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Royal Academy, Room 207 (Kyle POV)
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The warm sunlight outside was beginning to seep into the room as an awkward silence simultaneously spread through it. I casually leaned forward while I sat my chair and stared back at everyone in the room to maintain the deadlock, but eventually, Zane gave in and broke the atmosphere.
"Wait! Ky, didn't you say before that this was your first year!?" (Zane)
Zane abruptly jolted up from his seat and I turned to him with a smile before giving him a thumbs up.
"Yep, this is my first year teaching." (Kyle)
"Why do you have a student uniform on then!?" (Zane)
"Uh… long story short, I had to borrow a spare uniform since someone spilled tea on my shirt." (Kyle)
I was about to go into more detail, but before I could say another word, one of the girls by the window, the one with long black hair and purple eyes, stood up with a serious expression.
"Well, if you really are our professor, do you have some way to prove it? Even if you weren't wearing a student uniform, you look a little too young, and I didn't come here to mess around."
Eh? Wait, do I actually have anything that proves I'm a professor?... I don't remember Mari giving me a badge or anything like that. And I still don't have any ID other than my guild and library cards.
"...Uhhh… Well, you see…" (Kyle)
I tried to stall for time as I was thinking about how to prove my identity when I heard a knock on the door and the voice of my savior sounded out from behind it.
"Excuse me, may I come in for a moment?"
Professor Balrum's voice echoed in from the hallway outside and a moment later, he opened the door before stepping in.
"Hello everyone, I'm just dropping in to check if everything's well. I hope I'm not interrupting anything." (Balrum)
"Oh, perfect! Professor Balrum you came at just the right time. I need your help for a bit. I already introduced myself as their professor, but my students say they don't believe me..." (Kyle)
"Uh, sure, but... Professor Kyle, why are you wearing a student uniform?" (Balrum)
"The headmistress got my shirt wet while I was in her office earlier so she told me to go borrow a spare uniform, but honestly, looking at how much trouble it's caused, I should've just kept my original outfit... Now can you please tell my students that I'm not lying?" (Kyle)
Maybe he was getting sick or something, but while I was explaining my unfortunate situation to him, for some reason Professor Balrum's face turned red and he let out a few surprised coughs before making an announcement to the class.
"Well, it looks like due to some… personal circumstances, Professor Kyle has been forced to borrow a uniform for now. So with him being a manaless young man, I can understand why you all might have had your suspicions, but as the head of the alchemy department I can verify that Professor Kyle is indeed the professor of this class." (Balrum)
"Eh, manaless?" (Zane)
Zane's voice faintly echoed around the room as everyone in the class had a surprised look on their face after they probably tried to sense my nonexistent mana signature. The black haired girl sat down and crossed her arms once Professor Balrum verified me.
"Anyway, if there isn't anything else, then I'll be leaving now. I still have to check in on the rest of the professors." (Balrum)
"I should be good now. Thanks, Professor Balrum." (Kyle)
"No problem. Good luck with your class then." (Balrum)
Professor Balrum subsequently left the room and the awkward silence returned as I turned to face everyone with a smile on my face before clapping my hands together to get their attention.
"Alrighty then. Let's get started. I guess everyone should introduce themselves first. Just tell everyone your name and your goal. You can start us off, Zane." (Kyle)
"Eh, me?" (Zane)
Alright buddy, this is all I can do for you right now. I believe in you! So take this chance and make a good first impression on the girls. It doesn't have to be anything special, just show them you're a nice, sociable guy. Break through and accomplish your dream, Zane!
The glint in my eyes sharpened a bit as I sent out a passionate telepathic message to my fellow wizard. Zane froze for a second and stared at me back before closing his eyes and taking a deep breath. A moment passed before he came back to his senses with flames of passion in his eyes. He stood up confidently and cleared his throat before giving a brief introduction of himself.
"Ahem. Hello, everyone. My name is Zane Royhardt, and my goal… no, my life's purpose is to get a girlfriend!" (Zane)
Argh! Zane, you idiot!
I slammed my head on the table as Zane immediately threw the chance I gave him right out the window. Cold sweat ran down my back while I sat back up and desperately waved my hands to signal him to stop, but alas, all it did was make the passion burn even brighter in his eyes.
