Such "innocence," such "sincerity" from Lucian made Victor unable to hold back any longer. He burst into laughter, tears nearly streaming from his eyes. Every one of the others — Rhein, Lot, Phyllis, and the rest — laughed uproariously, unable to maintain their composure. Even the elderly Xavier shook his head with a smile. Only Annie, Colin, and the other students who had not yet begun studying music under Victor laughed with a faint undertone of bitterness and jealousy.
Lucian gazed at everyone's reaction in bewilderment, dimly realizing that his lack of common knowledge had spawned some sort of joke. But since no one looked confused or puzzled, it probably wasn't too serious. So he spoke up: "Mr. Victor?"
Victor coughed a few times, suppressing his laughter, and looked at Lucian earnestly: "What I mean is, Lucian — would you like to study music under me? You're a bit older than most students, but in music, talent matters far more than age. And even if your talent is merely ordinary, a few years of study with me would be enough to make you a competent musician. You needn't worry about your livelihood — musicians from Altor are the ones foreign nobles are most eager to invite."
He paused, then added with a touch of humor: "Of course, tuition is fully waived."
This set Lot, Rhein, and the others chuckling once more.
For Victor, his students fell into three categories. The first were those who studied literacy, paying five silver marks per month. If he took a liking to them and granted permission, they could become the second category — students who studied music under him, paying ten silver marks per month. Only those who displayed exceptional talent or aptitude in music could become his third category: true disciples who would perform alongside him, leveraging his connections and reputation.
Victor currently had only one such disciple, who had already become an outstanding musician.
Lot, Phyllis, and Herodotus all belonged to the second category. If Lucian agreed, he too would be second category — only with the ten silver marks per month waived.
Although Victor earned roughly seven gold thalers a year from teaching, which put him at the top of the non-merchant civilian class — equivalent to the annual income of a competent musician, such as Annie's father, whose salary as a clerk at the Altor city court was a mere fifteen gold thalers a year — the vast majority of Victor's income came from performances invited by nobles and foreign musical societies. In a normal year, that amounted to a hundred gold thalers, which represented the upper ceiling for someone in high society who lacked an estate of their own and had no head for business.
So even though Victor had turned down every invitation over the past year and was spending beyond his means, waiving Lucian's tuition was still no trouble at all.
Lucian hadn't expected that Victor's gratitude would take the form of offering to enroll him as a music student. For a moment, he hesitated. But soon, thoughts of the Witch's Notes and his desire to repay Joel's family for their kindness crystallized in his mind, and he reflected quietly:
"I don't yet know where would be a good place to study magic. For the time being, I'll probably have to go on living in Altor. After all, this is the largest, most prosperous city in the west — the closest to the Dark Mountains and, privately, the most heterogeneous in its population. Finding magical materials and gathering intelligence will be far easier here. If that's the case, using a music student's or musician's identity to cover for being a mage, while earning the money I need, wouldn't be a bad choice. It's a profession that commands considerable respect in Altor."
Having resolved to begin studying magic in Altor, Lucian felt reluctant to exploit the various inventions and research materials from the Soul Library to make money, since that would easily attract the Church's attention. It could wait until he found a country or place where he could study magic safely.
Having sorted out his thoughts, Lucian broke into a sincere smile: "Thank you, Mr. Victor. I hope you can teach me the beautiful and refined art of music."
Victor nodded with satisfaction: "Lucian, your simplicity, diligence, seriousness, and intelligence are qualities I rarely see. I hope you will achieve something meaningful on the path of music."
With those words, Lucian was officially permitted to study music under him. Annie, Colin, and the others immediately looked somewhat deflated and unhappy.
"I'm really not simple," Lucian protested inwardly, unable to help himself. Earlier he had merely lacked common knowledge. At the same time, he noticed that Colin, Renie, and several others were regarding him with rather complex expressions.
