### Chapter 21: Friends and Enemies

### Chapter 21: Friends and Enemies

"Don't do it. No matter how much you study, you'll still be the same."

"Big Fool is gone, so Second Fool gets promoted to Big Fool. You can change your name to Second Fool now."

"Hahaha..."

Several students in elaborate robes laughed at Suye.

Suye ignored them, thinking to himself, "Kids, you’d better watch yourselves. Don’t push me too far."

Suye didn’t bother with these people and continued reading his book.

A few of them peeked at Suye’s book, only to find that he had set it to private mode. They pouted and continued their mockery and antics.

However, their gazes occasionally swept over the girl sitting to Suye’s right, who was engrossed in her book.

To Suye’s left sat Holt, who remained cheerful despite being called Big Fool or Second Fool.

The reason they dared not mock Holt excessively was that many high school seniors were his former classmates.

One of the boys, seeing that Suye ignored them, reached out and flicked Suye’s head hard.

Suye frowned and looked up, recognizing the grinning boy as Hutton, who often mocked him in the past.

Hutton shook his light golden hair, smiling innocently.

That boy who had dropped out was humiliated by Hutton.

Suye remembered that when he arrived late in the morning, Hutton was the first one to call him "Third Fool."

"Stop pretending. Everyone is having fun; what book are you reading?" Hutton smiled at Suye.

Suye calmly replied, "I used to have poor grades, but now I want to study. We’re all classmates; there’s no need for this."

After saying that, Suye lowered his head and continued browsing through the new semester courses.

Hutton and the others found it boring and stopped teasing Suye openly, but secretly continued to disrupt him, recounting his embarrassing moments from last year.

Due to the distractions, Suye’s emotions fluctuated until the second class began and the teacher appeared, allowing him to continue reading quietly.

During this class, he continuously categorized the remaining courses.

Foreign languages were too challenging, so Suye temporarily placed them under "Boring and Difficult."

Magic Mathematics and Magic Geometry seemed related to regular math and geometry, but they required extensive magical knowledge, making them comprehensive subjects. Suye flipped through them and placed them under "Interesting and Difficult."

His gaze fell on the Meditation course outline, and his eyes lit up slightly.

Meditation was a core course!

Meditation was a common path for both mages and warriors to enhance their strength, though mages needed longer meditation times due to the lack of divine bloodline refinement.

Suye already had extensive meditation experience and believed that after learning the meditation techniques of Plato’s Academy, his progress would surpass that of his classmates.

Suye quickly browsed through the content of the meditation course, and disappointment grew on his face.

It turned out that if one disregarded magic’s predecessor, witchcraft, humans had only mastered magic for less than three hundred years.

One hundred and twenty-six years ago, Thales, known as the father of magic, discovered the secret of meditation. Since then, meditation has been passed down, but compared to other systems, it still seemed somewhat thin.

Most magic could be traced back to established patterns, where different people using it only varied in power and details, without any qualitative differences.

Meditation was different; no one could find a single meditation method suitable for everyone.

Therefore, the content of the meditation course was particularly disorganized, filled with vague statements.

Suye was very disappointed.

When Suye learned meditation, he started with psychology’s “Mindfulness.” Although mindfulness wasn’t entirely scientific, it was undoubtedly the most scientific approach within the meditation system.

Building on mindfulness, Suye continued to learn other meditation techniques, solidifying his meditation skills.

After his disappointment, Suye understood that the world’s meditation history was too short, only about a century. On Blue Star, the meditation system had developed for at least two thousand years, aided by technological research. Even so, Blue Star’s understanding of mindfulness meditation was still incomplete and continually evolving.

Although the content of the meditation course was average, Suye still placed it under "Interesting and Simple."

Finally, Suye allocated all the new courses into four quadrants, making the results clear and explicit.

The courses under "Interesting and Simple" were Basic Magic, Talent Studies, Magic History, Sacrificial Studies, and Meditation.

Basic Magic and Magic History were foundational, mostly requiring memorization, providing a comprehensive understanding of magic, which interested Suye greatly.

Talent Studies and Sacrificial Studies were closely related to the ruins space, and Sacrificial Studies involved deities, also within Suye’s interests.

As for the other courses, some were very interesting to Suye, but unfortunately, they were too difficult and needed focused study later.

Courses like Beast Magic seemed simple but were actually complex systems, filled with specialized terms that made Suye’s head ache.

In the end, Suye decided to focus on mathematics, geometry, and Greek in the near future, while setting aside time to study Basic Magic, Talent Studies, Magic History, and Sacrificial Studies, ensuring he kept up with the teachers’ lectures and continued practicing meditation.

After deciding, Suye began to think whether he should add more burden to himself, considering he was not just behind but had essentially never studied before.

"I shouldn’t try to do everything at once. I need to take small steps. If I find these things easy, I can gradually add more courses. If I start with too much, encountering difficulties or feeling overwhelmed might waste a lot of time and energy."

At that moment, the bell rang, signaling the end of the class.

The classroom immediately became lively.

Suye did a final check, confirming that his choices were good, and decided to set a detailed study plan later.

Feeling somewhat fatigued, Suye stood up, stretched long and wide, and smiled broadly.

Snap...

Suye felt a slight pain at the back of his head, and stars danced before his eyes.

Having sat for too long with poor circulation, even standing normally could make him see stars. The sudden attack and shock made it worse.

"Haha, Three Fools, you finally got up?" Hutton's voice echoed through half the classroom.

Suye took a deep breath, slowly turned around, and looked at Hutton, who was half a head taller than him.

Hutton grinned, arms crossed, with two equally muscular classmates standing behind him.

Seeing the three of them, Suye suddenly understood that after that classmate left, he had become their new target.

A scene flashed in his mind of a boy crying.

One day last semester, a boy named Pelus was cornered and crying, and Suye glanced at him before walking away hurriedly.

Suye couldn't forget the leaf Pelus clutched tightly in his hand and understood why he had left school.

Suye tried to remain calm and said, "Hutton, we're all classmates. I haven't offended you, and if you occasionally joke around, it doesn't matter. Life is just about laughing at others and being laughed at sometimes."

The nearby classmates looked at Suye in surprise upon hearing this.

Even the blue-eyed girl raised her head to look at him from the side.

Suye stared straight at Hutton and said, "But chasing me down to mock me every time class ends, and even resorting to violence, really isn't necessary. We are classmates at Plato's Academy. Our teachers have said that putting multiple people at one table is meant to foster companionship, so we can support each other and face external threats together. We are partners, not enemies."