novelraw Chapter 73 : A New Piece (4)
Chapter 73 : A New Piece (4)
Chapter 73: A New Piece (4)
“Be quiet. We’re moving for the greater cause—does something as trivial as appearance really matter?”
“……I’m sorry.”
He was not someone complaints would work on.
From the start, it was because he had met a new master here.
Thus, while adapting to his changed appearance, he began his duties as a Sculptor.
At night, he cleaned the tavern that did not have a single customer, wiping down even the glasses.
Once the official tavern operating hours ended, he headed to the basement, and under Emmet Vise’s guidance, magic lessons began.
Rezi could be certain of just one thing on that very first day.
‘Choosing to gather the pieces…… was the best decision!’
The reason was very simple: Emmet Vise’s lessons were on an entirely different level.
He recalled his days as a student at the Ed Branch School.
Back then, he had studied while cutting down on sleep because he could not even properly understand the terminology, and that was how he learned magic.
But Emmet Vise seemed to wield a kind of magic that made even the most complex spells completely understandable with just a single explanation.
The method of implementing complex high-tier magic.
Breaking it down simply.
He was someone who had once lived the life of a Class 0 teacher.
How should one guide students so they could easily grasp the elements?
It felt as though, thanks to the strange connection that was Emmet Vise, he had finally come to understand all the difficult problems he had never been able to solve during his five years as a teacher.
It did not end there—Emmet Vise personally observed the magic Rezi had already mastered, evaluated it with his own eyes, and came to the following conclusion.
“Too crude. Do you know why the Ed Family became the representative family?”
Rezi had demonstrated the magic he was most confident in and had expected praise, but instead, only a scolding came back.
Even so, he did not feel bad at all.
“I don’t know.”
“The flames of the Ed Family contain every emotion. Anger, gentleness, warmth, contempt—things that sound like they could never be in harmony are all contained within a single spell. And because the depth of that magic is just as profound, they became the representative family.”
Honestly, he did not understand what that meant.
From the start, could emotions embedded in magic really serve as a basis for evaluation?
Not mana density or quality?
But the moment he asked that question, he received another flick on the forehead from Emmet Vise.
“How did a guy like you even become a 6th Circle Mage? You brat, mages of the past didn’t become a given circle just by implementing higher-circle magic. How many times do I have to tell you that this era itself is strange!”
Now he was even being shouted at.
Thanks to teachings he had never experienced before, Rezi stepped into a new world of magic.
With Emmet Vise’s guidance, he could feel that the magic he had learned so far had been strengthened by several levels, and he was also gradually learning new spells of the Fire Element.
From then on, Rezi found himself waiting eagerly for daytime to come.
He did not feel tired at all.
That time spent receiving lessons from Emmet Vise was the happiest moment of his life.
They were also days when he felt he was living the most humanly he ever had.
When he was a student at the Ed Branch School, he had lived as though being chased, simply to avoid being expelled, and even after becoming a teacher, it was the same.
Even after being expelled, because he pursued the truth, he never had any peace of mind.
But in the days spent with Emmet Vise, he felt as though he was overflowing with ease.
‘When my master looked at that Archmage, Arkis Aimer…… did he feel like this too?’
Around the time about a month had passed like that.
Rezi began calling Vise “Master.”
And he also came to respect Arkis Aimer, the figure his own master revered.
Even though he had never once seen his face or heard his voice, that did not matter at all.
The fact that he had gained two people worthy of respect was the most grateful thing in his life.
Before he knew it, two months had passed.
Now, Rezi had adapted enough that his changed appearance no longer surprised him.
And he had achieved a dramatic leap in magical growth.
It was a thought he kept to himself, but judging purely by the level of magic he could implement, a slight arrogance arose—perhaps he could sufficiently rival a 7th Circle Mage.
And now, as of tomorrow, all branch schools would begin their new term.
While mopping the tavern floor, Rezi stopped for a moment and looked out the window.
“Master.”
“Ah, you little punk. I told you to use the proper title when I’m in the tavern, didn’t I!”
Even though there was still not a single customer in the tavern, Vise was strict.
“Yes, Boss. I’m sorry.”
“Why did you call me?”
“Tomorrow, all the branch schools start, right?”
“Yeah. From now on, we’ll be on edge too. You’d better keep your wits about you as well.”
“Why? Is there some special reason?”
“Hmm…….”
Vise briefly surveyed the tavern, then erected a soundproof barrier using his Flewd Elemental magic.
It was an action born of caution, in case any sound might leak out.
“Ed Branch School, 3rd Class. That place is going to become a battlefield.”
“……3rd Class? That’s strange. There shouldn’t be anything particularly special about 3rd Class.”
“The class itself isn’t special. It’s just that the student in that class is special—doesn’t that explain why we’re this on edge?”
“Because of who?”
“You’re a Sculptor member too, so you should know. There’s a student named Artel in 3rd Class. A double caster of fire and darkness.”
“……Artel? That student already advanced to 3rd Class?”
Startled, Rezi dropped the mop and rushed toward Vise.
“Is he a student you know well?”
“Of course! I taught him for five whole years in Class 0!”
“Oh? Another such connection?”
“Ha, Artel! In Class 0, he slept through every single lesson and really got on my nerves—yet he’s already in 3rd Class!”
Rezi was genuinely happy, as if it were his own achievement.
“He slept all the time? In Class 0?”
But Vise, instead, reacted with puzzlement.
He had already seen Artel before.
