“…Are you participating too, Speyside?”
When I asked, Speyside uncomfortably averted his gaze and pointed out the window.
“…The Principal is also observing, so I thought I’d see what it’s like…”
Surprised by his words, I turned my face towards the window and saw Principal Glen quickly ducking out of sight.
Ridiculous. The Principal, true to his title, is the most skilled magician in the academy. And he’s here to observe?
What on earth could be so special about this class?
Puzzled, I sat down in a corner seat at the back.
Aoi looked at me, glanced down at the roster, and then spoke.
“That’s everyone. Let’s begin the class.”
After saying that, she looked around at everyone and turned one palm upward.
“Today, we’ll be learning about lightning magic.”
She paused briefly after that statement, then immediately spoke again.
“Purple Lightning Sphere Riot.”
Instantly, a faintly purple, luminous sphere about 50 centimeters in diameter appeared above Aoi’s palm. Everyone’s faces froze at the sight of the glowing orb that made intermittent crackling sounds.
Of course, mine did too.
Aoi grasped the sphere with both hands and stretched it out to the left and right. The thinly stretched form truly resembled lightning descending from the heavens.
I couldn’t help but stand up and exclaim.
“That’s impossible!”
I couldn’t keep quiet. I had intended to remain silent until the end of the class, but I couldn’t contain myself. It might have been out of fear, but at that moment, I couldn’t tell.
As I shouted, Aoi made the lightning disappear like an illusion and spoke.
“Why is that?”
Aoi calmly asked such a thing. I slammed the desk hard and shouted again.
“There have only been a handful of lightning magic users in history! It’s said to be a secret art passed down orally in some circles, but there shouldn’t be anyone who can use it now!”
“I don’t know about past magic, but this is my original magic, so I can teach it. In fact, my master has learned to use it.”
“Th-that’s absurd…”
The ramblings of a genius.
No, perhaps she’s more of a monster.
Various rebuttals came to mind, but even I felt they were incoherent, so I didn’t voice them.
I sat back down weakly, leaning against the backrest.
If you can teach it, then go ahead and try,
I thought.
As I fell silent, Aoi once again looked around at everyone expressionlessly and began to speak.
“Well then, let’s start by discussing the structure of clouds. Clouds are formed when water contained in the air rises into the sky and crystallizes in the cold upper atmosphere. When the temperature is warm, more water rises from sources like rivers and oceans, making the clouds larger and thicker.”
Saying this, Aoi activated water magic. She gradually turned the floating water sphere in her hand into mist.
The mist rose upwards, gathering near the classroom ceiling.
“This is an artificially generated cloud. Its density is thin, so we’ll work on making it thicker. I think it’ll be enough if we can get this far today, so let’s all do our best.”
Aoi said this and then continued, “Now, for the incantation… let’s try something like this,” as if she had just come up with the words on the spot.
The first part was for creating and stabilizing water. The second for heating. The third for rising. The fourth for circulation. And the fifth for cooling.
As we adjusted our magical power while chanting, indeed, something similar to the magic Aoi had used, albeit on a smaller scale, appeared.
When actually activating the magic, one could intuitively understand the movement of their own magical power. Although it wasn’t included in the incantation, it seemed that the cooled water would descend and then rise again when heated.
“This is the structure of clouds. Those who can do it, let’s continue this cycle while increasing the amount of water.”
Following Aoi’s instructions, I tried it myself. It’s not impossible, but the difficulty is quite high. Most people would probably drop out at this point.
Thinking this, I looked around.
“Hmm, this is difficult…”
“Brother, it’s about imagination! Clearly picture the cloud structure that Teacher Aoi described in your mind!”
“…It’s unexpectedly easy?”
“Dean, you’re doing great!”
“Ha, I’ll make mine bigger faster than you, Felter!”
“…Shut up and concentrate.”
“Eek…! Shenley is amazing!”
“Liz, focus, will you?”
But everyone, despite their chatter, was successfully activating the magic.
No, in fact, some of them were even…
As I watched in amazement, even Eliza, who I had heard could only use earth magic, was creating a small mass of water.
“Ms. Eliza, remember the water creation method and properties I taught you before.”
“Y-yes…!”
“Calm down and do it, Eliza.”
“Hmm, interesting… So this is a cloud, is it?”
While Eliza, who lacked aptitude, was struggling, everyone else seemed to be activating the magic properly.
Even Eliza, with advice from Strauss and Aoi, managed to create a cloud after a while.
“…What’s going on? How are they doing this? We’re all participating in the same class and tackling a new magic simultaneously, and yet…”
As I looked up at my cloud that wasn’t growing much, I suddenly glanced out the window.
Outside, Principal Glen, who had created a downpour, was being drenched by the torrential rain, laughing out loud with an expression of wild joy on his face.
READ THE ORIGINAL TRANSLATION AT LOCALIZERMEERKAT.PAGES.DEV
[SIDE: AOI]
Surprisingly, Foar participated in the class obediently.
At one point, Headmaster Glen was running wild outside, which caught everyone’s attention. But even without my advice, Foar simply followed instructions and made his cloud bigger.
The Headmaster was so out of control that I opened the window to scold him. After confirming that the Headmaster had slumped his shoulders, I looked at the students in the classroom.
Everyone had made decent progress, but would this satisfy Foar?
No, it’s probably still difficult for him.
There’s not even ten minutes left, but let’s try to cram in a bit more.
“Now then, let’s review today’s lesson. As I say every time, to use magic, you must understand how things work. Just as Sensei Eliza, who could only use earth magic before, learned other elemental magic, you can learn all types of magic except non-elemental magic if you understand the mechanisms. While the time it takes to learn may vary, so far, everyone has achieved this.”
