A learning institution where young people from relatively affluent families gathered.
Renowned for its long history, spanning over 300 years since its founding, and boasting of producing many famous magicians, it was the most famous academic institution of the Solisthea Magic Kingdom.
Itâs not an exaggeration to say that itâs an academy city, due to its vast area, brimming with many magical research institutes, and even a town that supports the studentsâ lives.
It was supposed to be a place where a lot of people with the desire to learn congregated, and where ability and academic background were the only entry barriers.
But currently, the Academy is under the influence of the many magiciansâ factions and their power struggles.
It would still be acceptable if it were just a conflict between students, but effectively, it was a proxy war between aristocratic magicians.
The nobles who had already graduated from the Academy have no choice but to manipulate their children to raise their influence within the institution, and so, the students form factions, defaming and ostracizing those who donât follow their will.
The overwhelming majority of them were magicians of noble origin, most of them having succeeded their familyâs bloodline magic and other kinds of inheritance spells.
Though, there were some magicians who were fallen nobles trying to restore their houses to their former glory.
Inheritance magics were the spells handed down to the members of a household regardless of how strong they were as magicians, mainly because they were generally useless in battle, so possessing them was merely a sign of having a good relationship with oneâs family. Because some of these spells would have strange and random effects, they could be quite the strong research material for a family of magicians.
Well, there were some families whoâve changed in a strange direction due to said researchâŠ
On the other hand, bloodline magic is, as its name indicates, magic that is transmitted to the members of a family, and itâs an inborn type of unique magic succeeded from parent to child.
These magics may have a wide range of different effects, and the person who inherits them, is often not able to control them. They function at a subconscious level, and the person is able to suddenly invoke the magic without any need to chant. In many ways, it can be an incredibly dangerous magic.
Particularly, ăCharmă, ăSpontaneous Ignitionă, ăForesightă, and so on, were all unique magics, but at the same time, they didnât have great power, and moreover, they were difficult to control.
For instance, spontaneous ignition is literally, as its name suggests, the ability to suddenly ignite things on fire, and to produce a small fire with oneâs eyes, though it couldnât be used in actual combat. It was impossible to burn your enemies to death with a single glance. Furthermore, it was an immensely inconvenient ability to live with, when everything you look at catches on fire.
In the case of foresight, its predictions could be considered merely fortune-telling, regardless of whether theyâre right or not.
There were a lot of unique magics like that, but they were often unreliable magics that were considered useless by most people.
â
In one corner of the Academy, where many capable magicians gathered, there was one of the student dormitories, which were decided by their academic ranking.
The building itself had an early gothic style, and immediately after entering through the main entrance you were met by a vaulted ceiling, with its distinct characteristic, a pattern of two semi-cylindrical barrels intersecting each other, in other words, a rib vault ceiling*, decorating the whole structure. The rooms where the students lived were located left and right on both sides of the passage extending from the facade of the dormitory, followed by a pair of staircases on both ends.
(*T.N: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vault_(architecture)#Rib_vault . I couldnât quite grasp the proper meaning of that paragraph, what the author described is not exactly what a rib vault is, but I have no clue what other thing they might be referring to, though I donât think it matters that much in the end.)
Itâs a plainly ornamented building, but to Celestina, it gives her a calm feeling, closer to the one in her grandfatherâs villa.
Additionally, there are small spires symmetrically placed on both sides of the building, which in the past were mainly used to inflict punishments, though they have not been used much so far.
Given that it was an old building, the students who resided there were mostly from merchant and commoner households.
The people who saw her, openly expressed their apathy towards her on their expressions. Their impression of Celestina, born to a Ducal house was that she, was âtalented in lacking talentâ , âan incompetent person, only here because of their familyâs influenceâ, âthe teacherâs petâ, and so on.
She must be an irritating presence to those whoâve paid the hefty tuition fees, and were desperately doing their best to learn.
Naturally, she understood that, and thus, she used to spend all her time holed up in the Academyâs library. On one hand, she felt sorry for them, but on the other, she was desperate to learn magic one way or another.
