Before Anna left home in the morning, she specifically told Guy that because she had a lot of work, she would come back a little later in the evening, so that she would have time to learn from Dubien.
When she returned home in the evening, she deliberately stopped by a tavern and bought some food and drinks with the copper coins she usually saved. Then she quietly returned to Pomegranate Lane and walked into the ruins without anyone noticing.
"Dibian?" Anna called softly.
Dibian emerged from the shadows, and Anna quickly walked over and gave him the paper bag containing food and juice.
"I bought some barbecue and came back. If you are injured, you should eat more meat." Anna said.
"Thank you." Dibian took it with a smile, took out another gold coin and handed it over.
Anna was stunned and couldn't help but sigh in her heart, being a mage is indeed rich... That's not right, you really need to be very rich to be a mage. Du Bien has a surname, which shows that he is a noble.
However, will the combination of nobles and mages be as miserable as Dibian? Ulysses was obviously living a comfortable life. The city owner, Earl Wilson, allowed him to stay temporarily in the Earl's Mansion. He was extremely polite to him and rarely disturbed him.
Anna remembered that Dibian said that he was a fallen mage. Maybe fallen mages are so miserable... If she can become a mage, she must not be a dark type.
Anna took the gold coin and said: "I will accept this first, and you don't have to give me any more gold coins next."
She calculated that according to her current consumption standard for buying food for Dibian, thirty copper coins per day, which is ten silver coins in one month, and only twenty silver coins in two months. The remaining one gold coin and eighty silver coins were her hush money and hard work expenses, which was equivalent to the money her father had saved by not eating or drinking for three years.
As for him teaching her, it was good for both of them, so they canceled each other out.
After Anna carefully convinced herself, she sat aside and watched Dibian eat.
Dibian's condition is already better than yesterday. His movements when eating are very elegant, which is incompatible with the ruins.
Because part of the top of the ruins has been burned through, and the moonlight shines down, it won't be so dark that you can't see clearly when you stay inside, so you don't need to risk lighting a fire.
After Dibian finished eating, he and Anna sat opposite each other. Thinking of yesterday's promise, he said, "With all due respect, have you ever studied with a teacher?"
In this world, the word "teacher" generally refers to a scholar who imparts knowledge. Dibian's words were a subtle way of asking Anna if she was literate, and literacy was a necessary condition for the path to a mage.
"No, I don't know a word of it." Anna replied very readily, and then added, "But I learn things very quickly."
Let the teacher understand your own situation so that the teacher can teach students in accordance with their aptitude.
Dibian was a little surprised by Anna's uprightness. Of course, he didn't doubt what she said about learning quickly. After all, from yesterday to now, she had proven that she was different.
"Today I will teach you the basic characters first." Dibian said. This was his first time teaching, but he was also taught properly by a teacher and knew the process of teaching literacy.
Basic characters? It is roughly equivalent to the twenty-six English letters in English.
Anna nodded silently.
The knowledge of this world is a precious resource, but paper is not that. It’s just that ordinary people don’t have many places where they need paper. Anna’s family naturally doesn’t have paper that can be used to write on.
Therefore, Dibian used the moonlight to draw basic characters on the dusty ground with gravel to teach Anna the pronunciation.
There are a total of twenty-two basic characters. Dibian first writes them all on the ground and reads them all.
While Di Bian was reading, Anna was memorizing it silently. After Dibian finished reading it, she scanned it again and found that she remembered 80% of it.
After Dibian finished reading the whole sentence, he pointed to the basic characters and read one for Anna to follow.
Anna read it from beginning to end after Dibian and memorized it all.
These basic characters are somewhat similar to Greek letters, and their pronunciation is within the normal range, so they are not difficult to remember.
After reading it through with Anna, Dibian said: "Anna, remember it first. If you can't remember anything, ask me right away."
Anna nodded and recited it silently in her mind, making sure that she had not forgotten it before speaking out and reciting the twenty-two basic characters.
At first, Dibian only thought that Anna was in the process of memorizing it, and listened carefully with the intention of correcting her mispronunciation, but until Anna finished pronouncing all the basic characters, he did not find a chance.
DiBian asked in surprise: "You remember everything?"
Anna nodded: "Yes."
Dibian couldn't help but remain silent. What he originally thought was that it might take him four or five days to give Anna a rough impression of these basic characters. If he was really familiar with them, he could pronounce them when he saw them, and write them when he heard them. Generally, students need one week to ten days, and they must review and consolidate frequently thereafter to avoid forgetting.
But Anna only heard him read it twice before remembering it. When he learned it from his first teacher, it took him almost three days to become proficient in it.
Dibian did not remain silent for long, he began to test Anna's mastery in advance.
After taking a random dictation test and Anna answering all of them correctly, Dibian has come to terms with the fact that he really has a very gifted "student."
