Lecture Observation (2)
What scene comes to mind when you think of an academy lecture?
Dozens of students seated in a lecture hall, learning the foundations of magic as they walk the path of sorcery—that's the image it would conjure.
Let's compare that with the Mana Control Application and Practice course I taught.
Setting aside the fact that every professor taught a different subject, there was only one real difference.
That was—
While most lectures had a minimum enrollment of twenty, I was teaching four people, so it was closer to tutoring than a lecture.
I hadn't given it much thought until recently, when the chancellor told me something.
He said that lectures were based on the syllabus each professor submitted, and they usually prepared well in advance, before any exams took place.
So they capped the number of students who could take a course and let the newly admitted freshmen choose from the lecture list.
By now, you can probably tell what was different about my course.
1. It was thrown together on short notice when I suddenly had to teach.
2. Because of that, it wasn't even on the lecture list, so nobody knew it existed.
3. As a result, total enrollment hit four.
That was how things had turned out.
If another professor had found themselves in this situation, all sorts of problems would have arisen, but I actually preferred it.
The fewer students I taught, the easier it was to focus on the Demons. And as I grew closer to Ayla, my relationship with the Magic Tower Master improved as well.
Thanks to that, I'd been quietly enjoying academy life in my own way when, suddenly, the numbers swelled.
And it went from four to fourteen.
Overnight, it had more than tripled.
I'd never said anything about increasing the class size, so the students must have come on their own.
"Could you explain what this is about?"
While asking for an explanation, I checked the new students' levels.
As was average for academy students, out of the ten, seven were Level 3 and three were Level 2.
Among them, a familiar face—Leon—was at the mid-Level 3 stage.
'At a glance, they don't look very skilled.'
If you stripped away their levels and looked solely at combat ability, they were no different from Gilbert and Camilla at the start of the course.
"You didn't just turn up here without a reason, right?"
At that, Camilla, who'd been sitting quietly, raised her hand.
"Instructor, your lectures have been the talk of the academy lately."
"My lectures have?"
I really hadn't expected that.
Camilla folded down her fingers one by one as she spoke.
"Just from what I’ve heard, your Mana Control improves, your Mana Circuits get sturdier, and you even help us build basic stamina...."
Everything I'd taught so far was listed off one by one, like stacking a Layered Magic Circle.
Each point drew impressed reactions from the students around me.
"And above all, I sparred with a friend recently, you know?"
"Oh, did you win, Camilla?"
Camilla nodded without a moment's hesitation.
"I didn't just win—I won overwhelmingly. The friends who watched said my combat sense was clearly on another level."
The results of my teaching were gradually starting to show.
At this rate, the chancellor would have nothing to fault me for.
"Anyway, they’ve heard nothing but good things. Since they can’t enroll midway through the semester, they at least want to attend during their free periods."
"Ah, I understand."
In the end, word of the lecture had spread, and students who wanted to take it but couldn't apply mid-semester due to academy regulations had shown up.
They were passionate enough to sacrifice their free periods—something academy students valued above almost anything else.
At this point, most professors would agonize over how to apply the regulations.
But I couldn't care less.
There wasn't any drastic change just because enrollment had gone from four to fourteen.
More than anything, the chancellor would obviously be pleased if I taught more.
As it happened, I needed user feedback on the Magic Device, and the more people tried it, the more varied the evaluations would be.
So I made the decision to rope them all in before even one could run away from the gymnasium.
"So, the ten of you here came because you want to take my lecture, correct?"
"Yes, that's right."
The students answered in different ways.
Multiple voices overlapped, but their determination to participate in the lecture was unmistakable.
I casually took attendance, then carried on with the lecture.
"Today, we’ll be using a Magic Device supplied by the Magic Tower."
When I pulled the Magic Device from my pocket, the students' already-bright eyes lit up even more.
"You even got sponsorship from the Magic Tower?"
"Only four people have been taking a lecture this good?"
"This won't do. I absolutely have to enroll next semester."
Ignoring the occasional declarations that they would enroll next semester,
I recalled how the chancellor, before he left, had stressed several times that this lecture was important.
"This Magic Device creates a special environment. Put simply, you can experience a forest right here in the gymnasium."
"Is that really possible?"
At the brown-haired student’s question, I looked the Magic Device over and nodded.
"According to the Magic Tower, it uses Spatial Magic. Its operating range is about the size of the mountain behind the academy."
"The Magic Tower really is amazing...."
"So today, we’ll use this Magic Device for a mock battle in a realistic environment."
"Ooh!"
Perhaps because this kind of lecture was a first for them, the brief explanation was enough to generate ample anticipation.
