The Strongest Spellblade

My next class was Dwarven Language. I showed up a few minutes early and took a seat at the front of the class. I noticed that everyone preferred the front seats to better pay attention.

The class quickly filled up over the next couple of minutes. A lot of people. It was a large classroom, arranged like an amphitheater. A bell rang 9 times signaling the start of a new hour. A dwarf walked into the classroom, wearing the more elaborate robes of a Professor. They had gold stitching and a platinum crest of the College. The few people quietly talking quickly became silent.

This classroom had over 800 people in it. “I am Professor Thrain Ironscribe, your Professor for the Dwarven Language skill. As long as you commit yourselves fully during this classroom time, you will gain around 17 skill levels per month. More if you are capable, less if you are lazy,” he said while looking about. No one dared to speak or make any noise.

Clearly the Professor was committed to the College, since that wasn’t a common dwarven name, Ironscribe. It wasn’t in your face, but it was clear that the Professor had changed their name to conform to the culture of the College.

“My assistants are passing out the textbook for this class. It contains pronunciation markers in Eldarin Language. You will memorize the words and sentences. They have been carefully selected over the decades to help you learn the language as quickly as possible. You are expected to get through 10 pages each day. At the end of each class an assistant will call up a student to read off a page from the day before. Today you will study pages 1 through 10. Then 11 to 20 and so on. You can study ahead. But it is important you commit the words to memory. At the start of each class, one of my assistants will read off the ten pages. Follow along in the text.” The Professor paused to look over everyone.

“While it might seem cold to teach the course like this, this is the most effective way to learn the skill with so many people. If you require individual instruction, my assistants are available for hire along with their hourly rates for personalized instruction outside of class. But this book learning while hearing conversations at the start and end of each class is incredibly effective, combined with focused study.” Everyone continued to remain silent as the Assistant Professors passed out textbooks to everyone.

“At the end of every week, there will be a short test on the fifty pages that you have gone through. The results will be listed at the start of the following week. There is a direct correlation between test grades and skill level gain,” the Professor explained.

“As for people with skill levels already in Dwarven Language, that is fine. You are welcome to study ahead or request the next five textbooks in the series. There will be a new one every month. But if you don’t know the material, don’t rush ahead. It has been carefully crafted to rapidly let you gain skill levels by following things methodically. I will return at the three month mark after a more comprehensive test is given and at the end of the semester when a final test is given. Now my assistant will read off the first ten pages,” the Professor said before leaving the classroom.

I listened closely as the Assistant Professor quickly read off the first ten pages. Once he was done, he looked up at everyone. “You may begin copying and practicing in your heads. Don’t disturb others. I will ring a soft bell when it is time for me to select ten random students to demonstrate what they have learned. If you complete the ten pages, you may proceed ahead. If you complete a textbook, the next one will be provided for you by coming up and showing the previously copied text book and quietly requesting the next one from myself or another Assistant Professor. Begin.”

I quickly began copying the words in the textbook while repeating them in my head over and over. I was familiar with several of the words I had to copy, but I went through each of them diligently. After an hour, the midway point of the class, I had gone through ten pages. I then continued on the next ten.

My experience from copying the Eldarin dictionary came to mind. I also had the skill Empowered Writing a tier 3 skill and Speed Reading a tier 2 skill. By the time the class was nearing its end, I had gone through 18 pages in textbook. A soft bell was rung.

“Stop writing. Pay attention. You, come up here and read off page 1 of the text book from your notes. Also, you, you,” the Assistant Professor began calling up nine other students to the front of the classroom. “Hurry up, run!” the students ran quickly.

“Now you, read, quickly and clearly,” he pointed at the first student who had come to the front of the classroom.

“Gash ra tor. Gash ver gon.” The student read off their notes and finished reading off the first page.

“Good, go back to your seat. You next,” the Assistant Professor pointed at a student in the middle of the group who he had called down to the front earlier.

Stolen from its rightful place, this narrative is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

“Me but-“

“No talking back or you will be expelled from the classroom. Come up and read now.” The student hurried to the front of the classroom.

“Ter von tereran-“

“No. It is tereren. Continue.” After five interruptions, the student was ordered to stand to the side in embarrassment while the next one was called over to continue the rest of page 2 and then page 3.

