****
"Today, wake up... hoye."
A slightly annoyed voice was heard in the classroom as she tried to call out to the only person present. Getting no results, she moved the ruler in her hands and hit the young man's head.
At that moment, feeling the pain, the red-eyed, black-haired young man awoke from his sleep to find the angry face of the one supposed to be his teacher. Knowing that what he did was wrong, he immediately apologized.
"I'm sorry, teacher, it's just that seeing so many runes made me very sleepy. I'm sure they weren't sleep inducing runes," he said in a joking tone at the end of his apology, earning himself another smack upside the head.
"Professor, it's not fair to put mana on your hits," he said with a look as if he was aggrieved.
"My dear student, Lucien, if it weren't that you managed to get the hero's job when you rose to the fourth rank, do you think you would have the right to be my student, eh? Do you know how many nobles have asked me to be their children's teacher? I've turned down proposals from even dukes. Anyone would dream of having me as their teacher and here you are, sleeping."
"..."
Lucien lowered his head, a little embarrassed by what his teacher had told him. In fact, she is one of the best geniuses in magic in history and had many achievements raising the level of magic in the kingdom. The fact that, being so young, she is one of the best teachers out there says a lot about her.
"Haaa, it's okay. I know learning runes can be exhausting. Of the many that exist plus the combinations, you need to be a genius like me to learn them all easily."
"..."
His teacher, though good at teaching, tended to brag about herself whenever she could. Lucien wanted to change the subject.
"This, teacher, why is it important to learn low level runes and spells below my rank, why not learn spells of my own rank?"
"Haaa... I see you weren't paying attention for a long time, huh?"
"..."
"Well, let's make it more dynamic. Let's go with your common sense - what is the origin of spells?"
Hearing the question that every student in the academy knows and looking at her with doubts of the reason for such a silly question, she still answered.
"Spells originate from abilities, teacher."
"Correct, but what makes a skill and a spell different?"
Lucien didn't seem satisfied with the easy questions his teacher was asking him and wondered if she was treating him like a fool. Still wanting to know what his teacher was getting at, he continued to answer.
"The difference between the two is that spells are born from the user's understanding of skills. For example, the fire spear skill, when the user understands this skill to a great level, they can begin to see and understand the runes that make it up and the processes to perform it, making the automatic process in the skills can be recreated without learning from the skill book, but in doing so they become spells."
"A book answer, but you are again correct. All the spells that exist result from over the generations being able to pick apart and understand how the skills work, and the result is the discovery of the runic language. Runes are a language that allows us to cast spells."
"..." That was already something that is common sense. He didn't know why his teacher mentioned this again.
"haaa... Look, Lucien... like the genius that I am, I'm going to give you a brief explanation of what I understand about runes. This is a thesis I am working on. You should feel honored to hear it in advance," he said puffing out his non-existent chest while not forgetting to praise himself, but he didn't give Lucien time to reply and continued.
"Listen, that I will not repeat myself. Runes make up a language, that's something everyone knows, right?"
"Yes," nodded Lucien, who began to take an interest in what he was saying.
"But languages are used to communicate. So who do we communicate with?"
"...With the gods?"
"Boo! Wrong. The divine language is the language of the gods and although they have similarities, they are not the same."
"..."
"This is what I believe: when we write or chant the runes, we are communicating with the world."
"The world?"
"Don't interrupt me."
"..."
"... yes, with the world. The more we know about the rune, the more we can communicate with it and borrow its power. That's why you must know all the runes, at least of your element, so there will be no mistakes in communication."
"That's why I need to learn low level runes,"
"no this is just a theory, that I have, you need to learn low level runes because high level spells sometimes require them to complete it, plus if you are a genius like me you can create spells without needing to possess skills just by understanding runes so let's get back to learning runes."
Not wanting to go back to the boring class he quickly asked again.
"Teacher, why at my level can I cast these low rank spells as if they were skills?"
"Correct. That's where the second part of my theory comes in. Because if you want to cast a spell of a higher level, it requires long chants or annoying rituals, and the low level ones just require thinking about runes."
"...."
"It's about will."
"...."
"My theory is that chanting is not necessary to begin with. The important thing is to improve your understanding of language to a level where with just will or gestures there can be communication with the world. That's why the more intelligence you have, the stronger your mind and will are, allowing you to cast spells more easily. So if you have enough will, you can cast superior spells without the need for those hateful chants."
"Teacher, isn't it because you're embarrassed to sing that you're making that stuff up?" Faced with her student's opinion, she rewarded him with another smack on the head.
"Humm, whether it's true or not, when this genius finishes his thesis, you're going to beg me to teach you how to cast powerful spells without chanting. Well, let's get on with the lesson of the runes. Whether my theory is true or not anyway you have to learn low level spells, along with the runes that make it up, from this there is no escape."
"..."
***
[Hoye, Lux... h-hey, react, hey! You're not the type to give up because you lost consciousness. You're not going to give up just because we won't die, are you }?
At that moment, I regained consciousness. I don't know how much time had passed, but I was still in the air not knowing if I was falling or rising. Memories of my past flooded my mind, making me remember something I had forgotten, something that had marked and given birth to who I am.
'How could I forget things that are so basic.' They were simple things that I had grown accustomed to and took no notice of. Now they were so commonplace that I overlooked them.
Refocusing my mind, I realized that the ogre's kick sent me soaring high. I looked down as I started to fall. Lili noticed that I came to my senses and stopped calling out to me and prepared to end the battle.
At that moment, as I was falling many thoughts were going through my head, Lili is right. I am not one to give up just because there is no way out. If I were, I wouldn't have made it this far in my previous life. If I'm going to die, at least I'll get the kids to complete the maze.
"Hey, Lili, I'm going to give you a heads up since you're always complaining. I'm about to do something that could kill me."
[....] There was no response from Lili, but I'm sure she's ready for what's to come.
At that point, I swallowed the core of the second ogre. I digested it with everything I could while Lili absorbed the energy I couldn't control. I was falling at great speed and on the ground I could see the place where the crack used to be, which was slowly reducing in size.
There, I could see the ogre and another monster that looked like an elderly goblin with many decorations on its body. It was another six-star rank and one that specialized in magic. The fall time did not give me a chance to recover.
I didn't want to teleport, it wouldn't do any good, it would only prolong the fight and I would lose. The goblin was already forming spheres of black water coming in my direction to finish me off before I fell. I remembered again the words of my teacher when her thesis was approved.
Putting on my will, which now manifested as a trait when I was about to collide with the spheres.
"See, I told you, it's all about will. Goodbye, annoying chants,"
his words and memories replayed in my head, and so did his last moments.
"Remember, Lucien, when you can't anymore you don't need to chant annoying spells, just scream, express your will."
"!!!AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!!!"
"With every ounce of your soul, bring out all that is inside you: be it your pain, hate, love, happiness, anger, bring it out and shout it out."
"¡¡¡¡AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHH!!!!"
"Let the world hear you loud and clear."
"!!!AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!!!"
...
..
"d-don't cry for m-me, cof...channel those feelings as I taught you, and g-get rid of them."
Even in his last moments he was still teaching me. Those memories and memories will not die as long as I remember him, even if for them it is a world that did not exist I will remember him and carry those memories.
"!!!!!!!AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHAAAAAA!!!"
"LONGINIOS MINOR!!!!"
At that moment, everything went blank. Only a big explosion was heard at the moment I lost consciousness.