‘What?’
Kawin stared at the Cube in his hand for a long while.
Quite some time had passed since the test began, but there was no change.
“Pass.”
“Pass.”
For the other students, magic activated within seconds of grasping the Cube.
Naturally, only the line Kawin was standing in was left stretching long.
“What? How long do we have to wait?”
“Why not just fail him?”
“I want to get in quickly, too!”
The uproar around him might well have shaken him.
Kawin, instead, calmed his mind.
‘Something's strange.’
Grasping the Cube activated one's own unique magic.
Since Kawin was of the Electric line, sparks should have leapt in front of his chest.
But no matter how much time passed, there was no change.
‘And yet they're not failing me, either. What is this?’
As Kawin pondered it, a shadow fell across his face.
Not that his complexion had darkened.
A shade was actually forming over his face.
“……!”
Kawin quietly looked up at the sky, lost in thought.
Soon, a small spark leapt in front of him.
ZAP!
“Pass!”
Kawin had barely received a passing judgment.
As he walked toward the main building, the sun that had been hidden peeked its head out above him.
***
“Eh?”
Spiral eyes that seemed to suck one in.
A woman in a neat two-piece outfit hurriedly adjusted her horn-rimmed glasses.
“Headmaster. Just now…….”
“Ha-ha! I am watching as well.”
Her gaze went to the small table.
A little toy soldier about the size of a fruit knife.
The toy soldier's mouth moved just like a person's.
“The Cube did not activate, and yet a spark leapt, did it not?”
“Yes. By common sense, this makes…… no sense.”
The two of them were at the highest point of the building.
Her gaze turned to Kawin, who was walking toward the main building.
“He did not generate a magic array, nor did he chant an incantation. Then how was he able to form magic?”
“Hmm. Well, now. Perhaps he rubbed his palms together furiously before the test?”
“Headmaster!”
“Ha-ha! Do not glare like that. My precious doll might get smashed.”
“Stop teasing and tell me. What on earth did that platinum-blond young man do?”
The toy soldier snapped its body ninety degrees, as if in drill practice.
Naturally, its gaze turned out the window.
“Oh my! The weather has cleared up in no time.”
“……Are you changing the subject again?”
“When that handsome young man was holding the Cube, dark clouds had rolled in, you see.”
“……!”
Her spiral eyes spun around once.
The Cube reacted to the user's magic power.
Magic power at the 1st Circle level activated it the moment it was grasped.
Conversely, the stronger the magic power, the longer the ‘proof’ took.
‘Could it be that just by holding the Cube…….’
He had brought in clouds that would call down lightning?
Throwing sparks and summoning nature were matters on completely different levels.
The illusion mage, who had been staring blankly with a bewildered face.
Valeria shook her head vigorously.
“That is absurd. Calling clouds just by holding a Cube, something like that…….”
Only someone at the level of a Tower Master could manage that.
At that preposterous conclusion, Valeria closed her mouth of her own accord.
“Ha-ha! For now, I intend to think of it as a coincidence as well. However…….”
Creak. Creak.
The toy soldier turned its body toward Valeria again.
Goosebumps covered the backs of Valeria's hands.
Because the corners of the toy soldier's mouth had risen grotesquely.
“There is a saying I am fond of. There is no coincidence that coincidentally repeats itself.”
Is that not so?
Kawin Anper.
Heir of Lightning.
A purple heat haze surged up from the toy soldier's two tiny eyes.
***
Kawin slowly entered the main building.
He recalled the contents of the grimoire Dharma had left behind.
[Those fucking bastards. Weaklings, and look at them plotting together.]
[Were you so afraid of our power that you would ruin the truth?]
[The moment the book is complete, I will vanish from the world.]
That was clearly what the grimoire said.
A message from the Archmage Dharma that seemed to preserve his stream of consciousness exactly as it was.
It was a piece of past history not contained even in the original [Swordmaster of the Heavenly Slaughter Star].
What was certain was,
‘Revealing all the power I have would be trouble.’
Events from ages ago.
But could he declare that the ‘plotting’ Dharma spoke of was completely over?
