“And done,” I finally said. I had finished copying the dictionary and going through the entire thing.

“Congratulations. I am guessing you maxed out Writing Skills and Eldarin Language?” Tutor Damian asked me.

“Um, my mother doesn’t want me to look at my status, except once every three months.”

“Ah yes. I am used to checking when I have completed a hard task to confirm a breakthrough. Well then, let’s not disregard what she said. Your mother is correct. Still, it isn’t a bad assumption to make. Copying an entire book like the Eldarin Dictionary is normally enough to max out the Eldarin Language and Writing Skills. We can move onto Eldarin Script and Focused Writing.” He then pulled out a much thicker tome, which he set on the table with thud.

“What is that?” I asked as he got out another blank tome.

“This my young student is the famous epic poem, Transversal of the Dungeon by famed playwright, Aaron the Orator transcribed to preserve his words for all time. Supposedly he had a tier 5 skill related to poetry. You are to copy the entire thing in the same writing style. Oh, here is another book, showing the artistry of Eldarin Script.” Instead of block letters it was all flowy with one letter connecting to another.

“Why?” I asked.

“Well it is the original language, derived from Runic Script to make learning easier. Then our language was derived from the script. Creating a chain of skills from tier 1 upwards, which makes learning all of this much simpler than it was in the distant past,” Tutor Damian explained.

I looked at the thick tome and opened it. “All of this?” I asked with despair.

“It will take a long time, but it is the best way to raise up the skills in tandem. It is what they teach in the College of Advancement after all,” he explained.

“You went there?” I asked.

“Long ago. But yes. Those were some of the greatest and hardest years of my life. The place is absolutely cutthroat. The earliest one can enter is at the age of 12 and they get to stay for up to 7 years as a student. Most fail out in year 5, which is when I was forced to drop out,” he explained.

“It is that hard?” I asked.

“That and the cost. Only the top three students in year are offered scholarships. For the rest it is an academic bloodbath that brings out the worst in people as everyone tries to get ahead of everyone else. The exams are demented on purpose, where if you manage to pass you will break through a bottleneck on your skill.”

“What about someone like me who had studied ahead?” I asked.

“That isn’t as much of an advantage as you would think, but an invitation for harder courses. Each student must earn so many skill levels each year or they are kicked out. Each professor can only have so high a failure rate, so only the best and brightest pass. The College of Advancement produces at least one person who goes on to become a legend each graduating class, sometimes more,” he explained.

“What? That…really?” I asked in surprise, and he nodded.

“Just like exploring the dungeon can push your physical and combat skills, the College of Advancement will push your mental skills to the limit. If you pursue runes or magic, there really is no better place to study. Basically, anything except combat.”

“No other requirements?” I asked.

“Not for someone of your background. Just your mother’s name alone would get you in without question. It won’t guarantee you remain, but it will get you in without any complications. Otherwise, there are competitions and lots of other headaches trying to gain admission if you don’t have backing. Also, the expense is huge. Well for someone like me, not for someone like you,” Tutor Damian explained.

“Where is it? I know that it isn’t here in our Kingdom of Terandar?” I asked.

“Far north, in the Ice Capped Mountains above the city of Undercraft, which the dwarves control, and the elves control the ice forest at its base of the mountains further North near the Frozen Coast. Only about a quarter to a third of the students each year are human. But the other races have different entry requirements in relation to their age,” Tutor Damian explained.

Now I had even more questions. “Your curiosity is good, but time to focus on your skills. It should take you a year to copy that if you focus,” Tutor Damian said. I looked between his pointed finger and the giant tome.

My hand already felt like it was going to fall off. I felt another headache coming on and I wasn’t sure if this was due to the alchemical product I had taken or just the thought of copying all of that. “The look on you face is the same one I had when my tutor told me this years ago.”

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“Its just…a lot,” I finally said, and he nodded.

“If it were easy to gain skill levels, then everyone would do so. The College of Advancement has an entire research division devoted to maximizing skill levels and stat gains through training. Just as adventurers plumb the dungeon for meaning, academics do so through optimization and refinement,” he explained.

“At least it isn’t noble history,” I muttered and got to work slowly copying everything. I had to study each word and figure out the movement of the pen that was used to write it. I then copied it down into the empty book that was provided.

My writing was very good, and I had the Drawing skill as well, which helped. I could feel my mind and body drawing on the knowledge while I slowly worked on copying Eldarin Script. It felt weird knowing that the skill had been dumbed down into lower tiers. Everyone was trying to reach higher levels, higher tiers with their skills.

To go the opposite direction seemed odd to think about. Whomever came up with the idea had probably been a genius. Or it was just a teaching method someone developed. Or they had asked what was an earlier possible skill.

