"Haha, really? He pissed his pants right in front of everyone?" Shira laughed loudly at the retelling of Jack's story. For his own part, Jack just kept up his storytelling.
"Yeah! I couldn't believe it at first, but he actually did. I was like 'What the hell man? It's just a puny bear. You've got me already'. Guy couldn't believe someone would be able to take out that thing, and yet, here I am!" Jack boasted, his little circle of friends laughing uproariously.
He'd advanced to become a rank 1 acolyte after five months of intense struggling, trying his best to juggle classes, helping out his mentor, and occasionally taking on missions for some pocket money. Of course, he also didn't dare skip out on making contacts with his fellow acolytes.
"You're really amazing, Jack..." His 'friend' Shira said, stars in her eyes. While he himself was a mere grade 3 talent, Shira had it even worse, only being a grade 2. Hence, him taking her into his little group of friends and bringing her along on missions might just have been the only reason she even becomes a rank 1 acolyte after an entire year. Of course, she was more than willing to repay the favors with her body.
Jack laughed silently, scratching his chin at her words. They were all walking along the walkways together, thus, he refrained from saying anything inappropriate.
Although his face remained friendly, deep inside, his mood darkened. If he was a rank 1 official magus, forget doing all of this dancing around with the girl, he could just kidnap her and use her as a toy for his desire whenever he wanted, and nobody would say anything about it. Hell, if he was a magus, any acolyte would be nothing but trash in front of his eyes.
As he fantasized about this, he suddenly knocked into someone, letting out a grunt. He felt as though he'd just hit a wall, and a particularly hard one at that.
A curse came up to his lips as he rose up, staring at the offender. "What the hell, man-" The rest of his words died right there and then in his throat as he realized just who he'd accidentally walked into.
His friends had all scuttled a large distance away, including Shira, who'd been previously fawning over him, and honestly, Jack didn't even have the heart to blame them for it.
Standing in front of him was a little girl, one that, by logic, should have absolutely no place in this academy at such a young age. Her soft, golden locks and bright blue eyes were a tell-tale sign, both being rather rare traits.
Alice Rosenstar, the genius of genius, personal apprentice of a legendary rank 2 magus, and someone who was basically guaranteed to advance further in life than any other student could ever hope for. The entire academy always seemed to bend over for her wishes, if what Jack had heard was true and not just wild rumors.
"Hm? My apologies. I must have not been paying attention." The cute little girl said, and although her tone wasn't offended nor aggressive, it also held no actual apology in it. At most, it was a little flustered.
"I-it's nothing! My apologies for not being more aware." Jack quickly scrambled upwards and bowed as deeply as he could before shamelessly fleeing back to his friends.
Her eyes followed him for a second, causing shivers to run down his spine as her eyes narrowed. Then, she shrugged to herself and continued on, the crowd parting in awe at her passing.
Jack looked at her disappearing back as he rubbed his aching shoulder and chest, still feeling a lingering fear. To think he'd just been thinking such heretical thoughts. If she could have read his mind and saw what he was thinking, he would have been dead within the second.
After all, even official magi didn't dare treat the girl with too much carelessness, with most keeping a respectful distance from her, likely afraid of her teacher. Which, yeah, Jack could sympathize. If the girl herself was this terrifying, what must her mentor be like?
As he mulled over his thoughts, his group returned to surround him, now talking in much more hushed whispers, as if afraid the genius princess would overhear them and smite them for their supposed sins.
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Ron silently mulled over the little accident beforehand. It was the first time he'd ever accidentally crashed into someone in this life, but, in hindsight, it might have been inevitable. While she knew theoretically that rank 3 acolytes had much more mystical senses than rank 1 and 2 acolytes, not to speak about regular humans, he didn't expect it to be so drastic.
She could slightly feel the mood of everyone around him, feel their very existence with his spiritual energy. It was aking to having a little radar inside of his brain, and it was confusing as hell.
It hadn't been all that big of an issue back in the safety of his personal laboratory, but now... Well, it had been a bit overwhelming.
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Still, with each passing minute, his control and familiarity with his newfound senses improved drastically. In fact, after a while, it had even become something that could be considered fun.
Still, losing himself within his new senses might not have been the best idea, especially while walking amongst the busy hallways of the academy. Not that he'd been hurt in any real way. The kid had felt as though he was more akin to a twig than a 15-year old that was quite a lot taller than him.
He'd also felt strangely repulsive. At least, that was what he could gather from his newfound senses. He'd have to ask his teacher about it.
Which, coincidentally, was exactly what he'd been planning to do all along. After taking a few more useless turns just to familiarize himself with his new senses a bit more, he finally arrived at his sexy teacher's office.
