63 What a Musician Is

The hot afternoon sun passed through the layers of ivy surrounding the window, shining into the library.

Outside the window, a lazy golden dog laid on the porch, sunbathing and sleeping. Beside it, Bai Xi earnestly combed its fur, then messed it up again as Old Phil slept.

Inside the library, Charles stood in the corner crying without tears. With a bucket of water in each hand, and a thick "Analysis of the Samnium Culture: Volume I" on his head, he stood attentively against the wall.

"Don’t space out. Your posture is wrong!" With a rarely seen strictness, Abraham whacked Charles’ knees. "What did I tell you? Keep your knees together. Did you not eat? Keep this position for two hours. You’ll start over if you move…"

Charles cried, "Junior, come save me!"

Ye Qingxuan sighed and tried again. "Professor, it really isn’t his fault. It’s all because of me."

"A junior’s mistake is always because of his senior’s wrongdoings." Abraham shook his head. "Charles has been like this for a long time. It didn’t matter before, but now he should act like a senior."

"Okay, let’s ignore him and start our class." Abraham gestured at the chair before the messy table, and told Ye Qingxuan to sit. "I had planned on letting you read some books first and learn about the theories. But it seems that we don’t have that much time now." As he spoke, he climbed up the ladder to take an old book from the shelf and placed it on the table. Using his metal hand, he flipped it open.

This seemingly ancient library had all types of books scattered about. The air was filled with the scent of ink and paper, but nothing was moldy or damp. Someone had worked hard at dehumidifying the library.

Other than the three walls filled with heavy books, the ground was also covered with books, and tea cups. There were notes strewn over the table too. It was obvious that Abraham did not organize often.

Then again, anyone would become clumsy if their right hand had been turned to metal.

This was Abraham’s own office. After Ye Qingxuan and Bai Xi entered the school, it became their classroom too. There would at least be enough room if it was organized a bit more.

"First, let’s define what it means to be a Musician." Abraham wrote some words with chalk. There were Samnite words, Asgard runes, the previous version of the lingua franca, and some Latin words.

"In the earliest Samnite language, ‘musician’ meant ‘conveyer of missions.’ In the Rune language family, it became Vanaheim. In their belief, the world was divided into nine levels. ‘Asgard’ was where the gods lived. Vanaheims settled in the Yingling Temple, fighting with demons. They would die at night and be reborn in the morning. They were immortal gods to fight for eternity.

"Vanaheim has many meanings, including ‘God,’‘power,’‘sorcerer’ and ‘death.’ They saw musicians as fated to die. One could not defy this fate. It was also a glory that should not be defied. It was worth it to die in battle.

"In the long-gone Romulus, ‘musician’ was the same word as ‘messenger’ because they also had the duty of sending commands. Though musicians were very powerful in their descriptions, they weren’t deities and didn’t have powers.

"They referred to musicians as ‘Dark Dukes.’ They would be the messenger during a wedding and go between the two families for the groom. He would also participate in the Torch Sacrifice of the families. In the end, he would act as the bride’s father and chase her out of the home. He was also the groom’s father and accepted the girl. They had the power to break others’ familial relationships, but were also responsible for finding homes for those without a family. From the perspective of the society, they weren’t very high up. They were more like a government official and were a part of the entire nation…

"In the lingua franca, the definition of ‘musician’ is the simplest, but also the most unclear. If you look at its root, it’s created from two roots. Put together, it means ‘controller of aether’." Abraham paused here, but heard the youth mumbling to himself.

"Aether is the messenger, bringing the descendants of the rebels back to the Originator…" The words left Ye Qingxuan’s mouth without him realizing. He had suddenly remembered this phrase, but he did not know where he heard it from. It just felt very familiar.

Abraham was stunned. He looked at Ye Qingxuan, as if he suddenly did not know him. After a long time, he said softly, "Ye, your comprehension is higher than I thought. Yes, ‘musician’ means ‘messenger of the Originator’."