The results were unsatisfactory, but thatâs a story for another time.
Celestina could now use magic, and if itâs firing one shot at a time, itâs possible for her to do it chantlessly.
Thereâs no need to open your mouth and recite an aria to be able to invoke a spell, the key is how strong is your imagination and how much can it be overlaid with the magic formula.
To successfully invoke a spell, the foundation is, first and foremost, the magic formula. And, while chanting is the trigger that activates the spell itself, it only helps to give shape to the magic. Oneâs own mental image is more important, so when you have a sufficient understanding of magic, chanting becomes unnecessary.
For example, when youâre about to shoot your gun, and the enemy was told â the bullets are loaded into the magazine, the safety was released and the hammer was pulled. Now, letâs shoot!â. Does that sort of thing really need to be said? Itâs the same with magic arias.
However, the students donât know the current Celestina. They still think sheâs incompetent.
âYoung lady, please donât worry too much. They donât know about how strong you have become.â
âI know, but just two months ago I used to be in such a place, honestly, it feels really unpleasant.â
âBut your mind and heart have grown at an incredible pace, soon everyone will realize that, you know? And, you will do your best in class, isnât that right, young lady?â
âYes, youâre right, Misuka⊠Iâm going to graduate from this academy and become a magician that will live up to senseiâs name!â
With an expression full of motivation and determination, she begins to walk resolutely.
Shining on Celestinaâs right arm is the magic medium made by her mentor, Zeros.
Her new day begins.
âăăâăăâăăâ
With a newfound determination in her heart and mind, she goes to take her lecture at the Academy, but it seems the status quo wonât change that easily.
The same scenery from two months ago is repeated. Eyes full of contempt and apathy are directed towards her.
In all honesty, all she wants is to run away, but somehow stops herself and steps into the classroom.
Additionally, the lecturers at the Academy pretend not to see anything about Celestinaâs bullying, not saying anything unnecessary either.
The reason is, whenever she asked a question regarding the lessonâs contents, she would confront them by presenting a theory from a different perspective, causing them to be at a loss, not knowing how to answer.
For the lecturers, sheâs the personification of a demon, and while her attitude of asking about what she doesnât know is good, for them, itâs extremely troublesome to be asked things they have no clue about.
Although she couldnât use magic herself, being so excellent in everything related to magic theory made her a tough opponent for the lecturers.
Her presence was problematic to them, who are supposed to teach magic to their students, hence, they decided to ignore her altogether.
Though, from their point of view, Celestinaâs talent was terrifying.
They thought that, if she only could invoke magic, she would become a magician superior to themselves, so the fact that she couldnât, above all, hurt their pride.
They didnât want to admit they were inferior to the âincompetent studentâ.
The lecturers all belong to the different factions, and have the mission of attracting talented people to their own clique. But, what if theyâre excellent and more knowledgeable than they themselves, except that they canât use magic? All what theyâve been doing so far would be meaningless.
In the current state of the Academy, belonging to a faction is a symbol of status, thus, such a girl possessing that much knowledge without belonging to any faction, is nothing but an unpleasant fact to them.
While the mind of such a lecturer was drifting to somewhere else, Celestina was taking notes of the lessonâs contents on a bundle of papers bound together.
There werenât such convenient things like notebooks in this world. If you donât buy paper on your own, you have no choice but to use your memory.
Due to that, students take the lectures at the Academy seriously.
(I checked the contents of this lesson at the library. The lecturer said that preparing before the lesson was crucial, but isnât it a mistake to think that each individual magic character is a word containing meaning in itself?
Itâs true what he said about the magic characters forming command words that change the mana accordingly to their respective functions, but, is it alright to keep spreading misinformation about the meanings of the magic characters any longer?
Now that the conflicts between the factions are becoming more intenseâŠ. What should I do?)
Currently, thereâs nothing for her to learn at the Academy.
Because she already understands the true nature of the magic characters and magic formulas, itâs useless for her to take a lecture about those very same topics at this point.
