As Xavier sat on the tallest seat, he observed the classroom in search of the instructor.
“Where the hell is the instructor?” a male student from on the left side of the stairs complained. The student’s family, the Gherios family, used to work as Xavier’s servants until they were allowed to be promoted.
Xavier grinned after a mischievous thought emerged in his head.
Twenty minutes passed, but there was no sight of the teacher.
“This is bullshit, I’m leaving.” Xavier stood up from his seat. All the students watched him as he walked down the steps delinquently with a furrowed face, two hands in his pocket, and a slightly hunched back.
When Xavier was halfway down, a blurry figure appeared behind the glass of the classroom door.
“The instructor?” asked a female student.
Before he could finish going down the stairway, the wooden door slid open and revealed a pale guy with visible eyebags. He had an extremely simple, yet uncommon, hair style. Smooth, pitch-black hair that covered all of his forehead and half his eyes.
That wasn't the instructor. The pathetic-looking guy that walked in was...
“I am Park Min-Jun. Hope we can all be good acquaintances,” the guy bowed.
“Why the hell are you..” Min-Jun, again, cut off Xavier amidst his rowdy speeches.
“I just started attending after two years, so I might not remember a lot of things taught here. Treat me well.”
Whispers and gossip in the room emerged after Min-Jun’s short introduction.
“The guy with stinky magic.”
“He’s the demonic guy.”
“Isn't that the cute guy who walked around with a bloody shirt?”
Ignoring the gossip, Min-Jun walked past Xavier and passed him a light grin when they aligned. He sat on the seat right next to the steps—which was, maybe by coincidence, beside Xavier’s seat.
At that moment, a tall old man walked in. The old man was balding; his silver hair seemed to form a ring around his scalp. He fixed the color of his sophisticated brown suit and eyed the students. The reflective golden pin featuring a simplified bouquet of grapes on his suit shone brightly, signifying his status in the academy.
Instructor: Archmage.
The old man sighed. “I am your instructor for today. Call me Sir Heldrich.” His brows raised and his face held an arrogant expression. “All stand up.”
The students stood up immediately, though some were confused. The patterns on the wooden floor and crimson carpets glowed as the instructor chanted something.
“ᛏᛈ ᚤᚨᛞᚨ ᛗᛟᚱᛏᚨᛚᛋ ᚺᚢᛗᚨᚾ”
Min-Jun’s and everyone else's hair waved and flowed due to the magic particles floating in the air.
“Woahh…” he muttered. He was amazed—this wasn’t his first time seeing this, though.
A girl on the top right corner of the seats slept soundly. Her hair also flew everywhere and made her look like a Medusa.
[Transporting location to 'Academy Training Field'.]
Particles of magic floated about, and the next thing they knew, the entirety of the room was enveloped in bright glitters of blue.
[Location transported.]
*
All twenty students were teleported to a place with vast fields of grass and dirt. Everyone was in the same position they were in: two rectangular groups of students, Vervillia Xavier standing in the center, and the teacher in the front.
They landed on yellowish, hardened dirt. The girl who did not stand up had the consequence of collapsing face-flat which turned the class to a harmony of giggles.
“Ow!” the girl wailed as she picked herself. “Fuck! Why didn’t any bastard wake me up?!”
No one answered her and merely stared in silence.
“Hey, it’s kinda your fault that you were sleeping,” Park Min-Jun suggested.
[Divine beings are chuckling.]
Sometimes Min-Jun forgot that divine beings exist. He thought they pose almost zero importance most of the time. All they do is watch and react.
‘Come to think of it, where are these beings even watching from?’
The delinquent girl bent down to look at Min-Jun’s face more closely. “What the fuck am I supposed to do when the dumbass instructor was more than ten minutes late? Huh, bastard?”
He didn’t reply.
That was Choi Yeong-Ja from a family of blacksmiths. For such a pretty face, she had a vulgar mouth.
The instructor glared at them with furrowed brows. He cleared his throat before he snapped his fingers.
[Sir Heldrich is activating “Creature Reservation Lv. 10”!]
[50 out of 50 creatures have been summoned.]
[KRIEEEEEEK!]
