“So, what did you want to talk about? I don’t think we have much to discuss,” Mikael inquired.

  “You’re strohan me, and this is the first time someone my age has ever defeated me,” she said with a determined gaze. She tinued, “That’s why I’d like to spar with you—to grow stronger aually beat you.”

  He raised an eyebrow, surprised by her obsession with strength, especially giveypically calm demeanor. “I beat you, sure, but it was in a small space, and with you as a ranger, I was at a clear advantage. If I couldn’t win uhose ditions, I’d holy be trash.”

  “The ‘trash’ you mentioned includes every other first-year student except you,” she replied with a funny expression. “I came sed itle royale, and sidering the circumstances of ht, there’s no excuse. I was an E- Warrior, and you were just an F- Warrior. That’s why I want to spar with you—to learn from you and grow stronger.”

  Mikael sidered her words for a moment before answering, “I don’t see a problem with sparring, but when do you want to do it?”

  “I was thinking during the dueling css. We use the sparring sessions with our cssmates to practice against each other,” she proposed.

  “I’m fih that,” he replied.

  Hearing his response, a faint smirk appeared on her face, quickly repced by her usual posed expression. “Thank you for your time,” she said politely before turning to leave.

  ‘That was… an odd enter,’ Mikael thought to himself as he also walked away, heading toward his Mage Foundation css, which was about to begin.

  The reason he accepted her offer was simple: it would help him grow. Sparring against a skilled warrior trained by a noble family was bound to be beneficial. Another factor in his decision was her beauty—he had retly decided to be more proactive in f his harem. If he could grow stronger while spending time with a beautiful woman, it was killing two birds with oone.

  However, ohing was certain: he wouldn’t bend over backward for her like the uys at the school seemed to do. He had his pride and wouldn’t allow himself to bee a simp just because a woman was beautiful.

  ***

  “And that will be all for today’s css,” said a middle-aged man, the teacher of the Mage Foundation css.

  With that, Mikael rose from his chair aed the . In this introductory css, he hadn’t learned how to cast spells yet but had gained a foundational uanding of magic. Magi this world was divided i elements: the basies—fire, wind, water, ah—and the advanced ones—light, shadow, lightning, and space.

  Having an affinity with a allows for faster and easier mastery of spells reted to that element. While it is possible to learn spells from elements outside of one’s affinity, it is not reended, as time is better spent mastering spells aligned with your own affinity.

  Of course, it isn’t all he learned, he also learher things like that the power of a spell depends on several factors, but the two main ones are potend mana expenditure. The first factor, potency, is tied to the mage's rank and reflects the quality of their mana. The sed factor is the quantity of mana used; for example, a fireball cast with 50 mana would be signifitly strohan one cast with only 15 mana.

  Another key cept introduced was the three levels of spellcasting proficy. The first level requires the mage to t aloud to cast a spell. At the sed level, the mage recite the t mentally, often redug its length. The third and final level allows the mage to cast spells purely through i, without the need for any t.

  During the css, the students’ affinities were tested using a magical orb. Mikael, using his System, masked his true affinity—which covered all elements—and revealed only affinities for fire, wind, and space. While this bination was already impressive, it wasn’t unheard of.

  After leaving the css, Mikael wahrough the Academy until he discovered a quiet, secluded park surrounded by lush greenery. He sat on a bend pulled out the trol puzzle he had purchased the previous day but hadn’t yet tried due to his visit to Kiara.

  He began w on the puzzle. The first levels were so simple that they took less than a minute eaplete. However, as he progressed, the difficulty increased, requiring more precise trol and time to solve. Mikael found this activity rexing, enjoying the solitude and the peaceful natural surroundings.

  Hours passed as he focused on the puzzle, and before he k, it was time for his Mage Specialization: Wind css. Skipping lunch didn’t bother him; he had mao clear up to the 21st level of the cube.

  After a short walk, he arrived at the . This was also the room for the Ranker Path css, which Emily taught. As his homeroom teacher, Emily was responsible for three mandatory subjects for his css, in addition to teag Wind Magic to those who chose this specialization.

  Notig that the was nearly full, Mikael found a seat and waited for the css to begin.

  Wheime came, Emily stood up and addressed the students. “Hello, everyone! I see a few familiar faces, but most of you probably don’t know me, so let me introduce myself. I’m Emily Auror, an SS- Rank Wind Mage. I’ll be your instructor for this css on wind magic.”

  She tinued, “You address me however you’d like—Emily, Miss Emily, or Miss Auror. I’m not too ed about formalities so there’s o stand on ceremony.”

  Some students frow her casual demeanor. Emily, unbothered, pressed on, “Now that introdus are out of the way, let’s get straight to today’s subject. I won’t go into detail about how being a ranker works, as you all had your Ranker Path css yesterday and should already know the basics.”

  “ anyone expin the differeween a mage and a warrior?”

  “Yes.” Emily spoke while pointing at a student.

  A brown-haired girl began to speak. “Warriors use aura, which reinforces their bodies or ons but isn’t easily trolled outside of their bodies. Mages, oher hand, use mana, which ’t enhaheir bodies directly but be maniputed externally to cast spells, like a wind ssh.”

