After gaining that insight in Clase’s class, I began to experience an unfamiliar sensation.
For example, this.
Without even looking back, I lightly avoided Karl, who had been running toward me from behind.
He was a big guy. Was he trying to jump on me and crush me?
“What? Armand, do you have eyes in the back of your head too?”
“No.”
“Then how did you know?”
“Temperature, humidity, weight, wind, and……”
“And?”
“Your unsettling presence.”
“That is harsh!”
As though fog had cleared, I could feel the entire world with clarity.
The flow of mana through my blood vessels and the presence of mana drifting through the air were vividly apparent.
It felt as if I could do anything.
A large cherry tree stood guard at a fork in the road.
Right now, I somehow felt like it would work.
A mage could not hesitate when the moment of sudden enlightenment arrived.
I stretched out my hand and spoke.
“Scatter, cherry blossoms.”
Mana, responding to my will, spread toward the cherry tree.
The tree gently shook its branches……
And nothing happened.
Karl blinked.
“Um, what did you just do?”
“Ah, inspiration suddenly struck me, so I recited a poem.”
“Really? Perhaps……”
“I truly only recited a poem.”
“What kind of poem?”
“Scatter, cherry blossoms. Blessed by the vitality of the Ivory Tower, may you bloom in splendid profusion. You resemble the grand spirit of Ivory Island and the unchanging waves of Ivory Lake. Ah, I have fallen in love with a cherry tree.”
“It sounds like a school anthem.”
“Poetry and music are separated by only a hair.”
“You are versed in music too?”
“The North has been a land of music for generations. It has produced many outstanding musicians.”
“Wow! Armand, you are amazing!”
I felt relieved, thinking I had successfully fooled him, when I suddenly heard someone holding back laughter.
“Pfft……”
When I turned around, I felt a chill.
Lumin was covering his mouth, his shoulders shaking.
“Sc-Scatter…… Pfft……”
Lumin patted my shoulder as he walked past.
“D-Do your best. Hehehe……”
That was more irritating than openly making fun of me.
Soon, I would have to bring Karl along and rifle through Lumin’s bed.
As I continued walking, I looked up at the cherry tree.
I could not make flowers bloom, but I felt as though I could see the future in which that tree would bloom in full.
My attributes had been sealed, but I had gained sharp senses in exchange.
Yet I still could not use magic.
Mana could change the world because of the attributes engraved in one’s bloodline.
That meant I was still only half a mage.
How lonely.
“You three always seem to get along well.”
Marco approached with his group as usual, smirking.
“Armand, you do not look well. Do you have something on your mind?”
“It is nothing.”
“Come on, tell your friend. I might be able to help.”
I did not want to be friends with you.
But perhaps because the pressure of the Performance Assessment was so great, I ended up confessing without realizing it.
“I have a Performance Assessment.”
“Already?”
“I need to practice magic, but it is not going well.”
“Ah……”
Marco nodded.
“So magic is not working for you right now?”
“Yeah.”
“That is ordinary academic underachievement.”
Was he making fun of me?
While my expression soured, a refreshing smile appeared on Marco’s face.
“Well, that is simple.”
“Simple?”
“Yeah.”
Amber eyes gleamed between Marco’s eyelids.
“Did you not hear what the teacher said?”
Only then did I understand what Marco meant.
Our homeroom teacher, Aurelius, had said the following.
“If you have problems with life at the Ivory Tower, concerns about your studies, or anything else you wish to ask, you may come to me at any time.”
***
Let us admit it.
I was cornered.
If I merely wanted good grades, I would not have done this, but I had to graduate at the top of my class.
If I failed, I would die.
Every Performance Assessment was practically a crossroads between life and death.
That was why I sought out Aurelius’s faculty research office.
“This is Armand.”
Aurelius’s flat voice came from beyond the door.
“Enter.”
I pushed the doorknob.
A room surrounded by books appeared, carrying the scent of old paper.
Unexpectedly, Chepin was there first. He looked flustered when he saw me.
“Chepin, you may go.”
“Yes. Farewell.”
Chepin’s back looked strangely anxious as he greeted Aurelius and left.
Being class president must be difficult.
Aurelius dipped his quill in ink and asked without even looking at me, “What is it?”
“I came because I would like your counsel.”
“Speak.”
I told him about Clase’s Performance Assessment.
“A Performance Assessment already.”
“Yes.”
One of Aurelius’s brows tilted slightly before returning to its place.
“And I must perform Flower Blooming.”
Aurelius, who had been writing something, finally looked up.
I gave him an awkward smile.
“Continue.”
“Yes. For personal reasons, I am currently in a state where it is difficult to use magic. Even basic magic such as Flower Blooming. So I came to request your guidance.”
“Your case is exceptional.”
“Rather than exceptional, am I not being discriminated against?”
Why did they leave Lulusha, who was born with an extremely destructive attribute, alone while doing this only to me?
“Do you feel wronged?”
“I cannot say I do not.”
“That Student Ring was made by the Headmaster.”
“The Headmaster?”
That Headmaster had made it?
Only then did I understand how such an absurd artifact capable of sealing attributes could have been made so easily.
“And the Headmaster’s actions always have meaning.”
It sounded like a statement of respect for the Headmaster, but an odd cynicism lay beneath it.
Aurelius added, “In whatever direction it takes.”
Aurelius rose from his seat. His staff scraped the floor, making an unpleasant sound.
“Armand, do you visit the temple?”
It was an abrupt question.
“I do, at times.”
“When God created this world, do you think He made it at random?”
Not understanding the intention behind his question, I looked at him.
“The world did not come into being because God simply fiddled with things at random. Did God have a blueprint?”
“I would think so.”
“Then God already held the world within Himself before creating it.”
Aurelius took an old book from the corner of a bookshelf.
