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Translated By Arcane Translations
Translator: Simzy
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A character who first appears in Chapter 12, where Tia dies. [Inheritor of Will] Spina was practically a newborn dragon hatchling. Since dragons were the strongest beings in the setting, she was assigned an SSR rank despite her young age. She was popular. She was inherently cute, and the melancholic aura that belied her age suited her well. The cute skill effects were a bonus.
[Petit Breath]
See? Even the name was “petit.” In the game, it was just a young girl with a cold expression breathing fire. The effects even included things like stars and hearts.
“Hey, Oz. Is this a challenge to me?”
“…No, Headmaster.”
Yes, so it was natural that I couldn’t have imagined that this “petit” breath would have this much power. It made sense considering its high attack coefficient, but visually, it was completely out there.
I could no longer look at Spina with the same heartwarming feeling.
The ground melted. The magical protective devices within the testing area were shattered in a single blow. The scarecrow was no longer visible.
Well, if “petit” was based on a small nuclear bomb, then I could understand.
“So, what’s this? Did you want to show off by causing all this destruction? Are you insane?”
“No, this was just an accident…”
“An acci-dent?”
It was annoying to see a grown woman mimicking a child’s speech, but since I was in the wrong, I quietly hung my head. If I met Tia’s gaze now, I might collapse from fear.
“You, listen here. If Prudence and I hadn’t stopped this, everyone here… no, everyone would have died. Do you understand? I stopped it. I did.”
The way she omitted Professor Prudence Loa’s name at the end showed how strong her self-love was.
“…As expected of the Headmaster. You never disappoint. Truly amazing.”
Clap clap clap clap–
“Do you really want to die? Prudence, restrain this brat. I need to open up his head and see what’s inside.”
I quickly covered my mouth. This damn mouth was causing trouble. No, it wasn’t just my mouth, but this entire Oz body.
“Please calm down, Tiamat…”
I wanted to apologize, but it wasn’t easy. I didn’t even want to imagine what would have happened if Professor Prudence hadn’t intervened.
[Erosion Rate 17%]
Oz’s arrogance kept surfacing after the incident with Eleanor. It was better to keep my mouth shut in these situations, but…
“Are you ignoring me?”
…even that wasn’t easy.
“Why is it that this year, there are only weirdos? Speaking of which, where did that Alexios brat go?”
“…”
I silently pointed to the hole, and Tia stood on her tiptoes, looking down into the hole that was bigger than she was.
“…Oh, there he is. That crazy brat.”
“As expected of the Headmaster. You noticed that this hole was created by the magic I used…”
“If you don’t want to die, shut your mouth and write a reflection essay.”
“Yes…”
“Twenty pages. We’ll decide on your punishment later in a meeting. Write the reflection essay first. Even if I want to consider extenuating circumstances, this was too much. Don’t you agree?”
“I understand. I’ll do that.”
“Why do you sound so agreeable? No, forget it. I don’t even want to care anymore.”
I wasn’t officially enrolled in Scientia yet, but I didn’t point that out. Letting me off the hook like this was already merciful.
“The interview… well, surely you won’t cause any trouble there, right?”
“Of course not.”
This wouldn’t have happened if I hadn’t needed to use [Mana Dominator] in the first place. A simple interview where we exchanged questions and answers wouldn’t cause any problems, right?
“Don’t worry, Headmaster. It’s just a simple interview.”
After chasing Oz away, Tia was still dealing with the aftermath of the exam.
[Dragon Language]
A dragon’s will is magic. Restoring the devastated exam site to its original state was no problem for her.
『Begone.』
Yes, that should have worked.
“Huh…?”
But her will didn’t take effect. The exam site was still smoldering. It was impossible. She was a being capable of extinguishing a city-wide fire in an instant. It was inconceivable that she couldn’t extinguish a mere ember of magic.
“That crazy brat, don’t tell me…?”
Tia stared blankly at the embers for a while, then realized the implication and shuddered. It was the first time. It had been 300 years since she founded Scientia. She had seen countless talented humans, but never one so unique.
Humans were fascinating creatures. They were inherently weak. There were many races, but humans were arguably the weakest of them all. But they also held the greatest potential. Despite their short lifespans of less than 100 years, they constantly pushed their limits and grew.
Tia loved human lives. Not just humans, but their lives. She loved the flames they kindled, not the individuals themselves. Weren’t they like burning flames? She liked fire. Not only because she was a fire dragon, but also because she liked the warmth and violent nature of fire.
