Ready (2)

"Pathetic…"

Deculein halted the class with his scornful remarks. The classroom fell silent momentarily under the Head Professor's raw disappointment. Deep sighs soon followed. The debutante wizards felt their dreams deflate as they hit a wall. Deculein's magic was immovable. His [Psychokinesis] was like a heavily defended, impregnable fortress that simply commanded a response like 'How can [Psychokinesis] be like this?' out of those trying to siege it.

Based on their universal knowledge, [Psychokinesis] was easy to learn and familiarize oneself with. Still, if they didn't have the aptitude for it, the output would be weak. It certainly wasn't a branch of magic that could be considered minor. Hence, his [Psychokinesis] itself was already a masterpiece. That begged the questions, 'What in the world is Deculein's other magic?' and 'How pure is his mana?'

Using such justifications, those in a lower caliber than the Head Professor didn't fall to their sense of shame even if they were looked down on and treated like filth. The sullen silence ended in three minutes.

"Ah, that sucked."

"If I knew how to do that, I wouldn't be a debutante."

"Does he like toying with us?"

"How did he get all those mana stones, though? He would need to use a huge sum of money for those."

"He's known to throw money away. I mean, he did spend two hundred million Elnes at the auction house. In a single day."

"Two hundred million?!"

Such backtalk excitedly filled the classroom.

"Waaah…I'm dying. By the way, how did you do it, Ifi? I thought I was going to die."

Julia asked Epherene upon recovering from her loss of consciousness. Epherene glanced at her and simply shook her head.

"…I'm not sure either. I can't explain it."

Still, when she did it, she felt like she might die from joy. To exaggerate a bit, she felt a similar sense of accomplishment to when she passed the tower's entrance examination. The target was Deculein's magic, which was why she tried as hard as if her life depended on it for those thirty minutes.

"Just tell me how it felt."

"Lie I puss a trin wid ma barrhends."

"Are you trying to say it's like you pushed a train with your bare hands?"

Epherene nodded. Deculein's magic was almost like a Roahawk boar. Just like the beast's very distinct taste that couldn't be compared with any other pig's, his magic was leagues apart from the other professors in the tower.

"Ooooohhh…"

After finally letting go of her concentration, she immediately felt the fatigue wash over her.

"No, but wasn't the difficulty too great? I think he's just screwing with us."

Julia grumbled as her friend drank cold water.

"…I think I understand it a little. Ah, my tongue is loosening up now."

"What do you mean you understand it?"

"I've realized something."

Those words not only moved Julia's ears but also many of the others around them. Ferit and Rondo, who were in the front seats, turned around.

"What is it?"

"Yeah, I honestly don't know Psychokinesis beyond its beginner level. However, as I tried to break through Deculein's magic…how should I say this…it felt like I pierced something."

Instinctive realization. Beginner psychokinesis certainly wasn't enough to defeat the Head Professor's magic. However, even so, she didn't give up and desperately tried instead.

"I think I realized how to deal with it automatically after I had broken through his magic. It's like I gained an insight on how it works."

Psychokinesis's magic circle created its lines to increase its circles. Her technique interfered with that. Her realization transcended intuition. Through it, she made the mana stone move, albeit only a little. Still, she succeeded, and since there wasn't much difference between her and Sylvia's result, it was a success that she could be proud of.

The mana stone, worth three thousand Elnes, she now held in her hands served as proof of it.

"Wow. Really? That's amazing."

"I don't know the exact details of how I did it, but that's what I did."

Before she knew it, there were eyes around her shining brightly. Wizards' favorite words were 'realization' first and 'insight' second, and she mentioned both of those, which made it sound reliable. She was in last place last time, but even she could do it. That made her explanation a lot more believable.

"Anyway, I think it was correct. You have to play with a master even in things like chess to improve, right? When you do it with beginners, it's just nonstop turnovers."

"You mean back and forth?"

"Ah, yup. My tongue has loosened up some more."