A smile appeared on Dibian's face, and he praised without hesitation: "Anna, you are truly the most talented person I have ever seen. If you were born into a noble family, you would have become a genius with a reputation far and wide."
Anna said modestly: "You are so kind."
She knew very well in her heart that she was not a genius, but her years of education had allowed her to develop her own learning methods, which allowed her to quickly master any new knowledge.
The dark lines on Dibian's face have not weakened compared to yesterday. At this moment, his young and handsome face still shows pure joy: "No, what I said is not an exaggeration. If If you can maintain this talent while learning spells, you may become a unique five-star mage."
Anna heard Dibian start to mention about mages, and she quickly sat down and asked: "I heard that only elements with affinity can learn spells, and there are only two ways to test whether a person is an element affinity, go to church or find a mage. Association, is that what it is?”
Dibian nodded: "That's right. Testing elemental affinity bodies requires a special mixed element ore, which is very rare and has long been monopolized by the Holy See and the Mage Association." He smiled, his expression a little subtle, "But in fact, as long as There is a teacher willing to teach you, and you don’t need to take a test before you can learn spells. Although pure dark affinity is very rare, once it is discovered by the Vatican test, no one can save you."
Anna was overjoyed at first. She now had a mage in front of her who was willing to teach her, and the test fee of five gold coins could be saved!
Then, she asked in a low voice: "Is the pure dark affinity body so unforgivable? Spells are just a very useful tool. Doesn't it depend on the person who uses the tool to do good or evil?"
Dibian looked at Anna in surprise. He did not expect that an ordinary civilian like her would have such an opinion. He smiled bitterly and said: "This matter is not that simple. My teacher told me that there are wind, fire, water, There are eight natural elements of earth, thunder, gold, light, and darkness. The Holy See stole the light element and named it the Holy Light, and suppressed the dark element as its opposite. The Holy See has powerful power, and the people believe in the goddess of light, pure darkness. A harmonious body or even a body with the strongest affinity to the dark element will be considered as the power of darkness that is hostile to the goddess and will be eliminated."
As an atheist who had disrespected the goddess more than once in her heart, Anna said clearly: "So, the goddess of light does not exist, right?"
Who said that if there is a Western fantasy world, there must be gods? Supernatural elements do not necessarily presuppose the existence of gods. The microscopic world here should be different from her own world. Those natural elements may have been produced by themselves after the Big Bang of the universe.
Most countries in this world have churches set up by the Holy See all over the place. The goddess of light is believed by all the people. Only the so-called "fallen mages" who are persecuted by the Holy See will not believe in the goddess at all. Moreover, before becoming "fallen mages", they were also devout believers of the goddess.
Therefore, when Anna said such shocking words in an understatement that the goddess did not exist, Dibian couldn't help but look at her in shock.
After Anna heard Dibian say that the Holy See would suppress dark mages, she knew that it was safe to talk about the goddess in front of Dibian.
She smiled: "I have secretly said bad things about the goddess several times before, but she has never sent down a divine punishment. I think she either doesn't care about this little thing, or she doesn't exist. Now I know, She doesn't exist."
Knowing this news made Anna feel very comfortable. A world without gods would be too friendly to atheists.
As for the devil... After experiencing many hopes and disappointments, she felt that she was the most reliable. She might as well learn from Dibian and find a way to destroy the devil on her own.
Considering that her learning of magic should be something that the devil can tolerate, Anna is not afraid of being known by the devil, but she is very afraid that the devil will know that she has seen through him. Therefore, she will not tell anyone about the devil yet, including Di. Bean. At most, if Dibian mentioned the devil in the future, she would pretend to casually ask a few questions, but she could never bring it up herself.
"This is the first time I've met someone like you..." Dibian said halfway, not knowing how to describe Anna's situation. Her behavior was as if she had never believed in the goddess before, and she changed so quickly.
Anna said: "If the goddess really exists and is as kind as the priest said, then what is our current life? Every day when we open our eyes, we have to work non-stop for the day's food. After working hard all day, we just have enough food. If you are full, you have to repeat the previous day the next day. Any accident will destroy this fragile everything. If the goddess exists and is kind, why does she let us suffer all this?"
This world's belief in the goddess is actually very devoted to ascetic practice. What is pursued is the peace of the world after death. After death, you can get everything in the goddess' kingdom. Therefore, any believer can answer Anna like this: Today's sufferings, It is a test. Only if you pass the test of the goddess can you enter the Kingdom of God after death.
But of course Anna doesn't accept this at all.
The road is at your own feet. Just create whatever kind of life you want. How can you wait for charity from others
Even if God really exists, it can't make her change her mind.
Dibian looked at Anna in surprise. He felt that Anna was really a strange girl. He had only really known her for a whole day, and his perception of her had changed many times.
