Episode 8
Episode 8: God of Studying!
Libra, the former librarian of the library, and her older brother Burari dreamed of studying abroad.
The Fairy-Elven Magic University—a place admired by everyone in the World, especially those who dream of becoming mages!
Burari wanted to pass the entrance exam, escape this backwater Starting Village, and become a great mage whom everyone admired.
Burari, who held such a grand dream!
Unfortunately, there was no proper place to learn magic in the Starting Village where he lived, so he had no choice but to study on his own.
‘First, I’ll save up some money and go to another village to enroll in a magic academy. Until then, I’ll manage somehow on my own!’
Those with dreams are strong in action.
It so happened that his younger sister had been taken to a monastery for curse treatment, and he had even obtained the job of librarian, which was perfect for studying.
There was no better place to study than the Starting Village library, where hardly anyone came.
But if there was just one problem…….
‘……Why are the chairs here so uncomfortable? And they’re so old they even creak? How the heck did Libra work as a librarian? No wonder her back was already hunched at such a young age.’
What exactly is studying done with?
Some would say it is done with the head, others with the hands.
But according to the words of countless study sages, studying is done with the butt!
Yet for the chair that holds that butt to be old and uncomfortable was so absurd that even his determination to study threatened to unravel immediately.
‘Ugh…… My back is really no joke. Should I buy a cushion and put it behind my back……? Hoo, later I’ll have to ask Mr. Carpenter to make me a chair.’
Ding-a-ling.
Just then, the sound of the library door’s chime rang as a man entered.
‘A Player……? That’s unusual. Ah, is he the library regular Libra mentioned?’
A story he had heard when Libra was still her normal self.
There was a Player who had started coming to the library a year ago, and apparently, he hadn’t missed a single day since.
And she had told her older brother to follow that Player’s example and try studying.
‘To study every single day without missing one…… I should take this chance to soak up some of that energy in the same space.’
Burari welcomed the man very politely, harboring something akin to slight admiration.
“Hello. This is the Starting Village Library. Do you have your library card?”
“Hm……?”
After a brief exchange, the man went to his seat to study, and Burari was about to study as well, following his lead.
‘Huh……? Is he moving the chair?’
The man pushed the library chair aside and pulled out a new chair from his inventory.
But lo and behold, the chair looked incredibly nice at a glance.
‘Wow, that chair. The finish is so clean and the design is nice too, just like a chair Mr. Carpenter made. But I’ve never seen anything like that at the workshop…….’
Especially the lumbar support on the back, which caught his eye immediately.
He wanted to ask where it had been bought.
It so happened that he was about to get up from his seat for a moment anyway because the chair was uncomfortable, so Burari immediately approached the man to ask his pardon.
Because it was a library, very quietly.
“Excuse me.”
“…….”
But the man didn’t spare him even a glance.
Burari was about to raise his voice a bit, wondering if he hadn’t heard.
Shwishwishwishik!
The man’s movements began to noticeably speed up!
And precisely about twice as fast……!
‘Wh-what is that……! How can he move that fast? There’s no way he can properly study like that…….’
Burari peeked over the man’s shoulder to see what he was studying.
Seolha Publishing, Chemistry I
Seolha Publishing, Physics I
‘These are otherworld books. What else…… ah!’
You Can Become a Great Mage Too! Basic Magic Theory.
A very famous magic theory book that every aspiring mage in the entire World, including himself and his sister, must have opened at least once!
The man was reading that too.
Shwishwishwishik!
Still flipping pages at a very fast speed.
‘Can he even absorb the content like that? He probably noticed I’m standing next to him and is acting like he’s studying hard, isn’t he?’
Burari had a few friends of that sort.
Kids who pretended to study.
They always pretended to study and pretended to know everything, but in reality, when asked about this and that, they were nothing but shiny wild apricots—fine-looking on the outside but empty inside.
Burari thought the Player before him might be the same.
‘He’s probably just scribbling down nonsense.’
Burari checked the notebook the man was writing in.
The moment he did, he couldn’t help but be shocked again.
‘Wh-what! How is that possible?! To think the content he wrote while maintaining that speed is accurate!’
Burari knew basic magic theory to some degree.
Looking at the content, the man before him was definitely not scribbling.
He was writing down things he properly understood.
‘H-He’s just quickly writing down what he memorized. Yeah. If I just memorized it thoroughly, I could do that too…… Huh?!’
On the far right of the man’s notebook.
There was content written that Burari had never seen in the book.
‘The laws of mana motion here are practically the same as Newton’s laws in Physics 1. It’s like they just wrote F=ma with different letters.’
‘Ah, but the law of conservation of mass and the law of conservation of energy aren’t maintained in magic?’
‘Nah. In magic, mana is consumed instead. If you view mana the same as energy, then the law of conservation of energy practically holds. Mana=Energy. This is correct.’
Those were comments he was adding in the margins while studying!
He wasn’t just blindly memorizing and transcribing what was in the book; he was attaching his own thoughts and comments to each and every part!
It wasn’t passive studying where he simply crammed information by rote learning.
The man before him was engaging in active studying, thinking for himself and making judgments.
And at more than twice the speed of an ordinary person, at that.
‘I-It’s unattainable……! Is he a god? The God of Studying!’