Epherene was confident: Deculein's suggested path wasn't wrong. If they wanted to improve their knowledge, understanding, and skills as wizards, they only had to follow the path he prepared for them. However…

The other wizards in the same classroom, particularly those from noble backgrounds, grew cautious of Epherene. Even Sylvia was looking at Epherene with wary eyes, which didn't happen often. She once heard a strange rumor, after all. According to it, Epherene was given personal guidance by Deculein until late at night. There was also a professor who witnessed him leaving work very late.

At first, she didn't believe it, but her sudden jump couldn't be explained if the rumor wasn't true. The Head Professor's private lessons were the only plausible reason for her unexpected development. Sylvia couldn't hold back her complaints and closed her eyes for a moment. Why did he give a reward to the last place when it should have been for the first place? Unknown bubbles boiled up inside her.

"Hey! Why aren't you cleaning up?"

A sharp sound rang. Beck, the male wizard sitting near Sylvia, had been ridiculously trying to follow Deculein's style. He had been looking at Sylvia's expression until he began criticizing the group of commoners.

"But we already cleaned up our seats," Julia replied.

"What? You have to empty the trash cans at the back too! Professor Deculein is extremely disgusted with that, don't you know?"

In principle, there was no distinction of status in the tower, but the nobles looked for ways to look down on the commoners discreetly anyway. Epherene frowned.

"You can't even see it if you close the lid anyway. If it bothers you that much, why don't you do it?"

"What? How dare you, you little sh—"

The door of the lecture room opened, forcing Beck to quickly sit down. Deculein strolled in and looked at him as he clamored.

"…"

He looked at his nose, to be exact. He still hadn't cleaned up the blood on it. There were even hairs sticking ever so slightly out of his nostrils.

"I—I'm sorry! I won't do it again!"

Afraid of his gaze, Beck bowed down quickly.

"Sit down at the back. You're irritating."

"Yes, sir!"

Beck was immediately isolated, which the commoners felt grateful for. Naturally, they ignored the sounds of him quivering.

"Look at that~. It doesn't matter if it's nobles or commoners; he nags at everyone."

Julia tapped Epherene, who frowned and shook her head.

"That doesn't benefit us all that much, though"

Deculein resumed the class upon reaching the table.

"Just now, what do you think is the reason why you couldn't interfere with my magic?"

"Because it's more advantageous to defend than attack."

The class didn't expect that answer, especially not from Sylvia. Dissatisfied with Deculein, she glared at him like a rabid dog, causing Epherene to raise a curious eyebrow.

"The Professor should do a demonstration, too."

She continued. The activity they did put the defender in a much more advantageous position. Sylvia didn't care how long she could hold out, even if it were just five minutes, maybe even three minutes. She would be satisfied for as long as she could see Deculein shivering every second of it.

"That's right. It's common sense that defending is far more advantageous."

Epherene added, which made Sylvia even angrier.

"Of course."

Deculein nodded. He was brimming with unwavering confidence that his [Psychokinesis] was far beyond the debutantes. No, his aura made them feel as if it wasn't inferior to anyone in the university.

"You may try it."

Sylvia utilized Psychokinesis as best as she could immediately, almost as if she had been waiting for those words. Gripped by Sylvia's magic, the mana stone began to float.

Whiiiiing—!

Deculein immediately captured it.

"Ohh…?"

Sylvia was flustered. It was so quick that she couldn't even discern what had just happened. He took it away from her in a second without her even realizing it…no; it was far faster than that.

"Your turn, Epherene."

After a glance, Epherene hurriedly searched her desk, books, pencil case, and notebook. She then bowed her head as if she was ashamed and defeated.

"I'm sorry. I don't know where my mana stone went. I've lost it in that short time."

"I'll give it back."

"…Oh! I found it. It's in my pocket. I'm sorry. I'll give it a try now."

Epherene took out the mana stone and made it float using Psychokinesis. She concentrated so hard she felt like her nose was about to start bleeding again, but Deculein still took it away in an instant. The result was no different from Sylvia's.

"What was that?"

Epherene felt like she was hit by a train…no, three trains. Deculein calmly continued talking.

"If the magic skill difference between the attacker and defender is this much, it's no longer interference. It's one-way violence."

Epherene and Sylvia, suffering mentally at the same time, frowned.

"That's why you should know your limit and why you need to understand 'mana interference,' which is different from 'magic interference.'"

