Chapter 84: The First Step in Stirring Things Up

Ruby was completely unaware of the events unfolding in the imperial capital. At this moment, he was waiting for his very first magic class to begin. At Rhine Academy of Magic, there were no restrictions on the number of students in each class or on attendance. In other words, one could freely choose any course to audit as they pleased. However, the students all understood that mastering magic depended not on how many courses one took, but on the depth of understanding, so few chose to flit from class to class.

The design of the classrooms was much like the stepped lecture halls back on Earth—the further back you sat, the higher your seat, ensuring no one’s view was blocked. Ruby was now seated by the window in the second-to-last row, side by side with Mayuna.

There were quite a few students in the Attack Magic Department—roughly two hundred in total. After all, young people were always enthralled by the idea of dealing damage; most of their dreams involved becoming grand heroes with the power to destroy worlds. Little did they know that someone capable of razing an empire with a wave of his hand was sitting quietly among them, waiting for the teacher to arrive.

“I am your teacher, Baiyu Vayne. Over the course of this year, I will teach you everything there is to know about attack magic.”

Under the expectant gazes of the students, Baiyu strode into the classroom. Both boys and girls found their attention drawn to the way her chest swayed with each step—boys were dazzled, and the girls suffered a wave of psychological damage.

Of course, Baiyu was oblivious to all this. She felt a bit nervous at the sight of so many students, but she was no longer the rookie teacher who’d fainted in class the previous year. Composing herself, she conjured her name in pale blue magic in the air as an introduction. Her exquisite control quickly won her a round of applause.

“Some of you may have already studied ahead, but for those who haven’t, let me repeat this: The most important thing for a mage is not spiritual power, nor magic power, but the source of magic within your body. One of the main reasons mages can advance is because the capacity of their internal magic source increases, allowing them to store more power and cast stronger spells. Conversely, if your magic source is damaged, it can have unforeseeable consequences on your future. This is something you must always remember.”

“Excuse me, Teacher Baiyu, I have a question.”

Ruby, having listened to Baiyu’s explanation, fell into deep thought. Getting nowhere, he finally stood up and spoke from his seat.

“Oh? That voice—Ruby, are you here to attend my class?”

With so many students in the spacious classroom, Baiyu couldn’t possibly recognize all their faces. It was only upon hearing his voice that she looked toward Ruby’s seat.

Whenever someone asked a question in class, they immediately became the center of attention, and students in the front rows all turned to look. One glance was all it took to hold their gaze—not because of Ruby himself, but because the girl beside him was stunningly beautiful. Her appearance matched the rumors, but since the teachers allowed her to sit there, she must be harmless. The boys were already concocting plans for after class.

“My question is: in which part of the human body is the magic source located?”

“Which part? I suppose… here, perhaps.”

Baiyu had never expected such a question. If Ruby had asked about how to channel the power from the magic source to cast spells, she could have listed a hundred methods. But for such a tricky question, she could only point uncertainly to her own head.

“No, that’s not right. I’ve used soft X-rays to scan people in this world; their anatomical structure is identical to mine. If the magic source really were in the brain, what would it look like? Would it be like the magic crystals in magical beasts? If so, there’s no reason I wouldn’t have seen it.”

Ruby shook his head, dismissing Baiyu’s hypothesis.

“Um, well, maybe it’s in the soul?”

Baiyu was left bewildered by Ruby’s words. As she gradually grasped his meaning, she offered another suggestion.

“The soul, you say? It’s true that there are ghosts in this world, though I’ve never seen one myself. On Earth, people once discovered that, at the moment of death, a person’s body weight drops by about 21 grams—perhaps that’s the weight of the soul. If that’s true, then what material is the soul made of? Could there be a fourth state of matter beyond solid, liquid, and gas? Teacher Baiyu, do you know why?”

“I, I…”

Poor Baiyu was on the verge of tears. Wasn’t this just stirring up trouble? Surely this was the legendary teacher who came just to make things difficult for her. But as far as she could recall, she’d never offended Ruby, so why had he come to disrupt her class?

“Be quiet! Teacher, just pretend nothing happened and continue with the lesson.”

Just as Ruby was about to turn the magic lesson into a grand lecture on physics, the girl at the pinnacle of otherworldly magic, Mayuna, finally gave him a taste of iron-fisted justice. She rapped him on the head, forcing him back into his seat, and soothed the nearly tearful Baiyu.

“Mayuna, that hurt,” Ruby said, sprawled helplessly across his desk. He had no idea why Mayuna would stop him from asking questions and even resort to violence.

“Shut up. I’m hurt too.”

“That’s because force is always mutual.”

“I know! Next time I’ll wear gloves when I hit you. This is a magic academy—don’t muddle things up with your physics!”

“You’re being unreasonable. You can’t stifle my curiosity.”

Despite Ruby’s protest, Mayuna ignored him, simply filtering out his voice and listening to the teacher’s lecture. Sure enough, this academy was quite different from Yura’s way of teaching, and she found it all very novel.

Other than Ruby’s early attempt to make things difficult, Baiyu finally managed to complete the first lesson of the new semester. The two-hour class flew by, and as she announced the end of class, her gaze once again drifted toward Ruby. After a moment’s thought, she decided to speak.

“Ruby, though I don’t know exactly where the magic source is, casting spells requires you to draw power from it. If you try sensing when you use magic, shouldn’t you be able to roughly locate it?”

“That’s impossible.”

“Why not?”

“Because I don’t have any magic power.”

“Oh… Is that true!?”

Baiyu nodded reflexively. Of course, without magic power, one couldn’t use magic. Fortunately, her response time wasn’t as exaggerated as her chest, and before long she let out a surprised cry. At the same time, the whole class turned incredulous eyes on Ruby.

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