An idea suddenly came to his mind, it would be great if Anna was also a pure dark element affinity body, then he would have another reliable partner.
But then, he smiled bitterly and spurned his dark thoughts. As a "fallen mage" wanted by the Holy See, he is very aware of how dangerous and lonely this group is. He had to be separated from his family and hide around with his teacher. Occasionally, less pious lords who wanted to borrow their power would hire them. At that time, they would live a much more comfortable life, but most of the time, they still had to worry about being raped by the Holy See. Chase.
Just like this time, he accidentally ran into a group of priests in disguise. They were so numerous that he managed to escape with half his life.
He did not want the girl in front of him, whose eyes were focused and bright when studying, to experience such a life of wandering and precariousness.
"I very much agree with your idea, but you must not talk about it in front of the believers of the Goddess of Light." Dibian seriously warned, "You will be called blasphemous by the Holy See, and you may even be executed in public."
Anna nodded and smiled: "I'm not stupid, I just said this in front of you."
Dibian also knew that he was worrying too much, so he brought back the topic with a smile: "You learn words very quickly. I think you can master the basic vocabulary and grammar needed to learn spells in half a month. After that, I will Really teach you spells. While you are learning basic vocabulary and grammar, you can also try to meditate according to the method I will teach you, so as to control, exercise and increase your mental power."
Anna sat upright like a primary school student and wrote down everything Dibian said word for word.
She has been disappointed many times, but now she can really learn spells, but it seems like a dream. Her heart is beating very fast now, she is so excited, but she still has to work hard to restrain herself from screaming and jumping like a little fool.
"Today I will only learn the basic characters. You can review and consolidate them when you go back. Now I will talk about some common sense that every mage should know." Dibian said while thinking. He was also a teacher for the first time and was still a part-time enlightenment student. Teacher and spell teacher, this was a challenge for him.
Anna looked at Dibian without blinking, with the desire of an out-of-school child for knowledge in her eyes.
Dibian coughed slightly, a little embarrassed, but it was the student's duty to watch the teacher listen carefully when the teacher was teaching, so he had no choice but to ignore the discomfort of being looked at by these clear eyes, and said slowly: "Only the element pro Only when you are harmonious can you practice spells. Whether you have elemental affinity is determined from birth. An elemental affinity body may only have affinity for one element. This is a pure elemental affinity body. For example, I am a pure dark element affinity body. . It is more about affinity to multiple elements, and the most affinity to a certain element. There is no difference in the talents of learning spells between pure element affinity bodies and multiple element affinity bodies, only the types of spells that can be used. The difference is that a person's talent for learning spells is related to his learning ability and mental power. Your learning ability is very strong. If you are an element affinity body and your mental power can keep up, then you will become the envy of everyone genius."
Anna thought to herself, it was just like Ulysses who became a four-star genius at such a young age.
She remembered that Ulysses had used wind spells. It was the first time she had seen and experienced the magic of spells with her own eyes. She would never forget that feeling. After being possessed by the demon, the demon created a fire dragon in front of her. She felt that it should be Ulysses' original ability, which meant that he was at least an affinity body for two elements.
"A four-star mage... isn't he very powerful?" Anna interjected.
Dibian was not surprised that Anna knew about four-star mages. These were spread among ordinary people, but they might only know a word and not know the true meaning of it.
"Currently, the level of a mage ranges from apprentice, one star to five stars. Generally speaking, one will be tested at the age of seven to see if they are an elemental affinity body. If so, they will start learning as a mage apprentice. After five years of basic study, they will be assessed to become a mage. Star Mage, each subsequent level requires about five, ten, or fifteen years of study. To become a five-star mage, you don’t just have to practice hard. People with ordinary talents can become four-star mage in their forties, and then That’s the end.”
After listening to Dibian's explanation, Anna realized how talented Ulysses was. In his early twenties, when others were two-star mage, he was already a four-star mage.
-It shows how terrifying that demon is, even this kind of genius can't stop him from possessing him!
She began to feel that even if she was a genius with incredible mental power, she would not be able to defeat demons within decades after completing her studies.
Anna quickly pushed all the negative thoughts out of her mind. She couldn't give up at the beginning!
"So Dibian, what kind of mage are you?" Anna asked curiously.
Dibian said with some embarrassment: "Fallen mages like us cannot accept the assessment and classification. My teacher said that my level should be a three-star mage."
Anna did some calculations. According to Dibian, it is normal to become a three-star mage at the age of twenty-seven or eighty-year-old, and he looks to be only in his early twenties now, which shows that his talent is also very good.
"That's awesome!" Anna praised sincerely.
Dibian blushed a little. This was the first time he heard such sincere praise from a beautiful girl. Fortunately, the dark lines on his face concealed his expression.
