Emerald Heart Bar.
Furan took a seat opposite Elan, who spoke up.
"Hey, isn't this the rising star of the Sword Chant School? What brings you to my place?"
Furan's face darkened as she retorted.
"I told you, I turned down the Sword Chant School's invitation. I'm still just an apprentice for now."
But Elan looked even more surprised than her, his smile fading.
"You didn't join the Sword Chant School?"
"Yeah, is there a problem?"
Elan pushed his glass to the side and cleared his throat before saying:
"I'm starting to doubt if you even want to become a Formal Mage anymore."
"Can't I become a Formal Mage without joining a School?"
Elan continued:
"It's not that, but even if you use other methods to become a Formal Mage, you'll find that you can't progress any further."
"The Schools don't just control the methods of advancement; they have an even tighter grip on the path beyond that."
Furan noticed a certain premise in his words and asked:
"Boss, you seem to know a lot about the Schools?"
"I used to be in a School myself."
Furan's eyes lit up as she followed up:
"Then could you tell me which School you joined? Introduce it to me. Who knows, maybe I'll join your School?"
Furan had been looking into other Schools these past few days, wanting to understand what they were like so she could make a choice.
However, she had been rebuffed at every turn; the sectarianism of these Schools was at an absolute peak.
Except for a few well-known ones, like the Construction School, Alchemy School, and Elemental School... other Schools didn't even make their names public. Furan had spent ages finding a School name only to not even know if the School actually existed.
Under these circumstances, it was impossible for Furan to learn about the inner workings of a School or what Spells they possessed.
In her final effort, she had asked Bella, who had joined the Sword Chant School, to inquire about what other Schools were like.
The result left Furan disappointed.
According to the response, even High-level Apprentices like them didn't know how many Schools there might be. There was basically no communication normally, and their mentors didn't educate them on what other Schools were like.
The only way they could learn about other Schools was by seeing their members during the apprentice Assessment, but they didn't even know what Spells the people from other Schools were casting.
So, hearing that Elan was also a member of a certain School, Furan hurried to ask. Perhaps it would be a good fit for her?
Elan chuckled and said:
"It's called the Edict School. As for joining, forget about it; they won't be recruiting for several years."
A question mark flashed in Furan's mind. She wanted to ask about the specifics of this School, but seeing the 'I'm not saying anything' look in Elan's eyes, she stopped herself.
"Actually, you should just join the Sword Chant School. I think it's the one that suits you best."
Furan didn't quite agree with that idea. She was thinking that with her game panel, there were two paths for learning Spells.
First was broad learning. She was certain that once various Spells reached mastery, they would more or less grant some attributes or a [Trait].
If she maintained every Spell at a certain level and then practiced a few favorites, wouldn't she be incredibly powerful?
Second was choosing a powerful School, either because its Spells were inherently strong, or because its Spells had some chemical reaction with her game panel, allowing her to do things others couldn't.
But this line of thinking was being stifled by the current state of rampant sectarianism on this continent.
However, Furan wasn't actually in a hurry. She would take her time to understand things first; joining a School on a whim might lead to regret.
In this world, there was no option to quit after joining a School. So, if you saw someone from another School using a powerful or cool Spell and wanted to learn it, that would be impossible.
So her plan was to wait and bide her time, slowly seeing what other Schools were like before making a decision.
At the latest, she would join a School before next year's Assessment, so she could participate and gain something from it.
Her combat power was already quite exaggerated; she didn't know what level she would reach by next year's Assessment.
"Oh! I'll keep looking. What if another School suits me better?"
Elan said earnestly:
"You absolutely must join a School as soon as possible. Don't think you can get a good rank in the Assessment just by relying on your own Spells."
"The unique Spells and techniques of the various Schools provide a massive boost to every apprentice."
"The sooner you join, the sooner you can learn those powerful Spells."
Furan knew this too, but she stuck to her guns, wanting to see what each School was like before deciding.
"By the way."
Furan remembered something she wanted to ask about.
"Boss, do you know the term Spirit Realm?" To avoid drawing attention, she only mentioned the first two characters of that item to see if she could find related information using the keyword.
Elan's brow twitched as he replied:
"It seems you're quite serious about becoming a Formal Mage if you even know about that."
Elan took a sip of the water in his glass and continued:
"Perhaps you already know, but this is also a path to becoming a Formal Mage."
"Advancing through the Spirit Realm is a method more popular in other regions of the Alliance; it's not very common around here."
"I don't remember many specifics. If you want to know more, I recall you're about to choose your courses. Sign up for that 'Spirit Realm Inquiry' class. The Teacher for that course is a Formal Mage who advanced through that method. You can learn about it there."
Furan committed these words to heart. This was crucial information. Spirit Realm Inquiry—she would remember that course.
Furan was very happy to hear so much useful information here and stood up, ready to leave.
"Wait, don't leave yet."
"What is it?"
"You came here just to chat with me?"
"Of course. I came to ask about some things. Now that I'm done asking, why wouldn't I leave?"
Elan wore an exasperated expression and stood up, gesturing for Furan to follow him.
They went to the place where they had first discussed 'business'.
"I say, do you really not care about the potion business? Something this big happened, and you didn't come to see me immediately."
"I thought you were busy with School matters and couldn't attend to things here."
"But you came here this time and didn't even mention the potion situation. That's just ridiculous!"
Elan complained to Furan in the secret room, and Furan realized she really hadn't taken the matter to heart.
Furan asked sheepishly:
"Is it the news about the Apothecary Association going bankrupt? I already knew that. Wasn't the Assessment closed..."
Elan looked shocked again and said helplessly:
"That was days ago. The current situation is much more important than that. Several new associations have been established."