  Emily nodded. “That’s a pretty good expnation, but there’s something I o crify. While it’s true that we mages ’t reinforce our bodies like warriors, our physical strength does increase as we rank up, just like warriors.”

  “I know it sounds surprising, but it’s true. The base strength of a mage and a warrior is the same, provided her of them trains specifically. The differenes into py when a warrior activates their aura—it enhaheir bodies to a level that makes it nearly impossible for us to front them up close without preparation.”

  “To ter this, mages envelop their bodies with mana infused with their elemental affinity.”

  Many students looked surprised by her words. Emily paused for a few seds before a green-colored mana began swirling arou high speed.

  “Woah!”

  “She silent-cast!” a girl excimed excitedly.

  Emily gestured at her and tinued. “This is called a wind cloak, created with my mana. Using it, my strength is roughly equivalent to that of an S- Rank warrior while I am a SS- Mage so while I am weaker at least I while be able to react. Of course, the exaparison depends oency of our respective energies, but this gives you a general idea.”

  “Learning to form aal cloak is an essential skill if you don’t want to die the moment someone closes the distan you,” she said with a serious expression.

  “I phasize enough how important it is to master aal cloak! However, before attempting this, you o be profit in wind magic. At the very least, you must be capable of casting 2nd-circle spells profitly.”

  Mikael reized the term "circle." The Mage Foundation teacher had covered it earlier. Spells in this world were cssified into circles based on their plexity and strength, ranging from 1st-circle spells to the immensely powerful 6th-circle spells used by only the most elite mages.

  “The first spell I’ll teach you is a basie—nearly useless except as a training tool for mastering more advanced spells. You’ll be learning the 1st-circle spell, Gale.”

  Emily began drawing on the board at the front of the css. She wrote the spell's s circle level, the mana movement diagram, and the intation.

  She recited the intation she had just written, “Gale winds, heed my call, sweep forth and appear before me!”

  As she finished, a gust of wind materialized before her, scattering some dust in its wake.

  After the demonstration, she spoke again. “This is the intation. Of course, you’ll also o synize your mana flow with the t. If your mana moves too quickly or too slowly, or if it doesn’t flow in the correct way, the spell will fail.”

  “You’re wele to take a picture of the diagram before heading to the trainiion to practice. Alternatively, you practice here in css sihis spell isn’t dangerous. If you have any questions, feel free to ask—I’ll be avaible for the duration of the css.”

  “For those of you who already cast 1st-circle spells, you may visit the Academy library to study up to 3rd-circle magic. However,” she added with a stern expression, “do not attempt to copy or take pictures of the library’s spellbooks. If you do, we’ll know, and the punishments range from fio expulsion.”

  She paused for a moment to gather her thoughts before tinuing, “And that’s all for now! I don’t have much more to teach you at the moment. Oh of a mage, it’s extremely important to learn things on your own rather than just copying what’s been taught. So, I’ll leave it at that for now. But if you have any questions, feel free to ask me.”

  As she finished speaking, a small number of students left the css immediately, but the majority stayed and began practig the intation.

  “Gale winds, heed my call, sweep forth and appear before me!”

  Many students failed, but a signifit number mao succeed on their first attempt—it was, after all, one of the simplest 1st-circle spells.

  Mikael saw the gusts of wind f around the room but ighem, fog instead on the instrus on the board. The idea of casting his first spell excited him.

  Following the instrus, he began by emitting mana from his core and then altering it to a wind-attributed state.

  “Gale winds, heed my call, sweep forth and appear before me!” he recited, moving his mana as directed on the board.

  “...”

  Nothing happened, as expected. Uerred, Mikael repeated the process.

  His attempt tihe 2nd, 3rd, 8th and tinued without results. However, on his 22nd try, aremely small gust of wind appeared before him.

  “Fuck yeah,” he murmured, thrilled. Despite its weakness, he had successfully cast his first spell—a milestone heless.

  A nearby boy snickered at Mikael’s feeble attempt, but Mikael ignored him, unwilling to waste energy dealing with another arrogant noble.

  Seeing he was being ighe boy lost i auro casting spells noisily, as though trying to attract as much attention as possible.

  Mikael, meanwhile, kept practig at his desk, even as the rest of the css grew lively with students chatting and paring spells. He was one of the few who tinued w diligently. Emily quietly observed, taking note of everyone’s progress.

  Throughout the remainder of the css, Mikael steadily improved his mastery of the Gale spell. Time flew by, and he was so absorbed in his practice that he didn’t notice the css had ended.

  “Mikael.”

  “Hmm?” He looked up to see Emily standing beside him.

  “The css ended a few minutes ago.”

  “Huh?” he murmured, gng around to find the room empty. “Oh, sorry! I didn’t notice—I was too focused on the spell.”

  Emily smiled at his response. “Don’t worry. It’s always encing to see hardw students. Keep it up! To excel as a mage, especially with your dual talent, you’ll o master both the path of a warrior and a mage, which means w twice as hard as others.”