"It's no use Ky, I'm grateful for the chance you gave me, but I won't stop! You don't understand yet. There's no way I can compete with these two, so I need something to make me unique! And even if I lie about my personality now, I can't hide it forever! Everyone will find out eventually anyway, so I might as well be honest!" (Zane)
While I admire your resolve, Zane... please stop! I'm begging you! I can't watch my fellow comrade suffer like this anymore, it's getting pretty sad to watch! Look, one of the girls is staring at you like you're a weirdo, and the other one can't even bear to look at you, she has her head down!
"I'll get a girlfriend by the end of this year! Even if it's the last thing I do!" (Zane)
And with that last outburst, I let out a pained sigh as Zane sat back down in his seat.
"... Um… Alright, I guess you can go next." (Kyle)
I made eye contact with Zane's black-haired friend, who was whispering to Zane in a panic, and he stood up awkwardly before introducing himself with a slightly embarrassed smile.
"Hi, everyone. Sorry about my friend here, he's been a little… on edge recently. A-Anyway, my name is Halbert Alyon, and due to some special circumstances, I have to get stronger soon so I can save those who need my help and protect the people around me. I'll be giving it my all, so thanks for having me!" (Halbert)
Halbert's embarrassed smile changed to a kind, yet determined one as the radiance of his main character aura illuminated the room after he finished his introduction.
Argh! My eyes! It's too bright! The level of his main character aura is insane! It's too much to handle for a small side character like me!
I averted my eyes from the radiance that Halbert was emitting and gave Zane a distressed look before sending another telepathic message to my fellow wizard.
Zane! I'm sorry I doubted you! You were right, any nice guy persona you could've faked would've been overshadowed instantly by this monster. He even has the black hair and eyes of a generic self-insert protagonist! You don't stand a chance with any woman when he's around. They'll all inexplicably fall for him just by being within 500 feet for an hour.
Zane looked back at me as he wiped the tears from his eyes and nodded as he sent a mental reply back to me.
Now you see what I'm up against, Ky? There's no way I can beat Halbert at being a nice guy, I'm better off trying to be myself!
I exhaustedly gasped for breath and rubbed my eyes as Halbert sat down while his radiance finally started to die out.
"Ok, you can go next then." (Kyle)
I stared at the last member of the trio of boys, the one with the blue hair, and he stood up from his brooding with a slightly stoic expression on his face.
"My name is Regnis Siegfried, and I'm only here for one reason, to get stronger, strong enough to surpass a certain man." (Regnis)
Regnis glared at Halbert for a moment when he made his declaration before closing his eyes and sitting down again.
Ah, I see. So he's the edgy rival. Let me guess, his whole motivation to get stronger is probably extremely one dimensional and fueled by something along the lines of 'I'll prove that I'm stronger than you, Halbert!' or 'I'll show you that I'm better!' Well, that is until Halbert's natural plot armor eventually pulls a Deus ex Machina when he's about to lose, gives him some sort of incredibly broken power from thin air that's powered by friendship or something stupid like that, and Regnis is forever delegated to the impossible feat of trying to catch up to a main character's plot armor. He'll be stuck forever as the Vegeta to Halbert's Goku.
No wonder Zane showed his true colors immediately. His friends have already got the nice guy and bad boy positions filled, and they're damn good at it! From what I can tell so far, one of them is just a real body away from being a literal cardboard cutout protagonist with almost no personality besides being nice, and the other one just needs a set of spiked black clothes before he'll be teleporting behind people and cutting paper from ten feet away with just the edge radiating from him. There's no way Zane's acting could compete with these two character tropes on legs.
"Um, ok. Nice to know. Let's move on then." (Kyle)
I turned my head and looked towards the other side of the room at the black haired girl as she stood up and introduced herself while glancing around the room.
"I'm Sophie Chryselle, and my goal... is to become a master of every type of alchemy, a Grand Alchemist." (Sophie)
"Eh? Wait, your motivation actually makes sense! You're surprisingly normal." (Kyle)
"Normal?" (Sophie)
"Oh, thank God. I thought I would be stuck in here with a bunch of weirdos after the first three. We only needed a few more walking cliches before we formed the time-honored fantasy RPG hero's party, but it looks like at least one of you is normal, err, well, normal enough." (Kyle)
"Ky, you traitor! Who are you calling a weirdo!? You're in the same boat as me, aren't you!?" (Zane)
I wiped the sweat off my forehead with a relieved smile as I ignored the verbal complaints of my good green-haired friend while Sophie sat back down with a slightly confused face.
