One o'clock in the afternoon.

Second floor.

Alice Serandis sat upright at the wooden table, an uncommon posture for her, as she began instructing Rosen on writing a thesis on spellcraft.

"A good thesis on spellcraft must have a watertight introduction, leaving no room for dissatisfaction from the mages qualified to judge its value."

Rosen looked at the template Serandis had given him, somewhat taken aback.

"Esteemed Master So-and-so, I beg your forgiveness that I will sully your wise eyes with this insignificant scrap of paper..."

"Mentor, is it really necessary to write such a long and meaningless preamble?"

The introductory nonsense went on for over three pages, full of overly saccharine flattery.

It degraded the author to the level of dust in order to elevate the mage reviewing the thesis to the clouds.

It was just like the rambling introductions to thesis papers on Earth, both tedious and overlong.

Serandis also looked utterly disgusted, but at the same time resigned.

"It is rather pathological, but everyone does it this way, and there's no need to be a maverick over such minor details. At least not now, agreed?"

Rosen nodded in agreement.

He was just a little shrimp, trying to overturn traditions built up over hundreds or thousands of years, even if they were rotten traditions, was beyond his capabilities.

Unless someday he could become a grandmaster of spellcraft, with countless disciples and great renown, only then would he have the qualifications to push for reforms in a top-down manner.

So for now, he had no choice but to pinch his nose and go along with it.

"Then comes the body of the thesis. First write an outline, a concise summary of the overall content. After that is the detailed logical reasoning process, which must be rigorous and succinct."

"Finally is the conclusion."

"The conclusion is just like the introduction, long-winded and odious. You have to express gratitude to everyone you can think of, especially not forgetting the Golden God."

Rosen watched as Alice patiently explained point by point.

She was indeed a top graduate of the Rafaella Academy in Frigid City, with mastery over every aspect a formal mage was required to know.

In the blink of an eye, an hour had passed. Alice heaved a long sigh and stretched mightily.

"Sitting in the chair is too tiring. Let's talk lying on the bed."

What could Rosen do but obey?

Lying face to face on the bed, a playful smile crept onto Alice's face. "My dearest pupil, I didn't expect one so young to have such a big toy."

As she spoke, she reached out to fondle it.

Rosen hurriedly blocked her hand. "Mentor, please be serious!"

"Oh alright, then first answer your mentor a question."

Rosen waited silently.

"Whose body is more beautiful, mine or Olekia's? You must answer truthfully, no concealing."

Alice's expression was casual, but the light in her eyes told Rosen this was a question he must answer sincerely.

He recalled the images from his adventure log and compared them carefully.

Finally he summarized:

"Mentor, you are full-figured and voluptuous, graceful and charming. Olekia is slender and flawless, with a pair of impressive, beautiful long legs."

Those legs really were long, straight as two ivory jade pillars. If she used them to.... Ah, no!

The sheep must not leave the pen!

There are no sheep outside the pen!

Cease thinking!

After forcibly cutting off his wicked thoughts, Rosen gave his conclusion:

"Personally, I think you are more beautiful, Mentor."

Alice was very satisfied. "Good good, so where is she now?"

"She said she's earned enough money and played enough in Silver Moon City, so she's off to travel new places."

That was all he could say. There were some strange powers he didn't know how to explain.

Olekia was right, although he had recorded it all, Rosen really didn't understand any of it.

He didn't have the slightest clue, like a modern person looking at ancient Babylonian cuneiform - completely incomprehensible.

Meanwhile, Alice naturally didn't know Rosen's thoughts.

Her curiosity satisfied, she said, "Alright, let's get to business and start writing your thesis."

"I'm too lazy to go through all the convoluted formalities. Let's just talk about the content directly."

"A single low level spell isn't enough, the content would be skimpy. The mages' guild makes reviewing theses a huge pain. If it's going to be troublesome anyway, might as well make it substantial."