Rabbits and hamsters with sharp teeth and demonic red eyes, piglets that, for some reason, have bulking muscles, and baby hedgehog monsters appeared and surrounded us. They created a symphony of squeals and deafening yelps. The creatures rampaged around and suddenly started to attack the students.
“Kyaa! The pig is ramming onto my ankles!”
“Ow, ow, the hedgehog!”
He kidnapped these creatures from their mothers and isolated them in the system, hence the creatures were all anxious and violent when they were finally free.
Min-Jun glanced back at the instructor with a grim expression. The instructor was still holding his esteemed, arrogant look. Sir Heldrich grinned at him lightly.
“I will be observing you students from here.” The instructor used air magic to levitate in the air. “Attack these creatures and show me your current skills.”
[A new task is set by the instructor!]
['Massacre the monsters and leave none behind.']
- Compensation: None.
- Penalty: None.
“You heard him, bastards!” The first one to start massacring the monsters was Choi Yeong-Ja, followed by the crown prince.
“Hahahaha!” They both laughed maniacally.
[Vervillia Xavier is using 'Flame Bullets Lv.5'!]
[Choi Yeong-Ja is using ‘Black Flames Lv.5'!]
Their enthusiasm encouraged others to start brutally killing the low-level creatures.
“F-fireball!”
“Water cannon!”
“Summon ‘Crusader’s Sword’! Take this, piglet!”
[KIEEEEEK! EEEEK!]
‘What the hell? These people are insane. What type of magic training class is this, anyway? And why are the students saying their spells out loud…’ Min-Jun thought to himself.
Min-Jun almost chuckled.
“Th-this is just too cruel..” He heard a voice behind him.
He turned around to see a short, soft looking guy. The guy had jaw-length ginger hair, eyes that curved, cheeks filled with freckles… he overall looked vulnerable. He also wore the academy’s green cape uniform—it was attached with a hood. His legs were bent inward as he held a long wooden staff.
‘Is this guy… Nevermind.’
If Min-Jun recalled correctly, that guy was Julian of the Folia family. The family specialized in herbal medicine for the poor and nature and water magic. They were famous doctors and artisans.
This story originates from Royal Road. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.
“Why do you think it’s cruel?” Min-Jun asked him.
Folia Julian looked at him as if he were surprised about something. “A-ah, it’s because these creatures are young and weak.. This massacre just feels wrong.”
Min-Jun thought Julian was right to an extent; but at the end of the day, they were still monsters. If not culled soon, they will become bigger and stronger. When that happens, there will be more human deaths.
“They’re still monsters, you know.”
“Why aren’t you killing them, as per the instructions, then?”
Min-Jun looked at him, dazed and not knowing how to answer. He attempted to activate a basic spell anyone can use, a fire element-based spell called “fireball,” but this thing…
[The illness '??? Lv. ???' is blocking attempted action.]
“Miraculum, sed tragoedia,” he tried the chant to see if it would work.
[The illness '??? Lv. ???' is blocking attempted action.]
As he expected. Why does he have a “???” illness, and why was it not allowing him to activate basic spells? This was really concerning.
[A divine being is curious about your condition.]
“Min-Jun.. do you, perhaps, have no compatibility for any type of magic?” Julian looked like a pufferfish. He was trying to be kind and hold in a laugh, but the expression he had really backfired.
“...”
“Sorry.”
That didn’t help ease Min-Jun’s mood. Well, at least Julian’s self-esteem rose.
[Task completed.]
“Good job, students! With this, I have evaluated your current skill in magic…” Sir Heldrich looked at the students who didn’t attack the creatures. “..and personality.”
Giggles and whispers formed once again, eyes darting towards Min-Jun, mainly.
“Oi, fuckface. You didn’t attack, didn’t you?”
Min-Jun regretted interacting with Choi Yeong-Ja.
“Silence.” The instructor snapped his fingers again.
[Sir Heldrich is activating 'Beast Summoning Lv. 5']
Five werewolf hounds spawned in the center of the students. Those monsters are between medium and high rank. It would take a super skilled person to kill them in one hit. Knowing that, the students immediately backed away.
“You will all take turns attacking these with your two strongest spells.”
Chains appeared around these monsters’ ankles and wrists. Their movements were now restricted, allowing the rest of us to attack freely.