"My talent is not too high..." Dibian quickly changed the subject and continued, "After the Holy See took away the light element, today's mages are divided into three types, holy light mages, elemental mages and fallen mages. Holy Light Mage is a mage who majors in light elements, so he is also called a priest. The level classification is the same as that of elemental mage, from apprentice to five-star. The Pope is a five-star priest. Fallen Mage is the name of the Holy See. In fact, we prefer Call yourself a dark mage.”
Anna had a little idea in her mind. Demons can possess four-star mages, but what about five-star priests? Although the goddess does not exist, the Pope is a real five-star mage. Maybe he can destroy demons
She hid this little idea in her heart for the time being. If she really couldn't kill the demon after exhausting all methods, this would be a way to go.
"What kind of priest is the priest of the church?" Anna asked. She remembered that Father Louis had not even discovered the existence of the devil, and she couldn't help but be curious.
Dibian said: "Not necessarily. The position of the Holy See is not strictly bound to the level of the mage. For example, the cardinals in the Holy See Temple can be five-star priests or four-star priests, and they are not necessarily pure Light element affinity, it is said that only the Son of the Temple needs to be a pure light element affinity body, and every pope will be born from the tested Son."
The Holy Son... sounds really desirable.
Anna couldn't help but think that a four-star elemental mage couldn't do anything against demons, but what if it was a four-star light mage? I really hope that a few saints will pass by and defeat the demons.
Anna was leisurely and fascinated when she heard Dibian say: "Let's talk about this for today. I will teach you how to meditate tomorrow."
Ana saw that it was indeed getting late, so she smiled and said, "Okay, I'll go back first. See you tomorrow!"
Anna recalled the basic characters several times before going to bed, and recalled them several times when she got up the next day. She found that she was more proficient, and she couldn't help but be very satisfied.
She felt that there must be nothing wrong with her mental strength, and the next step was to pray that she would become an element-affine body.
When she arrived at the Earl's Mansion, Anna remembered that the devil had forcibly made an agreement with her yesterday to go to him for education today, and she couldn't help but sigh sadly.
But when she asked for leave to explain the reason to Rebecca, she had to look excited. After all, a four-star mage taught her how to read in person. For a maid, is there anything more honorable than this
Even though Rebecca had been surprised when the usually reclusive genius mage appointed Anna to deliver food to him, she couldn't help but be even more surprised after hearing Anna's words.
Rebecca was silent for a moment, and naturally did not embarrass Anna. Everyone has the right to pursue a better life. She liked Anna's seriousness very much. Although there were many rumors about Anna, she believed in her own judgment more.
Of course, Rebecca didn't know that Anna would actually rather Rebecca stuck herself, then she would have enough reason not to go.
It is now 8:30 in the morning, and there are still three hours before delivering food to Parrish, and during these three hours, Anna will go to the devil to receive education.
Anna arrived at the small building where the devil lived. The devil was waiting for her in the room where he usually ate. She found that the servant of Ulysses who she met on the way looked at her strangely, and she pretended not to notice it.
It has nothing to do with her that something is wrong with his master. Every injustice has its own owner, so if you have the ability, you can find that devil and beat him!
When Rotgar saw Anna coming, he began to think about what he was going to teach Anna today.
His purpose was to find out who Anna was, and teaching her literacy was just a means. Of course, he didn't spend much time preparing.
The lingua franca of the human world and the demon world is the same, but there are some variations in the languages of various races in the demon world, and even individuals have their own invented vocabulary. Of course Rotgar was proficient in Common Language, but he had never been a teacher, so he naturally didn't know how to teach students, and there was no similar episode in Ulysses' memory.
Anna stood in front of the devil for three minutes, but the devil never spoke. She couldn't help but look up at him.
He was also looking at her and suddenly said: "How do you want to learn?"
Anna's head was filled with questions. Is he a teacher or is she a teacher? If she doesn’t know how to teach, then don’t teach her and let her go!
Because of Dibian, the only use value of this devil in her eyes was gone, and she really couldn't avoid it now.
Seeing that the devil seemed unwilling to give up without getting the answer, Anna had no choice but to say: "Then... start with basic character teaching?"
Rotgar smiled and said, "What if that's not the case?"
Anna: "..." Crazy!
Rotgar naturally didn't know why Anna was scolding him in his mind. There was a stack of paper on the table that he asked the servant to prepare, next to it was a quill and black ink. He picked up the quill and dipped it in the ink, and then he wrote the basics in a moment. The characters are all written.
Then he handed the paper to Anna.
Anna took it and then looked at the demon slightly blankly.
Lotgar said impatiently: "Look."
… No, I am illiterate. What do you want me to read? Can I understand it
Anna rolled her eyes inwardly, and could only lower her head and pretend to read the words on the paper.
I have to say, this character is very beautiful. The only problem is... why are there twenty-five characters? Where did those extra three characters come from? !