Serie stood up, glanced at Naruto, who was still leaning against the back of his chair and rubbing his belly, and turned to walk toward the door: “Let’s go.”
“Eh?” Naruto quickly jumped up and followed her, “Master, where are we going?”
“To show you the place where you will train from now on.”
The two of them left the restaurant and walked along the paved stone path toward the center of the city.
The sky had already grown dark, and warm yellow streetlights lit up on both sides.
There were fewer pedestrians on the street than in the evening, and occasionally a few people wearing robes passed by them.
Naruto looked around while walking.
Ten minutes later, the area ahead suddenly opened up.
Naruto stood in place, his mouth opening and failing to close.
In front of him was a tall white building, at least three stories high, even more spacious than Grandpa Hokage’s office building.
The front featured an entire row of arched windows, with delicate patterns carved on the window frames, and bright light shone from inside the windows.
“Master, is this your home?”
Serie stood beside him: “This is the Magic Association branch.”
“Why is it a ‘branch’?” Naruto sensed something wasn’t quite right.
Serie lifted her foot and walked up the steps: “Because the human king made a request, the headquarters must be built in the Holy Capital’Strahler’.”
“The Holy Capital?”
“The center of human politics and religion.” Serie reached out and pushed open the heavy wooden door: “Äußerst is not the headquarters, but it has an advantage.”
Naruto followed behind her, stepped across the threshold, and looked up everywhere: “Advantage?”
“The magical atmosphere here is dense, and it is closest to the remnants of the Demon King’s army.” Serie walked into the hall, glanced around the empty surroundings, “When you have achieved success in your studies one day, I might send you to manage the headquarters.”
Hearing these words, Naruto’s eyes instantly lit up: “Really?”
“What, interested?”
“Of course!” Naruto clenched his fists, “Managing the headquarters means…
Master thinks I can stand on my own?”
Serie turned her head to glance at him: “Survive three months first before talking.”
Naruto didn’t notice the subtext in her words, busy turning his head to look at the hall.
The ceiling was very high, and looking up, one could see a huge crystal chandelier hanging down, casting a large swath of soft light.
The floor was paved with light-colored stone slabs, smooth and clean enough to reflect a person’s shadow.
“It’s so big here…” Naruto couldn’t help walking a few steps deeper into the hall, standing on tiptoe to look at the paintings hanging on the wall, “It’s even more high-end than Grandpa Hokage’s office building.”
“The Hokage’s office building is shabby to begin with.” Serie spoke bluntly.
She walked through the hall and headed toward a corridor on the side.
Naruto hurriedly followed.
At the end of the corridor was a half-open door.
Pushing it open, Naruto was almost startled enough by the sight before him to take a step back.
Books.
The entire wall was books. The source of this chapter is novelping.com.
No, all four walls were books.
Wooden bookshelves stretching from the floor to the ceiling were lined up seamlessly along all the walls.
The bookshelves were stuffed with books of various thicknesses.
Several rows of shorter bookshelves were also placed in the center of the room, equally packed full.
Near the window was a long table, on which lay a thick book opened halfway.
“Wah…” Naruto walked over to the nearest row of bookshelves and looked up, “Aren’t there way too many books here?”
“These are all grimoires I’ve collected.” Serie walked into the room and headed straight toward the most spacious area in the center.
There was a small platform there, on which sat a high-backed wooden chair, surrounded once again by piles of grimoires.
She walked up the steps step by step, sat into the chair, and looked down condescendingly at Naruto, who was still standing in front of the bookshelf with his head tilted up.
Naruto turned his head and saw his master sitting high above, suddenly finding this scene somewhat familiar.
Grandpa Hokage always held this posture when sitting in his office too.
Except Grandpa Hokage didn’t sit quite this high.
Serie raised her right hand, and a white light flashed across her palm.
A book appeared out of thin air in her hand, then gently floated up, slowly flying in front of Naruto and suspending mid-air.
“This book records the basic knowledge for learning magic.”
Naruto reached out to catch it, opened it and looked: “Master, I can’t read this.”
“What is recorded on it is the Ancient Elf language.” Serie’s voice came down from the chair high above, “The vast majority of grimoires in the world are recorded in this type of text, so you must learn it.”
