In the early morning, Karien strolled along the shaded path in Red Leaf Academy.

As he walked from the teacher’s dormitory to the cafeteria, he admired the academy's architecture.

Palos Magic School had twenty-one subsidiary academies, and Red Leaf Academy was the smallest among them. Despite its size, it still had the necessary facilities: a teaching building, outdoor training fields, indoor training arenas, student dormitories, teacher dormitories, and the cafeteria, among others. However, each building was relatively small, with the tallest teaching building only having three floors.

Twenty to thirty years ago, Red Leaf Academy had over 500 students at its peak. Now, however, only 62 students remained.

As for the staff, aside from the missing headmaster, Karien was the only remaining teacher. There was also an elderly woman who helped take care of the students' daily needs.

"Good morning, Mrs. Fienes."

As Karien entered the cafeteria, he saw a woman in her sixties distributing bread onto plates. She was slightly plump, wore a checkered headscarf, and a dark brown apron. The wrinkles on her face gave her a kind, maternal look. She was the late headmaster's wife and had lived here for many years. Though she wasn't part of the school’s official staff and wasn't a Magic Master, she was just an ordinary person.

"Good morning, Karien," Mrs. Fienes smiled warmly and said, "By the looks of it, you didn’t sleep well last night?"

Karien smiled back and rubbed his nose as he replied, "It’s fine, really…"

"Another lie," Mrs. Fienes shook her head, finishing with the last piece of bread, and added, "Ever since you were little, whenever you lie, you always touch your nose."

Karien quickly pulled his finger away from his nose, "I can't hide anything from you."

"Little rascal," Mrs. Fienes chuckled, "I’ve watched you grow up. I know exactly what kind of person you are. You must have stayed up all night working on your research again."

"Uh..." Karien scratched the back of his head with an awkward smile, unable to argue.

Handing him a glass of milk, Mrs. Fienes said, "No matter what, you need to rest. With the old man gone, Red Leaf Manor relies on you now. Don’t wear yourself out."

Karien took a sip of the milk and reassured her, "Don’t worry, the old headmaster is fine, and I’ll be careful with my health."

Mrs. Fienes understood Karien was trying to comfort her, so she didn’t say anything more. While pouring milk into more than sixty cups on the table, she casually added, "You’re not getting any younger. It’s time to start thinking about marriage."

Karien almost choked on his milk at her words. After regaining his composure, he awkwardly said, "Let’s talk about that later… much later."

Just after Karien sat down, a group of students in red collars and black robes entered the cafeteria, greeting him as they made their way to their seats.

"Good morning, teacher!"

The younger students waved as they took their seats and began to eat breakfast.

Despite the cafeteria being large enough to accommodate hundreds of people, only a little over sixty were present for breakfast. Still, under the alternating efforts of Mrs. Fienes, Karien, and the students, the cafeteria was kept relatively clean.

After breakfast, Karien stood up and addressed the students. "Class, today we resume lessons. Meet me in the indoor training arena."

"Teacher, are you feeling better?" a fifteen-year-old boy with a buzzcut asked with concern.

Over a week ago, Karien had collapsed from exhaustion after stressing over the potential closure of Red Leaf Academy. For the past few days, classes had been suspended, and students had been studying on their own.

Stolen story; please report.

Karien nodded and reassured the boy, "Don’t worry, Jack, I’m completely fine now."

Jack, the boy in question, had dark skin and a somewhat clumsy appearance, but his personality was bright and cheerful. Of all the students, Mia was the eldest, and Jack was the second oldest.

In fact, most of these students had been adopted by the late headmaster. The youngest was only five years old. Even though many of them lacked magical talent, the headmaster had never given up on them.

Karien had been taken in the same way, so to the students, Red Leaf Academy wasn’t just a school—it was their home.

After breakfast, the sixty-plus students cleaned up their dishes and then, chatting and laughing, headed to the indoor training arena.

Once seated on their cushions, they turned their attention to Karien.

"Today’s lesson is basic Dark Element Meditation. I’m sure you all remember how to do it, right?"

