Chapter 25: The Overly Modest Ye Xu

“Third-circle???”

Ye Xu stood up helplessly. The moment the teacher’s words left her mouth, several classmates gasped in shock.

What did third-circle even mean?

Magic in this world was divided into five circles. The fifth circle represented the strongest magic an individual human could wield.

First-circle spells were called magic only because they allowed humans to release the magical power within their bodies. In essence, as long as one’s soul had a trace of spirituality and they underwent basic training, anyone could cast them — making it the most foundational level of the magical system.

Second-circle was the true entry point, requiring systematic study and practice. It was also the limit for most people with average talent.

In the armies of various nations, the ordinary auxiliary troops assigned to support Magitech Knight pilots were generally at this level.

Third-circle, however, represented the backbone of combat strength in this world. It was the minimum threshold for piloting a Magitech Knight and the level most formal knights achieved.

Fourth-circle mages were elites among elites — even among court mages or royal guards in various countries.

Fifth-circle mages were rarities that might appear only once in centuries across the entire continent. They were considered the very foundation of human power, capable of personally casting smaller-scale legion-level spells.

Larger legion spells, by contrast, were almost always beyond individual capability and required multiple casters working in concert.

Using the full magical reserves of one third-circle mage as the base unit:

Upward, the scales were five-person grand spells, fifty-person ultra-grand spells, hundred-person massive spells, five-hundred-person siege spells, thousand-person national-war spells, and the highest level humanity currently mastered — the five-thousand-person forbidden spells. Considered strategic weapons, these existed only within the four great empires and could be unleashed solely by them.

In the ten thousand years before Magitech Knights were born, fourth- and fifth-circle mages had been guardian deities of humanity, shielding civilization itself.

Even now, with Magitech Knights in existence, the importance of individual mage strength had diminished somewhat, but legion spells had grown even more critical.

In the past, humanity relied on powerful mages and legion spells to hold cities.

With Magitech Knights, not only had baseline individual combat power soared, but the requirements for casting legion spells had drastically lowered.

They could now be mobile-cast by one or several knight squads piloting identical standard-model Magitech Knights.

In the old days, forget forbidden spells — even national-war spells required foundational arrays laid beneath cities, demanding enormous sacrifices and half a nation’s resources to activate.

Now, at seventeen, Ye Xu had reached the level of a proper knight — capable of participating in legion spellcasting.

This was a goal many students struggled to reach even by graduation.

It was no wonder the classmates were so shocked.

Of course, some already knew about the incident outside the grand auditorium yesterday — how Ye Xu had soundly defeated a senior with Wind Pressure Bullet. Those who understood what his displayed talent implied remained much calmer.

“Teacher flatters me. I simply wandered outside in my early years and specialized a bit in defensive magic.”

“My overall magical proficiency isn’t as strong as my defenses.”

“In comparison…”

Ye Xu paused before continuing,

“Student Isxila has already passed the Magician Association’s third-circle examination.”

“She is a genuine third-circle mage.”

His modest explanation quietly quelled the classmates’ astonishment, drawing nods of understanding.

It made sense — an illegitimate son only recently brought home, no matter how talented, would lack systematic education and resources. Mastering one or two third-circle spells was reasonable.

Though that starting point already crushed ninety-nine percent of students in their year, it was far more acceptable than true third-circle mastery.

After all, the comprehensive difficulty of third-circle magic far exceeded second-circle.

A second-circle mage needed to master most standard second-circle spells, with advancement requiring one or two third-circle spells.

A third-circle mage, however, had to master most standard third-circle spells!

By comparison, it was only natural for Her Highness — universally acknowledged as exceptionally talented, of exalted status, and equipped with the finest resources and environment — to reach third-circle at this age.

In an instant, every classmate turned toward the back of the room, gazing at Isxila with admiration.

“Oh~”

The teacher gave a perfunctory response, pretending to accept Ye Xu’s explanation.

But inwardly, she clearly didn’t buy it.

In an academy where fourth-circle mages were rare among faculty and even department heads struggled to reach fourth-circle, she was a deeply concealed fourth-circle mage — even praised by the vice principal as “destined to surpass me, with the potential to become a fifth-circle mage.”

Had she not devoted herself to magical research, she would have long left the academy and certainly wouldn’t have settled for a mere homeroom teacher position.

As a veteran fourth-circle mage, if her personally created “Mind Control Magic” could be easily resisted by a freshly advanced third-circle mage, she might as well go bash her head against tofu.

…Fine.

Since the student had clearly stated his unwillingness to serve as class representative, pressing further would indeed be unbecoming of a teacher.

All she could say was that this year’s students had brought her far too many surprises:

She had already heard there was a third-circle princess, plus an attendant who had mastered third-circle spells and was only a matter of time from advancing from second-circle.

Now, another suspected fourth-circle-capable advanced third-circle mage had popped up.

If the other teachers learned there was such a monstrous class in the school, they’d probably string it up and swing it like a teru teru bōzu doll for good luck.

Teacher Hera thought this to herself, completely unaware that every word Ye Xu had spoken was the literal truth.

He was indeed more proficient in defensive magic — after all, in his early years wandering dangerous lands with Navila, defensive spells were the first they maxed out.

Only…

He hadn’t said how much weaker his other magic was compared to defenses, nor had he specified what circle his defensive magic actually reached.

“In that case, Student Isxila — would you be willing to serve as our class representative?”

Teacher Hera pressed her palms together, tilted her head, and blinked her bright, wide eyes as she asked in a pleading tone.

Isxila shot a faintly resentful glance at her overly modest beloved, feeling a touch helpless. Scenes from years ago flashed through her mind.

It was the aftermath of Ye Xu’s first combat deployment in his personal machine, the Night God Throne:

A fortress deemed impregnable — garrisoned with a thousand Magitech Knights, equipped with countless large-scale war machines, even capable of briefly withstanding national-war spell bombardment — had fallen completely in a single day, leaving behind only a massive crater that had only recently been roughly filled.

From that day forward, imperial nobles never again dared large-scale direct confrontations with the Eternal Night Rebel Army.

The common folk’s worship of Ye Xu — later Ye Lalar — as the “incarnation of the Night God” had begun spreading from that very moment.

Was third-circle mage really such an ordinary, low-key title?

Perhaps not.

But compared to someone called a “single-soldier strategic weapon” — believed to potentially possess threat level comparable to forbidden spells all on his own — that title was indeed far too modest.

From an angle no one noticed, she secretly rolled her eyes at Ye Xu, sighing inwardly that her four years of peaceful campus life had ended before they even began. Then she replied,

“Mm, I have no issue with it, Teacher.”

Teacher Hera nodded in satisfaction and said gratefully, “Mm-hmm! As expected of royalty — so responsible! Thank you so much, Student Isxila. I will definitely, definitely repay you~~”

Though the words were overly saccharine, paired with the teacher’s appearance, they only felt adorably charming — making the classmates even more excited for their future school life.

Seeing the main matter settled, Hera continued,

“Now then, let’s go over the campus rules and the general daily schedule~”

“Student Isxila, please come up. This storage ring will be entrusted to you during your time as class representative.”

“It will be used specifically for holding class teaching resources from now on.”

“For now, please distribute the instructional tools and textbooks inside to everyone~”