Deculein turned off the lights in the classroom with a flick of his finger. Three magic circles of [Psychokinesis] then appeared. It was beginner, intermediate, and advanced, respectively.

"There is no need to break up the magic. You don't even have to confront it with the same magic."

Deculein flicked his finger again, and a red line was drawn on the core of the magic circles.

"You just have to eject 'mana' and approach it with the idea of destroying the 'core circuit.'"

That was quite a famous way of explaining mana interference, a technique that most wizards acquired from living at the tower. However, it wasn't a universal solution to all magical assaults. They could only interfere with magic they knew and understood, and since time was of the essence in real-life situations, most of them often chose to defend using barriers or confront them with the same magic instead.

Still, no pain, no gain.

"The main factor of this technique, called 'mana interference,' is to discern the 'core circuit' of the magic circle. I'll show you how to identify it."

Deculein easily described this method of mana interference while materializing it and explained how to locate the core circuit of a magic circle.

"Even if you're encountering a form of magic for the first time, remember to keep yourself from being flustered and instead look at it from the perspective of a wizard. There will always be a core circuit in a magic circle, which depends on whether the system should be destroyed or subsidized or on the element used. Likewise, through that, you'll be able to predict its location, thus allowing you to attack and disrupt it."

He read not only magic books but also textbooks. He read rare and ancient publications that even respectable nobles couldn't find or decipher. Using the game's system and set-up as a reference, he compared and contrasted dozens and hundreds of magical techniques he learned through [Understanding].

"When you get used to using mana interference, magic interference will also be much easier. Now, look again at the magic circle of [Gale Blade Awl]."

In terms of professionalism, most wizards, no, almost all wizards, would have kept it as a trade secret, but Deculein shared it with them without any hesitation.

"The magic of the line of destruction is a circuit that spreads from inside to outside as if it's always exploding, and with that in mind…."

The wizards began to take notes again. They focused on Deculein's every word, feeling as if his sentences, from his pronunciations to his tonality, were being engraved in their ears. Experiencing Deculein's charisma had always fascinated them. That was the positive manifestation of his [Overawe and Grace].

Time flew by swiftly.

6 PM.

As soon as the clock hit that hour, Deculein stopped the lecture.

"That's all for today."

"…"

The wizards were very flustered; Deculein's lecture was still incomplete. However, he was very thorough with the notion of time. No, it was almost a compulsion of him to make sure he was neither late nor early. He came exactly at 3 o'clock and left exactly at 6 o'clock. Hence, there was no overtime or early dismissal in his class.

"…We still have a little bit of the lesson left undiscussed. Please teach us how to make interfering with pure elements easier."

Deculein looked over the debutantes, his gaze seemingly full of pity.

"Enough with the complaints. You're the ones who wasted your time. It'll be best for your growth to imagine the rest and realize it yourselves."

After saying that, he tidied up his clothes and left the lecture room with all the debutante wizards staring blankly at him. Everyone usually got up once the class was finished. No one did today, however.

"…Ah."

Someone moaned. It was probably Epherene. Sylvia blinked while holding her pencil. Her professor's cut-off sentence annoyed her three times over.

"What the hell? How does he expect us to imagine the rest of it?"

One wizard muttered, but everyone in the classroom felt the same. They talked behind Deculein with no intentions of leaving the classroom, but as soon as they realized he wasn't returning, they blamed the world itself.

*****

The Imperium, located in the south and connected with the system, was controlled directly by the emperor of the continent himself. It was the backbone of the imperial administration, which was protected by the rugged mountain Kidea.

of the empire, including the Foreign Affairs Bureau, the Justice Bureau, the Internal Affairs Office, and others, were based, there was a criminal interrogation room directly controlled by the Public Security Bureau. That was where Rock Hark was detained.

"You will be sent off to Recordak."

Lilia Primienne, the Deputy Director of the Public Safety Bureau, interrogated him. She was quite famous within the Imperium.

"You will be spending your years there until you die. No, perhaps you won't even last a year."

Rock Hark looked at her dead in the eyes. Primienne had her long blue hair tied up in a ponytail. Inside her cold and transparent-like ice wall, a strong, unique aura lay in wait.

