「Over a month later.」

Colin, fully armored and carrying a backpack, expertly navigated the corridors of the Black Tower in search of his classroom.

He was likely the only person in the entire Black Tower who walked the halls in a full suit of Armor, but Colin paid no mind to the stares. After all, going about his daily life fully kitted out was part of his training for Casting in Armor.

After passing through a few long corridors, Colin arrived at the door to his class for the day and pushed his way inside.

He usually arrived a few minutes early, so the classroom was still mostly empty.

As an auditor, Colin could only sit in the corner.

The view wasn’t the best from there, but it wouldn’t be a problem. He could listen to the lecture just fine.

A short while after Colin got his paper and pen ready, the classroom door was pushed open. A stream of familiar faces filed in—it was the group of students from his last practical training class.

Having long expected this, Colin wasn’t particularly surprised.

He knew he would run into them sooner or later, and after a few awkward encounters, what was one more?

The students who entered spotted Colin in the corner at once.

"Isn’t that Teacher Colin?!"

Someone in the group shouted, and all the students who were filing in turned to look. Colin simply smiled and waved in response.

Then, the group of students swarmed over to him.

"Are you teaching today, Teacher Colin?" "This isn’t a practical training class, is it? Did the schedule change?" "This is awesome! At least we don’t have to listen to those boring old professors!"

The students started taking seats around Colin, all chattering at once.

"Not exactly. I’m just here to audit," Colin said.

The moment he spoke, the noisy classroom fell so silent you could hear a pin drop. Even though he had anticipated something like this, the students’ enthusiasm still left Colin feeling a bit overwhelmed.

Holding up his notebook, Colin said, "I’m just a Wild Mage who can cast Tier Two Magic. I still have a lot to learn when it comes to the fundamentals."

"But you fight actual, real-life monsters."

"I bet this professor isn’t half as strong as you. I heard he became a teacher here right after graduation and has never even fought a monster!"

"That’s... a bit of an exaggeration, don’t you think?" Colin replied.

It was just as Morel had told him before.

Besides Mages like Colin, who scraped by on adventures and used Magic as a weapon, there were many other Mages in the world dedicated to research. This latter group rarely ever set foot on the path of an Adventurer.

The difference between the two was like that between a soldier with a gun and a scientist in a lab.

Most of the Magic studied by Mages today were the common versions that these researchers had developed and refined. They were also responsible for creating beneficial spells with practical applications, like the large-scale sewage purification Magic currently at work beneath Thousand Masts City.

Of course, the students weren’t just being contrarian.

The Black Tower was a boarding school, and its students rarely concerned themselves with the outside world. Colin had recently even met some who were unaware that a winter blight had broken out.

To these Black Tower Apprentices, who spent their days only listening to oral lectures, his feat of taking down a Vine Blight had been quite a shock. After all, they had yet to begin any formal combat courses.

Just then, the classroom door opened, and Sela walked in.

She hurried over to him. "Colin? What are you doing here, too?"

"Teacher Colin is here to audit the class," the female student sitting next to him replied.

"Then move. I want to sit there."

"No! I was here first!"

"You..."

Before Sela could finish, the class bell rang. She shot the girl next to Colin a glare before marching to the front of the room to take a seat.

It was only then that Colin noticed most of the students in the class were clustered around him, leaving the front rows almost completely empty.

At that moment, the professor for the course walked in.

Like Rune, he was an old man with a goatee, dressed in a rather dated-looking robe.

The professor entered and glanced at the students clustered in the back corner.

He said nothing, simply opening his textbook and beginning his lecture as if to himself, completely ignoring whether the students were following along.

The apprentices below quickly settled down and focused on the lesson, their earlier boisterousness gone.

The teaching style at the Black Tower was very similar to that of a university.

After all, the students here were all absolute elites; there was no need to babysit them.

Throughout the class, a few of the surrounding students would occasionally glance his way, as if staring at a rare animal, but Colin paid them no mind.

Having been beaten down by this world in every way imaginable since his arrival, he knew better than anyone the value of magical knowledge. He wouldn’t spare a single shred of his focus on anything else during class.

The two morning classes were over before he knew it.

The moment class ended, Sela came over, clutching her books. "So, what’s your deal?" she asked.

"My superior signed me up," Colin said. "I can audit classes now, and I can also use the common hall to do some of my own research."

Sela asked, "Then how come we haven’t seen you around for the past few days?"

’Of course it’s because I was hiding in a corner doing research and didn’t bother saying hi. I’ve even seen you guys a few times,’ he thought, but what he said with a smile was, "Just bad luck, I suppose. A real shame."

"Can you go to the dining hall, then?"

"No, I can’t. I have to eat outside the Tower."

"Oh, I see," Sela said with a sigh.

"And here I was hoping we’d get to hear some real-life adventure stories," another female apprentice said. "Mr. Colin, would you have time to join our tea party later?"

"Thank you for the kind offer, but I really don’t have the time."

With that, under the apprentices’ disappointed gazes, Colin packed up his densely-filled notebook and inkwell, bid them farewell, and left the classroom.

’That was a bit cold of me.’

But he felt it was necessary.

In this world, the concept of primogeniture was widespread.

Most wealthy families raised their eldest son to be the heir.

The second sons or illegitimate children of minor families either became Adventurers or had to carve out their own fortunes by the sword, while the offspring of major families were mostly sent to a Monastery or a magic academy.

Therefore, the students in the Black Tower were almost all descendants of the wealthy.

’I have to be cautious when dealing with people like them. Keeping some distance is for the best.’

After leaving the Black Tower for lunch, Colin returned and continued on his way through the corridors.

Over the past month, Colin had come to understand some of the internal rules of the Black Tower.

Within the Black Tower, if you simply thought of your destination, a wooden door leading to it would appear in the corridor. But if you lacked the proper clearance, you could search for a lifetime and never find the room you were looking for.

Before long, a wooden door with a sign that read "Gargoyle Hall" appeared before him.