"Thank you all for such a warm welcome," said Professor Millei, the summoning magic professor, as he entered the classroom, puzzled by the heated atmosphere.
Despite his advanced age, Professor Millei, who maintained a dignified posture, was unmistakably a noble from a prestigious imperial family, evident to anyone who saw him. Nobility from great families always had a way of standing out, even in their walk and talk.
'Though, those from the Blue Dragon are somewhat an exception.'
Of course, the students trapped and starving in the tower were exceptions. Whether noble or not, dignity fades when one is possessed by hunger.
Professor Millei slightly adjusted his monocle, his demeanor that of a strict perfectionist.
But Yi-Han was not intimidated.
'Anyone is better than Professor Boladi,' he mused.
Professor Garcia began a brief explanation.
"Like dark magic, formal summoning magic class is also taught from the second year. However, the reason for inviting Professor Millei today is not only a great opportunity to learn what summoning magic is but also..."
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Just then, a summoned creature that had escaped from the academy grounds howled outside, causing the windows to tremble.
"...considering the current situation of the academy, I thought it would be helpful for all of you," concluded Professor Garcia.
"Professor Garcia...!"
"We have no one but you, Professor!"
Some students took out handkerchiefs to wipe their tears.
Professor Millei watched this display without a change in his expression and then spoke in a firm voice.
"Professor Garcia, shall we begin?"
"Yes, please start."
"Who among you is interested in summoning magic?"
All the students raised their hands, including Yi-Han. He couldn't understand why Professor Mortum's sad face briefly crossed his mind.
'But summoning magic is truly wonderful,' he thought.
Like dark magic, which varied from curses, elemental summons, undead raising, to negative energy, summoning magic encompassed numerous fields - elemental summoning, demon summoning, monster summoning, artifact summoning, magic object summoning, and more.
As a magic that included a variety of entities, from living beings to inanimate objects (even overlapping with dark magic to some extent), its utility was boundless.
Old tales often spoke of mages who lived happily ever after (and lazily) by contracting with an exceptional summon. While not all aspects of these tales were believable, they indicated how prosperous one could become with mastery in summoning magic.
"Thank you. However, there may be at most one student here who is qualified to learn summoning magic."
Silence fell in the classroom.
Professors had a knack for dampening spirits, and Professor Millei was no exception. He continued sternly.
"I will not mince words. Summoning magic is difficult. If you lack the ability to learn and attend the second-year class unnecessarily, it will be hard on the student.”
'Now that's a professor.'
Yi-Han was impressed.
If a student lacks the ability to learn, a professor should discourage or wait for them, rather than thinking, ‘Why can’t they learn? Let’s see if they can’t learn even before they die.’ If you think that, aren’t you a gangster, not a professor?
“Summoning magic isn’t something you can learn with just knowledge in one area of magic. To summon spirits, you need a deep understanding of spirit studies; to summon demons, a deep understanding of demonology; to summon monsters, a deep understanding of monster studies. Even inanimate object summoning, which is relatively easy, is not simple. So I say it again. If you're not confident, it's better not to take an interest in summoning magic.”
Yet, the students seemed even more intrigued.
Given their young age, how many would retreat just because it was difficult? They all looked more eager now.
This was the complete opposite of dark magic, which they had been indifferent to despite it being deemed easy.
Professor Garcia whispered softly, "They are all talented students. Would you give them a chance?"
Professor Millei nodded his head in agreement.
With a flick of his wand, strange geometrically patterned magic circle scrolls appeared in front of the students. Unlike disposable scrolls that activated upon tearing, these were fixed scrolls with magic circles drawn on their open surfaces.
"You all are taking <Basic Imperial Geometry and Arithmetic>, aren't you?"
"Yes," they replied.
Hearing the name of the class, the students' faces twisted as if they had just bitten into frogs.
Enduring the torture of those dreadful numbers was not something many students could handle, not being magic or liberal arts.
'Honestly, that's one of the easier subjects,' thought Yi-Han, swallowing the thought that would have earned him a stoning had his friends heard it.
"It's too difficult!"
"Then you have no chance of learning summoning magic."
Upon uttering those words and risking elimination from learning summoning magic, Gainando closed his mouth.
"Pay attention in <Basic Imperial Geometry and Arithmetic>. The creation and calculation of magic circles are essential in summoning magic."
Yi-Han examined the magic circle.
Unlike Gainando, whose eyes were spinning in confusion, Yi-Han could discern what type of magic circle it was.
'So, the mana flows like this...'
Magic circles were akin to circuits.
While electrical circuits conducted electricity, magic circles conducted mana. Any mage who had cast magic knew how difficult it was. The higher the complexity of the magic, the greater the difficulty.
The required amount of mana increased, and the structure of the magic became more complex.
Magic at a certain level was not deemed 'humanly possible' without reason.
These magic circles aided the mages. Amplifying in some parts, reducing in others, bypassing or blocking in various ways, they circulated mana to alleviate the mage's burden.
