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Chapter 72

"That was a dangerous prank, Roan."

"..."

After a brief silence, Roan replied with a sly grin.

"Hahaha, I apologize, Dean. I made a mistake."

"...A mistake?"

"Yes, it\'s been a while since I\'ve had a duel, so I seem to have... lost control of my strength."

He even bowed his head as if it were a genuine mistake.

But I knew he hadn\'t made a mistake.

Me, the dean, and Ziren too.

How could we not know after he exuded so much killing intent?

"...Let\'s talk later."

Still, it wasn\'t something we could discuss here.

The dean seemed to have decided to wrap things up for now, as he walked over.

And then he suddenly raised Roan\'s hand.

"This duel... is Roan\'s victory."

Then came the outpouring of applause and cheers.

Clap clap clap clap!

"Woooh!"

"As expected of Roan!"

"As expected of our top student!"

Did the other students not notice anything strange?

They were sincerely congratulating Roan.

"Whew... that was a surprise. See, I told you he wouldn\'t cross the line, even though he\'s reckless."

Even Jensenville, who was next to me, clutched her chest in surprise.

That meant Roan\'s acting was perfect.

However, he couldn\'t fool me.

"He already crossed the line."

"Huh...?"

And he would definitely pay the price.

***

In the student waiting room inside Asion Academy.

Thompson and I were there, comforting Kayla.

"Don\'t be too discouraged. Your opponent was too strong."

"That\'s right, young lady! Even I wouldn\'t have stood a chance against that Roan guy! Do you know what kind of guy he is?"

However, was the shock of the duel too great?

Our words didn\'t seem to reach Kayla at all.

"I couldn\'t do anything... anything."

Clench.

Kayla tightly clenched her fist as if recalling the previous battle.

She seemed deeply hurt.

Well, it was understandable, considering she had gone through two weeks of hunting and practice duels with me, only to end up with this result.

Of course, as someone who knew exactly what kind of person her opponent was, this was a natural outcome...

Anyway, this kind of comfort wouldn\'t be of any help.

In the end, I stopped the useless consolation and instead held out my hand.

"...?"

Kayla looked at me with a questioning expression.

"Follow me."

No explanation was needed.

After signaling Kayla to follow me, I headed somewhere without a word.

The place we arrived at was the auditorium where the duel had taken place.

It was empty since the duel was over.

"...Why did we come here?"

"When you have a lot on your mind, moving your body is the best."

I said that and immediately drew up my mana.

And imbued it with two attributes.

Water and frost.

Woooong!

I attempted attribute combination.

This was my first time trying to combine these two attributes, but there was no problem.

I had observed Roan casting magic countless times during the two months I was in Aldeon.

Woong...! Woong...! Woong!

I succeeded in the combination with ease, and a small ice crystal was created.

Soon.

I released frost through the ice crystal.

Shwaaaa-

The frost spread through the auditorium in an instant.

"This is..."

The essential skill of a frost mage that he had used.

[Ice Field].

Crackle, crackle!

The spreading frost turned into ice and covered the auditorium.

It even tightly bound Kayla\'s legs.

"..."

Kayla frowned as if recalling the previous memory.

But there was no time for that!

"What are you standing there for? Hurry up and break free."

"...Break free?"

"Yes."

After a moment of hesitation at my words, she drew up her mana.

Purple mana swirled around Kayla.

It soon contained heat and turned into an explosion.

Bang!

Crackle!

With a warm heat, the ice binding her legs shattered.

\'It\'s still lacking.\'

The durability was disastrous compared to Roan\'s ice.

It was only natural.

It doesn\'t matter that I have the [Prodigy of Magic] trait, I obviously couldn\'t use magic for the first time and be at a similar level to Roan.

But.

\'I can repeat it.\'

Instead, I had endlessly regenerating mana.

Scoot.

I crouched down and touched the ground, casting [Ice Field] once again.

Shwaaa!

The coldness spread again.

Crackle.

And the binding.

It wasn\'t over yet.

\'One more time.\'

I cast [Ice Field] once more on top of the ice binding Kayla\'s legs.

Crackle, crackle!

Now a double layer of ice.

"Break free."

"...Alright."

Did she realize what I was trying to do?

Instead of asking for an explanation, she immediately triggered an explosion.

Bang! Crack, crack, crackle!

The ice shattered again.

But it lasted longer than before.

It didn\'t shatter all at once; cracks appeared before it broke.

\'That\'s it.\'

Convinced that this method worked, I repeated the same process.

Crack! Crackle, crackle!

[Ice Field] three times, [Ice Field] four times, [Ice Field] five times...

Thicker and thicker ice encased Kayla\'s legs.

Bang! Bang! Bang!

The ice, which had been repeatedly shattering, began to withstand the explosions for longer and longer periods.

When we reached seven layers of [Ice Field]...

Bang!

Finally, ice was created that wouldn\'t break even with Kayla\'s explosion.

The power of the ice magic I cast became stronger than Kayla\'s fire attribute.

