I was an apprentice in Ferren

Chapter 50 Young people shouldn't be too arrogant
DuPont smiled slightly upon hearing his homeroom teacher's call.

Sure enough, my progress attracted his attention, and now I can send out the joint letter impeaching Anne.

Everything is under control!
"You've made great strides." The architecture professor, named Benjamin, looked to be around 40 years old and had the typical bulky build of a middle-aged man. He smiled kindly at DuPont and said, "Including you, we now have three second-circle mages in our class. That's quite an achievement. You're old enough to start taking third-circle spell classes now."

“It’s all thanks to the excellent teaching of my mentors.” DuPont wore a subordinate’s smile and was just thinking about how to get closer to her and take out the parchment impeaching Anne when Benjamin said, “However, if you choose to study the 3rd Ring spell course, you will have to start submitting 5 2nd Ring spell scrolls to replace 1st Ring scrolls. Now, how successful are you at copying 2nd Ring scrolls? Have you tried?”

"No." DuPont looked somewhat alarmed upon hearing this question, and tentatively asked, "Will copying this second-circle spell scroll be difficult?"

“It’s not difficult for a formal mage, but it’s a different story for an apprentice.” Benjamin shook his head: “A second-ring parchment costs 2 gold coins. At level 3, during the preferential period, you only need to submit 5 second-ring scrolls or 12 first-ring scrolls per week. At level 4, you need to submit 10 scrolls. If your foundation is not solid, this is a very difficult thing.”

DuPont looked flustered upon hearing this: "Is it really that urgent? I thought we wouldn't have to hand this in until next semester."

"If you advance to a 2nd-circle mage next semester, then you'll naturally hand it in next semester. But the academy actually determines what tasks you need to complete based on what level of spells you've learned. Unless you say you're not learning 3rd-circle spells, then the requirements won't be raised, but no one would be stupid enough to do that."

Dupont fell silent, while Benjamin smiled gently and took out two ancient spellbooks: "But since I am your homeroom teacher, I will naturally help you as well. I have a book called 'How to Quickly Copy Scrolls' and a book called 'Detailed Explanation of Copying Scrolls of 1st to 2nd Ring Transmutation Spells' here. They are professional spellbooks appointed by the Harua Council. After you have mastered these two books, you can improve your speed. Normally, a set would cost 800 gold, but since you are my student, I will only charge you 600 gold."

DuPont's eyes widened.

This time he was genuinely shocked; he wasn't acting.

How come this is different from the story Charles told me?
After Charles became a level three mage, Ruru made contact with him and lent him the book Benjamin had mentioned so that he could learn to copy the second-level scrolls skillfully.

This is also why Charles told DuPont that copying the scroll was indeed very difficult for him; he wasn't copying a single scroll.

But why is this bastard asking me for money?
Holy crap, I'm the boss of your class now!

A few seconds later, DuPont shook his head: "Forget it, mentor. I think it's more important to take a solid foundation and learn from the basics. Besides, where would I get the money to buy these books? My finances simply don't allow it."

"Hey, don't be in such a hurry. I'm your teacher, of course I want to make things easier for you. If you don't have cash, you can use magical items instead." Benjamin smiled kindly: "I'm doing this for your own good. You know, these second-ring scrolls are circulating among you apprentices and they cost 12 gold coins each. That's not a small amount. Buying this book will increase your success rate in copying scrolls. Then you can copy them and sell them, which is a sure-fire way to make money without any investment."

"So, you can give me the Ring of Dark Vision as collateral, and I'll sell you these two books. Then, once you've collected 40 second-level scrolls, I'll return the ring to you. You won't lose out either way. What do you say?"

Looking at this fat guy who was acting like he was doing it all for his own good, DuPont lowered his eyes, a cold glint flashing in his pupils. He smiled, but his tone was very firm: "Forget it, mentor. Something this expensive is still too advanced for me right now. If I have trouble copying papers in the future, I'll come back to you then. I hope you can still sell it to me at such a favorable price."

Upon hearing this, Benjamin's smile vanished instantly. As a 40-year-old mage and a homeroom teacher for many years, how could he not understand that this was a rejection?

The former friendliness was gone. Benjamin's face fell, and he said sarcastically, "First you rejected Professor Rock's kindness, and now you won't listen to your class teacher. DuPont, I know you've made a lot of progress recently, but while your skills are indeed quite good in the architecture department, they're just average in the entire college. I advise you, young man, not to be too arrogant, lest you become ignorant of your own limitations and ruin your bright future."

DuPont's smile remained unchanged: "Master, I really have no money. With just this little bit on me, Connor might come after me when he gets out of solitary confinement. How can I possibly give it to you? As for that arrogance, that's completely irrelevant. I still need to learn magic from you, Master, so that I can contribute to the development of my Great Harua territory in the future. That will all be thanks to you."

"Come on, how could I possibly teach a student as talented as you?" The conversation had completely broken down, and Benjamin was too lazy to pretend anymore. His smile carried a hint of sarcasm: "I'll enroll you in Flight and Stone Shaping for your third-circle spell classes. That way, you can graduate as soon as you learn them. Considering our teacher-student relationship, I can put in a good word for you whether you want to stay in this area or go to Nas in the Northeast."

"If you wish to continue your studies in turning fossils into mud and mud into stone, you are welcome to do so. Once you have completed your apprenticeship, I will try my best to arrange a project manager position for you, so that you can contribute to the engineering cause in Harua."

Upon hearing these two spells, DuPont sneered inwardly and, too lazy to mention impeaching Anne, simply said, "May you be blessed by the goddess," before turning and leaving.

As he closed the door, he heard a cold laugh behind him: "Just a mediocre talent, only considered one among these dozen or so people. Yet he actually thinks he's someone important. These young people nowadays, tsk tsk."

DuPont didn't retort; he simply glanced at the architecture department head's door before walking away.

He's just another idiot boss. There are probably a dozen or so like him in the engineering department. He's seen plenty of them and he's not going to get angry with this kind of guy.

However, he still had some questions.

He had just thought about it for a moment. Although DuPont hadn't been taken seriously before, he had never been treated like this by the homeroom teacher. He had achieved some success, but instead, he was being treated so arrogantly. Had this guy taken the wrong medicine?

Was it because she coveted something she had just acquired, or because she rejected Ruru and made Benjamin retaliate against her, or was it related to Connor?

Lacking the necessary information, DuPont didn't know the specifics, but he did remember that somewhat disgusting fat face.

The relationship between superiors and subordinates is never just one of domination.

That impeachment parchment in his pocket should be used on a different target.

(End of this chapter)