Chapter Four: The Self-Cultivation of a Bit Player

Because of the delay in the morning, Auxicrys was growing a bit anxious. She quietly broke a few minor academy rules, and midway through, seized the shoulders of Louis and Helen to perform Apparition.

The space around them suddenly stretched and twisted at that moment; when their surroundings gradually returned to normal, Louis found himself standing in a small restroom.

The recent transit left Louis feeling slightly dizzy and nauseous. Helen’s face had also gone a shade paler, and she couldn’t help but clutch her chest and retch once before she finally recovered.

Louis’s strength had just been increased by one point, now at 1.9. It seemed that if both constitution and magical power were high, one’s resistance to magic improved.

Once his mind cleared, Louis noticed that Auxicrys was secretly casting him a peculiar look.

“Ahem, you handled that well,” Auxicrys said, her expression a little unnatural. Then she opened the door leading to the room outside.

It was a large room—spacious and beautiful. There were numerous sofas, bookshelves, paintings, and a fireplace, along with many animated, talking silver utensils.

Dozens of students of various ages were bustling about the lounge, preparing chairs and magical implements. In one corner, a few adult wizards sat chatting over tea. When they saw Auxicrys emerge from the restroom, an older wizard shot her a mildly reproachful glance before joining several professors nearby to greet her with smiles.

This wizard appeared to be the deputy head of the house. He had once served at court and could be considered half a mentor to Auxicrys.

Auxicrys led Louis and Helen into the main room and began conversing with the professors. It seemed she was quite popular at the academy; many of the professors of Royal Oak Academy appeared to be supporters of the princess’s faction.

However, just as Auxicrys had said, here no one addressed her as “Your Highness,” nor did they fuss over courtly etiquette. Many of the older wizards even regarded her as a student they were proud of.

“Our assessment will be held here,” Helen whispered to Louis. “Look at those exam props—oh no, there are mirrors! It must be a Defense Against the Dark Arts test.”

Compared to the Defense Against the Dark Arts, Louis was more concerned with another question: “Helen, how many of us are taking the test this time?”

People kept entering through the door; it seemed the turnout was quite large.

“Just the four of us,” Helen replied, pressing her lips together and casting a complicated glance at those taking their seats. “The rest are here to observe. I heard that court wizards, nobles, and officials from the Ministry of Magic will also be present today.”

To say they were observers was putting it kindly; in reality, they had come to watch the spectacle. Most of them were from the Queen Witch’s faction. To win her favor, it was likely they had already tampered with today’s assessment.

The Grand Queen Witch did not wish the princess to remain at the academy.

If today’s trial could be passed, then Sister Auxicrys would be able to prove herself to the king and the magical council, and continue to remain in the safe ivory tower of the academy.

But if anything went wrong, Auxicrys would have no choice but to leave the academy and submit to the arrangements of the king and queen witch. At that point, the princess’s faction would quickly disperse, as the queen witch would never allow her supporters to remain.

At this thought, Helen felt a pang of sorrow. She started to look around the room. Soon her gaze settled on two youths by the sofa near the fireplace, and a sense of security returned. She quickly tugged Louis over.

At Royal Oak Royal Academy of Magic, most apprentices hailed from prestigious noble families—a fact evident from their manners alone.

By the fireplace, two conspicuous young nobles were seated on the sofa, resting. They appeared to be around seventeen or eighteen. The other apprentices seemed somewhat intimidated by them; occasionally, if summoned over, they would perform the noble salute respectfully and whisper carefully into their ears.

Clearly, these two were of unusual standing.

Louis noticed there were two vacant seats beside the sofa, yet no one dared take them.

Seeing Helen lead him in that direction, Louis understood that these seats were meant for the two of them.

Yet, he did not recognize the two young nobles.

Louis felt a touch awkward; aside from his knowledge, the rest of his memories were extremely hazy. These two seemed familiar, but he could not recall much about them.