However, it would leave a bad taste in her mouth continuing to allow the spreading of misinformation and erroneous teachings.
For the sake of all the future magicians, she thought it was necessary to put a stop on said believes.
And so she does.
âExcuse me, teacher. May I ask a question?â
(*T.N: for future reference, she uses the word èŹćž«[koushi] which means âlecturerâ, but it sounds kinda weird here.)
âWhat is it, Celestina. Is there something wrong with the lectureâs contents?â
âNo, itâs just that Iâve been thinking from a while ago that, each of the 56 magic characters and 10 numbers* have a distinct sound, correct? And, each of them have their own meaning. Furthermore, a magic formula is a complex combination of these characters. This is the modern consensus about magic theory. Thereâs no doubt that that should be the case.â
(*T.N: I think the author made a typo there, they wrote âmagic charactersâ again, when previously it was ânumbersâ.)
âY-yes. I-Is there a problem about that?â
âItâs a simple question, arenât the magic characters used to form words, and not words themselves?
How useful is to learn this, when the characters themselves donât have meaning, but itâs a series of characters making up a command word that transforms the mana accordingly to the predetermined function?â
Celestina casually said such a shocking remark.
It would be better to say that the deciphering of magic formulas was nearly impossible, rather than just claiming it was progressing slowly.
Many magicians believed that a magic formula was a series of magic characters, and, in addition, it was some sort of puzzle, which was in the form of a chain made up of said characters, and that somehow invoked magic.
However, the meaning itself changes when it comes to forming a string of words.
The condition for the invocation of magic is directly related to the words that make up the formula, which materializes the desired phenomenon in accordance to the laws of physics.
But despite that, it was generally taught that the magic characters, linked one by one, caused a chain reaction, that turned mana into a physical phenomenon.
If Celestinaâs theory is true, then everything theyâve learned so far would be meaningless.
Current day spells are created by modifying and optimizing the magic from the Lost Age, but if done poorly, thereâs the possibility of transforming a magic that was originally easy to use into one thatâs a lot more difficult to use.
Actually, Celestina is already able to engrave magic formulas directly into her mind, though the invocation itself is still imperfect.
And if this theory is proven, it would be impossible to say whether it would be accepted.
Many magicians are desperately working to decipher the magic characters, even to this day, theyâve been repeatedly creating many spells with their own methods, sometimes they succeed, sometimes they fail.
Taking into account that long history of hardships, those magicians wouldnât accept Celestinaâs theory. Theyâre all haughty, domineering, and thickheaded at the same time. In other words, itâs impossible for them to put up with her flexible way of thinking.
âH-How did you come up with such an intriguing idea?â
âAs you know, I couldnât use magic. Thatâs why I tried to figure out the reason by amassing a good amount of knowledge, but then I wondered what if, in the first place, current magic was inferior to the old one.â
âI see⊠thatâs not impossible.â
âAll humans possess mana, but why are there so few magicians compared to the past? What if, during the development of the magic deciphering movements, the magic from the Lost Age was altered in the wrong way, and created individual differences in the invocation process? Then, modern magic research would be going in the wrong direction.â
Itâs not completely impossible that the magic of the Lost Age was already completely destroyed by modern magic research. As Celestina said, thereâs an extremely limited number of magicians in the present era.
According to the academic literature, itâs said that, in the past, most people could use magic, and that it was the foundation of their everyday lives.
The teacher finds himself unable to respond because of the persuasiveness of her argument, and, at the same time, he realized an odd implication in her previous words.
âCelestina, you said you â couldnât use magicâ, why in past tense?â
âI can use it now. In these past two months, Iâve trained and managed to invoke magic successfully.â
âImpossible! If thatâs really the case⊠how were you able to use magic in such a short period of time?â
âI had combat training every day, and in between, I also had magic control practice. And also, I experienced actual combat?â
Thatâs her second shocking remark.
If she had such an experience, then, naturally she would level up. And when that happens, her body would begin to optimize itself to efficiently manage its newfound power, which would lead to a considerable increase in physical ability and magic capacity.