Naruto closed the book and held it in his arms: “I’ll work hard.”
Serie nodded slightly, leaned forward a bit, rested her elbows on her knees, and looked at Naruto: “Before that, tell me first, what kind of magic do you want to learn.”
Naruto’s eyes lit up, and he blurted out: “I want to learn the one Master cast earlier!
The flower field magic!”
Hearing this, Serie pressed her lips into a small cat-mouth shape and asked in a flat tone: “Are you serious?”
“Eh, is it not allowed?!” Naruto froze, taking two steps forward while holding the book, “Why?
That magic is so pretty!”
“Learning that, you must want to go please that pink-haired girl named Sakura, right?”
Naruto opened his mouth, then turned his head away: “That’s not it…”
Serie didn’t expose him, merely leaning back against the chair, her tone softening slightly: “You should learn some more practical magic.”
“Practical…”
“I remember you seem very eager to defeat that boy named Sasuke?”
“Of course!” Naruto turned his head back, blinked, and then nodded vigorously.
Serie’s mouth finally curved upward: “That’s right.”
“Do as I instruct, and I guarantee you’ll have the ability to face him head-on.”
Naruto hugged the book in his arms tightly and stood straight: “I’ll work hard, Master!”
Serie stood up from the chair, walked down the steps, and walked over to Naruto: “Right, there’s one more thing.”
“What?”
“Tomorrow, I will have notices posted all over the city.” Serie walked to the window with her hands behind her back, looking at the city outside the window glowing with scattered lights in the night, “The Continental Magic Association is officially established.”
“I will recruit Mages across the entire continent, and those who pass the First-Class Mage selection will receive a privilege.” The source of this chapter is novelping.com.
“First-Class Mage?
A privilege?” Naruto tilted his head, “What is that?”
Serie turned around: “You can understand it as positions among Ninjas, such as Jonin, Chunin, and the like.”
“As for the privilege…”
“A First-Class Mage can obtain any kind of magic I know; after all, I know almost all the magic in human history.”
Naruto’s mouth slowly widened: “A—All of it?”
“All recorded magic.”
Naruto swallowed a mouthful of saliva, thinking about something else in his mind.
Grandpa Hokage also knew almost all Ninjutsu in Konoha, but that was just Konoha, not counting other Ninja villages.
Completely different concept from the ‘all’ Master mentioned.
“Then, Master…” Naruto looked up at her, “Just how strong are you?”
Serie didn’t answer directly, instead walking back from the window, standing in front of Naruto again, and reaching out to rub a handful of his hair.
“The selection will officially begin in three months.”
“Regardless of the outcome, those First-Class Mages who pass the selection will all become my disciples.”
Naruto blinked, failing to hear what this sentence had to do with him.
Serie’s hand withdrew from the top of his head: “Therefore, you are their senior apprentice brother.”
“Senior apprentice brother?” Naruto froze, raising a finger to point at himself.
“Correct,” Serie said, “I am your master, so naturally you are the senior apprentice brother of those ‘rookies’.”
Naruto stood there, his brain spinning for a moment before reacting, and then he grinned: “Then isn’t my seniority very high?”
“Of course…” Serie’s tone was so flat that no emotion could be heard, “But if you can’t even learn the most basic things three months from now, standing among a group of rookies at that time will make me lose face.”
The smile on Naruto’s face stiffened, and then he stood straight: “I won’t make Master lose face!”
Serie looked at his serious expression, the curve of her mouth expanding just a tiny bit.
“Hold the book well,” she said, turning to walk toward the door, “Formal classes start tomorrow; go rest for tonight first.”
Naruto hugged the book, which he couldn’t read a single word of, and quickly followed.
When he reached the door, he looked back at the room full of books, and a thought suddenly popped up in his heart.
Back at the Ninja Academy, he always felt he couldn’t understand what Teacher Iruka taught.
The method of controlling Chakra, the sequence of hand seals—he memorized them many times yet still couldn’t remember them.
But here it was different.
Master said I am a genius.
Naruto lowered his head to look at the book in his arms that he couldn’t read at all.
A genius should do what a genius is supposed to do, right.
“Naruto.” Serie’s voice came from across the corridor, “What are you doing?”
“Coming, coming!” Naruto tucked the book under his arm and trotted to catch up.