“Best not to say much, to avoid giving myself away.”

“Theris, Lufield!” Helen exclaimed happily, as if seeing two saviors.

The two young men looked back, beaming warmly at Helen, but when their eyes landed on Louis, who Helen was dragging along, a hint of disdain flickered in their gaze.

They ignored Louis completely and started chatting with Helen.

Noticing the look of contempt they cast his way, Louis was secretly relieved.

“So, we have a history—albeit not a good one. But at least my presence is registered.”

Thinking it over, Louis decided not to vie for attention with them—just two minor characters, after all. Why bother?

He decided to read.

Seated on the sofa, Louis casually picked up a book Helen had left on the table and began flipping through it. After a few glances, he found that the spells seemed much simpler than before!

Checking his own profile, he saw that his knowledge was no longer marked “very solid,” but rather “profoundly accomplished,” and his mind was now filled with interpretations of all kinds of bizarre creatures—this must be the knowledge of the fae.

Recalling the knowledge he now possessed, Louis continued to leaf through the Comprehensive Compendium of Everyday Spells. This time, as he read the spells, he could immediately spot any imperfections in their construction.

It seemed he already surpassed the author in terms of knowledge.

“Fae wisdom truly is extraordinary.”

Glancing at his stats again, Louis noticed a change in his spell section. Where once “Quick Charge” had been lv2(3/100), it now read “Quick Charge lv2(3/1).”

He flipped through the Compendium for some new spells. Finding several as simple as Quick Charge, he memorized them on the spot, mulling them over until he felt he could cast them with ease. Checking his “Spellcraft,” sure enough, a few new spells had appeared, all listed as lv1(0/0).

At the end of the book, he found a lengthy daily-use spell, one meant to animate brooms, rags, and the like to clean a room by themselves. This was apparently the most difficult spell in the book—the incantation alone spanned five or six lines.

Yet to Louis, it felt no different from Quick Charge.

The only difference was that one was “2+3,” while the other was “20+30.” What struck Louis as odd was that, in the Compendium, such topics were calculated using tally marks.

“Surely these schoolchildren don’t really count on their fingers...” Louis mused wryly. “Thank goodness for knowledge, which has spared me such childish amusements.”

Seeing that the three around him weren’t paying attention, Louis muttered the incantation under his breath, omitting every part he could.

In the end, the five or six lines of incantation were reduced to just a few sentences.

Immediately, Louis noticed a new entry in his personal data: “Cleaning Charm lv3(1/10)”.

“It’s already level three? And I managed to cast it?” Louis looked up in surprise and saw Lufield on the opposite sofa staring blankly at his gold-embroidered handkerchief.

Just moments before, this delicate young man had been wiping his hands, mocking Theris as they bantered. Suddenly, his handkerchief slipped from his grasp as if animated, bowed to him like a tiny person, and began to dance happily atop the table, polishing it to a mirror-like shine.

“Who did that?” Lufield’s eyes flashed with anger; these lower-year students were truly out of line, daring to play pranks on him!

He looked around for the culprit wielding a wand. Those nearby, seeing Lufield’s wrath, quickly bowed their heads, and anyone with a wand hastily tossed it aside.

After searching for some time without finding the perpetrator, Lufield could only sense the magical ripple nearby. The only person giggling behind her hand was Helen.

Lufield’s expression relaxed, and he smiled, “Helen, you’re quite mischievous. It seems your studies are going well—you can even cast spells without a wand now!”

Theris, too, looked amazed. In this room, aside from the professors, only the three sitting here could have animated the handkerchief. To do so silently and so perfectly—surely only someone like Helen or Auxicrys, superwitches with royal blood, could manage such a feat.

Clearly, Helen had recently taken a liking to this spell and decided to show off a little, much to everyone’s astonishment.

Helen only giggled behind her hand, not bothering to explain, but she did sneak a glance at Louis, who sat there pretending to read.