14 Little Wisps of Magic

Evin was shocked.

Shocked beyond belief, but the teacher struggled to keep it off his face.

The more he looked, the more he felt like he was watching something extraordinary. It almost felt like he was the student, and his student was the teacher instead.

How was this possible?

At first, he had not held any great expectations when it came to Alecris' turn, but the more he watched, the more shocked he felt.

There was simply nothing about Alecris' technique that he could criticize. In fact, looking at it, he could pick out a few deficiencies that he himself had gotten wrong.

Evin's thoughts halted. This… it was shocking beyond belief!

The pure perfection and grace that every move exuded. Never had the likes of him seen such a thing in real life. As an estimate, only someone who had thoroughly perfected every move using repetition upon repetition could have achieved it.

However, would anyone normal do such a thing? No! Even in the Neil Clan, which was well-known for their battle maniacs, there were not many who spent that much time on the basics.

Evin himself was a rare occurrence, but to take it to the level that Alecris had taken it? That took time, and dedication. How was it possible for a boy that young to produce such results?

His face instantly changed.

Not good. In fact, it surpassed the level of 'not good' to transcend to a whole new level.

He had to hide this. He couldn't let such talent go to waste. Not when… Evin shook the thought away.

With the way the elders of the Clan were watching Alecris, there was no doubt that they would try and exert their influence over him as soon as he had shown any signs of excelling beyond the book smarts.

Thinking up to this point, Evin spouted some nonsense so that it appeared like Alecris still had much to improve on. Even with his relative thick skin, Evin could feel his ears heating up as he tried his best not to think about the nonsense he was speaking. How embarrassing!

Evin forced himself to ignore the dubious look that Alecris gave him, but very seriously went over their similar imperfections, as well as a few that they might encounter in the future.

He continued lecturing them until it was time for the class to be dismissed, where he sent them home for the day.

Evin breathed out, inwardly groaning. Then, before Alecris could get too far, he pulled him aside as soon as he was alone.

Evin spirited the boy away before he could react, bringing him back to his own quarters. He quickly pressed twice on the doorknob. He had to do this before anyone realized that the boy wasn't where he was supposed to be.

"Alecris," Evin said seriously. "You cannot show how perfectly you mastered the magic technique on your first try. If you haven't already noticed, there are eyes on your everywhere."

Alec, who had been wary about how his teacher suddenly abducted him, felt a flash of understanding as his hackles that had been raised earlier seemed to clam down of their own violation.

He felt a strange feeling, knowing that his teacher cared for him. Earlier, he had been shocked when his teacher gave him a load of superficial advice that did nothing for him. He even started to doubt his teacher's intentions.

Now, he felt a little closer to him than before.

Evin, who didn't know how his image in his student's mind previously took a hit, then recovered just as quickly, continued rather anxiously. "It's fine if it's just me, but until you're strong enough to fight off all opposition, don't so simply show the full extent of your abilities. It's good to have something as a trump card no matter what."

As Evin kept continuously repeating the various things that Alec shouldn't do before sending him back on his way quickly, Alec, who had been in a rather bad mood previously, felt strangely happy.

Tomorrow, his teacher said that he would lend him the second part of the magic technique scroll to use, which made him rather happy. Alec greeted his mother, missing the worried look she shot him.

In part of their rooms, he entered the one that his mother frequented, which was a room that was used by members of the Neil Clan for training.

If one looked at the building as a whole, it actually wasn't all that big, but were filled with multiple apartments. In such apartments, the inside was actually reflective of an entire house. There was an upstairs, a downstairs, and even one or more training rooms.

When Alec asked about it, his mother said that it was because each apartment had overlying spatial arrays that were created by those who held the Support Magitype.

The answer astounded him.

He had no idea how every room in the building managed to fit spatial arrays. Though he looked all over, there was nothing that looked like the centre of the array.

He had an underlying feeling that it wasn't as casual as his mother made it out to be. There was probably an astronomical cost behind it.

Based on his knowledge from the different worlds out there, this type of structures for Clans or sects were always worth a hefty price. Just how large was the Neil Clan? Just walking around, you could see hundreds of different people each day. How many rooms did they do this to? Every room? How powerful was the Neil Clan? How rich were they?

Alec had no idea. He had never been out of the Clan compounds, so there was simply no comparison. If this kept up, he had a feeling that he would end up being exempt from the common sense of the world. Maybe that was the damn Mainframe's motives in placing him here?

That made sense. What else could it have been?

Free from prying eyes, Alec smoothly fell into the stances that he had seen previously in the magic technique scroll, smoothly completing all the rather complex steps.

As he finished, a small, faint wisp of magic entered his body, causing him to feel refreshed. Though he could complete the actions smoothly, it was still draining on his young body.

Alec felt frustrated. Why was it that his body never seemed to improve much, as compared to the rest? Was it because they were Brights? But Elias was a Cher, not a Bright, and he didn't seem to he having as much trouble adapting.

Sighing, Alec put it out of his mind. It never did any good to compare himself to other people. Everyone grew at different paces, after all.

But still… how would he be able to complete his mission if his body couldn't handle the strain?

Just repeating the basic Elemental magic technique already caused such a strain on his body.

What a difference. Life truly wasn't fair. There was always someone better. But if he had the time to complain, then he had the time to put more effort in. He didn't believe he would lose in the end. He was a System, for goodness' sake. There had to be some benefit!

But still, Alec persevered. That was his only good point, after all. The willingness to persevere and toil, where everyone else slacked off. Then again, wasn't that what got him here in the first place?

Hard work and determination would get him somewhere one day.

No matter how he thought about it, he still didn't understand the Mainframe. What nonsense was it to send a System for punishment due to bad reviews? He had followed all the rules.

So lost in his thoughts as he reflexively performed the actions that had been so deeply ingrained in his muscles, Alec never noticed how his body moved, just a little lighter, a little easier. So minute, that one would never have been able to realize it had they not been paying attention.