Chapter 146
Chapter 146
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Translator: Ebonarch
Chapter: 53
Chapter Title: A Genius, But Not a Genius Girl (1)
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Anne was heading back to the classroom, reviewing Jamie's explanation in her mind.
"It's still difficult. Even after the explanation, there are parts I don't understand."
The magic circle that Jamie and Kennyak had demonstrated was so complex that it was hard to fully grasp just by watching it once.
Still, after hearing the explanation, she had a rough idea of where she had gone wrong. She'd fix those parts as soon as she got back and try again.
Her lighter mood made her steps feel lighter too.
"Hey."
Then, someone called out to her from behind.
Turning around, she saw Lennon following with his hands in his pockets and a dark expression on his face.
"Lennon?"
"Let's talk for a sec."
Was he curious about something from class life?
Anne was the type of student who couldn't ignore things like that.
She was more than willing to go out of her way to teach new students whatever they were wondering about.
"What's up? Got a question? Oh, it's lunchtime now. Don't know where the cafeteria is? I'll show you. I need to eat too, so we can go together..."
"Please stop assuming and talking over me. You don't even give me a chance to speak."
Lennon covered Anne's mouth, which had been firing off words like a machine gun.
It was probably the first time someone had forcibly silenced her. Anne blinked her large eyes.
"Calmed down?"
She hadn't been excited in the first place, so why ask if she'd calmed down?
Anne felt puzzled by his words, but figured speaking up would only make him grumble more, so she nodded obediently.
"Hoo. How did you do that?"
"Do what?"
"The magic circle. You pulled it off in front of Jamie... I mean, the teacher earlier."
"This?"
Anne effortlessly conjured a three-dimensional magic circle above her palms.
Lennon furrowed his brow.
'How did she do it?'
He was confident that, across the entire academy, he could count on one hand the students better at magic than him.
The elementary division's Alpha Class was child's play to him, and he'd found nothing difficult in the textbooks when he looked them over.
But the layered technique Jamie had shown was a different story.
That alone gave him a headache, and then Kennyak had gone further by completing a three-dimensional magic circle.
Fine. Up to that point, it was okay. It was a completely new technique, and clearly not an easy one at first glance.
No student could understand and replicate it right away. He was certain of that.
"So how the hell did you pull it off?!"
Without any context, Lennon shouted in frustration.
Anne flinched at the sudden outburst.
His expression was visibly twisted.
She racked her brain wondering if she'd done something wrong, but Anne hadn't done anything wrong.
She'd just shown the magic circle that Jamie and Kennyak had demonstrated when they asked her to.
"...I just copied what I saw."
"Copied it?"
"Yeah."
Lennon felt like he was going insane.
Jamie and Kennyak hadn't explained anything about the three-dimensional magic circle. They'd said the students weren't ready for it yet, and that teaching it prematurely might hinder their current progress.
Lennon had accepted that.
Even with his skill level, he had no confidence in replicating it.
Yet this girl, who didn't even seem particularly talented in mana, had copied it just by watching.
Whether it was perfect or not didn't matter.
'She did what I couldn't.'
That was the key point.
Lennon was a prideful kid. That pride had been utterly shattered half a year ago when he met Jamie, history's greatest genius.
And now.
"Damn it."
Lennon found his pride shattered once again by a girl he'd thought was nothing special.
Having finished all his classes, Jamie returned to the house provided by the mage society.
It was overly spacious for a child living alone.
They'd offered to assign a few servants, but he'd refused.
Still, since they insisted on helping, he'd asked them to come mornings and evenings for meals and cleaning.
Jamie shed his uncomfortable clothes, donned a robe, and entered the study.
"That kid."
He sat in the chair with a serious expression, thinking of Anne Meyer.
She'd only seen it once.
Yet she'd replicated it immediately. She hadn't perfectly conjured the three-dimensional magic circle, but the fact that she'd done it at all was what mattered.
"I knew she had exceptional analytical skills, but I never imagined she could mimic something she'd just seen."
A genius.
This was what people meant by genius—who else could it apply to?
Even if he explained the exact method and theory in simple terms, fewer than one in ten students could pull it off.
Anne Meyer. She'd stood out from the first impression, but he hadn't expected her to hide such a secret.
The problem was that she herself didn't see it as anything special.
'Can't blame her.'
Jamie frowned.
Anne was undoubtedly a genius, but unfortunately, her magic was just average.
That was the issue.
This was an academy under the mage society, a place to train mages. Mages naturally required exceptional intellect. But being smart wasn't enough for a mage.
Mana. The ability to handle it and gain insights leading to the next realm—that was the essence of a mage.
Anne Meyer's talent for handling mana was utterly average.
In other words, Anne's talent was that of a scholar.
Smart head, nothing more. And terrifyingly so.
"The teachers can't possibly be unaware of Anne's talent."
Unless they were blind, at least Javelin and Kennyak were skilled mages.
Especially Siegfried—he knew Anne.
Siegfried, praised as the greatest genius before Jamie. It didn't make sense that he wouldn't know of her talent.
With his thoughts reaching that point, Jamie stood up, grabbed his coat, and headed to the chancellor's office.
He needed to talk to Siegfried.
Siegfried was in the chancellor's office, immersed in ancient tomes.
Figuring out what to make with the 'Fragment of Aion' obtained from Serdemain wasn't easy.
So he'd borrowed ancient books from the mage society's grand library and was reading through them nonstop.
"Not this one either."
The title read [Infinite Power].
But the contents were full of vague nonsense. For this to occupy space in the grand library—better to burn it as kindling and grill some meat.