"Alright, last one." (Kyle)
We all looked towards the blonde elven girl who was sitting next to Sophie. She still had her head held down, and we stared at her for a moment in awkward silence before Sophie nudged her arm while whispering to her. She slowly looked up at everyone with a red face as she stood stiffly like a robot. After a glance in my direction for a moment, she immediately averted her eyes and looked down while fiddling with her hands.
"H-Hello, e-everyone."
Hmm, wait. Actually, now that I've had a good look at her face, she seems faintly familiar, like I've seen her somewhere before… Yeah, I've definitely met her before, but I just can't put my finger on when.
I stared at her intensely while trying to delve into the depths of my memories, but the longer I stared at her, the more nervous she became, and eventually, I just gave up and asked her.
"Have we met before?" (Kyle)
"A-Augh… W-We have, P-Professor Kyle."
She let out a surprised whimper before stuttering out her confirmation, and I finally remembered where I met her after hearing that faintly familiar whimper. She was the receptionist at the guild in Delhurst when I registered as an adventurer! I remember now, the one who ran away from me!
"Ah. Wait, you were the receptionist at the guild the day I registered. Small world, huh? Who would've thought you would end up as my student? Anyway, I'm sorry if I frightened you last time, please don't run away again..." (Kyle)
I gently smiled at her as she went fully red to the tips of her ears and covered her face with her hands, before ducking behind the lecture hall desk.
It's just gonna be a repeat of last time, isn't it!? Seriously, what did I do wrong!?
"Ah, I see... Well, sorry, but I guess you'll all have to take another class. I'll be handing in my resignation by the end of the day since it seems like whether it's the adventurer's guild or even my own classroom, I'm not wanted in either... Maybe one day I'll even see one of you again." (Kyle)
Tears flowed out of my eyes as I picked up my satchel and began to walk towards the door with a depressed smile on my face.
"...W-Wait! P-Professor Kyle."
I stopped in my tracks as the girl's nervous voice sounded out from behind me and I turned around to see her head peeking over the desk. She made eye contact with me for a moment before turning around and muttering to herself as she lightly slapped her cheeks with both her hands. The receptionist girl stood up again and turned around to face me with a burning red face while talking in a soft voice.
"I'm sorry. I didn't mean to run away like that the first time. I'm just very shy, so please forgive me if I seem like I'm running away. Honestly, I'm happy to see you again, Professor Kyle. So please let me finish my introduction! My name is Reina, Reina Syl- ack!" (Reina)
She bit her tongue…
There was a moment of fluffy silence as we all watched Reina cutely cover her mouth then duck under the desk again with a red face before I called out to her in a gentle voice.
"Umm, it's ok. You don't have to talk so fast, just take your time. There's no rush." (Kyle)
Reina slowly stood up again while trembling slightly before continuing with tears in her eyes.
"... Reina Sylfey… And my goal, is to overcome my shyness, s-so I'll be in your care. Thank you very much!" (Reina)
Reina gave a quick bow towards me before sitting back down in her seat and releasing all the tension in her body. She melted backwards into her chair with dead eyes and a blank smile as she muttered something under her breath while Sophie consoled her.
… I don't know what ancient alchemy can do for your shyness, but to each their own I guess… well, at the very least, her goal's probably the most reasonably achievable one out of all of them.
Actually, wait a second! Did she say her last name was Sylfey!?
"... Uh, Reina, are you by chance related to the headmistress?" (Kyle)
As I asked Reina with a nervous smile on my face, she immediately snapped back to life with a small exclamatory squeal and fumbled around for a moment in her seat before answering me.
"Y-Yes, Headmistress Sylfey is my aunt. I-Is there something wrong?" (Reina)
Looks like I haven't escaped Mari's reach just yet, huh? What is this, a bloodline curse!? Even after I finally escaped that paperwork-filled hellhole, she sends her niece over to remind me of my suffering under her hand! What's next? Will she start showing up to my class herself?
"N-No, nothing's wrong… I was just wondering." (Kyle)
I let out a dry laugh before sitting back down and letting out a sigh with a depressed smile on my face as I slumped forward onto my desk.