While calculating the circulating mana and visualizing it in his mind, Yi-Han suddenly saw a vision of a quill.
'What's this?'
In the world of magic, there were no coincidences.
Yi-Han realized that the quill he just envisioned was related to the magic circle.
"This magic circle summons a quill."
"A quill?"
"To summon a quill...?"
The students were perplexed.
Summoning a quill, rather than something like a dagger, left them wondering, 'Why bother?'
Yi-Han shook his head in disbelief.
'Ungrateful lot.'
Would they take responsibility if Professor Millei were to behave like Professor Boladi? What if he cleared the desks and threw a demon summoning circle at them, saying, 'If you don't want to die, succeed in summoning'?
Fortunately, Professor Millei was different. He spoke in his unchanged, firm voice, "It's a magic quill made of mana. It won't last long once summoned, so focus only on the act of summoning for now."
No sooner had the professor finished speaking than the students started waving their staffs, activating the magic circles.
"Come forth, quill!"
"Magic quill, please appear!"
With each incantation, magic circles flared up or scrolls tore apart.
Though made to withstand mana, these magic circles could easily break and crumble due to a mage's mistake.
As Professor Millei had anticipated this, he waved his staff.
As the damaged magic circles vanished, new ones appeared.
About 30 minutes had passed.
Students from various groups began successfully summoning objects resembling quill. The Blue Dragon, with Yonaire, Adenart, and Asan, had the most successful summonings, followed by decent numbers from the Black Tortoise and the Immortal Phoenix. The White Tiger had the least, but still, a few talented students managed to summon something akin to quill.
Observing the beaming students, Professor Garcia couldn't help but give a bitter smile.
'They shouldn't be pleased with just that.'
Indeed, Professor Millei's face remained as impassive and rigid as a statue. The challenge of summoning magic lay exactly in this: 'Somewhat successful' summoning was as good as a failure! Elemental magic might count as a success despite differences in size or shape, but summoning magic was the complete opposite. If it wasn't perfect, it was meaningless.
It couldn't be helped. Since summoning involved imbuing will into the summoned object, any slight mistake could lead the summon to attack the mage.
At least it was just a quill...
"Dargard, you scoundrel, you attacked me with a magic quill!"
"It's a misunderstanding, Gainando! The quill moved on its own! Besides, it's just a quill!"
"Assassination of royalty! It's an assassination, Yi-Han, help me!"
"It's just a quill, how likely is it to kill someone!"
The quill was indeed enough to cause an uproar.
Anglago of the White Tiger, belonging to the prestigious Alpha family, felt a proud thrill as a sleek quill materialized. Although he felt behind in various magics due to his family status, summoning magic seemed different. Perhaps he was even better than Jijel.
Seeing Yi-Han seated in front of him without a quill or anything else, Anglago couldn't hide his smugness.
‘For the first time, I could defeat the notorious young mage from the Wardanaz family,’ thought Anglago, calling out to Yi-Han.
"Wardanaz, have you failed in summoning?"
Silence from Yi-Han.
"Wardanaz! Don't ignore me! Look at my quill!"
Yonaire, sitting nearby, retorted, "Didn't you have a quill at home? Bragging about a quill?"
"Look at my quill here..."
Bang!!!
A loud noise erupted. Anglago, thinking Yi-Han had invoked dark magic, dove to the ground in fear.
Magic quills began to materialize in droves above Yi-Han's magic circle.
Yi-Han looked at the fluttering quills with a bemused expression.
'A failure.'
He hadn't heard Anglago's taunts; he was too focused. Channeling mana into the fragile magic circle to complete the summoning was difficult for the other students, but for Yi-Han, it was excruciatingly hard. A moment's loss of control could tear the magic circle apart with a surge of mana.
Thus, Yi-Han had almost given up when everyone else began.
'Maybe summoning magic isn't my forte.'
Perhaps Yi-Han's destiny was to be a battle mage like Professor Boladi.
...But, surprisingly, the magic circle didn't break.
Even Yi-Han was astonished.
'Was I capable of this?'
A perfect understanding of the magic circle.
And recently, (forcibly) improved mana control.
When these two merged, Yi-Han managed not to destroy the magic circle.
It was an astonishing achievement.
'Oh, right. The task was to summon.'
Engrossed in successfully channeling mana into the magic circle without breaking it, Yi-Han continued to do so until he realized his mistake.
The task had been to summon a magic quill, not to keep the magic circle intact.
"Appear, quill."
Yi-Han murmured simply and swung his staff.
Bang!!!
In that moment, with a loud noise, magic quills began to materialize in abundance above the magic circle.
Surprised by this unusual failure phenomenon which he had never seen before, Professor Garcia turned his gaze aside.
It seemed like the first time Professor Millei's eyebrows had risen so high.
"Student Yi-Han originally has so much mana, so such failures..."
Before Professor Garcia could finish his excuse, Professor Millei returned his expression to normal and calmly stated, "That's not a failure, Professor Garcia."