If one is to believe her words, it would mean she continued to fight until to the point where she was able to use magic.
Itâs not quite what a normal student would do on their summer vacation.
âYou seem to have done something quite absurd. Thereâs a risk that the body will present abnormalities when you level up too fast.â
âThere was no time to think about that when youâre at the brink of death. Because monsters attacked our camp, we had to hunt for food, and we fought continuously for about four days, with only a few hours of rest each day.â
âThereâs no way anyone could survive such a harsh situation!â
âIâm here because I did. My brother and a knight squad were with me, you may confirm it with them if you doubt my words.â
She remembers her experience trying to survive in the vast forest of Far-flung.
Because of the dangerous environment they were in, Celestina, along with the knights, inevitably had to be on high alert at all times, and for the sake of satiating their hunger, they had to hunt the monsters wandering around the forest, so their personalities ended up slightly twisted by the end of the training camp as a result.
The polite knights turned into ferocious warriors in just a few days, her revered master, Zeros mercilessly mowed down monsters, and her brother, came to realize how fun alchemy was and went crazy.
Celestina herself enjoyed raising her levels, and was happily killing monsters left and right.
âItâs certainly a place made to break the human heartâŠâ
âW-Why do your eyes look so deadâŠ?â
âCurrent day magicians wouldnât be able to survive in that forest⊠that place⊠is just too harsh.â
âJust how many hardships did you go through in that forest!?â
âThe monsters in the depths of Far-flung are even more fierce. Even I would die if I went there right now.â
It was an unimaginable situation.
The monsters in Far-flung forest grow stronger the deeper you go, the ones wandering around the outer areas canât even be compared with them.
Itâs nothing but hell to keep fighting in such a place.
In addition, only knights were trained enough in close-quarters combat to fight in such situations, and it was impossible for the rest of the factions to carry out that sort of training without them.
However, the Chivalric Order and the magiciansâ factions were famously antagonizing each other. Neither of them were insane enough to work together with a hostile political faction.
Only the magicians from the Solisthea faction would be able to pull off something like that.
He belongs to the Weissler faction, but the situation would be completely different if the Solisthea faction is conducting such a combat training for their magicians.
The Weissler faction, renowned for excelling in battle prowess, would lose relevance, and at the same time, the Solisthea faction will strengthen their ties with the Knight faction.
Itâs the impossible dream of all magiciansâ factions: to seize the control of the military.
âDoes Solisthea have an experienced combat magician?â
âI donât know about that, but at least I donât intend to join any other faction. After all, they werenât the ones that helped me use magic.â
âDid you get someoneâs guidance then? What faction are they in?â
âI can only say theyâre a friend of my grandfather. I donât have the authority to make that public.â
A magician who was able to help Celestina didnât exist in any faction.
Nevertheless, given that she can now use magic, then there must have been someone who taught her.
It came to be rumored that there was a powerful magician in the shadows behind the Solisthea faction.
If itâs an acquaintance of the notorious â Magician of the Purgatoryâ , then it must indeed be quite a strong magician.
That fact will create ripples through the Weissler faction, though thatâs a story for the future.
This other shocking remark greatly affects the surroundings.
They were the students who harassed her and despised her for being âincompetentâ.
âSeriously⊠the incompetent can use magic now? What will happen now?â
âHey⊠we totally made a fool of her, didnât we?â
âSheâs the Dukeâs daughter, right? Isnât this bad?â
âWhat should I do? I laughed at her beforeâŠâ
The people who mocked her, who was born to a Dukeâs house but had no talent, went pale all at once.
They never directly insulted her to her face, but instead they would intentionally call her derogatory words out loud when she was around, so she could hear.
The Academyâs policy was that power and status didnât matter inside it, even though it was the sort of behavior that would get them punished if it were any other student.
They opened their door to all kinds of people, giving them the opportunity to learn, but in fact, the power struggles of the factions were running rampant on the inside.
