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As Sunday arrived, most of the students returned to the academy.
The dormitory lounge, decorated with fancy furniture, was filled with students gathered in small groups, sharing their adventure stories.
The first-year dormitory building consisted of three buildings in total.
A female student building, a male student building, and a common building.
The common building had a lounge and study rooms.
"Ugh... is it not lunchtime yet?"
Nubes scratched his stomach while looking at the magic clock on the wall.
Bellum slapped Nubes' hand scratching his stomach.
"Are you a pig? It's only 10 o'clock, and you're already talking about lunchtime."
"I missed the academy food so much... I ate on the streets for over four days, and I was going crazy because I kept seeing the student cafeteria in my mind."
"I'm sure you were."
The Davian group, reunited after a long time, was sitting on a sofa arranged in a U-shape, taking a rest.
Latia looked at Davian with a sulky expression.
"Davian, I heard you came back without finishing the time? And then you were immediately called to the faculty meeting?"
"Yeah."
"Did you explore something amazing?"
"It was nothing special."
"Then why was a faculty meeting called as soon as you returned?"
"I just went to the Demon Realm."
Nubes and Bellum, who were bickering about whether he was a pig or not, were surprised and opened their mouths wide.
Luna also widened her round eyes even more and looked at Davian.
Latia couldn't hide her surprised expression either.
"The Demon Realm?"
"Yeah. A dimensional portal was open, so I went to the Demon Realm."
Nubes shouted.
"Did you meet a demon? Do they really have horns on their heads?"
"Yeah."
"You, you met them? Demons? I heard they attack humans on sight."
"I fought them."
"Did you win?"
"Would I be here if I lost?"
"Wow... my roommate. He's really something."
"Actually, I lost to one of them. Glacier helped me barely get back alive."
Luna breathed a big sigh of relief.
"Phew, that's a relief. Davian, you almost got into big trouble."
Bellum stared at Luna.
"Hey, Luna. He's sitting there perfectly fine, why are you saying 'phew, that's a relief' now?"
"Huh? Huh? No... still... it was dangerous anyway. Demons, I mean."
Latia asked.
Her expression suddenly became quite serious.
"So, who did you lose to? Was it some kind of legion commander?"
"Yeah. A legion commander."
"You really met a demon legion commander? You even fought him? And you came back safe?"
"Yeah. I lost. Miserably."
"Why are you saying it so calmly? It's natural to lose. I can only count a few of our professors who could handle him."
"I won't lose next time."
"What?"
"I'll win next time."
"Ha..."
Latia thought, 'What an absurd guy.'
At least according to what Latia learned from books, the skill of a demon legion commander is beyond that of an 8-star mage or swordsman.
Moreover, it has been hundreds of years since they appeared in the human world, so it is even more difficult to deal with them in a state where you are not familiar with their combat methods.
'But what? You'll win next time?'
Of course, if that 'next time' was decades later, maybe, but Davian's expression and tone were not like that.
It felt like he was saying, 'I'll win next time,' after getting into a fistfight with a classmate yesterday.
But what makes Latia even more dumbfounded is.
'This guy might actually do it...'
It was herself who was thinking that Davian might be able to do it.
After obtaining the Stone of Enlightenment that the founding king had obtained, mana began to accumulate twice as fast when performing the Gongyeon.
Thanks to this, he was able to increase his magic power faster than ever over the past two months.
His magical skills had also improved significantly as he prepared for and took the midterm exams.
It had only been three months since he entered the academy, but he could confidently say that he had become incomparably stronger than before entering.
However.
'Davian has grown even more in the meantime.'
She was surprised when he defeated the Gray Witch alone, but now the atmosphere was different from then.
'What do I have to do to catch up with this guy...'
While Latia was lost in thought, Bonita asked this time.
"What about the demons' swordsmanship? Are they good? Is it much different from human swordsmanship?"
"It's nothing special."
"Nothing special, huh? Okay, that's good."
Bonita was really not interested in anything other than swordsmanship.
"But where did that blabbermouth Liber go? Why hasn't he shown up?"
Bellum replied.
"Oh, I heard. He's going back to his hometown for the weekend. He said he has something to look into."
"Did that blabbermouth pick up some strange information again and is doing that?"
"I don't know about that. I heard he left as soon as he returned to the academy."
"He's a unique guy anyway."
The unusually short weekend passed, and it became Monday.
Kinesis Professor's Levitation Magic class.
Professor Kinesis coughed and made a metallic noise.
"Cough. From today, we will learn about the use of Levitation Magic. Open your textbooks to page 372."
Kinesis gestured once in the air.
Whoosh.
Then, the pages of the textbook for teachers placed on the teacher's desk turned naturally.
The book stopped exactly at page 372.
"As you have already learned, Levitation Magic is a magic that allows you to control objects that are not touched by hand through mana existing in nature."
Professor Kinesis picked up a flowerpot placed by the window.
Of course, it was through Levitation Magic.
"But here, control is not just about lifting and moving things as you commonly think."
The flowerpot was already in the center of the classroom, floating in the air.