In the end, Burari completely forgot he had wanted to ask about the chair and could only stare blankly until the man’s studying was done.
* * *
“Great. With this, I’ve covered everything up to the midterm contents.”
Gyeongjun closed You Can Become a Great Mage Too! Basic Magic Theory with a satisfied expression.
‘Covered’ meant that he was re-studying the Chemistry 1 and Physics 1 content he had learned during midterm period by converting it into ‘magical’ concepts.
This way, he was reviewing Chemistry 1 and Physics 1 while also having it count as studying ‘magic.’
It was all to add time to the Dimensional Study Room.
The rising stats and skill levels were just a bonus.
“Yeah. I didn’t get to use you much today.”
Gyeongjun hadn’t used Timo much for this study session.
Because he had already studied Physics 1 and Chemistry 1 perfectly up to the midterm content, there wasn’t really anything to ask.
Also, he had judged that if he only asked questions, his own power to think would disappear.
“Let’s see how much they’ve gone up this time.”
One of Gyeongjun’s recent hobbies while studying in the game.
It was checking the status window log after studying hard.
The more he studied, the more his stats and skill levels rose, which was quite fun to watch, like receiving small rewards.
Gyeongjun brought the status window he had put away back to the front and checked it.
[Your Intelligence has increased by 1 through continuous studying.]
[Your Intelligence has increased by 1 through continuous studying.]
[Your Affinity with Burari has increased by 3.]
[Your Mana has increased by 1 through continuous mana consumption.]
[Your Affinity with Burari has increased by 2.]
[You have gained some enlightenment regarding basic magic theory.]
[The level of the Common Skill 『Basic Magic Mastery』 has increased to 4.]
[The level of the Common Skill 『Energy Bolt』 has increased to 4.]
[4 hours have been added to the Dimensional Study Room.]
[Your Affinity with Burari has increased by 3.]
“Oh, 4 hours added to the Dimensional Study Room. But Affinity with Burari……? What is this?”
The moment Gyeongjun muttered that—
[The new librarian, Burari, shows interest in your chair.]
[Signs of a Sudden Quest have been detected.]
[Depending on your actions, the quest’s activation, rewards, content, etc., may change.]
“E-Excuse me! God of Studying!”
“Hm?”
“How can you study so well?! Please tell me your method!”
The male librarian whom he had first met today suddenly bent his waist to 90 degrees, his eyes sparkling.
At the same time, a new status window popped up.
[The Sudden Quest 『God of Studying』 has occurred.]
[God of Studying!]
▶Libra, the former librarian of the Starting Village Library, and her older brother Burari have fallen for your studying appearance! As the God of Studying, teach him your study methods.
▶Quest Reward: Anything that Burari has
▶Quest Type: Sudden
▶Quest Grade: Advanced
“God of Studying?”
“Yes! I watched you from beginning to end earlier! Your hand movements, your note-taking, the content—all of it was no joke! Please teach me your study method!”
“Aha. Well, it’s not like I did anything that great.”
Gyeongjun had simply been faithfully executing the study methods he had learned from Timo.
For example…….
‘Studying must use all five senses. It’s not done with just the eyes. Studying with your butt in the chair and a pencil in your hand never betrays you.’
‘Those who only memorize by rote are only half-studying. Even simple memorization must contain thought. When taking notes, don’t just write blindly; jot down your own thoughts in the margins.’
‘Also, studying is…….’
Just things like that.
They were things anyone with even a little interest in studying would commonly hear.
But since all of this was playing at double speed through the Dimensional Study Room, anyone who saw it couldn’t help but have their eyes pop out.
‘But I don’t have time to explain everything one by one.’
He didn’t have enough time to teach everything he had learned from Timo exactly as it was.
Because Gyeongjun always logged into the game only for a set amount of time.
Still, it wasn’t that he didn’t want to teach him.
Among kids who studied well, there were occasional ones who never showed their own homework or notes and only tried to look at others’.
Gyeongjun was not such an unsightly fellow.
‘The most efficient method I can give him is…… ah!’
Gyeongjun, having thought of something, spoke to Burari.
“You said you’re Libra’s older brother, right?”
“Yes! That’s right!”
“Then I think it would be best to go ask your younger sister. She has watched me study for over a year, so she probably knows much better than I do myself.”
“Ah, my younger sister……? Surely the reason my sister was taken to the monastery wasn’t all because…….”
……It was already too late to judge that it was all because of Gyeongjun’s study methods, as Burari’s Affinity was already too high.
“No, there’s no way that’s the case! Understood! I’ll try doing that. Still, if I get the chance later, may I ask you a bit more?”
“Of course. If it’s just for a moment before starting or after finishing, I can tell you this and that.”
“Yes! Thank you so much!”
[You have completed the Sudden Quest 『God of Studying』.]
“As expected, you are the God of Studying…….”
“Please call me Gyeongjun. ‘God’ is too much.”
“Haha, you’re even humble. Anyway, then, Gyeongjun-nim. Since I shamelessly watched you this whole time earlier, and since you’re treating me so kindly, I’d like to give you a small token of gratitude.”
Burari opened his inventory and showed it to Gyeongjun.
[You may select your reward.]
▶To be continued in the next episode
▶To be continued in the next episode
▶To be continued in the next episode
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