“I will use [Appraisal] on you to see if it’s truly your strongest spell.”
Min-Jun was doomed.
Chapter 6: Magic Training (2)
[Elder Werewolf Hound (5). HP Individual: 5,000,000/5,000,000]
“These beasts are quite durable–I have nurtured them for decades, and they’re used to measure your strongest attacks. A few of them here are level seventy and upper. I will grade you on how well you can inflict damage on these beasts. Once in a while, I will hold these tests and grade you to see how much you have improved.” Sir Heldrich soothed down his beard.
So the baby creature massacre was like a warm up meant for this? If he wanted a warm up for us senior-years, he should’ve used at least medium rank creatures. Just now, I technically watched a gruesome massacre of infants.
“Furthermore, just in case a student uses a magic spell over B-rank, I will set up a spherical barrier ranging twenty five feet around the beasts. Everyone, move back.”
[Sir Heldrich is activating the spell “Inverted Sphere Barrier Lv. 10”!]
“‘Inverted Sphere Barrier’ is an S-rank spell, isn’t it?” Folia Julian asked me.
.. Why is this idiot beside me?
Nonetheless, I forced myself to give a response. I turned my head back and replied dryly. “Yeah, S-rank.”
“Wow.. so he’s actually our esteemed instructor for a good reason.”
[Inverted Sphere Barrier] is a double-layer barrier made using elemental air magic that uses air pressure to its advantage. The magic outside gets pushed out but the air pressure if it tries to enter the sphere, and the magic inside gets pushed inwards.
“Once you’re done, you may have free time until everyone is finished.”
[A new task is set by the instructor!]
[“Inflict damage twice on the beasts using two of your highest ranked spells.”]
- Compensation: If high damage is done, points will be added to your grade.
- Penalty: If poor damage is done, points in your grade will be deducted.
“Alright, it seems that you are the first man in the line, Vervillia Xavier.”
Xavier nodded confidently. He entered the transparent hexagon-patterned blue sphere and started to concentrate his magic.
“Prince Xavier! Prince Xavier!” a few male students chanted.
“Aghh.. can you bastards shut the hell up? You’re all so fucking noisy,” Choi Yeong-Ja complained. The male students looked at her with blank faces and watched as she picked her ears.
This delinquent.. She has been in the academy ever since she was born.. For real. Her family of blacksmiths wanted her to go to school early because they wanted her to be the strongest and most skilled successor to their business.
When I looked closely, she actually looked quite endearing. No wonder why people found it hard to hate her. Her short, pitch-black neck length hair and curved bangs made her look like a pure, young maiden, and her sharp cat eyes drew you in.
“What? What are you staring at?”
Ah, I stared for too long. “Nothing. Sorry.”
Suddenly, the ground beneath us shook.
[Vervillia Xavier is using “Flame Bullets Lv.5”!]
Bullets of flames rushed towards the werewolves. Some bullets missed and struck the ground instead, making sand dust fly up.
[UWAAA! AWOOO!]
The beasts let out an eerie scream.
“Woahhh..”
“Yeahh! Our future king!!”
“Vervillia’s best scholar!”
Xavier’s ego tripled. He attacked the werewolves using his strongest spell with every inch of humanity’s adrenaline. “RAAAHHH!”
[Xavier is using “Celestial Blaze Burst Lv.1”!]
A potent blend of holy magic and fiery energy formed in the air. Four bear-sized magic circles floated above Xavier’s head and brought forth multiple spheres of sacred flames that burst upon impact on the beasts, unleashing waves of scorching fire, wind, and radiant energy.
He used an A-rank and S-rank spell? This guy must have been vigorously training.
“Kyaaa!” Skirts were flying about..
Everyone covered their faces and ducked.
The instructor grinned at the sight of Xavier’s power. He had the same thought I did: Xavier would soon be one of the strongest beings on this planet.
Two out of five beasts were gravely injured.
[WUAHHHHH]
[Elder Werewolf Hound is activating “Howl of the Pack Lv.10”!]
Xavier was thrown back by the screams of the beasts. He flew across the air and landed on his group of fanboys. “Oof!”
