Elite Mages’ Academy (Web Novel)

Chapter 126: Differences in Teaching

Aside from that, Xiao Lin discovered that many of those notes were very faded. The yellowed covers made it hard for him to discern how old they actually were, and their texts were very messy. There was Chinese, English, Russian, and even Normese, which indicated that there were also study notes for the locals.

The man narrowed his eyes and said sentimentally, “There were no unified skills textbooks back then, let alone something like this in the New World. They were taught through apprenticeship, so everyone was accustomed to recording them as notes. The colonial academies later formulated relatively complete textbooks and summarized the more commonly used skills for students to learn. Although it provided great convenience and saved time, it actually made the students lose their creative ability, which makes it hard to say whether it’s a good or bad thing.”

After muttering to himself for a while, the man laughed and shook his head. “Sorry, people talk a lot when they get old. In short, I only have these notes in my basic skill books. If you want the standard college textbooks, then I suggest that you go to the general bookstore on the corner of the trade district’s second street. Their range of new books is quite comprehensive, and it seems that the store is officially supported by Judge Academy.”

Xiao Lin touched the New Dollars in his pocket and asked a little hesitantly, “How much do these notes cost?”

The man laughed and said, “Well there’s no need for that. I told you I’d give you at cost price because I used a lot of money and energy to get the books on the shelf. The books in this box were all acquired by chance. It’s not worth any money and it’ll be very insincere of me to charge a fee for them. If there’s anything you can use, I’ll give it to you for free.”

Xiao Lin was shocked but he felt hesitant and said, “You’re really giving me everything?”

The man was stunned by the question. “You want all of it?”

Xiao Lin, who felt that he might have misunderstood the man, cleared his throat to cover up his embarrassment.

“You haven’t told me what courses you chose.”

Xiao Lin’s elective courses were not worth a mention, but when it came to skills, he preferred those with enhancement effects. The difficulty of taking more courses in the academy was evident, and even if he had the authority to listen to all classes, there might not be that many courses offered to him.

He thought briefly about it and felt that there was nothing for him to hide. He made a cursory explanation of his idea and said awkwardly, “I know I’m being a little foolish, but I’m still curious to try and succeed.”

The man’s jaw dropped and the shock on his face was as expected, but he soon calmed down again. He smiled in a fascinated manner. “Are you trying to learn from America’s Lilith?”

“Lilith?” Xiao Lin had a look of shock that was even more profound than the man. “You know about Lilith too? Did she also take a lot of basic courses at the same time?”

The man shook his head and said, “Lilith has been traveling to and from the New World since freshman year. She is, without a doubt, a real genius. I don’t know her, but don’t forget that this is New Washington. A genius like her will be much more famous here than in other academies. Although I have never seen Lilith before, I heard that she never used the same weapons twice in battle. Whether she can use spells or not has never been confirmed.”

Xiao Lin was taken by surprise. The virtual character could be vaguely identified as female, so he wondered if it was based on Lilith’s original historical parameters.

The man continued, “My interest is piqued after you mentioned your idea. To what extent can this kind multifaceted training reach? I’m really looking forward to it.”

“You don’t think I’m a fool? Even dual cultivation of magic and martial arts is frowned upon.”

The man was stunned and a sad look came over him. “The college doesn’t allow dual cultivation now? Sigh, looks like the academy has seen a lot of changes in the past few decades!”

“What was Dawn Academy like in the past?” Xiao Lin was curious.

“We didn’t have any textbooks at that time, so sometimes we borrowed notes from our seniors. But most of the time, we developed as we please. The courses we chose were all a mess at that time. Hehe, I think about it sometimes, and I did take a lot of detours, but…”

Xiao Lin understood that Dawn Academy adopted a completely open and freestyle method of studying in the past, while the one used presently bore an increased resemblance to China’s traditional education system.

The man frowned. He was probably unable to discern the pros and cons of such a system, so in the end, he simply said, “In fact, the academy doesn’t need too many students who take a lax approach to their development. Systematic teaching is the right thing to do for long-term development of the colony. To give the simplest example, New Washington’s dragon-eagle knight regiment is America’s strongest military force, but for training these dragon-eagle knights, the elective courses are practically fixed with Advanced Knighthood, Advanced Beast Language, and Advanced Dragonspear Techniques. Do you understand?”

“Set training.” Xiao Lin nodded to express his understanding of it. From the college’s perspective, students who train according to the academy’s set could no doubt speed up the construction of the colony. Whatever the colony lacked could be remedied by designing the relevant course, but from a student’s perspective, Xiao Lin was obviously more inclined toward the freestyle teaching of the past.

The man did not seem too keen on talking more about that topic, so he shook his head and said, “I digress. It’s not as if no one has tried the idea you mentioned, but I personally haven’t seen it. Hence, my interest in it. I can give you these basic skill books for free.”

Xiao Lin was just about to rejoice when the man’s sentence took a turn, “But I won’t give it to you all at once. The true value of these skill books is only exhibited when they’re shown to someone else. It’s a pity to put them in here, but I don’t want you to put these things to waste. You can only choose no more than five books whenever you come here, and the next time you’re here, I need to know your progress before deciding whether or not to continue giving you these skill books.”

Xiao Lin hesitated for a bit when he heard that. He had been invited to New Washington on that occasion, and Dawn Academy might not let him go there if he wanted to come by himself next time.

In the event that he was somehow allowed to go again, he might not get the treatment that he was getting with all the super-potions and anti-gravity accessories. He did not believe that he could afford all that using only the New Dollars he had on him. The man’s annotations in the skill books were very interesting, but he had some doubt over whether those things were worth all the troubles and time to travel back to New Washington.

“Lin. Mr. Lin.” Xiao Lin recalled the man’s last name and asked, “Why don’t you go back to Dawn City?”

“For personal reasons. I can’t go back.” The man curtly expressed his reluctance to talk in depth about it and Xiao Lin could only give up on it.

The man did not know whether to laugh or cry. “These notes might not be very valuable now, but trust me, you’ll never find something like this elsewhere. The annotations in these skill books are extremely valuable to freshmen.”

Xiao Lin kept quiet, but his face was full of disbelief. Dawn Academy had plenty of senior students and graduates. Department Head Song was once a genius-level student too, so if worse came to worst, he could always ask Song Junlang for help.