"Well, I guess it's about time I start class." (Kyle)
After a moment, I slowly got up out of my chair, turned around, and picked up a piece of chalk before writing 'self-study' on the board in big letters.
"Alright everyone, your first assignment today is to do some serious self-reflection on why you decided to learn ancient alchemy. Don't worry, I get paid by the hour, so take your time." (Kyle)
I returned to my seat and reached into my bag to pull out the book I was reading earlier before nonchalantly leaning back in my chair and opening it up to where I left off. There was silence in the room as everyone stared at me in disbelief before Sophie finally lost her temper and stood up.
"What the hell do you mean self-study!? We're here because we want to learn ancient alchemy! We don't even have a textbook or any material to study! What's the point of coming to your class, if you're not even gonna teach us anything!?" (Sophie)
"Uh... well, I believe that first, you have to look deep inside yourself and find peace with your inner soul before starting to learn ancient alchemy. Trust me, it's an age-old tradition." (Kyle)
"That's the most idiotic and pointless tradition I've ever heard of! If you're gonna make an excuse, then at least make it believable!" (Sophie)
"Damn. Well, it was worth a try at least. Alright, fine, you guys can study this then." (Kyle)
I rummaged through my bag again and pulled out the first monster core I could find as Reina held Sophie back. The small crystalline monster core in my hand glistened with a light green as I moved my eyes away from Sophie and Reina to glance at it for a moment. Once I confirmed that it was a wind-element monster core, my field of vision moved back to my book as I placed the monster core on the table, got up again, and erased the 'self-study' that I wrote on the board a few moments ago. My free hand picked up a piece of chalk again and I quickly scribbled the first alchemy circle that came to my mind as I continued reading my book.
"There, done." (Kyle)
Once I finished lazily drawing the circle, I placed the chalk back down as Sophie's angry voice sounded out behind me once more.
"What do you mean done!? Do you think I'm an idiot!?" (Sophie)
I returned to the table and picked up the monster core as I ignored Sophie's rambling before placing the monster core against the alchemy circle.
"There's no way an alchemy circle like that would work! Look, one of the lines is even-" (Sophie)
"[Gale Burst], single cast, activate." (Kyle)
The alchemy circle and monster core both immediately lit up with a green light and a strong burst of wind blasted out in all directions as everyone immediately hung onto the desks and covered their heads. When the wind finally died down, their bags had been thrown to the back of the room and their clothes were still fluttering a bit.
There was absolute silence as I sat back down, placed the half-used monster core on the table, and turned to the next page in my book. Everyone stood there with a dumbfounded expression as they stared at the alchemy circle for a few moments before Sophie ran up to the chalkboard to inspect it.
"T-That's impossible, how did it work? This is just regular chalk, and the circle doesn't even look like it was drawn correctly." (Sophie)
She gazed intensely at the alchemy circle for a while before running back and grabbing a notebook to copy it down as everyone else walked up to the blackboard. I glanced at the clock to see that about half an hour had passed since class started, and I clapped my hands again to get their attention.
"Alright, there you go. I guess your new assignment can be analyzing this alchemy circle. Just tell me what you all have at the end of class today." (Kyle)
I picked up my book again before I saw Zane run over to me with an excited look on his face.
"Ky, how did you do that!? That was insane, it was almost as strong as a third-circle wind spell!" (Zane)
Hmm, third-circle? If I remember correctly,[Gale Burst]should be somewhere around the level of a solid fourth-circle wind spell, but I guess this one was kind of weak for some reason. Well, maybe they'll find out why after analyzing it.
At least they still use the circle system for magic. I just assumed that the current modern magic system was similar to the old one, just with a few new tricks here and there and maybe some new terms, but it looks like they still call them circles. I guess the magic system hasn't changed much at all in the last thousand years, but honestly, I doubt they could create a completely new system for magic unless there was a huge overhaul in how it's fundamentally used.
You see, the way most magic works is that a person channels mana into their surroundings and that mana naturally forms into a magic circle based on the mental image of the person, the type of mana being channeled, and the specific way they channel it. Most chants are only there to help build up the mental image of the person casting the spell, which is why if someone is skilled enough at controlling mana and has a strong enough mental image of a spell without a chant, the chant can be shortened or even omitted entirely. And even among chants, while there was a standard chant for almost every basic spell back then, the chants for most spells don't need to be the standard ones at all, and they can even vary depending on the person.
