Gloria stared at these symbols. She just felt that these strange symbols were fluttering back and forth in front of her. After looking at them for a short while, she got a headache. "Isn't this really the difficult part?" She turned her head and looked at Aurelio.
Aurelio replied, "Actually, it is."
"But you just said it was just the basics!"
"Being basic doesn't mean it's not difficult." Aurelio answered. He had an excellent memory when he was a child, so it wasn't a difficult task for him to remember this set of strange letters. However, for some other newly admitted students, it was not that easy. Some apprentices encountered difficulties as soon as they came into contact with this. They were like being stuck in a quagmire. There were definitely quite a number of them who eventually left the academy and bid farewell to magic for the rest of their lives.
Seeing Gloria's distressed expression, he felt a bit uneasy again. Only then did he start to worry that the female knight would also become one of those who gave up halfway.
"Starting right off with the difficult part..." Gloria sighed. "There must be something wrong with this teaching method."
"It's not starting right off," Aurelio replied.
"Isn't it?"
"Of course not." Aurelio replied, "No matter what is being taught, the content of the first class is pretty much the same. I overheard those who studied law and those who studied alchemy. They would all tell some outrageous examples at the beginning to arouse people's interest in what they were going to learn."
Gloria nodded again and said, "Yes, I was already interested after watching you cast spells before. So you skipped this part, right? Anyway, I really don't understand. If a person sees a mage casting spells, how can they still resist? I'm talking about those... old fogies. Is it because they're too old to learn new knowledge?"
"Probably." He stared at Gloria and said, "Let's continue looking."
However, Gloria replied, "No need. I've already memorized them."
Aurelio was startled and asked, "Are you sure? You've only looked at them a few times."
"Of course I'm sure!" Gloria replied. "I have a very good memory, especially for patterns like these. Maybe it's because I like painting."
Aurelio said, "Let's go back to the hall. I'll get you some paper and pens, and you can write them down silently."
Gloria shook her head and said, "You've put in so much effort teaching me here. I should do the same."
"Don't ask for trouble."
"You should tell yourself that too." Gloria smiled and said, "Come on, right here." As she said that, she took the branch from the other person's hand. The two of them walked a few steps away, and Gloria crouched down and started writing with the branch.
Aurelio's eyes followed the branch in Gloria's hand, and he saw the letters on the soil appearing one by one. It was as if she had already imprinted the Elvish words in her mind and only needed to transfer them to the ground one by one. It took her fifteen minutes to write down all twenty-two letters without any mistakes or omissions. Even the thickness of the strokes was almost exactly the same as what the teacher had demonstrated.
Aurelio raised his hands and clapped, praising, "Amazing." He remembered the situation when he was first learning—he hadn't done better than her.
Gloria was stunned for a moment and then asked, "Is there anything wrong with what I wrote silently?"
"No. You've easily overcome the first difficulty," Aurelio said.
After hearing the other party's response, Gloria lowered her head and secretly smiled. She had some expectation that perhaps she had already taken the first step and was getting closer to catching up with her father and brother.
"Truly worthy of being from Irega." Aurelio sighed in his heart.
Gloria's hometown, Irega, was an extremely beautiful city that had given birth to and attracted many painters. There was a strong artistic atmosphere there. Growing up in such an environment and being frequently exposed to paintings would surely be beneficial to one's memory of shapes and patterns. "And her brother, Tiziano, is not only a knight but also a painter. Maybe this is an inherited talent in the family?"
Aurelio turned to Gloria and said, "The first class is over. Class is dismissed."
Gloria didn't answer but just pretended to be reluctant.
He further explained, "Don't be eager for quick success. Give yourself more time to sort things out so that you can remember them better."
Gloria nodded and said, "I understand." As soon as she finished speaking, her eyes began to focus on the alphabet again. She didn't want to take a break for a moment, as if she would feel guilty if she didn't keep busy.
In her, Aurelio seemed to see himself when he first entered school. But he quickly shook his head and thought, "I'm not as great as the teacher. She might... waste her talent by learning from me."
