[Your student Carly holds you in high esteem, Esteem Value +50]
Lucien looked at the girl whose eyes shone with light, and a smile curled up at the corner of his mouth.
"Your ambition is commendable," Lucien praised, but then he looked toward the open space not far away, "However, I feel what you need to do now is to make up for the time you just wasted. Otherwise, I might have to keep you after class today."
Carly glanced at Lucien, whose smile was now "warm," and suddenly felt that the transition between holy and demonic in tutor Lucien seemed to happen in an instant.
"Yes..." Carly's voice was a bit flat, but still, she earnestly continued the tedious practice.
...
Bang——
With a slight explosion, a faint blue "Goo-Goo Gel" floated up from the palm of Carly's right hand.
"Tutor Lucien, I did it!" Carly shouted with joy.
However, Lucien did not smile, and instead looked puzzled. Because the anticipated system message did not pop up. It neither provided him with the knowledge after leveling up nor revealed any hints of forming a new bond.
Lucien couldn't help but pull up Carly's character panel.
[Teaching Progress]Blazing Technique·Modified (90.00%) {Theoretical Teaching: 100%; Practical Teaching: 0%}
"I see, it seems the teaching of witchcraft and the Meditation Method have some differences. Apart from mastering the witchcraft, it might also require a certain amount of practical combat experience," Lucien understood in his heart and soon smiled.
Practical combat? That was hardly a problem.
"Tutor Lucien?" Carly looked at Lucien at this moment, her expression filled with expectation.
"Well done." Lucien looked at Carly and gently rubbed the back of her little head.
[Your student Carly holds you in admiration, Esteem Value +1]
"But that's still not enough," Lucien looked at Carly, whose eyes were not quite sparkling, and spoke lightly yet again.
Carly's little head noticeably drooped a bit.
"Because to test whether you have truly mastered a piece of witchcraft, besides being able to perform it theoretically, you need to be tested through practical combat," Lucien smiled at Carly. "Get ready, have a good sleep at noon to restore your spirit, and in the afternoon we'll take on a task so you can test your results in actual combat."
Carly lifted her head, but when she looked at Lucien, her words carried a slight whine. "Tutor Lucien, you were just teasing me a moment ago, weren't you?"
"I most certainly was not, don't talk nonsense," Lucien argued, but the smile on his lips was quite obvious.
The task and trading areas of Greybone Academy were always the places with the most people.
"Let's choose this one." Lucien looked at each task in the task column and finally picked one that was suitable for Carly.
[Clearing Blood Crows]: Hunt 50 adult Blood Crows (you need to submit the beak of Blood Crows as proof of task completion)
[Issuer]: Greybone Academy
[Task Brief]: Recently, the breeding of Blood Crow flocks in the northern part of Greybone Forest seems to have been excessive, requiring thinning to maintain the ecological balance.
[Reward]2 Magic Stones
Although the task reward was not high, and hunting 50 agile Blood Crows known for their swiftness was a time-consuming and laborious task, undoubtedly, the Blood Crows could be considered one of the best "practical combat teachers" for Carly at this stage.
The blood crow is a low-level magical creature that inhabits the Greybone Forest, a species that resulted from the breeding of the one-eyed crow with ordinary ones. Because they lack the intelligence to effectively communicate with Wizards, they cannot serve as a Wizard's Magic Pet companion. However, the Academy utilizes them as a natural supernatural creature—simply referred to as magical creatures—that serve as dominants within the Greybone Forest.
As gregarious creatures, these magical creatures make small targets, fly quickly, and have sharp talons and beaks. Moreover, as magical creatures, they innately possess a type of sonic Magic which allows them to emit cries that cause nausea and discomfort.
This kind of cry can create significant interference when an Apprentice constructs a witchcraft model. However, looked at from a different angle, if one can still perfectly cast witchcraft amidst the disruption from the blood crows, then there should be no problem with that witchcraft in real combat.
When Lucien picked up the mission token and turned around, he saw Carly, who was already eager to move.
"Instructor, are we setting off now?" Carly's face showed a trace of uncontrollable excitement, forming a contrast with the other Apprentices who were begrudgingly accepting missions for points.
Lucien looked at Carly, and his gaze swept over the grey robe that signified her status as a new blood.
"Let's go, let's get you some equipment first." Lucien shook his head, considering that Carly's current attire would hardly offer any defense once they left the Academy. Even weak magical creatures like blood crows or rock fire lizards could pose a threat to Carly's life.
Lucien certainly did not want to go out only to return and have to look for a new student...
Suddenly, Lucien's expression changed drastically.
He suddenly realized he didn't have any additional slots to bind with a student. In other words, if something were to happen to Carly, then his system was most likely going to be kaput.
"Hiss..." Lucien took a deep breath, looked at Carly, and suddenly felt like the little guy in front of him had instantaneously turned into a porcelain doll, fragile!
Moreover, this porcelain doll seemed to be recklessly itching for a demise!
Well, it was also something he suggested and encouraged.
Lucien's expression changed back and forth until eventually, a somewhat classic image surfaced in his mind.
What a sin—
"Instructor Lucien?" Carly's soft call brought Lucien's consciousness back to reality.
He looked down at the porcelain doll... ah, no, at Carly, and then a smile appeared. "Carly, let me take this opportunity to teach you the first lesson of field combat!"
The sudden seriousness on Lucien's face made Carly subconsciously hold her breath and lean back tactically.
"That is, no matter what the circumstances, when you go out to fight, you need to be fully prepared." Lucien patted Carly's shoulder, "Staying alive is the prerequisite for outputting damage."
Carly blinked.
One hour later.
"Not bad." Lucien regarded Carly, who now appeared much more "stable," and felt a slight sense of safety. He couldn't help but nod in satisfaction.
If it weren't for Carly's small frame being unable to support a set of heavy armor, Lucien would have wanted to layer her with another set on top. In his opinion, the best outfit for little Carly when venturing out would be the "tin can" worn by holy warriors.
However, since heavy armor was not an option at the moment, Lucien had put a lot of effort into the set of equipment Carly was currently wearing.
This set of alchemy-made light armor had cost him eight Magic Stones! In terms of defense, it was strong enough to withstand one or two attacks from a Second-level Wizard Apprentice's witchcraft!
"Instructor..." Carly looked down at the light armor she was wearing, hesitant to speak out. She felt that her first combat experience was going to be quite different from what she had imagined.
"Departure." Lucien gave Carly's shoulder a pat, then handed her a sturdy metal shield.
Carly looked at the heavy shield in her hands, tilted her head to ponder for a moment, and felt that Instructor Lucien's words were not wrong. But for some reason, something still felt a bit off to her.
Especially when she saw the comparatively light attire of the other Wizard Apprentices, that feeling became particularly pronounced.