"…Any objections?"

Primienne asked. Her tone was hard, but her timbre was soft, considering she was the type to have a good-tempered voice despite her normal impression.

"I asked if you have any objections."

Rock Hark didn't answer. A vein bulged on her temple.

"Turn it on."

"…What?"

"Your ability."

He smirked as he closed his eyes. At that moment, all magic within their area was cut off. As soon as it was confirmed that the crystal ball observing the interrogation room wasn't functioning, Primienne snapped back.

"You son of a bitch."

"…"

"I told you not to do something that would harm the clan."

Rock Hark looked at Premienne, still without saying a word. She gazed back at him expressionlessly.

"I would've already killed you if I was allowed to. If it is revealed that you're part of the clan, the already oppressive public opinion will become even stronger. The reason you're not dead yet is purely for research purposes. So, don't even mutter the words Red Box."

"…Do you think we can still scrounge off of the empire?"

"It's possible as long as you don't reveal it. Red Box members are no different to ordinary human beings aside from the moment they are born."

"No, we are born with devil-like talents. Why do you think they're afraid of us?"

"You fucker. For as long as we have a lot of talent, it doesn't matter if we're part of the Red Box."

Premienne babbled on in anger, but her expression was as indifferent as always.

"One more thing, why did you provoke Deculein? The Yukline Family was already on our watch."

"…Is the clan planning on killing him?"

Rock Hark asked. Primienne wriggled her eyebrows.

"We're just keeping a close watch on him, but if the executioners begin to move, there's nobody they won't kill."

"You don't have to kill him. He's not a fake. He's a 'real' noble."

"Real noble? You idiot. I want nothing from him but his sin."

Rock Hark shook his head, recalling the Deculein he had seen the other day. His dignity affirmed that Red Box members were human beings, not devils. His eyes pierced through him as if to say he was right, and there was no doubt about it. There hadn't been many nobles like him in the past. No, there might've not been any in the first place.

He made him feel as if even the Red Box could live in harmony with the world.

"He knew that I was a Red Box, but he didn't kill me."

"…"

Primienne's eyes grew bigger. That was the only time she had shown surprise today, or perhaps even in the entire week. However, she soon regained her composure.

"…Didn't you know that the ancestors of the Yukline Household took the lead in the slaughter and suppression of the Red Box?"

"I didn't know. However, if we treat him the same just because he has the same blood as his predecessors, then it is no different from confirming that we are devils."

"You sure talk a fucking lot, you bastard."

Premienne swept her hair back, and Rock Hark smirked.

"How long do you think you can keep that important position without getting caught?"

"Forever. There's no way to distinguish a Red Box externally or through their blood."

"There's food that the clan can't eat."

"I just don't have to eat it."

"What if another method is created? You're afraid of it too. That's why you've been looking everywhere for preventive measures."

"It's not like that, you son of a bitch." Hope shone in her eyes. "The emperor's condition is bad. He might even die soon."

The current emperor's policy completely disregarded the Red Box. Even with the appeal of those fucking bastards, the emperor didn't budge at all. But only the heavens knew what his successor had in store for them.

"You will be cooped up in Recordak."

Recordak, the worst prison on Earth. A hell filled with bitter cold.

"The clan's full-scale plan will be mobilized after the ascension of the next emperor. I don't know if you'll survive in that place until then."

Clang, clang, clang—! Clang, clang, clang—!

Upon sensing that the room's magical surveillance was nullified and thinking the situation was turning grave, security officials rushed to the door.

"Deactivate your ability and clench your teeth."

"Anytime, if it's from a clan member's fist."

Rock Hark laughed, and Premienne grabbed him by his hair.

Baaang—!

She then smashed his head on the desk. The door opened just in time.

"Deputy! No! Stop, stop!"

"You fucking bastard. This shithead, I'll smash your head in."

Bang—! Bang—!

Powerful men rushed in to stop her as she kept bashing his head against the table.

"D-deputy! Deputy Director! Please calm down!"

"Move! I'll gut this little bitch and strangle him with his intestines."

"No, you can't! What are you doing? Stop her! Stooooop—!"