Once all ten pages had been read off, there were two students in the front of the classroom. “IDs,” the Assistant Professor ordered and the two students handed them over and he recorded their names on a sheet of paper and handed the IDs back. “You have been marked down as troublesome students and have a higher chance of being called back up. If you fail three times, you will be expelled from the class, since you clearly can’t focus and study. There is no need for failures or those who can’t keep up with the slow pace of this class. You better improve by tomorrow or else. The same goes for the rest of you. Focus on learning. The poor students will be left with only a single class for the semester and if they are expelled from all their classes, they will be expelled from the College. All that money that was paid for tuition wasted. Your family, friends will mock you failing in year one,” the Assistant Professor said.

No wonder people said this place was brutal. “Dismissed, you have five minutes to get to your next class,” the Assistant Professor said and left. Students rushed out of the classroom. Thankfully I didn’t have a class after this except for Wednesday through Friday when I had monster processing in the hours after Dwarven Language.

I spent the next two hours studying the Dwarven Language in a study nook next to the same amphitheater classroom. My next class for the day would be Dwarven Etiquette immediately followed by Dwarven History.

Both of those classes followed the same style as Dwarven Language, just with less students present, about 400 instead of 800. There was a demonstration at the start, followed by book learning, then students were called up to demonstrate at the end of the class. They were given a social situation for Dwarven Etiquette and had to respond in the appropriate way.

The questions were very simple. If someone of a higher station than you says good morning, how should you respond and act. I could see the questions getting much trickier as the semester went on. I made sure to focus on trying to answer the questions that were asked at the end of the class.

Dwarven History had a rapid fire quiz of three questions for ten students at the end of class. There was no demonstration at the start. At least we could answer in Eldarin in this class, but using Dwarven was also acceptable.

All the classes were in Eldarin. There were only special exceptions made. Like allowing Dwarven to be used in Dwarven History. I got dinner, and my brain felt like mush. But I had to keep pushing myself. No wonder why people called this the dungeon of the mind. If you weren’t focused on learning you would fall behind.

Trouble students would be found and expelled without mercy. The Professors were rated by the skill level gain of students. While they couldn’t expel student arbitrarily as long as they had a fair method, they could get rid of students that caused the average level gain to decrease while scaring the others to work harder.

It was six in the afternoon as I dragged myself to an auxiliary classroom to work on Focused Meditation. An Assistant Professor was waiting inside the smaller classroom. “Welcome to Focused Meditation Auxiliary class. You have the skill already?”

“Yes, level 43,” I replied.

“Excellent. The cost is one silver per session.” I pulled out my ID and handed it over. I then got it back. “There is a guidebook. Start with the exercises on page one and do it for an hour. Then go to the next one. Once you get through the book, repeat over and over to improve your skill levels.”

“That’s it?” I asked.

“Yes. You get a private room and can ask me questions if you need. But go through the book first before asking me to check your meditation poses. I will correct you on your second time through. There are 50 poses. Going through them once on your own is important. The key is to hold them. They get more and more difficult and the textbook has some very good pictures across several pages,” the Assistant Professor explained.

“Is everything self-study?” I asked.

“First year?” I nodded at this. “For the most part yes. Otherwise this place would go bankrupt. But don’t underestimate the methods the Professors have come up with. The boost from personalized instruction will only add a level or two every month compared to these self-study methods.”

“Then why sit here?”

“Recording and observation. What are the most common mistakes and questions that the textbook doesn’t answer. It will be updated in the next version, further refining things. There isn’t much to add, but I also use this time to devise other training methods for the Meditation skill series and other skills. If an Assistant Professor comes up with a good enough method, we get to become a full time Professor and teach the skill,” he explained.

“It can’t be easy,” I said.

“It isn’t. But some people like to take it easy and just manage the workload for the Professors they work for. Now get to posing, one hour each pose and hold it. That is key.” I nodded at this and went into an adjacent room. There was a comfortable floor mat and dim lighting. Probably picked to achieve the maximum skill gain for Focused Meditation using the most optimal environment across the widest range of students.

I opened the textbook and maneuvered into the first pose. Seated with my legs crossed and my feet on top of my knees. My hands making odd symbols, while I had to manage my breathing in a specific pattern.

As the minutes wore on, it was harder to hold the pose while maintaining my breathing and focus. It was hard, but not impossible. The person who had come with this pose, clearly knew what they were doing to make it difficult but not impossible to work the Focused Meditation skill.