Top Instructor of a Third-Rate Academy Chapter 49 : Chapter 49

049

“Would you like to co in? It's not very spacious.”

As she said, Berlis's office space wasn't very large.

The office space provided for her was spacious, but it was so full of various magical tools and books that there was hardly any room to step.

“You can just sit sowhere around there.”

The place she pointed to, calling it 'sowhere', was a spot where books as thick as a human head were piled up haphazardly.

Are there no chairs? No, but is it really okay to sit on books?

While I was flustered like that, Berlis, as if to demonstrate, hopped onto the pile of books and sat down.

The books and trinkets were literally a pile of books, so they didn't budge with that much movent.

Still, it's a bit awkward.

I also sat down on a pile of books on one side.

I could feel the hard texture of the hardcover book against my backside.

“Didn't you used to dislike magic~?”

Berlis said, chuckling.

It was a little annoying, coming from soone who clearly knew why I ca to dislike magic.

“You were the one who experinted on my body as you pleased, saying the imbalance between my body and mind was fascinating.”

Whether she knew my feelings or not, Berlis laughed cheerfully with her characteristic "Ahaha".

“People who have felt mana can't help but be curious about it. Ask anything~. I may not look like it, but I'm a teacher~.”

As she said, she was a magic instructor at Akarind Academy.

And a very competent 4th-circle instructor at that.

It was ti to put aside personal feelings and ask about mana.

I spoke ramblingly about what I had felt while swinging my sword and my personal impressions of mana.

“...So I want to create a textbook to convey this sensation to people.”

“Ahaha~ You can't.”

“Pardon?”

“I didn't an 'can't' as in it's forbidden. It's a bit of a different story.”

Berlis's slitted eyes narrowed.

Her dark yellow pupils scanned .

“Your hypothesis cos from a complete misunderstanding of mana. I think you misunderstood because the first ti you felt mana through my magic was so shocking~ This is my fault. Am I disqualified as a teacher—?”

“Could you please explain it slowly, one by one?”

“Yes~.”

She clapped her hands.

And in an instant, the surrounding space completely changed.

Just a mont ago, I was in Berlis's office, but now I was sitting at a desk in a school classroom.

When I placed my hand on the desk, I could feel the hard texture of the desk.

The sensation on my backside was still there, but it was hard to tell if it was the feel of a book or a chair.

And Berlis, wearing a witch-like pointed hat, was smiling sweetly in front of the blackboard.

“This isn't mana, it's magic.”

“...Yes?”

“What you talked about, Teacher Cassian. The thing that imbues swordsmanship, makes the sword sharper, and eventually even cuts through magic. That's not mana, it's magic.”

“Mana and magic.”

“Yes~ Mana is just a material. For example, let's say it's high-quality wood. And a magician is holding a carving knife.”

The example was good, so I could imdiately picture it.

So, in the end, mana is just a raw material and nothing else.

It can be anything, but it can do nothing on its own.

“Without a purpose, mana doesn't move, it just exists. So you have to reverse the order. It's not about feeling mana first, but about imbuing mana with will so that it can be felt!”

I also understood what I had done wrong.

Rozalin, talking about Pan's swordsmanship, said that I had established the concept of 'Mana Road' and then created how to use it.

So I beca too fixated on the existence of mana.

The key is how a swordsman will use magic that cuts through magic.

“But many theory books and magicians' records say they felt mana first. So I thought that for us who use swords to utilize mana, we also have to feel mana….”

“That's all nonsense spouted by idiots who know nothing about mana. Ahahaha, I don't know what kind of magic they're talking about to say such things.”

The world distorted.

As if looking at the world through a convex or concave lens, the screen stretched and bent sideways.

Berlis stood at the center of it.

Berlis's body flickered, stretching and shrinking repeatedly.

And yet, her vertical yellow pupils stared at .

“Magic is a fantastical power. Carving wood to make a wooden bird, carving wood to make a wooden horse, it's still just carving. What's fantastical about that? It's just carving. For it to be a fantasy, that wood has to have life, to fly and to run.”

“....”

Was it because of tension?

Or for so other reason?

My body was frozen stiff, and I could hardly move a single fingertip.

On the other hand, the entire world except for was shaking uncontrollably.

Bookshelves collapsed and bookshelves flew around.

The spines of books were torn, and black lines were drawn across the sentences on the pages.

It felt like a mocking voice was cackling at from a distance.

It was strange.

“Haha, haha.”

But with a weak laugh, the unidentified energy that had been constricting my body disappeared in an instant.

“Eeeh. I got a little excited. I showed you sothing unsightly.”

She rubbed her cheek, her slitted eyes open again.

As I stared at her without a word, she quickly finished her explanation as if to clear the atmosphere.

“We can breathe even if we don't feel the air. Mana is the sa. You're a bit unique, Teacher.”

“...Yes.”

I just nodded in response without saying anything else.