The way Lightning magic declined further as time passed also left a bad taste in his mouth.
Hence the conclusion Kawin reached.
‘I'll hide my claws until I'm sure.’
Kawin had passed the entrance test.
The small spark created in front of his chest had not come from the Cube; Kawin had made it himself.
When shade had suddenly fallen and he looked up at the sky,
Kawin thought his heart would drop.
Rain clouds capable of whipping up a storm at any moment had been approaching.
It seemed the Cube had reacted on its own to Kawin's magic power.
What if, by some chance, a faction that had been at odds with Dharma still remained at the Academy?
And what if this process were reported to someone?
ZAP!
So Kawin had created a spark.
A kind of sleight of hand.
No one would think a 1st Circle mage had used magic without a magic array or incantation.
Braille, the intrinsic language of magic.
Only Kawin, who could handle it freely, was capable of such a thing.
‘I think I fooled the students well enough, but what about the professors?’
It was nothing he could guarantee.
But Kawin decided to think simply.
If the time came when he had no choice but to bare his claws, he would gladly swing them.
***
“Welcome, everyone, to Tesca Academy! You have our sincerest welcome!”
Unlike the building's clean white exterior, the interior was rather lavishly decorated.
Starting with the multicolored mana stones embedded in the ceiling, the weapons and magic books of past heroes were displayed endlessly along the walls.
The red carpet running from the entrance to the auditorium was impressive, too.
Whatever magic it held, not even a small stain had formed on it though three hundred people had walked over it.
[FIGHT!FIGHT!FIGHT!]
Beneath a large banner bearing the school rules.
The Academy's professors stood lined up on the podium.
Normally, one would look up at them with admiring eyes.
But the freshmen each had to swallow dryly.
“Gulp.”
“Why does it look like there's not a single normal person up there?”
“Makes sense. They say Tesca Academy is where all the crazy warmongers gather.”
“Fuck. Just looking at the professors' faces makes my future look pitch black.”
“Just watch. I'm going to graduate no matter what.”
Among them were those clenching their fists and steeling their fighting spirit.
An Academy that was hard as hell to graduate from.
That was Tesca.
Of the three hundred entrants, only about ten graduated in one piece.
A crazy Academy that deliberately stirred up fights among students and, when push came to shove, had them face monsters as student soldiers.
Even so, there was a reason students sought out Tesca Academy.
“If I just graduate, I'll become an Initiate, too.”
Normally, graduating from an Academy did not immediately grant the qualifications of a certified mage.
Only after building up a certain track record as a mage was one granted the qualification of Initiate, a basic mage.
But there were exactly two places in the Empire
where the Initiate qualification was granted upon graduation.
The Imperial Academy and Tesca Academy.
“It's going to be fucking brutal from now on, isn't it?”
“Probably. You think they'd hand out the qualification right at graduation for nothing?”
Perhaps to shake off their nerves, the students chattered this and that.
Kawin simply looked silently at the professors standing on the podium.
To be more precise, he was ‘sensing’ them.
[Passive : Electron Perception]
So the professors really were different.
Though they must have been reining in the magic power within their bodies, the amount spilling out was extraordinary.
Especially the female professor running the ceremony.
‘Valeria, was it?’
Kawin had already seen her spiral eyes once.
That gaze looking down from the highest floor of the main building.
That piercing look had stung more than the midday sun.
Facing those spinning eyes felt like already falling under an illusion.
Perhaps that was why.
The students other than Kawin found it hard even to look Valeria in the eyes.
“I believe all of you know our Academy's school rules.”
A voice heavy with moisture, like stepping on muddy ground on a rainy day.
A dreamy but by no means pleasant voice wrapped around the auditorium.
“Students may, upon mutual agreement, conduct a Challenge (a duel) anytime, anywhere.”
“When conducting a Challenge, at least one Observer is mandatory, and a Challenge without an Observer is void.”
“After the Challenge, the Observer must report the outcome to the professor in charge.”
“Seniors and juniors may also Challenge each other upon agreement.”
