CHAPTER 7 – UNEASY START (5)

“Oh, come on, do you have a smart brain?”

“Shut up.”

I was not pleased with the compliment.
Compliments should be treated as such, but when delivered with a smirk, they come across as teasing.

Above all, I was more concerned about the countless stares that had been directed at me before instead of the professor’s extra points.
Rina and Cecily were intrigued, but not all eyes were favorable.

I’m not sure what the future would bring, but it’s best to keep my mouth shut and stay low for the time being.
As the applause gradually faded, Professor Beerus began explaining in a relaxed tone.

“Like Isaac’s answer, knowledge is like a weapon that can be a power.
Power has an inseparable relationship with people.
Also…”

Unlike the presentation, the lectures remained boring.
However, I, like the rest of the students, was focused on the professor’s lecture.

It was boring, like a college class from my past, but it wasn’t meaningless.
Besides this, it made me realize that I was attending an academy found only in fantasy novels.

After about 30 minutes of the professor’s lengthy explanation, a story that would draw everyone’s attention popped up.

“Let me ask you a quick question here.
Have any of you read the book called ‘Xenon’s Biography’?”

“…Huh?”

Why was my book mentioned all of a sudden? While I was bewildered, the professor sighed, coughed, and spoke again.

“I’m sorry.
I said it wrong.
Is there any student here who hasn’t read Xenon’s biography yet?”

As soon as the professor asked the question, I looked around.
No matter how popular Xenon’s biography was, maybe one or two out of 50 people weren’t interested.

However, as if all the predictions were my misjudgments, no one raised their hand.

‘No.
Really?’

It was absurd at first, but it’s not that I just don’t understand.
Even if it was a fantasy world where magic exists, this was still close to the Middle Ages.
There would be very few things to enjoy in your spare time.

Smartphones, computers, and televisions were not invented, so the things you could enjoy in your leisure life were extremely limited.
In addition, the nobles would read books for their own education, so they would have naturally encountered Xenon’s Biography.

When I thought about it like this, there was no way to explain that I was born in good times.

“That will make it easier to talk.  As you may be aware, Xenon’s Biography story blew up suddenly a year ago.
When I read this work, I was taken aback.
How much knowledge is required to create a world?”

It’s been ubiquitous in the past life.
Fantasy was there.
As long as you mix the seasonings well, Readers agreed that a similar story would be interesting.

“How much experience do you need to write this beautiful story? I’m sure the author of Xenon’s biography has gone through experiences that I can never imagine.” 

…I just read a lot of books at home.
However, what the professor said was not completely wrong, I was a ‘reincarnated person.’

Not only did I have a different experience of a different world, but I also encountered a culture I had never encountered before.
This was also an experience.

Moreover, it was easy to create a new story because of the ease of access to stories created by other people, such as comics and novels.

“The most important thing is expressiveness and readability.
You all know the feeling of vividly replaying the scene in your head.
I can imagine how much effort and research the author put into writing these sentences.”

If you compliment me like that, I feel embarrassed. I almost smiled bitterly.

If I read the book I wrote right now and do that, wouldn’t I be stunned if I saw The Lord of the Rings or Sherlock Holmes?

I wonder what would have happened if Tolkien or Conan Doyle had reincarnated here.

Ah.
Tolkien would most likely be embarrassed watching his world-building turn into reality.

“Writing an immortal masterpiece like Xenon’s biography is certainly difficult, but since the author of Xenon’s biography has already paved the way, it won’t be difficult to follow that path.
However, knowledge and experience necessary to create a new world are essential.”

“Professor.
May I ask you a question?”

As Beerus continued his explanation, someone raised her arm.
She was sitting in the front row, a girl with auburn hair.
Maybe because she sat in the front seat, I couldn’t see her face.

No matter where you go, no professor disliked a question, Professor Beerus asked her with a smile.

“Of course.
Your name?”

“My name is Leona.”

“Yes.
Student Leona.
What’s the question?”

When Leona rose from her seat, she was accompanied by a flurry of stares.
She continued, slurring and saying what she wanted to say tersely.

“As the professor explained, Xenon’s biography went beyond fiction and left a mark on the cultural world, paving a new path.
Thanks to this, it is still gaining unprecedented popularity.”

“Yes.”

“But this is what some critics say.
It is a book that can be read with fun regardless of class, but it is not enough to build culture.
I would like to ask what your opinion is.”

I think I know roughly what she wanted to say.
When Xenon’s biography was a hit, it was mostly well-received, but a few criticized it.

This was content that was said to be inappropriate for building culture.
I looked at it and laughed.

‘If you twist, they will use it as easily as me.’

As I mentioned before, novels in this world were at the level of the SAT English problem.
Because all of the words I’ll ever hear only once in my life were concentrated in one book, I have no idea what it meant, let alone the story.

The professor nodded when he heard Leona’s question. 

“I understand what you mean.
Just like the student said, Xenon’s biography is easy to read, but there are people who hate it.
But do you know that?”

“What?”

“The one thing that critics have in common is that they are novelists.
Before Xenon’s biography came out, they were the writers who had the highest recognition ‘only’ to aristocrats, not commoners.  One of them is Professor Megner, and he’s one of the professors here beside me.”

The professor emphasized ‘only’.
Professor Beerus took his gaze away from Leona and, walking back and forth in front of the blackboard, explained in a relaxed voice.

