, whose family could provide fifty magic stones and two million gold coins, was already considered part of the wealthy class among the freshmen.
But what about those from truly great noble or royal families, or those from established wizard families? How much could they provide?
They didn't need to work. They didn't need to waste time earning a few pitiful magic stones. All their time could be spent on studying, cultivating, and improving themselves.
After ten years, was there even a need to wonder who would survive and who would be eliminated?
Ethan leaned back in his chair, his gaze deep and pensive.
What kind of work paid well?
Blood Fury hadn't said.
But Ethan could guess.
The dangerous kind.
The more dangerous it was, the higher the reward.
Feeding magical beasts certainly paid more than sweeping floors.
Organizing experimental materials certainly paid more than washing dishes.
And those jobs that required signing life-and-death contracts, where the academy bore no responsibility for one's death, surely paid more than any conventional job.
He currently had seventy magic stones left.
If he used them sparingly, they would last for a while.
But studying alone wasn't enough.
He also needed to meditate, to cultivate, to condense mental runes, and to learn at least five complete cantrip models.
All of this required time, energy, and resources.
And resources meant magic stones.
As for gold coins?
Unfortunately, nobody wanted them.
Even at double the exchange rate, no one would take them.
Ethan took a deep breath, suppressing the thoughts churning in his mind.
It was too early to worry about those things now.
First, he had to handle what was right in front of him.
And that was eating.
He took out his identity plaque, tucked it into his robe, and stood up.
There were significantly more people in the classroom than before.
At a rough glance, there were at least forty or fifty people scattered about.
Some stared at the light screens before them with focused expressions; some were slumped over their desks napping, whether from exhaustion or pure laziness; and a few others were huddled together, whispering as their gazes occasionally swept over the desks of others.
Ethan ignored those looks and walked straight out of the classroom.
He followed the flow of people into the canteen.
He casually ordered a "nutritional meal" for 10 gold coins.
Calling it a nutritional meal was a bit of a stretch; it was really just a few pieces of white bread, four side dishes, and a soup.
To say it was meager wouldn't be entirely fair, but to say it was good... it really didn't live up to the price.
To this, Ethan could only comment, "The three-month living expenses for a family of three in the Thorn Empire is just the price of one meal here."
"Heh, students' money really is easy to make."
...
On the evening of the thirty-seventh day, Ethan finally walked out of the Wizard Tongue classroom.
Standing in the corridor, Ethan rubbed his temples and closed his eyes, taking a deep breath.
Thirty-seven days.
For thirty-seven whole days, apart from eating and necessary rest, he had poured all his time into this course.
Even with the learning speed bonus from the Sub-Saint's Gaze, it had still taken him thirty-seven days of grinding to complete it.
"Good heavens, I'm finally done."
He muttered under his breath, his voice laced with clear exhaustion.
The letters, pronunciations, spelling rules, grammatical structures, runic evolutions, etymological studies...
Everything had been poured into his brain in a frantic rush.
Even though the Sub-Saint's Gaze gave him a photographic memory and incredible comprehension, thirty-seven consecutive days of high-intensity information input still made him feel like his head was stuffed to the brim.
But the results were staggering.
Looking back now at those runes that had initially seemed like gibberish, every single one was clearly recognizable.
He could even infer the meanings of certain obscure runes based on the context.
While he might not always be accurate, at least he had a direction.
More importantly, at the moment he finished the entire course, one last message popped up on the light screen.
【All chapters of the Wizard Tongue course have been completed. You may go to the Examination Hall for certification at any time. Upon certification, you may spend 20 magic stones to exchange for one basic meditation method. If your performance is outstanding, the academy will award magic stones accordingly based on your results.】
During these thirty-seven days, he hadn't just been studying the Wizard Tongue.
Whenever he got tired and his brain slowed down, he would pause the course and look through the content of other free lessons.
For instance, the lesson "What is a Meditation Method."
That was only a single, free lesson, similar in format to "Wizards and the Supernatural."
The light screen played, and an automated voice explained everything.
From that, he learned that a meditation method was the foundation of a wizard's cultivation.
Without a meditation method, one could not sense mana, could not condense mental runes, and would forever remain a mere mortal.
For all new students, the only way to obtain their first meditation method after enrollment was to complete their study of the Wizard Tongue, go to the Examination Hall for certification, and then spend 20 magic stones to exchange for it.
Why 20 magic stones?
Because the academy only provided the most basic meditation method.
Better meditation methods required higher prices, or the completion of specific tasks, or a connection to buy them from an Official Wizard.
But regardless of the type, the prerequisite was first learning the Wizard Tongue.
If one couldn't understand the Wizard Tongue, they wouldn't even comprehend what those meditation methods were describing, let alone be able to cultivate them.
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