"From now on, it\'s on par with Roan\'s ice. In other words, if you can break this, Roan\'s ice won\'t be a problem either."

In a way, it could be called a brute force method.

Simply casting magic in layers to increase its strength, and using that for practice.

But, right now, anything was better than just sitting there with a sullen expression.

Boooom!

"This... damn it!"

Indeed, Kayla was completely focused on breaking the ice.

The gloom from earlier was nowhere to be seen; she had forgotten all about it.

How much time had passed?

Bang! Bang! Bang!

Explosions occurred consecutively.

Beads of sweat trickled down her cheeks.

But despite her efforts, the ice didn\'t budge.

It was only natural, as her magic couldn\'t become stronger in such a short time.

It didn\'t matter.

I hadn\'t come here to achieve results in the first place.

It was just to relieve stress and give some feedback along the way.

Just then.

"You\'re working hard."

A middle-aged woman with a familiar appearance entered the auditorium.

It was Professor Ziren.

"What brings you here...?"

"I kept hearing noises from outside."

"Ah, I apologize if it was too loud."

"No, I didn\'t come here to complain... Are you a fire mage, by any chance?"

Ziren asked abruptly.

Her gaze was directed at Kayla.

"Yes, I am. Why?"

Kayla nodded, and Ziren, after looking around, gave a slight smile.

"I think I might be able to help you... What do you think?"

"Help?"

"Yes, my favorite attribute is also fire."

Whoosh!

A small flame flickered at Ziren\'s fingertips.

\'Come to think of it...\'

It was Ziren who stopped Thompson when he was charging at the ice mage.

\'A crimson pillar of fire soared up at that time.\'

It was a more intense pillar of fire than any I had ever seen before.

Perhaps Professor Ziren\'s main attribute was also fire.

Then there was no reason to refuse.

Maybe we could achieve unexpected results.

***

As I was leaving the auditorium, leaving Kayla and Ziren behind,

"Mr. First Place, are you sure this is okay...?"

Thompson said with a worried look.

He had every reason to be.

\'...To think Professor Ziren was that kind of person.\'

The Ziren I saw in the classroom and the Ziren I saw in the auditorium were completely different people.

If her image in the classroom was that of a kind university professor, then in the auditorium just now...

-This is disappointing. If this is all you\'ve got, it\'s only natural that you lose. You need to accept it humbly.

-The most important thing about fire attribute mana is control. With that level of control... it might be better to just give up.

-Are you giving up already? If not, get up right now.

She was like a strict tutor teaching a high school student a week before their college entrance exams.

I didn\'t know how long it would take, but Kayla had a tough road ahead.

But.

"It was effective."

Professor Ziren\'s teaching, as strict as it was, was highly effective.

Even in the short time I watched, I could feel the change in Kayla\'s explosions.

Indeed, the teachings of a 7th circle mage seemed to be extraordinary.

Above all,

"Her expression is brighter than before."

It was enough that she could forget about her defeat for a while through training.

In many ways, it was good timing that Professor Ziren came to the auditorium.

"...You\'re right. She did seem that way. Now that things have turned out like this, I hope the young lady\'s skills improve significantly."

"You should train too, mister."

"Huh?"

"The dean told you to stop by when you have time. He said he needs to schedule your body transformation magic lessons."

"I-is that true?"

"Yes, you can probably go to the dean\'s office."

"Ah, okay!"

Dash!

As soon as I finished speaking, Thompson ran off to the dean\'s office.

I didn\'t know what body transformation magic was, but it seemed like he had high expectations.

Of course, I\'m sorry to Thompson... but I made up the part about the dean calling for him.

I felt like I had to.

"Come out."

An alleyway that appeared after turning the corner of the building in front of me.

I focused my attention there and waited for a while.

"Hahaha, as expected. You noticed quickly."

A familiar blond man appeared.

It was Roan.

"There\'s no way I wouldn\'t notice with you leaking mana like that."

"I wanted to talk to you for a moment."

"About what?"

"Just... greetings, I guess. To see how you\'ve been doing."

Meaningless talk.

He probably had something else he wanted to say.

I didn\'t reply and looked away.

Blue mana was surging around Roan.

It felt completely different from the mana he had before.

What level was he at now?

5th circle? 6th circle?

Or... higher?

Unable to contain my curiosity, I asked first.

"What the hell have you been doing?"

It had only been a few weeks since I last saw Roan.

The fact that he had changed so much in such a short period meant there was definitely something going on.

Like he had taken illegal drugs, or learned forbidden magic, or something.

Whatever the process was, it couldn\'t have been a normal route.

Spin-

He twirled an ice crystal at his fingertips and opened his mouth.

"Well, are you curious?"

The corners of his mouth lifted slightly.

"..."

Honestly, I thought we had become quite close.

But the current Roan was a complete stranger.

What in the world had made him like this?

I didn\'t know for sure, but...

"You don\'t have to tell me if you don\'t want to. However."

Crackle! Sizzle!

"If you try anything funny with that power, you\'ll die."

If his transformation was going to harm me and my companions...

I couldn\'t just stand by and watch.