“The reason they were so popular with aristocrats rather than commoners was that most previous novels were only read by nobles.
There were many difficult words for commoners to decipher, making it nearly impossible.
Therefore, readability was reduced, and later on, the flow of the story was twisted in strange ways.”

“… …”

“Xenon’s biography, on the other hand, used simple sentences and expressive power that even commoners could understand.
Xenon’s biography isn’t cultural? It’s just nonsense.
In essence, culture can only be obtained through academic and knowledge acquisition.”

The professor, who had been pacing around, came to a halt.
And he finally asked her a question, his gaze fixed on Leona.

“Okay then, Leona student.
I’m going to ask a different question.”

“Yes, Professor.”

“How many books did Leona read about Xenon’s biography?”

“I’ve read all of the most recent ones.”

When Marie heard the answer, she said.

“Wow, even I haven’t read the latest one.
How did she read it?”

“There must have been a way.”

Hearing Leona’s answer to what we were talking about, the professor nodded and spoke softly.

“Then what do you think of demons after reading Xenon’s biography?”

“… …”

Leona didn’t answer, but shifted her gaze towards where Cecily was sitting.
Cecily flinched slightly, not knowing she was going to be mentioned, but she looked straight into her eyes.

After a while, Leona, who had been facing Cecily for a few seconds, spoke, as if she understood.

“Sorry.
I think I asked the wrong question.”

“No, it was a very sharp question.
I will give extra points to Leona.”

“Thank you, professor.”

Despite the unexpected bonus points, Leona answered in a calm voice.
To those who don’t know her, she might appear like a robot.

“Anyway, in order to make certain knowledge completely on your own, you must first understand what that knowledge tells you.
Zeno’s biography is an extremely advanced novel.”

Wow.
You wrapped up a novel that I wrote as a hobby without thinking about it like that.
That’s ability too.

In the meantime, the professor continued the lecture by mentioning Xenon’s biography from time to time.
The students also began to listen to the professor’s lecture with more interest than before.

“Especially, what I want to say here is that you should never be arrogant even at the last moment…”

Along the way, the professor himself made up the meaning of the story that even I didn’t know.
The trap is that the writer himself wrote it without any meaning.

A person who is too smart interprets an easy trap as more complicated.

So, from the middle, I listened to the lecture with a dull expression.
Glancing to the side, Marie was listening with twinkling eyes.

“Well… Time is running out.”

How long has passed? The professor checked his wristwatch and announced the end.

I don’t know, but I heard some sighs from the students because it was quite fun.
Was it that fun?

Professor Beerus said with a smirk, wondering if the sound of sighing made him feel better.

“You don’t have to be too sad.
We have a lot of time besides today.”

“What do other professors teach beside you?”

“History, theology, magic, medicine, administration, politics, philosophy, biology, etc.
Each professor will teach you the basic knowledge.
Also, after this time, we will issue a timetable to you.”

“Do we have to get good grades all of them?”

One student asked in an anxious voice.
Surely you’d have a headache to hear that one by one.
I have to say that I am running to the extreme of inefficiency.

Professor Beerus shook his head in denial at the question.

“No.
You can take the classes you want, but you will need a certain score.”

“Then you’re saying that we don’t have to attend a major we are not interested in?”

“It doesn’t really matter.
Professors will only focus on students who are interested in their lectures anyway.
Instead, as I said before, it would be better to take as many lectures as possible and get attendance points in order to secure more than a certain score.”

As explained earlier, students take common classes until their second year, but if they can get a certain score, it means that they do not need to take classes they are not interested in.

Obviously, if you look at this, it was a system similar to the university of my previous life.
The difference is that the major was decided in advance even if I do not have to apply for a course separately.

Still, I was satisfied with the system as it was familiar to me.

“It’s almost time.
It was a pleasure to meet you, students.”

At the end of the lecture, Beerus bowed down and greeted us like a gentleman.
Of course, it was an impressive lecture, so the students responded with applause.

Before long, Beerus left the classroom, and people who were supposed to be teaching assistants came in and handed out papers to the students.
It seemed to be the timetable the professor had mentioned a while ago.

“Crazy.
What is this?”

As soon as I checked the timetable, I was startled.
It doesn’t matter if the classes were tightly packed from 9 am to 5 pm, but the number of majors was huge.

No matter how many times you search for the same major, they were all different majors.
Marie also clicked her tongue and muttered in a troubled voice.

“This is just too much.
I just need to secure a certain score here, right? What major are you going to take?”

“…Let’s listen to everything first.
There are so many I don’t even know.
First, I’m considering history, theology, and biology.”

While answering Marie’s question, I stared intently at the timetable.
I was honestly confident in the three subjects I talked about.
The rich knowledge I got from the books was stored in my head.

Of course, I would only listen to the major I am not interested in once and ignore it afterward, but there was only one thing I was worried about.

‘I don’t care about the score, but will there be a group project here? That would be annoying.’

It was when I was looking at the tightly packed timetable with a serious expression.

“Mr.
Isaac?”

“Yes?”

A woman’s voice, like a jade marble rolling, penetrated my ear.
So I took my eyes off the timetable and raised my head.

And…

“You’re considering history, theology, and biology?”

Rina, who exudes a radiant beauty like the sun, was looking at me with a smile on her face.
There was a strong curiosity in her blue eyes.

Also, next to her was Cecily, looking at me with similar eyes, if not more than Rina.

‘…Damn it.’

I curse you, professor.