Steampunk: Sixth Era Epic

After informing the other three members of his group that this week's study session was postponed, Shard had no other plans for the day. Before heading out to commit murder in the morning, he did receive letters from Mrs. Lemer, the client, and her lawyer. Due to the recent events in the city, Mrs. Lemer had gone to live temporarily with relatives in the countryside following the declaration of martial law.

Citizens had concocted many ridiculous rumors about what exactly happened on Thursday night, and City Hall had no intention of dispelling them. So, Mrs. Lemer and some other citizens chose to temporarily relocate to the countryside. The acceptance of the inheritance was postponed to the following Sunday; a week's time was sufficient for matters to calm down.

So, this Saturday, Shard truly had nothing to do.

Miss Luisa inquired about Shard's plans for the day, and upon learning he intended to stay home and read, she suggested moving their weekly evening lesson to that afternoon since neither had any plans.

Of course, the venue for the study session was shifted to Shard's home. This was not because his house was larger, but because if Shard spent the entire day in Miss Luisa's apartment, the landlord's wife on the first floor would be very displeased.

After their meal, the two went for a walk and talked as they walked back to Feather Quill Street. After helping Miss Luisa gather her notebooks and some materials for the class, they didn't immediately head home but instead took a carriage to the Draleon National Bank, as Shard needed to withdraw money.

The banking industry had just started in this era. The National Bank, a property of the Royal Family, offered services limited to the exchange of Gold Pounds and Krone, deposits and withdrawals, and safe deposit box services. Even on a Saturday afternoon, there weren't many people in the bank.

Marble columns stood at the entrance of the bank, supporting the porch roof. This kind of grand decoration and architectural style indicated that it was a place where only truly wealthy people would come. Once inside, the reflective, polished floors made Outlanders greatly nostalgic.

This was his first encounter with such impeccably clean floors since coming to this world. Compared to this place, Old John's Pawnshop was practically...actually just a pile of garbage.

Miss Luisa observed Shard's expression:

"Have you been here before?"

"Of course not, do I look like a rich person?"

Shard, holding the soft Mia, surveyed the spacious antechamber and asked, clearly puzzled by the unfamiliar surroundings which made the cat want to "roar" again.

He had already explained the origin of the 1200-pound bank draft, so Miss Luisa wasn't concerned about what he intended to do:

"I thought you would be shocked by the environment here, I believe even Yordle Palace isn't as grand as this."

The blonde girl said with a laugh, seeing Shard bewilderedly looking around, unsure of where to go first, and led him inside.

It seemed Miss Luisa was quite familiar with such places.

The process of withdrawing money encountered no issues, as Miss Galina wasn't bored enough to issue Shard a fake bank draft. However, when he presented the bank draft signed by the Duchess, the middle-aged gentleman who hastily came to serve them while wiping his sweat seemed to always steal glances at Shard's face. Stay updated with My Virtual Library Empire

Shard was initially puzzled, but quickly remembered the previous day's misleading statements from the black-haired maid as they exited the city under martial law. Then, thinking about coming to withdraw money with the Duchess's bank draft the next day...

"Fortunately, Miss Luisa doesn't know what the maid said."

He sat on the sofa, holding the cat and pondering whether the Duchess's full protection or his own reputation was more important.

Although the banks of the Steam Age were interesting enough, they didn't linger after receiving the 1200 pounds in cash and finally left. Upon returning to Saint Delan Square, Shard immediately enacted snowfall at home. The muggy afternoon was best alleviated by sitting in a snowing room—a correct way to dispel the summer heat.

All three Great Magics Academies had two exam seasons per year, and next week marked the end of July's summer exam week so they spent some time reviewing the study materials they needed and discussing their encountered troubles.

Shard's study progress was quite good; he had decided to pass at least seven exams during the summer exam week and, with some luck, might even pass nine (note). Now that he was a Second Ring, but to advance to the second year, he needed to meet the course performance standards.

The Correspondence Circle Mage's written exams took place as a group at a designated location and time, overseen by at least two teachers dispatched by the Academy through a projector ceremony. Thus, Shard and Miss Luisa needed to inform Dr. Schneider of their chosen exam subjects by next Wednesday, so he could notify the Academy in advance to prepare the test papers.

Miss Luisa enthusiastically helped Shard choose his exam subjects, praising his progress upon hearing he was prepared for nine exams:

"Being able to read so many books in a month, even real scholars would struggle to be as dedicated as you. While the first-year courses are simplified to help ordinary people new to the field of Mysticism adapt to the study environment, mastering so much still sufficiently proves your effort and intelligence."

