[Sudden extra training]

Seeing that Lynn did not immediately respond but instead maintained a calm and innocent expression, Toran couldn’t help but shrink his neck again. Like a seasoned social anxiety sufferer mustering the courage to speak to someone, he swallowed hard and continued to stammer, “The, the test requirements given by Teacher Ariel are so high that only students with a natural gift can pass them right away. Bu-but with mana potions, people whose talent level is close to the passing line also have a chance to pass.”

However, even with those people included, there would be very few who could pass Ariel’s test. The woman’s goal in increasing the difficulty of the test was to screen for top students whose talents met the standard in all aspects. The beginner-level spell “Magic Water Ball” had no size requirements. It was just a practice for new students to improve their control over magic. Even if a student later studied water magic, there were many other more powerful and useful spells that could replace it. The reason Ariel suddenly demanded a water ball with a diameter of over one meter was to judge who had a stronger natural control over magic. After all, even the children of nobles who had received an elite education since childhood would not have any special assistance in this area. Under these conditions, the only ones who could truly be called exceptionally talented, besides himself and Isaac Ventus, were probably the “weirdo” commoner, Lynn.

Toran couldn’t help but bite the soft flesh inside his mouth. To catch the eye of the archmage Ariel, who was known as a “genius,” even if he wasn’t taken in as a formal “apprentice,” just maintaining a normal teacher-student relationship would be a great help in alleviating Toran’s situation—in all senses of the word. But what he wanted was more than just that. If he guessed correctly, Ariel’s sudden action, after a long period of inactivity, was actually for this year’s or the next triennial All-Continent Elite Academy Joint Competition.

The Central City Magic Academy had not achieved a good ranking in the competition for several consecutive years. This directly led to a decline in student enrollment year after year. Students with outstanding talent were more willing to choose a more prestigious noble academy. Even though this was a public school jointly established by the royal family and the church, the royal family and the church each still had their own independent academies that were more important to them, making the public academy’s position awkward. Aside from a few outstanding commoners and the second-born heirs of noble families who were there for political reasons, the rest were mostly minor nobles with mediocre talent or little money. The former group included Lynn and Isaac Ventus, while the latter group was Bolton and his ilk, and himself. If they didn’t make a concerted effort to stand out in the competition, the Central City Magic Academy might not even be able to live up to its city-level name, and it wouldn’t take long for it to decline. In order to solve this problem, cultivating elites was especially important. Ariel’s increased test difficulty for new students was one such measure to screen for “elite” candidates.

“I… I accidentally overheard your conversation with Ventus just now. Th-that, you guys were discussing the competition, right?” Toran subconsciously took a small step forward, and his shadow almost covered the casually relaxed student with the gray staff in front of him. Only when he noticed a hint of confusion on the clean face of the student did he flinch, shrink his back even more, and pull back the step he had taken. His deep green eyes only dared to stare at the ground, and his voice became even softer. “I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to eavesdrop. I just always get scared when Bolton and his friends talk about how to make fun of me, so I unconsciously pay attention to nearby conversations…”

“Do you have good hearing?” Lynn suddenly asked.

“Uh—It’s, it’s okay?” Probably not expecting the other person’s first words to be unrelated to the topic he had brought up and not even paying attention to his intentionally weak apology, the deep-green-eyed guy stumbled for a moment before answering the completely off-topic question with a blank look. “It’s just a little more sensitive because I need to pay attention to what others reveal in their conversations… it’s been like that since I was little.”

“I’ve also had an impression of you before,” Lynn said thoughtfully. “During the talent test, you kept looking back at me.”

“Is, is that so? I’m so sorry to have bothered you. I just felt like there was a huge amount of magic power…” Toran felt that his plan to strike up a conversation had been completely disrupted. Not good with words to begin with, he was now even a little incoherent. A thin layer of sweat seeped onto his forehead, sticking to his somewhat messy hair. He tried to dryly bring up the topic again. “With that amount of magic power, it might not be a problem to participate in the continental competition this year—”

“—Why do you keep mentioning that ‘competition’?” Lynn asked.

“……”

Toran’s words came to a sudden halt. He instinctively opened his mouth, but the seemingly inarticulate person didn’t know what to say, and the atmosphere instantly froze.

It wasn’t until he caught a glimpse of Lynn’s pure black eyes staring at him that he twitched a muscle in his face, reverting to his gloomy look. His black hair almost covered his eyes as he said in a low voice, “The competition registration opens in two months.”

“You want to participate?”

Toran’s deep green eyes peered through his black hair and stared at Lynn for a while. “I must participate.”

“Why are you telling me this?” Lynn was genuinely confused. “Isn’t that competition not for new students?” When Isaac mentioned it, he took it for granted that they would be spectators. Even when he brought up his older brother participating in the second year, it would only be relevant to them in their second year at the earliest. Lynn hadn’t even considered it. Not only that, but he didn’t remember being close to this Toran guy. The only connection they had was being targeted by Bolton. Not only has Bolton bullied Toran, he’s also long wanted to pick on Lynn. He just never succeeded with Lynn because Lynn was always busy with substitute student and disappeared the moment class was over.

Could it be that Toran felt unbalanced because of this? Even if human nature instinctively fears the stronger and blames the weaker, it seemed that Lynn was the “stronger” one between him and Bolton, and Toran seemed to be well aware of this.

