The time spent with friends always feels pleasant yet fleeting.
As a member of the Nicholas family, Patricia spent the morning strolling with Ronald until noon, then they had lunch together. Afterward, Patricia bid Ronald farewell and left the riverside district.
Yet at the moment of departure, she left behind an invitation.
As long as Ronald was still in Springs, he could visit her home whenever he needed.
With quite a good mood,
Ronald returned to his rented apartment at noon.
Although a considerable amount of time had passed since he’d left that morning, by the time he got back, only a few of the children playing by the road had been called away by their families; many were still frolicking by the roadside.
He quietly entered the courtyard and reached the third floor, where Ronald opened the door and sat down on a chair.
Leaning back, his gaze slowly shifted to Wis River beyond the balcony.
In the silence, Ronald contemplated his next moves.
According to what Patricia told him, he could easily approach the Ginkgo Leaf Business Alliance. As a base root in Springs and having past cooperation experience with him, the alliance was undoubtedly the best source for information.
However, finding out about past history proved more troublesome.
According to Patricia’s words, there were indeed factions in the city that recorded past history, but only two were willing to open their resources to outsiders for inquiries.
— "Scroll Research Society"
The former was established by the queen herself and supported by official forces. Ordinary people from the mystical side could gain the opportunity to share knowledge by paying a large sum of money or by joining after proving their extensive knowledge.
The latter was purely a civilian institution.
But compared to the Scroll Research Society, the Mark Association had a much older history. Its existence could even be traced back to the period after the Dark Age. Because of the current global status of Gred, they had just moved their headquarters to Springs not long ago.
Of course, there was a cost for an outsider to access their knowledge.
You had to be a powerful Caster; then, you needed a contract supported by spells with the Mark Association, and after paying a substantial amount of money, you could acquire knowledge to a certain extent.
Having reflected up to this point, Ronald thought of the children playing downstairs.
In this world, compulsory education was still not in sight, and the dissemination of knowledge remained in the hands of a few.
Although there were large educational institutions like the ones in the riverside district.
But for ordinary people, the future of widespread education was still a distant one.
Leaning back slightly, Ronald’s gaze turned to the somewhat gloomy sky over Springs, and almost subconsciously he murmured,
"It’s not easy to come by anywhere, is it..."
With such reflections, Ronald’s thoughts gradually returned to himself.
Gathering information was related to Lumielle’s whereabouts, acquiring knowledge was related to his further understanding of this world. Yet subconsciously, Ronald felt there was a connection between Elva and the Caster who used "Astronomy Master."
Both possessing the original texts and attacking him around the same time.
Even both were from the mystical side, which rarely had any news.
An organization that at first glance seemed like the ’puppet master’ was indeed hard for Ronald to ignore.
Moreover, given how little the investigation bureau knew,
To unearth traces of this organization, in addition to the few known enemies, perhaps he would also need to seek historical clues from the history of the mystical side.
Indeed, it was time to deal with those two scholarly factions.
Soon, Ronald stood up from his chair, his thoughts organized. The early hour still left room for the sun to cast its light onto the land, although it failed to disperse the clouds hanging over Springs.
As if to convince himself, Ronald nodded earnestly:
"That’s decided, then."
"First, I’ll try to understand the history of this world."
In the pursuit of knowledge, Ronald had no intention of walking a single path.
Although the "Scrolls Research Society" and the "Sigils Academy" were two entirely different organizations, this did not prevent him from contacting each separately.
The first target for the two factions was naturally set on the "Scrolls Research Society."
As an officially established faction, it would surely offer advantages like ease of communication and relative safety, and Ronald, being a bearer of the original texts known to the investigative bureau, should be able to receive a certain degree of preferential treatment.
Therefore, the next morning, when the surrounding students had just embarked on their paths of learning,
Ronald got ready to leave his apartment and head towards a university in the riverside district.
At this point, the benefits of Raphael’s advice became apparent.
Since he also resided in the riverside district, Ronald didn’t even need to hire a carriage, spending just over half an hour to find his destination.
The institution located on the banks of the Wis River and named after this important waterway was also a forefront of mechanical research in the world.
According to information Ronald learned over the past few days, the rare three-wheeled cars on Springs Streets, bearing some resemblance to the Mercedes No.1, were designed and manufactured by a research institute of this university.
In addition, the scientists who invented the electrical power systems also established their research facilities within this university.
This was an absolutely vital place for the country, and even for the world.
And the "Scrolls Research Society," which was Ronald’s target for the day,
the Queen had chosen to establish it within this university.
In Ronald’s view, aside from placing the knowledge research institute where it should be, the Queen’s methods and style of operation might also include the intention of having the Casters within the "Scrolls Research Society" provide protection for the university.
This was a place of true significance.
With such thoughts in mind, Ronald walked into Wis University.
Unlike the Wildering University, which he had visited before where Claudia studied, Wis University was clearly much more open in terms of accessibility.
During the morning, as students entered the campus,
Ronald, relying on his youthful appearance, even blended with the crowd and entered the academy without any identity checks.
Standing behind the main gate on the campus thoroughfare,
Ronald could look up to see the straight path extending all the way to the edge of the Wis River. It was clear that there had been very orderly construction planning from the start, and the scattering of young students walking about brought a natural vitality to the area.
Ancient buildings and young students.
The feel of the university was something that Ronald always liked, no matter when.
Standing quietly on the side of the road for a while, even attracting a few young women to approach and chat, Ronald then proactively stopped a female student passing by, revealing a radiant smile:
"Excuse me, do you know which way to the library?"