After leaving the banquet, the senior sister leading the way explained the situation to Brand as they walked. "I am Anna Mars, one of Professor Morian’s formal apprentices. I’m here because a few instructors at the academy want to meet you, so they invited my teacher, Professor Morian, to act as the introducer."
Hearing Anna’s explanation, Brand nodded in understanding before raising another question. "So, which instructors want to meet me?"
He was quite interested in the answer to this question. To be honest, apart from the instructors who taught his classes, Brand didn’t have much interaction with the other instructors at the academy. Although classmates would occasionally discuss how a certain instructor had completed a specific project, overcome a particular challenge, or achieved a notable milestone, those things were all very distant from him.
"I’m not completely sure about that either." Brand’s question gave Anna pause. After a moment of thought, she replied somewhat uncertainly, "A few days ago, Professor Morian seemed to mention that an instructor from Rune Array Science had taken a liking to your talent in Rune Drawing. So, I imagine there should be more instructors from Rune Array Science!"
Hearing Anna’s words, the doubts in Brand’s mind only multiplied. He could understand why an instructor from Rune Array Science would be interested in him. But what did Anna mean by "there should be more"? Were there other instructors besides those from Rune Array Science?
Seeing Anna’s uncertain expression, Brand dropped the idea of pressing further and changed the subject.
When it came to Rune Array Science, Brand knew very well that he didn’t have any special talent. Even though he was the only student in his entire grade to pass the Rune Array Science final exam, he never lacked self-awareness. Being able to learn to draw Runes in such a short time was merely because he worked relatively hard. Any ordinary person could achieve the same with equal effort.
After all, Rune Array Science didn’t end with just knowing how to draw Runes. Rune Drawing was merely a basic course in this discipline, much like the four basic operations of addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division in mathematics from his previous life. Building upon this foundation, there were advancement courses like using Runes for Magic Scroll creation and Magic Position construction.
As an underachiever with clear self-awareness, Brand hadn’t lost himself in the flattery of others. No matter how much people praised him, he was well aware that he had actually always been an incompetent slacker. His current achievements were nothing more than sheer luck. Rather than having others discover just how "dull" he truly was later on, it was better to keep his distance from the Rune Array Science instructors right from the start. So, as for the profound appreciation from those instructors, Brand could only offer an apology in advance. Read this novel at novelping(.)com for the best experience.
Meanwhile, in the instructors’ area of the grand banquet hall, a ruddy-faced Professor Morian was telling a group of instructors the "story" of Brand.
He recounted how attentively Brand listened during class, how hard he studied afterward, how humbly he asked questions when confused, and how appropriately he resolved issues when they arose. Honestly, from a modern person’s perspective, the story Professor Morian told was undoubtedly incredibly dry and tedious. If this had been delivered from a podium in modern society, the audience below would certainly have used it as a sleep aid. However, on the Fains Continent, where information flow was difficult and various forms of entertainment were severely lacking, Morian’s tale was unexpectedly an "engaging" and "inspiring story."
When Anna brought Brand over, quite a few academy instructors had reddened eyes and were looking at Professor Morian with rapt attention. Just as Brand was puzzled by this scene, he heard Professor Morian vividly recounting that old-fashioned and tedious "inspiring story." From this, Brand guessed that the instructors must have been moved by this "old-century role model" tale.
Back when he was still in his family’s territory, Brand frequently visited major renowned theaters. Because of this, he already had a profound understanding of the backward artistic appreciation level of Fains Continent’s humans. He wasn’t surprised that Professor Morian’s tedious story could move so many people. Out of courtesy, Brand pulled Anna back and shook his head at her, stopping her from stepping forward and ruining Professor Morian’s mood.
However, upon hearing that the story took place at the Kaya Empire Mage Academy and that the protagonist was named Brand, a suffocating feeling surged within his heart, prompting him to immediately step forward and interrupt Professor Morian’s "wonderful" speech.
"Professor Morian! Senior Sister Anna said you needed to see me about something?!" Brand deliberately placed heavy emphasis on the word "something." This represented his dissatisfaction at being discussed behind his back, even if the discussion was positive.
However, what happened next caught him completely by surprise. After he spoke, the expressions of the people around him didn’t change at all. Professor Morian continued to vividly tell the inspiring story about Brand, and the surrounding crowd continued to listen attentively, as if no one had spoken in this setting at all.
"Professor Morian? Senior Sister Anna?" Sensing that something was wrong, Brand raised his voice and called out twice more, but the surrounding crowd still gave no reaction. It was only when he tentatively reached out to touch Anna’s wrist—only for his hand to pass right through—that Brand faintly realized he was actually no longer in that location. Read the latest chapters at novelping dot com.
The surrounding space had been altered.
Upon realizing this fact, in the mere blink of an eye, an empty and tranquil landscape fell like a curtain, swiftly covering the noisy and luxurious grand banquet hall. Once the surrounding scenery stabilized, Brand found that he seemed to have arrived at a familiar place.
"Is this... the Moon Lakefront?"
There was a lake inside the Kaya Empire Mage Academy known as Moon Lake. The scenery Brand saw at this moment was exactly the same as what he usually saw during his night walks by Moon Lake. However, because of his magical experience in the banquet hall, Brand wasn’t sure if any of this was real. Perhaps what he was seeing now was a Space Labyrinth carefully constructed by some academy instructor proficient in Space Ability, just to have a private conversation with him.
Since the Dean of the Academy, who possessed the strength of a Great Mage, was right there in the academy’s grand banquet hall, Brand didn’t think anyone could do anything harmful to a student right under his nose. Based on this premise, the current situation was easy to judge. Either the Dean of the Academy had brought Brand here, or a certain academy instructor had brought him here with the Dean’s approval.
Brand didn’t bother guessing exactly who it was. Facing the empty Moon Lakefront, he simply asked aloud, "May I ask which instructor has brought me here?"
Unexpectedly, no one answered his question. After he spoke, a table and a chair abruptly appeared on the empty ground by the lake. The chair was pulled back slightly, as if inviting Brand to come over and take a seat...