Chapter 53 (1/2)

Chapter 53: My Brother (Part 3)

Translator: Nyoi-Bo Studio  Editor: Nyoi-Bo Studio

The candle burned brightly all through the night in the attic of the River Cove Inn. The two young Magicians inside were both hard at work.

One was engrossed in studying the magic textbook, the other was immersed in the former’s thesis. Time flew by and none of them noticed that it was already midnight.

Link felt tired, so he put down the textbook and prepared to go to sleep. His body was quite frail, so he had to be cautious and mindful of his health. Even though he would often be so immersed in a task that he would forget the time, the moment he remembered, he would always ensure that he got enough rest.

While settling down under his blanket, he noticed Eliard was still poring over his thesis. “Hey, Eliard, it’s late. Why don’t you get some rest?” he said.

“Just a minute, there’s something I’m trying to understand here,” Eliard said as he quickly jotted down notes with a goose feather quill. He was keenly trying to work out a point about Mana transformation in Link’s thesis.

He might not know much about the application or usage of this theory, but he couldn’t help but be fascinated by it. As a Magician, he could easily perceive a sense of elegance in this simple Mana formula, even though he was just an apprentice. Just as a lecherous man would be captivated when he saw a beautiful woman–he was, similarly, completely sucked in.

Link saw how focused Eliard was—he knew that there was no way he could convince him to rest, so he said nothing more and went to sleep himself.

And so the night passed silently.

At three in the morning the following day, Link woke up automatically like clockwork. His concentration was now razor-sharp, and he sensed there were some quiet movements in the room. As he opened his eyes, he saw Eliard still sitting at the table exactly as he was before Link went to sleep. His eyes were as red as a rabbit’s, but he didn’t seem to be the least bit sleepy.

So he’s just as obsessive as I am. It was no coincidence that in the game Eliard managed to become a Legendary Pinnacle Magician.

Link was careful not to disturb him as he sat up and cast the Illumination spell. He then began to read the textbook that Eliard had brought with him.

The magic textbook was a property of the East Cove Magic Academy, so he would have to return it soon. He read through the entire book once, just to memorize its contents. Then he would slowly make sense of what he memorized later.

He had an extraordinary memory, plus he had just woken up so his concentration right now was working at its full capacity. He only had to read through the textbook once and he would remember everything, including the graphs and illustrations. He read it a second time to go over some details he might have missed, then once more to strengthen his memory. Now he was at his fourth reading, and he could remember clearly each and every detail in this Level-1 magic textbook titled Progress in Magic Spells. A quick search through his memory and he would recall every detail from the book as vividly as if he were watching a slide film.

It sure is nice to have an incredible brain, thought Link proudly. He was grateful for the exceptional memory he now possessed.

By this time, it was getting light outside. Link checked on Eliard again and saw that he was still as immersed in the thesis as ever. He noticed Eliard’s face was getting pale, and thought that if he continued this way, his body would soon collapse.

So Link walked up to him and forcibly pulled away his thesis. “Hey, you really need to get some rest.”

“Wait, let me read it just a little longer,” pleaded Eliard. He was staring wide-eyed at the goatskin paper in Link’s hand. He looked as if he was going to grab it but was hesitant to do so.

“It’s not even finished yet, so what’s the rush?” Link was taken aback by how fascinated Eliard was. He thought what he’d written was still too disorganized, with no clear line of thought. He thought it was nowhere near presentable and nowhere near finished. Why exactly was Eliard so interested in it?

“What? It’s not even finished yet?” Eliard looked discouraged.

He had read through it for the whole night, but in the end only managed to finish reading three pages. Of what he’d read, he only understood half of it at most, but Link had, in fact, written about fifteen or sixteen pages in total. Last night, he glanced through the last few pages but realized he couldn’t make head nor tail of its contents.

But even so, he was certain that this thesis contained novel and revolutionary ideas!

“Link, I think if you could just reorganize some points in the thesis, then think up a suitable title, I’m sure it could get approved by the academy… or rather, what if I copy down parts of your thesis and bring it back to the academy, so my tutor could have a look?” said Eliard. It was a spur-of-the-moment idea that he just came up with.

He believed that even if the thesis couldn’t get Link admitted into the academy, it would definitely improve his tutor’s opinion of Link even further. She might even lend Link more textbooks too.

Eliard would do anything he could to help Link, without any hesitation.

It’s too bad Link’s innate magic talent wasn’t sufficient, otherwise, he would’ve been accepted by the academy a long time ago.

Eliard sighed. He noticed that Link’s current magic aura was as dim as before. It was obvious that Link had only been consoling himself when he told Eliard previously that his magic aura was so dim because he was hurt.

Link didn’t know what went through Eliard’s mind at that moment. He considered Eliard’s idea then nodded and said, “Fine. You haven’t had rest yet, so you’d better have some sleep after breakfast. I’ll organize the parts of my thesis that I’ve already written, and you can take it back with you.”

He had only just roughly read through the book Progress in Magic Spells, but he’d lapped up all the knowledge he could glean. He was like a wanderer in a desert who would drink up all the water of the first pool he’d finally stumbled upon.

If Link could feel this way with a book, he was sure that when he finally became a student of the East Cove Magic Academy, it would feel as if he was a beggar that had walked into Aladdin’s cave of hidden treasures!

These thoughts made Link’s desire to enter the academy deepen.

Eliard, on the other hand, was indeed very tired. He went to bed after having his breakfast and Link began to clean up his thesis.

Even though he still had a long way before the completion of his paper, Link noticed that a clear outline began to emerge. As the author, he was very familiar with the contents, so in no time at all, he managed to organize it all into distinct parts.

Of the many parts it was divided into, the very first was devoted to the formulas of Newton’s Universal Law of Gravitation.