ACADEMY'S UNDERCOVER PROFESSOR
I looked down at the sullen Aidan and was rather taken back inside.
'What's wrong with him?'
At first, I thought that he was going to rebel against me.
Was he expressing his subtle dissatisfaction because I had sent him away with wind magic when he had asked me to stop at that time and had been keeping it in his mind?
'Looking at his reaction, I don't think that's the case.'
He couldn't be acting with his face that looked like he was genuinely sorry and didn't know what to do.
In other words, Aidan really didn't know how to release his property, which was the basis of the element property magic.
I couldn't believe it.
A rare Uncommon Magic possessor couldn't do such a basic thing?
Wasn't it like saying that a kid who was able to do backwards tumbling couldn't even walk properly?
'What should I do with this?'
I thought he was telling me to look forward to it, but I didn't think it was the case when I saw him stuck.
Was it because of his Uncommon Magic that he was able to enter Sören in the first place?
'I can just ignore him like this…'
I didn't have to pay attention to those who couldn't even follow the basic lessons.
The more I did that, the more I wasted the precious time of other students.
Hadn't I said something when I let the first and second-years take my class together in the first place?
I didn't intend to be considerate of the students who couldn't keep up with my lessons.
It might be a good thing to me that Aidan, who might know my secret, was falling behind in my class on his own.
Yes…
I didn't have to show any affection to him.
The world, by nature, was such a cold place.
***
"Aidan. What are you trying to do right now?"
Aidan closed his eyes tightly while thinking that the time had finally come.
"Uh, that's…."
"You aren't even doing any element implementation. Are you going to rebel against me now?"
All the students' eyes were on Aidan and Ludger.
Ludger frowned and looked back at the students.
"Have the students who are paying attention to me and Aidan already perfected your own element implementation so you can look away from it? Then I'll have to remember your faces and check it out myself."
Heeek!
The students immediately turned their heads and began to focus on their elements again.
Aidan was drenched in a cold sweat and was at a loss as to what he should do.
Ludger spoke while folding his hands behind his back.
"Aidan."
"…Yes?"
"Have you not been able to cast your element properly yet?"
"…Yes. Shamefully."
Aidan wanted to hide in a mouse hole.
All the other students who entered had entered were following the class brilliantly, and he felt like he was falling behind and something was holding back his ankle.
Aidan was also able to enter Sören due to some kind of 'exception' that was applied to him, he still lacked basic things that others could do naturally.
"What elemental properties can you use? You know that, don't you?"
"Fire, water, and wind."
"Three, huh. That's normal."
Ludger thought he would be specialized in more elements because he was able to deal with Uncommon Magic, but that wasn't the case.
It was basic common sense that the more talented people were, the more elements they could handle.
"Then let's start with flame."
"Yes, pardon?"
Aidan thought he had misheard Ludger's words. It was the same for Leo, who was sitting next to Aidan, and Tessie, who was sitting behind him.
"It means I'll teach you. I can't let the students fall behind because they can't follow my teachings from the first lesson."
"B-but I…"
"I extremely hate the idea of having such a person in my class. I don't take any disagreements. Focus."
"Ah, yes!"
"Gather your mana. You can do basic casting, right?"
"Yes."
Aidan nodded and made a sphere of mana.
It was a basic process that could not even be called first-tier magic that anyone could do once they were introduced to magic.
"Think of turning that mana into an element. As I just said before, it's a flame."
"I will try to do it."
Aidan stared intensely at his mana sphere as if that was everything he could do.
Tessie and Leo gave Aidan a cheering stare without saying a word.
"Hnnng."
However, it was difficult for Aidan to properly implement the flame property, no matter how much he was focused.
As soon as he thought that it wouldn't work like that, Ludger opened his mouth after watching him silently.
"Relax your mind; don't think about it too much. No matter how hard you try to think of flame in your head, it will still be hard at first, so don't just think about it with your head, but feel it with your senses."
"Senses…?"
"You can compare the characteristics of the flame to your individual senses. The first one is sight. Imagine the figure of a burning fire. Close your eyes and focus."
"Yes."
Aidan focused on the image of fire in his head after listening to Ludger's advice.
However, it was not easy to think of the shape of fire that kept wavering in his head.
"Focus. Remember the moment when the fire was most intense in your memory."
"Yes, yes."
