Chapter 3: Spellbook

Translator: Nyoi-Bo Studio  Editor: Nyoi-Bo Studio

Su Ye walked toward the colonnade in front of him. Colonnades were a feature of construction shared by buildings in the east and the west. They were made up of a corridor and vertical pillars.

Su Ye lowered his head in frustration after he took a few steps, looking at his bare feet.

Ancient Greece had a moderate Mediterranean climate. Cold weather that would necessitate shoes was rare, so the Greeks only occasionally put on shoes if they were going out. As for slaves, they weren’t allowed to wear shoes on any occasion.

The “shoes” worn by most people were just pieces of linen wrapped around their feet.

Su Ye did as the natives did. He padded barefoot into the colonnade, then propped up a wooden stool and sat on it. The Ancient Greeks liked to give many items individual names. For example, this four-legged stool was called “Diophros.”

Su Ye’s hands twitched as he deliberated, instinctively trying to take notes on a non-existent keyboard. With a conscious effort, he stilled his hands.

There were no keyboards around him, nor were there pen and paper.

Su Ye stood up immediately and entered the living room.

In the middle of the living room was a short black column made out of marble. A small white statue of Zeus stood on the column. Even smaller statues of Vulcan, the God of Fire and Forges, and Athena, the Goddess of Wisdom, stood on the table on the other side of the living room.

At this point in history, Greece hadn’t yet developed glass. Most rooms didn’t have windows, making the living room very dark.

Su Ye stopped in his tracks as he looked at the three sinister statues.

In this world, there was magic, Divine Power, heroes, giants, monsters, and even gods.

The interior of the house was in utter chaos after being ransacked. Only the three divine statues and a notebook remained intact.

Su Ye took a deep breath and walked over to a table. He picked up the opened black notebook and left the living room quickly, returning to the bright colonnade.

Su Ye stroked the black cover of the book gently. It was made out of magic leather and treated with a magic conditioner, making it soft and supple. In the middle of the cover, the word “Spellbook” was written in golden Greek letters.

Su Ye’s Greek name was inscribed on the lower right corner of the cover.

Su Ye’s pupils dilated slightly. He placed the spellbook in front of him seriously, then carefully flipped over the cover page.

There were no unnecessary pages in the spellbook. There were only two pages between the two layers of cowhide. After the book was opened, a single piece of paper with a crease in the middle was revealed.

The floor plan of Plato Academy appeared on the inner page of the spellbook, its color getting deeper. The image began to move.

Soon, a moving floor plan of Plato Academy surfaced on the page, incredibly lifelike.

Su Ye heaved a sigh of relief. Spellbooks had a mysterious connection with their owners. Unless there were special instructions from the owner, no one would be able to open the spellbook.

“Hmm… Is this the magical world’s equivalent of an electronic tablet? It even comes with a foldable screen!” Su Ye hadn’t expected the spellbook to be this advanced.

Su Ye reached out to touch the page. It felt like vellum, and it had no similarities with any of the technology he had used in his previous life.

Boom!

The moving magical image of Plato Academy within the page exploded. Light flew out of the page as a thirty-meter-tall, three-dimensional marble arch quickly rose from within the page.

Creak…

The screeching sound made by a moving wooden door rang out. Ripples appeared in the middle of the marble arch, and a ten-meter-long carriage pulled by four horses charged out. The carriage wheels left behind rainbows wherever they passed.

The sudden appearance of the carriage caught Su Ye off guard, and the carriage crashed squarely into his chest.

Rattle, rattle…

Su Ye was uninjured.

The carriage fell onto the spellbook. The four little white horses with rainbow manes kicked with their hooves and neighed continuously as they rolled their eyes.

An old man who was the size of Su Ye’s thumb and had the wings of a dragonfly tumbled out of the carriage.

“Oh my…” The little old man wearing a green shirt groaned softly as he stood up and patted down his clothes. He froze suddenly, then looked nervously around at his surroundings. His gaze landed on a black hat not far away. He ran quickly over with his little legs and picked up the hat, then covered his shiny bald head before heaving a sigh of relief. He waved his right hand and conjured a whip, then flew into the air and whipped the little horses with authority.

