Ethan caught it and continued.
This time he took longer, opening his eyes after about an hour.
"Wizard Furybolt, regarding the 'Spatial Distribution Patterns of Energy Particles,' you mentioned that the distribution of energy particles of different attributes within a material is biased. Wood-element energy particles tend to gather around the fibrous structures of the material, while fire-element particles prefer lattice defects. If a material contains both fibrous structures and lattice defects, would the energy particles of these two attributes interfere with each other?"
Wizard Furybolt was silent for a few seconds before straightening up in his chair. He leaned forward, bracing his hands on the table, his dark gold pupils shining with startling intensity.
"Have you studied this before?"
"No, it wasn't covered in the basic courses."
"And everything you just read... you understood it all?"
"Most of it. There were a few points I wasn't quite clear on, like the one I just asked about."
Wizard Furybolt stared at him for a long time. His gaze held scrutiny, suspicion, and something else that was hard to define.
"Tell me, what other parts don't you understand?"
Ethan listed the several points of doubt he had encountered during his study one by one.
As Wizard Furybolt listened, the expression on his face shifted from suspicion to surprise, and then from surprise to... a complex silence.
He leaned back in his chair again, crossing his arms as his dark gold pupils scanned Ethan several times.
"Kid, how is your brain wired?"
Ethan didn't respond.
Wizard Furybolt shook his head and took a third knowledge crystal from the drawer.
"Fine. Since you can handle it, then continue. I want to see just how long you can last."
For the next three days, Ethan barely left Room 4-114.
Wizard Furybolt's teaching method was simple and blunt. He threw knowledge crystals at Ethan, let him read them on his own, answered questions when Ethan didn't understand, and then Ethan would continue reading.
There was no nonsense and no redundant explanations; all the knowledge points were contained within those crystals.
Whenever Ethan encountered a barrier to understanding, the wizard would pinpoint the issue with sharp precision, explaining the principles in the most direct way possible.
This process had quite an impact on Wizard Furybolt.
He had taught many students, but he had never seen one like this. The content in those knowledge crystals should have been as incomprehensible as a heavenly script to a freshman. But Ethan didn't seem to struggle at all. At most, he would stop at a certain point to ask a question, and after getting the answer, he would keep pushing forward. Getting stuck? Never.
Wizard Furybolt sat in his chair, watching Ethan open his eyes once more and brush the ash aside, the complex emotions in his heart growing stronger.
"Wizard Furybolt, regarding the final chapter of 'Energy Affinity Theory,' 'Material Failure Analysis Under Extreme Conditions,' there's a case about the lattice shrinkage phenomenon of high-purity magic stones in ultra-low temperature environments. You said micro-cracks appear when the shrinkage rate reaches 12%, but the basic courses taught that the lattice shrinkage limit for magic stones is 15%. 12% should still be within the safety range."
Wizard Furybolt was silent for a few breaths.
"Because a magic stone is not a single substance." He took a magic stone from his drawer and placed it on the table. "The magic stone you see appears to have a uniform crystalline structure on the surface, but internally, it's actually a composite of multiple substances. Different substances have different shrinkage rates. At an overall shrinkage rate of 12%, certain components have already long since exceeded their own limits."
He tapped his finger on the surface of the magic stone, and it split down the middle, revealing the internal cross-section.
The cross-section showed a complex layered structure with clear boundaries between the different layers.
"The hardest part of alchemy isn't dealing with single materials; it's dealing with composite materials. Magic stones, magical beast bones, spirit plant roots—all of these are composite materials. If you treat them as uniform substances, the result will be failure."
Ethan stared at the cross-section for a few seconds and nodded.
"I understand."
"Good that you understand. Your foundation is very solid, much better than I expected. You've finished all the content for 'Microstructure and Energy Affinity of Supernatural Materials.' You... can leave now."
Wizard Furybolt spoke casually, but there was a faint strangeness in his tone.
Ethan didn't move, however. He pulled 300 magic stones from his storage ring and stacked them on the table.
"Wizard Furybolt, I want to learn your other course."
Wizard Furybolt looked down at the pile of magic stones, then up at Ethan, his dark gold pupils contracting slightly.
"Hmm?"
"This is the tuition for both of your courses. I haven't paid for the previous one yet."
Wizard Furybolt was silent for a few breaths before reaching out to pull the magic stones toward himself, his lips twitching slightly.
"Fine."
He took a new knowledge crystal from the drawer and tossed it over.
The second course, 【Compatibility and Energy Fluctuations of Supernatural Materials】, was significantly deeper than the first.
It covered the patterns of compatibility between different materials, the reaction mechanisms of materials under energy fluctuations, and a large number of practical application cases in alchemy.
Ethan took the crystal and pressed it to his forehead.
This time it took a bit longer; he spent a full six days to finish learning it.
On the evening of the sixth day, Ethan opened his eyes and brushed the ash fragments from the crystal onto the table.
"I've finished."
Wizard Furybolt leaned back in his chair with his arms crossed, his dark gold pupils lingering on Ethan's face for a few breaths.
"Regarding knowledge related to supernatural materials, that's all I can teach at the apprentice stage. For the rest, you'll either have to accumulate experience through your own experiments or go find those old guys in the Academic Department."
Ethan stood up, placed his right hand over his chest, and bowed slightly.
"Thank you, Wizard Furybolt."
"Don't thank me; as long as the magic stones are provided, it's fine," Wizard Furybolt waved his hand. "A student like you isn't hard to teach. If everyone were like you, I would have struck it rich long ago."
Ethan smiled and walked out of Room 4-114.
But this was still not enough to refine potions.
Over the next month, Ethan stayed in the Teaching Area, devouring several Intermediate-level courses he could afford one after another.
【Intermediate Runic Structure】, 180 magic stones. The instructor was an old man from the Academic Department called Wizard Deadbone.
His teaching style was even more blunt than Wizard Furybolt's. He would leave after throwing the knowledge crystal; any problems had to be figured out on one's own, and if one really couldn't understand, they had to go to his office and pay five magic stones per question.
Ethan spent four days finishing it, visiting twice and spending ten magic stones.
【Advanced Energy Particle Operation Mechanisms】, 200 magic stones. The instructor was a woman called Wizard Blood-Eye.
Her course covered the deep-level operational patterns of energy particles and how to use mental power more efficiently to guide and compress them.
【Wizardry Model Optimization Theory】, 150 magic stones. The instructor was an old friend of Wizard Furybolt's named Wizard Hammer.
It covered how to fine-tune and optimize existing wizardry models to reduce casting consumption and increase release speed.
The content was very dry, filled with theoretical derivations and mathematical models, but Ethan studied it with great interest.
【Synergistic Effects of Mental Power and Energy Particles】, 220 magic stones. The instructor was a woman called Wizard Glimmer.
This was the most difficult course Ethan had studied. The content was too abstract, covering how mental power could more finely manipulate energy particles and the feedback mechanisms between the two.
It took him eight days to finish. During that time, he consulted Wizard Glimmer four times, paying five magic stones each time.
One by one, the knowledge crystals turned to ash.
And the magic stones were flowing out like water.
Rate on N.U.
