Idle Mage: Humanity's Strongest Backer

"The exams for the Mystic Academy will happen around the 2nd week of May. It still have some time to study more to prepare myself for that." Ashton murmured.

"If I go with this current pace I have, finishing the beginner books should be done by the 2nd week of March. I just need to refresh my memories about and I'll be good to go. Still, learning more wouldn't be too bad either."

Judging by the schedule he built for himself, Ashton have plenty of time to not only catch up but maybe even surpass the intelligence level of kids his age about this world by the time the exams for the Academy Exams occurred.

His studies are progressing fast due to the fact that he's an adult mentally. Most of the things he's learning right now are the basics of knowledge which honestly not very hard for his intelligence level. Plus he developed a healthy habit of studying constantly in his past life so it's understandable that being studious comes naturally for him.

The only thing that Ashton still hasn't done much of at this point is his Magic Practice.

He's studying magic. The system gave him the book about beginner's introduction to magic and he's been reading it for an hour before he sleeps.

The book tells him about how magic came to be. It also has records about people who discovered Magic and who discovered what. It was fun and enriching to know more about this things because at least he's having something completely new.

If this book was on Earth, people would call the author of it a lunatic. But in this world, this book is a well of knowledge that everyone has to know.

The history of magic began basically the same time as the Invasion of the Aliens began. It is said that the First Hero was the first one to use Magic but since the idea of magic isn't even an idea back then, they didn't know what to call it.

It is also worth to mention that Ashton's 'norms' about magic and stuff stemmed from Earth - world where those things are nothing more than a pipe dream. So it goes to say that when he discovered that First Hero wore heavy and shiny pieces of armor and carried a sword, he immediately thought of him as a 'knight' and therefore had nothing to do with magic.

Later on, he rectified this since, this standard comes from the RPG's he had seen and played on Earth. This isn't Earth. Earth knows nothing about magic so he should seriously stop thinking this way. It was when he stopped this way of thinking that things started making more sense to him and he's able to have an easier time understanding the contents of the book.

Anyways...

History of Magic, yes. It started back then and while the First Hero neither confirmed nor denied the fact that they used Magic, just by the descriptions left by the authors back then, it's pretty much confirmed that they indeed used magic. Although there are still debates about it, it's whatever...

But while magic already existed back then, it wasn't until the rise of Fillianore Winchester - the Lunar Princess, that the term 'magic' was coined and officially became a field of study.

Fillianore was born roughly 600 years after the death of the First Hero. Back then Humanity is still in dire straits and are still recovering so things were a bit difficult.

She grew up physically, and although she had the aptitude of a 'Hero' - that's what they call Cultivator back then, she's sickly and can't do physical labor.

But then, Fillianore held a secret that nobody knows aside from her. They didn't know that her strength rises up depending on the phase of the moon. She is blessed by the Moon itself and she could even do weird things using Moonlight.

Long story short, Fillianore's secret was known because of an emergency, she was branded as a witch which forced her to be on the run but her parents protected her and let her escape in exchange of their lives, she was devastated, exiled herself from the Last Bastion to live along the dangers of the outside world.

Miraculously she survives and gradually discovered the extent of her powers and even mastered it. She successfully turned into a Hero, saved humans and established the school of Magic upon her return.

After her, more and more people discovered the charm and wide uses of magic and refined the knowledge even further and that's how the Mages came to be.

As for the difference between a Knight and a Mage, in truth they aren't so different. Both uses mana at base they just uses it differently.

Knights uses Mana to refine their Physique even further so that they can become stronger and fight longer while Mages uses mana to enhance their intelligence and seek even more knowledge.

Both uses spells to fight it's just that one preferred wearing armor and one preferred cloth, that's about it really.

The book tells him about the divergent path that Knights and Mages had to walk in the path of cultivation. Apparently, this difference will only apply while they are still considered as Mortals but by they time they get rid of their mortal shackles the path they have to take converges into one.

It's the more advanced things so the Book didn't go into detail but that basically confirms that there isn't really much difference between the two.

The most important thing that this book mentioned is the existence of Mana.

Apparently, it was the aliens who brought Mana to the Blue Planet. For some unknown reason, the planet reacted to their arrival. Sensing that they are leaking Mana, the planet used it as a medium to complete it's spirituality and become conscious.

It was the spirituality of the Blue Planet that helped the First Hero awaken and discover their abilities. Later then, the Spirituality of the Blue Planet filtered the foul mana into something that humans can use. Which caused a mutation to the succeeding generations of humans and made them Awakened as well.

Spiritual Roots, Martial Spirit, and Providence were the gifts of the world to humans. These are tools that could help them recover and fight back against the aliens. Up until now, Humans are still relying on them to fight back.

Ashton is still isn't done with the book but he's at an interesting part. There are actually exercises in the book about Basic Mana Control like sensing it, absorbing it and circulating it to one's body.

He had been reading this thoroughly and memorizing the exercise by heart since it would prove helpful for when he eventually try to do it himself.

Ashton's not going to lie. He's curious and want try out magic as soon as possible. While sensing Mana and controlling it isn't really considered as 'magic' is still the basis of things and he'd be lying if he said he isn't dying to try it out.

Hell, he had the Training Room prepped and ready for him to use but as of now he still has to step foot in it since he doesn't know a thing about magic. The room take half of the entire space he had and its not even being used. That's a waste.

But really, he's just curious. That's all there is to it.

You can just tell someone has the ability to wield magic and not expect them to try it out. That's stupid.

Yes, Ashton did remember promising Agent Theta that he won't be reckless about magic. And he's not being reckless if he's memorizing the way how to do it properly right? So it's good.

Plus, that cultivation manual's sitting on his Inventory. The time he's wasting was potentially time he could've used to get some advantages before he officially becomes a student of the Academy.

Speaking of Academies, Ms. Jones wasn't lying when she said that the Mystic Academy is the most prestigious school in City M. In fact, it is the only Academy around.

There are schools and colleges around but honestly, those couldn't hold a candle to the Mystic Academy.

The education system in this world's a bit different from what he's used to. Basically, the knowledge that he knows wouldn't even amount to the Elementary Level of education.

If wants to know more, he had to enroll to a Primary Education Facilities or Elementary Schools since that's what they do, they offer Primary Level of Education. If they want the more advanced level of education, they need to enroll to High-School next and a Collage after that. Masters and Doctorate Degrees can only be studies in an Academy.

Mystic Academy works as all of these things, they offer Primary, Secondary, Tertiary and Masters/Doctorate Level of Education. Which basically means that if he got accepted there, he's golden.

This is why Ashton's working hard on educating himself. He would really love to become a student of the academy since everything would be available there.

Who knows? If he worked hard enough, maybe he can even apply for scholarship?