Chapter Nineteen: Forced Memory

  Lucien took a light breath, as if turning to a new page of fate, and opened the hardcover book to find the first chapter "Phonetics" on the first page. He was delighted but not surprised to discover that these letters were used in one of his magical notebooks.

  And for Lucien, who can use the common language fluently, as long as he masters the pronunciation of the 32 letters and the basic spelling rules, he can try to read out words, compare them with the spoken language and intonation in daily life, understand their meanings, and also convert the intonation in daily life into written words through spelling rules and letters. By comparing and memorizing, learning a common language will be very fast.

  Victor didn't notice Lucien's slight excitement, and very seriously and solemnly recited the pronunciation of the thirty-two letters several times. He watched as Lucien made some strange notes on paper and repeated it back twice before walking away satisfied to the ordinary boy beside him: "You read it carefully dozens of times, when I come over, if you can recite the entire book from memory, then I'll start teaching you basic spelling rules and grammar."

  He was just encouraging Lucien, as a beginner, it's impossible to memorize the pronunciation of thirty-two letters so quickly, unless those with super strong memory, and such people, as long as they are willing to work hard, can achieve something in their career.

  Lucien carefully read the pronunciation of the thirty-two letters, then compared it with the phonetic notation he had made on paper in Chinese and English, and after confirming that there were no errors, he calmed down, concentrated his mind, and opened the library in his soul.

  On the bookshelf above, there was an additional shelf called "Universal Language", with a piece of paper written in strange symbols and a black hardcover book, exactly the two things in front of him.

  Opening the black hardcover book, Lucien saw that there was only content on the first page, and the rest were blank.

  Lucien then quickly flipped through the "Universal Pronunciation and Primary Grammar" on the small round table from cover to cover, and was satisfied to see that the black hardcover book in the Soul Library became complete.

  "Exactly as I had surmised." Lucien muttered to himself with a smile.

  With the help of the Soul Library, Lucien was even more confident in learning the Universal Language in a short period of time, and began to try to memorize the pronunciation of the thirty-two letters.

  The first time there were many mistakes, the second time still many mistakes, the third time errors began to decrease, but some of the previous ones that could be recited were forgotten... After a total of fifteen times, Lucien forcibly memorized the pronunciation of the letters.

  Of course, Lucien understood that this was just a temporary memory. If it wasn't consolidated over time, he would soon forget it. Moreover, during this process, Lucien discovered that the spiritual power he used to trigger his divine techniques had a great impact on his memory.

  Lucien hesitated and repeated himself twice before Viktor finished his round and walked back to Lucien's side.

  His face still had a faint sense of fatigue, but compared to when Lucien first came, he no longer had that restless state of pacing back and forth, looking like shifting his attention was very helpful in relaxing his mind.

  "Lucien, recite it for me once," Viktor said with a warm smile to Lucien.

  Lucien didn't hesitate and started reciting directly, when he got halfway through, he suddenly forgot the pronunciation of a letter, amidst the confusion, he directly found the phonetic notation from the paper in the Soul Library, and then smoothly finished reciting.

  It's not that Lucien wants to cheat, but he has limited financial resources and can only grasp a little more time to learn as much as possible, even if it's not mastered, there is a library where you can digest afterwards.

  Victor had been preparing to correct Lucien's pronunciation errors and unclear parts, but when he finished reciting, he didn't react at all. After a while, he asked in doubt: "Have you learned phonetics before?"

  The questioning voice was slightly louder, causing the other people who were studying hard with their heads down to curiously lift their heads and look at Lucien.

  "No." Lucien shook his head in denial.

  Viktor didn't doubt it, nodded slightly and praised: "Your memory is very good, extremely rare. Well, I'll start teaching you the spelling rules."

  Others followed suit, looking at Lucien in amazement, not expecting his memory to be so outstanding. Of course, there were also those who sneered and looked down on him, thinking that Lucien must have studied the pronunciation beforehand, otherwise it would be impossible for him to remember everything in such a short time. This was just an act, to deceive Mr. Viktor's good impression, and maybe later he could become a real student who could learn music.

  But this small matter did not stir up much of a commotion, especially among the noble students, three of whom were already following Viktor to learn music, and they quickly lowered their heads again, continuing to study sheet music and musical theory.

  About an hour later, Lucien was studying the spelling rules without distraction. At this time and in this environment, Lucien finally had a thorough and clear understanding of:

  Time is money!

  Because learning one more day will cost a lot of money!

  "Alright, gentlemen and ladies, take a break, have some fruit, drink a cup of tea, and we'll continue later." Viktor's mood seemed to be getting better as he headed upstairs while the servants brought up tea and several plates of sliced fruit.

  Tea was served in pale white, flower-patterned, handled porcelain cups with jasmine and orange slices added to give an orange hue, while the fruits included some Lucien recognized and others he had never seen before, strange varieties.

  A young man with ordinary noble attire and deep blue hair like seawater smiled at his companions around him, saying: "Mr. Victor seems to have come up with some inspiration, if the inspiration keeps coming, today's study is probably over."