Victor called Ace inside, returned Lucian's five silver marks, and then invited Rhein and Xavier to the study to thank them privately. He asked Lot, Phyllis, and Herodotus to remain in the practice room to continue their work, and to assist with the ongoing modifications to the harpsichord.
As for Lucian, having no musical foundation, he borrowed a copy of the Common Language Dictionary and left the main hall, intending to head home.
"Hello, Lucian." Renie — a brown-haired, green-eyed girl with delicate, petite features — suddenly hurried up from behind him, flashing a sunshine-like smile. "I'm Renie, Renie Witz. You really do have a talent for learning written and spoken language."
Lucian was eager to get home and consult the dictionary so he could fully decode the Witch's Notes. He had no mood for conversation: "Hello, Renie. I'm leaving quite late today, and I have something urgent to attend to. I'll chat with you properly another time. Sorry, I'm in a rush."
"What a shame. Go on with your business, Lucian. Goodbye." Renie's smile faltered for a moment, but she recovered quickly, her expression full of understanding and consideration.
Just then, Annie and the noble-born male student Sigmak passed by on Lucian's other side. Annie let out a faint, cold hum, spared neither of them a glance, and maintained her elegant stride as she headed for the exit.
Behind them, Renie's smile froze. She hadn't imagined that her simple desire to establish a normal personal friendship with Lucian would provoke Annie's displeasure. Days of deliberate attention and ingratiation had been wasted entirely.
Colin and David shot Renie a mocking glance, then stared at Lucian's retreating figure and shook their heads. Why couldn't they have had such good luck?
…………
By the time Lucian returned to his little cottage in the Adrang District, it was just past five in the afternoon. Altor, with summer nearly at its peak, was still bright. Lucian told Aunt Elisa he wouldn't be coming for dinner tonight, using the excuse that he needed to study diligently, then baked himself a loaf of black bread to stave off hunger. As for the good news — that his tuition had been waived and all eight silver marks would be returned to Aunt Elisa — he would save that for tomorrow, to tell the whole family at once.
At this moment, for Lucian, nothing in the world was more important than decoding the Witch's Notes and studying magic!
After finishing his black bread, Lucian bolted the repaired wooden door from the inside, laid out paper and a Feather Pen, and pretended to settle in for studying. Only then did he activate the Soul Library and quickly import the dictionary into it.
With that done, Lucian opened the Witch's magic notes and, consulting the dictionary, set about decoding them with meticulous care.
Drawing on several days of accumulated experience, by around ten o'clock that evening Lucian had decoded everything in the notes except the final few pages. He let out a long, relieved breath:
"So the Witch's grasp of ancient Sylvanas script wasn't all that impressive either. That's why the magic notes are recorded in such detail — some entries are practically copied from her family ancestors' notes. I should be able to study magic entirely from her records. The only limitation is that her notes end at how to become a formal mage. Beyond that, I'll need to find another approach — or use the notes to reverse-engineer the ancient Sylvanas script and decipher the Book of Stars and Elements."
Whatever came after becoming a formal mage, Lucian could begin studying magic right now.
According to the Witch's records, in the ancient magical empire, magic was understood as the mysterious transformations of the four fundamental elements — earth, fire, wind, and water — acting under the influence of spiritual power. Later, light, darkness, and the soul were added, and it became possible to summon monsters from Hell, the Abyss, or other extra-dimensional planes. Magic was therefore divided into eight schools: Elemental, Astrological, Necromantic, Illusionary, Summoning, Force, Transformation, and Alchemy. The Book of Stars and Elements was a grimoire focused primarily on the Elemental and Astrological schools, with a smattering of spells from other traditions included.
Before becoming a formal mage, one could not study first-circle spells. One could only learn informal magic, and was called a Magic Apprentice.
The spell structures of informal magic were remarkably simple. In Lucian's eyes, they were nothing more than clear runes composed of standard geometric figures at roughly a middle-school level — simpler even than a hexagram. By reciting the correct pronunciation and channeling spiritual power to activate the corresponding magical materials arranged in the rune's pattern, one could cast the spell.