What is the laziest path to power?

[noob]

that kind of "studying" is a different kind of studying.
practicing your own artistic talent at home and "studying" other artsy people and trying to figure out why you like their performance
vs
needing to compete with other geniuses for a scholarship issued by the state to get you the education under a wizard professor with access to a full library of knowledge hoarded across the centuries and planes.

Still it is not lazy to practice the craft of music it just means you had the luck to like doing music but it still is a huge investment if you want to be good at music.
While going and selling your soul to X in exchange for power does not need a lot of time investment (it requires a lot of courage however because most creatures to which you can sell your soul are scary).