The crisp, pleasant sound of the dismissal bell was still echoing through the arcane magic tower when nearly thirty apprentices in the "Thorn Tree" class could already see Lucian pick up his collected practice sheets and leave without hesitation — never dragging out class or rambling. They immediately launched into an animated discussion.
"Annik, Heidi, Leilia — do you know this Mr. Lucian?" Noticing their unusual reaction earlier, class monitor Grant asked with curiosity. He wore a white shirt and a small jacket, had a head of curly black hair, and a pair of deeply set black eyes.
The other apprentices also turned their gazes over, wanting to learn more about this unconventional teacher.
Annik nodded slightly. "Yes, we know Mr. Evans." He had always been rather respectful and admiring of the class monitor, who had outstanding Arcane talent, excellent spiritual power aptitude, and was well-liked by everyone.
Grant clicked his tongue. "That's really great! Is Mr. Evans always this cool in daily life? Saying things like 'it's fine if you don't attend my class, as long as you pass the final exam'?"
"No teacher has ever dared say something like that. They always wish we'd focus all our energy on them during class — stiff and serious to the point of being annoying. None of them are as open-minded and cool as Mr. Evans! You know, sometimes they're teaching things I've already mastered. Wouldn't it be better to use that time learning other things?"
As if he'd found a kindred spirit — or perhaps simply won over by Lucian's style, so different from the other teachers — Grant grew excited, even starting to call him "Mr. Evans" just like Annik. The other apprentices also felt Lucian was cool, the way he didn't care at all whether the apprentices paid attention or not, caring only about the final exam.
Heidi bared her teeth slightly and said with great seriousness and gravity: "Mr. Evans really doesn't care much about how serious or focused students are, because he often says: 'You're studying Arcane and magical knowledge for yourselves, not for me. If you can't become official mages, the ones who'll be sad and face a bleak future won't be me — so why should I care what attitude you take toward your studies?' But that's only one side of him. The other side..."
Lucian's words were simple and easy to understand, making even the apprentices including Sprint and Katrina nod ever so slightly. Even without a teacher watching over them, their longing for the status, position, and power of an official mage gave them both motivation and pressure. Although some might scoff at grinding away, none would be slack — so their fondness for Lucian rose yet another notch, feeling he was practically a friend of the apprentices, a teacher with a uniquely cool style!
"What's Mr. Evans's other side?" Grant was very curious about Lucian, noticing that Heidi hadn't finished her thought.
Remembering the recent practice sessions and the painful past they'd rather forget, Heidi and Leilia answered in unison: "You'll find out after a while. I hope you won't hate Mr. Evans too much by then!"
"Huh? Why would we hate him?" Grant and the other apprentices felt they could only worship such a teacher.
Annik, Heidi, and Leilia shook their heads in perfect unison: "You'll understand when the time comes." Watching others about to suffer just as they had — that seemed like something to be happy about, didn't it?
Filled with curiosity and confusion, the apprentices began their second class: "Magic Potions (Introductory)."
……
Inside the faculty office of the official apprentice class.
Lucian had just stepped into the room with his exam papers when three male and two female teachers — five in all — looked up from their desks and nodded at him with smiles, while the remaining seven teachers kept their heads down, either preparing lecture materials or analyzing their own magic.
Seeing their smiles, Lucian nodded back in greeting. When he'd arrived that morning, he'd been worried others might be surprised or skeptical that he could enter the Douglas Academy of Arcane Magic with only seven Arcane points, but it turned out Roke had blurted everything out. The five teachers who were on good terms with Roke promptly expressed goodwill and warmth toward Lucian, while the other seven magic teachers who were on poor terms with him became lukewarm, almost ignoring him entirely.
Of course, as long as no one brought up the question of the nature of spiritual power with them, they didn't have the spare energy to make things difficult for an ancient-tradition mage who didn't even hold an official Archanist ranking.
"Lucian, courses like Ancient Magic Language and Magical Creature Introduction don't really have much difficulty in terms of teaching. You'd best use your time wisely to shore up your Arcane foundations." As a golden-haired female mage named Vernia passed by Lucian's desk on her way to class, she offered this kindly reminder.
She was a First-level Archanist, a Second Circle mage, skilled in the Illusion and Force school systems. Around twenty-five or twenty-six years old, she had both a mature charm and a youthful, attractive beauty. But she was already married — her husband was a noble Great Knight with the title of Viscount — so every morning she had to take the arcane magic steam train from Luntate, the capital of the Holm Kingdom, spending ten minutes on the commute.
Because the distance was so short, and with her dual identity as a mage and a noble, a round trip cost her only two silver nares.
Lucian smiled politely. "Thank you for the reminder, Ms. Vernia. I'll keep that in mind."
"I love young people like you, Lucian — polite and handsome. If you're ever free in Luntate, you must come visit my home." As a married woman, Vernia was no longer as shy as she'd been in her unmarried days, and she teased Lucian with a smile.
In the entire magic school, female magic teachers made up roughly a third. Some were good-looking, others had plain faces but excellent bearing, and a few had horrifying appearances — the result of failed magic experiments or long-term exposure to the energy of certain schools of magic they studied.
After Vernia left, Lucian pulled out the exam papers and browsed through them, getting a general sense of the "Thorn Tree" class's level in Ancient Magic Language. Then he took out his feather pen and paper and began reviewing and consolidating the Second Circle spell "Mirror Image" that he had already analyzed.
After fighting the fish-man mage, Lucian had grown very interested in this spell that could break free of target lock. Moreover, it was a basic spell of the Illusion school, and it was also recorded in the Book of Stars and Elements — so Lucian planned to use it as the first Second Circle spell he would construct, in order to advance to Second Circle mage.
……
Inside the "Arcane Experiment Tower" of the Douglas Academy of Arcane Magic.