Edwin De Youngee.
He was a prodigy.
Which wasn't anything unique when the Dukedoms of the Empire and Kingdoms are taken into account.
Because the "Elemental Dukes" and the "Attributed Dukes" were all lineages of geniuses.
And talents cultivated by these Dukedoms didn't seem to be declining any time soon.
As some Dukes even promoted incest to maintain the family's "purity."
But, fortunately or as he thought, Edwin's family didn't promote such acts.
'Everybody must be focusing on me….' He thought as he felt his consciousness being shifted.
"Haaa….." He exhaled softly as he leaned back, imagining himself ascending to the heaven as his consciousness drifted.
He was a handsome young man, and almost always, persistently and constantly dreamt of becoming the righteous protagonist and as he grew up, he unknowingly began to act righteous, and he had been obsessed with that feeling now.
He couldn't stand unjust!
Of course, all of this was his delusion.
Because the fact he had yet to realize was that everything "he" didn't like "was" unjust.
Since he was still a "young man," you couldn't blame him too much.
While he was leaning back, living that certain cringey emotion, he suddenly regained he sense of touch. Felt the ground beneath his feet and leaned forward and brushed back his hair as if he had just descended from heaven.
The images of his actions played in his mind, which seemed extremely charming, more charming then all the different kinds of protagonists he had imagined inwardly.
How cringey his actions seemed...
Only us and the audience looking at him were victims to.
Whether it was fortunate for the rest or unfortunate for us, was too difficult to be determined appropriately.
Everything around him was covered in greenery. The sight was enough to calm one's soul and even seemed to be able heal a soul. Everything was extremely peaceful and the chirpy songs of the birds, melody of the breezes, the swaying rustles of the leaves that acted as the music amplifiers, and calming air that made one feel rejuvenated, everything about the location was just, breathtakingly beautiful.
That was the miracle of magic.
An effect artificially created by the academy chairman's imagination and magic.
Amidst of such a scenery stood,
A golden blonde haired and brilliant blue eyed young man with soft and smooth, almost lady-like, facial features.
"Ranks" He elegantly called out as he stood in the middle of a forest.
'The location chosen by the academy is crude…..tsk, the chairman seems to have no elegance and grace, shouldn't one try and manifest a heavenly palace, full of elegance…..haaa...' Edwin thought as he shook his head in disappointment and sighed, elegantly.
With the help of a series of magical threads that floated mid-air,
A miniature screen similar to the one that was displaying them to the outside world, manifested in front of him, displaying the Ranks which also displayed to the outside world.
As soon as his gaze landed on the Ranks, his body stiffened.
"Heh."
Impossible.
There must be an error.
He thought and closed the screen, only to open it again.
After a long silence of awkwardness,
Edwin closed the screen again.
"That's good. Indeed, indeed. If I was too famous, how would my plan to pretend to be weak, work?" He muttered and shrugged, and began to move, finally.
*
"Too hard" muttered the man with a crimson blindfold.
The man stood in front of a tree with his unsheathed sword pointing at it.
With his sensitive senses, he could directly feel the core and circuited mana in the artificially created space, hence he was trying to adjust his senses to the space he was in.
Though it was artificially created, the things manifested were close to the actual things from the real world, hence if he only sensed the main mana circuit as he roamed the space, it would be too annoying.
In the space, he, Ken, felt more blind than ever.
And as if his predicament wasn't already annoying enough, he couldn't control his strength, he couldn't swing his sword the way he wanted, nor could he manipulate mana like he could.
Actually, he could swing his sword and manipulate more proficiently than he could before, but unknowingly, it was actually an extremely annoying problem.
He could swing his sword in every possible angle he wished, but since he knew too many swordsmanship arts and because he was too proficient in them, he couldn't quite use any one single swordsmanship properly.
If he thought of swinging his sword vertically downward, millions and millions of ways to swing his sword vertically downward would appear in his mind, while he thought of one technique as he started to swing his sword, thoughts on how to improve his swing would appear in his mind, which he would involuntarily and subconsciously try to implement with the sword swing, whose sword path had already been determined at the beginning.
And the result of that, was that, everything about his sword swing would be messed up and his mana veins, his muscle tissues, and his joints would twist in unnatural angles.
Making him drown in pain which was annoying rather than painful.
Then how did he attack Eadwulf?
That's a secret for later.
Now, coming back to Ken's current predicament,
Grabbling around, he began to move forward slowly as he began to get adjusted to his surroundings in a matter of seconds, as the air, 10 feet, around his surroundings moved differently than the rest.
Soon, the air trembled strangely,
Before,
WHOOOSH-!
BOOM-!
A fireball shot out at his face, from his right side.
Of course, Ken was faster even if his focus was elsewhere, hence he instantly cocked his head back and dodged the hot fireball, that was launched at his face.
"Tsk" Clicking his tongue in annoyance, Ken voluntarily channelled his mana, wanting to get used to his surroundings hurriedly.
The tree on his left side had a charred caved in spot, formed from the fireball's impact, and almost immediately,
[C-]
Appeared in the spot damaged.
It was rank the attack was ranked, the information on which tier spell it was will be recorded by the academic staff.
The spell's damage, casting speed, accuracy, everything is taken into account.
Similarly, the damage done, technique, and martial art proficiency is taken into account when it was a physical damage dealer instead of a mage.
"You bastard, come out!" A slightly familiar voice sounded from a distance as a crimson long haired figure zoomed past the trees.
"How dare you pretend to be blind and cheat me!! Come out!" The young woman's voice roared.
"Of course, it's you! Whom did I even expect? Isn't that right," Ken muttered as he stood behind a tree,
"Elfrida Von Algere?"