How could the other students possibly compare their learning to someone who could drink "Little Enlightenment Tea" at any time?
The reason Gaode felt it "wasn’t that difficult" wasn’t because he feared he couldn’t out-study the others despite having a Divine Skill. It was simply because taking classes required paying tuition. And the "tuition" for each course was by no means cheap; ten Gold Coins was merely the starting price!
Whether he could comprehend multiple elective courses was an issue that [Divine Guidance Skill+] could solve. But whether he could afford the fees for those courses was another matter entirely, and that particular issue was outside the scope of the [Divine Guidance Skill+]’s capabilities.
After finishing today’s Rune Science class, Gaode went to the dining hall and treated himself to a limited-edition specialty dish he hadn’t tasted in a long time. He considered it a nourishing brain-food supplement after overworking his mind.
Today’s specialty was a grilled shark steak, served with a side of asparagus and sliced tomatoes, and accompanied by a complimentary after-dinner dessert: a raisin shortbread cookie. It offered both novelty and flavor, but the price tag was twelve Silver Coins. Gaode had to grit his teeth hard before making up his mind to order a portion.
After finishing his meal, there was still some time before his afternoon class, Nolan Continent Geography and War Geography, began. Gaode returned to his dormitory first, took out the notes he had organized for the General Magic (0-3 Rings) Recognition and Medicinal Materials General Knowledge courses, and sat down in his Meditation Room.
With his Energy greatly restored, Gaode took a deep breath, cast another [Divine Guidance Skill+] on himself, and focused his attention on the materials. Very quickly, he once again entered that state of Flow where his heart and spirit were ethereal, and his mind was highly active.
In this state, the passage of time seemed to slow down. As he continuously flipped through the materials, the various knowledge points of the two courses flowed through his mind in rapid succession.
Time ticked by minute by minute.
One hour later.
His face filled with exhaustion, Gaode set down the materials in his hands, pulled out his waterskin, and took a fierce gulp of the Leakless Water fruit drink. Contrasting sharply with his tired expression was the boundless sense of satisfaction and joy filling his heart.
In just this single hour, Gaode felt he had memorized and understood more than he had in the previous half-month combined.
Of course, in his previous life, there existed a magical group of beings known as college students who could learn more in a day or two than they had in an entire semester—provided the prerequisite of "finals week" was met. But Gaode’s situation was different. He was achieving these miraculous results even after his previous studies had already been incredibly thorough and diligent.
Placing first in freshman credits? He suddenly felt that this achievement, which he had once considered a short-term goal, was now somewhat trivial. It had simply become too easy, and something that was too easily accomplished was no longer fit to be a goal.
Taking out his pocket watch for a glance, he saw it was only twelve-thirty in the afternoon. His afternoon class wouldn’t begin until two o’clock. Having cast [Divine Guidance Skill+] twice in a row to enter the Flow state, Gaode didn’t force himself to stay awake any longer. He chose to climb into bed and take a nap to restore his Energy.
Frost Mist Moon, 23rd.
Gaode once again knocked on Jose’s door. Under Jose’s utterly baffled and skeptical gaze, he took the initiative to request that his daily study load be doubled. Then, during the inspection later that same day, he completely won over the half-doubting Jose with an absolutely perfect performance.
Frost Mist Moon, 27th.
Under the dual boosts of the One Tier Cultivation Room and the Leakless Water, Gaode’s Guiding Technique ushered in its third minor breakthrough since he had entered Cyrus Academy. Following this breakthrough, his total Mana reserves were sufficient to support him casting eleven Tricks in a single breath.
Continuing to cultivate at this speed, Gaode roughly estimated that it would only take him about another year to bring his Apprentice Guidance Technique to Perfection. By then, he would only be fourteen or fifteen years old. Looking at it that way, couldn’t he be considered a genius?
