The Extra Strategist’s Royal Road Chapter 168
I decided to focus on learning magic for the time being.
I practically lived at the academy, concentrating on studying magic. The only time I went outside was to check if there was any progress on the search for missing persons.
The rest of the time, I was holed up in the academy’s archives.
‘As expected, I’m quite behind.’
It’s because I didn’t accumulate magic from a young age.
The total amount of magic is an important indicator of a magician’s skill.
That’s why those who dream of becoming magicians start accumulating magic from a very young age.
Well, it’s not surprising. Everything is like that. It’s more efficient if you start from a young age.
However, that’s not everything. People with high magic affinity can accumulate a lot of magic even if they start late, so in the end, this is also a matter of talent.
Moreover, even if you have little pure magic, there’s a way to succeed.
That’s through aura, which can be accumulated through martial arts training.
‘So magic that uses this aura is collectively called weapon spells.’
Aura basically has the effect of erasing the opponent’s magical power, but it can also be used as magic.
I tried forming an arcane sphere using aura as a test.
This arcane sphere is the most basic of arcane magic, and arcane mages’ main tactics involve applying various properties to it and utilizing it.
Crackle! A sphere that sparked and fluctuated. It soon began to suck in objects on the desk.
“Ugh…!?”
This was the effect that came out when casting magic through aura.
Unlike when cast with pure magic, when magic is cast with aura, it gains unique characteristics.
It seems the characteristic of my arcane aura is absorption.
But even so, it was too intense.
The pull was so strong that the large desk started to rattle.
Rumble! The sphere started to get out of my control. Not knowing how to handle it for a moment, I threw the arcane sphere into an empty space.
The sphere that left my hand gradually contracted and eventually exploded with a bang!
“Ugh…!”
The absorbed objects scattered like shrapnel. I had to quickly hide behind the desk as a shield.
“…”
Silence finally came.
“Phew! I didn’t expect it to be this powerful.”
The area around the explosion point was devastated as if a bomb had gone off. It was fortunate I was alone; if someone else had been here, it could have been disastrous.
At that moment, tap-tap-tap! Hurried footsteps were heard.
It was the librarian.
He glared at me as he saw the chaos in the archives.
“What on earth happened here! Don’t tell me you were practicing magic in the archives!? I told you! Magic practice is forbidden in the archives!”
“Well…”
It was a mistake to think that a small practice would be okay.
I was about to apologize obediently, but suddenly remembered my deal with Rinoa.
‘She asked me to act as arrogantly as possible.’
I put on a brazen face and said, “Magic practice? I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
“What?”
“The bookshelf over there just fell over on its own. It’s unfair to blame me for that.”
“What are you…!”
“Do you have any evidence that I did it? Are there any witnesses?”
“That’s…!”
There weren’t any. This archive was being used by me alone at the time. That’s why I secretly tried to practice magic.
“Do you have any complaints? If you do, please tell me. I’ll consult with Countess Rinoa.”
Realizing that I was Rinoa’s partner student, the librarian gritted his teeth.
“Fine. I understand, so please leave now. I need to clean up.”
Seeing his eyes filled with anger, I could tell that my act was successful, but my conscience wouldn’t allow me to just leave.
“I didn’t do it, but… I’ll help with the cleaning anyway.”
“…?”
I silently started tidying up.
The librarian tilted his head in confusion, not understanding what was going on.
* * *
The academy here was well-divided.
The 1,000 newly admitted students were divided into 20 classes, each receiving lessons in their respective areas.
In addition to this, there were seniors who hadn’t yet shed their academy student label, and research wings for individual researchers. In total, including the classes they used, there were 400 classes.
Moreover, since these classes were scattered throughout the city, even students in the same year rarely heard about each other.
Class 17, to which I belonged, was located quite on the outskirts, so there was little interaction with other classes. However, during lunch time and the magic class that followed, I had to be with my partner, so I headed to where Rinoa was.
