Chapter Twenty Attempting Interpretation

  No surprises, just as Lucien had expected, in the four hours from after dinner to unknowingly falling asleep, he only deciphered more than a dozen pages of content from the magic notebook, mainly discontinuous words that couldn't form complete sentences, because many magical terms were extremely rare and obscure.

  Of course, with Lucien's years of learning ability, he can indeed restore and brain-supplement the meaning of some sentences through these words, but it is definitely not accurate enough. According to this understanding, Lucien dare not start learning magic rashly, or else he will die without knowing how.

  Fortunately, as a magical notebook, the witch would occasionally record her own thoughts and some of the things she encountered while recording the magic she had learned, just like a diary. This part of the text didn't use obscure vocabulary, and the grammatical structure was similar to Lucien's everyday speech, allowing him to easily decipher the sentences on the first dozen or so pages and roughly understand the origins of two other magical notebooks, or rather, magical books.

  The witch comes from a family of magicians who survived the downfall of the ancient magic empire of Hillvanna. Although they have lived in seclusion in a remote mountain castle since being occupied by Alto, their numbers have dwindled under the church's persecution and manhunt over the centuries. If it weren't for the fact that the church's persecution has eased somewhat in recent years, this family would likely have been wiped out already. Even so, by the time of the witch's generation, only she and her parents were left.

  After an accident involving the summoning of "Lucien's unknown word-represented creature", the witch became an orphan and formally inherited two magical books, "The Book of Stargazing and Elements" and "A Compendium of Common Magical Objects".

  The diary-like account of the witch only went up to this point, so when Lucien woke up the next morning, the first thought that came to his mind was: "I hope the witch's magical notes are complete and not sloppy, otherwise where can I go to learn ancient Hylphranian script?"

  …………

  As a result, Lucien found himself unemployed once again, able to survive only on his savings for the time being, since most of the jobs he could find at the Copper Crown tavern were connected to Aaron's gang.

  However, this coincided with Lucien, John and Joel's plan to let Lucien focus on learning letters for the time being and avoid possible revenge. After all, Joel and Elisa were either street performers in the administrative district or washing clothes in a powerful guild, while Evan could follow Elisa to the textile guild to help with some small tasks that didn't cost money, having nothing to do with Aaron's gang, only Lucien, if he started doing things, it was really hard to get out of Aaron's very strong market district.

  Even John and others asked Lucien not to leave the city during this period, not to go to remote places, and be careful at night in case of being set on fire by reckless arsonists.

  So Lucien got up, washed his face and after eating some black bread softened in boiling water, he suddenly felt a sense of leisure with nothing to do.

  Of course, this was just an illusion, and Lucien soon gathered his laziness, went out to find a vacant lot in the Adrien district, and then began to exercise according to John's teachings, practicing basic swordsmanship with a wooden stick.

  For Lucien, the best way to face potential dangers before learning magic is to strive to enhance his own strength. Even though John has said that if he didn't train from a young age and started at sixteen, there's basically no hope of awakening his bloodline power and obtaining divine favor unless he receives the "Holy Light Water" bestowed by the church.

  And Lucien also has Jackson's dagger on him, which can be used in a pinch.

  After finishing his training, Lucien returned home at nine o'clock. After a brief rest, he began to review what he had learned yesterday and the gains from trying to decipher the magic notes last night. He was more serious, diligent and self-aware than ever before, far surpassing any previous time.

  …………

  In the hall at 12 Sniegova Street in Gzhel district.

  Viktor looked at Lucien in disbelief: "You really haven't studied the script before, neither pronunciation, spelling rules nor grammar?"

  From reciting the thirty-two letters he requested to answering a few questions, Lucien's answers were perfect and even raised several doubts about spelling rules, which are usually discovered after formally starting to learn vocabulary and grammar. Lucien's learning progress was truly astonishing, with just one day of study equivalent to three months for a beginner, and already catching up with the commoner students Colin and Renny who had some foundation.

  This was the second time Victor had been surprised by Lucien's performance, and the other students couldn't help but take another look at Lucien. Was this poor kid a genius with language and words, or was he intentionally lying? In fact, did he have some foundation to begin with?

  "Mr. Viktor, I actually didn't learn the text before, but when studying, I occasionally thought of connecting it with the pronunciation and habits of everyday speech, and after comparison and reference, I was able to learn so quickly." In Alto, Lucien hoped that others would consider him a genius, but not an incomprehensible monster, which would be troublesome if it caught the attention of the church. So he calmly explained his learning method in simple terms.

  This is indeed the method used by Lucien, only that without the assistance of libraries and written books to try to decipher, it does not reach Lucien's learning speed.