“Don’t slack off!” the little old man screamed. He was furious. His thick white beard quivered gently like a furry groundhog.

The four small horses rolled their eyes and turned their heads to look at the little old man. Then they obediently raised their heads and tried to look alert when they realized that the whip was truly going to hit them.

The little old man panted slightly. The dragonfly wings on his back drooped toward the ground, limp.

“You are…” Su Ye had seen this little old man before. He looked like Master Plato’s assistant.

“All of the students in Plato Academy have already received the notice for the new semester. Why have you only opened the spellbook now?” The little old man stood on the spellbook and looked up at Su Ye with bulging eyes. His irises shone with a mysterious green light.

“There’s been some trouble in my family,” Su Ye said with frustration.

The little old man waved his hand impatiently. A small white document appeared out of thin air and fell into his palms. “You failed your exams last year. If you fail again this year, your name will be removed permanently from Plato Academy! School starts tomorrow, don’t forget!”

The little old man threw the document into the page of the spellbook and jumped into the carriage. The whip that was still floating in the air snapped down forcefully, letting out a crisp crackle.

The four small white horses immediately raised their front hooves and neighed, then turned and charged into the marble arch. They vanished into the ripples, leaving behind a path of rainbows.

The carriage remained in its original position.

Su Ye stared at the small carriage, dumbfounded.

A furious roar rang out from within the carriage, “These worthless creatures are even dumber than gnomes! They are the fourth to eighth fools in Plato Academy!”

Su Ye seemed to remember something, and his expression changed slightly.

The little old man jumped angrily out of the carriage. Pulling the house-like carriage with one hand, he charged agilely into the marble arch.

Faint sounds of whips cracking and shouts could be heard from within the marble arch, followed by a few pathetic neighs.

The marble arch shimmered, then changed from a three-dimensional object back to a piece of paper and slowly settled back into the spellbook.

Document after document flew out of the spellbook and lined up in the air, shaking gently.

Su Ye gave them a quick look through. There was the notice for the new semester in Plato Academy, regards from the language teacher, Niedern, as well as the idle chatter of his classmates. There were no important documents.

Su Ye waved his hand, and all of the documents fell back into the spellbook like a pebble into a lake, vanishing from sight.

The open spellbook became a white sheet of paper once again.

Su Ye moved his right fingers slightly as his thoughts ran wild. He saw a horizontal line appear at intervals of one inch on the spellbook, followed by vertical lines. In the end, the spellbook was covered in many boxes.

Su Ye stared at the box at the very middle of the page. With a thought, the Greek word for “Me” appeared in the box.

Following that, the name of his language teacher, Niedern, appeared in the box to the side.

Niedern’s teaching focus was on language. He was also the primary teacher for Su Ye’s class, his role being something like that of a homeroom teacher.

Su Ye stared at the teacher’s name and remembered many things that had happened in the past. He then gently shook his head. Even if he set aside the consideration that Lawrence might stop him from getting help from a teacher in Plato Academy, Niedern might not be willing to help Su Ye anyway.

A hundred Gold Eagle Coins was enough to buy two houses in the slums. This was an immense amount of money for anyone. Furthermore, Su Ye was notorious for being at the bottom of the cohort due to his extremely poor grades.

Lawrence had dared to pick on Su Ye because he wasn’t regarded highly in Plato Academy.

Afterward, the name “Figo” appeared in a nearby box. He was a passionate Bronze Warrior, and Su Ye had known him since he was very little.

Su Ye shook his head once again. Figo’s influence was far weaker than Lawrence’s.

Minutes passed, and Su Ye listed name after name.

Su Ye knew that he wouldn’t be able to personally gain enough strength to resist Lawrence in such a short span of time. His only option was to ask others for help.

Su Ye continued listing the people he knew. The empty boxes on the spellbook got fewer and fewer.

This was a brainstorming technique Su Ye had learned in the past. The elder who explained this technique to him had once said that 99% of the problems encountered by 99% of people can be solved using the method of trial and error.

After he finished listing all the names, Su Ye drew a circle around three of them.

One was the teacher, Niedern.

Another was a priest in the divine temple of the God of Fire and Forges.

The last was Kaerton.

Su Ye thought for a long while, then deleted the other two names, leaving Kaerton behind.