Chapter 39: The Nighttime "Visitor" (Seeking a Push for Sanjiang)

  Forgot it's Monday, sweating... Requesting clicks, recommendations and three rivers tickets, gotta take advantage of the great god not exerting his power yet, continue to stay in first place~

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  After taking Lucien and Rhein's advice, Viktor took out a very simple melody for Lucien to read the score, which was a piano introductory piece he wrote specifically for his music students. Because it needed to be simple, there weren't too many decorative notes, and when played on the original harpsichord, limited by its shortcomings, it could only barely be considered audible. However, when performed on the current piano, it had a kind of melodic song-like quality, a purely beautiful feeling. Although it couldn't yet be called a masterpiece, it was enough to spread it around.

  As Lucien's soul and spiritual power grew stronger through meditation, his memory became increasingly better. Even with only a few days of music foundation, he was able to complete the initial score recognition within ten attempts, which was not much different from Lott and Phyllis, who were noble students who had been exposed to music since childhood, causing Victor's face to reveal a relieved smile once again.

  "Alright, Lucien, now it's your turn to try playing the melody from the beginning. Don't be nervous, it's normal for things not to go well at first, but remember to keep your fingerings correct. Don't get flustered and start moving your fingers randomly. As long as your fingerings are correct, with a bit of practice, you'll master this piece in no time." After Viktor explained the basic fingerings to Lucien, he surprisingly had him start playing right away, which was completely unlike the step-by-step process of getting familiar with fingerings and keys that Lucien had imagined.

  Of course, this piece of music is very simple. Such direct practice and the front part of piano beginner's tutorial can be learned together at the same time. It may be difficult for young children with simple thinking and logic to learn, but for adults like Lucien, as long as they practice a lot, they can adapt to it.

  Lucien's hands were placed on the keyboard like holding an egg, looking at the score in front of him, quickly recalling it in his mind, and then pressed down to start playing.

  One note at a time, Lucien struggled to play, thinking it was easy when he remembered it, but found it difficult when actually playing. He clearly remembered which notes to play, but couldn't match them to the keys, and when he matched the keys, he had to recall fingerings, making sure not to make mistakes, using exactly the right fingers, and by the time he figured all that out, his fingers seemed uncoordinated as they stretched out.

  Then Lucien's sound in front of him ended for a long time, and another sound rang out, making the piano room echo with a discontinuous voice like a person's last words before death.

  Lucien, having undergone rigorous training in spellcasting and being exposed to so many perilous situations and death scenes, even if playing slowly, did not panic or rush through the notes, resulting in no mistakes, discordant sounds, or noise.

  On the other side, Lotte, Phyllis and Hierodotus listened with thick smiles, without any intention of mocking, because when they first played, it was like this, even worse than Lucien, and mocking Lucien was equivalent to mocking themselves.

  The tune wasn't long, but the minute or so of melody was stretched out to over three minutes by Lucien's playing. When he finally finished, Lucien realized that a cold sweat had broken out on his back, and his forehead was beaded with sweat, giving him the same feeling as when he was casting spells in the sewers to kill people.

  Clap, clap, clap. Viktor was the first to applaud, comforting and praising Lucien: "Although you play very slowly and poorly, among all the ordinary beginners I've seen, you're the only one who can keep the notes correct for the first time. This calmness will allow you to master piano techniques faster. However, sometimes when playing music, you need to put in emotions, being too calm isn't good either."

  Rhein, Lott and others followed with applause. They were among the witnesses of Lucien's first performance. However, it was impossible for Lott, Phyllis and others to praise Lucien. The pride and arrogance of the nobles and scholars made them not think this was anything special. Especially Hierodorus, who particularly disliked Lucien.

  When Viktor finished speaking, Rhein, who was equally skilled at playing the harpsichord and spinet, made a couple of comments that pointed out Lucien's current problems:

  "Lucien, your memory is very good. After learning and practicing a few more times, you should be able to remember the position of the keys on the piano, even to the extent that when you see the score or hear the music, you can react instinctively immediately. I believe it won't take more than a month. However, I noticed that your hand coordination is relatively poor, which means that the notes you think of cannot be reflected in the actions of your hands as quickly as possible."

  "This piece of music is still simple, but later when you encounter technically demanding pieces with beautiful decorative notes, and complex music that requires coordination between the left and right hands, it will be even more difficult. Moreover, this piano has pedals such as sustain pedal and sostenuto pedal, so in addition to hand coordination, foot coordination also needs to be practiced well."

  "Of course, this is a matter of practice. As long as you can work hard and practice diligently, it will take at most two to three years, or up to ten years at the latest, to become a qualified musician. Whether you are outstanding or not depends on whether you have musical talent."

  Lucien knew that even with a famous teacher's guidance, it would take a long time to master an instrument, but thinking of relying on becoming a musician to earn his current living expenses, spell material costs, and magic experiment equipment costs, he couldn't help but feel a little disappointed: "Mr. Victor, Mr. Laine, isn't there a faster way to become a qualified musician?"

  "Unless you're a true genius in music, with an unparalleled understanding of it, those few months might be enough to grasp one instrument decently, but unfortunately, you're not. So, solid foundation and long practice are the only way for you to become a qualified musician, I don't want to hear people say that Mr. Viktor's music student is a fool who can't even play the piano."