That was why she liked the fiery lives of humans.
But fire didn’t burn without fuel. No matter how much humans burned their potential, they could never reach her realm. They would burn out before that.
Hundreds of years. Yes, hundreds of years. The entire human race had been burning their potential for hundreds of years, taking one step at a time, but they were still far from reaching her realm. Even if she shared her knowledge and guided them, humans still couldn’t overcome that wall.
“Ha… Hahahahaha!”
But there was one. A being who had overcome the wall. It wasn’t an old sage who had burned through their entire life. It wasn’t someone who had received direct instruction from her. It wasn’t even the culmination of a race, built upon the sacrifices of countless individuals and the accumulation of generations of effort.
“That lunatic!”
It was a single human who had achieved it all alone. The embers scattered around contained a dragon’s will. It was natural that they couldn’t be extinguished with simple methods. Willpower had to be confronted and broken; it couldn’t be bent with mere words.
Those small embers, which seemed like they could be extinguished with a single stomp, signified that the human Oz had stepped into the realm of dragons.
“…Where is that brat now?”
Tia started to fret. She fidgeted restlessly, like a child anticipating a picnic. It was understandable. There was a fearless human who had barged into the realm she thought would take hundreds of years to reach.
“Hmm…”
Tia could distinguish the mana of everyone within the academy. Of course, there were a few exceptions. One was the Saintess of the Church:
[SSR Saintess of Hope]
Arietta Domine
She was practically a pure embodiment of holy power, devoid of any mana. Tia, who was unfamiliar with holy power, found it difficult to detect her.
And the other one was Oz Quabadis. He possessed exceptional mana concealment abilities. Even she, a dragon, found it difficult to grasp him. At first, Tia thought it was some kind of skill, but the moment she saw Oz, she understood. He simply wasn’t leaking a single drop of mana.
However, that didn’t mean she couldn’t find them. Mana permeated every place in the world. So, if she traced the voids in space, she would be able to find them.
“Hmm…”
Tia began to trace the voids.
“Hmm… Hmmm! That’s right! I sent him for the interview, didn’t I?”
Tia smacked her forehead, realizing Oz’s location. There was no need to waste time searching. Unable to contain her burning anticipation, Tia flew towards the interview room.
‘What should I say?’
As the interview room door came into view, Tia pondered with a wicked smile.
‘Congratulations? How dare you?’
Either would be fine. Feeling the throbbing of her heart, burning with anticipation and excitement, Tia flung open the door to the interview room.
“Hey! Is Oz he—…”
“Sob… Waaah…”
And the moment she opened the door, her burning heart froze.
-Don’t worry, Headmaster. It’s just a simple interview.
I used to think that way too.
“Sob! Hic… Waaah…”
“…”
The woman clinging to the Headmaster and crying was the interviewer in charge of aspiring mages, and also a professor who taught basic and intermediate magic. I remembered her because she was an NPC who frequently appeared in the game. Her name was probably “Aira Merlin.” A character with a mystical aura, with sky-blue hair and eyes.
“Oz, you little…”
Headmaster Tia, who had barged into the interview room, fixed me with a cold glare. This blatant accusation hurt. Why did she suspect me so readily? There were five other students being interviewed besides me; it was unfair.
But I was the culprit.
“Headmaster, this was a simple misunderstanding.”
“Why don’t you turn off the lights in those eyes of yours and explain?”
[Contemplation – Deactivated]
As the Headmaster instructed, I deactivated [Contemplation]. Yes, all misunderstandings stemmed from this [Contemplation].
I had done nothing wrong.
“…Those actually turn off?”
“Yes, well, they deactivate.”
To be precise, they deactivated, not turned off. And besides a slight change in demeanor when activated, there wasn’t any actual light. Perhaps the biggest weakness of [Contemplation] was that Oz’s arrogance was clearly visible through his gaze.
“Headmaster, I might be a victim here as well.”
“Haha! Go ahead, tell me your story.”
“I intended to approach the interview with a serious attitude.”
“Why…?”
Tia’s eyes went blank, like a fish out of water. She rubbed her eyes as if she had witnessed something incomprehensible, trying to compose herself.
“Why in the world would you…?”
Now that she asked why, I didn’t know how to answer. Come to think of it, why did I try to be serious? I was guaranteed to pass thanks to her pulling strings.
Never mind. Proving my innocence was more important now.
“Ahem! Anyway, I displayed an attitude befitting an interview.”
