“As I told you in the last lesson, you all prepared a spell, didn’t you?”
Standing on the stage, Prochi looked over the room as he spoke.
The moment he finished, murmurs spread among the children.
“Do you know what spell I brought this time? Wind Cutter! You can only use it after mastering the 1st Circle!”
“I prepared Aqua! I was able to practice it thanks to the affinity we found last time.”
The children excitedly talked about which spells they had learned.
I listened closely.
I was rather curious myself.
In my previous life, I had taught myself magic.
Because of that, I had no idea what the average level was for children this age, especially noble children.
‘Somewhere between a 1st Circle Expert and a 1st Circle Master must be average.’
TAP!
At that moment, the sound of a staff striking the wooden floor rang through the hall.
I detected a faint flow of mana within the sound.
Prochi had cast magic on his staff to amplify it.
“I don’t like talkative chaff.”
The children immediately fell silent.
“Today, I’ll send every talentless one of you home. I’m not so idle that I can afford to waste my time.”
Then Prochi raised a finger and pointed at me.
“You. Come up here.”
Every child in the room immediately turned toward me.
When I stepped onto the stage, Prochi waved the ancient wooden staff in his hand.
A short distance away, a magic circle filled with intricate geometric patterns appeared in the air.
I recognized the spell immediately.
‘Magic Shield.’
A 2nd Circle spell used to block attacks.
“There’s no need for something like this against the crude spells you lot can cast....”
Prochi trailed off and rolled his frog-like eyes to the side.
His gaze met mine.
“...Still, there’s no harm in having it. Show me what you prepared.”
I extended my Wand in front of me.
‘Around the level of a 1st Circle Expert should be enough.’
I let only a very small amount of mana flow into the Wand.
“Fire.”
Fire was a spell that could be cast as soon as one reached the 1st Circle.
But after reaching the level of a 1st Circle Expert, far more precise control became possible.
A flame slightly larger than an ordinary Fire spell blazed to life at the tip of my Wand.
FWOOSH!
‘I can apply it like this too.’
I swung my Wand toward the Magic Shield Prochi had created.
With the sound of air igniting, the flame shot toward the Magic Shield.
HUM—
The Magic Shield flashed when the flame struck it, and the fire immediately died away.
“...Hmm.”
Prochi’s voice came from behind me.
I turned toward him with an innocent expression.
“What do you think?”
I even made myself look somewhat expectant.
“Utterly mediocre.”
‘As expected.’
I lowered my head with a disappointed expression.
I had absolutely no intention of attracting attention at such a young age.
‘I only need to remain somewhere in the middle.’
I had learned in my previous life that revealing too much talent too quickly brought me far more trouble than benefit.
“Next.”
As I turned to leave the stage, I noticed the children staring at me with wide eyes.
“N-no way....”
Someone’s quiet voice echoed through the lecture hall.
‘What’s wrong with them?’
From what I had heard earlier, there was even someone here who claimed to have mastered the 1st Circle.
“That wasn’t just an ordinary Fire spell....”
“A 1st Circle Expert?”
The murmuring among the children gradually grew louder.
‘What is this?’
Their reactions seemed far too intense.
Wondering whether I had made some mistake, I glanced back at Prochi.
But he merely pointed toward the next child with an expressionless face.
‘...Well, I suppose some of them might not have reached the 1st Circle yet.’
To children like that, what I had done might seem impressive.
After settling on that explanation, I stepped down from the stage.
“Next.”
At Prochi’s command, one boy from the group climbed onto the stage.
‘That boy is...?’
He was the one who had loudly bragged earlier that he had mastered the 1st Circle.
“Do your best, Klein!”
‘So his name is Klein. Once he shows them Wind Cutter, everyone should forget about me.’
I crossed my arms and watched the stage.
The boy repeatedly exhaled through pursed lips, clearly nervous.
Then he drew his Wand, aimed it at the Magic Shield, and shouted,
“W-Wind Cutter!”
SWISH—
Despite his thunderous shout, nothing emerged from the tip of his Wand.
Only the bangs of several children sitting in the front row fluttered slightly.
“……Huh?”
“What was that? Were you lying about being a 1st Circle Master?”
The whispers gradually grew louder.
“U-ugh.... But it worked when I tried it before.”
Klein’s face instantly turned bright red.
“You could do better than that just by blowing with your mouth!”
Someone shouted, and the children burst into laughter.
“Next.”
Prochi spoke in exactly the same voice as before, completely indifferent to the commotion.
One after another, the children cast their specialty spells at the Magic Shield.
‘...These brats are only this good?’
Contrary to all their boasting, the better ones were 1st Circle Runners at most, while most had not even reached the 1st Circle.
Now I understood why they had stared at me like that.
“Next.”
Step.
At that moment, a fairly familiar face climbed onto the stage.
‘Etro Reiser, was it?’
The chubby boy who had confidently argued with Prochi during the previous lesson.
Etro aimed his Wand at the Magic Shield.
“Aqua!”
A powerful stream of water immediately burst from the tip of his Wand.
It was considerably stronger than the Aqua normally produced by a beginner.
‘About the level of a 1st Circle Expert.’
Murmurs once again spread through the room.
Etro showed no reaction and immediately stepped down from the stage.
‘Looks like he’s fairly capable too....’
Judging by everything I had seen so far, he was probably the most talented child here.
“Don’t get arrogant just because you come from commoner blood.”