Since Ludger said that, it made Aidan feel like he had an idea of what to do.
Aidan, who was focusing his mind, was slowly able to bring out the most impressive moment in his memory.
—When he was burning the firewood in his country home, the senses he felt at that time.
A fire that was burning in the fireplace.
His own family had been watching it.
The scarlet fire at that time wavered and shook from inside the heater.
Ludger's voice rang in his ears.
"Now think of the sound of fire."
Instead of answering, Aidan followed Ludger's instructions.
Crackle crackle.
The sound of fire and burning firewood in the wind.
The sound of fluttering embers put an end to the serenity and cold in the chilly air.
Ludger's voice was heard again.
"Next is the sense of smell."
No, it was close to guiding him deep into his inner side.
Aidan wandered deep into his unconsciousness.
The smoky smell of fire that was burning the firewood… At the same time, he could detect the subtle scent of charcoal.
Aidan's family had even cooked stew over that fire.
"Since fire doesn't have a sense of taste, think of its sense of touch. Recall the senses in your skin when you faced the fire."
Following Ludger's guidance, Aidan evoked the memories of his past like he was staring at a painting.
His senses which were being guided one by one clearly recalled the memories of his past.
And he could remember it…
Eight years prior…
In the cold winter when it snowed…
It was a day with a raging blizzard over the dark blue window outside.
Wrapped in thick clothes to avoid the cold, he had put firewood in the heater so that the burning fire wouldn't go out.
His two younger sisters had clung to Aidan while whining that they were feeling cold.
That was how the whole family had gathered in front of the heater harmoniously and eaten together.
His younger siblings chattered, his mother nagged, and his father smiled softly as he bore witness to such a scene.
—Even though they couldn't eat fancy food and there was a cold wind blowing through the gaps of their clothes that weren't properly sewn. Obviously, the memory of that time was as vivid as if it was just happening.
The fire was not hot.
He wasn't even scared of it.
Just…
The flame that he felt back then was so warm.
He remembered that he could spend a warm winter because of it.
"That's exactly it."
"Ah."
As if it was a ripple on the calm water, Aidan opened his eyes after he heard Ludger's voice.
And then he saw it…
The small flame sphere that was burning in front of his eyes.
"…!"
Aidan opened his eyes wide in disbelief.
It seemed to have summoned the warm flame that existed in his memory.
The flame was closer to warm rather than hot, and closer to soft rather than destructive.
'Did I really implement this?'
"That's pretty good."
Aidan was stunned by Ludger's praise.
It was the first time that Ludger, who had been brutally pointing out the flaws of the students who were called geniuses instead of praising them, complimented someone.
Aidan didn't know if he could call that a compliment, but Ludger spoke a positive sentence from his mouth.
Other students, who pretended not to pay attention while pricking up their ears, were also shocked by Ludger's words.
"The flame transformed beyond the ordinary elements to become your own flame. Instead of imitating others and blindly implementing only what others have taught you, you showed the element of fire that you felt by yourself. Aidan. That's your own magic."
"This is… my own magic?"
Aidan stared at the sphere of the flame he had created like a man who had sent half of his soul flying away.
Was it because he lost his concentration?
Fwoosh.
The fire disappeared like a mirage without a trace.
But it felt like its lingering scent was still in the air.
"Aidan."
"Yes, Professor."
"Don't forget that sense."
* * *
* * *
Ludger left such words behind and moved on to approach the next student.
Aidan was still feeling like he was dreaming.
Leo and Tessie, who were watching nervously from his side, tapped Aidan's arm.
"Aidan. You are awesome!"
"How did you do that just now?"
"Huh, huuh?"
Ludger's praise for Aidan fueled the motivation of the students who had yet to be evaluated.
Ludger glanced at the students and opened his mouth.
"I'm sure you've noticed, but this is the method I wanted to teach you before I went into this class."
The students all pricked up their ears.
"It was the application of your senses through your own experience."
The students waited for his next explanation after the words "application of senses".
"The elemental property should be based on a basic understanding of the related element. Even a three-year-old child knows that the fire is simply hot and the ice is simply cold. If you're a true wizard, you have to put something special in it."
"Something special?"
"Think of the elements that you want to cast as intense moments that you actually face, not as some vaguely encountered memories. Not just simply your sight but your five senses should also feel the elements."
—Don't just simply follow with your eyes.