Of course, the word "pseudo" had to be added in front of that genius title. This kind of pseudo-genius was especially common among the Nobility, simply because the resources a Noble Mage could enjoy far exceeded those available to Gaode. If even someone with Gaode’s lower-middle tier Mage talent could rapidly push his Guiding Technique cultivation to maximum progress while earning his own resources, it was naturally even less of a problem for a Noble Mage.
Then why did someone like Yulan, a fourteen-year-old 1st Ring Mage, still shock so many people?
The reason wasn’t complicated. While Guiding Technique progress could be rapidly stacked using resources, the Meditation Technique offered no such shortcuts! Methods to boost Meditation Technique cultivation progress were exceedingly rare in this world. Even a Noble Mage had no choice but to rely honestly on their own efforts.
Therefore, for the children of Nobility nourished by resources, bringing their Apprentice Guidance Technique to Perfection between the ages of thirteen and fifteen was incredibly common. However, due to lagging Meditation Technique progress, cases where they dragged their feet until well past the age of twenty before finally raising their Mage Level to Third-class Mage Apprentice were also everywhere to be seen.
For Gaode, however, this difficult problem wasn’t quite so daunting. His talent for cultivating the Meditation Technique far surpassed his talent for the Guiding Technique. As a result, even if his progress was delayed by the Meditation Technique after bringing his Guiding Technique to Perfection, it wouldn’t delay him for very long.
Frost Mist Moon, 28th.
Gaode arrived in front of Building 17 in the First District. This was where Jelica’s dormitory was located.
Most courses at Cyrus Academy began at the start of each month; very few started at the end of the month. Therefore, even though he currently had plenty of spare time and energy for studying, Gaode temporarily had no courses to choose from. He would have to wait until the Ice Seal Moon arrived.
But before that, he had to acquire enough money to pay for his upcoming course selection fees. Gaode’s savings were down to a mere 63 Gold Coins and 8 Silver Coins, which was entirely insufficient to support his grand ambitions.
Trying to earn a large sum of money in a short amount of time by taking on academy missions was clearly impossible. Gaode had thought about it carefully for a long time and realized that, for his current self, there was only one way out: selling the Leakless Water.
Although the Leakless Water fruit drink provided significant help to Gaode as well, under the present circumstances, converting it into money would clearly yield a greater return. And to sell the Leakless Water, the only channels Gaode could think of were Shadi and Jelica.
The former was also from the Mutual Aid Association, so she ought to be easy to talk to. However, gaining someone’s trust was a difficult problem. Additionally, members of the Mutual Aid Association didn’t necessarily have the spare cash to buy a fruit drink that, while useful, wasn’t an absolute necessity. After taking this into consideration, Gaode abandoned the Shadi channel.
As for the latter, firstly, she had already experienced the wondrous effects of the Leakless Water and had conducted a "transaction" with him before. She could be considered an old customer; no further introductions were needed, making it convenient and hassle-free. Secondly, Jelica was rich! She was a true wealthy young lady. Only someone sufficiently affluent would be willing to spend money on a non-essential item like the Leakless Water.
Thus, after packing up his remaining Leakless Water fruit drinks, Gaode came to call on Jelica at her door for the first time.
Two gallons of Leakless Water, after being brewed, produced roughly two gallons and four pints (about twelve liters) of fruit drink. One needed to consume seven ounces (about 0.2 liters) of the fruit drink a day to fully utilize the Leakless Water’s effects; drinking more wouldn’t enhance the benefits any further.
One gallon converted to eight pints. Gaode had consumed around six pints of the fruit drink over the past few days, leaving fourteen pints remaining. Based on one day’s usage equaling one portion, this could be seen as forty-two portions.
He had previously given Jelica a small flask containing nearly one pint of the fruit drink, for which she had paid a purchase price of 10 Gold Coins. By this rough calculation, if he could sell all of these remaining fourteen pints of fruit drink to Jelica, it would bring Gaode an income of around 140 Gold Coins.