It was because I judged that it would be dangerous to listen to her any longer.

As if she knew my thoughts, Berlis took a step back with a regretful look.

The surrounding scenery lted away like it was dissolving in water, and soon I was back in the sa place as before.

“Thank you.”

I imdiately stood up from my seat.

“Teacher.”

Just as I was about to leave the classroom, Berlis's voice caught from behind.

“Mana is just a tool. What's beautiful is magic. Focus on the magic and don't give too much affection to the tool. A tool is just a tool.”

It was definitely Berlis's voice, but for so reason, it felt as if sothing else wearing Berlis's shell was speaking to .

If a voice had a texture, this one would have a rough, thick skin.

I felt a sense of crisis, as if it would grab my shoulder and tear it off.

I carefully opened my mouth, trying my best not to show such fear.

“Co to think of it, I've never heard why you ca to this Akarind, Teacher. I ca because I like creating theories like this.”

“?”

As if she had never expected to receive such a question, Berlis fell into thought.

I slowly took half-steps until I reached the door.

“I'm… looking for a good tree.”

Is that a taphor for mana, which she ntioned earlier?

“I hope you find it.”

“Hahaha, see you next ti~.”

As soon as the greeting was over, I rushed out of the office space.

Imdiately after, I walked almost at a run towards the training grounds.

‘Yuria? Pan?’

It was hard to know what I had just experienced and felt.

It was completely different from the movent of mana that had awakened my soul.

I felt a sensation of my body stretching and shrinking, the world distorting and changing while I was in a situation where I might be helpless, but I didn't know why I could feel the world distorting, no, I shouldn't know….

“Great Master.”

Whak, the world brightened.

I hadn't even realized it had gotten dark.

I didn't know since when my gaze had been wandering aimlessly, why my body was drenched in sweat.

I knew nothing.

What woke up was Yuria, wearing the Akarind Academy uniform.

She was staring at with her purple eyes.

“Do not go too deep into the world of a magician.”

She seed to have grasped my situation in an instant.

Belatedly, I felt a cool and refreshing energy moving in my body.

It seed she had restored my disordered mind with holy power.

“The 4th-circle are people who have denied the existing magic system and built their own. It is easy to be absorbed into their ntal world.”

Ah, so that's why the world was distorted.

Berlis's world, should I call it anger, or was it filled with self-righteousness, stubbornness, and a sense of inferiority that everyone else was wrong and only she was right.

Usually, she seed easygoing, but perhaps that was Berlis's true inner self.

And the mont I glimpsed it, she must have quickly finished her explanation and kicked out.

‘...An experience I don't want to repeat.’

Still, thanks to Yuria, I was able to endure without losing my reason.

“Thank you.”

“Do you still think you should listen to what even a villain says, Great Master?”

Yuria had said that there was no need to listen to a villain's story, that they should just be left as evil.

She was probably reprimanding for going to Berlis so defenselessly.

“...But thanks to that, I learned sothing.”

The reason Berlis is at this academy.

‘She said 'tree'.'

Berlis said not to have feelings for a tool.

Coming from anyone else it would be one thing, but hearing it from a necromancer who deals with corpses and dolls, it gave a creepy feeling.

Above all, what she is looking for is a tree, a tool.

What kind of tool could be found at the academy?

I needed to watch her in many ways.

I pushed aside all those worries and returned to the dormitory.

‘Still, I learned what mana is, and what direction I should pursue.’

I shouldn't obsess over Mana Road, but find out what the result is.

I sat at my desk, cleared my mind, and imdiately took out my notebook and wrote a single word.

‘Swordsman’

A person who fights with a sword.

On the battlefield, a swordsman has nothing to rely on but his sword.

He must block, deflect, or parry the opponent's attack, and cut down the opponent.

That is why a swordsman runs at the very front, showing his back to his allies.

‘Magician.’

The world is unfair to a swordsman.

A magician uses mana to freely manipulate all the laws and order of the world.

They could slaughter swordsn by comfortably creating and shooting fire from a distance.

‘Demon.’

Even such magicians were nothing compared to demons.

And the future, 10 years from now.

The one who fought at the very front, even cutting through ti, was a single swordsman.

‘Pan.’

So I had to create Pan's sword.

A sword to cut down magicians, demons, and all that absurdity.

It is layered on top of the swordsman's sword, but in the end, the direction and form it pursues does not deviate from the sword.

Sharper than a sword, lighter than a sword.

And yet, in the form of a sword, like a sword.

‘Mana Sword? Sword Enchant?’

A few nas flashed through my mind.

I didn't like them.

The na of the sword, the energy, Berlis's words not to have affection for re tools, who sat there powerlessly, Yuria who had not yet transcended good and evil, and the impending invasion of demons, all of it.

‘Ah.’

To cut down all those things.

I gave the sword not a na, but life, breath (αύρα).

‘Sword Aura.’

That was the magic, the swordsmanship, and the path I would walk from now on.