“Armand, do you truly think you cannot make flowers bloom because of your attributes?”
I could not read his thoughts from his face.
Whether he was pointing out my shortcomings or trying to convey something else, only the man wearing that stiff expression would know.
“You may go now.”
The book he handed me was none other than Introduction to Magic.
***
“Armand, Lumin, and……”
The staff member looked up.
“Lulusha. Is that right?”
“Yes.”
I went to the Magic Practice Chamber to practice Flower Blooming.
I had simply brought Lumin along, and when I asked Lulusha, whom I at least knew, to fill the required number of people, she readily agreed.
Karl begged to be included, but I ignored him because it was obvious that he would be a distraction.
“It is rare for freshmen to come to the Magic Practice Chamber already.”
“We have a Performance Assessment.”
“That is very fast. In any case, do not go far from the entrance, and leave immediately if a problem arises. Do not forget to report every three hours. Otherwise, you may receive demerit points.”
“Understood.”
“As long as you stay near the pillar of light, nothing should happen.”
“Thank you.”
When we entered the Magic Practice Chamber, that same bleak world spread before us.
Lumin asked in an excited voice, “L-Lulusha, what magic are you going to practice?”
“Piercing Fire Serpent.”
“A-As expected.”
True to the Griel family’s fame for destruction, Lulusha had inherited Triple Rupture.
It was called the Arcane Path of Heavenbreak .
Before the Age of Glory, she would have risen greatly on a battlefield.
“Lumin, what about you?”
“I-I am practicing for the Performance Assessment too. Fairy’s Touch.”
Lumin’s attributes were Two Illusion, One Life—an Arcane Path called Life Spirit .
It was an attribute with many strange aspects, making it difficult to define exactly.
“A-Armand. Can I ask what your attributes are?”
“There are circumstances. I will tell you later.”
Attributes were not an enormous secret, but neither were they information to casually blurt out. It was a matter in which everyone had to observe courtesy.
Especially my attributes……
They were dangerous.
We stood far apart and practiced magic.
Explosions repeatedly erupted on Lulusha’s side, while strange forms drifted around on Lumin’s side.
Meanwhile, I was squatting down and sighing.
I had scattered things like seeds and flower buds on the ground and was trying Flower Blooming, but there was no response.
I moved mana about on my palm.
The mana wove itself delicately.
My senses were this sharp, yet I could not use magic. It was enough to feel unfair.
Clinging to a straw, I opened the book Aurelius had given me.
It was a book for beginners of magic.
And a very old edition at that.
I rummaged through it in case there was a note tucked inside, but all I found was dust.
Was this Aurelius’s way of telling me not to act up despite never attending Elementary Academy, and to build my foundations first?
Aurelius really was a frightening man……
While attempting Flower Blooming on a seed, I casually flipped through the book.
It contained only basic things I already knew.
Then, suddenly, something caught my eye.
Light was seeping from a small stain between the pages.
I closed my left eye and looked through my right eye.
It was merely an ink stain.
But when I closed my right eye and looked through Draco’s Eye—
There was light.
Its glow was so faint that it was difficult to see even with Draco’s Eye.
“This is……”
I realized that the stain was reacting to mana.
Mana had flowed through it while I practiced Flower Blooming.
I pressed my fingertip to the stain and pushed more mana into it.
Then the stain grew.
The stain gradually expanded, then split into countless fragments and covered the entire page.
It spread to the next page, and then the page after that.
At last, the entire book was covered in glowing ink.
I checked the cover.
The title Introduction to Magic had vanished, and a new title had appeared.
Theory of Mental Images.
***
I was a fast reader, so I finished the book on the spot.
The book’s argument was as follows.
“A mage can only manifest what exists within their inner self.”
It was an unpleasant theory.
If that was true, it meant I could use the Arcane Path of Extinction because I held something called Extinction within me.
I had not attended Elementary Academy, but I was confident I knew a decent amount of theory.
It was nonsense.
A metaphysical theory that could be applied to anything.
“One who wishes to make flowers bloom must have flowers within.”
The reason I could not make flowers bloom was because there were no flowers in my heart?
I was a boy with pure love in his chest. How could I not have even one flower?
The explanation that followed was even worse.
It said that if you stirred your mana and sincerely spoke to your mana and inner self, your mental image would answer.
“Who wrote this kind of thing?”
I closed the book and sighed.
A tremendous roar came from Lulusha’s side. When I looked over, a serpent made of fire was coiling about and causing explosions.
Was that not more of a dragon than a serpent?
The Arcane Path of Heavenbreak was certainly fierce.
Lumin, on the other hand, was strange.
The spell was called Fairy’s Touch, but rather than fairies, there were things more like hungry ghosts wandering the Nine Heavens floating around.
Whether they were fairies or hungry ghosts, the spell’s effects seemed similar, but they were terribly unpleasant to look at.
In any case, both of them were doing well.
I needed to do something too.
“Phew……”
Fine. Trying it once would not hurt.
I closed my eyes and stirred mana.
I could feel mana flowing through the capillaries in my entire body.
At that moment, I could perceive every single strand of mana within me.
It said to speak to it?
Well.
I sighed inwardly.
Hey.
Could you show me the world of mental images?
I spoke to it again and again, but no answer came.
Was it a waste of effort after all?
“Ah, forget it.”
I opened my eyes.
And……
—Before I knew it, I was standing atop a barren hill.
It was similar to the Magic Practice Chamber, but far drier.
What was this?
Suddenly, a shadow passed above my head.
When I looked up, a flock of ravens was crossing the gray sky.
I let out a hollow laugh.
That book had not been nonsense?
I looked around.
There was not a flower in sight.
No, there was nothing.
A wasteland without a trace of life stretched endlessly onward.