Chapter 19: Memory Book
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 19: Memory Book
I finished the enrollment process.
An assistant instructor from the admissions office guided me all the way to my assigned dormitory.
“Here, try grabbing the doorknob.”
The assistant instructor placed my hand on the dorm room's doorknob and cast a security spell.
“User recognized. Security lock engaged.”
The door locks automatically the moment it closes and opens when I touch the knob.
Convenient.
Following the assistant instructor inside, I found the dorm room was incredibly spacious.
“You must have had a long day. Please get some rest.”
After seeing the assistant instructor off at the door, I looked around the place.
To be honest, it was nicer than my old place, Unit 201 of Nokdu Villa in Nokbeon-dong, Eunpyeong District.
When the assistant instructor said it was a four-person room, I'd pictured the cramped, chicken-coop-like dorms from my university days, but this was nothing like that.
A tiny room with two bunk beds?
Ah, that's what you get in a poor South Korean university dorm.
But behold, the dormitory of a god-tier game's magic academy. A lavish living room with a large sofa and coffee table, attached to two bathrooms and three rooms.
Two bedrooms and a study.
It's so big it's almost lonely, though.
“To think I have to use this huge place all by myself.”
The reason is that the dorms are all completely empty. The student population has plummeted.
“Wait! Assistant Instructor!”
I quickly opened the door and called out to the assistant instructor, who was already far down the hall.
“If I recruit party members, can I let them stay here?”
Someone like Yernil has nowhere else to go.
And it's a waste of money to pay for an inn.
“I have no choice but to say no.”
The assistant instructor shrugged.
“But there's hardly anyone in the dorms, and we don't have a matron or anything.”
“There was a guard on the first floor.”
“His main job is to receive mail.”
“Thank you.”
“Oh, and one more thing.”
The assistant instructor said, as if remembering something.
“There's a magic academy uniform in the closet. Please wear it.”
*
I closed the door again and made a beeline for the bathroom.
Believe it or not, I was still wearing the prisoner-slave uniform from the magic academy.
Woke up in the morning, entered the exit room with Yernil for the boss fight.
Carried out the bodies of Back Attack and Avison, then passed out.
Woke up in the temple a few hours later, went straight to the magic academy for a contribution assessment.
Then I met the Halfling, had one foot in the grave before barely pulling back, met Isilof, and even joined a club...
“To think all this could happen in a single day.”
I took off the prisoner shirt. The large words 'Magic Academy Prisoner-Slave' were stamped on the back like a watermark.
I threw off my pants and immediately got into the tub, turning on the hot water.
“Ahhh...”
Now I know why old men make that sound when they get into a hot bath.
“This is the life.”
My body stung all over.
Thanks to the healing potion, most of the major wounds had closed, but there were still plenty of minor scratches.
Especially my neck, where the goblin had nearly sliced me. When I picked off the scab, blood trickled down.
I hadn't washed properly during my long time in the labyrinth, so I let the hot water melt away the grime caked on my body and face, then washed with... not cleansing foam, but soap. I was grateful for even that.
Of course, there was no shampoo either, so I washed my hair with soap too. Scrubbing my greasy, matted hair with a bar of soap felt like doing laundry, and I couldn't help but chuckle.
After my bath, I used a towel to stop the bleeding on my neck and checked the wall clock.
Nine-thirty in the evening.
Still some time left.
I wanted to just bury myself in the soft mattress, but I pushed myself to be a little more diligent.
“He said there was a uniform in the closet, right?”
Opening the closet, I found a three-piece set consisting of pants, a shirt, and a cardigan.
“They didn't give you clothes in the game.”
Now that I see it, this is the same outfit Avison was wearing when he was found dead in front of the exit room.
Avison was the son of a rich family, enough to have received the Soul Preservation Service, so his family probably sent him off with top-notch gear.
If he still went in wearing the uniform despite that, it must have pretty decent stats, right?
I tried on the uniform. It was enchanted with an auto-sizing spell, so the length and waist adjusted perfectly to my body the moment I put it on.
