Chapter 22

Shirone concentrated more. When he averted his attention from the Image Zone and only focused on delving into his Spirit Zone, the already large sphere expanded twice as much.

The jaws of the upperclassmen dropped. The numerical value shown on the scoresheet was 41… 41 meters in diameter.

Considering that the average diameter of a Class 4 student was 27 meters, it was a number close to a student from an Advanced Class.

“Wh-What? How the heck does he have such a big zone?”

Even Ethella was surprised.

Of course, the diameter of a Spirit Zone could always be increased through training.

However, not only did it require extreme physical discipline, but one also needed to have grown mentally.

The human body did not lie. So as long as one trained consistently, results would surely follow. Though, unlike training the physical body, the mind needed to battle against vague illusions where definite answers were not set.

Despite dedicating their lives to pursuing a goal, there were countless mages around the world who fell short of achieving their desired results.

It was for this reason that magic was called the realm of talent.

‘I’ve never seen such an exceptional zone from the start. He probably grew up contemplating the world and exploring his inner self… But he just turned 18. Is this really possible?’

Compared to just a while ago, Shirone began to feel confident. As his Spirit Zone grew bigger, he finally felt the frames establishing themselves.

Not noticing the crowd of students paying close attention to him with a look of surprise, Shirone busied himself connecting the framework.

‘Don’t be fixated on it. Tighten it all at once.’

Shirone clenched his teeth and opened his eyes wide. When he entered the Defense Form of the Four Way Formation, the large sphere began to tighten, as if trying to crush Shirone.

The force was so strong that the people who were watching heard an auditory hallucination of cracks and snaps.

“Woooaahhh…”

A groan was heard from somewhere.

Shirone stared bewildered at the Four Way Formation he unfolded. He felt like he was trapped inside of a hard, diamond crystal.

Like the cubed-shaped form Ethella had shown before, everything was perfectly interconnected. A diameter of 13 meters. Though the efficiency decreased by 30% as the size scaled down from 41 to 13 meters, a success was still a success.

“He did it for real! That kid succeeded on his first day!”

Many upperclassmen frowned when the inadequate Class 7 students made a fuss.

However, the number of people who expressed their interest stood on equal footing. Of course, most of them were girls.

Amy did not affiliate with either side. But really, Shirone began to get on her nerves.

How could she have forgotten? Didn’t he decide to learn magic because he was humiliated?

‘That guy… Who the heck is he?’

This was not an academy where one could just enter by having talent alone. She was positive that he had a benefactor. But the question was… Who was it?

“Ms. Romie, the volume shrunk much more than I thought it would.”

“Hm? That’s inevitable. But its durability would have improved a lot. With the way it is right now, being able to withstand physical impacts to a certain extent wouldn’t be impossible.”

‘I heard he surprised the instructors during the entrance test. I guess the rumor is true.’

‘Though, success does not happen overnight.’

Ethella admitted that he had great insight, but he was only able to succeed due to two factors. His unusually large Spirit Zone, and his convergent tendencies.

Realizing the people’s reaction belatedly, Shirone returned to being a shy boy and went back to his spot in the corner.

Was it because he was buried in other people’s stares? Because Shirone did not notice Amy’s fierce gaze.

Shirone was busy studying various subjects. Once one got to the Advanced Class, one could choose a major, but before then, one had to study all the subjects, so the range was enormous.

His first period was basic chemistry. When he entered the lecture hall of Class 7, he saw the students seated. And on the platform in front of the class, he saw a familiar face.

Siena Olifer, Master of Ice Magic.

She was the second daughter of the Olifer family and a graduate of the Olifer School. She was a 26-years-old genius who became a certified Grade 6 mage with just ice magic alone. She had a pretty face and a cold attitude.

Thanks to that cold attitude of her’s during the entrance test, she made a strong impression on Shirone.

However, she was surprisingly popular with the male students. She had a beautiful appearance as well as a feisty personality. She was the ideal type for many of the students.

With her long, purple hair neatly tied up, she spoke while stroking her horn-rimmed glasses.

“Hello everyone. I’m Siena Olifer, and I’ll be teaching this Class 7 chemistry class as of today.”

Loud applause exploded across the class. There were some who whistled and others who bluntly asked if she had a lover.

Siena ignored them and opened her book. She then gently raised her eyes and looked somewhere.

Shirone flinched because he felt like she was looking straight at him.

He thought he was mistaken, but in fact, Shirone’s hunch was correct. The only reason why she, who was in charge of Class 5, took the time to purposely open another course was because of Shirone.

‘Talents rot if they remain stagnant. It’s best to advance him as soon as possible.’

Real talent was being able to follow and catch up despite being placed somewhere high. She intended to advance Shirone to discourage her rival, Thadd, and keep her stance strong as a teacher.

Whatever the circumstances were, the students were just happy to be taught by the most popular teacher.

“Ms. Olifer, is it true that you’re dating instructor Thadd? It’s not true, right?”

“Tell us about your first love. This is our first class.”

“Please, Ms. Olifer! Tell us!”

As the students continued to be persistent, Siena frowned. Then suddenly, an ice crystal with a diameter of 30 centimeters materialized.

Crack! Fizzle! Pop!