Rinoa belonged to Class 2, which mostly consisted of high-ranking nobles.
Rinoa sat alone in the classroom like an isolated island.
No one tried to talk to her, and if anyone tried to get involved even a little, she recoiled.
“Oh my. This is severe…”
I too had been walking the path of a loner in my past academy life, but not to this extent.
Still, I had same-sex friends like Dorofei and Bannings. I was also close with Erina. Although I was an isolated island, academy life wasn’t painful.
In contrast, Rinoa seemed to be suffering in her academy life at a glance. Seeing trash rolling around her, it seems someone had been throwing it secretly.
Traces of ugly scribbles could be seen on her desk. It looked like Rinoa had tried to erase them but gave up and left them as they were.
She was looking out the window with her chin resting on her hand, perhaps waiting for me.
I let out a small sigh and headed towards her.
At that moment, a woman stopped, looking at me.
“Ah, you… Are you here to pick up Miss Rinoa? That must be tough.”
“…?”
Who could this be? As I expressed my question with my eyes, the woman said in confusion,
“Have, have you forgotten me?”
“Well… Your name is… I’m sorry.”
I’ve never been good at remembering such trivial details. It’s as if I subconsciously decide they’re not worth remembering.
This seemed to shock her considerably, as her lips trembled. Then, biting her quivering lips hard, she left in anger.
“What was that all about?”
“That’s Miss Rowell.” It was Rinoa who had noticed me and approached.
“Marchioness Rowell, who danced with you.”
“Now that you mention it, there was such an incident.”
“You really… Any other commoner would consider it an honor to have danced with her for years to come.”
“It’s just one dance. More importantly, let’s go quickly. I’m hungry.”
After moving to a different location, I opened the lunchbox packed by the butler Anduha.
“…”
On Rinoa’s side was a luxurious feast. On my side were just a few pieces of bread and some soup. Anduha had been playing such tricks lately. It was because of my disrespectful attitude towards Rinoa.
‘Does he think I’ll give in?’
I naturally reached for Rinoa’s lunchbox.
Although Rinoa had an exasperated expression, she didn’t stop me.
As we were eating like this, she said, “Wade, you know we have magic practice today, right?”
“I heard about it. I heard it’s going into the evaluation. But how exactly is it done?”
“It’s simple. It’s determined by how much damage you can do to a magically treated rock.”
“So it’s about power in the end…”
“It’s easy to understand. So? Are you confident?”
Instead, I asked her, “What should we do? Should I go all out? Or should I hold back a bit?”
“All out? Huh, do you even have the ability to call it ‘all out’?”
“You might be surprised?”
“I look forward to it. Well, even if you have such ability, hold back for now. It would be troublesome if you stand out more than me.”
“That’s true. Then I’ll do it moderately.”
Rinoa didn’t seem to truly believe my talk about going all out.
About 200 students, including me and Rinoa, participated in the magic practice session in the afternoon.
The practice took place in an area like a field located on the outskirts.
There was a house-sized black rock placed there.
The teacher explained about it. “As you all know, this magic-resistant stone has a strong resistance to magic. Therefore, it’s a valuable material used in crafting good weapons and armor. However, some also say that this magic-resistant stone is the source of magic stones that cause the creation of dungeons and monsters.”
After a brief boring theory lesson, we moved on to the actual practice.
The test was to see how much damage we could inflict on this magic-resistant stone using magic.
Because the magic-resistant stone had innately high magic resistance and was also under a magic resistance spell, it was difficult to even scratch it under normal circumstances.
The teacher said he didn’t expect much and graded mercilessly.
“Next, Miss Rinoa Branford!”
As Rinoa stepped forward, there were subtle jeers. When Rinoa turned around to look at the source of the jeers, it suddenly became quiet as if nothing had happened.
“…Hmph.”
When Rinoa turned back, this time there were sneers as if it was ridiculous.
The teacher sighed and urged her on. “Please proceed.”