"If you control Levitation Magic more precisely."
The plant planted in the flowerpot was slowly pulled out.
Even the roots buried in the soil were completely pulled out, but there was no damage to the stem or leaves.
"Wow."
The students exclaimed involuntarily.
This was because they knew how incredibly detailed that control was.
"You can do more than just lift and move things like this. And..."
Crack.
The stem, which was fine when it was pulled out of the soil, suddenly bent at a 90-degree angle.
"If you use mana acceleration, you can also inflict damage to objects like this. As you know, only a very small amount of mana was released from my hand. But that mana creates a wave in the mana of nature, and that wave can be accelerated according to the caster's will."
Davian's eyes shone as he watched Professor Kinesis' demonstration.
The figure of Peter, whom he had seen a few days ago, overlapped with the plant whose stem was bent by Levitation Magic.
Peter's figure, his back bent backward by the Levitation magic of the demon legion commander Jedicus, and died instantly.
"Nature is full of mana. It's in this classroom, and it's in the grass outside the window. Mana exists infinitely in this world. This Levitation Magic that directly controls such mana is..."
Crack!
This time, the flowerpot shattered.
The flowerpot broke, and the soil inside fell to the classroom floor.
But the broken flowerpot pieces were still floating in the air.
"...It can be said to be a field of study with limitless application and potential for development."
Davian looked at his palm spread out on the desk.
'Mana acceleration...'
The first class came to mind.
When Professor Kinesis told him to move the flowerpot by the window, Davian tried to use Levitation Magic but ended up breaking the flowerpot.
The same was true when Professor Kinesis called him to his office separately and told him to move this and that.
'If I use mana acceleration in combat, I can do much more diverse attacks.'
But he couldn't do it right away.
Sometimes he broke things, and other times he moved them well, but he hadn't yet realized the clear difference between the two.
'I need to learn how to accelerate mana and how to maintain a stable wave.'
Levitation Magic itself was very difficult, but Davian, who couldn't feel mana well, had a particularly hard time with this subject.
He had virtually given up until the 3rd playthrough.
It was only in the 4th playthrough that he was able to recognize mana in the form of wind.
It would be even better if he could see it in the form of thread like Latia, but anyway, he had no choice but to practice in the given situation.
'I have to try anything that can make me stronger.'
There are no more regression/rebirth/return chances left.
To survive in this world, I have to graduate this time and get out of the quest.
Kinesis' theoretical lesson continued.
The subject was so difficult both theoretically and practically that not all students were concentrating on Professor Kinesis' lesson.
More than half of the students had already given up, saying that it was impossible no matter how hard they tried.
Next semester, when they can selectively take detailed major courses, most of the students here will not take Levitation Magic class.
Except for the students who have completely given up, they are taking the class reluctantly for the sake of the final exam score.
But Davian was different.
He was concentrating so as not to miss a single word of Professor Kinesis' lesson.
Latia, who was sitting next to him, was also the same.
"Okay... that's all for today's theory class. Next time, we will go outside and practice. Check with the teaching assistant for the location of the next class. That's all. Cough."
The same day, in the evening.
Professor Kinesis' office.
Knock knock.
"Come in."
A teaching assistant opened the door and entered.
"I have finished arranging the location for the practical class."
"Good work."
"Then, I will prepare the practical class as you mentioned last time. The targets you mentioned will be completed and delivered this week."
"Okay."
"But Professor..."
Professor Kinesis, who was buried in the back of the chair and sitting like a corpse, opened his eyes.
"What's wrong?"
"Ah, it's nothing. I'm just curious."
"What is it?"
"I've been a teaching assistant for your class for 4 years now, but you've never conducted an outdoor class like this before, have you?"
"Was that so."
Was that so?
For the teaching assistant, Professor Kinesis was someone who seemed too old and struggled even to go into the lecture hall.
And in fact, he had never conducted an outdoor class during the time the teaching assistant had been working.
Only during the midterms and final exams did they conduct tests outdoors.
Other than that, it was always a lecture hall class.
"Yes. I'm curious as to why you are suddenly trying to conduct an outdoor practical class like this."
"Dennis."
The surprised teaching assistant looked at Kinesis.
"Yes?"
The teaching assistant's name was Dennis Fioreen.
He was 26 years old this year, and he was so immersed in Levitation Magic that he had been working as Professor Kinesis' teaching assistant for four years after graduating from the academy.
But Kinesis had not called Dennis' name like this many times during that time.
"I have devoted my entire life to Levitation Magic."
"...I know very well. That's why I respect you the most."
"But the world has gradually distanced itself from Levitation Magic."
"..."
"There are few people who can do it. It's difficult. It takes a long time. It's not efficient."
"...It seems to be a little bit like that compared to other fields of study."
"Yes. That's how the world distanced itself from Levitation Magic, and I also distanced myself from the world as much. Levitation Magic was everything to me."
Kinesis, who had been silent for a while, spoke again.
"But. A guy who will once again engrave the greatness of Levitation Magic in the world has appeared."
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