The outsider who had experienced higher education in his homeland felt a slight sense of pride:

"Memorizing this information is challenging indeed, but fortunately, it's quite interesting."

"Hm? You memorized it all yourself?"

Instead of choosing a study, they studied in the living room bathed in ample natural light. The coffee table was laden with opened books, and most of the dense letters written in the notebook were ancient scripts translated by Shard for the blonde girl.

"Of course, apart from fulfilling commissions, most of my waking hours are spent reading. After all, I don't have many other entertainment activities."

Shard was pleased with his discipline.

"Meow?"

The cat, playing with the Transmutation Ring with its tail, meowed.

"Oh, and some of the time is spent playing with Mia."

With the teacup and teapot placed on the floor beneath the sofa, Shard leaned over to pour himself some tea while the fountain pen-twirling Miss Luisa hesitantly asked:

"Did you really memorize the content of so many books on your own?"

"Of course, otherwise there's no one else to help me carry the burden," Shard stated matter-of-factly.

"But..."

The blonde girl slightly furrowed her brow:

"What about your other self? Doesn't he help you?"

A soft chuckle reached Shard's ears, causing him to pause with his teacup in hand, asking in puzzlement,

"Sorry, Miss Luisa, are you saying that my other self could help memorize books?"

Miss Luisa nodded, her expression as if Shard had asked a rather foolish question:

"What you can see, your other self can also see. He is you, and you are him. The memory of a Circle Sorcerer is astonishing, partly due to our powerful spiritual power, but also because there are two minds working together on memory. It's not cheating, because the other self of a Circle Sorcerer is really also me."

Shard blinked his eyes, choosing not to comment on the latter part:

"The books I've looked at..."

"I'm of course watching too."

"So you..."

"I've memorized all of them, as long as you've looked at the material, I remember at least ninety percent of it."

"Then why..."

"What you are pursuing is understanding, not carrying a load of books around, right?"

Shard nodded, then turned to Miss Luisa:

"My freshman year, there are a total of 19 mandatory subjects."

"Yes, I remember. Why mention this?" the blonde girl asked.

"Aside from exams, 'Basic Potionology' requires the preparation of the standard Magic Potion — 'Joy Elixir' and the standard Magic Potion — 'Eternal Slumber Water.' 'Introduction to Elementary Alchemy' requires, beyond the written exam, the submission of a simple homemade alchemical item. 'Containment and Management of Relics' requires a report on a personally involved relic containment outside the test. 'Practical Training for Time Travel' is completely practical and requires a report submission. Except for these four subjects involving practical content, all other courses are purely written exams," continued Shard.

Magic potion preparation could be crammed from Priest Augustus; the crafting of alchemical items could be learned from Iluna or Old Man John; for relic containment, Shard could also invent a story for that mercury vial.

"It's like this..."

Miss Luisa still didn't understand what Shard was trying to say.

"I've changed my mind, I want to take 18 subjects at once! (Note)"

Although relying on the woman in his head for memory helped, advancing to sophomore year was not just to enjoy second-year benefits and get those textbooks early. He would continue studying the freshman books, so this didn't mean his foundation was shaky.

The blonde girl blinked at him, and it took her a long while to respond:

"The Academy has adequate means to detect cheating effects brought not just by 'Relics' and potions."

Shard knew she had misunderstood and put down his teacup to explain,

"No, no, no, my memory is astonishing, I mean, my other self's memory is astonishing. Doesn't my other self possess some modest talents? His little talent is his astonishing memory."

Compared to the abnormalities she had already shown, an astonishing memory was hardly worth mentioning, so Shard didn't even bother to ask how she managed it.

"You want to advance to sophomore year this summer?"

Miss Luisa finally fully understood Shard's intentions.

The summer exam season was just for tests, while the winter exam season was for advancing grades. But since Shard was a key student of the History Academy and had good relationships with Professor Garcia of the History Academy, even Miss Danester, the librarian of Saint Byrons, the Academy wouldn't deny him the opportunity to advance to the sophomore year as long as he met the requirements.

"Yes, advancing to sophomore!"

Shard's face lit up with a smile, originally thinking, as Dr. Schneider had said, that advancing to sophomore would take at least a year or two, but he was close to achieving it in just a month.

It wasn't just his own progress, the criterion for their group's visit to Saint Byrons was for the group to have five Circle Sorcerers, including at least one Six-Ring, one Five-Ring, and one Four-Ring Sorcerer. The doctor was soon advancing to Six Rings, and Shard, like Priest Augustus, was now Second Ring. Thus, they had truly taken another step closer to that once seemingly unreachable goal.