"Elian Rayner, what time is it now?" Teacher Xiu looked at me with eyes full of anger.
"Ah! Teacher, why are you here? I'm sorry, I, I got up late this morning!"
Because I was really afraid of this terrifying teacher today, I wandered around the school gate for a long time and didn't dare to go in. Unexpectedly, he came out. I'm in big trouble now.
Sure enough, "Got up late? Then you must not be in good spirits. The most important thing for a mage is spiritual cultivation. You need to refresh yourself first. Immediately run around the academy 5 times to sober up."
There was no other way. I had to run. I started walking slowly.
"In my name, Xi Yu. Xiu, heed my call. Appear, my servant—Light Tiger."
This is a level 5 phantom beast. (Every person learning magic has their own phantom beast, and they can have multiple. Summoning multiple phantom beasts at once consumes a lot of mental power.)
"Elian, you'd better run quickly. If you're caught up, you know what will happen."
Looking at the Light Tiger, which was 4 or 5 times bigger than me, baring its teeth at me. I immediately used all my strength and rushed forward as fast as I could. The Light Tiger followed me at a leisurely pace. If I slowed down a bit, a Light Arrow (the only offensive spell in primary and intermediate light magic, level 2) would fly over, scaring me into speeding up immediately.
I'm so miserable!
Finally, I finished this journey that felt like the Long March to me. Surprisingly, Teacher Xiu kindly let me rest for 15 minutes.
Sigh, why is my life so hard?
"Alright, have you rested enough? Now let's see what you've learned before. What magic do you know, Elian?"
"I, I can cast Illumination."
"What else?"
"Nothing else."
"You only learned Illumination in two years."
Then, Teacher Xiu asked me many basic magic knowledge and some brain teasers. Of course, my basic magic knowledge was a mess. I mostly slept in class. But I answered the brain teasers very well. After all, I'm still very smart.
Teacher Xiu looked at me for a full 2 minutes and sighed deeply.
"How did I meet such a lazy student? No wonder Teacher Lin asked me to discipline you strictly. Although I knew your grades were always at the bottom, I didn't expect you to be this bad. Alright, class is over for today. Don't be late tomorrow morning." He was helpless with such an underachiever like me.
What? Class is over already? Is he being this nice? It's still morning.
"By the way, I'll leave you some homework." With that, he handed me two thick books.
I took them and looked. One was titled "Basic Magic Knowledge" and the other was "Light Magic Primary Spells and Explanations." What's this for? I looked at him in confusion.
"Tomorrow, you need to memorize 'Basic Magic Knowledge' thoroughly to make up for the knowledge you missed before. I don't want my student to be worse than others. The other book is your textbook for later. You can read it too. Alright, go home."
"Teacher, do I have to memorize the entire 'Basic Magic Knowledge' book??" I still held onto a glimmer of hope.
"Of course. I'll check tomorrow. If you want to play with the Light Tiger, you can choose not to memorize it."
With that, Teacher Xiu turned around and went back to the teacher's office, leaving me in a daze.
What kind of teacher is this? He's simply a devil. Making me memorize a 300-400 page book in one day.
The weather is really nice today, sunny and windless, which is in stark contrast to my current mood.
When I got home, mom and dad weren't there. They both went to work. (Dad is a blacksmith, and mom is a healer in the village.)
I took out "Basic Magic Knowledge" and flipped through it. Although I'm very lazy, when I thought about the devil's punishment this morning... My legs are still cramping. I have to memorize it. What else can I do...
The sun gradually set. Through my unremitting efforts, I finally memorized 10 pages. Only 10 pages. When will I finish memorizing the whole book?
"Oh, who's back so early?" Mom, who usually comes back the earliest, was home.
"Me."
Hearing my listless voice, mom quickly came over.
"Baby son, why are you back so early? What's wrong? You look so listless. Did you make a mistake and get scolded by the teacher?"
"No, mom." Thinking about my almost impossible homework, I threw myself into mom's arms and couldn't help crying. After all, I'm only 7 years old. Mom hugged me and asked:
"What's wrong? Tell mom quickly. Did someone bully you?"
"Yes, yes. Mom, my new teacher is so annoying. The homework he left me is impossible to finish, and he even physically punished me."
"Huh! What homework? How did the teacher physically punish you?"
I hesitated and told her what happened at school today.
"Elian, this is your fault. Although mom knew you didn't study very well before, I didn't expect you to be this bad. You didn't even learn the basic knowledge in two years. The teacher did the right thing. You little lazybones, you really need a strict teacher to discipline you. Mom and dad have spoiled you too much."
"What your mom said is right. Let dad see your homework. How impossible is it?"
Dad was back too.
After seeing my homework, dad laughed.
"My silly son, you're usually so smart. Why are you being stupid now? Although this book is thick, you don't have to memorize it word for word. Let your mom cook first, and dad will tutor you." Then, dad started teaching me how to complete this impossible homework.
"Elian, look. This part mainly talks about the principle of magic application. In our world, there are many elements. There are 6 basic elements, as you know. How can we cast magic? We need to communicate well with them, make the elements you want to use recognize you, gather around you, and then use spells to transform the gathered magic elements into the effect you want. That's magic. Look."
"In my name, Leo. Wei, wind elements, heed my call. Come to my side and protect your friend—Wind Shield." Dad explained while using practical examples to inspire me. He divided the whole book into several parts, each with its main content. Then he explained the principle of each part combined with reality. Through dad's guidance, I, who am smart, immediately found the trick and gradually became interested in magic.
...
"Alright, it's already very late. Let's finish the rest tomorrow morning, okay?"
"Okay, dad. I didn't expect magic to be like this." Having accepted a lot of magic knowledge, I couldn't help getting lost in the ocean of magic. (The knowledge I accepted in one night was more than what I learned in the past two years of muddling along.)
"Elian, it's mom and dad's fault before. We didn't care enough about your studies. Dad will tutor you often in the future. Our Elian will definitely become an excellent mage."
Dad patted my head and looked at me kindly.
"Dad, I will study magic hard."
The Son of Light made a bold vow that he didn't know if he could keep. But he really did it during his subsequent primary magic studies. (But he was forced. With Xi Yu. Xiu around, if he didn't study hard, wow...)