Chapter 15: A Deceitful Chase

It was nearing the end of the lesson, and the professor had just gone over the basics of magic, and a brief overview of what we expected to learn. He had also gone over a 'Q & A session', answering any doubts about what magic is and what the school can teach.

"As you all must know by now, there are 4 worldly elemental attributes which a human can get. This is excluding a rare outlier ability, however, we will talk about that later."

"I imagine that all of you have been able to use magic by now if you are starting this class."

Professor Dayworth walked up to the floating white chalkboard at the back of the podium and started to pour out mana from the tip of his finger, murmuring something under his breath.

Not many would be able to hear this, but I was currently simultaneously using mana manipulation, strengthening my hearing range.

"𝘍𝘪𝘳𝘦 𝘚𝘦𝘳𝘪𝘦𝘴: 𝘚𝘮𝘰𝘬𝘦𝘭𝘦𝘴𝘴 𝘧𝘭𝘢𝘮𝘦..."

"Magic is a very versatile tool, as you are able to change the properties of your given attribute, to fit the need you desire," he continued.

"Each attribute manipulates its own element, and for example, I have the ability of a fire attribute mage."

"Woooahhhh..." The collective sound of students admiring the professor filled the room.

"The writing you see on the board was made from the slight burn from my magic, where I have immensely decreased the heat of the flame, but retained the amount of energy behind it."

'Damn, so he is a fire mage? Guess you really can't figure out someone's attribute from the way they look.' I remarked.

I was sitting near the back of the classroom and could see the tinge of black on the board. It looked like burnt paper.

"Now, since I used magic to create this mark, I can also use magic to retrieve this mark, by collecting the residue energy left on the board."

As he said that, the black marks started to gradually disappear off the board, and a small cloud of grey smoke started to collect near Professor Dayworth's finger.

"Woooahhhh..."

Letting out a euphoric smile, he calmly said,

"If you all have understood this, I would like you all to replicate what I have done, manipulating the properties of your attribute for homework."

Silence echoed within the room, and a few seconds later, complaints burst from the students like an overflowing dam.

"WHAT!?"

"It is the first lesson here for god's sake!"

"Isn't this a bit too harsh?"

"Most of us aren't able to master magic that quickly!"

Boys and girls alike, all agreed that this homework was uncalled for, standing up from their seats and trying to refute their fate.

'Is this really that hard? I was forced to learn how to push out my own mana, by myself with no help, for over a year.'

I was confused. Surely people would find this much easier after the demonstration, and being told what to do word for word.

However, on the outside, my expression still didn't flinch, remaining a calm and stoic complexion.

Marissa, who was also just sitting down silently, quietly nudged me by the arm.

"Hey, don't you think people are overreacting to just some homework? I mean-"

At that moment before Marissa could finish talking, Professor Dayworth loudly clapped his hands, silencing the entire room.

"Now now, I haven't made this homework too hard for you, and you can just figure it out in your free time, but you must all show me a spell that you have learnt, be it something you worked on by yourself, or have learnt from someone else by next lesson."

"This class is dismissed."

The lesson had flown by and was at least much more interesting than the previous one.

As I was getting my stuff ready to leave, Marissa who was walking next to me asked,

"Ray, what lesson do you have next?"

'Since when did we establish a friendly relationship for her to ask this?'

Reluctantly, I replied, "I have combat and physical training last."

"Ohhh~, lucky! I have a 2-hour lecture on politics next..." she said with a pout.

'Damn... I don't remember asking though...'

I decided to keep these thoughts to myself.

"Ok, have fun."

With a nod, I left in the opposite direction as Marissa, walking down the hallway by myself.

'How time-wasting. I think I should spend some time working on my magic attribute, as I don't know what spell I can show to the professor right now.'

The only spell that I currently knew, was the 'self time-reversal spell', however, this spell wasn't really something that is diverse and properties could be changed like a flame. So, I needed to work on something that is visible and allows me to be very open with tactics in combat.

Engrossed in my thoughts, out of the corner of my eye, I was approached by a familiar group of boys who I had met this morning.

"Hey... twerp!"

'Mason Greenstone...'

My brain started to heat up, thinking about something I could do to prevent the encounter.

'System, show me some information on Mason Greenstone.'

________

<< Mason Greenstone >>

AGE: 12 and 3 months

ROLE: STRONGEST COMBAT CANDIDATE

OVERALL RANK: D

TRAITS: < PRIDEFUL > < COERCIVE >

MAGIC TRAIT: DESTRUCTION

<< NEXT >>

________

I had to blink a few times to process what I was seeing.

'Holy shit, he is only a year older than me, and already two subranks stronger?'

Judging from how much I had trained with Aunt Mary, and I was only at rank E+ myself, I knew that it took a lot of effort and strength to go up a subrank, let alone a whole rank as well.

'Even though he is a pretty strong person, he still has a shit personality huh.'

What also spooked me the most, was the ominous outlier attribute, 'Destruction'.

This attribute could imply many things, but it did give me a good grasp of his personality and habits.

'It is very likely he is an aggressive person, most likely raised like a spoilt young master, and is extremely stubborn.'

This type of person would take a lot of energy to deal with, and with my current strength, I doubted I could overpower him right now.

Thus, the best course of action would obviously be...

to run.

"HEYY, WHAT ARE YOU DOING?"

Roughly following the route from my watch interface, I made some detours every now and then, trying to shake him off my tail.

Somehow, at every bend, he was just a bit faster than me and saw my shadow turning in the other direction.

There was no hope of losing him unless I could do something.

Thinking through my options, I was now in the hallway close to my next classroom, panting with my hands on my knees.

I had just made a sharp right turn and stopped before I reached the room.

The hallway I was now in was enclosed in a one-way corridor, and the classroom was behind me.

My blue eyes were glowing.

Spinning my mana core, I started to feel the same sensation as when I pulled off the minor time reversal spell.

I did not need to alter time now, I need to alter space.

As long as I could mislead Mason into thinking I went somewhere else, or at least that he had miss followed me, I could escape.

I could hear Mason storming closer, and his goons were not far behind.

With these intentions pounding in my heart, and the feeling of magic escaping my body, I could feel my lips subconsciously utter a few words as if they could remember always saying them.

"𝘚𝘱𝘢𝘤𝘦-𝘛𝘪𝘮𝘦 𝘚𝘦𝘳𝘪𝘦𝘴: 𝘔𝘪𝘳𝘢𝘨𝘦"