Chapter Two: The Forbidden Grand Scholar!

"Success!"

At that moment, both ladies were fuming with anger, but Louis was nearly beside himself with excitement. The elation and joy radiating from his face almost made Helen and Oxicris faint from rage.

Oxicris, trembling from head to toe, pointed at the door and said, "Get out!"

Suppressing his excitement, Louis bowed politely and left the bedroom.

Outside was a small sitting room. He sat down in a chair and casually picked up a small mirror from the table.

His appearance seemed to have changed slightly—his hair had turned gray. His eyes were closer to brown, and his skin was a bit paler. Other than that, there wasn't much difference; he was still as handsome as ever.

Louis flipped through the storybook hovering before him and discovered that "Louis" had a whole page to himself, including a rather unique description. Squinting, he found it was the system's evaluation of his personal status.

[Astral Traveler: Lu Yi]
[Current Identity: Louis (Royal Academy of Magic at Saint Oak, temporarily residing)]
[Title: Master of the Forbidden]
[Presence in the Gemflower World: 0.2]
[Level: Lv1 (0/100)
Strength: 0.9, Dexterity: 1.3, Mana: 3.1
Vitality: 9/9
Mana: 31/31]
[Linguistics: ALL (You are fluent in all languages)]
[Spellcraft: ? (You have not yet studied spells)]
[Theoretical Knowledge of Magic: Exceptionally Solid]

"What does 'presence' mean?" Louis shook his head; this presence value was still a mystery. For now, it seemed rather low.

As for level and attributes, these were clearly part of the system's upgrade framework. From prior narration, he knew he might acquire things like "random attribute +1" in the future.

But according to the memories granted by the storybook, this world had no such thing as a "Master of the Forbidden." The local wizarding system was somewhat reminiscent of Harry Potter. A wizard’s magical capacity was innate and rarely changed; their might was determined mostly by the strength of the spells they could wield.

Yet it seemed he could level up, which he attributed to having chosen a "custom identity."

The narration had said, "This world has begun to develop in unpredictable directions. The identity he chooses is up to him."

Louis had chosen "customized," creating this persona for himself in the story.

He seemed to have succeeded. The moment he spoke of his background, new memories filled his mind. It felt as if he had grown up studying in a place called the "Sanctum of the Forbidden" and later attended Saint Oak for six years of advanced study.

Yet these memories were all hazy; only the knowledge was clear in his mind.

Louis suspected the Sanctum of the Forbidden was a reflection of his academic life back home. The storybook used these experiences and knowledge as a template, infusing him with magical learning.

He didn’t know exactly how advanced his knowledge was, but judging by the state of this world, they hadn't even reached the level of universal knowledge like "gravity." Many wizards here, if placed in the Sanctum of the Forbidden, would be outperformed by a middle schooler.

And he was a doctorate.

Louis continued reading.

According to the storybook’s description of Louis’ reputation, his relationships with other students at Saint Oak were poor. The reason: he always looked down on his peers, considering them mere children.

To everyone else, in these six years, "Louis" was all talk—claiming to know all languages and magic, but never casting a single spell.

This made him the butt of many jokes and the target of much ridicule, even ostracism.

Helen was his only real friend.

This seemed to be a side effect of choosing "the strongest wizard" as his custom identity.

But Louis felt he wasn’t as useless as they said. It was true he couldn't cast spells, but that was only because, by design, he had never studied them.

He had a sense that his foundation in magical knowledge was extremely solid. While he had never learned these spells, he was only a step away from mastering them.

There were plenty of books and an attractive backpack on the table. Louis picked up a book at random and leafed through it—the text was perfectly intelligible. He could understand the spell formulas too, though not "mastery" as he'd boasted to Helen, but "familiarity."

Yet he felt as if he were merely reviewing.

As he was deciphering a spell, a sudden clarity struck him.

[Your years of accumulated knowledge have finally yielded results. You have comprehended the "Quick Fill" Charm, lv1 (0/10).]

Louis saw that his spellcraft entry in the storybook now included the "Quick Fill" Charm.

Raising his brows, he picked up a cute-looking cup from the table, took a big gulp, then grabbed a wand (apparently Helen’s) lying next to the book. Pointing it at the half-full cup, he recited the incantation as written.

At once, he felt a trace of mana drain away. The water in the cup began to rise, and soon the cup was full.

[Your understanding of the "Quick Fill" Charm lv1 (1/10) has deepened.]

"As expected! Accumulation of knowledge!" He was certain that though he’d never glanced at these spells in six years, he possessed all the prerequisites for understanding them. Mastering them now was as easy as a child solving basic arithmetic.

"Thank you, gift of knowledge! This is far more useful than a few more attribute points!"

Closing his eyes in contemplation, Louis flipped through the book before him. Many spells were instantly clear to him; with some practice, he could wield them in a myriad of ways.

Spells that took Saint Oak students ages to master were, to him, as simple as arithmetic—solved in a glance.

This was the fruit of deep preparation.

He emptied the cup, practiced the spell a dozen more times, and found he no longer needed to chant aloud. According to his understanding, as long as one modulated the elements with mana correctly, the magic would form naturally.

But at Saint Oak, only the grand wizards could cast magic wordlessly or without a wand.

Louis snapped his fingers, and the cup filled slowly on its own.

He emptied it again, tapped it with the wand, and this time the cup filled instantly.

"It seems using a wand makes the spell more powerful." He glanced at the storybook and saw the Quick Fill Charm had already reached lv2 (3/100).

Just ten practice attempts had brought him to silent, wandless casting. At a hundred, he’d reach lv3—where a mere thought would suffice to cast the spell.

In this world, even Oxicris, when casting the Quick Fill Charm, was only around lv3. And when she did, it wasn’t with just a thought—she had little quirks, like pursing her lips.

Louis sensed that, with a deeper understanding, he could reach lv4 with just a dozen more practices for something like Quick Fill.

At lv4, he guessed he could fill an entire pool. Beyond that, he might be able to stem rivers, summon wind and rain.

Leafing through the book, he realized it was Helen’s spell journal. Her notes showed immense talent—she could master many spells with ease, and even the harder ones within weeks.

But despite having practiced these spells thousands of times since childhood, she still couldn’t cast without a wand, let alone without an incantation.

In everyone’s eyes, wandless and wordless casting was a feat reserved for super-witches like Oxicris, who innately understood magic.

Suddenly, Louis looked up.

That so-called prince and elder witch were probably the "ceiling" for the starting characters.

He had chosen neither the cuckolded prince nor the ancient witch. But now, with his "custom" character template, he was still at the very top.

Because he had invested everything in what mattered most to apprentices—potential.