LGT Chapter 11

Adrian and Mikhail, who arrived a little earlier than the start of class, sat side by side in the very back row of the lecture hall as if they had planned it. Mikhail glanced at Adrian, surprised that he chose to sit next to him in the last row. Basic Magic. It was a subject that would excite and captivate any commoner. Opportunities to attend such specialized classes were rare outside the academy, yet Adrian sat at the very back as if he wasn’t interested at all.

As the start time approached, students gradually filled the empty seats in the lecture hall. However, likely because it was the first class, the seats closest to the podium remained mostly unoccupied.

Then, the sound of footsteps echoed across the marble floor. A strict-looking middle-aged man walked to the podium at the front of the lecture hall. The neatly dressed professor gave off the impression of someone who had followed an elite course in life, like a young master from a wealthy family. Adjusting his glasses, he scanned the students seated before him and spoke.

“Fill the seats from the front. You students in the back row.” He gestured with his hand, clearly signaling the students at the back, including Adrian and Mikhail, to move forward. It was evident from his tone that he wouldn’t entertain any objections. Adrian looked around, turning his head, and saw Mikhail beside him deliberately avoiding eye contact.

“Yes, you two there. Come forward.” He was calling out Adrian and Mikhail. With reluctant expressions, the prince and Adrian gathered their belongings and grudgingly walked to the seats closest to the podium. Both wore sullen faces, but the professor, unconcerned with their expressions, simply said, “Good,” and scanned the room again.

“Good morning, everyone.”

For the first class, there was no need for the students to bring any materials. The freshmen, hands neatly placed on their desks instead of books, gazed at the professor. They all seemed eager, as this was their first lecture since joining the academy.

“I am Sigrid Owen, and I will be teaching you for the next year. And if you enter the School of Magic, I will teach you for another year.”

Standing on the podium, the man surveyed the freshmen with cold eyes.

“The first-year curriculum is an integrated course, considering even those with no mana or talent whatsoever. For any of you who can sense even a little mana, this might be a tedious class.”

The words “no mana” and “no talent whatsoever” were particularly emphasized, leaving a piercing impression. Judging by the pale faces of several students in the room, they seemed to have felt the same sting.

Adrian leaned comfortably against his desk, watching the professor, who seemed intent on intimidating the students despite being a professor at an academy.

Adrian’s eyes were currently a light brown, which meant his body was entirely cut off from mana unless he directly accessed it from his true form. It was amusing, really, that a dragon like him was taking a basic magic class. But, as everyone knew, that was part of the fun.

“Now, for those of you who have never studied magic before….”

The professor gestured, gathering all the light from the lamps in the tall lecture hall toward the center.

“In this first class, we will talk about mana.”

A large, glowing sphere floated in midair. With all the light gathered into the sphere, the rest of the lecture hall darkened in an instant. The sphere pulsed with a blue light, as if alive, breathing and throbbing like a living creature.

“The amount of mana present in this world is always constant. We have yet to uncover where mana originates or how it is produced. All that happens is that those we call magicians transform it from its natural state into an artificial one. Mana takes on different forms depending on the object or action that transforms it,” the professor said. With a swift motion of his hand, he sent the glowing sphere of light towards one of the lamps hanging from the academy lecture hall’s ceiling. The large, luminous sphere flew to the lamp and settled there. The students lifted their heads to watch it.

“Moving mana becomes possible once you’ve grasped the basics of magic.”

As the giant sphere compressed to fit within the lamp, the light intensified, becoming so bright it hurt the students’ eyes. The professor made another gesture, retrieving the sphere from the lamp once again. He then divided the sphere in half, reducing its size significantly, and pushed the smaller sphere back into the same lamp. This time, the light glowed brightly, but no longer with a painful intensity, as if the lamp had always emitted that amount of light.

“What’s important is that the caster fully understands the purpose behind moving mana. The caster must know how much mana to use and where to draw it from in order to achieve the desired outcome.”

Adrian was already familiar with all of this. Dragons, as beings, are born with the innate ability to both release and absorb mana through their entire skin, and they become aware of mana’s existence from birth.

