Book 1 Chapter 167

Leo opened the classroom door on the left and entered.

The eyes of the Emerald students sitting in the lecture hall instantly fixed on Leo.

Thump- thump-

Leo climbed onto the podium and scanned the audience.

His eyes met those of one girl.

Wince-!

The girl whose eyes met his, Shila, flinched, perhaps guilty about trying to trick Leo with a complicated magic formation in Lumeria City yesterday.

'She was an admission candidate?'

Leo smirked and stood at the lectern.

"Nice to meet you. My name is Leo Flov."

At his words, the Emerald students began to murmur.

"Leo Flov?"

"Are you talking about the All-Class?"

"Leo Flov, who defeated the Gigantes."

"Didn't you also conquer the World of the Nebula Founder this time?"

The students looked at the boy who was becoming their direct senior, possessing an overwhelming career despite being only a freshman, with curious eyes.

Of course, among them were those who looked at Leo with suspicious eyes.

"As an assistant instructor, I will be in charge of your class today on behalf of Professor Ren. I look forward to working with you."

At the same moment, someone raised their hand.

It was a boy around Leo's age.

The boy said with a slightly defiant look, "My name is Kun Veia."

As befitting a scion of the renowned Kun family, a noble magic family in the East, he stood out with the black hair and black eyes characteristic of those from the Eastern continent.

After introducing himself, Veia asked with a slightly provocative smile, "Do you have the skill to teach us?"

"Well, Professor Ren sent me to teach, so I think it's quite possible, don't you?" Leo replied with a faint smile.

As a magic professor, Ren was certainly an extraordinary person.

The reason all the first-year magic students sincerely respected Ren and were passionate about his classes was not simply because he was a professor, but because he had exceptional teaching abilities.

Therefore, the first-year magic students trusted Ren's words, at least when it came to classes or magic.

However, the Emerald students did not.

Even though Ren's name was mentioned, they still looked at Leo with disbelief.

"We came to take Professor Ren's class, not to listen to a low-level lecture from a mere freshman."

Veia, who had been challenging Leo, curled his lips.

This would have been unthinkable in Lumeren.

The admission age for Lumeren was 14-17, so it was not uncommon for seniors to be the same age as their juniors or for juniors to be older than their seniors.

However, even so, juniors did not rashly challenge their seniors.

Lumeren's academic curriculum was by no means easy.

Rather, it was a system designed to weed out those who were not qualified.

One could not simply maintain their status as a Lumeren student by simply attending, and even if they somehow survived, they could not advance to the next grade without passing the advancement exam.

One year.

It might be a short time, but a year at Lumeren was worlds apart from a year for other people.

Surviving for another year meant that one was fully qualified for respect.

Not all Lumeren students were the same.

However, the Emerald students, who had not yet experienced Lumeren, were different.

Even though they were candidates, some students thought they would be equal to them if they were admitted.

Veia was one of those students.

'After all, we're both fifteen.'

Some other students were also agreeing with Veia.

Not only that, but Leo also saw other Emerald students looking at Veia's reactions.

"So? You don't want to take my class?"

"That's right. So, we'd prefer you bring the professor, wouldn't we?"

"I'm sorry, but I'd prefer it if you made do with me."

"Why should we?"

Veia, thinking Leo was intimidated, persistently pressed him.

Seeing such Veia, Leo smiled and said, "Lumeren professors don't particularly like teaching unqualified students."

Veia's face stiffened for a moment.

"The fact that I'm teaching you is a kind of goodwill, shall we say? You're not people who can tell me to come and go."

"Are you saying I'm not at a level to learn magic from Professor Ren?"

"I didn't exactly say that, did I? Are you feeling guilty about something?"

At Leo's words, Veia's face turned red.

"How dare you! Me, from the Kun family!"

"If you're a Lumeren admission candidate, I'll give you just one piece of advice." Leo said in a bored tone.

"Lumeren is a place where skill is everything. I don't care what your family is, not even a little."

"Hmph! What? You dare challenge the authority of the Kun family…"

"Hey, Veia. Just a moment. Leo Flov's maternal grandfather is Zerdinger."

Another student urgently stopped Veia, who was raising his voice in uncontrollable excitement.

Upon hearing that, Veia flinched for a moment.

Even if the Kun family was a famous heroic family in the East, it couldn't compare to the Zerdinger family.

But then he gritted his teeth.

"So what if he's from Zerdinger! He's your maternal grandfather! Not direct lineage!" Veia shouted, his body recoiling, and he suddenly stood up from his seat.