I guess I'll have to sleep in this tonight.
I don't have any pajamas, and I want to test its performance anyway.
And...
“A wand.”
Next to the uniform was a wand, standard issue for first-year magic academy students.
I recognized it; you get it as a starter item in the game.
A +2 Wisdom wand.
All the wands I'd collected in the labyrinth like Thanos gathering Infinity Stones had been confiscated by the magic academy. So, if I want to dual-wield, I'll need to get another one.
After combing my hair, I tucked the wand into my belt and looked in the mirror.
Not bad.
The miserable look of a prisoner-slave was gone, replaced by a plausible-looking elite academy wizard.
Maybe I've grown fond of this body, but now that I look at it, he's actually pretty handsome, isn't he?
“Shall we go?”
The place I'm in now is the Labyrinth City, 'Sohen.'
It's the starting point when you begin the game as a human wizard.
That's because its magic academy is the largest of all the magical institutions in the game.
And its library is the biggest, too.
“The library is open 24 hours.”
*
Dong! Dong! Dong!
The bell from the academy's clock tower rang.
Nine times.
Meaning it was nine in the morning, and I was late.
“Damn it.”
The bell rang at seven and eight, too. How did I sleep through both and only wake up at nine?
“They told me to be at the admissions office by nine.”
The same assistant instructor who showed me to my dorm yesterday.
I never once ran late during university or my office job.
I guess I overdid it yesterday. The good thing was, I'd slept in my uniform, so I could leave immediately.
The even better thing was that I'd fallen asleep in the library, not the dorm. I'd dozed off while researching magic tomes last night, and the library was much closer to the admissions office than the dorm.
I wiped the drool from the corner of my mouth, shoved the book into the return slot, and dashed out.
They said there'd be an orientation, right?
I predict we'll be creating our Memory Books.
What's a Memory Book? It's that time-honored system that appears in D&D-style novels, games, and TRPGs: the 'Spell Slot.'
According to the lore, the Memory Book provides spell slots befitting a wizard's ability. The principle of spellcasting is to register spells in it beforehand and then unleash them easily with a wand.
Like pre-loading bullets into a rifle magazine.
In the game, the Memory Book is represented like this:
'The B key on the keyboard.'
Press it, and a system window called 'Memory Book' pops up. You can then drag and drop spells to register or remove them from the available spell slots.
So how does it work here, in reality?
'Incantation.'
You can summon the Memory Book by shouting, "Memorize!" Other than that, it's the same as the game.
How did I know all this?
That's why I spent all night in the library.
In addition to the concept of the Memory Book, I finished researching all the spells and magic builds currently used by the wizards at the academy.
I refuse to get into trouble again because I was ignorant of something like Lie Detection Magic.
The fortunate thing is, I already know almost every spell.
This means I can stick to my original wizard-building strategy, for the most part. Of course, my unique ability has changed, so some adjustments will be necessary.
Click!
“Sorry I'm late.”
I was panting, completely out of breath from sprinting all the way to the admissions office in the main building.
9:14 AM.
Sweat was trickling down the back of my neck.
“Come in and have a seat.”
Four first-year students were gathered in front of the assistant instructor.
They were the 'slave wizards.'
The ones who entered the labyrinth in the same batch as me and made it out alive.
They'd received the same wizard uniform as me, but the words 'Magic Academy Prisoner-Slave' were still written on their backs.
Yernil isn't here.
She's probably heading over to the Adventurer's Guild today. I'll have to go get her later.
“He's here.”
The slave wizards started whispering when they saw me. It seemed I was the hot topic among them, too.
“Were you waiting for me? I'm sorry.”
I apologized as I quickly took a seat, but the assistant instructor shook his head.
“It's fine. The professor isn't here yet either. Maybe he worked late yesterday...”
I also pulled an all-nighter and was late this morning. I feel a strange sense of kinship.
Knock, knock.
Just then, someone knocked on the admissions office door.
“Come in!”
“Mmm.”
An incredibly old-looking elf with a stooped back entered the room.
