After witnessingLeoric's rapid progress firsthand, even the usually stern and stone-faced old professors couldn't help but break into smiles, praisingLeoric as the fastest-improving student they had ever seen and commenting on his natural talent for becoming a wizard.

  Leoric chuckled internally. What talent? If he really had talent, would he need to get up every night to practice those complicated, lengthy, and tongue-twisting spells? He should be able to glance at something and instantly retain it.

  Regardless, the professors and classmates now looked atLeoric with warmth, respect, or even fear, no longer ignoring him as an insignificant newcomer upon his enrollment. After all, in Spiritshade City, strength was the foundation of everything—the source and guarantee of wealth, honor, and social status. WithLeoric's current performance, as long as nothing unexpected happened, he could at least smoothly enter the governmental sector and become an aristocrat, if not topping the graduation exam and entering the legendary mysterious school.

  No one wanted to offend this rising star of the future.

  In fact,Leoric suspected that someone might already know the secret behind his soaring grades. Needless to say, at least the professor in charge of distributing magical materials should have noticed something.

  Everything students needed in school was free, or rather, already included in the tuition. As wizards, they naturally consumed a lot of magical materials. Although they didn't have to pay, they had to pick them up from a designated place. There was no limit on quantity; they could take as much as they wanted, but it had to be registered.

  The professor in charge of distributing and registering magical materials might seem dull , with a lifeless expression all day, like someone suffering from senile dementia—but ifLeoric thought so, he'd be the one suffering from dementia.

  Leoric could assert that this old professor must have noticed that he was taking far more magical materials than others. Following this clue, it was easy to discoverLeoric's secret.Leoric even wondered if there were magical devices like cameras installed in every dormitory.

  But it didn't matter. The cultivation of internal energy, unlike martial arts, couldn't be seen from the outside. Even if someone were secretly monitoringLeoric's life, they would only see him lying on the bed, hands flat on his abdomen, motionless until he woke up an hour or two later, full of energy and vitality.

  If asked,Leoric could simply say that he was born that way, always sleeping little and waking up quickly. There were all kinds of strange people in the world. Since some could glance at something and instantly retain it, and some could cast spells innately without learning, why couldn'tLeoric have superhuman energy?

  Compared to this issue, whatLeoric thought about most was what to do after graduation.

  It was indeed terrible that the entire City of Shades was blockaded in the Shadow Realm and couldn't return to the Material World. Life would be too dull if one had to live in just one city, especially a gloomy one. However, just because Spiritshade City couldn't return to the Material World didn't mean none of its inhabitants could.Leoric already knew that wizards with sufficient power could easily travel between planes and return to the Material World.

  You might be reading a pirated copy. Look for the official release to support the author.

  At least characters like the Lord and Prince of Shades couldn't move the entire city back to the Material World, but returning alone was effortless for them.

  Leoric really wanted to see the Material World.

  Besides, the most important thing was revenge. Two wizards had dueled in the street years ago, killingLeoric's parents, which was the direct reason for him entering the wizard school.

  The problem was that the duel in the market more than four years ago had been classified as confidential by the high-ups in Spiritshade City, and outsiders couldn't know the details. As a student who hadn't even graduated, not even a formal wizard,Leoric couldn't find out the names of his enemies, let alone seek revenge, no matter how discreetly he inquired.

  To seek revenge, he needed a higher status and position.

  Whether it was to go to the Material World or seek revenge, he needed greater power and a higher status; otherwise, it was all empty talk.

  And that required him to perform well in the graduation exam…preferably coming in first.

  It was very difficult.

  One had to admit that there were indeed absolute geniuses in the world, difficult to match even with internal energy, which was akin to a cheat code.Leoric had been somewhat lucky to come in fourth last time. The three people ahead of him were all powerful, and defeating them all would be extremely challenging.

  Such a headache.

  An excellent wizard needed not only solid theoretical knowledge and exquisite magical skills but also abundant practical experience.

  Some things could never be learned in classrooms and libraries.

  In Spiritshade City, there was a simple standard for evaluating a wizard's strength: "the layer of the Magical Web one can touch."

  A wizard's power did not come from within but from the Magical Web. After resting sufficiently, a wizard prepared magic by mentally connecting to the ubiquitous magical network, extracting the necessary power, shaping it into various magics, storing it, and releasing it when needed. Using an Earth analogy, a wizard was like a musketeer who daily extracted materials from a warehouse (magical network), formulated them into bullets of various calibers (magics), and fired them on the battlefield.

  The Magical Web was also layered. The deeper one went, the closer one got to the core, and the stronger the power contained. If a wizard could touch deeper layers of the Magical Web and extract stronger power, they could shape more powerful magics.

  Therefore, "the layer of the Magical Web one can touch" could serve as a simple criterion for judging a wizard's strength. It remindedLeoric of English proficiency tests he had taken before, which were also graded. Passing certain levels roughly indicated corresponding proficiency.

  However, just as English proficiency levels couldn't accurately reflect true English ability, this criterion of "the layer of the Magical Web one can touch" was also intended only as a "for reference only" standard.

  A wizard who spent all day in libraries and laboratories, even if they could touch the fourth or fifth layer of the Magical Web and cast very powerful magics, could easily be defeated by a wizard with only second- or third-layer access but rich practical experience.

  Spiritshade City naturally wouldn't cultivate bookworms. What it needed were true talents.

  Therefore, starting from the fourth year, wizard school students had to go out with the military for...well, not looting, but "military exercises."

  These exercises weren't frequent in the fourth year, probably once a month. But they became more frequent upon entering the fifth year, basically once a week.

  The calendar in this world was slightly different from Earth's. A year still had 365 days, divided into twelve months, but each month had only three weeks, and each week had ten days. So initially, whenLeoric heard terms like "Eighth Day" and "Tenth Day," he was startled, but he got used to it over time.

  Today,Leoric was participating in one such "military exercise."