"First question, how many schools of magic are there in total? What are they?" André thought for a while and asked a simple question.
He wasn't sure if the girl could really understand the parts that were too difficult to understand at her current age, so he planned to take it step by step. After all, learning was not something that could be rushed.
"The eight schools of magic are the school of defense, the school of incantation, the school of language, the school of enchantment, the school of illusion, the school of evocation, the school of necromancy, and the school of transformation. There is also a small school of magic, and that is the school of general magic." Beverly blurted out without thinking.
Without a doubt, she had firmly remembered the introduction of the first half of the book. Otherwise, she wouldn't have been able to react so quickly.
"Absolutely correct!
Excellent! It seems that your learning progress has exceeded my expectations. Next, I'll ask you some more difficult questions. "André clapped his hands and praised her generously.
Now he finally understood why the system had marked 15 points of intelligence. This meant that the girl in front of him had an intelligence level that far exceeded that of an adult. He absolutely couldn't treat Beverly like an ordinary child. After all, there was a huge gap between a genius and an ordinary person. Teaching according to the talent was the best choice.
The little loli didn't realize that her performance had attracted the attention of her teacher. She excitedly opened her arms and shouted, "Come on!
As long as it's the knowledge in the book, I'll definitely be able to answer it! "
André smiled and pinched the girl's little nose, "Don't be in a hurry to brag. The next question won't be as simple as the previous one.
Let me ask you, during the process of casting an arcane spell, what do hand gestures and incantations represent? "
"Hmm … Hand gestures represent the direction of the flow of one's magic power, while incantations resonate with the magic elements in the air. When the two are combined together, the spell will be cast." After stammering for a long time, Beverly finally gave the correct answer.
Obviously, she couldn't completely understand these abstract and profound things, so she didn't have a deep memory of them. Therefore, she had to ponder for a while before she could answer the question.
However, for a little girl who wasn't even ten years old, it wasn't easy for her to reach this stage. If she had mastered the entire book in one go, André would have suspected that she was a transmigrator like him, and that she had a cheating device.
Normally speaking, a mage was not a profession that could be developed quickly. Not only did one need to accumulate a large amount of knowledge, but one also had to learn to be cautious. This was because the power of arcane magic was simply too dangerous. The slightest carelessness could lead to disastrous consequences.
They weren't like Warriors. As long as their physical fitness was good enough, they could immediately put on armor and go out into the wild with weapons in hand to fight monsters after a few months of rigorous training.
There wasn't much technical content. The real thing needed to be comprehended through intense battles. As long as one could persevere and survive, there would always be improvements.
However, mages were different. All of their power was accumulated through a long period of learning. Whether it was the ability to cast spells or the way of thinking, they had already taken shape before they set foot on the first battle. What they needed to do in the future was to repeatedly revise and make them reach a more perfect state.
Generally speaking, the most important period for a mage was the apprenticeship period. During this period, they would follow their mentor to learn all the basics, including the movements of casting spells, the tone of incantation, the measures to deal with unexpected situations, the spells they preferred, the choice of magic items, and even the final specialization.
They would be deeply rooted like habits. In the future, unless there was a major change, it would be very difficult to change them in their lifetime.
Although André, who had become a mage through cheating, didn't go through this process, he could imagine how heavy the responsibility of a mentor was. Therefore, he had always been thinking about what kind of ideas to instill in his apprentices.
Should they continue to maintain a mysterious and lofty attitude like traditional mages, or should they completely follow the pragmatism and use whatever was effective, regardless of whether it was magic or physical means?
As a dabbler, he couldn't tell which of the two was more beneficial to the development of mages. After all, not everyone had a cheat that allowed them to gain experience and level up by completing tasks and killing enemies. Therefore, in this aspect, he could only cross the river by feeling the stones and try his best not to touch the more sensitive parts.
In the following time, André asked some questions that were not too difficult but still required some thinking. Some of them were reluctantly answered by Beverly, but most of them were pondered for a long time and finally shook her head helplessly.
It was obvious that she had a firm grasp of the knowledge that had been memorized by rote, but the parts that required deep understanding and thinking were not enough. Especially when it came to arcane magic, such as planes, crystal walls, the universe, magical elements, and so on, her knowledge was still only on paper. It would probably take a long time for her to completely digest it.
Taking advantage of the fact that dinner hadn't started yet, Andre answered some of her questions with great interest. At the same time, he also taught the little loli how to meditate as a mage. This was the first step to becoming an apprentice. Only by accumulating a certain amount of mana through meditation could one obtain their first level-0 spell slot.
After obtaining the level-zero spell slot, an apprentice would be a true apprentice. In Linton City, the number of such apprentices was about two hundred and fifty to three hundred. Most of them were engaged in the production of magical items and potions, which was equivalent to being the assistants of official mages.
Most of these apprentices would stop at this for their entire lives. Only a small minority of less than five percent would be able to learn and see more in daily life until they accumulated enough experience to be promoted to an official level-1 mage.
To a certain extent, the Mage Association was actually using the strategy of casting a wide net in an attempt to select talents from the commoners. Then, through self-study, they would increase the number of mages in the city as much as possible.
Of course, in the process of learning, these children would also be the coolies, test subjects, and tools to vent the desires of official mages. Basically, one out of ten of them would die from accidents or suicide. Even though President Boris had repeatedly emphasized that the apprentices should not die so easily, there were not many who actually listened to him.
Although it sounded a little sad and cruel, there were still countless commoners who saw it as an opportunity to change their fate. They fought to send their children in, hoping that they would one day be able to stand out among their peers.
In comparison, the situation of the nobles was much better. They could announce to the Association that they would be able to hire mages to teach their children.
Although they had to pay an exorbitant tuition fee, it was nothing to the wealthy upper-class nobles. Their fleets only needed to make a round trip to earn a large profit. Therefore, a lesson only cost a few hundred gold coins. They only needed to sell some luxury goods.