"What is this 'All-Class'? It's not going to be anything anyway! What about defeating the Gigantes? It was just the entire first-year class working together, wasn't it? The World of the Great Hero? You only managed to conquer it by luck thanks to the representatives of Lumeren's third year and Seirun's third year working together, wasn't it? How can you claim to be great enough to teach us?"

Spreading his arms, Veia incited the Emerald students.

Seeing that, Leo said, "Shall I prove it?"

"What?"

"Whether I have the skill to teach you or not." Leo said in a disinterested tone.

"Tell me the magical ability you want. I'll face anything."

At that, Veia flinched.

He had usually tried to belittle his opponents by relying on his family, but Leo was not someone who would be swayed by that.

"Why? Don't you have confidence?"

At Leo's question, with his arms crossed, Veia hesitated and then said, "We can't fight with personal grudges during class."

Saying that, he lifted his chin and said, "If teaching students by students is Lumeren's way, then we have no choice but to follow it."

Seeing that, Leo clicked his tongue.

'He doesn't know how to do anything except boast about his family. He lacks skill and courage too.'

In Leo's eyes, he was hopeless.

In any case, thanks to Veia, who provoked so much and then backed down from a show of strength, no one else expressed dissatisfaction with Leo's teaching.

The students who had been dissatisfied with Leo looked at him with eyes that seemed to say, 'Let's see how good he really is.'

Standing in front of the blackboard, Leo said, "Since you are all preparing for the Lumeren entrance exam, you must have some prior learning. You can all use activation formulas, right?"

The entire Emerald student body nodded.

"At Lumeren, we spend the beginning of the semester studying the magic activated by activation formulas."

At that, most of the Emerald students wore expressions of incomprehension.

They couldn't grasp the concept of understanding magic they already knew how to use.

This was a doubt that most Lumeren magic students felt at the beginning of their studies.

"Why do we have to do that?" A girl at the front raised her hand and tilted her head.

She wasn't trying to challenge Leo, but was genuinely curious.

The girl, about Chelsea's age, blinked her big eyes and stared at Leo.

Seeing that, Leo opened his palm.

Whoosh-!

A magic formation appeared on his palm.

"Is there anyone who doesn't know what this is?"

"Isn't that the Fireball magic formation?"

"Yes. But can you use this Fireball formation to create a Water Ball?"

"If I need to use a Water Ball, I'll just use the Water Ball formation. What's so difficult about that?" Veia sneered.

Ignoring Veia, Leo changed the formation arrangement.

Along with it, a Water Ball was instantly activated.

"So, why do something so troublesome…"

"Veia, be quiet for a moment."

"Shh!"

Most of the students present, except for Veia, realized what Leo was about to say.

Activation formulas were easy to learn and allowed for quick spell casting.

However, to activate other spells, a new activation formula had to be learned.

Literally, the amount of things to memorize increased.

But if one understood and applied the structure and principles of the formation itself, a single formation could be used to cast magic of opposite attributes.

This was an enormous advantage.

It meant that one had an additional card to play in a split-second situation.

"It's impressive, but isn't it difficult?" Another male student raised his hand.

The Emerald students had by now begun to address Leo as 'Professor.'

Although his appearance was that of a peer, they realized that Leo's magical knowledge and abilities were superior to theirs.

Furthermore, Leo presented a new concept to the Emerald students.

Mages were fundamentally people who enjoyed learning new things.

The Emerald Magic Academy was filled with students who had such tendencies.

To the male student's question, Leo replied indifferently, "Lumeren magic students must be able to do this fundamentally."

At that, the faces of the Emerald students stiffened.

'This is fundamental?'

'It looks difficult just by looking at it?'

Everyone swallowed hard.

They felt the difference between Lumeren and Emerald anew.

They also understood why they had to aim for Lumeren.

They became convinced that to become the best mage, they had to be admitted to Lumeren.

"It's impossible to master this during the joint class period. But I can teach you the basics." Leo grinned.

"That's why we study, isn't it?"

Saying that, Leo picked up a piece of chalk.

"From now on, I will talk about the concept of this magic formation modification."

At those words, the Emerald students hastily took out their writing utensils.

And they began to focus on Leo's words.

Seeing that, Veia's face contorted.

'These studious bastards! What's so great about it that they're focusing on the class of this ridiculously young guy who's not even a professor?'

He looked at the academy students with a displeased expression.

Afterward, he deliberately asked strange questions and heckled, disrupting the class.

