Chapter 156
Chapter 156
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Translator: Ebonarch
Chapter: 156
Chapter Title: Test (2)
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Class was over.
Ann hurriedly packed her bag and ran toward the door.
“Whoa!”
“Ugh!”
At that moment, she collided with someone running from the opposite direction.
Ann was flung back against the wall and grimaced as she rubbed her left arm. It stung quite badly on her forearm.
Her right shoulder, where she had bumped into the other person, throbbed as well, though not quite as much as her left arm.
Ann checked who she had collided with.
Lennon.
He had fallen flat on his butt and was awkwardly getting up, squinting one eye.
Their gazes met in midair, sparks flying between them.
“Can’t you watch where you’re going?”
“You’re the one who should.”
The two glared at each other like they wanted to devour one another, growling.
At the sudden crashing sound, their classmates approached the door.
“Ann, you okay?”
“Lennon, you good? That sounded pretty loud.”
Worried voices reached them, but the two ignored them and kept glaring at each other.
One student suggested someone should break it up, but fortunately, no fight broke out.
They just stared silently for a moment before rushing out the door competitively, almost at the same time.
The watching students glanced in the direction they had gone and chatted.
“What’s with those two? Did they fight?”
“They don’t even talk to each other, so what would they fight about?”
“Yeah. I’ve never seen them talk since the first day... Are they friends?”
“Who knows. Let’s just head home.”
The students soon lost interest, grabbed their bags, and started heading home in groups with their friends.
Ann glanced sideways.
Lennon was walking one step ahead beside her.
This situation felt extremely uncomfortable to her. Not only had they bumped into each other leaving the classroom, but she also hated having to learn together under Teacher Jamie.
Lennon was probably thinking the same. If she had known Teacher Jamie’s lodgings beforehand, she could have gone separately without worry.
‘How does Lennon know where Teacher’s lodgings are?’
Did he already receive prior instruction?
All sorts of suspicions arose, and jealousy bubbled up again.
Ann sighed. Lately, she had realized she couldn’t control her emotions at will.
She recalled her parents occasionally arguing as a couple. She had wondered why married people fought, but now as a grown-up, she understood emotions were harder to control than expected.
On the other hand, she thought, ‘This isn’t right.’
They had to learn together under the same teacher from now on. Maintaining this relationship would negatively affect both of them.
‘Yeah. I need to calm down a bit.’
Jealousy, inferiority complex.
Teacher Jamie had said those were inevitable for humans. Don’t get consumed by them; use them as motivation to move forward.
They needed friendly competition.
Lennon was a far superior mage than her, but they would become fellow disciples under the same master.
If she failed the test, it wouldn’t matter, but rather than being swayed by negative emotions, reaching out first as the ‘big sister’ would be the mature thing to do.
‘Right. I’m the big sister.’
Lennon was 9, she was 10.
A one-year difference was huge at their age.
Ann cleared her throat to get Lennon’s attention.
“Ahem!”
“...What?”
Lennon, walking ahead, turned back at the cough from behind.
Ann was staring awkwardly at the ground, looking like she had something to say.
“Got something to say?”
“Well...”
“Spit it out already. Time’s wasting.”
“...I’m trying to be nice here, so why do you have to talk like that?”
She wanted to yield a little to improve their relationship, but Lennon didn’t seem interested.
“Be nice? We’re going to be rivals from now on, so why be nice?”
Lennon had changed a lot, but he was a twisted boy from the start in many ways.
Especially, he had no intention of smiling and getting along with someone he envied and resented.
He didn’t show it, but Lennon envied Ann’s brilliant mind. And he was angry at Ann, who had such a mind yet was terrible at magic.
A flower without fruit. That’s exactly what she was.
But Lennon was worse than that. His magical talent far surpassed Ann’s, but she had a genius-level intellect that overshadowed it all.
He was jealous and envious. Getting along nicely was impossible. But he wasn’t childish enough at 9 to blurt out his feelings raw.
“I’m not playing house. Never did, even back then.”
Ann was dumbfounded. For a mere 9-year-old to talk like he’d seen the world’s hardships.
A sigh escaped her.
They were like water and oil. Impossible to mix. She had known from the start. It wasn’t about good or bad personality.
‘As long as these feelings don’t go away, Lennon’s right.’
Coexisting with inferiority complex while laughing it off was impossible.
To do that, one of them had to clearly surpass the other.
Ann gritted her teeth and started running.
“W-What?! Where are you going?!”
As Ann suddenly surged ahead, Lennon panicked briefly but gritted his teeth and chased after her.
A sudden race had begun on the way home.
However, Lennon never overtook her. A one-year gap was huge among kids. Especially since girls developed faster than boys.
Running was no different.
The problem was that neither Ann nor Lennon were ordinary kids.
“Fly!”
Thin mana wings spread from Lennon’s back, lifting him into the air.
The basic flight spell, Fly.
Lennon shot past the leading Ann in an instant.
“Huh??”
As Ann widened her eyes in surprise, Lennon flashed a smug sneer.
“Heh. Do it if you can.”
Fly was a 3rd class spell.
Not something Ann, who had just entered 2nd class, could cast.
However, Fly wasn’t the only spell that boosted speed.
“Haste!”
