The day before the exam, the Academy became unusually lively. Doniel, with his hilariously inflated opinion of himself, had managed to stir up the stagnant atmosphere of the otherwise closed-off campus.
Thops felt as though the sky were about to fall, but Skyl thought this was a good thing. By now, he had seen through the Academy's rigid system. Sorcerers gathered within their own schools and Conspectuses, shutting themselves away from anything outside their particular fields. On the surface, the instructors seemed perfectly willing to coexist, but beneath that facade they were absolute academic authorities. Old-school rivalries and institutional loyalties ran deep, and they spared no effort when suppressing new ideas. At this point, they had become obstacles to progress.
Ultimately, the Academy had simply been peaceful for too long. The days passed one after another, each almost identical to the one before it, until everyone gradually lost the motivation to move forward.
So stirring the pot and forcing some life back into this stagnant place could only be a good thing.
Thops was a latecomer with virtually no connections or influence within the Academy. If he could withstand the combined pressure of the four major schools, however, the apprentices would inevitably begin looking to him as a symbol. A new intellectual movement could form around him, one powerful enough to sweep away some of the Academy's decay.
That evening, Skyl brought Melina and Millicent to meet Thops and his two apprentices. Everyone introduced themselves, planning to share dinner while discussing how to handle the next day's evaluation.
Or, to put it more simply, how they were going to help Millicent and Moli cheat.
Before preparations for dinner had even started, however, a number of hungry sorcerers began showing up at Thops's classroom on their own initiative.
Officially, of course, they were there for academic discussion.
In reality, they wanted free food.
What academic subjects were there to discuss over dinner? Whether the roasted leg of lamb was tender enough? Whether the chili powder smelled good?
If they wanted to make it sound respectable, they could call the subjects An Introduction to the Relationship Between Mammalian Leg-Muscle Density and Flavor Compound Concentration and Experimental Data on the Stimulation of Pain Receptors by Ground Dried Chili Peppers.
These people had come to mooch dinner carrying nothing but their mouths and a set of utensils. For good food, dignity was apparently optional.
Thops was too nice for his own good. He was terrible at refusing people and usually agreed to whatever anyone asked of him. To prepare enough food for his colleagues, he actually had to enter an instanced plane and farm ingredients.
Electric Sheep Roundup was almost completely devoid of real danger, making it an excellent place to gather food.
Clearing Normal difficulty had unlocked Elite difficulty. The mission objective remained the same, but there were more sheep, the electric sheep had become more aggressive and considerably stronger, and the lead ram had gained an additional ability, Savage Charge.
Relying on the range advantage of his glintstone sorceries, Thops constantly maintained his distance from the flock, steadily kiting them until he finally killed the lead ram with the humble Glintstone Pebble.
The handful of soldiers cheered as they rushed forward to collect the carcasses. From a short distance away, they waved at Thops, seemingly aware that he would soon be leaving.
Thops still didn't know exactly who these people were. Judging from the insignias on their clothing, they appeared to be soldiers from Leyndell, Royal Capital. The instanced plane seemed to have captured a fragment of history from the age after the Elden Ring was shattered, sometime following the Shattering.
Thops guessed that these soldiers had taken to hunting during the relative calm after the fighting, simply to improve their meals.
Looking at their plain but determined faces, he suddenly found himself thinking about them differently. The terrible battles that had left corpses strewn across the land had not broken these men. They weren't casualty statistics. They weren't emotionless machines built for war. They were living, breathing people with happiness, anger, sorrow, and joy of their own, ordinary men who sometimes got hungry and wanted to eat lamb.
Without thinking, Thops raised his arm and waved back as hard as he could.
"You have completed the soldiers' commission. Instanced-plane mission complete. Rewards have been calculated. You may return at any time."
"Exiting instanced world..."
"Mission Rewards: 19 Candle Coins, Soldier's Crossbow (White, Common), Electric Sheep Horn Powder x3 (White, Common)."
"Elite difficulty cleared. King difficulty unlocked. You have received one instanced-plane draw."
Thops returned to the real world carrying the plump lead ram over his shoulders.
Little Moli immediately began clapping in delight, while the surrounding sorcerers stared at the carcass with hungry eyes.
More than twenty sorcerers had come to freeload that evening, including several instructors from the four major schools.
Yes, even though those same schools had pushed Thops into his current predicament, some of their instructors had still shown up for dinner. They had even deliberately removed their hoods, apparently hoping to distance themselves from the whole affair.
As a result, the initial meeting was somewhat awkward.
Most people pretended to look around casually, raised a fist to their mouths, coughed once or twice, then exchanged embarrassed smiles with expressions that made it obvious they were barely holding themselves together.
Thops didn't hold a grudge.