In such a situation, it didnât take long for her, who was the daughter of a Duke but had no talent in magic, to end as a human sacrifice for the factions.
They were directing their pent-up anger towards Celestina.
What will they do when that becomes impossible?
âA-Anyhow, that must be some sort of ploy. It should be impossible for her to be able to use magic without any problems in just two months.â
âThatâs right, itâs impossibleâŠâ
Some still deny her words.
They were the ones whose grades were at the bottom, but were making fun of Celestina who couldnât even use magic.
They remember how gloomy she used to be, but now she carries a dignified and confident countenance, unlike her past self.
The bell signifying the end of the lecture rang out as if measuring time by when the classroom gets the most noisy.
âWell, thatâs it for todayâs lecture. Celestina, your theory was very interesting. Iâm going to try to verify it on my own way.â
âIs that so? Then, please let me know if you do, teacher. Iâm looking forward to it.â
The reason being that, a person who wasnât good at magic to begin with, managed to acquire the ability to use it, most likely by levelling up.
Seeing that other people had managed to succeed in getting a new ability by obtaining knowledge you donât have, it was akin to denying your past efforts.
(*T.N: not sure; èȘćéăźç„ăăȘăäœăăç„ăăăăăćŸăäșă§ćźćă䌞ă°ăäșă«æćăăăšæăăă°ăä»ăŸă§ăźèȘćăćŠćźăăăäșă«çčăăă)
As a magic teacher, thatâs something he canât let slide.
The idea of developing a method of magic deciphering that considers using magic characters to form words, denies all modern research. And at the same time, to embark on that task would mean to have to start investigating from scratch, as well as the period from before the funding of the Academy.
He didnât want to set on such a troublesome endeavor because he treasured his stable salary. He doesnât know what the consequences might be like.
There is a wide range of disciplines, ranging from national history and literature, to mathematics and pharmacology.
Such lectures are taken according to the studentsâ own interest, in other words, if theyâre not interested, they donât have to attend.
Itâs an environment similar to the lectures of modern universities, but with the drawback of, if you miss one of the sessions, you wonât be able to understand the rest.
Celestinaâs curriculum was mainly made up of magic and physics, and from the start of the new academic semester, she took alchemy.
And so, the days of studying the contents of the lectures beforehand continued.
During that time, there was no one she could talk to, and she felt like everyone was sending her glances full of interest and fear.
The former are interested in what kind of magic Celestina uses, the latter are afraid of being accused of ridiculing her and being punished, now that she can use magic, and finally, thereâs a small portion of the students that see her almost like a traitor.
These are the students who held the lowest level of academic ability, commonly known as â the dropoutsâ.
Though thereâs no real reason to call her one, from their point of view, Celestina, who couldnât use magic, made them feel better about their own inability.
Their distorted thoughts, such as âat least I can use magic unlike herâ or âshe might be a bit smart, but sheâs disappointingly useless when it comes to magic, so Iâm better than herâ , served as the final breakwater for them.
Without that, they, who were already being scorned, wouldnât be able to stay sane much longer in this Academy, where the power struggle of the factions run rampant.
Nevertheless, they only despise her unilaterally, in reality, itâs not as if she did betray them.
And thus, the time for the next lecture came, whether the students were eagerly waiting for it or not.
Itâs magic invocation practice.
Students gathered on the training ground.
For them, itâs a boring lecture that basically consists of shooting magic for almost an hour straight.
Itâs a training that measures how much the studentâs mana is consumed by invoking magic, though itâs just continuously shooting magic. In a real battlefield, however, theyâll be at the mercy of the enemy as soon as their mana gets depleted.
Even if thereâs some little mana remaining by the end, itâs useless if you canât strike down the enemy in front of you.
It was a training in name only, it didnât take into account actual combat.
How to properly manage your mana reserves should be the lectureâs topic, but in actuality, it was a place for the students to release their stress.
The spell they use is the initial magic ă Fireball ă, whose power is determined by the userâs total amount of mana.
