The Elite Student of the Magic Academy

The next morning, after the usual meditation, Master Valentin approached Fú Nī Yà.

“Is something the matter, Teacher?” Fú Nī Yà asked, tilting her head.

Due to her studies over these past days, she had officially changed her address for Master Valentin to ‘Teacher’.

Master Valentin adjusted his robe, leaning on his staff with his right hand.

“In this past fortnight, your tier has advanced to the second. How has your spell learning progressed?”

“Well… I’ve learned all the most basic zero-tier cantrips. Beyond that, from Evocation, I’ve learned Fireball and Earth Spike; from Illusion, Light Refraction; from Divination, Danger Sense…”

“Those are all very useful spells. And Conjuration?” Master Valentin inquired gravely.

As a Conjuration mage himself, it would be a considerable loss of face if his student neglected Conjuration spells.

“Of course I’ve learned Conjuration spells too,” Fú Nī Yà nodded.

“Summon Shadow, Spatial Displacement, Elemental Channel, Spatial Fold, Blink, and so on…”

“Indeed, very good. Most mages at the second tier wouldn’t even be able to learn this many spells.”

“So, does that mean I’m quite the genius?” Fú Nī Yà asked, blinking excitedly.

“You always were a genius, child,” Master Valentin replied with a chuckle.

Reaching the late second tier in half a month, on the verge of breaking through to the third—such a growth rate was something he couldn’t have believed possible before encountering Fú Nī Yà.

“Then, Teacher, did you wait for me here just to ask me all this?” Fú Nī Yà questioned, puzzled.

After all, Master Valentin typically dedicated this time to his own experiments.

At his stage, his approach to magic was no longer about learning, but about pioneering and exploration.

The Arcane school, for instance, had been a blue ocean opened up by mages a century ago, and to this day, it continued to yield a wealth of new discoveries annually.

How much of it constituted academic garbage, however, remained unknown.

Ultimately, no matter the world, one could never escape the prevalence of shoddy papers (TL Note: A Chinese slang term, ‘shui lunwen,’ referring to low-quality academic papers or publications that lack substantial research or contribution).

“Of course there is, and it’s rather important,” Master Valentin said, smiling as he glanced at Fú Nī Yà.

“Magic is not merely knowledge from books; it is also a weapon for combat. I am pleased that you haven’t forgotten to learn so many spells while advancing your tier. Therefore, today I’ve prepared a practical combat training session for you.”

“Practical combat training? With whom?”

“With me.”

“Spar with you? You must be joking!” Fú Nī Yà’s face instantly paled, and she shook her head vehemently.

“You’re a legendary archmage! How could I possibly fight you? Even if you casually cast a Lightning Bolt, it would unleash the power of a thunderstorm!”

“Rest assured, I will only use spells you know and suppress my mana output to a second-tier level,” Master Valentin said, patting Fú Nī Yà’s head.

“If I were to bully you with legendary power, how could that achieve any training effect?”

“I see…” Fú Nī Yà breathed a sigh of relief, but the moment she felt the touch on her head, she instinctively slapped his hand away.

“Don’t touch my head!”

“Eh?” Master Valentin looked at his slapped-away right hand, completely bewildered.

“Uh… I’m sorry, Teacher,” Fú Nī Yà explained, her cheeks flushing as she realized what she had just done.

“Because of a certain someone, I’m a bit sensitive about having my head patted…”

“A certain someone? That boy Albert?” Master Valentin instantly realized whom Fú Nī Yà was referring to and inquired with a knowing smile.

“Certainly not!”

“Alright, alright… I understand.”

Seeing Fú Nī Yà’s strong reaction, Master Valentin, with his life experience, could hardly fail to guess there was something amiss.

He was, however, rather pleased by this development.

After all, the meat would remain within his own pot.

It was Albert, though, that he wondered if he was truly worthy of such a magical genius.

“Let’s not talk about that!” Fú Nī Yà quickly shook her head, changing the subject.

“Teacher, let’s start our sparring!”

“Then follow me.”

As Master Valentin spoke, he placed his left hand on Fú Nī Yà’s shoulder, then with a wave of his right hand, the two were transported from outside the mage tower’s meditation chamber to a place resembling a training ground.

This was the academy’s internal training ground, specifically designed for combat.

At this moment, many were engaged in sparring, with fireballs and wind blades flying haphazardly, but upon seeing Master Valentin and Fú Nī Yà arrive, the sounds of battle quickly ceased.

After all, these two were celebrities within the academy.

Master Valentin, of course, needed no introduction: Dean of the Arcane Branch, a legendary Conjuration Archmage, known to everyone in the magical world.

Fú Nī Yà also garnered considerable attention within the academy; being a half-elf, a maid, strikingly beautiful, and Master Valentin’s apprentice—all these characteristics combined made it difficult not to attract notice.

However, Fú Nī Yà’s SSS+ talent had not been leaked.

Superficially, she was merely Albert’s maid, possessing S+ potential, and Albert had used his connections to arrange for her to study under Master Valentin for a month.

Everyone in the training ground watched the pair curiously, unsure of what they were about to do.

Fú Nī Yà, however, paid no mind to their gazes; at this moment, she held her grimoire in her left hand, a magic staff in her right, and a mage robe draped over her shoulders, appearing fully armed.

“Then, Teacher, I’m coming!”