"Next one."
Eternal fragments were tricky minerals, but if he could make what he wanted, something incredible would be born.
It might take years, but it was necessary for the future.
As Siegfried tried to focus on the next tome, a knock came from outside.
"Who is it?"
"It's Jamie, Elder."
"Young lord? Come in."
The door opened, and Jamie entered the chancellor's office.
Siegfried closed his book and gestured to the guest sofa.
"Have a seat. What would you like to drink?"
"I'm fine."
"Then let's just talk. What brings you here?"
"Do I need a reason to visit, between us?"
"Well, no, but."
"Actually, I do have a reason."
Siegfried frowned.
"Here to play word games?"
"It's been a while since we last did."
"...Just tell me the reason."
"Anne Meyer."
At the mention of Anne, Siegfried's eyebrow twitched upward slightly.
"Why are you neglecting her?"
At the word 'neglecting,' one eyebrow drooped.
"Neglecting?"
"You know what I mean. Why I'm bringing this up."
Siegfried answered with silence. Jamie could tell that was affirmation without asking.
"Today in my first class, I demonstrated this."
Jamie raised both hands and unfurled the layered magic circle, the three-dimensional one, and even a large magic circle made by stacking multiple ones as symbols.
Siegfried's eyes widened at the sight.
"Young lord? What is this?!"
Magic circles weren't his specialty, but he could tell at a glance that what Jamie showed was far superior to current methods.
But Jamie shook his head.
"I'm not showing off. Student Anne Meyer replicated it after seeing it just once."
"What?"
"Not perfectly, but the point is she did it. This is theory that's still too advanced for students—I barely explained it. You get what that means, right?"
Siegfried, a genius then and now, couldn't miss the implication.
"Scholar's talent. Overwhelming insight that allows understanding just by seeing."
"Young lord."
"Why is she still attending the academy? Why is the mage society neglecting a child like that? Why let talent like this rot? That's what I'm saying."
"Sigh. Young lord. I figured you of all people would understand."
"You expected me to recognize her talent."
Siegfried nodded and continued.
"Yes. Anne is a genius. Born with a brain that absorbs everything perfectly after one look. But you know that too."
"She has zero talent for magic."
Not talentless like Vena.
Utterly average.
To put it bluntly, without that brain, she wouldn't be in Alpha Class—she'd be in the lowest Gamma Class.
Maybe not even admitted to the academy.
"No matter the label, Anne is just smart. Incredibly smart. But smarts alone don't make a mage."
Siegfried sighed deeply and gave a wry smile.
"That's why. Of course, we recognized it, just as you said."
'We' meant the mage society elders.
"She has endless potential even without becoming a mage. And with talent like that, we could use elixirs to forcibly raise her realm..."
"How far would a forcibly raised realm really take her?"
This time, Jamie had no reply.
"There are always born geniuses like you or me, and untalented ones like Miss Vena."
Vena wasn't human, but Siegfried had seen at a glance her abysmal lack of magic talent.
"Anne has talent, but it's too average. If we expected her to become a pillar of the mage society as you suggest, we'd have done it. But you saw it yourself."
"The mage society sees her as a half-baked talent."
"I won't use that term for a student. But one thing, young lord. The mage society is the core of Seldam Kingdom, a pillar of its power. We have to be stringent about everything. Harsh, but true."
Jamie agreed.
The mage society was like a massive corporation in a way.
The costs of mages' research and training—all funded by investments.
So they couldn't casually invest in just anyone with 'talent.' People's futures are unpredictable.
One might argue that's exactly why to invest, but what about those with visible growth potential?
That was Anne Meyer.
"Then you should have sent her somewhere else. A place where that talent could shine better."
Anne's talent would bloom anywhere. It just couldn't because of magic.
"You could raise her as a magical engineer. If she pursued that path, she'd surpass most mages."
Magical engineers approached magic as an academic discipline, unlike mages.
For example, artifact creators were broadly magical engineers.
Siegfried nodded in response.
"Probably. The issue is she has no will for it."
"Have you talked to her?"
"Not outright, but we've counseled her. She said this back then."
Siegfried remembered Anne's words clearly.
-I'll become a great mage and restore the honor our Meyer family lost in the past. So no one ignores us.
Her expression was too serious to dismiss as childish resolve.
"Of course, we didn't leave it at that for such a reason. It's her future at stake. But because she's a child, we're watching. Children change unpredictably. Like you did."
"..."
"Actually, there have been talks about taking her as a disciple. Even without magic talent, her scholarly aptitude is astonishing."
"What was the conclusion?"
"Some refused due to too many disciples already, others due to lack of magic talent. It ended there."
"And you, Elder?"
"I don't take disciples."
True. Despite his power, Siegfried had no disciples.
Probably never would.
"Come to think of it, didn't Anne call you 'Master' once?"
"...She just wants to follow me like a teacher. It's a shame. If I took disciples, I'd have chosen her regardless of talent."
Knowing Siegfried's personality, Jamie nodded.
With nothing more to say, Jamie stood.
He'd confirmed the higher-ups had no immediate plans for Anne.
It was too good a talent to waste.
"I'll head out then."
"See you. Come back if you have more to discuss."
Jamie bowed and walked to the door.
Then Siegfried called from behind.
"Young lord."
"Yes?"
"If you regret it so much, why don't you raise her yourself?"
Jamie had no response to that.
Siegfried grinned at Jamie's dazed face.
"Take a disciple for once. A master and disciple transcending age. Not bad, right?"
Jamie said nothing and stormed out of the office.
Left alone, Siegfried just shrugged.