Chapter 7: Class Cohesion

Seeing Carter lying motionless on the ground, his condition unclear, not only the onlookers but even Lin Yuan himself was a bit stunned. When the ordinary Level 2 and below spells proved ineffective against Carter, Lin Yuan recalled the experiments he had conducted, where the collision of a water ball and a fire ball produced a far greater impact than any other magic he had mastered. He decided to give it a try. However, he never expected that in actual combat, the power would be many times greater than in his experiments.

Although this was partly because Carter had been careless and hadn't paid attention to his defenses, and Lin Yuan had also controlled water and fire balls with more magical elements than in his experiments, the sheer force was still beyond his expectations.

"Finor Academy truly lives up to its reputation," a middle-aged man suddenly stepped out from the crowd. He nodded at Lin Yuan and then pointed to where Carter had fallen. Two people ran over and, after checking on Carter for a while, gestured to the middle-aged man.

Lin Yuan didn't respond. Judging by the man's actions, he must have been related to Carter in some way.

"This incident was Carter's fault. I apologize on his behalf," the middle-aged man, with a calm demeanor and sincere tone, said. "If Dean Fernas returns, please also pass on my apologies to him. Tell him that Galot will treat him to drinks as an apology another day."

With that, he seemed to ignore Lin Yuan and prepared to leave with the two men who had already lifted Carter onto their shoulders.

"Stop," Lin Yuan coldly shouted. "Are you just going to take Carter away like this?"

"Oh?" Galot looked at Lin Yuan with some surprise. "So, what else do you want?"

Lin Yuan pointed at the unconscious Carter. "It was he who insulted Finor Academy and me just now. It has nothing to do with you. I want to hear his apology directly from him."

Galot raised an eyebrow. "So, my apology as Galot is not sufficient?"

"Who are you?" Lin Yuan asked.

Galot was taken aback for a moment, his gaze lingering on Lin Yuan's black hair before he burst into laughter.

"Who am I? You might as well ask the people around here who I am."

At first, their voices had been low, but now Galot raised his voice, and the crowd erupted in an uproar.

"Galot? Goodness, the leader of the Windwalker Mercenary Group."

"Yes, he's actually here. Does this mean something big is about to happen?"

...

"Did you hear that? I am the leader of the Windwalker Mercenary Group. Carter is my subordinate. My apology should be acceptable to you."

Lin Yuan chuckled. Of course, he knew Galot must be someone of great importance; otherwise, he wouldn't have mentioned treating the old man Hawk to drinks.

He just wanted to probe for more information. He couldn't very well duel with Carter and then know nothing about him.

"Alright, I accept," Lin Yuan said.

Galot nodded and then slowly left with Carter.

"Wow, Teacher, that was so cool! Tell me, what kind of magic did you use just now?"

"Yeah, it was so powerful that it defeated a Level 7 Warrior in one go."

...

As soon as Galot left, the students swarmed around Lin Yuan, asking about what had just happened. Lin Yuan had been interacting with them for a few days, but this was the first time they had seen him use magic, and they were amazed by its impact.

"Alright, I'll tell you about it later. First, let's finish the mercenary registration procedures. We've already wasted a lot of time."

Excluding Fasno, Zona, Charle, and Katusha, on this day, Finor Academy produced 34 registered F-class mercenaries. Judging by the looks from the people around them, this was truly unprecedented.

"Teacher Lin, we have quite a few people now. Why don't we just register a mercenary group?"

"Yeah, with a mercenary group, it would be much more convenient to take on tasks."

Taking advantage of their excitement from becoming mercenaries, several students suggested this.

Lin Yuan gave a wry smile and shook his wallet, which made a rattling sound. "Do you think I don't want to? But registering a mercenary group requires a minimum deposit of 100 gold coins. This morning, you guys ate me out of house and home. Where am I supposed to get the money?"

"Teacher, I can..." Vince started to say, but Lin Yuan glared at him.

"Now that you're all mercenaries, you can earn money by taking on tasks. How about we set those 100 gold coins as a goal and work hard to achieve it? What do you think?"

"Good!"

The students replied in unison.

