Although the blonde writer, Miss Dorothy Louisa, had also arrived, the Academy would still deliver the items Shade needed to collect after his enrollment at the scheduled time. Therefore, the four of them still had half an hour to continue chatting before that.
As the nominal leader of the correspondence Ring-術士 group, Dr. Schneider was happy to pick up the conversation.
Because of this, Shade learned more common knowledge about Ring-術士. For instance, under normal circumstances, coming into contact with an unfamiliar [Relic] would not immediately trigger a prompt from "the other me." Therefore, relying on "the other me" to locate relics was an unrealistic expectation; the identification of [Relics] was a key research focus of the Library Management major.
Shade was clearly not normal.
【Outsider, your soul is exceptionally sensitive to the four elements, which is why you can easily make me distinguish relics. This is not my specialty; it is yours.】
The whispering voice in his ear explained it this way. Shade initially thought it was an excuse, but as he pondered it, he felt this explanation made a lot of sense.
Even he himself was unsure whether the specialty of "the other me" was truly special, or if it was special because he was an Outsider.
The middle name "Sullen" could be explained by the other party having learned his core runes in advance; the "Northern Common Language Starter Pack" provided could also be explained by the other party having obtained the incomplete memories of the original owner that he himself had not received, due to the nature of "the other me"; the warning about the ring was simply because she had discovered that peculiar relic.
Thinking this way, Shade himself became confused.
"Wait, why is your voice female?"
Shade was almost confused by his own train of thought.
【Perhaps, even you cannot fully understand your own personality.】
"Don't talk nonsense."
Shade took this as the other party implying that he was somewhat effeminate.
Aside from the fact that relics could not be easily discovered, Shade also learned that Dr. Schneider's group usually met on Saturday afternoons to share learning experiences, ask questions, and communicate with the Academy through the doctor's manuscript pages.
Even without these urgent matters, they could share intelligence, exchange items, or complain about the heavy academic workload. The latter was usually the main content.
The group did not impose mandatory tasks on its members, but if someone needed help—such as with Academy tasks that could earn practical credits—the others had to consider whether they had the time to assist immediately.
Seeing that ten o'clock was approaching, everyone cleared the coffee table and let Dr. Schneider place the manuscript page of the Poet-level relic there. When the grandfather clock in the corner began to chime for the first time at ten, the light on the page flickered, and a parchment scroll, rolled into a tube and tied with a red ribbon, appeared.
Shade quickly picked it up, pulled the ribbon, and unrolled the scroll. This was Shade's first-year correspondence training program.
St. Byrons Academy usually held grade promotion assessments at the end of every winter. Since Shade enrolled in the summer, it was impossible for him to complete all his studies this year, so it would likely take him more than a year and a half to finish the courses on his customized training program.
"Actually, the first year usually takes 1 to 3 years to complete, as these are foundational courses. Oh, you're going to be busy."
Father August sat beside Shade, so he clearly saw the list of required first-year courses Shade needed to complete on the training program
"Herbs We Know" "Basic Potions" "Introduction to Elementary Alchemy" "Introduction to Astronomy" "Introduction to Occultism and Rituals" "Basic Theory of Spirit Runes (Part I)" "Basic Ring-術士 Course - Thaumaturgy" "Basic Ring-術士 Course - Sorcery" "Introduction to Ancient Languages (5th Epoch 0~2000)" "Introduction to Ancient Languages (5th Epoch 2000~4000)" "Introduction to Ancient Languages (5th Epoch 4000~5793)" "Ancient Literature" (Serious Literature, Popular Literature, Other; choose one. Must be completed before the fifth year.) "Folklore, Religion, and Civilization" "History (I)" "Basic Theory of Time Travel" (Core Academic Course) "Practical Training in Time Travel" (Core Academic Course) "Containment and Management of Relics" (Core Academic Course) "Basic Theology (Part I)" "History of St. Byrons Comprehensive Academy and General Education"
There were 19 required courses in total, totaling 53 credits. By the end of this year, Shade would only need to earn 15 credits to pass the year-end assessment and continue his first-year studies in the second year.
The books that were delivered afterward exceeded 100 volumes, including textbooks, required reading materials, and some supplementary course literature.
Shade, along with the other three, kept taking the textbooks that appeared from the manuscript page and piling them aside.
Watching the height of the "mountain of books" continue to grow, the anxiety the Outsider felt about his future life suddenly vanished. It was as if he had returned to his hometown, back to his school days.
"How is it? The 50-pound tuition is worth it, right? These required courses are tailored for you by the school and are quite foundational, after all, the first year is for building a foundation. But don't worry, except for the core academic courses, you have three chances to fail the assessments for other courses. If you fail three times, you must postpone the assessment for a year and pay the tuition again; you won't be expelled."
Old Father August thought Shade was intimidated by the sheer number of books, so he comforted him. In this era of steam and industry, the illiteracy rate remained high, and as an ordinary citizen, one would likely never encounter so many books in a lifetime, which was why the priest comforted the "inexperienced" young detective.
However, what the Outsider was familiar with was precisely this kind of life.
Shade's 19 required first-year courses required submitting several papers or course assignments after self-study, and some required exams or practical assessments.
The year-end assessments were all at the end of the year, but the exam seasons were in late July (summer) and December (winter). If Shade's learning progress was fast, he could also pass some exams at the end of July, a month later.
The above only covered the required courses for a correspondence Ring-術士. To complete a full year of studies, one also needed to earn enough practical credits.
The practical credit requirement for the first year was 40 credits, but the School of History had strict regulations regarding the source of these 40 credits. At least 10 of them had to come from "Time Exploration" activities.
The School of History was the department with the fewest students at St. Byrons Comprehensive Academy, and most students transferred in during their senior years.
This was because the core of the School of History relied on time travel using the [Time Key], a relic of the Old God [Father of the Infinite Tree], which required spirit runes related to the concept of time.
Shade's core academic course, "Practical Training in Time Travel," involved using a key provided by the Academy to perform a time travel under supervision, which would complete the course upon submitting a report. However, performing a nearly completely safe time travel through the course would not earn practical credits.
If one found or purchased [Time Keys] of varying levels from the Academy on their own and could bring back valuable information, history, or knowledge, they would receive high practical credits and other rewards, such as relics, thaumaturgy or sorcery collected in the Great Library of St. Byrons, or precious knowledge.
Therefore, the School of History and the School of Library Management, with their time travel and relic containment, could be considered the easiest departments to earn practical credits and Academy rewards.
"Although these basic courses look complicated, once you get started, you'll find they aren't very difficult. Look, this is the list of elective courses you are allowed to choose from."
After the 100+ books were finally all delivered, a brand-new parchment scroll appeared on the table. The doctor helped Shade open it, took a glance, and then shoved it to him
"Elective credits can be converted; 10 points convert to 1 practical credit. And these elective courses are the truly valuable ones—the real skills of those professors. Of course, elective courses cost gold pounds."
"Elective courses cost gold pounds?"
Shade was startled, then immediately realized this was not the world of the past. Besides, even in the world of the past, while elective courses in his hometown were free, elective courses in some schools in Western countries also required payment.
PS: You can guess whether Shade's "the other me" is truly special, or if it is special because of the Outsider's soul, or perhaps both.
(End of chapter)