Chapter 27
Chapter 27
-----------------------------------------------------------------
>Translator: Ryuma
>Chapter: 27
>Chapter Title: There Was None
>-----------------------------------------------------------------
After the mana measurement, Yorbi led the students through a series of tests.
Since it was the first day of enrollment, none of it counted toward their grades, but the students threw themselves into the tests with eyes blazing, every last one of them.
By the time all the tests wrapped up.
Student cafeteria building, first-floor cafeteria.
“Phew.”
Chenbi flopped face-first onto the table, looking utterly drained.
“I never imagined my level would be this pathetic…….”
He looked half-dead.
Dark circles had already bloomed under his eyes in just one day, though to be precise, the day's activities hadn't been physically grueling.
It was more a mental ordeal.
‘Can't blame him.’
It was understandable.
This was Jenion Academy, the top educational institution on the eastern continent, and its freshmen were of the highest caliber.
In other words, these were kids who'd been hotshots in their hometowns, but now that they'd arrived and enrolled, what a shock.
‘The world is vast, and talent is everywhere.’
It was inevitable.
Put a bunch of standouts together, and they'll sort themselves into the even more outstanding and the less so.
The real question was whether they'd accept that reality and push forward, or wallow in pointless self-pity and fall behind.
Chenbi was standing at that crossroads.
On the other hand……
‘This guy's the exception.’
I glanced at Damian, who sat across from Chenbi, deeply focused.
Damian was conjuring mana at his fingertips, repeatedly gathering and dispersing it, constantly shifting its shape.
Shape transformation.
One of the ways to test a mage's mana control—the higher the control, the more complex and precise the shapes they could form.
It had been one of the afternoon tests, and he seemed hooked, totally absorbed.
‘The average undergrad hits a regular octahedron.’
From regular tetrahedron up to octahedron.
For reference, Purion of the Dinai Family had managed a dodecahedron.
But what Damian had shown in the test……
- A dragon!
That's right. A dragon.
Sure, it was a mess of proportions with stubby wings and a bloated body, but that fierce face and the scales sprouting across its skin were pure dragon.
The key point was that he'd rendered scales through shape transformation.
- Impressive……
By then, not only Assistant Professor Yorbi but even the M3 class kids had stopped being surprised.
Some had started out sizing him up as a classmate, even a rival, eager to measure up and ignite their own drive, but in the end, they'd all acknowledged it.
He was in a league of his own.
‘Well, even I was shocked.’
No wonder for the others.
I'd crossed paths with plenty who'd been hailed as geniuses in their youth while carrying out missions.
Mages and knights alike—I'd chased, been chased, killed, and been targeted by no small number—but among them, ones comparable to Damian……
‘None.’
There was none.
If I had to name one……
Yeah.
‘Pahren.’
Maybe that damn Decullan patriarch could measure up.
But even that was uncertain.
Talent aside, their secret arts differed, and so did their affinities.
That's where my thoughts had landed when.
“Hey, buddy. What do you think? Looks pretty good, right?”
Damian showed me his completed dragon and asked.
The form he'd sculpted from blue mana was even closer to a true dragon now.
Of course, I'd never seen a real dragon.
They only existed in myths, and even then, every storyteller described them differently.
But there was a standard image: take a wyvern, scale it up dozens of times, cover it in scales, add a horn on the forehead.
Exactly like the one rising from Damian's fingertip.
I took it in silently, then said.
“Looks good enough.”
“Then this is Sweat, Tears, and Blood No. 2.”
Damian beamed with pride.
But with him putting it like that, I couldn't just let it slide.
“Make it more dynamic. Like it's lunging forward, wings spread wider. Mouth open would be better too. You know lion statues?”
“Yeah, we have one at home.”
“The ones with the mouth open are cool, right?”
“Totally.”
Damian nodded and dove back into shape transformation.
“……It comes that easily to him, huh.”
Chenbi stared at Damian, once again lost in the gap in their talents.
Watching him, a thought suddenly crossed my mind.
‘……What if.’
If I hadn't regressed, would I have despaired seeing Damian's talent too?
You know, if I'd been born into a normal family, with decent talent and a stable environment to work hard.
Of course, it was an unanswerable question.
I'd never lived that life.
But having scraped by as a penniless street rat, then rolled as the Decullan Troubleshooter, I knew what mattered.
Better to focus on what I had now, what I could wield, than to envy what I lacked and stew in inadequacy.
In my case, starting small……
‘Karahen's subspace.’
Comparing my growth to my past life, I was plenty satisfied already.
But seeing Karahen and Professor Parun this time had driven home a brutal point.
I couldn't benchmark against my past life's progress.
I had to measure against the threats I'd face this time around, and boost my objective combat power, not just growth rate.
Karahen's subspace surely held a few helpful things.
‘Even without secret tomes, gear or potions—stuff I can't easily get now—would do.’
That was the smaller part of what I had.
The bigger one……
‘Fire Mark.’
Unraveling its secrets.
That's when Damian's voice reached me.
“Buddy.”
“Yeah?”
“Academy was fun today. Glad I came.”
I looked at Damian steadily.
Nothing special about the words, but given how he'd been acting, it was pretty unusual.
