Time is fleeting in the eyes of the world, and even more so for mages.

Before you know it, a year has passed since Moriarty arrived in Hockenheim. During these twelve months, Moriarty has been following a strict syllabus and daily schedule to organize her routine. Except for the occasional outing or two, his range of activities never extends beyond the boundaries of Hockenheim, and is basically a "repetitive movement" between the Mage's Tower and the library.

However, Moriarty's assertive expression did not attract much attention and curiosity. In fact, most of the mage apprentices in Hockenheim worked so hard, some even more desperately and extremely. This is partly driven by the natural curiosity of mages, but also because they are forced to do so under tremendous financial pressure.

It was only after truly devoting himself to the world of magic that Moriarty realized that mages were really a money-burning profession.

In just one year, Moriarty spent more than 8,000 gold coins on the study of magic, including 3,000 gold for the fixed annual tuition, 4,000 gold for borrowing magic books, and 1,200 gold for room and board paid to Uncle Schmidt. The sum of these three items alone has basically exhausted all the funds around Moriarty. And this is due to the fact that Moriarty does not need to perform magic at this stage, otherwise the cost will be much larger.

In terms of income, Moriarty's current fixed income is only an assistant's salary of thirty gold coins per month from Schmidt's studio. Of course, this money will be deducted directly from his accommodation bill if it is not in his hands, and the remaining part will need to be made up by Moriarty. In addition, Baron Ensberg promised to sponsor tuition and living expenses, but the payment for the second year has not yet arrived, but the day should be about the same.

The only major cash inflows for Moriarty during the year were the Lockton Ranch five-leaf black tea and mint leaves that he purchased at Fort Ford. After secretly processing and blending all of these raw materials in batches, Moriarty produced about two hundred pounds of "ivy leaves". Except for the tenth that was kept for his own use and given to Hayna, the rest was sold to Schmidt. As a result, Moriarty received 10,000 gold coins in one fell swoop, which also allowed him to temporarily get rid of the effects of bankruptcy and take a breather. But this kind of good thing can only be done once, otherwise once it spreads, the secret of the ivy leaf may not be kept.

In addition to the financial pressure, the biggest concern for Moriarty this year was White's injury.

Seven months after Moriarty arrived in Bracada, he received a letter from Fort Ford, from none other than White. In the letter, White briefly introduced his physical condition and life status. But most of all, White asked in the letter that Moriarty would give him another two years or so to recover. Because of the loss of an arm, White's strength as a divine crossbowman has been scrapped ninety percent. And since Moriarty still sees him as a follower, in order to continue to fulfill his duties as a follower in the future, White needs to find a new way to recover his combat power as much as possible. Otherwise, he would rather die alone in the wilderness than follow Moriarty as a nominal eater.

As for White's request, Moriarty can only understand and support. In addition to entrusting the Doro Chamber of Commerce to deliver a reply letter to Roland's Bar at Fort Ford, Moriarty also sent it with two thousand gold coins. But since then, Moriarty has not received any more messages of concern. …,

In this way, the time of the year passed in a blink of an eye. As Moriarty approached his second winter in Bracada, the annual assessment of the mage's apprenticeship was also on schedule.

Traditionally, apprentices studying at Hockenheim are given the opportunity to take part in the annual assessment every academic year, depending on their progress. The content of the assessment is mainly determined according to the course arrangement that the apprentice himself applied to the academy before, and the assessment process will generally be presided over by two low-level mages, and the methods mainly include casting spells and defense.

Of course, such an annual appraisal is not mandatory. The apprentice has the right to choose whether to participate or to refuse, and the results of the test will not have any material impact on the candidate, even if the test is poor. But on the other hand, if the mage apprentice gets a good score in the annual assessment, he may in turn receive special rewards from the academy, such as a tuition waiver for the next academic year, a discount card in the magic library, a nice magic item, and so on.

Of course, for his own annual evaluation, Moriarty is impossible to give up.

