Elite Mages’ Academy (Web Novel)

Chapter 180: Freedom of Classes

“SS-rank talents are different from normal talents. Just like I said, on Planet Norma, talents are considered blessings from God, and can be leveled up through repeated use, just like leveling up skills, but that’s not the case for SS-rank talents.”

The dean smiled as he continued, “The research we have regarding SS-rank talents is limited to Ivanovich all those years ago, especially since the Russians started to conceal their information later on. SS-rank talents need to be leveled up with outside help. As for what the outside help is, the other academies are left in the dark, even the Russians all those years ago needed four to five years to find a way.”

“How about Judge Academy?” Xiao Lin asked.

“Judge Academy did not announce anything publicly, but I had some inside information. They initially wanted to research it themselves, but lacked any progress for half a year, so they finally had a secret deal with the Russians, paying a hefty price for this list of items.”

Xiao Lin was ecstatic. He finally realized the dean’s good intentions. The list was definitely what he needed most at the time. If not for the Americans digging a hole for themselves, Dawn Academy would probably have needed to pay quite a price for the list.

“How do I use it then? Are these materials hard to obtain?” Xiao Lin was clueless in this field, and could not help but worry if any of the materials were overly expensive.

The dean smiled. “The most expensive part of this list is the list itself. The materials are all common items, and the academy can afford to pay for you. I’ll get the academy to prepare and concoct it for you. I’ll be in school these few days to handle this, and your primary task for the next half a month will be this as well.”

Xiao Lin was about to say something but the dean raised his hand to stop him. “One other thing, thanks to the uniqueness of your talent, the courses in school aren’t that meaningful for you. I’ve considered it for a while, but I’ll allow you to attend classes as you wish. From tomorrow onward, any class from the first to fourth year will be available for you to pick and choose for your attendance.”

The dean once again gave him a surprise, which caused Xiao Lin to not even know how to react. The freedom to pick his own classes, Song Junlang had helped him obtain something similar before, which allowed him to avoid the forced nature of the school curriculum. What the dean gave him was even better, allowing him to attend any class he wanted to in the school.

At the same time, Xiao Lin could not help but worry. “Wouldn’t that cause some objections?”

The dean laughed imperiously, “Of course! Not just objections, the lecturers will probably be trying to break down my door when it happens, but what of it? This is a right that I gave myself. Who would dare oppose it in this school?!”

“Sir, you’re probably recommending that I attend more classes, right?” Xiao Lin felt like there was a hidden meaning to this.

The dean once again raised his hand. “You don’t have to ask me. I won’t and can’t give you any recommendations. Every SS-rank talent is unique and there are no prior examples. The only thing I can give you is freedom, and I hope to see the results in half a month.”

The third monthly examination was in half a month. Xiao Lin now realized that the dean had no intentions of delaying the exam, but it was fine. He had absolute confidence in his own skill.

The dean’s eyes were sharp, and he quickly guessed what Xiao Lin was thinking, “Even though I can give you all the convenience in the world in the academy, that hinges on the condition that it does not break any rules. Examinations, including the monthly examinations, will be indiscriminate. The map for this coming exam was personally chosen by myself; it will be very difficult, so you should be prepared. Even though your value to Dawn Academy is considerable, I won’t lower my expectations of you, nor will I spoon feed you. Your path can only be determined by yourself!”

After that, the dean’s expression grew stricter.

Xiao Lin stared and realized the dean was definitely not joking, but he acknowledged his good intentions. He did have the SS-rank Academic Genius talent, but it required him to work hard in order to unleash its true potential.

The conversation was at an end, and it was already late at night when Xiao Lin left the dean’s tower. He did not realize it was so late, since the conversation was quite enjoyable. The dean was very different from the powerful and detached leadership figure he had imagined.

Xiao Lin still had a lot of questions that went unanswered, such as those regarding Ivanovich and the high priest, but the dean did not go deep into those topics. Those matters would not have anything to do with him for a while. To Xiao Lin, the most important task at hand was to improve himself quickly.

What caused him to relax was the fact that he finally understood the attitude the dean and the school had toward him. Even if the dean did not say it outright, he now knew that the dean was standing behind him. It was impossible not to be pleased with that fact.

Xiao Lin did not hurry to bed when he got back to the dormitory. Instead, he opened the list of classes. The courses for the first year did not change much, since the first few months were all filled with basic courses. However, since Xiao Lin had obtained the freedom to attend any classes he wanted, his options widened.

He was initially confused as to why the dean would open up all four years of courses to him in one go, because skills were like a large branching tree, and most skills were connected to each other. If the prerequisites were not mastered, it would be impossible to learn anything more complicated.

However, he had a moment of realization when he opened the second year courses. In it, he saw courses like Basic Medicinal Studies and Basic Alchemy, whereas the third year classes had basic courses such as Basic Dragish.

The dean might not have said that he needed to take those courses, but just gave him a wider array of options, unrestricted by the limitations placed by the school’s rigid systems.

“I need to hurry up and improve!”

Xiao Lin had gained a lot of determination thanks to the dean’s support, especially after he realized how weak he was in The Final Land. The feeling that his life was in someone else’s hands was a terrible one. As fellow SS-rank talents, the gap between him and Lilith was too wide.

“In half a month, I will raise Academic Genius to level two, and then it’s Black Iron-rank we go!”

Xiao Lin set the goal for himself. When he recalled that the map for this next examination was chosen personally by the dean, he realized in great anticipation that the exam would be exceptionally difficult.