“Under special circumstances, the academy will grant special qualifications. I can feel it… I noticed it on the day of the talent test. You have very strong magic power.” Toran lowered his neck even more, almost staring at the tip of his shoes. But the sliver of green visible through his hair showed that his eyes were wide open and unblinking. His voice was dry as he tried to bring up a certain topic again. “I want to participate in the competition, and I hope to invite you to team up with me.”

“…Let’s talk about it later,” Lynn replied tactfully. “It might be a little too early right now.”

He didn’t know why Toran was so keen on participating in a competition that was clearly not for new students, or why he had to endure his social anxiety to come find him. But Lynn didn’t feel the need to know the reason. He wasn’t interested in the competition at all, and given his current financial situation, he didn’t have the energy to think about anything else.

The cheapest beginner staff cost twenty gold coins, which he would have to substitute for a month to earn back. But a mage didn’t just need one staff. Different elements required different staffs for guidance. So far, he only had a water-attribute staff. He could save a lot of money by just replacing the magic core instead of the whole staff, but the reason staffs were so expensive was because the bulk of the cost was in the magic core. The gold coins needed to buy a magic core were not a small sum, and he didn’t know how long he would have to substitute to save up. Lynn didn’t have the time to accept a competition team invitation from a student he barely knew unless the other person’s offer was compelling. As it was, Toran didn’t seem to have anything that could sway him.

Making money was more important.

With that thought, Lynn didn’t say anything else. He politely gave the guy, whose face was almost invisible from how low he was bowed, a formal smile and then turned and left.

……

There weren’t many new students in the Magic Academy, and only about half had an affinity for the water element. The test was coming to an end, and Lynn was just waiting for the teacher to announce its conclusion before he could “slip out” of the school gate. Fully equipped with his cloak and cape, he would then head to the Swordsman Academy on the other side of the city to continue his lucrative side jobs.

He had a big gig today. Someone in the advanced class at the Swordsman Academy hired him to take over their strength training. Although the difficulty of taking over classes increased with the class level, the payment also increased exponentially. A beginner class would only pay eighty silver coins for two classes and extra training, but a single training session in an advanced class was a whopping five gold coins—a quarter of a beginner’s magic staff. Unfortunately, opportunities to take over classes in the advanced swordsman class were rare. While there were many noble young masters who just wanted to get a graduation certificate, swordsmen who successfully advanced to the advanced class wouldn’t just hire anyone to take over their classes. Plus, Lynn had to accommodate his own class schedule, so he had only taken on one such job so far. This would be his second.

The magic test, which didn’t last very long, was announced to be over by Ariel, who had a gloomy expression. Even with all the mana potions she brought being completely consumed, only three new students with a water element affinity passed the test. This left the teacher, who was once known as a “genius,” feeling very puzzled.

‘Has the Central City Magic Academy fallen to this extent?’

The students in the advanced magic class didn’t have much potential left to tap. If there were no surprises, they wouldn’t achieve a good ranking in this year’s competition. Out of desperation, the academy had her screen for new students with decent talent, hoping that with concentrated resources, they could become the backbone of the team in a few years. However, the success rate of mages was not high. To cultivate a team that would be useful in a few years, they needed a large number of people to choose from. But now, only three new students had passed the test. How could she possibly build a team with that?

However, Ariel’s troubles did not affect Lynn, who had passed the test. After the test, he decisively returned his staff to his dorm, told Isaac he was going to work, and then left the academy fully equipped. To take over a class at the Swordsman Academy, he had to put some effort into his disguise. He had to wrap thick cloths around himself to create a sturdy silhouette. After all, even though Lynn could easily take down a muscular man, his physique was more in line with a mage’s. Although a tightly wrapped cloak could hide his build, it was not foolproof. There was a demonic teacher at the Swordsman Academy who liked to patrol all the grades. If he happened to notice someone on a whim, he would force the entire class to do extra training with him.

And whether it was because Lynn was unlucky or because this “demonic teacher” was simply too energetic, the class he was taking over would be forced into extra training every now and then. From endurance training and physical training to swordsmanship training and combat training, Lynn did it all. As a result, if you gave him a two-handed heavy sword now, he could swing it around in a decent manner, and no one would ever guess that he was actually a mage.

Today was no different. After Lynn, fully disguised, snuck into the advanced swordsman class, he felt his eyelids twitch, as if something was about to happen.

Sure enough, halfway through the advanced class’s training, a tall figure suddenly appeared at the entrance of the training ground without warning. A serious-looking man with a large build folded his arms and squinted as he scanned all the students. Then, as if a thought had suddenly struck him, he shouted in a cold, hard voice, “Training paused!”

The swordsman students, who were working up a sweat by carrying huge rocks and logs, stopped and began whispering to each other with various expressions.

“Is that Teacher Collins? What’s going on?”

“Is he going to give us extra training?”

“Didn’t he only hang around the beginner classes recently?”

“I think he showed up in the intermediate class too.”

“Is this really our luck?”

“…”

Lynn pulled his cloak’s hood down even further and hid in the crowd. Luckily, since many students here liked to do quests for the Adventurer’s Guild, quite a few of them wore cloaks. He blended in seamlessly.

The man who caused all the whispering didn’t pay any attention to the constant murmuring. His gaze casually swept over the area where Lynn had hidden himself among the students, and then he loudly announced:

“Temporary combat training has been added! Everyone, follow me!”