I asked Tutor Damian about the history behind the drive to lower the tier for our language. “It was a teaching method. It took too long to directly teach Eldarin Runes and then Eldarin Script. The Eldarin Language was created and spread out. The spoken words are mostly the same and there are a lot of similarities.”

“So, the System just recognized a new skill, just like that?” I asked.

“Yes. But this normally happens at higher tiers, specifically tier four. There are entire groups of people trying to figure out hidden skills and knowledge that the System might recognize, but most attempts end in failure,” he explained.

“What about tier 1 skills?” I asked.

“The discoveries mostly involve some kind of crafting. Tier 2 discoveries mainly involve some minor or passive use of mana. The lower the tier, the more impressive such a discovery is.”

“That seems backwards,” I replied.

“To some extent. But you aren’t learning the skill, you are discovering it. That is the difference. To make something easier for other people, that is epitome of a Tutor.”

“No special titles or awards from the System?” I asked.

“No. Those are just fairy tales. There are no special titles or awards. Only skills and stats and classes. I suppose better classes might count as an award from the System, but there is a lot of debate on the subject. If there was such a thing, your mother would have one for sure,” Tutor Damian explained. I nodded at that. If there were a list of the people with the highest level, then my mother would definitely be on it and consideration for the top.

While I didn’t have a good idea about the other great legends out there beyond children’s tales, I knew my mother stood above so many other people. Everyone had said that over and over.

“So, the skill upgrade just happens?” I asked Damien. I had thought I would need to manually do it.

“Hmm it is complicated, young Justin. Skills have set paths. By studying the next skill in the path, they are automatically upgraded and will provide a boost. No need to focus on upgrading them specifically. Even if they aren’t upgraded, they can be upgraded later and then merged into a higher tier skill. This creates a hidden bonus that makes it quicker to learn that skill.” I nodded at this.

“For tier 5 and 6 skills this is even more important since they are so slow to level. Like mud or concrete, rather than water. But by leveling up the base skills, that mud is rinsed with water, making their leveling flow much easier. There are supporting skills and direct skills. Direct skills are those you get on a path, like Eldarin Language and then Eldarin Script and then Eldarin Runes. But another example which I know your mother wants you to get is the tier four skill Weapons Mastery,” Damian explained.

“What kind of skill is that?” I asked.

“It combines several lower tier weapon skills. That is why she is having you focus on so many different weapons. That skill will in turn lead to something better most likely. And even if it doesn’t, higher tier skills are always more powerful and versatile,” Tutor Damian explained as I carefully listened to him.

“In fact that is the end goal for various language skills. To upgrade them enough to the language in runic form and then merge those runic languages for the tier 4 skill Runes Mastery.”

“But someone could get that skill without the lower tier skills?” I asked.

“Yes. But it is far harder to level. That is why supporting skills are important and direct skills the best. Why having lower tier skills and leveling them is far more impactful than rushing ahead and trying to get a lot of high tier skills. Then you are stuck with a very slow leveling speed.”

“Couldn’t they go back and do the earlier skills?” I asked.

“They could, but it just creates a mess and often doesn’t work like you think, since skill experience flows to higher tier skills rather than lower tier skills. Since you have the time and are starting early, it is best to get tier 1 skills and level those up. While it might seem like a lot of work and time, it ultimately saves time.”

“Then why don’t more people do this?” I asked.

“Impatiance. Think how you felt when I told you to copy that massive book to level up Eldarin Script. It will take around a year of hard work to do by hand. Then add in other languages. Getting all the support skills maxed out for Runes Mastery can take a lifetime. And people have jobs, families, and other responsibilities. Even with Vitality extending one’s life, people need a Mind stat in order to have more skills and study effectively.”

“Oh,” I said as Tutor Damian explained everything to me and made me realize how lucky I truly was. I was really grateful for my mother and the life she was able to provide for me. I knew countless other people were nowhere near this lucky.

“I see a fire in your eyes. Keep that determination, for the path high tier skills is long and hard.” I nodded at this. It was a struggle to keep my motivation up at times. When I was fighting in the dungeon, it was easy. I got caught up in the violence and the fighting.

That was when I realized this training was another test from my mother. Could I focus and keep working hard, even when it was really boring? While the fighting training with Sabin was physical and exhausting, it was frustrating to be constantly outclassed by him. No matter what I did, he would easily match me and keep pushing me to improve.

My mental studies were also exhausting as well. I got back to copying that cursed cursive script with its loops and twirls. Whomever invented script writing was pure evil. I knew I needed to learn this to then learn runes, but it was one of the hardest things I had to force myself to do and focus on.

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