Book 1 Chapter 722

"My lads! The morning of blood has dawned!"

Professor Ren, entering the lecture hall for the first day's morning class for magic students, declared in a stern voice.

"In a moment! Our magic department will clash with the rabble from the knight department, led by that insidious Professor Ain!"

Clenching his fists, Professor Ren delivered a passionate speech like a general leading an army before battle.

"If any student is trembling now, raise your hand!"

Several students raised their hands.

Even in their third year, there were bound to be students who felt burdened by mock combat.

Especially when the opponents were none other than the third-year knight department students.

It wasn't strange for those weak in actual combat to feel their bodies tremble with tension.

Seeing the students who raised their hands, Ren glared.

"Excellent!"

The sudden praise caused the students to show puzzled expressions for a moment.

Was it praise for accurately assessing and reporting their situation without shame?

"Trembling with excitement before a war! Doesn't that mean you're ready to go out and eliminate the enemy at any moment! Excellent! Very excellent!"

"…Um… Professor Ren, this isn't a war. And we're trembling because we're nervous…"

"Not a war! Hmm! Excellent! That's right! Against mere knight students, it's not a war! That's right! This battle will be a general annihilation!"

"So, we're nervous…"

"Appropriate tension is good!"

"…"

Seeing that Professor Ren was impossible to reason with, the students who had raised their hands fell silent and then slowly lowered them.

"Brother. Doesn't Professor Ren seem to be becoming more and more like Professor Sedjen?"

"I think so."

Chelsea and Abad whispered to each other.

Karl, sitting in the front row as usual, rested his chin on his hand and shook his head, then glanced sideways.

Chloe was sitting with her usual upright posture, looking at Ren.

The only difference was that her hair was let down and neatly brushed, and she wasn't carrying a difficult book as usual.

'What was that earlier?'

She seemed like the usual Chloe, but with a mature aura.

Of course, Chloe was the most mature student among her classmates, but this was fundamentally different.

'What should I say, like an older sister?'

Karl crossed his arms and pondered seriously.

"Now then, my lads! Let's go! To the battlefield!"

At Ren's words, the magic students rose from their seats one by one.

Chloe also stood up.

Then her eyes met Karl's.

"What are you looking at?"

"Nothing."

Karl shrugged, clasped his hands behind his head as usual, and stood beside Chloe.

Chelsea and Abad also joined them.

The four, naturally at the forefront of the third-year magic students, followed Professor Ren.

A moment later.

They arrived at the training ground used by the third-year students for combat classes.

Outside the training ground sat the summoning students.

The inter-departmental mock battles weren't over.

After today's mock battle between the knight and magic departments, a mock battle with the summoning department was also scheduled.

And mock battles provided a fair opportunity for all third-year students to watch.

'So those are the summoning department's hero candidates.'

Lisinas's eyes sparkled as he looked at the summoning students.

Lisinas was also a powerful mage.

However, his specialty was elemental and beast magic, which combined the power of spirits and beasts based on powerful incantations.

For Lisinas, magic was merely an auxiliary tool to maximize the power of summoning.

Therefore, it was inevitable that he would pay a little more attention to the summoning students than the magic students.

'Is that kid Warden Titan… Wow! He's already contracted with a Great Spirit at that age?'

Lisinas exclaimed, looking at the giant Warden.

He could tell at a glance that Warden had contracted with a Great Spirit.

Not only that.

The aura of the spirit felt around Warden revealed what an incredible spirit medium he was.

And how much potential he possessed.

For a moment, Warden's eyes met Lisinas's.

Seeing that, Lisinas smiled faintly.

He felt a solid will, like rock, from Warden.

Lisinas sensed Warden's desire for strength.

'Kids like that always become stronger than their limits.'

Long ago.

The Hero of the Beginning and the Founder of the Nebula.

Lisinas gathered the Dragon Warrior and the Divine Blacksmith.

At that time, there were certainly heroes with greater fame than those four.

Now, Lisinas's choice was the correct answer for the salvation of the world, but at that time, it wasn't.

Leading the four to the path of salvation was purely Lisinas's discernment.

His conviction that they could do it stemmed from his keen eye.

In Lisinas's eyes, Warden was clearly destined to grow into an amazing hero.

'And… that kid is Eliza…'

Lisinas tilted his head.

"Karl."

"Yeah? Why?"

"Eliza has been glaring at you fiercely since a while ago."

"Huh?"

Karl looked at Eliza with a puzzled expression.

"Whoa, that's fierce."

Karl, as usual, feigned ignorance and hid behind Chloe's body, where Lisinas was.

"Did you do something wrong?"

"No, there's nothing particularly wrong, is there?"

When Karl shook his head, Lisinas squinted his eyes.

"Hmm."

"Why?"

"Weren't you messing around with some pretty girl? So maybe she's jealous?"

"What pretty girl would I be messing around with? And why would she be jealous over something like that?"

Lisinas chuckled, watching Karl shrug.

"Why are you laughing?"

"No, your actions are incredibly light, but when I see you being considerate, you seem like a gentleman."