The guy wouldn't notice if you carried him off when he was that focused.
“Yeah? Good for you.”
I replied casually.
Damian didn't press.
And so the academy day faded away.
* * *
At that moment, in the first-year faculty conference room at the academy.
Fifteen professors sat around U-shaped tables stretched out in a row.
Magic classes M1 through M3, three sections; martial classes E1 through E5, five sections.
All the homeroom professors and assistants for the eight classes were gathered.
It should have been sixteen, but one seat was empty.
“Professor Parun?”
At someone's question, an assistant professor answered.
“He hasn't returned from the imperial knights yet. Not just his lab—apparently his home was hit by Decullan last night too…… And with an academy student involved, no less.”
“Hmm, Pola, you mean.”
“Yeah. Seems tied to a mercenary band mission, but I don't know the details.”
The professors nodded casually at that.
They'd already heard from the imperial knights' investigators who visited that morning: Professor Parun's lab and home had been attacked by Decullan.
And that Pola was caught up in it.
It could be serious, but the professors brushed it off.
And why not? Sure, they were academy-bound educators now, nurturing the next generation, but each had been a renowned powerhouse in their prime.
Some, like Parun, had ventured out for achievements even after assistant professor days, but others had made their names outside before settling here.
A prime example: Jeira, homeroom for M3.
To such folks, what was a little friction with Decullan?
They knew the drill: noble house politics, imperial dynamics, the academy's prestige.
All tangled together, they could guess how it'd play out blindfolded.
The only puzzle was why Decullan had mobilized a mage like ‘Karahen’ against Professor Parun……
‘Curiosity killed the cat.’
‘Not my problem.’
‘……’
The professors shelved their interest, each for their own reasons. Or never had any to begin with.
The assistants weren't so blasé.
“Could something happen to Professor Parun? I mean, it's Decullan…… And I heard he killed Karahen…….”
The voice belonged to Yorbi.
Jeira glanced at him, then clamped her mouth shut.
As if it wasn't worth responding to. Bald martial professor Drauk chuckled ‘heh heh.’
The one who'd escorted Aster and Damian to the student guidance office on enrollment day.
“Worrying's understandable, but Professor Parun's no pushover, young as he is.”
As he wiped sweat from his brow to say more, a voice cut in.
“Professor Drauk. You think that sleazy Yorbi's really fretting over Parun? The guy's just neck-stretched waiting for a professor slot to open.”
The speaker was magic professor Pelina.
Over forty, but she looked near thirty, with rumors she wasn't a mage but a ‘witch.’
Preserving youth through witches' secret spells.
“Haha, P-Professor Pelina. How could I dare such irreverence…….”
“No excuses. A mage's mind rotted to the core…….”
Yorbi smiled awkwardly and tried to explain, but Pelina ignored him.
Rattle……
Just then, an admin staffer wheeled in a cart to the conference room.
“The materials you requested.”
Sixteen sets, one per head.
Parun was absent, but his assistant had prepared his share.
Once the staffer left.
“Ahem. Shall we start the meeting?”
Professor Drauk took charge, steadying the mood. The assistants straightened up.
The agenda: results from today's full tests.
“This semester's freshmen are overall high-caliber. Beating last year's averages across the board.”
They gauged student levels based on the admin's analysis.
How to adjust class intensity compared to last year, midterms and finals format.
The curriculum framework was set, but this tuned the details.
After hashing out specifics.
“Hmm. Quite a few impressive ones.”
They went student by student.
Of course, they couldn't cover hundreds. No need here.
So just the standouts, turning the meeting into chit-chat.
First up: Dalia.
“This one…… Hmm. All scores solid, but somehow falls short of Dinai prestige.”
“Still tops the regular admits, right?”
“For Dinai, topping is baseline. Look here—shape transformation lags others. Means talent's lacking there…….”
“A hard worker, maybe?”
“Probably.”
Second: Damian.
“No need to say it. Blandoga's ‘greatest talent ever’ isn't hype.”
“Needs careful guidance. Could be dangerous if he goes astray.”
A few more names passed lips after. Nothing special—just rumors or family talk.
Meanwhile.
“Ugh, graphs still baffle me. Professor Pelina, for this graph…… Hmm?”
Professor Drauk sought Pelina's input, then tilted his head.
Professor Pelina stared at one corner of the materials, face hardening like she'd seen something bizarre.
Her gaze was fixed, expression grave.
“Professor Pelina? Something wrong?”
She looked up at Drauk's question.
“No, nothing.”
She said no, but clearly something was up.
Not one to spill if asked, though, so Drauk dropped it.
Meanwhile, Pelina's eyes, back on the materials.
Locked on a short name.
<Aster>
- Note: Error on first mana measurement attempt, so second used. First error code: …… requires review.
‘……Error? No way……. That's exceeding the set max value.’
Mana tester error codes numbered hundreds, thousands.
Pelina was one of the few who knew them all by heart.
Looking closer, other scores looked fishy too. How could everything hover at last year's freshman average?
It happened sometimes, but Pelina couldn't shake the suspicion.
While Pelina harbored doubts.
Another professor stared piercingly at Aster's data.
‘…….’
Jeira, M3 homeroom.