Before Fú Nī Yà’s words had even finished, she opened her grimoire with her left hand, and with a few simple incantations, a scorching fireball coalesced on her right-hand staff, hurtling towards Master Valentin.

Fireball was a first-tier Evocation spell, capable of summoning a head-sized fireball to attack enemies.

But the instant Fú Nī Yà unleashed the Fireball, a series of sharp spikes erupted from the ground, shooting straight for her feet.

“Instant cast?!” Fú Nī Yà exclaimed in surprise.

The essence of magic lay in using mana to draw upon the elements; chants and gestures were merely aids to achieve this.

If one could freely control mana, they could naturally cast spells without incantations.

Fú Nī Yà instinctively retreated, and the fireball, halfway to its target, dissipated as her concentration wavered.

Master Valentin then pressed his advantage.

Holding his grimoire in his left hand, he recited a simple incantation, and five more Earth Spikes assailed Fú Nī Yà from all directions.

Instinctively, Fú Nī Yà shrank back in fear.

Then, the Earth Spikes, a meter from her, were blocked by a transparent shield.

“Eh?”

Fú Nī Yà stared blankly at the scene, her mind momentarily empty, before Master Valentin’s voice reached her from ahead.

“A mage must anticipate the power of both their equipment and their enemy’s attacks. The shield on the mage robe I gave you can withstand energy attacks below the fifth tier, especially a first-tier spell like Earth Spike, which is only slightly more powerful than a Water Ball spell. You didn’t need to dodge it at all.”

“Oh, right… I guess so… heheh…” Fú Nī Yà chuckled awkwardly, her face tinged with embarrassment.

Master Valentin shook his head, offering another reminder.

“Also, what it can block does not include physical attacks.”

“I understand!” Fú Nī Yà nodded earnestly.

“Then, continue.”

Master Valentin said, then stealthily cast a spell: Light Refraction.

Having done this, Master Valentin stepped back two paces, watching Fú Nī Yà attack his illusion while simultaneously casting spells to counter her.

After about two or three minutes, Master Valentin nodded in satisfaction.

Although her combat experience was still somewhat lacking, her mana capacity and mastery of spells far surpassed that of ordinary mages.

Considering Fú Nī Yà would most likely serve as a court mage alongside Albert in the future, she wouldn’t require much adventuring, so a lack of combat experience wasn’t a major issue.

After all, what combat experience did one need to be a mobile artillery platform behind an army?

Master Valentin shifted his weight, preparing to conclude the battle.

He quietly moved beside Fú Nī Yà, suddenly appearing to snatch her grimoire.

“I wasn’t even there, look at what you’ve been hitting…”

“Eek!!!”

Master Valentin’s voice was cut off by Fú Nī Yà’s shriek.

A massive fireball was coalescing on Fú Nī Yà’s staff, and then she raised it, aiming to strike Master Valentin’s head!

Master Valentin’s robe shimmered with magical light, and a transparent shield appeared out of thin air, but Fú Nī Yà’s robe also flashed simultaneously.

The two shields clashed fiercely, emitting a shower of sparks before both deactivated.

In a moment of desperation, Master Valentin quickly waved his staff.

“Summon Shadow! Spatial Displacement!”

A shadow creature was thus summoned by Master Valentin ten meters away from them.

The next second, the space around the shadow creature subtly twisted, and it was transferred directly in front of Fú Nī Yà, while Master Valentin found himself in the shadow creature’s original position.

The shadow creature, summoned barely a second ago, stared blankly at the flaming staff hurtling towards its head.

“QAQ?”

The next second, it was smashed into an energy form and returned to its original plane.

It would likely take about twenty years to re-condense into a humanoid shape.

Master Valentin breathed a sigh of relief; he had nearly made a fool of himself.

Fú Nī Yà, too, regained her composure, looking at Master Valentin with an awkward expression.

“Um… Teacher…”

“You can still cast spells even after I took your grimoire?” Master Valentin asked, his face serious.

“How did you do that?”

“I memorized them…” Fú Nī Yà said, scratching her cheek.

“Memorized them?” Master Valentin couldn’t help but frown.

Memorizing spells? Was she that idle?

She should be doing something more meaningful with that time, otherwise, what was a grimoire for? To look pretty, or to serve as a notebook?

He himself could cast spells without a grimoire, just as he used spatial magic for travel daily, but those were skills honed through repeated use, not rote memorization.

“How many did you memorize?”

“All… I memorized all of them.”

“All of them!?” Master Valentin’s eyebrows shot up in exasperation.

“How long did it take?”

“About an hour, I guess…” Fú Nī Yà hugged her staff, her fingers intertwining, not understanding why Master Valentin was so angry.

After all, to her, memorizing spells only cost a few hundred skill points.

“…”

Master Valentin stared at Fú Nī Yà, an expression of speechlessness on his face.

His anger, however, had vanished.

He had thought Fú Nī Yà spent several days on it, only to find it was just an hour.

What more could he say? Only that she was indeed worthy of an SSS+ talent.

“Memorize them if you wish; your situation is quite unique…”

Ultimately, Master Valentin could only wave his hand in resignation.

“Oh.”

Why wasn’t he angry anymore?

Fú Nī Yà nodded, still puzzled. Just then, another voice came from beside them.

“Um… Excuse me… are you Miss Fú Nī Yà?”

Fú Nī Yà turned at the sound, seeing an unfamiliar woman, seemingly around twenty years old, standing not far away, looking at her and asking the question.