When Artel was in the second semester of 1st Class, the House Mihael had suddenly pushed for an open tour, and under Etar’s orders to assess the situation.
At that time, while invisible, he had come face-to-face with Artel’s face at a distance of barely a handspan from the window, so he remembered it clearly.
“Yes! He really did nothing but sleep for all five years.”
‘If that’s the case, then he had no will to study and was an extremely lazy student…… usually, that kind of thing shows clearly on a person’s face.’
But the Artel he had seen was nothing like that.
An impression that exuded the atmosphere of The Clear White.
For Vise, it was an unforgettable, powerful impression.
‘Yet the fact that he slept through classes for five years is undeniable. Then…….’
There was only one answer.
“Did that student ever suddenly start acting strange or anything?”
“Mm…… there was. In my fifth year, he suddenly collapsed once, and after that, his atmosphere was very different. Should I say he became calm and serious? Anyway, there was definitely a clear distance between him and the Artel I had watched for five whole years. I don’t know what came over him.”
A person could not change in an instant.
That was even more true for a young student.
‘It’s like the shell stayed the same, but only the inside changed.’
That was probably the reason Artel became special.
“By the way, Master…… no, Boss. What is it about that Artel kid that’s so special? I know being a double caster is special, but enough for our Sculptors to focus on him?”
“I’ll tell you later. It’s extremely classified.”
“Hmm, that’s a shame. Still, since you promised, you’ll definitely keep it, right?”
“Of course. He’s a Disciple I took in.”
Rezi resumed mopping the floor, but Vise was still lost in thought.
‘In theory, it’s possible. But there’s no precedent……. It’s really nothing more than theory.’
What he was thinking about was none other than the reason Artel had suddenly changed.
At last, the first semester of 3rd Class began.
The results of the past two months were satisfying in their own way.
Kiena had become able to handle two relics.
To be honest, the second relic surprised even me.
She had summoned such an unexpected relic so abruptly that even I was left speechless.
Kiena truly had no sense of moderation.
If I expected about a five, she always showed me a seven.
And Hei had come to handle all Fire Element magic of 2nd Class—not perfectly, but quite proficiently.
Once he started grasping it, momentum kicked in, and he learned one thing after another very quickly.
For now, my conclusion was that even if his skills did not yet guarantee a top-ranking position in 3rd Class, they were at least at a level worth aiming for.
In addition, Hei’s hair had become a slightly deeper shade of red.
I maintained an exact half-and-half balance between black and red.
Since I was a double caster, the color could not lean too heavily to one side.
The first day of the semester began like that.
What announced my morning was a new notice from the Mob.
[3rd Class Student Ability Evaluation Revision Plan 2]
As the semester began in earnest, it was a notice sent out as if to emphasize things once more.
Professor Cullem was now openly promoting it, practically telling all 3rd Class students to target Kiena, Hei, and Artel.
While reviewing the notice, I found a clause that had not existed in 1st Class.
-If you apply for a spar against a student of a different element, you may be assigned a sparring arena that matches the applicant’s element.
“A sparring arena that matches the applicant’s element…… huh…….”
I did not know what that meant either.
It seemed I would only be able to confirm its nature once a spar actually took place.
The three of us were gathered in the cafeteria, eating a hearty meal together.
“Those are them, right? The kids who came straight here from 1st Class.”
“Yeah. Aren’t the three of them orphans? I heard they grew up in the same orphanage and entered together.”
“That pointy-haired guy over there—he’s the double caster. His name’s Artel.”
“I really don’t like his face.”
They were deliberate provocations, spoken loud enough for us to hear.
When I casually glanced their way, the three students who had been talking did not avoid my gaze and met it head-on.
It was as if they were saying, Go ahead, try it.
All three were male students with dark brown hair.
The ratio of black to brown was three to seven.
Brown was the signature color of the Earth Element.
They were Earth Element students.
And they seemed to be fairly skilled, too.
After all, seventy percent of their hair was brown.
“Artel, just eat. You’re used to hearing stuff like that by now anyway.”
Hei spoke, clearly wanting to avoid a tiring situation.
“Sure.”
But the three students continued their conversation regardless.
“That girl’s cute. She’s worth going easy on.”
Who was judging whom right now?
They would be lucky if they could even stand properly against Kiena’s relics.
Kiena herself, as if she could not hear a thing, did not pay them any attention at all.
“Wasn’t there one more kid who got in through a special admission? I think it was a Light Element.”
“At least that one has a family background. These guys don’t.”
“True enough.”
“Hm, if they skipped 2nd Class and came straight to 3rd, that means they’ve got skills, right?”
“What are you planning to do?”
“Give them a proper initiation. Especially that one—the double caster. I heard he was the top student of 1st Class. Shouldn’t we take a look at what a top student can do?”
“Come to think of it, Keled, you were also the top student of 1st Class, weren’t you?”
‘So his name is Keled. The loudest and most obnoxious one.’
At that moment, a sparring notice arrived on my Mob.
[Sparring Notice]
-Challenger : Earth Element Keled
-Time : 9:30 a.m.
Was he trying to establish some kind of hierarchy, even though he himself was a commoner-born mage?
After checking the Mob, I spoke to Keled.
“Hey, are you Keled?”
“Huh? Yeah, so?”
He replied arrogantly, folding his arms.
“Mm, yeah. Sorry about this.”
“Sorry? All of a sudden?”
“Yeah. You picked the wrong opponent. You’re going to lose 1 point, so I was apologizing in advance.”
I was absolutely not going to go easy on you.