--

It was undeniable that, in many cultures, there were many types of legends. But in all of these legends, there was something like the Originator.

Some myths told that the world was first an insignificant dot in the universe. But after who knows how long, the dot exploded, and became the vortex known as the Originator. From there came four basic elements, which created the world. According to other legends, everything was dark at first. God lived in the Originator. He said he wanted light, and so aether came into existence.

The Indians believed that the Originator was a sea. In the sea was a great tortoise, and on the tortoise were four elephants. On the elephants was a disc-shaped world. Musicians were the messengers that the elephant gods chose.

But no matter what legend, there was one similarity: the Originator was the source of all aether, the core of all mystery, the assembler of all meaning and…the site of all power!

Countless musicians through history had searched tirelessly for the Originator, hoping to enter it.

Apparently, an Indian prince was willing to abandon his own country to become a musician. After traveling for more than ten years, he meditated under a sycamore tree for seven days, defeated multiple natural catastrophes, and finally entered the Originator.

But there were too many legends. Ye Qingxuan could make up a few with just his creativity. He had once thought that the world was created from a bowl of noodles. Of course, that had been when he was starving.

In this world, the only place that had evidence of deities was in the sacred city. It was a power that was enough to reverse common knowledge, and the world—even death.

Seven days after the first pope died, he was reborn under everyone’s eyes, and entered Heaven. From then on, every pope would inherit the divine power under the witness of the cardinals. They would be pierced through the heart at the coronation ceremony, and be reborn in the halo of the holy temple.

But these were just things that Ye Qingxuan had heard of. He thought that these were probably rumors. But he could not ask the priest about these things.

But the Originator’s significance toward the musicians of the world was undeniable.

"Both mankind and musicians have kept trying to research the secrets of the Originator since the Dark Ages. The Nine Levels of Musicians were created after countless investigations and inductions. But that was the standard result after clashes and discussions between all of the different schools." Abraham quickly scribbled something on the blackboard. "The most important to you right now are the first three levels."

--

The so-called Nine Levels of Musicians included apprentice level, rhythm level, musician level, resonance level, and others.

For a student, the first three were the most important. After all, most musicians in the world could not move past the first three levels.

For a musician, the most basic thing was the interaction between mankind and aether. To be able to sense the aether and use it to create a note counted as the first step—the apprentice level.

Those who were in that level would learn new notes, and start researching how to sing the right syllables. It was something that everyone had to do because everyone was different. Whether it was the voice, habits, or key, there were slight differences. And so the experiences of others could only be used as a model. The key part could only be achieved through personal trial and error.

This was also why Wolf Flute had thought that Ye Qingxuan could never become a musician. Adding that to the fact that he could not sense the aether, it would have been impossible for Ye to complete the first level. Even if he made it past somehow, he would be a horrible musician who would accidentally kill himself.

If an apprentice was able to learn hymns with multiple notes and perform a piece well, he could enter the next level. It was the step that decided a musician’s future—the rhythm level.

--

If the first apprentice level was just accumulation, then the second step required decisions.

After using multiple notes, and performing a short piece of music without help, the apprentice would choose a complete piece under the guidance of his professor to research and analyze.

But before that, he must make an important decision based on his performance and experience as an apprentice. The result would decide his future path. No one could fully learn everything, so some things must be abandoned.

Once an apprentice entered the second level, he would choose the school and specialization he was best at. All seven schools were enough for one to study for their entire life.

To make learning more efficient at the Royal Academy of Music, this choice was put in the first step. The student could not choose the school; instead, the representative from each school chose their students.

This process lessened the trouble. After the accumulation of experience in the first level, the students could receive professional guidance immediately after entering the second level.

The owner of the clock shop, Sir Hermes, scoffed at this. "Choosing your own path after deep research cannot be compared with being chosen for mass production from the beginning? The first creates artists. The latter is just a group of average smiths. It is so crude…"

It had only been a few moments, but Ye Qingxuan could tell that Hermes disliked the Royal Academy of Music.