"Huh? What nonsense are you talking about?"

"Aren't you pretending to be oblivious so that if strange rumors spread, it won't be good for Eliza?"

"Oh?"

Karl showed a flustered expression.

"So young and fresh. It's a good time. A good time."

"Why are you reacting like an old lady…?"

"Huh? What did you say?"

"Ah! I was wrong. Please forgive me! Please forgive me!"

Seeing Lisinas twist his own wrist with a grin, Karl pleaded for forgiveness, looking flustered.

Lisinas released Karl and poked him in the side, saying,

"Think carefully. Is there anything you might have done to offend her?"

"You're being strangely sly today, aren't you? Anyway, I really don't think I did anything to offend her."

"Really nothing?"

Karl crossed his arms and tilted his head.

Meanwhile.

Eliza, who had been watching them from her seat, suddenly…

CRUNCH!

"Heek!"

"What, what? Why all of a sudden?!"

Eliza, who had crushed the wooden armrest of her chair, gritted her teeth.

'What's so funny that he's grinning like that!'

Eliza knew that Karl was friendly with many female students.

She knew even better that he had been close friends with Chloe since their first year.

But today, the atmosphere between those two felt strange.

More precisely, Eliza felt Karl was paying attention to Chloe.

From Eliza's perspective, it was clearly different from their usual friendship.

Because of that, Eliza felt a tremendous sense of crisis.

As Eliza's mood plummeted in real-time, the knight and magic students faced each other.

At the forefront stood Ain and Ren.

"Heh, Senior Ain. Have you prepared handkerchiefs? My prized disciples will be weeping after being defeated by your disciples, won't they?"

At Ren's words, Ain smirked.

"If you're that confident, shall we make a bet?"

"That sounds good! How about a month's salary?"

"Not bad."

The two, smiling menacingly at each other, led their students back to their respective positions.

"As I said before, think of this as war, not a mock battle. Get close and pound them."

Ain said in a low voice.

"My lads. This is a real fight. Spare no means or methods to achieve victory."

Ren, with a thoroughly serious face, did not hesitate to give devious advice to his students.

***

This semester's inter-departmental mock battles proceeded differently from usual mock battles.

First, it was a team battle, not individual.

However, it was slightly different from the team battles that had occurred occasionally in the past.

Previous team battles involved pure drawing, regardless of skill.

Or they would create mock battle teams by mixing highly skilled students with those in the middle to lower ranks.

But in today's mock battle, teams were formed strictly among students of similar skill levels.

And the opponents were also of similar skill.

While previous mock battles evaluated and strengthened variables and crisis management abilities, this was a mock battle where they purely clashed in terms of skill.

Therefore, the students who went out first were those with relatively lower scores.

"Hehehe."

Ren, with his arms crossed, wore a meaningful expression.

Looking at Ren, Anna sighed.

"Why are you smiling so unpleasantly? We're already at a disadvantage due to elemental matchups, and there isn't a single aspiring Battle Mage among the lower-ranked third-year students, making us overwhelmingly disadvantaged."

For a mage, a 1v1 duel against a knight is extremely disadvantageous.

Especially for those with lower skill levels, it's often impossible to reverse this situation.

In such a situation, there were no Battle Mage students who could counter knights.

The first team was definitely at a disadvantage for the magic department.

"Think about it, Vice Professor Anna! We have student Karl, no less!"

"Ah…"

"As long as the hero Karl is here! Our victory is our…"

"Um… Professor Ren. I can't participate in the mock battle."

"What are you saying!"

"Before entering class today, a professor told me not to participate because my presence alone would disrupt the fairness."

"Which professor dares to challenge the authority of me, the department head professor!"

"Professor Halind."

"If it's Professor Halind, then it's possible."

Ren quickly changed his stance.

Meanwhile, the mock battle began with Professor Yura as the referee.

Lisinas, watching from his seat, was amazed.

'They're all doing well.'

From what he heard, they didn't seem to be the outstanding students among the student body.

But even so, this was Lumern, where exceptional talents gathered.

In Lisinas's eyes, the hero candidates doing their best shone brilliantly.

'These are… our descendants.'

In the students' appearances, various figures were reflected.

'…Those who were with Kyle.'

It was not difficult to tell who they were influenced by.

They turned their backs and made them follow.

Even if they weren't directly taught anything, each of them would have received a message in their own way.

As the mock battle continued, victories and defeats were decided.

A moment later.

The top ten students stood up.

The nine magic students who stood up looked at Lisinas, who was seated, with puzzled expressions.

"What are you doing, Chloe? Aren't you going?"

"I have to go."

In response to Chelsea's question, Chloe stood up.

The students who followed Karl.

And…

'The children Karl chose.'

Lisinas's gaze fell upon Abad, Chelsea, and several other knight students.

Just as he had chosen Dwenow, Arion, Luna… and Kyle.

Leo had chosen these children.

Lisinas, who watched them from his spot, smirked.

As the King of Wisdom.

He was curious about how capable the ones chosen by the Hero of the Beginning were.

'Perhaps… I should test them a little?'