  Herodotus smiled as he listened to Pericles finish, then pretended to be kind and said: "Lucien, you must have both feet firmly on solid ground in order to walk further and faster."

  "Yes, Lucien, you've just started learning, don't underestimate the difficulty of learning an instrument." Lott said to Lucien, not as disgusted as he was with the other two, but still advising him.

  Rein smiled: "It's a good thing for young people to have ideals and momentum, but practicing musical instruments requires countless times. Don't look at me being good at playing the violin, flute, harpsichord, and piano, but that's the result of accumulation over a long period of time. Hehe, actually, there is another way to master an instrument in the shortest possible time, which is to ignite your blood power and become a knight. In this way, control over the body, hands, and feet will become extremely strong, coordination will naturally improve, and with your good memory, you may be able to become a qualified piano player in one or two weeks."

  "Of course, how long it will take for you to activate the power of blood, whether it's several years or even decades, I'm not sure."

  "Haha." Laine's humorous ending remark made Viktor, Lotte and others burst out laughing. It's hard to imagine how difficult it is to awaken the bloodline power, just look at the number of knights in the kingdom. Whether it's Lotte, Phyllis or Hierode, they are all failures on the knight's path, feeling that there is no hope for them to succeed, so they turned to pursue a musician's path instead. At Lucien's age, wanting to awaken the bloodline power is like expecting himself to be a musical genius.

  Viktor's smile faded: "If you just want to play a complex piece well, then practicing four hours a day for three or four weeks without interruption should barely qualify you, but what's the use of that? Alright, Lucien, learn piano diligently."

  Lucien nodded silently, mentally calculating his income and expenses. His monthly salary of ten silver nails had to be split with three silver nails going to Aunt Elisa's household as payment for his meals.

  Although I really want to recite the delicious food including Western food in my previous life, and try to make some delicious things to comfort myself, but at this critical moment when I am learning magic and music, I really don't want to spend more thoughts on these trivial matters.

  He was left with seven silver nails, and after this period of tension in Altor City had passed, he would probably spend five to six silver nails every month on buying magical materials. As for rebuilding a secret magical laboratory and purchasing glass bottles, glass cups, furnaces, special jars, etc., it would be an even bigger expense, likely using up all the silver coins he had obtained from being a gangster and cultist.

  Of course, the vessels required for these magical experiments, especially glass products, are extremely sensitive to their own condition. Once purchased, they can easily be suspected of being related to magical experiments, which gives Lucien a headache and he doesn't know how to solve it.

  In addition, Lucien also plans to buy two black-dyed linen garments, some old fabrics and sewing needles, threads, etc., to sew a long gown with a hood for himself, which is convenient for hiding activities from time to time. At the same time, he also wants to sew a row of small pockets on the inside of his waistband to hold different spellcasting materials separately, so that when there are many spellcasting materials in the future, they will not be difficult to distinguish and carry.

  For this matter, Lucien could only relieve his depression with self-mockery: "The pressure of life has made even a magician like me start learning needlework, what kind of world is this?"

  …………

  Several nights later, Lucien was once again deciphering "Hormanz's Cough" in the Soul Library, seeking to familiarize himself with it, make it second nature.

  Apart from this, Lucien mainly studied the application of spiritual power, combining his previous knowledge and working hard on aspects such as frequency changes. He was delighted to discover that he could leave a faint, almost imperceptible spiritual imprint on the target person.

  But in playing the piano, I indeed became like Laine said, after the initial rapid progress brought by memory, the coordination of both hands has become the biggest difficulty at present, and I am still practicing that entry song.

  Suddenly, Lucien's spiritual power vaguely sensed something rapidly approaching.

  Lucien immediately stopped what he was doing, looked around and saw that everything was hidden properly, then carefully got out of bed, ready to cast his spell.

  Right after that, a knocking sound came from the closed wooden window. After three knocks, Lucien's locked wooden window mysteriously opened by itself.

  "Switch techniques!"

  The familiar magical fluctuations put Lucien on high alert immediately, and at the same time, he felt a sense of anticipation. Was he finally going to see another magician or magic apprentice?

  A dark shadow flew in through the open wooden window and landed on the wooden table, making a hoarse and unpleasant "Wooo" sound: "Youngster, why didn't you open the door for the noble Lord Doruo, forcing me to take action myself?"

  Lucien was somewhat surprised, for it was a tawny owl, looking quite ordinary but lifting its sharp beak and speaking in human voice with an air of haughtiness.

  "Is it a magical pet or a transformation technique?"

  Seeing this, Lucien's heart moved and he made an extremely frightened appearance, retreating to the back of the bed, trembling with fear.

  For Lucien's performance, this strange owl cat seemed to be satisfied, couldn't help but pace back and forth on the wooden table for two steps before continuing to put on a haughty appearance: "Kid, Lord Doro knows you're very afraid of and worship us these magical, noble creatures, but I'm just here to ask you some questions, as long as you honestly answer, Lord Doro won't hurt you."

  "I asked you, after the witch next to your hut was burned to death, did any other magicians come looking for her?"