About ten minutes passed.

An Emerald student carefully raised her hand, hesitated, and then bravely said, "Instructor. I… I can't concentrate on the class. Because of… someone."

Hearing that, Veia flared up.

"What? Say that again? I can't concentrate on the class…"

"Hey. Get out."

"What?"

"The kids are saying you're disturbing the class. Get out."

"Hah! You're really pushing it. Who are you to tell me to get out… Cough?"

Leo generated mana.

Using telekinesis, he lifted Veia and threw him out of the lecture hall.

CRASH-!

"Cough?"

Veia, hitting the classroom door, was flung outside.

All the students' eyes widened, alternating between Leo and Veia.

"What's going on?" Anna poked her head into the classroom, frowning.

"There was a student disturbing the class."

At those words, Anna, narrowing her eyes, looked at Veia, who was struggling to get up.

"You little punk! I'm going to tell my family! I'll tell them I was treated unfairly during class…"

Grasp-!

"Gasp?"

Anna reached out with her delicate hand, grabbed Veia by the collar, and smiled gently.

"Understood. I'll handle this. Leo student, please continue with the class."

"L-let go of this…"

"Hey."

At Anna's ominous voice, Veia shuddered.

"Stop disturbing the class and shut up."

"Eek?"

Veia's face showed fear at Anna's terrifying gaze.

For Anna, who was always being tormented by Ren, it was not difficult to subdue a brat who couldn't grasp the situation with just a glare.

The Emerald students looked relieved as they watched Veia, grabbed by the collar, being dragged away by Anna.

"Shall we continue the class then?"

"Yes!"

The Emerald students nodded, their eyes sparkling.

By now, they were all focused on Leo's lecture.

***

Three days had passed since the joint classes began.

Most of the students from other academies had somewhat adapted to Lumeren's academic schedule.

As expected, there were initial troubles.

However, when the professors ruthlessly sent everyone home, students who relied on their families and had an arrogant sense of entitlement were mostly expelled.

All the students realized.

This was a hero academy, different from the three major class academies.

With only the genuine students remaining, everyone could focus on their classes.

The way students looked at the assistant instructors also changed.

At first, most of them looked down on them or with displeasure, but after experiencing the instructors' skills, they were all silenced.

Instead, more students began to approach the instructors amicably.

"Instructor Celia! May I sit here?"

"…As you wish."

"Yes."

As Celia spoke in a lukewarm voice, an Ikott male student quickly grabbed his tray and sat in front of her.

"Instructor Celia! Are you perhaps free during the winter break?"

Seeing the Ikott male student propositioning her with bright eyes, Celia clicked her tongue.

Because of students with excellent family backgrounds, skills, and appearances, there were quite a few who made such blatant advances.

The surrounding knight academy students chuckled at that.

"Want to bet on how many seconds it takes?"

"I say 10 seconds."

"That's too short. 15 seconds."

A moment later, the male student, who was rejected in exactly 10 seconds, slumped his shoulders and went to another seat.

Seeing that, the knight academy students burst into laughter, but then quickly ran away when Celia glared at them.

As students grew closer like this, Leo sat on a bench with a languid expression, watching the students come and go.

'It seems there's no one who appears to be Tartarus.'

After the incident at the Grand Library, Leo had been closely observing Lumeren students.

However, none of them were suspected of being Tartarus.

'Whatever their scheme, are they really going to give up so easily? No, if they did, it would only be a matter of time before all the spies hidden in Lumeren were uncovered, and they must know that.'

A hidden organization within Lumeren, unknown to the students.

Known as the 'Shadow,' they were still covertly investigating everyone's whereabouts.

They had caught a tail.

No matter how secretly they moved, they couldn't escape Lumeren's eyes.

'If so, given their disposition… they're bound to cause trouble, even if they have to force it.'

As Leo thought that, he narrowed his eyes when he saw someone approaching him.

Step- step-

A shadow fell in front of Leo.

Seeing the other person, Leo wore a look of surprise.

"Why?"

Standing in front of Leo was a student from Ikott.

Leo's surprised expression turned sharp for a moment.

And then-

Whoosh-

The Ikott student raised his hand and brought it down towards Leo.

CRASH-!

The bench Leo was sitting on was completely shattered.

"Well now."

Leo let out a hollow laugh.

"I expected it, but I didn't think you'd act so soon."

ROOOAR-!

Seeing the male student, no, the demon, emitting black mana, Leo clenched his fist.

"Leo Flov."

He said in a sinister voice.

"You will die here."