“Magic is an abstract concept. It cannot be fully understood.”

Yep. I agree.

“Even with the aid of a grimoire, it can still take weeks of practice to cast a new spell.”

Gee, at least I’m not alone.

[Weeks? I figured it out in a day, and made a new spell for Brewan. Magic seems pretty easy to me.]

Mage class. Kai’s excitement to start learning how to adapt his old techniques for use with magic was dying quickly. He was only a few hours of study into the language, so he couldn’t understand hardly anything the teaching assistant was writing on the blackboard at the front of the room. Halia was doing her best to translate, but Kai was pretty sure that what she was saying was entirely unrelated to the subject at hand most of the time.

Once the teacher started talking about progression speed, she completely stopped her translation efforts and instead started bragging.

I’m definitely the only person in this class who doesn’t know the first thing about magic, and I already stick out like a sore thumb. It would be disgraceful for our sect if my performance can’t completely surpass these random students.

Kai glanced around the small classroom. The teacher was an assistant professor, and one of Halia's blue boxes proclaimed him to be [Level 32]. There were eleven first-year mages, all of them wearing the same dull blue robes. A few of them looked over as Kai’s gaze swept over them. One of the students near the front of the classroom nudged a couple of his buddies as Kai looked over him, and the whole group looked back.

[???- Level 8]

[???- Level 8]

[???- Level 9]

[???- Level 10]

Tiny little blue boxes appeared in Kai’s vision, hovering over the students. All of them were above the average level of the classroom, and one of them was nearly as strong as Brewan. The two weaker members of the group were both bulkier dudes with matching crew cuts. They looked similar enough that Kai was pretty sure that they were closely related.

The other two were both girls, and had similarly short hair. As the stronger one turned her head, Kai’s eyes caught a tiny glint of light under her ear. He leaned forward, trying to make out what it was.

[Oi! Stop staring, it’s rude!]

A larger blue box appeared right in Kai’s face, blocking his vision of the girl.

“I was just trying to see her earring. It’s red, just like the one you made for Lilli.”

[It’s not the same. If someone stole one of the items I made and was walking in front of us with it, I would be the first to notice. That girl’s earring isn’t even made out of the same material.]

The narrative has been taken without permission. Report any sightings.

The blue box blocking Kai’s vision faded away, revealing the girl again. She stared back at Kai, a leering expression on her face. Kai ignored it, his gaze wandering around the rest of the classroom. His eyes lit up as he recognized a student sitting in the back corner of the room.

It’s the kid who can’t read! He looks like he’s trying to hide from everyone’s attention, I bet he’s happy that I showed up. I think half of the class is paying more attention to me than they are the teacher.

Kai glanced down at his pristine white robes, a faint smile rising on his face.

It’s only natural, really. I have too much of a presence to not be noticed. So long as I don’t have to use magic in front of everyone, their admiring gazes will only become more frequent and intense.

“Alright, we’re all going out to the training grounds. You’ve all had ample time to study over the past two weeks, and a few of you have even gone out of the academy. We even have two new students joining us as well. I’d like to get a gauge on everyone’s improvement.”

The teaching assistant clapped his hands as he stood up and headed for the door. The rest of the class started following, including Brewan.

… Is this what Halia calls planting a flag? Maybe I should listen to her incoherent rambling sometimes.

Kai reluctantly stood up to follow the class outside, but someone bumped into him as he got up. One of the bulky crew-cut dudes knocked shoulders with Kai, then stumbled backwards, nearly crashing into one of the desks.

“Hey! Watch where you’re going!”

The two girls advanced toward Kai, their faces a mirage of false anger. The second dude was helping his brother(?) up, a worried expression on his face.

“You are the one who ran into me? There’s plenty of space to walk through here.”

“You might be new here, but you’ll learn quickly. When I’m walking through, you move to the side. Got it, newbie?”

Oh geez, great. It seems I’ve found the character defects Soren was missing. I’ll bet I can guess who they’re with.

Kai shrank back, pretending to be afraid.

“A-are you with the Heritage faction?”

The leading girl nodded, a proud expression on her face.

“At least you’ve heard of us. In this generation of students, I am the one in charge. My father is a teaching assistant for 3rd year classes, and my brother is the strongest in the knight classes. Just so you know, I can make your life hell if you try to mess with us.”

“Pfft!”

Kai tried and failed to keep his laugh in. He’d expected her to have more of a background than that.

“Are you mocking me?! I’ll have my brother-”

“Angela, the teacher is already leaving. It’s not fitting to waste more time on someone like this.”

The other girl nudged her friend toward the exit of the classroom, and Angela let out a snort.

“You’re right. Newbie, you’d better learn respect before I see you next.”

With that, she stomped toward the door. Only to bump into the student Kai recognized from the library. Angela was knocked backward, crashing into a desk and nearly falling to the floor.

[Holy shit, that kid just body checked her.]

“Oh- oh no! I’m so sorry, I didn’t see you there!”

“Illiterate scum.”

Angela cursed as she stood back up, shooting a glare at the other student. Instead of continuing the conflict, though, she rushed out of the classroom, and her friends followed quickly after her. Once they were gone, the kid looked sheepishly up at Kai.

“I didn’t mean to shove her that hard, but she deserves it. She’s been bullying everyone here for the last week, and probably before then, too. I’m Leo, by the way.”

Kai walked over and gave Leo a handshake. He hadn’t talked to him at all in the library, but he felt something of a kinship with him. Their shared pain of trying to cram learn the language bonded them together.

“We should probably hurry outside though, the teacher doesn’t appreciate people lagging behind.”