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"My thinking is to expand the principles of spellcraft into a logically rigorous doctrine, and design corresponding experiments to verify it...do you understand?"

Of course Rosen understood. "Look for evidence in the objective world to support the doctrine, right?"

"Well summarized!"

Alice praised him, then asked, "Do you have any ideas yet?"

Rosen certainly had ideas, ready-made ones in fact.

He got up from the bed, went to the table, and directly wrote down Newton's three laws of motion.

In the process, he redefined the concept of 'force' as used in folk sayings.

Finally, building on the concept of 'force', he derived the ultimate concept of 'gravity'.

He did not explain gravity further, let alone mention universal gravitation.

The reason was he didn't understand this world's astrology.

And in everyday life experience, aside from the noticeable gravity exerted by the planet they stood on, the universal gravity between other objects was negligible.

So bringing up universal gravitation was beyond his current abilities.

No benefit to be gained, only arousing his mentor's suspicions. He would have to spend great effort to explain it then, with no guarantee she would understand.

Better to just write what he had for now.

After finishing, he handed the draft to Serandis.

"Mentor, these are some patterns I've summarized through daily observation."

"Ahaha, my dearest pupil is always highly efficient. Let me take a look."

Alice casually took the draft.

After a glance, her casual smile disappeared. Her relaxed reclining posture instantly tensed up. She got off the bed to sit cross-legged and scrutinize it closely.

As she read, shock steadily crept into her eyes. "Rosen, this is all your own thinking?"

Clearly, she had become serious. Otherwise she would have called him "my dearest pupil", not directly by name.

Rosen asked, "Has any predecessor proposed this before?"

Alice shook her head. "Not yet, as far as I know. Or rather, some similar ideas, but nowhere near as comprehensive and succinct as you've summarized here."

She couldn't sit still on the bed anymore and moved to an armchair.

"This is enough to pioneer... no, not pioneer, but greatly improve, greatly improve the field of gravitational spellcraft! It will completely rescue it from the murky mysticism it's mired in now!"

Having said this, she looked up at Rosen again. "Master Rosen, how long do you think you'll need to complete it?"

Rosen sat at the table. "Mentor, I'm still just a pupil. I don't deserve the title of master."

"No, just this accomplishment alone qualifies you as a master. Come now, don't be shy. Speak boldly."

"I think today is enough. I've been thinking about this stuff for a long time already. But to be safe, convincing experiments must be designed. So, three days should do."

The experiments served both to persuade others as well as explore the truths of this world.

After all, this was another world. The rules of the physical realm didn't necessarily match his old world.

No, they certainly differed somewhat, since arcane forces like spellcraft didn't exist in his old world.

"Hmm, how confident my pupil is! Then get to it, give those old coots on the guild's thesis review board a huge shock!"

And so, the two began perfecting the thesis.

With both their arcane abilities, it was actually quite simple, leaving them time to chat while working on it.

"Mentor, these days I've been practicing the training techniques of 'Thousand Hands and Ten Thousand Thoughts', and found them very effective. I can vaguely feel I'm approaching a breakthrough to five stars."

"Mm-hm, this distills the wisdom of past masters along with my family's secret arts, naturally it's powerful. By my estimate, with three years of dedicated practice, and if your arcane power reaches intermediate level, your spellcasting ability could rise to a 10-star level."

"Hmm, not bad."

Rosen was quite happy, and recalled the matter of arcane childhood conditioning:

"Mentor, Veronica said I've missed the most precious time of childhood, so I'll be limited in my future accomplishments."

Alice's body stiffened slightly, and her smile became somewhat forced. "It does have some impact, but not too much... Alright, the impact is quite significant."

"For example?"

"For the same level of arcane power, you may have up to two or even three fewer stars. And an insurmountable gap in the intricacy of spell manipulation."

"No way to make up for it?"

"There is one harsh method that can shorten the gap, even potentially surpass it."