Thinking this, he walked towards the shade of the tree in the corner. Gloria's smooth progress only gave him a temporary sense of relief. "This is completely by chance." He thought to himself, "I didn't have any proper plan in the first place. It all relied on her amazing talent. I can't just muddle along. I have to think again about how to teach her in the future."
He stood under the shade of the tree and thought for a moment. Then the female knight came over. "It's so hot. I can't stand it anymore," Gloria said.
Aurelio nodded and took out a piece of thin cotton cloth from his arms. He flattened the cotton cloth and spread it on the ground, then asked the female knight to sit down and rest. The piece of cotton was a little over a foot square, just enough for her to sit alone.
Aurelio himself stood more than a foot away. Because the shade of the tree was large enough, he wouldn't be exposed to the sun even so.
It was approaching noon, and the cloud cover gradually decreased while the sun became more and more fierce. In the past few days, the weather in Wintona and its surrounding areas had been unusually hot. The sunlight could almost scorch a person's body. It was only June, and it hadn't reached the hottest season yet. In Aurelio's impression, even in Serencia in the south and even Laia further south, such weather was rare in June.
The cicadas were chirping tirelessly on the trees, and the people hiding under the trees were unbearably annoyed, yet there was nothing they could do. Even if they escaped the scorching sun, the hot air around them was unbearable. Gloria took out a fan from somewhere and fanned vigorously.
Every noble lady and woman would carry a fan like this with them. Whenever the weather was hot, they would take it out and shake it gently while maintaining an elegant posture. But this female knight was different. She ignored elegance and could only fan as hard as she could. Just because she was born at the foot of the snow-capped mountains in Irega where the weather was cool, it was difficult for her to withstand such heat. Her face was flushed red from the heat, and beads of sweat rolled down her cheeks.
Just when she was getting restless, Aurelio handed an icicle into her hand. The length and thickness of the icicle were close to a human forearm. It was exposed to the air, emitting cold air. After thanking him hurriedly, she took it and put it directly on her face.
"It's really convenient to be able to use magic." Gloria said with a smile. She enjoyed this cold gift and became more curious about magic. She began to hope that she could learn more magic, whether it was used on the battlefield or in daily life.
Gloria hugged the ice cube and pressed her red cheek against it for just a moment, feeling relieved from the bottom of her heart. She turned her head, looked at Aurelio, and asked, "Aren't you hot?" After that, she handed the icicle back.
With her personality, she didn't want to keep anything to herself, and Aurelio knew that very well. So he whispered a spell and prepared a similar icicle for himself.
Upon seeing this, the female knight nodded gently to express satisfaction and then asked, "I'm a little thirsty. Can I eat this ice?"
"Of course," Aurelio replied, "There is no cleaner water in the world."
After getting a positive answer, Gloria brought the ice cube to her mouth. She avoided the part stained by her own sweat and stuck out her tongue to lick it gently.
Aurelio turned his head and stared at her. Her face was sweaty and still slightly red, her tongue stuck out from time to time to lick the ice cube, her eyes were slightly narrowed, and she had a contented look on her face, just like the clingy cat in the college. Almost unconsciously, he stretched out his right hand and touched Gloria's head.
"Hmm?" The female knight asked, and then she was stunned. After a moment, she realized that something was wrong. She shouted "Ah" and then jumped up from the ground.
Gloria stood there in astonishment, and the ice cube almost dropped out of her hands in surprise. Her face turned red all the way to her ears, and she couldn't say anything for a while. After nearly two minutes, she was able to speak, but she still stammered, "You... you... what... are you... doing?"
Aurelio knew that he had done something inappropriate, so he turned his back and apologized softly.
"No... it's okay." Gloria said and also turned her back. She felt that her face was even hotter than before. With her red face and dark green hair, she looked like a tomato. She put the ice cube on her face, but her face became even hotter.
The awkward atmosphere continued as the two stood back to back, silently, for several minutes. Only then did Gloria find a topic to relieve the embarrassment: "Let me see the magic you designed."
"Okay." Aurelio replied simply. In the previous few minutes, he had also been looking for a suitable topic like the other person. He was relieved that the other party spoke before him.
