Unlike what one might expect, Professor Enoch wasn't a hung-up asshole. And Alec appreciated that, truly. Once it was decided that the reorganization would pass, the man had simply sat down, straightened his robes, and waited for the proceedings to continue. It was either that he was hiding his emotions well and plotting Alec's murder in the meantime, or genuinely didn't care—Which honestly, Alec hoped for.

"I think using an already familiar term is the best option," Professor Miriam stated her opinion, her hands busy gesticulating left and right. She made sure to make eye contact with everyone present, her gaze briefly lingering on each.

Unlike the tense debate before, this discussion was far more light-hearted. Even Professor Enoch, who was the only remaining opposition, occasionally chimed in. Hell, it was actually fun—why wouldn't he join?

"What do you actually propose then?" one of the professors asked with his arms crossed, his voice neutral. It wasn't an actual question—just a gesture for her to continue.

"Going with Elemental Magic will be easier to digest, both for the students and for the Professors," she explained with a firm tone, flicking a glance toward Alec while speaking the word 'student'.

Alec himself had no comment for now. He had his own agenda but there wasn't a need to act hastily. The more suggestions were made, the more his naming sense would shine later on.

"Although that makes some amount of sense, it isn't ideal," Professor Simon said with his legs crossed. For some reason, he mirrored Alec's posture from before—leaning back slightly. His voice, however, didn't betray any inflection. Perfectly dry. "Think about it, calling it elemental magic will just reinforce the idea of 'elements'. Some might think I'm just doing semantics, but this is especially important for the general student psyche. If we want to revolt the minds, we have to first shed the old conceptions."

Most professors seemed to share similar thoughts as they discussed with each other. Murmurs, nods, furrowed brows, Professor Simon slowly sat back down. A small smile tugged on his lips as he crossed his legs again.

"How about 'particle magic'?" Another suggestion came. While people were busy evaluating, Alec rose to his feet by placing his palms on his chair's armrests and refuted.

"Particle magic is too vague. If we are going to call it that, we might as well bundle in light magic. After all, light has both a particle and a wave nature," he said with a firm tone. His voice cut through the hubbub and killed the noise as the mages turned their heads one by one to take in his words. 'Good thing light’s double nature was discovered earlier in this world. I wouldn’t have had a clue how to refute the naming otherwise.'

"Good point, Mr. Alec." Professor Howard said, his eerie smile spreading wider. "Do you have a suggestion in mind?"

Alec cursed in his head. This man was supposed to be a dignified demigod—and for the most part, he was. However, when it came to magic, he turned into something else entirely. A mischievous, creepy old man who seemed far too entertained by these discussions.

"Classical Magic," Alec said with a tone of grandeur. His gaze darted across the room, gauging the professor's reactions. Most were straight-faced, unimpressed. Some had raised brows, though—The confused ones. Especially Professor Howard. His grin had disappeared, leaving its place to a frown.

"Isn't that too... Boring?" Professor Howard asked. His voice seemed to resonate with the others as some nodded slightly. Alec knew this would be their reaction.

'Tsk Tsk. These poor mages. They might be demi-gods walking the earth – Or whatever this planet is – but they fell into the same pitfall many did when it comes to naming,' Alec thought. A small smirk appeared on his face before he quickly suppressed it. Hopefully, the professors hadn't caught on to it.

"You see, that's the point," Alec said. He raised his hands to his sides confidently and shrugged. "When naming things, you need highs and lows. Peaks and dips. Contrast is everything."

"What do you mean?" Professor Howard asked. Unlike before, his tone was now slightly eager—waiting to see what Alec would present them with. On the other hand, Professor Miriam's brows rose in understanding, she nodded briefly. Seeing that he had at least one person on his side, Alec continued.

"When you try to make every name sound cool, it loses impact. It’s like shining light on an already bright surface—you need contrast," he said. Then he cast the magic and actually demonstrated it. Two first circle light spells, shining on the same spot. Once the first was cast, the second didn't make that much of a difference. "The point is, we have the chance to establish a baseline for magic. By naming the most famous branch Classical Magic, we create contrast—letting every future magic branch sound even more impressive by comparison. Not to mention, it fits perfectly. Element magic was the basis for many other branches. It also perfectly describes the branch's main-stream nature."

Again, murmurs. By now, Alec had come to understand the review committee's general dynamics. On average, every professor had two to three close acquaintances. Whenever something was told, they would throw a glance in their direction. Now wasn't any different. If not for Professor Miriam's occasional telepathic messages, Alec would have been left completely disconnected.

A case of theft: this story is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.

A minute later, the room had calmed down again. Professor Howard sighed, his eyes closed for a moment and his brows drooped tiredly.

"That makes sense. I would like 'Classical Magic' to be our first voting subject," he said, monotone.

‘Huh... Was I really that convincing? Wasn’t he supposed to put up a fight?’ Alec thought, his brow furrowing. It wasn’t the first time he’d noticed it, but now it was clear—Howard was favoring him. Maybe it was because of the breakthrough Alec had made, but the man seemed unusually willing to let Alec steer the discussion.