“Hmm?”
At the sudden voice, I turned my head and saw red hair.
It was Frenchel, the boy who had picked a fight with me when we first met.
“I can do that much too.”
‘Why does this bastard keep bothering me?’
When I ignored him and looked away, he growled,
“You arrogant bastard. I’ll show you what real magic looks like.”
With that confident declaration, Frenchel strode forward and extended his Wand.
“Fire.”
Flames enveloped the tip of his Wand before shooting toward the Magic Shield.
But Frenchel’s spell did not end there.
Before the fire reached the Magic Shield, another Activation Word left his lips.
“Wind!”
The flames at the tip of his Wand suddenly swelled violently before surging around the Magic Shield.
FWOOSH!
Once again, the magic vanished the instant it touched the Magic Shield.
But what Frenchel had already demonstrated was more than enough to throw the lecture hall into an uproar.
“T-two elements...?”
“Multi-Casting?!”
The children began whispering excitedly.
Strictly speaking, that had not been Multi-Casting.
He had not used two spells simultaneously.
He had merely cast them one after another.
Even so, rapidly using two different elements in succession was enough for someone to be called a Prodigy.
It meant his magical calculations were exceptionally fast.
With enough training, true Multi-Casting might eventually be possible for him.
‘So bloodline does count for something after all.’
At that moment, my eyes met Frenchel’s triumphant gaze.
“Hmph.”
He narrowed his eyes at me and curled the corner of his mouth upward.
Then he immediately looked away and turned toward Etro, giving him the exact same smug expression.
Etro stood with his arms crossed, glaring back at Frenchel with his already fierce eyes narrowed even further.
Sparks practically seemed to fly between them.
‘...Kids really are still kids.’
“Is everyone finished?”
After looking around the room, Prochi rose from his seat.
“And the best among you is only a 1st Circle Expert.... Pathetic.”
Despite his words, he did not look particularly critical.
Nor did he actually seem disappointed.
His expression remained completely blank, as though this result had been exactly what he expected.
If anything, he almost looked indifferent.
“To fill your Circles and create new ones, accumulating mana within your body is just as important as attaining deeper understanding.”
Standing on the stage, Prochi opened his palm.
“All of you here are nobles, so you should at least possess some familiarity with magical theory and gaining insight. Mana Cultivation, however, is another matter.”
The flow of air around us changed.
The surrounding mana began gathering toward Prochi’s hand as though being drawn into it.
“Despite being surrounded by this much mana, very few people practice Mana Cultivation consistently. Why? Because it’s tedious and monotonous.”
Before long, a small blue sphere appeared above Prochi’s palm.
An immense amount of mana could be felt from the faintly glowing sphere.
“That is why most people neglect Mana Cultivation and obsess over newer spells and new insights instead. But if you do that, mastering the 1st Circle will take long enough, and reaching the 2nd Circle will take an eternity.”
Prochi clenched his fist.
The glowing sphere of mana in his hand scattered in every direction.
“Today, I’ll teach you the Group Mana Cultivation Method. Sit in a circle.”
He shook the remaining traces of mana from his hand, walked among the children, and assigned everyone a place.
The Group Mana Cultivation Method was certainly effective.
It allowed participants to gather a larger quantity of mana more efficiently than training alone.
‘But I don’t need this.’
Group Mana Cultivation worked best when everyone involved possessed roughly similar amounts of mana.
If the differences were too great, it actually interfered with the cultivation process.
‘Nothing I can do about it.’
I would have to control my mana and bring it down to the children’s level.
If I participated using my actual amount of mana, everyone would immediately realize that I possessed far more than the others.
‘Looks like I’m just going to end up helping these kids.’
I was smiling bitterly when I noticed something strange about the Group Mana Cultivation Formation Prochi had arranged.
“Mage, you left out my position.”
I raised my hand.
Prochi moved only his eyes as he looked at me.
“You’ll train separately with me.”
“What?”
And so, while the other children took their places within the formation, I was left standing there blankly.
After helping the children begin the Group Mana Cultivation Method, Prochi walked past me and spoke.
“Follow me.”
I have a bad feeling about this.
Prochi led me to the residence reserved for him inside the Blue Mage Tower.
“Did your father tell you anything?”
“What?”
When I asked back, Prochi glanced at me once before continuing to pour his tea.
“Apparently not. Well, it doesn’t matter.”
“I have no idea what you’re talking about.”
Prochi pushed a cup of tea toward me.
“I told him that I coveted your talent and wanted to raise you as my Personal Disciple.”
“Your Personal Disciple?”
“Yes. Your father said he valued his child’s own opinion.”
“…….”
Roat always tried to respect my decisions.
Judging by the fact that he had not told me about Prochi’s offer, he must have wanted me to make the choice entirely on my own.
‘That’s just like Roat.’
“Why aren’t you answering? Surely you’re not hesitating?”
Prochi drained his tea in one gulp, then brought out a sheet of paper and a quill.
“If you become my disciple, you’ll be able to reach heights beyond anything you could achieve alone. Take this.”
Prochi scribbled something across the yellowed paper with the quill and handed it to me.
“What is this?”
“The address of my laboratory. If you’re interested, come find me.”
“Understood. I’ll think about it.”
“I’m always there unless I’m teaching, so you may come whenever you wish.”
I bowed my head and walked toward the door.
“Wait.”
At that moment, Prochi’s voice stopped me.