He chanted a difficult-to-pronounce spell in a low voice, and it took less than a second to complete the spell. As the last syllable blurted out, a dazzling golden ball of light had already been generated in his left palm. He left the ball of light in his palm for the female knight to see.
Gloria bent down and moved in front of the light ball to observe. After saying, "It's so bright," she closed her eyes and looked away. This flashing ball of light was too dazzling, even in the daytime. When she closed her eyes, a speck remained in her vision.
Aurelio looked at her sideways and saw her eyes open, so he said, "Stand back a little." He waved his left hand, and the ball of light flew out of his hand and flew straight to the courtyard wall a dozen steps away. More than a second later, the ball of light hit the courtyard wall and then disappeared silently.
"Well, I saw it!" Gloria said with a smile, "But how powerful it is, I really want to know."
"This can't be tested at the moment," Aurelio replied.
"This... but it's really difficult to recite the spell!" Gloria sighed again, "It's too difficult to pronounce! This spell sounds like it has to make... more than ten tones? How can you finish it in one second? How long does it take to practice to be so skilled?"
"You don't need to be particularly fluent," Aurelio shook his head and reiterated, "Too much emphasis on pronunciation will only be counterproductive. The most important thing is to make your thinking smooth." After that, he crouched down and wrote the entire spell on the dirt in the shade of the tree. "Try reading it."
Gloria nodded reluctantly and then began to read in a low voice with some apprehension. She knew all these letters and hadn't forgotten their pronunciation, but the combination made her feel strangely strange. She just felt that when she was reciting, she often had wonderful feelings in her mind. She just felt that she was lacking in words and didn't know how to describe it.
She read several times in succession, but was forced to interrupt because of lack of breath. Because she couldn't read the complete spell for more than ten times in a row, she became a little impatient and sighed, "It's really difficult!" But she was obviously unwilling to give up like this. The more unsatisfactory things were, the more her competitive spirit was inspired. However, this kind of competitiveness might not be a good thing. Her speaking speed was getting faster and faster, and naturally, she made more mistakes.
Aurelio noticed her anxiety and whispered to comfort her, saying, "Slow down a little and give yourself time to think."
The female knight was experiencing the same situation as he did back then. And his teacher had also comforted him in this way. "It's really the same thing." He thought with a solemn expression, "But if a different situation occurs, can I handle it?"
Gloria nodded and said, "Well, I'll try to go slower." She crouched on the ground and gently pinched her calf with her right hand. Every time she couldn't control her speaking speed, she would twist two fingers of her right hand on her leg.
After leaving four or five bruises on her white calves, she finally read the entire spell correctly. "It's really not easy." She wiped the sweat from her forehead with a relaxed smile on her face.
"It's already very good," Aurelio praised again.
"Thank... thank you." Gloria was a little at a loss for a moment. She didn't understand the person in front of her. In the past, his words were rarely filled with emotion, but today he was uncharacteristically complimenting her several times. "What's going on?" She speculated and then remembered the gentle caress on her head, and her face became hot again.
She quickly shook her head and pinched her legs to stop her unnecessary thinking. "Stop thinking nonsense! He praised me just because I made good progress. There must be no other meaning!" She yelled to herself in her heart.
She devoted her attention entirely to the practice of the spell. She repeated it dozens of times, licking the ice cube as soon as her mouth felt dry and then continuing. She had become quite proficient in it. Although she was still far behind Aurelio, it only took her more than three seconds to recite the entire spell.
"I never thought I could be so quick with my mouth," she said, showing Aurelio again. As she was showing it, she felt something flowing inside her. It felt like she was injecting energy into her weapon or shield.
She read it a few more times, feeling her throat swollen. Only then did she realize that she had uttered thousands of syllables in the past ten minutes. When she was about to bring the ice cube to her mouth again, she realized that Aurelio was no longer around.
Although she was a little confused, her throat was burning, leaving her no time to be curious. She directly put one end of the ice cube into her mouth—the ice cube had melted a lot, and the two ends were only as thick as two fingers. She took a bite with her teeth and held it in her mouth.
When Aurelio returned indoors, he fetched a cup and filled it with water. He came to the courtyard door and was about to push it open when he heard a noise coming from outside.