—Feel the elements with your five senses.
When they followed his advice, the students responded with joy.
"Oh, ooh? It works!"
"Whoa! It's much better than it was before!"
The students, who were happy to learn such magic, were more focused on not forgetting the lesson.
Ludger's words were not a lie.
Their memories and experiences were combined so the elements were more carefully recalled and implemented, so an element that was much more intense than the previous ones was implemented.
Even the feeling of the element itself changed depending on their experience and tendencies.
The element was painted in their own color.
At that moment, a loud shout broke out from somewhere.
"Whoa. Crazy. What's that?"
"Overlapping element? You're already able to use that?"
Flora Lumos was at the center of the shocked gazes.
She had created that element with a confident expression.
To be exact, it was a combination of two elements.
Fire and ice.
The shape of the burning fire had turned into the light blue color of ice, but the ice was still swaying a little.
It was the so-called frozen flame.
'Hmph. This is nothing.'
At first, Flora had intended to implement just one element properly.
Because she thought it would be enough for her not to be disapproved by Ludger.
She was already learning how to implement elements through her five senses, and because of her unique magical synesthesia, she was able to implement properties that were much more complete than others.
But when Ludger had carefully taught a first-year student and even given him a compliment at the end…
Something had heated up in Flora's heart.
Her pride had not approved of the situation.
'Let's see if he will compliment me as well.'
It was not enough for her to simply fully implement one element.
She was Flora Lumos.
She was people's favorite in magic who had never let go of the title of genius, even in Sören.
If the magic she casted was only a single element, it would obviously hurt her pride.
—So she casted two elements.
And those two elements were flame and ice, which could be said to be the opposite of each other.
If the two magic techniques were coordinated and woven together so that they did not infringe on each other, fire and ice could coexist.
Rather, each element's characteristic was combined to change into a new form.
Just like she had done.
The overlapping of elements was called the advanced level of Elemental Properties.
Flora Lumos could easily combine the two elements.
Flora suddenly became greedy.
Maybe it was because she was in a strangely good condition and she was spiritually high.
At that moment, perhaps… she could succeed in triplicating the elements, which she had been unable to do before.
'Frozen fire… If I put the wind element in here and make it swirl…"
A magic that was created by overlapping two techniques…
Flora started creating another new technique from there.
—Three overlapping elements by adding one element to the existing two elements.
It was a magic that had always failed before, but somehow, she felt like it was going to work.
She was already laughing while imagining Ludger's face that would be ruined in a good way for her when she completed the technique.
It didn't take long for Flora's complexion to change.
'Oh, oh?'
Flora first 'saw it' through her own eyes.
As soon as the three colors were about to beautifully blend, they suddenly deviated from their shape and began to collide with each other.
Stench permeated through her nose.
It only meant one thing:
It was the moment when the magic flowed in a different direction than what she had intended and ended with failure.
'No!'
In the end, greed only caused misfortune.
Three properties collided with each other, generating an intense energy.
Flora clenched her teeth and tried to suppress the energy, but it didn't work out as smoothly as she wanted.
The magic that was already beyond the threshold was out of her control.
As the three elements merged into one, they began to emit intense light.
"Oh, oh?"
"W-wait."
The intense mana was felt in the center of the classroom, and the students realized that something was strange.
"Flora? Flora! Hurry up stop!"
Her best friend Cheryl, who was sitting next to her, shouted, but Flora could not answer her.
Biting her lips, she could only desperately suppress the out-of-control mana.
…But it started to get harder and harder.
'I should block it, no matter what!'
At that rate, it would explode.
With the determination to at least avoid damaging the surroundings, Flora put a magic barrier around herself.
Even if the magic exploded, the magic storm wouldn't spread outside.
Then, Flora closed her eyes tightly.
At that time…
Her hands touched something warm.
"Oh?"
Flora opened her eyes.
Ludger stood in front of her.
While facing her, his hands gently wrapped around the back of her hand as he was holding the magic as tightly as possible.
'How on earth?' She was sure she had spread up a magic barrier.
Ludger, who had easily broken down the magic barrier, spoke while adding his mana.
"Focus, Flora Lumos."
"Pr-Professor?"
"Don't give up; control your mana."
Flora stared blankly into Ludger's eyes.
Despite the impending explosion of mana, Ludger's eyes showed no sign of fear.
"Because I will help you."
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