"Excellent. But before that, I have one rule: you are only allowed to take on F and E-class tasks. Don't even look at D-class or higher tasks. They are beyond your current capabilities. Do you understand?"

"But Teacher, the rewards for F and E-class tasks are very low," one student complained.

"Your safety is far more important than gold coins!" Lin Yuan replied sternly. He had to make this point clear. Otherwise, if anything happened to these students under his watch, he wouldn't be able to accept it. "Let me repeat: absolutely no taking on D-class or higher tasks on your own. Rest assured, in a while, Teacher Katusha and I will lead you on some higher-level tasks to gain experience, so there's no need to rush."

Hearing Lin Yuan's last words, the students' discontent turned into smiles, and they hurried to the task board to check the available missions.

"Lin, I've been thinking, why are you doing all this?" Katusha watched the excited students and asked thoughtfully. Lin Yuan's teaching method was something she had never seen at Pamil Academy, nor had she ever heard of it in her years of learning magic. But seeing the students' active participation, she had to admit that Lin Yuan's approach was quite effective.

"There's a saying in my hometown: 'Better to have no book than to study rigidly.' It means that clinging to books for learning is not very effective. There's also another saying: 'Read ten thousand books, travel ten thousand miles.' These two sayings may seem contradictory, but they actually mean the same thing: while learning from books is essential, practical experience is equally important," Lin Yuan pointed to the students who were discussing their plans. "They study magic, but ultimately, they need to apply it. Instead of having them bury themselves in studies at the academy, it's better to let them experience it firsthand. This will be far more beneficial to them."

"But they are just new students at the academy, and their knowledge of magic is still very limited. Even with practice, it may not lead to much improvement," Katusha said.

Lin Yuan smiled and said, "The vice-dean must have told you how long I would be taking them out, right?"

"A month."

"Exactly. In just a month, of course, it's impossible to significantly improve their magical knowledge. But there are other aspects..."

Lin Yuan didn't elaborate. In fact, his inspiration came from the military training for freshmen in universities in his previous world. Compared to his old world, Finor Academy was undoubtedly the Ivy League of the Farinos Continent. However, this prestigious institution only focused on filling students' minds with magical knowledge. Although there were social studies and economics courses to support this, they were still only in service of magic.

The students who graduated from this academy could be considered qualified mages, but in other aspects, they were far from commendable. During his two days at the academy, Lin Yuan even saw a magic assistant who needed a servant to help him dress.

Lin Yuan couldn't change the entire academy, but he was determined not to let the students of Class 3, Grade 1 become high-scoring, low-ability individuals.

In a short while, the students had all taken on tasks.

Lin Yuan checked and confirmed that none of the tasks were above E-class, and then nodded.

"Students, I understand your eagerness to complete the tasks, but have you considered anything else before that?"

"What else is there to consider?" The students looked at each other in confusion, not understanding what Lin Yuan meant.

"Natasha, come here," Lin Yuan called Natasha over and took the task sheet from her hand. "You've taken on three tasks, all in the eastern part of the city. That's good, showing that you know how to plan and be efficient by grouping tasks together. But I saw that you were just about to leave like that. Didn't you think about whether any of your classmates also have tasks in the east? Didn't you consider cooperating with them to complete the tasks together?"

"Teacher Lin, I..." Natasha's face turned red under Lin Yuan's words.

Lin Yuan waved his hand, looked around at the students whose faces were also turning red like Natasha's, and said with a smile, "I'm not blaming you. After all, you've only known each other for a few days, and it's normal not to be used to acting together. But don't forget, you are now classmates in the same class, and you will be studying together for several years. You will eventually have to get to know each other. So why not start now?"

"I have three tasks in Samus Town, 20 miles west of Winden City. Anyone going with me?" As soon as Lin Yuan finished speaking, Fasno raised his hand.

"Me too, me too."

"My first task is also in..."

"I..."

...

Seeing the students gather together and discuss enthusiastically, Lin Yuan nodded with satisfaction. Cohesion is crucial for a class, something he had deeply experienced in his previous teaching career. Although the current class was more complex than any he had taught before, he was not about to give up on this effort.