“You can say that after seeing this?”
“Just listen to me first. So…”
I began my self-defense.
Yes, it all started when the interview began. Fortunately, the interview wasn’t much different from modern-day interviews.
“I see, you’re interested in fire-attribute magic? Then let me ask you, why fire attribute?”
“Yes! The person I respect the most…”
There were five interviewers, but only Professor Aira asked questions about magic.
“Looking at your score sheet, you have a very low score in Phenomenal Magic. Is there a reason for that?”
“Yes? Th-That’s simply because I’m not good at Phenomenal Magic…”
“You are aware that the line between Phenomenal Magic and Attribute Magic blurs as you reach higher levels of magic, right?”
“Yes? Ah, yes…”
“Yes, I understand. Then…”
It was a classic stress interview. It was nerve-wracking just listening to it.
I prepared myself mentally and waited for my turn.
“Well, I think that’s enough. Then, coming back to examinee number 127? In Application of Modern Magic…”
But I wasn’t asked any questions. I was being completely ignored, to the point of feeling alienated. Well, I could understand. I was the [Successor to the Mage King], wasn’t I? This wasn’t just a title, but practically my rank. I was essentially in a much higher position than Professor Aira, so how could she ask me stressful questions?
Professor Aira probably felt like a company commander giving a lecture who was suddenly interrupted by a division commander.
I thought the interview was about to end like that.
“Then, any last questions? Even though this is an interview, if you pass, we’ll become teacher and student. It wouldn’t be good to leave a stiff impression, right?”
—Until Professor Aira made that suggestion.
[Contemplation] had the ability to see through principles. That included magic cast by others. I hypothesized that I might be able to analyze someone’s magic formula just by observing it.
I was able to analyze the [Mana Bullet] from the written exam just by looking at it once, wasn’t I? But I couldn’t analyze the magic used by the mages who chased me.
Why? Because even though they were considered small fry, they were skilled enough to handle at least intermediate-level magic. Given the situation, I lacked something to analyze intermediate-level magic directly, skipping basic magic. What was I lacking?
Yes, it was then that I realized it. I had never had a chance to observe basic magic, the foundation of all magic.
“May I ask a question?”
“Oz? Ah, no, student Oz? A-A question? For me?”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
“Pardon?”
“N-Nothing. Ahem! So, what is your question?”
Come to think of it, Professor Aira taught basic and intermediate-level magic. Yes, I was a man who knew how to seize an opportunity.
“Professor Aira, could you perhaps show me the basic magic that will be covered in class in advance?”
“Yes…? B-Basic magic? Why so suddenly…? W-Wouldn’t it be problematic to use magic here?”
“Ah, I phrased my question wrong. Just showing me the formulas would be enough.”
“D-Do I really have to?”
“Is there a problem?”
“N-No! I’ll do it. I can do it?!”
[Contemplation – Activated]
I activated [Contemplation], leaned forward, and rested my chin on my hand. I was ready to dissect every single spell that would unfold from Professor Aira’s hands.
“Th-Then, I’ll begin!”
“Yes, please show me.”
As soon as she finished speaking, various basic magic formulas began to appear and disappear from her hand. I thought I understood something.
“Could you show me again, a bit slower?”
“Yes? Yes…”
Professor Aira, with a tearful expression for some reason, complied with my request and slowly deployed the basic magic formulas. I felt like I would understand if I saw it just one more time.
“Again.”
“Yes, yes…”
Something was missing. Something… Was there meaning in every single line of the formula?
“One more time, please.”
“Ugh… A-Alright.”
Finally, I succeeded. It took some time, but as expected, [Contemplation] could analyze magic formulas just by observing them. Another secret of [Contemplation] was unveiled.
“Hmm…”
“Um… is this okay?”
“Yes, it’s fine.”
“Phew…”
It was a good result. It was only basic magic for now, but I learned that I could analyze magic just by observing it. If I could perfectly integrate Oz’s knowledge later, I might be able to use the highest level of magic at will, not just through skills.
“Then, could you show me intermediate-level magic next?”
“Yes…?”
“Just like you did just now.”
As I focused intently, widening my eyes to observe the upcoming intermediate-level magic thoroughly, Professor Aira began to sob quietly.
Tia listened to Oz’s explanation of the incident and quietly nodded. She understood perfectly what had happened. She sent him for an interview, and he was busy actually doing an interview.
Tia’s conclusion was simple.
“Are you insane?”
Oz was a lunatic.
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