'Shut up, stupid perverted mind. Stop thinking of hot, sexy guys as being hot and sexy. You're nine. Nine!' He cursed in his own mind, but after so much time living here, he'd long since understood that fighting his own body wouldn't work out well for him. Hence, despite not really wanting to, he did allow himself to at least make small jokes like these.
He was about to knock on the door, but before he could do so, the door swung open by itself, taking Ron by surprise. While he knew that his teacher always knew when he was coming, he usually waiting for Ron to knock before opening the door.
However, any questions that he might have had in his throat died down before they could come to light as his teacher looked down at him from directly behind the door, a shit-eating grin on his face.
"Well, well. Would you look at this? It seems my favorite little genius has just solidified her status." Loki said as he put one hand on Ron's head, scratching her like one would with a cat.
And, like the good cat he was, Ron almost purred. Thankfully, he had enough control of himself to prevent such a humiliation... But that didn't stop his cheeks from turning a red more crimson than his inner flame.
"Mhm... It was nothing... did I do well?" Ron asked, attempting to act modestly, but failing miserably as he ended up sounding more like as though he was begging for praise.
"Yes, dear student. Very well. I suppose you've successfully cultivated the pseudo-flame now?" Loki asked gently as he led his student away from his office and to their shared laboratory.
"Yes. It was... intense." Ron admitted while trying to ignore the looks all the acolytes gave the passing teacher and student. Of course, amongst all the acolytes, the rank 3 acolytes had far different expressions on their faces.
After all, only they could begin to truly sense other magi spiritual energy, and many of them would be able to instantly tell that Ron had advanced.
Although he disliked the attention, Ron didn't hesitate to glare at anyone that dared to look at him a second too long. Even when he'd been a rank 2 acolyte, everyone, except official magi, would look away immediately upon seeing his glare. Now, they did so even more quickly.
Once they arrived at their personal lab, Loki prodded Ron for information about his breakthrough experience, looking quite interested, and judging from the questions afterward, Ron was confident that he was indeed curious.
After a while of ping-ponging questions back and forth, Ron finally arrived at the question he'd been dying to ask all day.
"Teacher... Will you now tell me more about high-grade meditation techniques?" Ron asked, looking up at his teacher with puppy eyes. Of course, he hadn't actually intended doing them, nor was he aware he was doing so.
Loki looked thoughtful for a moment before speaking, "Hm... Yes. I suppose I did promise I would explain. Well... In short, what do you know about breaking through to becoming an official magus?"
Drawing upon his knowledge base, which had practically exploded ever since he'd started learning under Loki, Ron answered. "To become a true magus, one needs to first have enough spiritual force to form a small sea inside their sea of consciousness, and then... I don't know..." Ron finished lamely. For some reason, every source he'd ever read never actually stated the second requirement for advancing.
Loki looked at Ron with a small smile on his face. "What's this? The all-knowing princess actually doesn't know something for once?" He taunted teasingly.
"S-shut up..." Ron grumbled out, feeling his cheeks heating up. He made a lot of mistakes during his lessons, and he wasn't afraid of owning up to them, but apparently, Loki had taken to making this joke every time he got something wrong.
"Alright, alright. Anyways, while this isn't usually how it's done, all rank 3 acolytes of the academy will eventually learn the final requirement: Using reactive elixir. It is a very expensive and hard to obtain treasure that is often hoarded by magi families since it's necessary to advance acolytes to becoming rank 1 magi... However, there is another method that is even more hidden to acolytes."
Ron's genius mind worked it's magic as hundreds of thoughts weaved themselves together, constantly trying to find an answer. Finally, after a couple of moments, he understood. "You... You don't mean, high-grade meditation technique?"
Loki smiled the smile that meant 'I'm proud of you' at Ron's guess. "Indeed. High-grade meditation techniques are incredibly hard to obtain, often only accessible through miraculous opportunities or through inheritance. The way you yourself obtained yours is... uncommon, to say the least. Even I myself had to risk my life countless times to obtain my own high-grade meditation technique back when I was a little, weak acolyte."
Loki seemed to reminiscence about the past for a bit before continuing. "Anyway, high-grade meditation techniques are truly game-changers. They allow magi to obtain innate spells that actually fit them, unlike the trash that the reactive elixir can grant. Furthermore, they allow magi to further progress down their own path, possibly achieving rank 2 or 3. To be honest, had you not obtained the Ten Sacred Flame, which seems to truly be as though it was created specifically for you, I might have even imparted my own technique to you."
"Teacher..." Ron said, unsure of what to say. He was overwhelmed by his kindness and wasn't sure how to deal with it.
"Don't act all emotional now, princess. I'm sure you'll repay me in the future somehow. Now, are you going to open the little box you've been hiding all this time?" Loki teased, garnering a blush from an embarrassed Ron.
'Bully...' Ron thought to himself, but despite that, he couldn't wipe off his smile.