In a classroom with 20 seats, two people were slumped over their desks, looking like a couple of dead fish.
It had been 30 minutes since the lesson started.
Why is this so boring?
Talking about magic should not be this boring, right?
thought the man slumped over the teacher’s desk.
“How would I know?
You’re the teacher!” answered the kid slumped over the student’s desk.
“What teacher?
This is the first time I’ve ever taught someone about magic.
Who would have taught—”
“I low-key think this is a skill issue,” murmured Joshua.
“Huh!
What was that?”
“Nothing… I mean, instead of telling me what magic is, why don’t you teach me how to actually perform it?
That should be more fun, right?”
Joshua asked as he sat up, looking at the slumped-over dead fish.
“Yes, that would be fun… but unfortunately, we can’t do that,” replied Ken.
“Why not?” Joshua couldn’t understand what Ken meant.
Ken explained, “To perform magic, what do you think is essential?”
“Ummm… mana?” Joshua hesitated a bit but still answered.
“Huh, you listened!
Correct.
To cast magic, you need mana.
Guess what you don’t have?”
Joshua blinked, surprised.
“Mana?”
“Correct again, good job!” Ken praised in a sarcastic tone.
Joshua rolled his eyes.
“What’s your point?”
“My point is—do you feel mana?” Ken asked.
“Ah… no, but—” Stunned, Joshua asked, “I thought you were going to do something to make me awaken or something else, right!?”
“Nah, nothing like that.”
“Then?
How am I supposed to do magic if I don’t feel mana?”
“Simple.
You won’t… for now.”
“What!?
W—but then—”
“Hold on, let me finish.
Also, mana is both radioactive and psychoreactive, so normally, if a person with no mana and no ability to store it is placed in a world filled with mana, they would mutate… because of the radiation part of mana.”
“What!!!
Am I going to mutate?” Joshua’s face had turned white.
Ken turned his face toward the flustered Joshua and chuckled in amusement.
“You’re laughing!?” Joshua was furious.
“Well, you look funny, it’s not my fault.
But anyways, the good news is you’re not mutating—well, you are, but not the bad kind.
You see, when the dungeon transported you here, it changed your body a little.
Because of that, you’re mutating to be able to control mana, just like me and other people in this world.”
Joshua calmed down as he started to understand.
“I’m sensing a ‘but’ here.”
“Yes, you are going to be able to do magic, but it’ll take some time—around 4 weeks.
That’s how much it took me.
So before that, the only thing I can teach you is fundamental theory, different mana types, and all that boring elementary stuff.”
It’s not boring, you’re just too lazy, screamed Joshua inside.
“I mean, this is like the alphabet of magic.
Everyone knows that, even kids.
Is this really my job to teach?”
Rubbing his face with both hands, Joshua couldn’t help but say,
“You’re my teacher—that’s literally your job.”
“Do you think I want to do a job?
Why do you think I live in the middle of nowhere?
Man, this is really hard.
I wonder how my teachers at school managed it.
My respect for them has really increased.”
“Wait a minute!”
Ken abruptly sat up in his chair.
“That’s it!”
“Huh?
What’s it?”
“School teacher… that’s it.” Ken looked excited.
“It’s so obvious.”
Joshua didn’t like the excitement in Ken’s eyes.
“I can just send you to a school for 4 weeks, and they’ll teach you everything fundamental about magic.
Why didn’t I think about this earlier?”
“Wait, wait, wait—” Joshua put both his palms out, trying to make sense of the sudden development.
“What do you mean send me to a school?
Aren’t you my teacher?
Also, I don’t know the language.
I can only understand what these people say and somehow speak that language.
I can’t read or write, remember!?”
You can learn the language there too.
You can also learn how to socialize with the people here.”
“Socializing?
Coming from a literal hermit sounds quite hypocritical, you know,” Joshua remarked sarcastically.
Ken snorted.
“Humph, what do you know?
I have many friends and acquaintances.
In fact, I’m gonna go see a friend and ask him to enroll you in the school.
Don’t worry, as my disciple, I naturally won’t put you in an ordinary school.
It’ll be the best school on the continent.”
Saying that, Ken walked to the door.
Suddenly, the door started shining.
Its surface started glowing with countless runes that seemed to form a formation.
Looking back, Ken said, “I’ll be back in an hour at most.
If you need anything, ask Lily, okay?”
Saying that, he opened the door.
Joshua could see that the scenery outside the door was not the hallway but another room, or maybe an office—he couldn’t tell exactly.
Ken walked in and closed the door.
He could hear someone gasping from the other side just before the door closed.
He blinked, then hurriedly walked up to the door and opened it, only to find the hallway outside.
Joshua took some steps back, his thoughts jumbled.
At last, he let out a sigh and muttered,
“Magic is really amazing… but also terrifying.”
Ken walked into a spacious office.
He heard a gasp coming from the side.
Turning around, he saw a man in a dark brown coat sitting in a chair in front of a desk.
He looked a bit older than him, maybe in his early 30s.
The man seemed stunned.
The gasp came from the girl with brown hair beside him.
She looked like she was in her early 20s.
Raising his hand in a wave, Ken greeted him.
“Hey, Dan, how have you been, man?”
The stunned man suddenly changed his expression to one of recognition, but also confusion.
“Ken?”
Suddenly, the girl with brown hair gasped again.
This time, her eyes widened with disbelief.
“Mr.
Ken,” she muttered, as if she couldn’t believe her own eyes.
The Ken Asi Atom!?