“I know.” Rinoa held out her right palm. As she concentrated, wind began to swirl in front of her hand.
“Haah!”
Swish! A blade of wind tearing through the air. It’s Wind Cutter, an application of wind magic.
It seemed quite powerful, but it couldn’t scratch the magic-resistant stone. Still, the evaluation didn’t seem bad.
“Very good. Next, Wade!”
As if taking over from Rinoa, I stepped forward and drew up magic.
I wanted to try magic through aura, but since we were told to hold back…
‘First, create an arcane sphere…’
After creating an arcane sphere in my right hand, I created a sphere of light in my left hand.
Unlike the formed arcane sphere, the light sphere was about to scatter and disappear, so I quickly combined the two.
“…!”
The teacher’s eyes twitched.
I didn’t have time to confirm that and threw the fused sphere at the stone.
Fizzle! Pop! The magic sphere disappeared pathetically due to resistance. Of course, the stone wasn’t scratched.
Feeling a bit competitive at that powerlessness, I asked, “…If possible, may I try again?”
I decided to use just a little bit of aura, but the teacher shook his head.
“It’s fine. That was a good attribute combination. Well done. Next, Cromwell!”
It was disappointing, but there was nothing I could do.
Rinoa greeted me with a smirk as I returned.
“Arcane and light. You have a unique attribute combination. You too.”
“Is it unusual?”
“It is. Light might be common, but arcane isn’t. You said you haven’t been learning magic for long, right? If you can utilize it to this extent, that’s enough. If you continue like this, you’ll be able to use magic as well as others in three years.”
“Three years… You say.”
I didn’t have that much time. It didn’t seem like I was born with magic affinity either.
So I had to learn the method through aura.
After the practice, we were supposed to clean up and disperse. The next practice group was coming in 30 minutes.
There were no scheduled classes after this, so we could just go home, but I was looking for an opportunity.
I told Rinoa I had somewhere to go and to go home first, then secretly returned to the practice area.
Fortunately, there was no one around. The teacher was also absent, probably preparing for the next class.
‘Good.’
I picked up one of the iron spears lying around the practice area.
It was shabby compared to the spear I use, but it was better than nothing.
‘I need to do this quickly before the teacher returns.’
I drew up my aura.
The aura flowing through my right hand enveloped the spear and soon changed into the form of arcane.
Then, whoosh! I felt power swirling around the spear.
It seemed to be howling as if trying to suck in everything around it.
This time, I needed to focus more because I had to fix it in the shape of a spear, not just a simple sphere.
‘Done!’
The arcane spear finally took shape.
I didn’t stop there.
I changed the aura in my left hand into light magic and injected it into the arcane spear.
The arcane spear greedily devoured the light magic. The more it did, the more intense the magic became.
“Ugh!”
I felt exhausted in an instant, probably because so much aura was sucked in.
‘This is the limit!’
Grip! I gripped the spear tightly and aimed at the magic-resistant stone.
“Hup!”
Swish! The spear shot towards the magic-resistant stone.
Immediately, the magic resistance barrier that had been placed on the magic-resistant stone activated.
Whether it was to prevent scratches on the expensive magic-resistant stone from the beginning, multiple layers of resistance barriers were stacked.
Ting ting ting ting! The spear I shot broke through these barriers one by one and stuck into the magic-resistant stone.
Then, zing! The light magic trapped inside the arcane exploded all at once as if expanding.
Boom! Along with a dazzling explosion, the magic-resistant stone shattered into pieces.[1]
“Gasp.”
I just stood there blankly watching the scene that greatly exceeded my expectations. I couldn’t help but be bewildered, as I had only expected the spear to stick into the rock at best.
However, it wasn’t the time to be dazed.
“What! What’s going on!”
Sensing that the teacher was coming, I decided to quickly escape without being noticed.
Footnotes:
1] Zit Pop!!!, the Light god will be happy to see this.
Hi guys, please check out the new novel I picked “I killed the Demon King. It was a mistake.”
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