The ice began to spin and grind, and suddenly snow fluttered in all directions. The cold particles instantly lowered the temperature of the classroom.

At first, the students laughed it off saying…

‘It’s only a little chilly.’

But their faces quickly hardened. The temperature dropped endlessly. It was to the point where the students couldn’t even talk.

“Ms. Olifer! I-It’s cold…”

“Let’s start the class.”

Siena came down from her platform and approached the students. The temperature rose as the speed of the ice’s rotation gradually decreased. But the temperature still remained negative.

“What is the principle of the ice magic I just performed?”

Siena spread her palm as an ice crystal formed and floated above it.

“Cold. What exactly is ‘cold’?”

As she clenched her fist following the question, the ice crystal shattered into pieces.

“To be cold refers to a state of lacking energy. There is no such thing as cold energy. So while the thing we call temperature can go infinitely high, it cannot go infinitely low. The state of zero energy is called Absolute Zero.”

Shirone frantically wrote down her words into his notebook.

“By taking the energy from the atmosphere, you can create ice crystals. Of course, it’s ordinary ice. However, what would happen if you were to break it down into particles and blow it away using the power of the wind? Even ordinary ice can drop the temperature down to a level that can kill people… Which is something you experienced a while ago.”

The students’ faces paled after hearing the word ‘kill’.

“Alright, then how do we absorb that energy? No, let me rephrase that. How come mages can freely command and cast magic?”

Siena raised two of her fingers and first pointed at one.

“Omniscience. Omnipotence. Mages cast magic through those two things. The Spirit Zone aligns the mage’s mind with the world. Thus within the domain, the mage holds a divine position. And that’s why I say omnipotence. But you cannot cast magic with that alone. The temperature in the Spirit Zone does not simply rise through a command. You need to know how to raise the temperature. You need knowledge. Hence, omniscience.”

Shirone nodded his head. The reason why he had not been able to use magic thus far was because he had only trained for omnipotence.

“All of you will be exposed to a variety of studies. The Spirit Zone encompasses only half the magic, and without omniscience, you cannot become a great mage. So now, let us start with the basic chemistry class.”

Siena then turned around and started writing on the blackboard. It was the start of the class, and the concentration of the students was at its highest.

‘Sure enough. She did not become the most popular teacher through simply being pretty.’

Having trust in a teacher boosted a student’s desire for achievement, so Shirone lost track of time as he listened to her lecture.

There were words that were difficult to understand, but he didn’t care.

His Core of Knowledge had been completed, and from today on, he was planning to eat up other studies in earnest.

* * *

5 P.M.

After classes ended, students began to swarm out of the lecture hall. Shirone also headed to the dormitory because his head felt heavy.

Students who joined research groups were walking in pairs while carrying their lunch boxes. Shirone, who was not a part of a research group, was thinking of visiting the library after grabbing a bite to eat.

“Huh?”

Suddenly he felt light. When he came to his senses, he saw himself floating while also being quickly pulled somewhere.

The force pulling the back of his shirt was so strong that it was suffocating.

After about 3 minutes, he arrived in a garden forest.

As he slowed down, Shione, who was floating, fell on his butt.

The shock traveled from his butt to the rest of his body.

While coughing and catching his breath, he looked up at the person who brought him in a hurry.

The mysterious person, who covered their face with a black mask, looked around anxiously. After checking that there were no people, they took off their mask.

“Wh-What?”

Shirone’s eyes widened. The identity of the mysterious person was none other than Amy Karmis.

Amy raised her hand as if realizing something from Shirone’s expression. As soon as she did so, fire magic erupted from her hand.

“I was right. You. You remember me, don’t you?”

“Uh… Huh?”

“Leaving you alone will only bring me trouble. I will scorch your mouth and make you mute.”

Shirone stared at the approaching flame without moving to avoid it. Unless one was a madman, one had to have a reason for committing a violent act. He did not find it probable for her to burn someone’s face at school.

As expected, her palm stopped right in front of Shirone’s face. The fire had already disappeared. She, who had planned to threaten Shirone through fear, asked with a frown.

“Who the heck are you? Are you really that coward?”

She could not find a hint of the boy who had been caught by the back alley thugs with trembling legs and a pale face.

“You remember me too, right? Upperclassman?”

Amy grabbed Shirone by the collar and pulled him up.

“Who are you calling your upperclassman, you bastard?! What the heck happened to you?! You are a commoner, not to mention a total country bumpkin! How the hell did you get in here?!”

Shirone did not know why she was so agitated. If she were annoyed by the fact that a commoner entered an aristocratic academy, she would not have brought him to such a quiet place from the beginning.

“I do have my reasons, but before that, why did you drag me here?”

“Why?”

It was actually an impulsive decision. At first, she was planning on ignoring him, but she couldn’t. She was someone who found it uncomfortable for even a small secret of hers to be discovered. But Shirone did not have something small… He knew a huge secret of hers. A secret big enough to end her school life.

“Tell me honestly! How did you enter this academy?”

The punch that was coming towards him fast did not seem to stop, so Shirone hurriedly confessed.

Amy loosened her hold when she heard that he was attending as a guest with the support of the Ogent family.

“Oho! As a guest of the Ogent family?”