Chapter 5: Prosthetic Eye

Dr. Kelandir removed his eye patch and carefully examined the blinded right eye, his expression a mix of sympathy and indignation.

"The entire eyeball was gouged out with a sharp blade. That wretch calling himself the Soulstealer is truly a ruthless and vicious bastard."

Joanne bit his lower lip in silence, his heart heavy with guilt, as if Dr. Kelandir were scolding him instead.

Xavier also leaned in to observe Joanne's right eye and asked Kelandir softly, "Can it still be cured?"

The doctor shook his head helplessly. "Unless we can ask a high-tier cleric to cast *Regenerate*. Unfortunately, there is not a single cleric in this city capable of casting that divine spell."

"Then how about getting Joanne a prosthetic eye first?" Xavier suggested. "As it happens, there is a very exquisitely crafted prosthetic eye in my shop. Although it cannot see, at least it will appear normal on the outside. This will be very helpful for Joanne when socializing with others at the school, and at the very least, it will avoid attracting strange looks from classmates and teachers."

In truth, Joanne did not want to stuff a fake eye into his socket. However, as Mr. Xavier had said, looking like a "one-eyed dragon" made his appearance too fierce, leading people to suspect he had once been a pirate. How could he possibly enter the wealthy districts to serve the lavishly spending noble lords and estate owners, and how could he ever earn a big fortune?

Recalling when he first entered the city last night, he had attracted a patrolman who trailed him for an entire block. The root cause was that his eye patch was far too conspicuous, making the patrolman suspect him of having a criminal record. Even if he did not mind his own image, for the sake of avoiding trouble, getting a prosthetic eye was quite necessary.

Having made up his mind, Joanne asked Xavier about the price of the prosthetic eye. Xavier smiled, waved his hand, and urged him not to worry about such trivial matters.

"It's just a fake eye, not worth much. Consider it a welcome gift from me."

Joanne felt too embarrassed to accept his gift. Dr. Kelandir helped him out of the awkward situation in a timely manner, stating that he would pay the bill on Joanne's behalf to celebrate his admission to Leyden College. As Joanne's pharmacy teacher, it was much more appropriate for him to foot the bill than Xavier.

Xavier eagerly retrieved the prosthetic eye. True to his word, it was virtually indistinguishable from the real thing. What made it even more precious was that this eyeball was made of a special tree resin; it was soft, elastic, and felt no different to the touch than a real eyeball, causing almost no discomfort when embedded in the eye socket.

Dr. Kelandir washed his hands with high-proof spirits, donned thin deerskin gloves, and helped Joanne carefully clean away the blood clots and scars around his right eye before gently installing the prosthetic eye.

This minor surgery went smoothly, and in less than half an hour, Joanne saw a whole version of himself in the mirror. To his astonishment, the right eye could even move at his will. Aside from being unable to see, it was almost identical to a real eyeball.

Kelandir reminded him to clean the prosthetic eye regularly on schedule. It was especially convenient for a wizard to do this; without even needing to remove the prosthetic eye, he could simply cast a *Prestidigitation* spell directly on himself to get it done.

The eye patch had been sewn by Connie's own hands. Even though it was no longer needed, Joanne couldn't bear to throw it away, so he carefully folded it and put it into his storage pouch.

By the time Joanne's eye surgery was completed, evening had already arrived.

Xavier invited Joanne and Kelandir to have dinner at his home. The cook had prepared a well-known family-style specialty of Leyden Port: crispy, toasted "garlic and cheese mini-bread" paired with "braised beef brisket with tomatoes" cooked until tender and rich. It was so delicious that Joanne felt every single bite was wrapped in pure happiness.

After dinner, the servants cleared away the dinner plates and served coffee and desserts. The three of them sat around the table, sipping coffee and continuing their chat, shifting the topic from Joanne himself to the Leyden College he was about to attend.

Leyden College, to be precise, was a comprehensive public academy funded and founded by the Leyden Port Municipal Council. It had a five-year system and offered regular majors such as literature, art, mathematics, engineering, law, and business, as well as training courses for transcendent professions like knights, wizards, sorcerers, bards, and clerics. It was renowned for its high entrance examination threshold and exorbitant tuition fees. Among all the aforementioned majors, the most expensive and academically demanding one was precisely the wizard major Joanne had chosen.

"New students in the wizard major at Leyden College can mostly only cast one or two cantrips when they first enroll. By the time of the first-year promotional examination, they must be able to fluently cast at least one 1st-level spell and obtain official wizard qualification certification; by the end of the second year, they must fluently master at least four 1st-level spells and obtain 2nd-level wizard certification; by the end of the third year, they must master at least one 2nd-level spell and obtain 3rd-level wizard certification; by the fourth year, they must master at least four 2nd-level spells and secure 4th-level wizard certification; and by the fifth year, they must master at least one 3rd-level spell, in addition to obtaining 5th-level wizard certification and a graduation certificate jointly signed by their mentor and the president. Only after meeting all the above requirements can you be considered to have successfully completed your studies."

Mr. Xavier gazed at Joanne, his expression turning exceptionally solemn.

"Joanne, I am not trying to scare you. The current president of Leyden College, Mr. Alexander Jefferson, is renowned for his strict teaching. Regardless of a student's background or origin, once they fail to meet the standards in the annual exams, they have only two choices: either drop out or repeat the year. Choosing the former means giving up halfway and losing the opportunity to join the Arcane Association and obtain a practicing license, while choosing the latter means paying double the tuition for repeating a year."

Joanne listened with cold sweat beading on his forehead.

"Of course, with punishment comes reward. If you can achieve outstanding results during your studies or even complete your coursework ahead of schedule, the academy also allows top students to skip grades or graduate early, saving a large sum of tuition expenses while also receiving a recommendation letter for advanced study at Midgard University as a reward."

Joanne breathed a sigh of relief, his expression shifting from gloomy to bright.

The academy allowing students to skip grades was undoubtedly fantastic news for him.

With his current spellcasting ability, going straight into the third year would pose no problem at all. This would save two years of tuition—a full 6,000 gold ducats!

Xavier seemed to see right through Joanne's thoughts and asked with a smile whether he had already signed a student loan contract.

"I signed it after passing the entrance exam last winter. I can get a student loan of 1,500 gold ducats per academic year, which is equivalent to half the tuition and has greatly reduced my pressure," Joanne answered truthfully.

Xavier shook his head with a bitter smile. "Poor students from the countryside like you have signed student loan contracts nine times out of ten, becoming future employees of the colonial corporation. I admit that this contract is very helpful for you to complete your studies, but don't take this as some sort of charitable sponsorship. In fact, the Wilnoya Colonial Corporation that provides your tuition not only suffers no loss, but also takes huge advantage of the innocent minds of poor rural kids like you."

Joanne was slightly stunned and asked somewhat uneasily, "Do you mean that I have to serve the company for five years according to the contract after graduation? That doesn't really count as a loss, does it?"