"The environment will be set to the academy's rear mountain, which you're all familiar with. The time will be night."
"Oooh!!"
I then explained the detailed rules of the exercise.
"The victory condition is reaching a designated location. Even if only two people out of the fourteen make it, that counts as your win."
Most of them looked confident when they heard they only needed two people to reach the destination to win.
"If only two out of fourteen need to make it, can't we just stick together and go?"
"Right? Anything goes as long as we make it there."
"And it’s not even somewhere unfamiliar. The mountain behind the academy is nothing special."
Having visited the mountain behind the academy several times, they seemed especially reassured by how familiar it was.
Only the four students who had been taking the lecture wore deeply tense expressions.
"Also, I won't move for three minutes after the exercise begins. Until then, you may run toward the rally point or attack me freely."
Giving them a three-minute head start only made them more confident that they could do it.
"We just have to gather quickly and move as far as we can for three minutes."
"Yeah. Sounds pretty good, doesn’t it?"
"If we plan our strategy well, it's doable."
Finally, I informed them that an environment had been set up allowing me to act with relative ease.
"This Magic Device has a protective spell on it. If you take an attack that would incapacitate or kill you, you’ll be ejected from the field."
Then Gilbert, who'd been quiet, asked a question.
"Instructor, what's the criterion for a fatal injury?"
"Incapacitation or death."
"Ah..."
Along with Camilla, Gilbert wore an expression as if he'd realized exactly what was about to happen.
To anyone watching, it would probably look like I was putting them through the wringer the way Alcyone did.
I'd set that kind of teaching aside for the time being, though.
Anyway.
After finishing the Magic Device settings without difficulty,
I set the Magic Device on the ground and considered how difficult to make the exercise.
The course's objective was to subdue a Level 4 Demon.
However.
With Flora and Ayla having recently leveled up, they could now subdue a Level 4 Demon with ease.
As for Gilbert and Camilla, once their training concluded, they'd manage without trouble if they applied what I'd taught them.
Considering that the lesson focused on small-unit movement, it made sense to assume there would be several Demons.
So I decided to have Demons ranging from the target Level 4 up to Level 6 appear.
"I'll begin."
I channeled Mana into the Magic Device and took a step back.
Fwoosh!
In that moment, the sensation of entering a subspace coursed through my entire body, and a new scene spread out before my eyes.
"Better than I thought."
The Dragon must have helped, because the surroundings were indistinguishable from the mountain behind the academy.
In fact, I was standing in the very center of the forest where I'd met Sian Merkel.
I promptly sat down on an old stump and pulled out a pocket watch.
"What will they do with three precious minutes?"
I decided to observe the situation, using a Level 6 demon—a Chimera—as a reference point.
I scattered my mana so faintly it was nearly imperceptible and fed it into the surveillance zone.
I collected the Mana Fluctuations the students unconsciously gave off and counted them.
They had all dropped in locations not too far from one another.
Centered on Ayla, nearby students assembled at a rapid pace.
"Eight... ten... fourteen. They've all gathered already."
The elapsed time was one minute.
Then Flora, who knew exactly how I tended to attack, took charge of the side that was easiest to defend.
"As expected of Flora. Quick judgment."
Two minutes and thirty seconds later, they had formed ranks and begun advancing toward their destination.
With Flora there, the difference in speed was unmistakable.
"In that case, what I need to do is..."
With ten seconds left, I rose from my seat and turned my head in the direction the students were running.
"I suppose I shouldn't let a single one reach safety."
When I'd borrowed the curriculum from the library, I'd learned that the academy taught military science.
It described how to maintain formation while moving toward an objective.
It was a set of rules written in blood—the product of devising optimal methods while countless people died.
I wanted to see how well they could put those hard-won rules into practice.
After all, people fear what they cannot see most of all.
As a light warm-up, I decided to test Flora's mana detection.
'She should be able to handle this much.'
First, I chose Wind Magic so I would leave no trace.
Then I used Multicasting to compress Wind again and again, increasing its lethality before modifying it for acceleration. With only simple adjustments, it became a long-range sniping spell anyone could reproduce.
"Let's see. Remaining time, three seconds..."
Confirming that only a few seconds remained before I could move again, I prepared to cast with Multicasting.
Clean Mana flowed into my Mana Circuit, and a familiar energy spread through my body.
I'd cast it countless times, so the magic circle drew itself cleanly in my mind.
My mind sank into perfect stillness.
Once you reached a certain level, you didn't need to speak the name of a basic spell, but for the feel of it, I called out its given name.
"Wind."
The moment the highly compressed breeze shot forth, boasting unbelievable firepower,
BOOM!
A powerful detonation rang out, strong enough to shake every tree in the area all at once.