“Students and professors may also Challenge each other upon agreement.”
At that, the entrants' faces went pale.
A student going at it with a professor?
No one would ever agree, but making such a rule at all was insane.
“So, any students who have a complaint with me may request a Challenge anytime.”
Valeria smiled bewitchingly for the first time.
But in the auditorium, only the sound of gulping could be heard.
“When both parties declare a Challenge, a magical safety device activates. That is why your uniforms are imbued with magic power.”
You will not die, but pain enough to kill you remains intact.
With bad luck, you might end up half-crippled.
With those words, Valeria stepped back from the front of the auditorium.
‘I see. It's a structure where they have no choice but to fight till their gourds crack, right from enrollment.’
Winning a Challenge accumulated points.
Those points piled up and were reflected in the end-of-semester points.
No matter how well one did on exams, one could not take first place without Challenge points.
One way or another, the students would end up roaming about like wild dogs.
“I have a question.”
A hot voice came from one side.
Anyone could see he was of a fire-line bloodline.
A man with red hair asked boldly.
“If a freshman beats a senior or a professor, they'll get more points, right?”
Some twisted their faces, as if thinking he was acting full of himself.
But most simply watched without a word.
The top and second-place entrants had given the oath at the entrance ceremony just earlier.
The one who had asked was Kairon Valkar, who had entered in second place this year.
“Of course.”
Valeria answered the freshman's light provocation with a smile.
“Beat a senior and you receive ten times the points. Beat a professor and you receive a hundred times. Skipping grades is possible, of course, and even early graduation.”
“Thank you for answering.”
As though that would soon come to pass,
Kairon Valkar bowed politely.
This time, another person raised a hand.
At that, Valeria's eyes opened wider.
“What would you like to know?”
The one who had raised a hand was none other than Kawin Anper.
“Where do I need to go to see the grimoire?”
“If you mean the treasure of the Empire, I would like to tell you that you are already viewing it.”
With that enigmatic answer, Valeria closed her mouth.
Kawin did not ask further and fell into thought.
“Well then. Until the very moment you graduate, never stop your Challenges.”
***
After the entrance ceremony, the students were provided with the items they needed.
Uniforms imbued with magic power and all kinds of books.
Apart from basic daily necessities, the Academy provided everything.
‘That doesn't make it a bargain, though. Considering what it costs to enroll.’
There was no way to pay the admission fee by ordinary means.
All the more so for House Anper, a fallen family.
Then Frau's merchant company, admission application in hand, had come to visit that very viscount house.
A pumpkin had rolled in, vine and all.
Kawin politely bowed three times toward where Frau's merchant company would be.
And just as he was about to lift his head,
something hard came flying at Kawin.
GRAB!
Having snatched the object on reflex, Kawin looked down at what was in his hand.
“This is…….”
A long, white object.
Both ends were rounded.
“A bone?”
It looked much harder than a bone, but that was its shape, at least.
Kawin turned his head toward where the object had come from.
“Give it back! You crazy bastards!”
Three freshmen were surrounding one and tormenting him.
The one being tormented wore a black mask, and the pouch in his hand had a skull mark drawn on it.
‘A Necromancer?’
One snatched the skull pouch,
another grabbed him around the waist,
and the third covered his eyes with both hands from behind.
At that sight, Kawin's face contorted sharply.
“Hey.”
“……?”
“Who the hell are you?”
Kawin pronounced each word clearly, one syllable at a time.
“Don't go covering other people's eyes so carelessly.”
The three snorted at Kawin's words.
“What's he babbling about. Retard.”
“Go your way while we're still being nice.”
“Want us to make you like this, too?”
That was enough conversation.
Kawin flung the bone he had been holding.
WHOOSH!
The bone flew fast and struck the forehead of the one covering the eyes dead-on.
WHACK!
“Aaagh!”
The remaining two jumped in place in surprise.
“You…… you! You son of a bitch!”
“Are you in with this bastard?”
Kawin shook his head.
“No.”
Since he had moved his neck anyway, he rolled his head around once, as if stretching.
“I just hate it when people cover eyes.”