“Think of drawing mana like drawing water from a lake. It’s easy to scoop water from the lake’s surface into a cup. But to scoop water from the lake’s depths requires a high level of control. Mana that sinks to the bottom, like that water, is ancient and possesses extremely pure power. Such mana is beyond what humans can handle.”

Adrian felt a surge of pride. There were few intelligent beings besides dragons who could handle such pure mana.

As he nodded to himself, he glanced to his side, where there had been no reaction to the lesson.

Mikhail, who had crossed his arms, was leaning back comfortably against his desk not long after the lecture had begun. It was clear he had no intention of paying attention, adopting a posture that practically announced he was about to fall asleep—right in the front row, no less.

Is he out of his mind? If he does that in the front, I’ll end up drawing attention too.

At that exact moment, the professor cast a sharp glance toward the prince, who had his eyes closed in the very front row. Adrian discreetly kicked Mikhail’s leg under the desk. Mikhail, feeling the nudge, cracked one eye open and glared at Adrian. Adrian nodded toward the podium, trying to get him to notice the professor. But whether out of cluelessness or irritation from being kicked, Mikhail extended his long leg and kicked Adrian back with equal force. 

Adrian muttered “Ow!” silently, looking at Mikhail in disbelief.

Just then, he felt a piercing gaze on him. Slowly turning his head from Mikhail to the podium, Adrian saw the magic professor staring directly at him. In fact, it was more accurate to say that the professor’s cold gaze was locked on Adrian rather than Mikhail.

Adrian flashed the professor a small smile, but it did nothing to soften the professor’s stern expression. Professor Sigrid scattered the glowing sphere he had floated in the air throughout the lecture hall in an instant.

“Just explaining is boring. Why don’t we test your abilities with some practice?” the professor said, snapping open a card case about the size of his palm. After opening the lid, he placed his clenched fist over the case, then slowly spread his five fingers.

Then, like flowing water, the white sheets from the card case gracefully flew through the air in an arc, landing softly in front of each student in the lecture hall.

“These papers are responsive to mana. They are the most commonly used tool for basic training in sensing mana. Place the paper between your palms and slowly separate your hands, trying to make the paper float. Here’s a tip: it works best if you emit mana evenly.”

Adrian placed the sheet in front of him between his palms and slowly spread his hands apart. Unsurprisingly, the paper slid down and fell to the desk. It was only natural—his body currently didn’t contain a single gram of mana.

As the professor walked around the room, observing the freshmen struggling to lift their papers, he briefly glanced at the paper lying limply on Adrian’s desk. Without saying a word, he moved on, his expression clearly showing he had expected this.

Next, he looked at Mikhail’s attempt. Despite his earlier indifference, the prince seemed to follow the instructions well. Mikhail’s paper hovered steadily between his palms at a sharp ninety-degree angle, in stark contrast to the trembling papers of the other freshmen, which constantly threatened to fall.

The professor’s gaze briefly sharpened as he glanced at Mikhail’s paper from beneath his glasses, but that was all. After all, everyone knew the youngest prince of the Rustabaran Kingdom was obsessed with swordsmanship. The professor would have wagered his job that the prince had no intention of joining the School of Magic.

Mikhail, too, didn’t seem to care for praise. He remained expressionless, even at the professor’s lack of reaction. Instead, he shot a half-smirk in Adrian’s direction, his expression childishly saying, “You can’t do this, can you?”

As the professor passed the front row and headed toward the back of the room, Adrian, annoyed by Mikhail’s smug look, pressed down firmly on the paper beneath the prince’s palm. Mikhail’s paper, previously standing thanks to mana, collapsed under the force of Adrian’s hand. Now, both sheets lay flat on their desks.

Mikhail, seemingly satisfied with having shown off once, crossed his arms again, signaling his intent to zone out. With the professor occupied at the back of the room, this was now his chance to nap, guilt-free.

Watching this, Adrian firmly resolved that, from the next class onward, he would make sure to sit far away from Mikhail.