[Elder Werewolf Hound HP: 3,333,333/5,000,000]
[Elder Werewolf Hound HP: 4,896,000/5,000,000]
[Elder Werewolf Hound HP: 5,000,000/5,000,000]
[Elder …]
[...]
“Mm. Their health has gone down by a third. Who’s next?”
A third looked way too little for the holy flames. Other students became afraid of the terrifying scream and were now afraid to volunteer. Other exceptions stood back as if they merely wanted to watch.
“I will start picking random names if no one..”
Folia Julian stepped up.
What’s a beast tamer from a family of doctors going to do? He’s supposed to inflict damage, not heal.
“What is a mere beast tamer like you going to do, Folia? Are you going to heal the beasts or something?”
Yes, that’s what I thought.
Julian walked inside the sphere with a determined look. “Indeed, I am.”
[Grr..]
“I see. If you manage to fully heal all the beasts, I’ll grade you the same as I did Xavier for this.”
[Folia Julian is activating “Canine Lover Lv.10”!]
The wolves stopped acting aggressive towards him.
As he entered, four large magic circles appeared on the floor inside the sphere.
[Folia Julian is using …]
.
.
.
A large sum of time passed, but..
[Elder Werewolf Hound HP: 5,000,000/5,000,000]
[Elder Werewolf Hound HP: 5,000,000/5,000,000]
[Elder Werewolf Hound HP: 5,000,000/5,000,000]
[Elder ...]
[...]
“He..”
Julian actually restored all of their health. He walked back beside me, wiping off sweat and sighing. Quirky fucker.
“Ah.. That was a little tough,” he sighed.
I looked at him blankly. “You…?”
He’s lucky he had talent and usable magic. Julian hummed gleefully after knowing he had an A+ score for this task. Nobody volunteered after that due to the maxed out beasts’ health, though, so the instructor had to personally pick on some names.
“Groves Anastasia.”
Anastasia? I remembered her. She treated me well when I would go to class with bruises and injuries. She was kind, so I’ll make sure to repay her well.
Anastasia from the Groves family. The Groves were specialists in agriculture and aristocracy. Their main magic was the water element.
“W-water Barrage! Lake’s Rage!” Anastasia’s best attacks only afflicted one-eighth of what Xavier dealt on the beasts.
[Elder Werewolf Hound HP: 4,583,333/5,000,000]
[...]
Wait, [Lake’s Rage]? While I was holed up in my room, I read about the strongest spells of different types of magical elements. “Lake’s Rage,” if evolved, could turn into S-rank magic, “Depth of the Sea’s Wrath”. Her spell was probably around level two because It barely did anything to the beasts.
A few others came after that, but they were nowhere close to Xavier, Julian, or Anastasia. In total, the other students afflicted about half of Xavier’s attack on the beasts.
Choi Yeong-Ja, seeing the pathetic students, suddenly was motivated to show off. “Watch me.” She stretched her left arm and summoned a [Death Spear], a dark magic, Earth magic, and fire magic based weapon.
It was not unexpected that Yeong-Ja had already advanced this far, but it was still amazing. Two years ago, she used to be one of the girls who would laugh at me whenever I got picked on.
She never joined in, though, so I’ll forget about that.
“Choi Yeong-Ja. You have already been graded an A+ on this,” Sir Heldriched stopped her from entering the sphere.
“Haah? What do you mean?” she whined.
“Go back. It is now Park Min-Jun’s turn.”
I immediately looked at the instructor.
Choi Yeong-Ja glared at me as she walked back, taking noisy stomps. “Tch.”
“Hey. It’s not my fault,” I told her.
If she really attacked those beasts, she would have killed one of them instantly. Sir Heldrich wouldn’t want that—he nurtured those things for over a decade.
“What are you going to do? You have no compatibility…” Julian was beside me. I forgot about him for a moment.
I actually do have compatibility with magic, but the illness I apparently have is blocking all of my actions. I tested it a few more times with low-level magic when I waited for the other students, but the system kept saying something like, “[The illness ‘??? Lv. ???’ is blocking attempted action.]”
I was starting to become anxious.
What other spells could I use?
Do I have any other skills that could substitute for magic?
“Park Min-Jun, please enter the sphere and attack. You are the last person.”
Fuck.