As she spoke, a look of distress crossed her face.

Rosen immediately understood. "Rely on the Death God's blessings, right?"

The tribulations between life and death could elicit extraordinary potential beyond normal limits.

"Yes... but no need to press for greater spellcasting ability. After all, a mage is a scholar, not a warrior."

Although comforted by his mentor's kind words, Rosen now knew the brutal truth.

An awkward silence fell between master and pupil.

After working a while longer on the thesis, Rosen asked again: "Does submitting a spellcraft thesis only earn you prestige?"

"You can also get some rewards from the guild, whatever a mage might need."

"For a thesis like this, probably 100 to 300 crowns I'd estimate, but the exact amount depends on the reviewing mage's mood."

Rosen was slightly shocked. "That's really fast money."

Much faster than selling his paintings.

Serandis shrugged. "If you have the ability to constantly create new spells every day, then yes it's fast. But that's easier said than done."

She suddenly seemed to recall something and slapped her forehead in annoyance. "Ah, no, that's not right!"

"Whether submitting a thesis or claiming rewards, those are rights for formal mages only."

She looked at Rosen. "My dearest pupil, how about we hold off on submitting this thesis for now? You won't benefit if you submit it as you are."

Rosen shook his head. "Mentor, you're a formal mage. You can be the first author."

Serandis waved her hands repeatedly. "No, that would be stealing your intellectual work. It's too despicable, I couldn't rest easy doing that, it would hinder my cultivation."

Rosen smiled. "Mentor, think of it as submitting on my behalf. And without your help, I couldn't have written this thesis either."

Seeing Alice look tempted, Rosen pushed further.

"Mentor, didn't you say prestige is protection? As my mentor, your prestige is my prestige."

He would have plenty of achievements in the future. No loss giving up this one thesis, but gaining fame early was crucial.

Alice was promptly persuaded.

"Alright then, I'll be the first author for now. But this is just an expedient measure. Once you become a formal mage in the future, I'll issue a statement acknowledging you properly."

This settled, after a while Alice added, "Starting now, we need to save up money to prepare for the formal mage examinations."

"How much do we need?"

"For a graduate of an official academy of spellcraft, 100 crowns is enough."

"But as a lone pupil of mine, and a commoner at that, with no academy or family reputation to vouch for your learning, the first exam fee is 1,000 crowns. Fail it the first time, and each retry is 100 crowns more."

Rosen felt that really hurt. "That's so expensive! Can I not take the exam?"

This was blatant, no, naked discrimination against commoners.

"Technically, without passing the exam, even casting spells in public places would be unlawful. But as you're currently my pupil, I can vouch for you."

"However, such vouching is time-limited. A mentor can only vouch for a pupil for 10 years maximum."

"Very well, I'll take the exam then."

Just treat it like the civil service exam in a foreign world.

"With my help only, and you being a commoner, the first exam fee is 1,000 crowns. Fail the first time, each retry is 100 crowns more."

Rosen felt the pain. "That's so expensive! Can I not take the exam?"

This was outright discrimination against commoners.

"Without passing the exam, casting spells in public is technically illegal. But as my pupil, I can vouch for you, though only for up to 10 years."

"Alright, I'll take the exam then." He could treat it as the civil service exam of this world.

The next three days, besides painting, Rosen spent holed up in Serandis' house writing his spellcraft thesis.

In a flash three days went by, and Rosen's first thesis was completed.

Early that morning, Serandis got up bright and early.

It was Alice's time now. She styled her hair in an intricate fashion, wore her best dress, and unusually put on pearl necklaces and earrings, even applying light makeup.

Finally, she solemnly pinned her rank twelve Secret Gold medallion to her chest.

"Rosen, is everything ready?"

"Yes, the carriage is waiting outside."

Naturally it wasn't bought, but rented, since walking would dirty their legs, quite undignified and worthy of being scolded as a mud-leg.

"Excellent, then let's be off."