  Although Viktor was a civilian, his father was already a good violinist who had been appreciated by many nobles. He started learning the common language from an early age and had no experience in this area. After listening to it, he nodded repeatedly and praised: "Very good, very good, you can make good use of your advantage in speaking the common language and summarize methods, proving that you are very clever and have a talent for this."

  His satisfaction with Lucien was evident.

  Herodotus, Colin and Renny's gaze at Lucien was already mixed with a faint sense of envy and jealousy.

  Having followed Viktor for five years, Lotte and Phyllis had no problem with the universal language, and their musical attainments were equally impressive. It was rare to see Viktor praise his students like this, so they couldn't help but exchange a glance.

  "His method sounds quite useful." Phyllis clasped her hands together, placed them on the skirt over her knees, sat up straight and ladylike, nodded slightly, maintaining a slightly haughty attitude.

  Roth was about to shrug, but immediately thought that this was an action without noble demeanor. It wouldn't be a problem if it were with other familiar companions or the commoner girls around him, but the person sitting opposite him was none other than Phyllis, who was secretly competing with him in music scores and was petty and good at sarcasm. So he just smiled and said softly, "After saying so many years of universal language, having this kind of idea is normal, and this method can't be used to learn music, right, Phyllis?"

  "Do you think I'm so naive, so childish? Besides, I have my own way of learning music, unlike some people who always rely on that little bit of talent and don't put in any effort, just fooling around with women. Lott, I think you should understand that talent can't be squandered for long." Phyllis flashed a standard smile, her eight snow-white teeth perfectly aligned and beautiful. "If this... um, seems to be called Lucien's poor man starts learning music, he might even surpass you."

  She shot Lucien a sarcastic look over Lot's head.

  Actually, apart from Lucien, who is seriously lacking in common sense, and Joel and John, who know that he just wants to learn letters and change his life circumstances, everyone else, including Korn, Viktor, Lott, Phyllis, and Renny, thinks that Lucien wants to develop in the direction of music, because once a scholar chooses to study letters, it usually means choosing their future path.

  For example, if you want to be a secretary of the rural court or an administrative officer in the city hall, when learning languages and characters, you will definitely choose scholars in law, history and other aspects, rather than musicians like Victor.

  As for wanting to be a pure scholar, if one is not of noble birth or closely related to the nobility, it is impossible to gain recognition. Even on the path of music that relies heavily on personal ability, without having received praise, recognition, or admiration from the nobles, one cannot be called a musician.

  Lotte sneered: "If it's beyond me, then it must be beyond you too, Phyllis."

  Phyllis was about to strike back when she suddenly saw Professor Viktor's gaze turn towards her, so she smoothed out her fiery long hair, lowered her head and continued looking at the score.

  After Victor confirmed Lucien's talent, he accelerated the teaching of Lucien, quickly combined words to finish explaining spelling rules and started teaching some grammatical knowledge, which was exactly what Lucien wanted.

  …………

  Friday is Lucien's last day of study this week.

  After several days of study, Lucien had already mastered most of the grammar and could have started learning magic if it weren't for his insufficient vocabulary. Nevertheless, he was able to decipher the witch's magical notes down to the last few pages, figuring out why she came to Alto.

  "As spiritual power grows, the effect of meditation obviously decreases, is there room for improvement?"

  "Want to try a meditation method that can only be used by formal magicians?"

  "Almost died, too dangerous, maybe I should consider referring to this meditation method to improve the apprentice meditation method."

  "Wandering aimlessly, unable to find direction, no wonder after hundreds of years of inheritance, the ancestors of the family did not improve the method of apprentice meditation, I was too arrogant and too shallow."

  "The structure of first-class magic is too complicated and it's hard to establish a model for imprinting."

  "I'm going crazy, I won't be able to advance to a formal magician with the current magical potions if I don't establish an imprint model."

  "Maybe I should try brewing 'Magic Gate' potion, it already contains a first-level spell model, hopefully it will make me an official magician."

  "The required ice-type marigold cannot be found."

  "Alto is the largest and most prosperous city in the western continent, also a hidden city for many magicians. Maybe I should go try my luck."

  This is the "diary-style" content that Lucien deciphered, and he was very curious about the witch's experience after arriving in Alto, so he decided to continue tonight and decipher the last few pages.

  And today, Lucien came to Victor's place to study, with a small mind hidden in his heart. That is, while mastering the grammar, he would find an opportunity to borrow a universal language dictionary and memorize it by force in the library. If successful, perhaps over the weekend, Lucien could start learning magic.

  Lucien was full of expectation.