Chapter 157
Tap- tap- tap-
The sound of the chalk on the blackboards echoed throughout the café.
Giggle-
The Emeral students, who had been laughing quietly, grew increasingly blank-faced as time passed.
Thump-
Leo put down the chalk and stepped away from the blackboard.
He glanced at Sheila, who had her mouth gaping.
“What do you think?”
“T-this kind of approach is possible?”
Shock-
Sheila, regaining her composure, hurried to the blackboard.
‘What the heck is this? How did he do it? He made the spell work?’
Emeral Academy assigned twenty students per group for a research project.
The problem Leo had solved was the project assigned for Sheila’s group.
He had effortlessly tackled their capstone project.
All of the Emeral students’ mouths were agape.
To be honest, even though Sheila had watched Leo’s scratchwork from the sidelines, she didn’t understand even half of it.
‘Argh! How did he do that!’
She saw the spell could clearly be activated but couldn’t figure out how.
Sheila, staring at the blackboard, clenched her teeth as Leo calmly spun the chalk between his fingers.
She craved a detailed explanation but hesitated to ask due to her pride.
“But you know.”
“Uh, yeah?”
“If you didn’t approach it like this, wouldn’t it be possible to cast the spell more efficiently?”
“What?”
Leo smiled, erased everything on the board, and began writing a new spell.
“The spell just now used a small amount of heat sorcery for a lot of output, right? Since heat is a fire-type sorcery, it requires a lot of fire sorcery, which consumes a lot of mana. So, you can use some wind sorcery to compress it.”
Leo started writing a sorcery spell on the board.
The Emeral students’ mouths dropped open.
Their complicated spell that was so hard to even understand.
‘How does that make it more efficient!’
‘My head’s going to explode!’
“If you compress it with wind sorcery like this, you can increase the firepower even more and reduce overall initial mana consumption.”
Leo shrugged.
“Wait! Wait! This will definitely reduce mana consumption! But efficiency isn’t just about that! Things like the time it takes for the spell to be cast and its simplicity also matter!”
Leo snickered at Sheila’s comment.
“You all know what a trigger spell is, right?”
“It’s not easy to change this complicated spell into a trigger spell, is it?”
Sheila squinted her eyes.
Leo snickered as he watched Sheila.
“It’s not that hard.”
“What?”
Leo activated the spell he had written out only a moment ago.
A flame flickered in Leo’s hand, then was compressed by the wind into a ball of energy.
Sheila’s eyes widened in amazement.
“It’s still not practical for actual use, but if we try a little more, we might achieve some impressive results.”
Leo shrugged as he released the spell, causing Sheila’s body to tremble.
Then she said, as if she finally understood, “Oh, I see! You’ve been researching this kind of sorcery too? Yes, of course! You go to Lumene, after all! You’ve already been researching this kind of sorcery.”
Sheila burst into awkward laughter.
“Ahahahahaha! You just copied what you learned from researching it at Lumene. How embarrassing.”
“Lumene doesn’t really do this kind of research, though?”
“What?”
“Lumene does research various experimental sorcery theories, but it’s not very common. Lumene mainly specializes in applying existing sorcery to combat rather than developing new sorcery.”
Leo shrugged.
That was true.
The ultimate goal of Lumene’s sorcery department was to foster heroes.
So they primarily researched applying existing sorcery techniques and using them in actual combat.
Professor Len emphasized an academic approach, but that wasn’t quite mainstream.
Unique experiments were not often performed at Lumene.
“Now, wait. How did you figure out this spell and convert it into a trigger spell? You did it on the spot?”
Sheila’s eyes widened.
“Yeah.”
Leo nodded calmly, and Sheila took a step back.
The other Emeral students started to murmur.
“Don’t be ridiculous! You can’t have just looked at it and done it all, right? If it wasn’t something you already knew, there’s no way you could do that… Wait. It would be possible if you did it in your head, but that’s impossible…”
“I did do it in my head.”
“… !”
Pause—
The faces of all the Emeral students, including Sheila, hardened.
“That’s a lie… A lie! There’s no way a human could do that! Waaaaaaah!”
Shocked, Sheila ran out of the café.
“Hey! Where is she going!”
“L-let’s follow her!”
“Eeeeeeek?”
The Emeral students, who were fleeing in a hurry after Sheila, met Leo’s eyes and were terrified.
Leo scratched his cheek as he watched the Emeral students look at him as if he were a monster.
“Did I go a little too overboard?”
* * *
Reaper Scans
[Translator – Aine]
[Proofreader – Ash]
Join our discord for updates on releases! https://dsc.gg/reapercomics
* * *
It was time for everyone to gather.
All 600 visiting students assembled in front of the dock to go to Lumene.
“I heard that all the students here are first-years?”
On a bench on the dock, Celia sat on Leo’s left and Chelsea on his right.
“Celia, you didn’t get into any trouble walking around Lumenia City, did you?”
“Trouble? Nope.”
“Chelsea, you?”
Chelsea, wiggling her legs while watching the Emeral students, shook her head.
“Me neither. Why? Were there any stupid kids who picked on Leo?”
“Yeah.”
“They must’ve been unlucky then. Why did they bother you?” Celia said indifferently.
Leo crossed his arms as he watched Celia.
“Why me?”
“There are many kids at our school who despair just looking at you, so you’re just discouraging all these before the joint class starts for no reason.”