However, the natural formation of magic circles does have a limit, as mana can only condense naturally to a certain point, and while it is far from the absolute critical limit possible, after the natural limit is reached, mana can't be condensed anymore unless the person casting the spell artificially condenses it themselves, which requires extremely precise control of mana. In the beginning, most high level mages did exactly that and trained specifically to raise their control of mana to an insanely high-level so they could artificially condense tons of mana into a naturally formed magic circle. This level of mana control usually took decades or even centuries of training for a normal person to acquire, and even after that, once you got to the higher-level spells, the slightest mistake during the process of condensing mana could lead to the whole spell backfiring and exploding, so there weren't that many high-level mages at first, but eventually, mages found a different solution.
One day, some mage came up with the revolutionary idea that since condensing mana into a single magic circle beyond the natural limit wasn't very efficient, then they would just use more than one circle. And thus the magic circle system was born. So instead of artificially condensing tons of mana into a single circle, mages formed multiple circles layered on top of each other and let them all reach the natural condensation limit. This still took a decent amount of mana control, but the level necessary for this was nowhere near as high as it needed to be for the original method, and eventually, they created a system where magic was separated and classified based on the level of naturally formed magic circles required to cast it.
The most basic spells still only used one circle, but as the spells got more powerful and complex, the number of circles needed to cast it increased until it hit the limit of normal spells, which was nine circles. Any spells above the level of nine circles tended to be unstable and usually needed to be formed by natural laws instead of mana, which, despite being vastly more concentrated and powerful, was usually much more difficult to form into magic circles or wasn't even able to naturally form magic circles at all. And as such, many mages who reached the level of using natural laws to replace mana either fell back to the original condensing method of using a single magic circle, or completely dropped the use of magic and magic circles and instead, learned to manipulate the special properties of natural laws to generate supernatural phenomena or techniques, which was basically equivalent to circle-less magic in some cases. Anyway, I think I've rambled on a bit too long with my history lesson on magic.
After returning to my senses, I turned to Zane with a serious face as I put my book down for a moment.
"Zane, do you want my answer as a professor... or do you want the real answer?" (Kyle)
"T-The real answer." (Zane)
"Don't regret your decision then." (Kyle)
I grabbed Zane's shoulder as his face turned serious too before he nervously gulped.
"Look, Zane, the truth is… I have no idea." (Kyle)
I wiped the serious expression off my face in a heartbeat and gave Zane a wry smile as I casually shrugged my shoulders.
"Eh?... What do you mean you have no idea? Aren't you a professor of ancient alchemy? How did you draw that alchemy circle then!? You're supposed to be the one who knows how it works!" (Zane)
"Well, truth be told, I don't really know the specifics. It just works. As long as you draw the circle exactly like I did, it'll function perfectly. And once you get enough experience drawing alchemy circles, you get an idea of the basic shapes and markings and what they end up doing when put together. It's like a chemical reaction, you don't need to know how it works, just what the reactants are to make a certain product." (Kyle)
Zane just stood there with a disappointed expression as I patted him on the shoulder.
"Hey look, I could've lied to you about knowing everything and given you some fake answer to keep the wonder and curiosity alive, but you were the one who wanted to know the truth, so there you go." (Kyle)
"I mean, you're right, but I'm still kind of disappointed..." (Zane)
Zane sighed as he went back to the rest of the class gathered around the blackboard, and it almost seemed like he was being interrogated about his conversation with me, but that's none of my business.
I moved my chair over to the window and opened it a bit as I leaned back in my seat again and continued reading. The sunlight shone in through the window, illuminating the pages of the book in my hands as a faint breeze blew by and the scene of five students talking and standing around a blackboard played out next to me for the next few hours.
***
After Zane told them about his conversation with me, the rest of the class didn't believe him at first and they, by they I mean Sophie, came over to ask me some complicated questions about the alchemy circle, like what the directional flow of the mana was or what the minimum necessary mana attunement level for the drawing material was, but I didn't know any of the answers to their questions and Zane already told them the truth anyway, so I just honestly gave them the same answer I told Zane, 'it just works.'
