Exploring Technology in a Wizard World

Chapter 231: Chapter 230: The Class of Students Chapter 231: Chapter 230: The Class of Students In the second-floor corridor of the dormitory, a girl looked at Richard enticingly, “Come on, help me clean my room, you won’t regret it.”

“I’m not interested,” Richard said directly.

The girl: “…”
Richard turned and walked downstairs, dumped the dirty water, then came back up.

The girl still stood in the original spot on the corridor, hands on her hips, a look of discontent on her face.

Richard ignored her, walked straight into his room, and slammed the door shut with a “bang.”

The girl: “…” At that moment, she mumbled in her heart, “You’re ruthless, just wait!”

…

Later that evening.

Richard was in his room, organizing his luggage and planning some matters when suddenly someone knocked on his door.

“Bang, bang, bang!”

Richard raised an eyebrow and walked to the door. Upon opening it, he saw the girl he had encountered earlier, leaning against the door frame with two papyrus scrolls in her hand.

“What is it?”

“The academy has already announced the schedule for this semester. I see that you are new here, so I did a good deed by getting a copy for you,” said the girl, handing one of the papyrus scrolls to him, implying, “I really like helping people, unlike some horrible people— who can’t even help with a small favor.”

Richard shrugged and didn’t say much, simply taking the papyrus from the girl and quickly scanning it.

He saw that on the papyrus scroll was a chart, filled with densely written text.

The top line read: White Stone Tower Academy’s Latest Course Fee Details.

The next line down, from left to right, listed: Course Name, Type, Elite Students, Official Students, Auditors.

Further down, from left to right, the entries were:
Basic Magic Introduction, compulsory, fee 0, fee 0, fee 0.

Continuing downward, the content began to change:
Shape Energy Water System·Acid Branch Magic·Basic Introduction (Hamas), elective, fee 2, fee 3, fee 5.

Shape Energy Water System·Ice Branch Spell·Intermediate Mastery (Heckda), elective, fee 5, fee 7, fee 10.

Shape Energy Fire Type·Flame Waterfall Skill·Advanced Mastery (Lux), elective, fee 10, fee 15, fee 20.

…

Transformation Class Construction System·All Branch Magic·Basic Introduction (Tosco), elective, fee 9, fee 15, fee 20.

Transformation Type Construction System·Hardening Skin Spell·Intermediate Mastery (Rach), elective, fee 20, fee 30, fee 50.

…

Spiritual Protection System·All Branches·Basic Mastery (Quinns), elective, fee 15, fee 25, fee 40.

…

The chart listed countless courses, but they could generally be divided into two types: compulsory and elective—this was the White Stone Tower’s teaching method, not appearing like a compulsory school, but more akin to modern universities on Earth, in Richard’s view.

Compulsory courses were free and a necessity for all the students to learn, but correspondingly, they weren’t particularly valuable, merely covering some basic knowledge available in the academy’s library.

Elective courses, however, involved a fee and each prominent wizard personally set them up, teaching knowledge or spells in which they were particularly proficient. Students could choose courses based on their own circumstances. Theoretically, as long as one had enough time and money, they could learn every wizard’s courses. This was the dream of many diligent scholars, though most people were limited by money, particularly auditors.

In White Stone Tower, there were gold-plated Elite Students, silver-plated Official Students, and black-plated Auditors, distinctly three different classes. The class disparities were vastly apparent in three aspects of course learning: exemption limits, course fees, and wizard treatment.

Exemption limits were a form of subsidy from White Stone Tower Academy for students’ course studies, which allowed students to take some courses for free.

Generally, Elite Students had a much higher exemption limit than Official Students. And auditors? Sorry, none—at least you don’t pay extra to attend any course you want.

Even if they pay, the three types of students are charged differently to study the same course. Elite Students receive discounts, reaching fifty or even forty percent off, while Official Students might get seventy to eighty percent off. As for Auditors, well, not overcharging you is already gracious.

The professors, or wizards, also treated the three categories of students differently.

Generally, many wizards valued Elite Students, who were meticulously taught in the courses and might even receive individual attention. Official Students were treated standardly; if they had questions, the teacher might answer based on their mood. But for Auditors…
What does it mean to be an Auditor? One character for “side,” another for “listen,” which means—although you pay the most, you can only sit quietly in the corner, not allowed to speak, ask questions, or impact anyone like you’re just air. If you do anything wrong, or if the teacher’s in a bad mood and thinks you did something erroneous, they could find any excuse to kick you out without the right to argue back.

For Auditors, being “specially treated” by wizards in elective courses is not even the worst part, because… most don’t have elective courses to attend.

Auditors mostly spend their time at the academy trying to earn some Crystal Coins to sustain themselves—nothing is free inside or outside the academy, living costs payments through labor.

To Richard, Auditors seemed more like a cheap workforce than students, blatantly utilized by the academy.

Yet, most auditors, even knowing this, were willing to be exploited for the slim chance—one percent, or even one-thousandth of a percent—to become a real wizard and dramatically change their lives. In their eyes, persistence was victory, hoping that success might arrive on the next day.

However… the vast majority of auditors were eliminated before the dawn of success—the White Stone Tower Academy continuously expelled students, especially auditors, at a high rate. But the academy wasn’t worried about this because as one group was expelled, new auditors consistently filled in, a never-ending supply.

This is the White Stone Tower; this is the harsh reality.

While perusing the course schedule, Richard pondered these matters.

The girl at the doorway, seeing Richard’s prolonged inspection, assumed something and voiced, “Hey, are you looking at it for so long because you’ve got no money and can’t find any electives to enroll in? I can help you!”

“Hmm?” Richard looked up at the girl. He naturally wasn’t short on money; after killing the Mysterious Wizard, the Crystal Coins obtained inside the Space Iron Ring were more than enough for a long life at White Stone Tower Academy. However, he was curious about the girl’s intentions.

The girl spoke, “I can find a money-making opportunity for you—clean my room, and I’ll pay you. Fair, isn’t it?”

“Hmm…” Richard raised an eyebrow but didn’t reply immediately.