Ann’s legs began moving faster.
The buff spell Haste, which enhanced physical speed, sprouted small wings on her legs.
Lennon clicked his tongue and accelerated his flight.
On the unexpected path home from school.
The two elementary students started a running(?) race.
Phoenix Academy’s back gate.
Finn was with other students.
They weren’t from Alpha Class; they all looked three or four years younger than Finn.
“Finn, you’re really lucky. You usually don’t get invited, but I pulled some strings, so be grateful.”
“Yeah, Ivan. Thanks.”
The boy called Ivan nodded with a confident smile.
He then addressed everyone.
“Normally, Teacher Silver would guide you, but she’s absent today. So I’m showing you around. Follow closely.”
Finn looked at Ivan with wonder.
The hard worker Ivan.
That was Ivan’s nickname. A student who worked hard but didn’t see results proportional to his effort.
Always lacking confidence, shy, not good at talking to others.
Yet now, that boy was acting like the group leader.
‘There were rumors in Beta Class about him dropping out or not...’
Beta Class’s resident ghost.
Like Finn, Ivan was a bit old for the elementary division.
“Anyway, we’re heading to a VIP spot today, so look forward to it.”
Their destination today was none other than Trinity’s lab, where Apophis X was developed.
They had started new drug development and sent invitations to VIPs only.
Finn was surprised Ivan was a VIP. He had started drinking Apophis X thanks to Ivan, but VIP status wasn’t just from buying and drinking the supplement.
‘Fine by me. Apophis X really works. There seem to be slight side effects, though.’
A bit of body ache was tolerable.
And even that subsided somewhat after drinking Apophis X.
It increased mana capacity and concentration; a little ache wasn’t much of a risk.
The students arrived at Trinity’s lab.
The lab was on the outskirts of the magic district and wasn’t as large as expected.
Ivan approached a guard in a black suit, showed a white card, and the door cautiously opened.
“Everyone, follow me.”
At Ivan’s gesture, the students swallowed dryly and entered the lab.
Space expansion magic was cast on the lab, so the interior was vast unlike the modest exterior.
Entering the main hall, a man with silver hair and brown skin greeted them impressively.
“Welcome, young guests. I’m Ashtar, the manager here.”
“Long time no see, Mr. Ashtar.”
Ashtar’s smiling eyes sharpened at Ivan’s greeting as he replied.
“It’s been two months.”
His eyes were a ruby-red.
“Hah... Hah...”
Ann panted heavily and looked at Lennon, who was leaning against the wall, catching his breath just like her.
She hadn’t overtaken him even once. Infuriating, but the obvious result. She had only used Haste, while Lennon flew with Fly.
Even at equal skill, Fly had the overwhelming advantage, and since her skill was far behind, winning was impossible.
Still, she had chased desperately, using everything she had learned so far.
‘Monster of a kid.’
Lennon panted and glared venomously at Ann.
At first, he thought she was an idiot. How could running beat flying? Quitting was the sane choice, but Ann ran like her life depended on it.
She even layered several spells beyond Haste to amplify her speed.
Not just anyone could do that. It was possible because Ann had high magical comprehension. Her sense for weaving spell formulas together was exceptional.
To Lennon, Ann looked like a monster, despite her inferior magical skill.
“But I won.”
“...”
Too frustrated to even lift her head, Ann stayed silent.
What was this frustrating feeling even knowing she would lose?
Lennon peeled his back from the wall and said.
“Get up already. Teacher’s waiting.”
“Okay.”
Ann stood, clutching her skirt tightly.
The two headed silently to Jamie’s lodgings.
Seeing the disheveled Ann and Lennon, Jamie clicked his tongue.
“What did you two do to end up with hair like that?”
Unable to admit they had raced, the two stayed silent.
‘They had some kind of showdown.’
He didn’t know what, but from Ann’s reaction, it seemed real. At their current skills, no matter what Ann did magically, she couldn’t beat Lennon.
The gap between them was like heaven and earth.
“Come in.”
Once inside, Jamie sat them in chairs and handed over two magic tomes he had prepared all night.
“Take these.”
“This is?”
“Full Body... Breathing Method?”
“That’s the breathing technique you were so curious about. Linmel Marquis invented it, so thank him next time you meet. Without his permission, I couldn’t teach it to you.”
“...Linmel Marquis’s breathing method.”
The two silently stared at the cover of the Full Body Breathing Method.
It was a thick plain book with only [Full Body Breathing Method] written on it.
“I don’t care what you did on the way here. Whether you get along or not, that’s irrelevant too.”
Mistaking it to mean their bad relationship was fine, Ann and Lennon glared at each other.
Jamie flicked each on the forehead.
“Ow!”
“Eek!”
“Don’t you think glaring like that in front of your teacher is a no-go? Right, kids?”
“S-Sorry.”
“Sorry, sir.”
The two rubbed their reddened foreheads.
Jamie shook his head and continued.
“Anyway, the reason I say that is because it’s all meaningless if you don’t pass my test.”
“What’s the test?”
“Nothing hard.”
Jamie took back the tome from Lennon’s hand and waved it.
“Master this by the end of today. That’s it.”
He said with a beaming smile.
“Pretty easy, right?”
The two students couldn’t respond.
They just made miserable faces.