He also understood that these particular instructors hadn't been the ones pushing the matter forward. Criticism and hostility toward his forcefield sorcery system had never disappeared from the Academy, so this challenge would have arrived sooner or later.
Seeing how many visitors had gathered, Skyl suggested that instead of squeezing everyone into the classroom, they should simply find a large open space and throw a proper dinner party. They could invite every sorcerer willing to come and give everyone an excuse to enjoy themselves.
Thops didn't quite understand the point.
His original plan had simply been to give the sheep to the visiting sorcerers and let them take the meat to the dining hall to have it cooked themselves.
Still, since Skyl had suggested it, Thops wasn't going to argue, even if it meant entering the instanced planes several more times to gather enough ingredients.
Millicent and Melina volunteered to help. They were both players on the Silver Network as well.
Millicent's initial instanced plane was called Shellfish Showdown. Its difficulty was classified as Perilous, its location was Liurnia of the Lakes, and the objective was to kill Giant Crayfish and Giant Crabs.
Melina's initial instanced plane was called Bear Country. Its difficulty was classified as Hard, and it took place in the Mistwood region of Limgrave. Her mission was to help a Nomadic Merchant escape pursuit by an adult Runebear.
Between the two instanced planes, they could gather fish, shrimp, shellfish, bear meat, and berries. It was enough for a decent surf-and-turf spread. The variety of ingredients was still somewhat limited, but they had more than enough to put together a respectable feast.
That was especially true with Skyl around.
As a magical chef, he had the kind of hands that could turn the most ordinary ingredients into something that looked beautiful, smelled incredible, and tasted even better.
In the end, they decided to hold the gathering in the plaza outside the Debate Parlor.
The sorcerers began inviting friends. Magical barriers were erected to keep out the rain, grills were set up, and puppets carried classroom desks outside to serve as dining tables. Dusty tablecloths were pulled from storage and spread across scarred, battered tabletops. Tarnished silver goblets were recovered from forgotten cupboards alongside old crystal plates that had chipped and cracked with age. Ancient senior sorcerers were coaxed out of retirement, and someone even dragged out a glintstone phonograph to play formal music from before the Age of the Erdtree.
Everything old and discarded seemed to regain some fragment of its former value beneath the energy of the gathering.
The Academy's sorcerers were like bookworms who had spent their entire lives buried inside a museum, sleepily devouring knowledge without ever looking around them. Yet for once, they raised their heads and noticed the immense weight of history that had always surrounded them.
Meanwhile, the Chief Instructor of the Twinsage Conspectus sat in the Academy's dim, stuffy dining hall, methodically picking apart a crab.
"Professor Siegfried."
A Twinsage sorcerer approached the instructor, bent slightly, and spoke in a low voice.
"A great many people have gathered in the Fountain Plaza outside the Debate Parlor. They've all gone to attend the banquet hosted by the Thops Conspectus. Karolos, Olivinus, Lazuli, the Crystal Cadre... everyone went. We received an invitation as well. Do you think we should attend?"
Siegfried's hands paused briefly over the crab.
Without raising his head, he said, "So Professor Bluntstone has finally learned how to win people over? A little late for that, don't you think? Tomorrow's qualification review has already received Rennala's approval. There is no possibility of withdrawing it now. Let him enjoy his final moment in the spotlight. Once his Conspectus collapses, you will personally take possession of his research materials. Make sure no one from the other schools gets there first."
Siegfried absently played with the unappetizing crab shell before adding coldly, "Even a 'Bluntstone' can shine eventually. The only question is whether he's a shooting star or a comet."
The Twinsage sorcerer hesitated instead of leaving.
Siegfried finally glanced at him.
"What? Don't tell me you want to attend their party too."
"Of course... Uh, no. No, sir."
"What is it, then? Who exactly went to the banquet?"
Siegfried noticed the hesitation in his student's voice and narrowed his eyes.
"Professor Nabler went, didn't he? That self-righteous bastard."
"Yes. And it wasn't only Professor Nabler."
"Don't tell me Botari went too. His favorite apprentice died at Skyl's hands. He should despise everyone associated with him."
"Professor Botari didn't go. But... he's the only one who didn't. Other than you, of course."
Siegfried fell silent.
He stared at his student in surprise and saw a faint but unmistakable eagerness in the man's eyes.
That kind of restless excitement shouldn't have existed in the dried-out hearts of the Academy's sorcerers.
"Who went? Tell me."
"The chief instructors of all the major schools, and..."
"And who?"
"Rennala, Queen of the Full Moon... and Ranni the Witch."
Siegfried shot to his feet.
He dropped the crab shell, turned around, and strode toward the exit.
"Professor, where are you going?"
Siegfried turned and glared at his student.
"I'm going to dinner. Is that a problem?"
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