As I said this, Foar’s eyes widened, and he stared intently at me.
As expected, even Foar hadn’t realized this fact.
If so, this information should be very useful for him.
I smiled and looked at everyone in turn.
“Now, to prepare for learning lightning strikes and thunder magic in the next class, let’s review the property changes of water.”
“How was it?”
I asked Foar after the class ended.
Foar looked at me, seeming to think, or rather, choose his words carefully.
“Am I… unfit to be a teacher?”
When I asked, Foar furrowed his brow and pulled his chin down, looking displeased.
“…I still don’t know. But for now, it was a good class. I look forward to the next one.”
With just those words, Foar turned his back and left.
Eliza, who had come out into the hallway, furrowed her brow at Foar’s retreating figure.
“Sensei Foar is being stubborn, isn’t he? I’m sure he’s secretly amazed and thinking, ‘Sensei Aoi is amazing!'”
“You think so? If he’s acknowledged me, I’d be happy…”
“He definitely has! That’s why he said he’s looking forward to the next class. He’ll probably be the first to arrive for the next lesson!?”
“Isn’t that simply meaning he wants to observe a bit more?”
As I replied to Eliza, Strauss, who had come out next, nodded slightly.
“It’s alright. Despite appearances, Sensei Foar is surprisingly understanding if you talk to him. Even if it’s not immediate, he’s probably already acknowledged you internally.”
Strauss gave his stamp of approval.
Well, if both of them say so, maybe it’ll be fine. There’s another class tomorrow, so I’ll keep observing until then.
Thinking about this, I decided to consider the content for tomorrow’s lesson.
The next day. Foar was sitting upright in the classroom.
Everyone was surprised to see Foar for a moment, glancing at him as they took their seats.
He was sitting so normally that even I couldn’t help but stare, but Foar closed his eyes silently, quietly waiting for the class to begin.
After calling out the names of the participants and confirming all the students, I began to speak.
“…Now then, let’s begin the class.”
The moment I said that, Foar’s eyes opened wide.
Feeling slightly intimidated by Foar’s intense gaze, I turned my palm upwards and created yesterday’s cloud.
“First, let’s review yesterday’s lesson. Everyone, let’s create clouds. If anyone doesn’t understand, please say so.”
As I said this and created a cloud, surprisingly, everyone was making larger clouds with much more ease than yesterday.
Even Eliza was creating a decent cloud.
“As expected of Fidic Academy. You’re all excellent students.”
After saying this, I began to explain the mechanism of lightning.
“Those who created clouds with their own magic power probably got a sense of it. Water evaporates due to temperature and other factors, and rises. When the temperature is high, the evaporated water rises with more force. This is why summer clouds are thick and tall. Inside these clouds, water that has been cooled at higher altitudes and is falling down rubs against water that is rising.”
As I spoke, I demonstrated by making countless tiny ice particles move up and down for better understanding.
As I increased their number and speed, the static electricity that had been barely noticeable became visible.
“When objects collide with each other, static electricity, which is a tiny electrical discharge, occurs. Understanding this mechanism and sublimating it into magic is the magic of lightning.”
As I said this, everyone forgot to maintain their clouds and looked at me.
“…So lightning magic is a derivative of water magic?” Strauss asked.
I shook my head.
“With water magic alone, you can only create an uncontrollable thundercloud. Moreover, since you haven’t actually changed the environment, it will disappear once the magical circulation and maintenance are gone.”
As I answered, Strauss groaned thoughtfully, and Speyside spoke up instead.
“However, that would mean performing magic with multiple people. It’s extremely difficult to interfere with magic constructed by others, but let’s ignore that for now. The other day, Sensei Aoi, you demonstrated lightning magic by yourself, didn’t you? In other words, isn’t there a way to perform lightning magic alone?”
At Speyside’s words, even Foar raised his face.
Receiving everyone’s gaze, I quietly voiced my theory about common sense.
“…First, I think it’s a mistake that one person can only use magic of one element at a time.”
As I said this, everyone started murmuring.
Among them, Rocks stood up and spoke.
“…Are you referring to the Double simultaneous activation of two elements passed down in the royal family? No, if we’re talking about legends, it’s probably passed down in various regions and royal families, but like lightning magic, it’s almost treated as a legend now…”
Rocks stopped there with a surprised look on his face. Then, Shenley continued where he left off.
“So… does that mean lightning and thunder magic were lost because there were no more magicians capable of simultaneous activation of two elements?”
At Shenley’s words, everyone waited for my response.
However, even if asked, I don’t know that much. But as far as the last ten years are concerned, my teacher Owen-Millers has also mastered lightning magic.
Simultaneous activation of two elements shouldn’t require any special talent.
“…As far as I know, there are two magicians who can perform simultaneous activation of two elements. The same goes for lightning magic. I speculate that it may have been lost because people were selective about who they passed the secret down to.”
As I expressed my thoughts, saying it was speculation, Court stood up, looking unusually excited.
“So, does that mean we can…?”
“Probably,” I answered.
Then I held up one finger.
“It’s regrettable that this becomes like an experiment, but I believe if you all can master the basics of lightning magic, it will be proven.”
In the silent classroom, Foar, who had been quiet until now, raised his hand and voiced a question.
“…How long do you expect this curriculum to take?”
“One week,”
I replied, giving a bit of leeway.
With these excellent students, I think they should be able to learn the basics if they attend about three more classes.
However, Foar opened his mouth to say something with a stern face.
But glancing at Glen, who was plastered to the window looking into the classroom, he shook his head lightly.
Then, he quietly conveyed his own will.
“…Understood. I look forward to continuing.”
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