The notion of taking and using the mana from nature has been lost in the present time, so they rely exclusively on the mana within their own bodies to cast magic.
As the number of times one runs out of magic increases, there might be people who learn ă Mana Control ă and ă Mana Consumption Reduction ă, but at best, their mana reserves will be slightly increased, because and most importantly, they donât have any experience in consciously practicing magic control, so theyâll never learn the skills.
Incidentally, ă Mana Increase ăis a skill that people rarely obtain, though Celestina already had it.
The training under the suspicious-looking uncle was an extremely harsh but fun time.
âHaahâŠâ
Celestina heaves a sigh.
âYou donât seem very motivated, young ladyâŠâ
âIt was more fun to fight against the Golems. It was a kind of training that pushed you, both physically and mentally, and you could easily see how much you were improving.â
âThat sounds like the opposite of fun though?â
âItâs training, so of course it has to be serious, but considering thereâs almost zero risk to your life, itâs almost the same as just playing around.â
While feeling a sense of relief in her masterâs change, Misuka sighs in the same way as her.
It looks like there really is nothing she can learn from the Academy.
âBut, thereâs a huge amount of information at this Academy. I want to acquire as much information as I can.â
â âThe physical laws of this worldâ, right? What Zeros-dono was talking about earlier for your assignment.â
âWell, itâs important to understand the physical phenomenon in the construction of a spell. It can be read from the magic formula, but itâs still too vague, and if I manage to compare it against the physical law in question, I might get to understand the rationale behind the invocation of any magic.â
She could read a bit of a magic formula, but it wasnât enough to create a new magic.
Seeking knowledge was currently her top priority, so she wouldâve liked to be spared from playing around in this poor excuse of a lecture.
In a sense, it could be said that the times when she wasnât practicing magic were just as valuable.
â
And she sighed once again for the umpteen time this day.
âOh my, Isnât it Celestina-san? So you were still in this Academy.â
In front of her was another cause of her headaches.
The voice that called out to her belonged to a girl with blonde ringlets, Christine Ledoux Saint-Germain. She was the daughter of the Marquis of Saint-Germain, leader of the homonymous faction, as well as the Magic Research faction.
She is one of the few people who would actually talk to Celestina.
âChristine-san, itâs good to see you again.â
(*T.N: Celestina is talking with a polite speech while Christine isnât. Itâs just somewhat hard to translate that nuance into English without sounding overly stiff.)
âHee, yes, itâs been a while. But, how rare, I havenât seen you taking this lecture before.â
âOh, was it really a lecture? It looks more like just playing around to me. Thereâs nothing to learn from it.â
âIs that so? By the way, I heard you could use magic now. So, how did you do it?â
âDo you really want me to tell you?â
âIndeed, please tell me. Iâm sooo curious I wonât be able to sleep at night!â
Celestina wasnât good at dealing with her.
Sheâs not a hateful person, but for some reason, she seems to be overly concerned about Celestina.
Furthermore, as a result, the surrounding people didnât even try to hide their scornful words.
Sheâs not aware of it, and sheâs not a bad girl, so Celestina couldnât treat her coldly.
In short, she was a troublesome person.
âA three hours training session fighting against a group of Mud Golems, itâs possible to train both your mind and body at the same time⊠but, I wouldnât recommend it.â
ââŠâŠ T-That sounds quite fierce. A-And, how did you get that many Golems?â
(*T.N: she uses âdesuwaâ as her sentence-ending catchword. It sounds kinda cringe in english, but I wanted you guys to know that she talks like the stereotypical ojou-sama.)
âA magician whoâs an acquaintance of my grandfather could use the spell ă Create Golem ă. Not only is he strong, but he could control the Golemsâ movements with pinpoint accuracy so we wouldnât get a serious injury.â
âI havenât heard of such a magician. Is he perhaps your âmentorâ ?â
âHeâs more than just a powerful person. We met by chance when we were returning home from the Academy and were attacked by bandits. After that, he spent his time teaching me the basics for two months.â
The presence of a magician with tremendous ability.
