The next day, Ron turned up right on time at his teacher's office. He didn't bring anything with him, already knowing that Loki probably had far better equipment than he had.
Lightly knocking on the door, he only had to wait a moment before the door automatically swung open, revealing the same room he'd met his new teacher for the first time.
The man was busy scribbling down on some papers, but obviously, he'd long since known of Ron's arrival. When his newly acquired student entered, he raised his head and showed him a large smile.
"You advanced to the rank 2 acolyte level already? Color me surprised. I thought it would take you a bit longer than that." The man said, nodding in approval.
Ron blushed a bit at his praise, but still answered modestly. "It was nothing... It's all thanks to Teacher that I was allowed to advance so quickly."
"So you say, so you say. I suppose the much higher energy concentration was beneficial, then?" Loki asked as he put away his paperwork and then sat up.
"Mhm." Ron nodded, feeling quite happy. Although the heat of the academy had been bothering him beforehand, now that he was a rank 2 acolyte, it actually felt really nice.
He hadn't yet had the time to thoroughly explore his new capabilities after advancing, but from what he knew so far, he at least understood that the fundamental difference between rank 1 and rank 2 acolytes was that the first rank could only store their affinity's energy particles and move them around clumsily, while rank 2 acolytes had quite a lot more spiritual energy as well as the ability to both control the energy in a much more refined manner. Furthermore, rank 2 acolytes had the ability to cast rank 0 spells, which was the real game-changer.
As Ron thought over all of this, he followed after his teacher as the man led him out of the room and into the busy walkways.
For the rest of the day, Ron and Loki spent their time together in one of the empty classrooms. Loki first squeezed all the information that Ron already knew out of his mind through an intense bout of quizzing and then began working from that.
It was painfully obvious to the rank 2 magus that his student had very little knowledge of almost every topic, being only barely passable in arithmetics, history, and human biology. However, in everything else, he completely lacked even the most widespread knowledge.
Ron was initially stumped when Loki explained this to him, however, he didn't let him pull him down. He calmly explained to his teacher that he came from a family that, while considered of high nobility, lacked any contact with the world of magic.
"Do not worry, princess. I've already looked up your background when I decided to take you in as my student. I was simply testing the waters." The man gently explained, causing Ron, who'd started getting defensive, to deflate.
The rest of the day was spent with Loki talking about several topics, ranging from the biology of various creatures to spell theory. Although he talked fast and he gave Ron a lot of information to digest, the transmigrator didn't actually have all that much trouble keeping up with his teacher.
He did eventually ask for a notebook to take notes on, which was easily given to him.
"Go slow, remember to not use too much or too little spiritual force, and do not forget the pattern. If you do all of these, you won't have much difficulty. It is an easy spell." The man gently coaxed as Ron held the notebook close to his chest.
"Alright... Here I go..." Ron said, a bit unsure. He gently put the notebook down on one of the tables, and then held his hands over it.
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"Kursha Mudap Biodar, Jklerrs Buyo..." Ron spoke, trying his best to remember the difficult words of the Byron language, which was also nicknamed as the language of magic. He'd just began learning it, but for whatever reason, Loki already believed him capable of using it.
A small, silver light escaped from his hands. After a couple of seconds, chains started to form from said light and began to weave around Ron's fingers.
"Good, good! Now, remember the second part. Be careful not to mess up the target lock." Loki encouraged, standing behind Ron, far enough not to disturb his student, but also close enough to provide moral support.
"Shaa Krils Mika!" Ron ended his chant, and with a slight shake of his hands, the chains dislodged themselves from him, rushing towards the notebook.
They surrounded it, coiling tightly around it like snakes hunting for prey. Once the entire length of the chains was wrapped around the book, they shone brightly for an instant and then disappeared.
Ron was sweating slightly, both the concentration required as well as the considerable amount of spiritual energy required taking its toll on him. Still, he had a wide smile on his face as he picked up the notebook and carefully observed it.
"I... I did it! Teacher, I did it! Look!" He excitedly said, showing Loki the notebook. At first glance, the notebook looked remarkably normal, with no signs of it having been tampered with. Still, Loki was a rank 2 magus, and he would never be fooled even by a spell a thousand times better than this one.
He laughed heartily, patting Ron on the head. "Indeed, good job. I'm very proud of you. Despite having just advanced yesterday and only beginning to learn spell theory today, you already cast a rather difficult spell. Even rank 3 acolytes would have a bit of trouble dislodging this lock." He praised.
At the same time, he observed the notebook in closer detail. The spell wasn't optimized at all and even had several deficiencies, as well as a general weakness to it that made it rather simple to brute-force through. However, despite that, it was still rather well-done considering this was his student's first spell ever.
Generally, it would already be considered a very good result for the spell not to implode immediately at first. To cast a spell sloppily in the first try could be considered the mark of a true genius.
Satisfied with his observation, and even more so with his student, Loki handed the notebook to a very excited Ron, who was basically bouncing in happiness.
Still, he didn't forget to bow to his teacher and heartfully thank him for his time, to which the man just waved him off, saying something along the lines of 'just don't be late tomorrow' before disappearing.
Before, Ron had not been qualified to understand just what the various professors had done to achieve this. However, he was a rank 2 acolyte now, and while he wouldn't truly be able to understand it, he could see that it wasn't actually teleportation. He barely saw a blur, and then his professor was gone.
He mulled over that small realization for a bit before shrugging it off, not caring all that much. He was too excited at the moment.
'I just cast magic. Magic! That was so cool!' Ron's eyes sparkled, remembering the feeling of the magic being cast. It felt as though, for an instant, he could bend the world to his will, and although it was just an illusion, it had still felt awesome. Furthermore, it had also looked extremely cool.
Ron rushed back to his room, ignoring the looks some of the older students gave him. Some held hidden jealousy within, and others were outright hostile to him. There was a minority that even looked at him like one would look at a juicy piece of meat.
Ron glared back at these people, causing them to quickly turn away and walk away just a bit faster than before. Acolytes didn't really give off energy waves the same way official magi did, and thus it was not possible for other acolytes under rank 2 to be recognized, by other acolytes. This allowed Ron to still keep his advancement a secret.
Not that he really cared about that. All that was in his mind at the moment was the large amount of information he'd absorbed during the day.
While Loki couldn't exactly be called the best of teachers, he was nonetheless very effective, and his vast knowledge bank was also a very useful addition.
The moment Ron reached his room, after quickly locking the door, he immediately began reviewing everything he'd learned, jotting down some things he'd missed.
While it wasn't all that necessary considering his borderline eidetic memory, writing things down on paper helped him understand it more clearly. After doing so, he quickly checked the time. It was only 7 pm, so he still had plenty of time.
First, feeling a rumbling from his stomach, he utilized a message-sender, something akin to a telephone but a bit more simplistic, and ordered for a large dinner to be delivered directly to his room. Then, he descended down into his private laboratory.
He was no scientist in his past life, but as he threw on a lab coat, careful to put it on the way Loki had taught him to, he found himself looking forward to becoming one in this new life.