“A pleasure to meet you, everyone. I'm the old man from the back rooms of the magic academy.”
“...”
“My name is Dalstream.”
Dalstream!
The man Clorence told me about yesterday. The one who insists that otherworld possessors should be revered and served.
The elder wizard who was looking for the Turn-Based Wizard.
“Wasn't Professor Isilof supposed to come?” the assistant instructor asked.
“It seems Professor Isilof is in the middle of a big fuss with the temple over the transfer of Back Attack's body. He looked busy, so I came instead.”
Professor Dalstream scanned the slave prisoners, and his eyes met mine.
“So you're the talk of the town.”
“...Hello.”
“I will now explain the Memory Book to all of you.”
Professor Dalstream gave a lengthy explanation about the Memory Book, all of which I already knew. And then...
“Memorize.”
He summoned his Memory Book.
It was the first time I'd seen it with my own eyes in this reality.
A glowing white smoke billowed out, and a book the size of an encyclopedia materialized at the tip of his wand, floating in mid-air. I couldn't see what spells were inside it.
“The Memory Book is a kind of special ability bestowed by Wizus, the God of Wisdom. Therefore, you can only obtain one by making a contract with Wizus.”
The professor took out the contracts the assistant instructor had prepared, had the students sign them one by one, and sent them to Wizus with a magic incantation.
It felt similar to how Isilof had sent the mail yesterday.
“Now, you should all have your own Memory Books.”
This wasn't an unfamiliar situation for me. In the game, the B key only starts working after an event like this.
“Try the incantation.”
“Memorize!”
“Memorize!”
The slave wizards summoned their Memory Books without difficulty.
And a Memory Book bloomed at the tip of my wand as well.
“How many slots do you have?”
The professor asked each student in turn.
“Two Tier 1 slots.”
“One Tier 1 slot.”
The number of magic slots depends on the wizard's level. At low levels, only Tier 1 slots are unlocked.
In my case, I'm currently level 5.
“I have three Tier 1 slots.”
“Oh.”
Dalstream let out a small sound of admiration.
“The number of magic slots is important, everyone. If you combine spells well, you can even create new ones. As for the detailed method...”
Professor Dalstream plopped down in a chair and pointed at the assistant instructor.
“The assistant instructor will teach you.”
“...!”
The assistant instructor looked flustered, as if this wasn't part of the plan.
“Professor Isilof said he would lecture on everything himself! I have a lot of work to do right now!”
“Sorry. My back is acting up.”
Professor Dalstream chuckled and patted his lower back.
The assistant instructor sighed and led us to a magic practice room.
*
Spell combination is similar to playing poker.
For example, if you place Fireball, Ice Spike, and Lightning Shock in three Tier 1 magic slots in that order, you get an Elemental Magic Triple.
Its effect is...
“You obtain a Tier 2 spell.”
“It's called the 'Triple Element Shot.'”
“This process of bundling spells to create a higher-tier spell is called Spell Combination. Its main advantage is that you can use it without consuming a Tier 2 spell slot. I'll show you.”
The assistant instructor fired a Triple Element Shot at the wall.
A Tier 2 combination spell with insane destructive power that inflicts one of three status effects—Burn, Freeze, or Shock—and deals tri-elemental magic damage simultaneously!
“What do you think?”
The assistant instructor puffed out his chest proudly, the slave wizards were amazed, and I...
Oh, Assistant Instructor.
I was a little dumbfounded.
Your build is completely screwed...
A wizard can freely swap the spells in their Memory Book's slots, but they can't test every combination indefinitely.
Because the number of spells you can learn in the first place is limited.
So, the fact that the assistant instructor just used Triple Element Shot means he's already invested points into Fireball, Lightning Shock, and Ice Spike.
That build becomes useless after 'Torment' difficulty.
“You can learn as many Tier 1 spells as you have Tier 1 magic slots. Later on, you can learn more than you have slots, but for now, it's one per slot.”
Unaware of this, the assistant instructor explained cheerfully.
“Here, choose what you want from this list of Tier 1 spells. The professor will consult with you and recommend a build.”