Chapter 19

Chapter 19: Cramming

Translator: Kris Liu Editor:

Lucien’s hands were trembling slightly . Carefully he opened the book like turning to a new page

of his future . Within his expectation, the words in the book were the same as the ones in the

magic tomes he collected at the witch’s chamber .

He knew how to learn a language well . As long as he learned the pronunciation of the letters

and the basic rules of spelling, he could learn more by himself outside of the class by reading

intensively .

Victor repeated the pronunciations patiently two to three times on each word . Lucien followed

him carefully and wrote down some notes on the paper . “Read them until you becomes more

fluent . ” Victor said, “When it’s good enough, we’ll move to basic spelling and grammar . ”

What he said was actually more like an encouragement . As a beginner, it would be almost

impossible for Lucien to match the sounds and the letters in such a short amount of time .

The notes Lucien jot down were Chinese characters . He tried to relate these letters with his

mother tongue, just like he had done when he started learning English . Again, Lucien read

through it and he stayed focused, so the knowledge would enter his spirit library .

As expected, a new shelf labeled “Common Tongue” appeared, on which there was a black

hardcover book full of the strange characters, the same one that was lying in front of him on

reality .

Lucien opened the book in the library but found out only the first few pages were there, and the

rest of the book was simply blank . He went through the book on the table quickly, and as he

imagined, the spiritual version became complete instantly .

“Yes!” Lucien cheered in his mind .

With the help of the library, Lucien became more confident . It was very hard from the

beginning . Several times later he became better and better . After what seemed like the fifteenth

time, he got finally satisfied with his ability to remember them .

Of course, Lucien knew this would not last long . If he did not review that in a regular basis, they

would be forgotten very soon . At the same time, Lucien also found out that his spiritual power,

which helped him with the spellcasting before, could help improve his memory as well .

At this time, Victor came back to teach Lucien again . After a while helping the students, his face

looked tired but also more relaxed . Probably Cohn was right: Victor was using teaching as a

distraction .

“Have you memorized all of them?” Victor asked, smiling . “Let me check it . ”

Like a primary student facing his teacher, Lucien was a bit nervous . He did forget some of them,

but mind then drifted into his library and he started reading according to his notes . It wasn’t

Lucien’s intention to cheat, but both his money and time were limited . He had plenty of time

reviewing them again in the library later .

Victor was surprised, “Have you learned before?”

Some of the students raised their heads and looked at Lucien .

“No, I haven’t . ” answered Lucien .

“Impressive . ” Victor commended, “Then we will start learning how to spell . ”

While some students were surprised, some of them scorned . In their eyes, Lucien must have

learned it before, and was just another scheming guy who wanted to impress Mr . Victor and

earn the chance to be his formal music student .

Inside the study room, the three most noble among them had started learning music .

However, that did not distract Lucien at all . There was only one goal in his mind: learn as much

as possible . Time is money! A day’s learning cost a lot!

“All right, ladies and gentlemen . Let’s take a break . ” Victor clapped gently and then walked

upstairs . At the same time, the servants came with tea and fruits .

The scent of Jasmine and lemon filled the room . Some of the fruits Lucien knew, and some he

did not .

A young guy decently dressed smiled at the classmates around him, with a piece of tablature in

his hand . “It seems like Mr . Victor got some inspiration . We may call it a day now, if his

inspiration keeps flowing . ” He looked a bit older than Lucien . His eyes were long and narrow

and his nose straight . Among them, this guy was pretty outstanding .

A noble girl in a wine-colored dress was sitting right beside him . “If class finishes earlier, we’re

gonna have an extra one during the weekend . Don’t get too excited . ” She responded in a lazy

voice, "But I do hope Mr . Victor finishes his new song for the concert as soon as possible . So we

will finally be able to start practicing with the orchestra . Sitting in the room, merely reading

tablatures and playing flute by myself can never compete with a real rehearsal . "

Around seventeen or eighteen, she was pretty good-looking: hair long and bright red, like fire,

thick and sexy lip, and her waist was not tightened like most noble girls – otherwise she would

not be able to play the flute well .

Looking at her serious face, Lott laughed, “The first violinist, the man who is as handsome as a

silver moon… You like Rhine, don’t you? Felicia?”

The first violinist, also called concertmaster, played a significant role in a symphony orchestra .

When the conductor was absent, the first violinist would take the baton .

“I just feel he has excellent skills, much better than the last one . ” Felicia argued, but her face

flushed, “Don’t you think his solo for violin sonata No . 1 in G minor was really impressive?”

Talking about music, Lott became serious and excited . They started discussing sonatas and

suites . Other noble students also joined them, showing their great interest . Even a pretty

insightful comment made by a brown-haired girl with ordinary family background won their

consent .

In Aalto, music was another common tongue .

However, consciously or subconsciously, the noble students still often ignored the others, while

the common ones treated Lucien indifferently and tried to get close to the ones of higher status .

For noble students it was likely that the ordinary and the poor did not even deserve their

attention . There were no common things between them, as they had come from different

worlds

There were no bitter words, nor scorn . But the cold wall was always there, preventing those of

different social statuses from getting along .

But for Lucien, none of these mattered . He was trying to make full use of every minute or even

second, absorbing the knowledge like a dry sponge thrown into an ocean .

Some of their humming came into Lucien’s ears . He found music here was very similar to that

of Earth . There were just some differences on notes .

After a while, Lucien raised his head . The students were still discussing . Lucien took a sip from

his tea cup and dove into his book again .

Unfortunately, Mr . Victor’s inspiration did not last long . Several minutes later, he walked

downstairs with a tired and anxious face .

Going back to teaching definitely helped him a lot .

Lucien worked hard . By the end of the class, Lucien remembered most of the spelling rules and

stored them in his spirit library .

Their study ended around ten past four in the afternoon . Except for Lott, Felicia and another

noble teen named Herodotus, who stayed to practice with instruments, the rest of the students

left the hall in a row .

Out of the hall, there were two carriages waiting . The brown horses were tall and strong,

snorting . The two noble students were surely envied by the rest .

Most nobles must maintain their decent look no matter if they were actually doing well or not .

The carriages left in a cloud of dust . The other three students, however, headed towards Purple

Lily district as a group, chatting and laughing .

And thus Lucien was left behind, reviewing what he learned in his mind like a nerd .

……

“You’re learning from Mr . Victor? He’s the top musician!” After dinner, Joel was quite excited,

“Little Evans, are you really going to carry on my music dream?”

“Every dog has its day, uncle Joel . Probably I can . ” Lucien replied playfully .

After coming back to his home, lying in his almost-broken, shaky bed, Lucien entered into his

library and started reading one of the magic notes, trying to understand the words in it .

Of course, Lucien was not expecting that he could learn how to read within one-day study . He

was just trying to read some to reinforce his memory .