Academic genius: Arcane Invasion of America

Nicole, having broken free from Li Ang's grasp, wrinkled her pretty nose, reached into the drawer next to her, pulled out three $10 bills one by one, and then stuffed them into Li Ang's hand without saying a word. "The clinic's profits haven't been great this month. I paid the rent, and after spending it all, there's not much left. You can take these for now."

Looking at the three banknotes in his hand, Li Ang's brows twitched almost imperceptibly.

The [suggestion technique] worked well. He had just suspected that his mental strength was too strong, or that the woman's mental strength was too weak, but now it seems that neither is the case.

He never hinted that the other party should give him money.

The fact that the other party is now offering him $30 can only mean one thing: she's overflowing with sympathy.

After a two-second pause, Li Ang nodded. "Thank you."

"Hmm..." Nicole blinked. "My name is Nicole, Nicole Nolan. If you can't find anything suitable to do in Chicago, you can come and check out 18 Maxwell Street."

"it is good."

With the $30 cash given to him by Nicole, Li Ang walked out of the apartment building and onto Adam Street.

Looking around, there's an iron sign at the end of the street that reads "Start of Route 66".

Next to the metal sign was a huge glass neon sphere, and a few steps away to the side was a small red tin house, which was lit up, and through the glass you could see a black telephone hanging inside.

A classic American telephone booth.

There are many cars on the street, and most of the metal signs are white with blue lettering, bearing the words "ILLINOIS" and a combination of letters and numbers.

"We've indeed arrived in America in the last century; we'll need to confirm the exact year."

Li Ang did not linger and walked towards a newsstand on the side of the street.

The New York Times, priced at 10 cents a copy.

In comparison, the $30 Nicole just took out has a very high purchasing power in this era.

Li Ang didn't plan to buy newspapers; he had other uses for the money.

Let's just stand there and get some freebies for now.

September 5, 1960.

"JFK Kennedy wins big in Wisconsin primary, securing his highest vote share in 57 years. Milwaukee, Wisconsin: Senator John F. Kennedy won the Democratic primary today with a landslide victory, garnering 56.5%..."

"Soviet land reclamation areas suffer a double blow from 'black dust storms,' severely damaging grain production. Moscow: Following the initial attack on March 16, Soviet land reclamation areas in Kazakhstan, Siberia, and other regions have once again been hit by strong dust storms..."

"US-Soviet disarmament negotiations have reached a stalemate, with disagreements remaining unresolved during the recess. Geneva—The Soviet delegation has proposed a recess from the end of April to mid-June..."

"Physicists achieve breakthrough in light technology, creating the world's first laser. Hughes National Laboratory, California: Dr. Theodore Maiman successfully developed the world's first ruby ​​laser on March 18th of this year, producing a deep red coherent beam of light four times brighter than the surface of the sun. This technology is hailed by the academic community as one of the most significant scientific discoveries of the 20th century and is expected to trigger tremendous changes in the fields of communications, medicine, and the military industry..."

After reading the first few lines, Li Ang was not particularly moved, but when he saw the text related to "science and technology," the system's mechanical voice, which had been silent for a while, suddenly popped up again.

[You have received a task: Study hard and accumulate 10 points of subject experience.]

[Reward: Attribute Points +0.1, Subject Experience +10, Learning Coins +10]

[The skill "Mental Focus" is now available. Does it consume 1 learning coin to activate?]

"???"

It was only at this point that Li Ang realized that his academic genius system came with a mission.

Without time to think further, he silently said "yes" to himself.

In an instant, the things around Li Ang became much clearer through his five senses: car license plate numbers, small print on the phone booth... all sorts of information flooded into Li Ang's mind.

When he turned his gaze to the New York Times in front of him, he keenly noticed each character.

The objects in his field of vision began to change, and many details that Li Ang had never noticed before were now magnified infinitely in his eyes.

"Is this the new skill of the Academic Superstar System?"

"That's really good."

"Good system, I admit I was a bit too loud before."

Time passed by, and Li Ang acquired knowledge at an efficiency several times, even dozens of times, greater than when he was studying at university in Aiolia or in his previous life in China.

[Your hard work in studying has earned you +1 Physics experience point.]

[Your hard work in studying has earned you +1 Chemistry experience point.]

[Your hard work in studying has earned you +1 biology experience point.]

You study hard...

"So this is what real learning feels like."

In his previous life, Li Ang was able to get into a top-tier university in China, and in this life, he was able to become a wizard apprentice within two months, both of which show that he has a pretty good learning ability.

But all of this is the result of his hard work, getting up early and studying before dawn.

Now, with the skill [Mental Focus] enabled, he is experiencing a different feeling.

This is just reading a few newspapers. What would happen if you went to a university library or talked with a famous scientist of this era?

What would he gain if he returned to Ioria to study magic with the knowledge he acquired in America in 1960?

Li Ang was somewhat expectant.

"Sir, a newspaper is 10 cents," the stall owner reminded him.

Li Ang nodded and smiled at the other person, put down the newspaper and said, "Give me a copy of 'Scientific American'."

Having already read all the limited-time free editions, Li Ang really didn't plan to spend any more money on these few issues of The New York Times. However, since Science America magazine cost 50 cents, the vendor would make a profit.

……

It got even darker.

Li Ang was still 3 points short of the required subject experience to complete the system task, so he wasn't in a hurry to return to Ioria and had plenty of time.

Pushing open the glass door of "Chen Ji," the smell of cooking oil and old wood mingled together and hit you.

There were only three tables in the shop, and an old-fashioned radio was playing Cantonese opera.

"Boss, one order of fried rice with egg, extra scallions please."

The boss, Old Chen, poked half his body out of the kitchen. After seeing Li Ang's attire, he paused, then asked in surprise, "You can speak Chinese?"

In a Chicago roadside restaurant in 1960, a boy of about seventeen or eighteen, who looked somewhat like a mixed-race person with white or yellow skin, wearing a gray robe, spoke fluent and accurate Mandarin, which was quite surprising.

Li Ang nodded and quickly made up a reason, "I visited China a few years ago; it's my true homeland..."

Old Chen's expression instantly softened. "Okay, just a moment, I'll make it for you right away."

Li Ang found a table by the window and sat down.

Cars drove by on the street outside the window, and a few white men strolled past with their arms around each other's shoulders.

From the time I awakened to the time I have been calculating, it has been less than a day.

Li Ang felt that he had experienced too much.

Only now, in a restaurant run by Chinese people, can he taste the flavor of home when he eats a plate of fried rice.

Only then can he alleviate his longing and worry for his parents and friends.

"After filling my stomach, I'll find a place to stay. I'll complete the system tasks for today. The subject experience and learning coins are secondary; the key is the 0.1 attribute point..."

"Once you're officially settled, find a library or bookstore and at least memorize the reactions related to the periodic table. If all goes as expected, ring 0, ring 1, and even ring 2 magic are all related to chemical reactions."

"Of course, I also need to find a chance to go back to Ioria to replenish my magic power and try to learn more magic. Ryan asked me to meet him in Maple Leaf Town before Sunday..."

"I wonder how the time flow is between the two worlds, and whether the witch-hunting team is still around... Oh well, teacher, good luck to you. If anything happens to you, I'll definitely avenge you."