Nanomancer Rising: Divine Alchemist Reborn as Academy's Worst Teacher
Chapter 68: A True Teacher

Chapter 68: A True Teacher

"That’s..."

Initially, Celeste attempted to argue, to counter the points Theo brought up, to defend the validity of the book that she used to such great effect in her own cultivation...

But after killing her initial desire to just respond right away on nothing but her instinct alone and taking some time to think about the points Theo brought, she ended up having no other choice but to actually take her time to think it all through.

Because no matter how hard she wanted to deny it, what Theo said was exactly the same as the very same answer that laid the foundation of Celeste’s interest towards him, all the way back during the lesson he was supposed to silently follow.

It was a statement that appeared so extremely obvious, while somehow staying elusive enough for Celeste and the majority of this academy’s staff to never realize it.

’To make things easier for those who follow in our footsteps, huh?’ Celeste looked down to the front of her feet, locking her eyes away in a position that removed Theo, the library, and all the other guests in it from her view, allowing the woman to focus on the idea Theo firmly forced into her mind.

’But isn’t that way of thinking already quite revolutionary in its own right?’

Celeste glanced up, only to be faced with Theo’s dull, almost empty look on his face, as if he didn’t have enough energy or state of mind to have any emotions over this massive truth he just dropped, a truth that stood in stark contrast to the delicate balance, the fragile status quo everyone else at the academy tried to maintain.

On one hand, it was a teacher’s role to teach, to help their students grow, regardless of whether they had direct disciples to pass their personal arts to, or if they were limited to just teaching a wider range of students in general classes.

But, at the same time, by sharing what they knew, by allowing their students to avoid the hoops the teachers once had to face themselves... Wasn’t this the easiest way to grow competition for oneself?

A good blacksmith passing on the secrets of their trade wouldn’t have to worry about it, given just how many years an apprentice would have to dedicate to the craft to reach the same level. In a way, those older crafts never had to face this kind of an issue, not when every apprentice was—in a way—their master’s successor.

When it came to the academy, however, and things like cultivation, magic and the like, things were different in just the exact way to exacerbate certain angles of this equation. Most of this struggle came from how every level of expertise in the field would need considerably more time, resources, and preparation for one to achieve.

If reaching the first stage of cultivation was a matter of weeks, becoming a stage two cultivator would often be a task taking as much as a year of constant study and practice, if not more. A third stage of cultivation or its magic equivalent?

That easily became an "adulthood" achievement, marking the moment when the kids who studied since their early teens would step into the world of adults not only by reaching a certain age, but simply because it took about five years to reach the third stage of cultivation.

Stage four? It was often a step a decade in the making. Fifth stage? Rarely would anyone reach it before hitting the middle of their thirties. Then, what about sixth, seventh, and even eighth stage, not to even mention the stages that went beyond those levels?

At some point, the time it took to reach one’s level would become but a fraction of the time needed for one to reach the next rank. And with the academy only serving to even further decrease the time people needed to advance, pretty much every quasi-star teacher of the academy and above would be actively teaching their future competition with every lesson they gave!

A truth that rang true all the more for star teachers like Celeste. Because even if they often managed to reach high stages of cultivation or magic mastery a lot sooner than their peers... The fame that this kind of achievement came in tow with would often lead to the selection of their students narrowing down to the more talented ones too.

In other words, the greater a teacher’s success in the academy, the more talented students would end up under their tutelage. And that, in turn, only accelerated the process by which those students would turn into direct competition for the teacher themselves, be it by their students vying to become teachers themselves, or by going out into the world and, by fairly amassing achievements of their own, diminishing the fame of the teacher that came before them while gaining fame in the exact same field!

This equation, one that was extremely unfair to all those who came before, made the topic of teaching quite the difficult one, leading most of the teachers to lead their students through the exact same path filled with struggles and obstacles that they themselves had walked. And while some claimed it was to build the spirit and resilience of their students, the ugly truth was, it was all a bid to slow down the growth of the very students that were bound to one day, with their mere existence, be a detriment to their teachers’ livelihood.

Which is exactly why, having Theo put forth such simple yet profound statements, resonated deeply with Celeste’s kind soul.

’Does he really care so little about his future?’ she couldn’t help but think as she raised her eyes to Theo’s face again, only to realize she had stood silent for so long, he had long since lost interest in their conversation, even going as far as to put the book in question away and pull out another one, his eyes now returning to the same, profoundly focused look he had on his face before.

For a moment, Celeste was shocked still, recognizing the same, perfectly focused look he gave her before noticing her presence, before she willy-nilly intruded into his efforts of casually becoming the righteous kind of a teacher all passion-influenced teachers wanted to be before coming to face the harsh reality of the world around them.

And as Celeste’s mind filled with the exact sense of awe she felt at the bottom of her heart all the way back when Theo casually gave out an answer that was both so much simpler than anything Celeste had heard before while, simultaneously, easily hinting at an extreme depth to all those brave enough to study it.

Once again, while casually out of it, Theo ended up feeding her thoughts enough to pay the rent for all the space his words suddenly occupied in Celeste’s head!

It was a level of disregard only someone extremely far removed from the issue could represent, like a master of legendary ninth stage casually dropping off hints of the profound truths about the early cultivation stages, hints that only someone with a perspective as broad and deep as their own could ever come up with.

That, however, was nothing more than the feeling Celeste got as she stared at Theo’s focused profile, her words refusing to take form in her throat, leaving her standing there in silence, gawking at her supposedly junior colleague.

Yet, in this precise moment, she just couldn’t help but feel as if, once all the facades were to be shed away, their roles of junior and senior would instantly reverse.