A little bit after that we all had lunch, but it was mostly just me talking with the boys about random stuff since Reina and Sophie ate together on the other side of the room. And after lunch, I just sat by the window again to read for a few more hours as the class gathered once more together to analyze the alchemy circle until the end of class.
I let out a lazy chuckle and flipped to the next page of my book as the sound of everyone chatting in the background began to die down. A few more minutes passed, and I was about a quarter of the way through a page in my book, when I heard Sophie call out to me.
"Professor Kyle, here, we're done with the analysis." (Sophie)
I lowered my book to see Sophie standing in front of me with a sulky pout on her face while holding out a small stack of papers. I took the stack of papers from her and flipped through them quickly to see pages upon pages of densely packed diagrams and notes on the alchemy circle.
"Umm, g-great job, everyone. I'll look it over and get this back to you, uh, sometime soon." (Kyle)
I gave the class a sheepish smile and threw the stack of papers into my bag as Sophie let out a sigh.
"Look, while I can't say much for your work ethic or your theoretical knowledge, after analyzing that alchemy circle, I have to admit you're at least a professor capable of using high-level ancient alchemy, and probably one of the best I've met when it comes to your field. To be honest, your idea of drawing outside the outer edge of the alchemy circle is a innovative concept I've never seen before, and you even somehow made it work with just regular chalk. So please, let me at least keep some level of respect for you, if not as a professor, then at least as a fellow alchemist." (Sophie)
"Wait a second. Going past the outer edge of the circle? What are you talking about? There's no way an alchemy circle like that would work properly." (Kyle)
I gave Sophie a puzzled look and she gave me a similar expression back while we stared at each other for a moment.
"Eh? Wait, what do you mean? It's right there in your own damn circle! Look." (Sophie)
Sophie pointed to the blackboard behind me and I turned around to look at the alchemy circle I drew this morning. After following the trajectory of her finger, I noticed a stray mark that slightly went past the outer edge of the alchemy circle.
"Ah. Crap, you're right, there's a small line sticking out. Sorry everyone, I guess my drawing was a little sloppy. I probably didn't lift the chalk completely off the board when I finished, and it went past the outer edge at the end. No wonder it was a little weaker than usual." (Kyle)
I walked up immediately and erased the bit that went past the outer edge of the circle as I grabbed the monster core again with my other hand and held it up to the new, correctly drawn alchemy circle.
"Alright, there we go, it should be a little stronger now.[Gale Burst], single cast, activate." (Kyle)
"Wait! A little stronger!?" (Sophie)
I turned around with a smile, but what met my eyes was terror on my students' faces as those in the back ducked behind the desks for cover. Sophie desperately looked around for cover too before a green light shone from behind me and I finally realized my mistake.
Ah, wait... I shouldn't have activated it…
I immediately dove forward and grabbed Sophie to cover her with my body as a deafening explosion of air blasted out from behind me. Every window in the room shattered instantly, the door was smashed out into the hallway, and I was hurtled into the wall at the back of the room. I hugged Sophie tight in midair to shield her body from the blast and managed to turn myself so that my back slammed against the wall instead of Sophie's. The wall cracked under the impact as we crashed into it before the vestiges of the raging wind ruffled our hair and clothes.
There was absolute silence as the wind finally died down again and everyone poked their heads out from behind the lecture hall desks to stare at the back of the room with dazed expressions. I crawled out from behind the last row of desks as I loosened my grip on Sophie, patted the dust off her head, and placed her down on the ground again safe and sound. After looking around for a second at everyone staring at me, along with the destruction in the room, I promptly made an announcement to calm them all down.
"Ahem. Unfortunately, it seems that a small mishap has occurred on my end, so with that, class today is dismissed. Umm, don't worry too much about the damage, I'll get the classroom fixed up by tomorrow. See you all then." (Kyle)
Alright, whose budget should I slash to fix this… the magic department? No, they're already running dry. The business department? Well, they're almost self sufficient. Ah, I got it, the weapons department! They just got that new training field too so they probably won't need anything else for a while. Well, looking at last year's budget, they've had it too good for too long anyway.
I promptly walked through the rubble to my satchel and pulled out the master budget notebook that Mari gave me earlier before I began to flip through it and make some changes.