  He looked a few years older than Lucien, with narrow and long eyes, high nose bridge, holding a thin music score in his hand. Among the noble students, he had an aura of being surrounded by others. There was only one noble girl wearing a burgundy long dress, sitting elegantly, but answering lazily:

  "Lot, Mr. Victor if finish ahead of schedule, it will definitely be made up on the weekend, and if he can make new music, we will be able to do rehearsal with the orchestra in these few days. I don't want to just do monotonous music theory study and ordinary flute blowing training, only by practicing with a regular symphony orchestra can progress faster."

  She was probably seventeen or eighteen years old, with a bright appearance, flame-like long hair, thick and sexy lips. Her waist wasn't as thin as her cousins', almost to the point of breaking, because that would make it hard to breathe, and breathing difficulties made playing the flute poorly.

  Lotte looked at the red-haired girl and couldn't help but laugh: "The orchestra that cooperates with Mr. Viktor, a few days ago, a beautiful first violinist like silver moon, Phyllis, we two accompanied Mr. Viktor together at that time, you want to practice with the orchestra so much, aren't you in love with him?"

  The concertmaster of an orchestra is the first violinist, who plays solo parts and sometimes takes on a leadership role when there is no conductor.

  "Don't use your philandering heart to insult me, I just think his violin is of a higher standard than the original first violinist." Phyllis retorted, but with a strange flush on her face. "Don't you think he played 'Partita No. 3 in E major for Solo Violin' wonderfully? Don't you think your own violin playing skills surpass his?"

  As soon as music was mentioned, Lott became serious and excited, starting to discuss various musical knowledge and songs with Phyllis. The other noble students occasionally chimed in with a sentence or two, clearly interested in the topic. Even the brown-haired girl from the commoner student group couldn't help but interject a insightful comment, which earned nods of approval from them.

  In Alto, music is another universal language.

  Of course, the noble students still intentionally or unintentionally ignore commoner students and Lucien, while commoner students also intentionally or unintentionally turn a blind eye to Lucien and try to get close to the noble students.

  No cold words, no sarcastic mocking, only deep estrangement and indifference.

  Perhaps, in the minds of noble students, ordinary citizens and poor people are not worth treating with a bad attitude, after all, they don't even share a common language, but rather habitually exclude them from their own circle, it's a kind of disregard that is not taken to heart.

  As for these, Lucien didn't care at all, competing with every second, grasping time to study, like a dry sponge that had been thrown back into the ocean of knowledge, greedily absorbing nutrients.

  But from their discussions, Lucien occasionally heard some sentences and humming, finding that the music of this world, whether it was the scale or the melody, was very similar to that on Earth, only with some differences in the expression of specific musical symbols.

  "What a serious group of students." Lucien looked up at them with their heated discussion, picked up the red tea with jasmine petals and took a sip, ate a piece of fruit that might be snow pear, and continued his own focused study.

  Mr. Viktor's inspiration didn't last long, and he came down after a dozen minutes or so, looking tired and anxious.

  However, after seriously instructing his students, he became much less irritable.

  Lucien struggled for an hour and finally learned most of the spelling rules before the end, and memorized them with the help of the Soul Library.

  At four and a half, the study ended. Except for Lotte, Phyllis, and a young nobleman named Hierodeus who stayed behind to practice their instruments, everyone else stood up and left the hall.

  Lucien recalled what he had learned today, walking slowly, while the three commoner students chatted and laughed with each other, their footsteps light as they walked at the front. Their eyes would occasionally glance at the two noble students in the middle who were discussing music, but they didn't dare to get too close. As for Lucien, whether it was them or the male and female noble students, he only occasionally gave them a faint glance.

  As they came out of the gate, two horse-drawn carriages appeared from somewhere, with brown horses tall and sturdy, neighing loudly. Then, under the envious gaze of ordinary students, two noble students boarded their respective family's carriages and slowly drove away.

  No matter what the family situation is like, as long as they don't starve to death, most nobles will choose to maintain a minimum level of dignity.

  Three ordinary students quietly watched as the carriage disappeared behind the tall trees at the corner, before leaving together in the direction of Violet Lily District.

  Lucien was like a bookworm, quietly reciting what he had learned today, strolling along the shaded avenue.

  …………

  "You're actually studying with Mr. Viktor? He's an excellent musician, isn't he? Haha, little Evans, are you really going to inherit Uncle Joel's musical dreams?" Joel joked during dinner upon learning who Lucien's writing teacher was.

  Lucien responded humorously: "Of course, I will become a great musician later."

  After a joyful dinner, Lucien returned home early and lay on the bed that was only barely big enough to lie down on. He opened up his library and took out the magic notebook written in Common Speech, trying to sound out the words and decipher their meanings.

  Of course, due to the inevitable accent issues, vocabulary accumulation problems and grammatical mastery, Lucien never expected that with just one day of study, he could understand his notes and start learning magic, merely using this to review and consolidate what he learned during the day.