Chelsea covered her mouth and chuckled as she watched Celia shrug.
At that moment, the accompanying professors appeared at the dock.
Ain, Yura, and Len.
Chelsea said with a serious face as she looked at the three professors, “Sometimes I don’t understand our school. Those three professors cause trouble whenever they’re together, but why do they always put them together at big events?”
The three professors, who caused some sort of chemical reaction when two of them were together, and an even bigger chemical reaction when all three were together, often moved in tandem.
Hearing Chelsea’s words, Celia nodded in agreement.
“All instructors, gather together.”
At Ain’s command, the ten students stepped forward.
The specialization academy students’ curious gazes fixed on them.
“Yes, they are quite striking.”
“Celia…! She looks stunning!”
“Is that Chelsea Lewellin?”
“Who is that girl from the sorcery department?”
“That little girl is from the knight studies department?”
“The successor of the Hergin family seems a bit intimidating.”
The male students stared at the Lumene female students absentmindedly.
The Lumene female students remained indifferent.
Celia brushed her hair back, uninterested.
Chelsea crossed her arms, her expression blank.
Chloe read her book as always, seemingly aloof, while Eliza continued to groom her fingers without a second glance.
Only Chen Xia smiled and waved.
Meanwhile, the female students reacted with similar fascination.
“Wow… He looks like he stepped out of a painting.”
“Wow. He’s incredibly handsome.”
“Wow, he’s quite intimidating.”
The female students focused on Abad, Duran, and Walden.
“Is that white-haired boy Leo Plov?”
“The all-class!”
“What can I even say? He’s a charmingly pretty boy. I expected him to be more cheerful.”
At that moment, several female students emitted a “kyaa-kyaa” sound of excitement.
Chelsea, Chloe, and Chen Xia turned in that direction.
Celia crossed her arms and said, “What’s so special about that jock?”
“Don’t call him that!”
Chelsea frowned.
“Be quiet,” Ain said sharply.
Immediately, the students from all three specialization academies fell silent and turned to Ain.
“These students are students just like you, but they are assigned as your instructors. Please follow their instructions closely.”
A female student raised her hand.
“Professor! We like that instructor! We want him to lead us.”
The student was from the Knight Academy, Icot.
Ain pointed to Abad and said, “Abad Lewellin is from the Department of Sorcery. He will have nothing to do with you, Icot students.”
The female student chuckled.
“What does that matter? They’re all Lumene students. A slight difference in their departments doesn’t change that.”
The Lumene students stared at her, surprised.
The students who seemed to follow her also folded their arms and nodded.
Even Duran looked taken aback.
It was unheard of at Lumene to challenge a legitimate professor, especially not Professor Ain!
“Wow… that’s crazy.”
“She looks like she wants to die.”
Eliza smirked at Chelsea’s admiration.
But Yura and Len seemed unfazed.
“What’s your name?”
“I’m Selena Fiya! I’m the princess of the Duchy of Cheya!”
Selena puffed out her chest proudly.
The Duchy of Cheya, a large kingdom in the eastern part of the continent.
Ain responded calmly, “Selena, this is your first warning. If you receive three warnings, you’ll be sent back to school immediately. Just so you know.”
Professor Ain spoke calmly and moved on with his schedule.
“Wait a minute! Why do I deserve a warning? Why would you be the one telling me to pack my bags! Do you know who I am!” Selena snapped.
“This is your second warning. Avoid a third!”
“No! Seriously! Why am I getting a warning?”
Selena’s expression grew frantic.
Lumene was the school everyone dreamed of.
Even though it was only for a joint class, attending at all was a major opportunity.
Of course Selena was frustrated at the prospect of leaving before even starting.
“This is your third warning. I’m expelling you.”
Ain retrieved a list from his pocket.
“Hey! Even if you’re a professor at Lumene, you don’t have the right to expel me!”
An indignant Selena advanced towards Ain, hurling accusations.
Yura observed the scene with a muttered comment. “You’re overstepping.”
“There are always students like that. But this year, it’s excessive.”
Len sighed heavily.
Dab-!
“Huh?”
“Listen closely, Selena Fiya. Regardless of whether you’re a princess from the Duchy of Cheya or any other realm, it’s inconsequential here.”
Selena’s face went ashen at Ain’s cold reprimand.
“This is Lumene, where the professor’s authority is absolute. The influence of your title means nothing here. If you cannot respect that, then remove yourself from my presence.”
Whoosh-!
“Gyaaaaah!”
Splash-!
Ain propelled Selena into the water and addressed the stunned students from the visiting academies.
“I must make this clear. Here in Lumene, we do not recognize hierarchy among students. Each of you will be treated as equals to Lumene’s students. Should anyone feel the need to flaunt their family connections, leave now. That is all.”
The students from the other academies held their breaths at Ain’s stern words.
Chelsea remarked, observing the commotion, “It seems worse than we were led to believe.”
“What do you mean?”
When Leo looked confused, Chloe, seated beside him, closed her book and explained.
“Students from the three specialization academies aren’t ranked by ability as they are at Lumene.”
“What?”
“Many of these students come from influential families. While our school is technically similar in social structure, their power and status hold a much more significant impact.”
Chelsea folded her arms and clicked her tongue.
“I’ve heard that many of these privileged students lack genuine talent but use their family’s influence to behave poorly. Even the professors are aware of this.”
Leo muttered in response.
“Well this is going to be chaotic.”