"Generally speaking, since the mage who serves as an examiner is not the same every time, the content of the exam will be very different." Haiyina had participated in several annual exams, so she was considered experienced, so she told Sù Moriarty about her experience one by one: "If it is said that the magic casting exam is relatively simple, there will be no special tricks, and it is difficult to say where the test center is for an all-magic foundation exam like yours." ”

"Hehe, it's okay, Haiyna. You look nervouser than I am. Moriarty looked up at the dark-haired girl and smiled.

"Alas, Morty, you." Three days later, it was the day of Moriarty's test, but the guy in front of him was as calm and breezy as ever, and Hayyna didn't know whether to worry or feel at ease, but seeing Moriarty's smile, the girl couldn't help but smile: "I know that with your current strength, it is impossible for the apprentice-level theoretical assessment to be difficult for you." If it weren't for being with you every day, I wouldn't believe that in just one year, you revised your syllabus three times and increased almost double the learning content. Now, you've even started to study 'extracurricular readings' such as "Analysis of the Fire Elemental Decay Model", "Magic Equation Volume 1", and "The Outer Elemental Plane Conjecture". You know, this is all knowledge that even low-level mages don't necessarily understand! ”

"Haiyna, you're complimenting me too much." Moriarty shook her head as she carefully closed the large open book in front of her, and on the cover of the book was the words "Arcanist's Codex" written in ancient elven script, and the author's signature was "Gilisana Dolita", a typical elven female name.

"Oh, the Codex? Didn't you just read it the other day, why did you borrow it again? Seeing the cover, Hayyna asked.

Because Moriarty has a habit of never reading a book until he has eaten it all. At that time, after he had read it thoroughly, he would never look back. So it was strange to see that Moriarty had borrowed the codex from the academy library.

"Nothing. I just thought it was interesting, so I wanted to reread it. Moriarty smiled faintly, but was a little vague.

"Forget it, whatever you want, I've already told you what I should have said anyway, and now I should go back and prepare today's dinner." Seemingly dissatisfied with Moriarty's perfunctory expression, Haiyana pursed her pale pink lips, stood up, looked at Moriarty, and said, "You don't have to help with chores these days, just concentrate on preparing." Without waiting for Moriarty to answer, he picked up his book on the desk, turned and walked out of the reading room. …,

"Huh." Looking at the door that closed silently, Moriarty chuckled.

After more than a year of getting along, Moriarty and Haiyana have become very acquainted, and the relationship between the two has become very close, even a little intimate. Therefore, it is very normal to have some noisy and laughing on weekdays.

Now, although Haiyuna has a little temper with herself, Moriarty also finds it interesting. Naturally, there is no need to say anything on the spot, and after going back, it is natural to find a way to make the girl happy. Of course, these are small spices in life, and they don't hurt. In major matters, Hayyna has always been rigorous and very measured, which even amazed Moriarty.

Putting aside the matter of Haiyuna for a moment, Moriarty, who was left alone in the reading room, refocused his attention on the Arcanist's Codex in front of him.

This codex must have a considerable history, although it is obviously not the original from the era of the Elven Empire, but it is also a manuscript that was copied at least more than a hundred years ago.

The identity of the transcriber is unknown, but it is certain that he was a learned master. For in this manuscript, in addition to the original codex written in the ancient Elven script, there is also a translation of the common language translated by the transcriber himself, as well as summaries, comments, impressions, interpretations, and so on interspersed in the margins between the lines of the pages. Moriarty counted the words added by the transcriber to even exceed the length of the original Codex. Seeing this clearly made Moriarty both emotional and beneficial.

The content of the Codex is actually not complicated, mainly to record the personal experience of the Elf Gilisana Dorita who began to practice magic as an apprentice, then gradually grew into a mid-level arcanist, and finally participated in the epic war that broke out between the Elven Empire and the Pan-Continental Race Alliance. So, if you call this codex a mage's diary, it would be fine.

Perhaps because the Codex was written so far ago, or because it was destroyed by the war, the Codex was actually only a fragment, and the autobiography only ended shortly after Gilisanna Dolita was promoted to a Level 4 Arcanist. As for some of the later accounts, they are all briefly added by the transcriber, and most of the content is missing, and it seems that there is really no way to verify.