We travel by carriage to the academy.
The journey only takes a few weeks.
Steiner has already commented on how weird it is that I do not sleep.
"I have really bad insomnia."
"You haven't slept for hundreds of hours... that can't be healthy."
"I know. I was born this way."
"You also don't change your clothes..."
Sigh
The nanites convert any dirt or dust on me into more nanites.
So there is no point in changing my clothes.
The nanites also convert any of my waste into more nanites.
Along the way, we do run into the occasional bandits.
But I make quick work of them.
Once we get to the academy gates.
Steiner flashes his badge and fills out the paperwork for having a new servant.
He shows me his room and tells me what duties I'll be performing.
It is simple things like making tea for him.
Fixing his bed.
Washing his clothes.
Preparing materials for his potioneering attempts.
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During my free time, I would go to the library.
Servants weren't allowed in of course.
But I just had to stop time, and walk around security.
Then read as many books as I wanted to.
There were around 90,000 books to read on the first level.
All of varying lengths.
I did take some breaks and unpaused time every now and then.
It took me about 314 years to read them all.
It should be noted this was only the books for acolytes and level 1 wizards.
Still... the theories and logic contained in the books proved to be quite useful.
I had a blast seeing this worlds technology!
So I saved all of the books in ECHO.
Here is what I learned about this worlds magic.
1: The stronger somebodies soul is, the lower the aptitude.
This is due to the magic system in this world requiring puncturing a hole in the soul to allow mana in.
2: You must create a 'knife' to puncture your soul.
This 'knife' is made to look like a chain; it must contain enough runes until it is dense enough to create a hole.
3: Once you have a hole in your soul. Mana will flow in from an invisible matrix that covers reality entirely.
The more runes you have, the more mana and faster regen you will have.
It takes 60 runes to get your chain heavy enough to allow mana in at first.
Once you hit 60 runes, you will have your first breakthrough and become an acolyte.
The more runes you have, the denser your chain becomes.
The denser your chain, the more depth you can make it into your soul.
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The closer you get to the core of your soul.
The higher level you become as an acolyte.
4: Anything with a consciousness and soul can walk the path of the wizard.
This got me to think of quite a crazy exploit for this worlds system.
If I can give my nanites a mini-soul and have them all puncture their own souls and pull mana in.
Wouldn't I have the power of trillions of people?
I would also be able to cast spells from each of the nanites.
Too bad, this is all theoretical.
I can't even sense the energy particles in the air.
Nor do I even have a speck of mana in me.
Much less, I don't even understand the soul.
Maybe that is something I should research.
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After spending around a decade as a servant to Steiner
My time to shine finally came.
It was an afternoon.
I was waiting outside a classroom.
The teacher had put a proof on the board.
He was trying to see which student of his could solve it.
Over 10 people had tried, but all had failed.
Steiner eventually was called to come up.
He said that the proof was so easy, that his servant could solve it.
So I was called up to the board.
I quickly wrote out the solution.
It wasn't something I had seen in a book. I just used basic logic...
The teacher then snapped the chalk in his hand.
"This is the Light Teleportation Conjecture! It is in the top 10 equations that have never been solved! Who is your teacher young man?"
"I taught myself."
"Is that true?"
He looks over to Steiner.
"He has always been quite good with this stuff... I do believe he is self taught."
"Wonderful! We finally have a genius born in the academy!"
"He isn't part of the academy tho-"
"He is now! How would you like to become a professor for our academy?"
"It would be my honor."
"I see... talented and respectful. You will do well here."
So began my journey as a professor for Light Growth Academy.
Eventually people found out that I was an 'official wizard'.
I'm not one though...
People became even more respectful.
During the last 10 years.
I had already quite easily memorized all 11520 magic runes.
The process for becoming an acolyte was to choose 360 runes and slowly build them in your sea of consciousness.
You would become a level 1 acolyte upon establishing 60 runes in a chain in your sea of consciousness.
You would become a level 1 wizard upon reaching 360 runes and reaching the core of your soul.
But only after transcribing a spell to be your passive.
You would inscribe this spell on the core of your soul.
It generally takes someone with an aptitude of 13 two weeks to etch 60 runes on a chain.
An aptitude of 12 would take a month.
11 would take 2 months
10 would take 4 months
9 would take 8 months
8 would take 16 months
7 would take 32 months
6 would take 64 months
5 would take 128 months
4 would take 256 months
3 would take 512 months
2 would take 1024 months
1 would take 2048 months.
So it would take me 170 years to become an acolyte.
My aptitude really is trash.
Generally a person doesn't live that long
So there has never been a wizard with an aptitude of 1.
I'm able to get around a rune done every 2-3 years.
So, I keep my head down and work as a professor.
About a century later.
As I'm talking with Steiner (He had broken through to a wizard many decades ago).
He brings up a fact that I haven't paid any attention to.
"You look exactly the same as the day we met. It is as if time has had no effect on you."
"You're even wearing the same clothes..."
I've found out that I don't even need to eat.
It seems my body is pulling energy from either the chaos realm or the abyss.
It is as if my body is frozen in time.
But I am still able to interact with reality.
"Well... you know wizards do age slower then the ordinary."
"Yet... I can feel my body getting older... I only have around 70 more years to breakthrough to level 2. Or else... that will be the end of me."
"I'm sure you can do it!"
Steiner then asks me.
"So when do you plan on breaking through?"
Bro... I'm not even an acolyte yet!
I look at him.
"I've already broken through."
This is a complete lie.
But to keep people ignorant throughout these years.
I have been constantly altering my nanites programming.
One day, somebody gave me an experimental spell.
I couldn't actually use the spell.
But since my theory was on another level.
I would simply recreate the effects and magic circles using nanites.
This happened a lot.
So when I needed to do a demonstration in class, that is exactly what I would do.
People constantly praised me for my excellent mana control and concise no nonsense spellcasting.
Ha!
I haven't cast a single spell in my entire life!
So far I have 35 runes chained above my soul.
So I'm about 59% of the way to becoming an acolyte.
I proved that I was a 'level 2' wizard by flying using my nanites. This was a new function that had taken me forever to get together properly.
Just like how the time taken to become an acolyte doubled the lower your aptitude was, it was the same for your lifespan.
An ordinary human would have an average lifespan of 80.
A wizard would have double that.
Average lifespan of 160.
A level 2 wizard would have an average lifespan of 320 years.
3: 640, 4: 1280.
How long somebody lived after rank 4 was unknown.
Or at least wasn't documented in any of the books I had read.
So it was normal that I didn't really age.
I also solved many 'impossible' proofs during my time working at the academy and had become quite well known.
Others had even reached out to me to come as a guest to teach at their academies.
I accepted their offers of course.
It wasn't for free after all.
I still needed to accumulate resources, just like everybody else.
I also became a formations master.
I invented teleportation using formations.
I personally made a trip to every 'good' academy and installed a gateway between schools.
I went down in history as a 'genius' seen once every thousand years.
Soon...
Another century went by.
My friend steiner had left the academy long ago to try to test his luck.
The contract he had with it had expired and he was free to do what he wanted to now.
He was likely long dead, if he didn't breakthrough to rank 2 that is.
This feeling... is it sadness?
Probably not.
It is time for me to breakthrough!