Christine was genuinely amazed.
âAnd where is this person now? Iâd love to meet him.â
âItâs unfortunate, but by the end of the summer vacations, he most likely left again⊠he is not seeking for power, after all.â
âWonderful, itâs really wonderful! So there were still real magicians in this world!â
The Saint-Germain faction lusts for power for the sake of obtaining more research funds.
They figured that the reason behind the stagnation of magic research was that there werenât many excellent magicians, so they took action to increase their own influence, and headhunt talented magicians in each country.
And in fact, there was an overwhelming amount of magicians who turned to alchemy for an easy way to make money.
Nonetheless, the Saint-Germain faction was known for being research-oriented, counting with many scholars investigating a wide variety of topics.
Knowing the existence of such Great Sage, she would, without a doubt, try to headhunt Zeros, thus, for the sake of her mentor*, who just wanted to live a peaceful life, she told her a bit of a white lie.
(*T.N: the word used here, and above by Christine, is ćž«[shi], it means teacher, mentor or expert, but itâs different from how Zeros was called before[with sensei and shishou]. In fact, almost every word I found that referred to being a teacher and/or expert in something, had that kanji but it doesnât usually go alone. Maybe thereâs a nuance Iâm missing here.)
Though it seems like her familyâs tendencies were also present in Christine herself.
Most of all, she has a strong fascination for the great sages of old.
(I canât say that my mentor is a Great Sage, if I do, sheâll surely do everything in her power to meet with him, even if I refuse, I feel like sheâll totally ditch school to go see him.)
She puts effort on the most pointless things.
âNext! Celestina von Solisthea.â
Celestina returns to reality with the teacherâs words. Apparently it was her turn now.
âAlright. Here I go.â
âPlease donât overdo it, young lady.â
She heads towards the place she was told with unwilling steps.
âCan you really use magic, Celestina-san? Honestly, it feels the same as before.â
âYou can tell just by looking. The young lady is even physically stronger than the average male.â
âBy the way, why is your maid, Misuka, here? Shouldnât the maids stay in the dormitories?â
âIâm a graduate from this Academy.â
Misukaâs excuse wasnât really a valid reason.
Itâs not alright for maids to wander around the Academy as they like, though she seemed totally unapologetic.
As the surroundingsâ gazes gather on her, Celestina measures the distance to the target.
The target is an alloy of mithril and damascus ore, engraved with a magic formula, making it resistant to magic.
Because the target wouldnât be easily destroyed, the purpose of this training was to measure the accuracy and power of the studentsâ magic.
âAlright. Here I go.â
A small fireball was generated from Celestinaâs palm. It looks to be much smaller than the rest of the studentsâ.
Those who saw immediately snickered at her.
But the teacher was astonished in a different sense.
Celestina was invoking magic without chanting.
âFire.â
A flash of light is shot towards the armored target.
The ultra high-speed fireball hits and penetrates the armor, melting it with its high heat.
With an explosion, the target is blown to pieces.
Even with a spell like fireball, the amount of heat and power will rise as itâs further compressed, and so, when it hits the target and explodes, the destructive power jumps exponentially compared to its regular-sized counterpart.
Though the magic formula itself is practically the same as the other studentsâ, the combination of the ă Mana Control ă and ă Magic Manipulation ă skills, makes the power output of her fireball, leagues above their own.
All things considered, Celestinaâs spell was optimized by Zeros, and itâs comparable to the magic of the old era.
Its mana consumption is low while its power is high, so in a sense, she might have a cheat?
âW-What was that!?!?â
âImpossible, whatâs with that power!?â
âWasnât it the same magic!? Wasnât she an incompetent!?â
The training ground quickly became noisy.
The reinforced, magic-resistant target being blown to smithereens is something that has never happened before. Moreover, the one who did it, was the girl known as âincompetentâ.
On that day, she came to be known as the Academyâs âgenius girlâ .
However, such a title has no meaning to her.
Because the back of her mentor is at a distance much, much far awayâŠ