Karien spoke as he used his mental power to activate a Dark Element Coin in his palm. The release of the Element Coin could be controlled, and under Karien’s influence, the concentration of Dark Elements in the room was only a few times more intense than usual.

For ordinary students, too much Dark Element could be harmful, as it had a certain negative influence that could disturb the mind.

"Yes!" the students responded in unison, "In darkness, keep your heart steady!"

"Good, let’s begin."

Karien had already taught the theoretical aspects of this to his students many times. Even the youngest students, including the five-year-old, were able to meditate proficiently.

Mia, sitting in the back, closed her eyes and, after a few seconds, felt the Dark Elements around her had grown much stronger. She knew her teacher had used a magical device again, but Karien had asked her to keep the use of such devices a secret for now. The fewer people who knew, the better, as some younger students might accidentally reveal the information.

A few minutes later, a ten-year-old boy opened his eyes excitedly. "I felt it! I felt it!"

Karien immediately hushed him with a finger to his lips, signaling him to stay quiet so as not to disturb the others. He then whispered, "Well done, Alei, keep going. Try to open the Elemental Channel."

Alei, nodding, closed his eyes again and continued meditating.

Soon, other students began sensing the Dark Element as well. Though they didn’t make as much noise as Alei, their faces showed similar excitement, especially since some of them had been meditating for years and had never felt the Dark Element until now.

"In darkness, keep your heart steady," Karien reminded them as he walked among the students.

Though Dark Element was a common element, it could lead a person down the path of corruption. Therefore, Palos Magic School emphasized the importance of self-control when sensing Dark Elements from a young age.

Two hours passed quickly, and as the Element Coin was used up, Karien announced the end of the class.

"Mia, come with me to the outdoor training field."

As Mia was Red Leaf Academy’s hope, Karien needed to help her improve as quickly as possible, so special training sessions were still essential.

"Today you’ll start practicing multi-element magic circles for real," Karien said as he took out three sets of materials and handed them to Mia.

"These are first-level spells: ‘Wind Shield,’ ‘Wind Repulsion,’ and ‘Wind Blade.’"

"Each of these spells involves the wind and dark elements in the magic circle. Today, you’ll practice each of them briefly."

Mia, surprised, asked, "Teacher, isn’t practicing three spells at once a bit too fast?"

Having just become a Magic Master, Mia still struggled to practice one magic spell, so practicing three at once was definitely challenging.

Karien shook his head. "It’s fine. The principles behind these three spells are similar, and their patterns are very close. The main difference is controlling the balance of the elements. Try the Wind Shield first."

Though Karien had already taught Mia the theory of these spells, she carefully skimmed the materials again before starting.

A few minutes later, Mia raised her left hand and began to trace the pattern of the magic circle.

With a soft hum, a blue-green circular magic formation appeared on her palm. However, it collapsed after a few seconds, leaving only a gust of wind that messed up Mia’s hair.

"Your wind element ratio was off," Karien pointed out.

Mia’s cheeks reddened slightly from the mistake, and she quickly adjusted the ratio and tried again.

After four or five attempts, she finally maintained the magic circle, and a wind wall formed around her.

"Good. Keep practicing until the wind wall is stable, and then we’ll move on to the next spell," Karien patiently guided her.

Though Karien couldn’t use magic himself, he had assisted with many research projects at Gallon Research Institute and analyzed countless magic circle cases, so he knew the ins and outs of each one.

He spent the entire day teaching Mia how to cast the three spells. By evening, Mia had barely managed to create a small tornado.

She had made progress, but now she needed a lot of practice. Karien told her to practice fifty times a day until she could reliably cast the spells.

...

After the special training ended, Karien, exhausted, had dinner and planned to take a nice bath and then sleep deeply.

Having not slept at all the night before, and after a full day of work, he was utterly drained.

After changing into his pajamas, Karien lay comfortably on his bed, closing his eyes. There was nothing in the world better than this moment of peace...

But a few minutes later, he suddenly remembered something.

With a start, he bolted upright in bed, hands clutching his face in panic.

"I still haven’t written my 10,000-word self-reflection!!!!!!"