When he looked around, Alec found the professors to be sitting quietly. With crossed arms, scratched cheeks, most were relaxed and uninterested in continuing the discussion. 'Hmm... Did they also realize? It's better not to attract Professor Howard's ire by opposing me, after all.'

Once the voting started, the rest was smooth sailing. Ten votes, ten greens. Why not? There was no need to stick out like a sore thumb. It's not like the naming convention mattered that much. And in the end, the name Alec chose was undeniably good. Precise, easy to remember, almost memetic in some sense. As though it was supposed to be called that all this time.

"Great! A name chosen most wisely by Mr. Alec. Now that is done, I would like everyone to decide if their seating needs to change name too," Professor Howard announced, his face expressionless. He seemed back to his normal, enigmatic self now that the talk about his own branch was over.

At first, his question prompted some to raise their brows. Only after a short moment did they understand, nodding along and diving into deep thoughts with frowns adorning their faces. This wasn't the kind of topic they would discuss with their inner circle. It was a personal one, one they needed to answer on their own.

Alec sat in silence. His own branch, namely the anti-memetics board, wouldn't be affected by these changes in any way.

After a minute of contemplation, Professor Howard woke everyone up with his classic popping effect. However, before he could speak, Professor Enoch interrupted.

"Mr. Howard, what are the boards of earth, water, and wind branches going to do in this new conglomeration of magic?" he asked with a frown. For a moment, he seemed to be overcome by the anxiety of losing his seat. Professor Howard smiled gently and gestured for him to sit back down.

"Don't worry Mr. Enoch. Just like the magic branches, we will become a multi-person board. After all, classical magic is a vast branch that needs many experts," he said. Then, his smile disappeared as he continued. "Now that is out the way, I would like everyone to state their opinions one by one."

"Light magic is fine the way it is. No need for changes."

"The telekinesis board is waiting for the imminent rediscovery of gravity magic. No need for changes until then."

"Mind magic is..."

The professors stated their opinions one by one, none choosing to change their own branch's name. When it came to Alec, Professor Howard chose to speak in his stead with a smile.

"As anti-memetic magic is the only magic type of non-human origin, there is no need to consider changing it. It is highly unrelated to classical magic after all," he said. Once he heard the words, Alec's brows rose. It was a sudden jerk, like waking up from a dream ending in a fall. he uncrossed his leg and adjusted in his armchair uncomfortably.

"I'm sorry, I don't know what you mean by that," he said, stopping Professor Howard from glossing over the topic. Although he did his best to keep his calm demeanor, storms were brewing inside him. His heart started picking up pace. He felt his mind getting groggier as he tried formulating a thought. One that he would regret doing so.

Whoops. Blue sparks, around his head. Again.

'Non-human origin? What the fuck does that mean? What other species can create magic, and why only anti-memetics? No. The anti-memetics comes from memetic magic. Does it... Does it come from de-' Alec's thought was cut in half. Ah... Another contingency plan, hidden away. Now activated.

The atmosphere of the room became turbid, ghastly. All the professors' heads snapped toward Alec at the exact same moment. Their eyes seemed hollow, not literally, but figuratively. No emotions seemed to habit there. Their blinks were too slow. Occasionally even unsynchronized. Left eye, blinked... Right eye, wide open. Inhuman almost. When Alec asked the question, he must've fucked up their mind badly. Hopefully, they would recover on their own.

Cold fear crawled up Alec's spine. Was this the first time? No way. It had probably happened many times before. And each one, he extracted himself. But if he failed here, he might cause something bad, very bad to happen. It would make every victory before... Meaningless. Unforeseen consequences, accompanied by Professor's who were very strictly blocked from knowing.

He felt a presence next to him. Around him. Inside him. Inside his head. Inside his soul. 'I'm inside you,' it said, its voice an amalgamation of many—a cacophony of whispers that scraped at the edges of Alec’s mind. At least Alec imagined so.

A cursory glance in his direction.

Is there something in your head? Some knowledge, forbidden?

Wherever it came from, it smelled the knowledge. It ran on all fours, perhaps, a guttural growl to eat Alec's mind.

'I- Imagining... Juust imagining. That thing doesn't exist. This doesn't happen. I don't think Idontthink.

Cold sweat poured, his back drenched. Alec's hair rose all around his body in a primitive attempt to make him look more intimidating. Uncontrollable tears wetted his face as his eyes lit crimson with swollen capillaries.

His heart hammered with fury, but not fast, just violent. It was as if his heart was trying to explode, but failed with every pulse. Still, something written into his very existence stopped him from losing composure.

Then, Alec smiled. A crazed smile in fact—32, brilliant teeth showed themselves.

"Nothing to see. Nothing here. No memories," He muttered to no one in particular. A gentle, clean cut into his memories—like that of a neurosurgeon. And then, serenity.

In the end, nothing happened.

"As anti-memetic magic is the only magic type of non-human origin, there is no need to consider changing it. It is highly unrelated to classical magic after all," Professor Howard said with a gentle smile.

"Yup," Alec answered, mirroring the man's smile. He wiped his face with the hem of his uniform. ‘Weird… Am I getting allergies? My eyes are getting teary for some reason.’

Other than that everything was alright. Though, he did notice a weird lingering relief appear in his heart. Why? Well, there was no need to dwell on what was already resolved...

Right..?