The Magic Academy was truly enormous — extraordinarily so.
According to Ye Xu’s estimation, if an average student tried to sprint from a classroom in the teaching building to the practical training field during the break between classes, they might still end up late.
Fortunately, this was a magical world, and one where alchemical materials and magitech were highly advanced.
After leaving the classroom, the teacher immediately led the students out of the teaching area and stopped beneath a peculiar “metal rail” suspended in mid-air.
Ye Xu stood among the crowd, gazing below the rail.
It was a smooth pathway paved with a strange silvery-gray metal, surrounded by railings and accessible only through a few entrances.
What made the rail so peculiar?
Dense arrays of intricate runes were etched across its surface, from which the students could sense powerful currents of mana flowing.
Most astonishing of all, it simply floated there in empty space — no visible supports, no cables holding it up.
Around Class 3, many other classes that had already finished their basic orientations and supply distribution were also waiting nearby.
Just as the students began to wonder, a sound reached their ears.
Clang~ Clang~
It wasn’t particularly loud or grating, but in that moment, it drew everyone’s full attention.
Ye Xu and the others turned toward the source and saw a long, rectangular silver-gray vehicle with numerous small glass windows.
It hung beneath the rail, gliding slowly along the smooth pathway toward them…
“Is that… a cable magitech train?”
Unlike most of his classmates, Ye Xu’s expression showed instant recognition.
Its role was similar to a streetcar back on Earth, though it served as the urban equivalent of a magitech train.
Not particularly high-tech — just relatively rare.
Its principle relied on a magitech device in this world called a “mana furnace.” It was a lower-tech sibling to the “magitech core” used in Magitech Knights.
The core was crafted from various mana-storing crystals. It artificially gathered and compressed ambient air into stored mana, then exported that mana to power devices that didn’t require especially pure energy.
A magitech train was simply a large magitech vehicle with a built-in mana furnace for propulsion.
Due to low productivity from societal structures and an uneven tech tree, mana furnaces were largely exclusive to major cities.
They were constructed in the most prosperous, mana-rich districts, then channeled compressed mana through magitech conduits to wherever it was needed.
The mana-powered furniture in noble homes, along with various mana-driven appliances, all drew energy from these.
— After all, you couldn’t exactly bind a living person to supply energy around the clock, could you?
Though given the moral outlook of most nobles in this world, it wasn’t entirely out of the question — the cost was simply too high.
Mana generated within living beings, thanks to the spirituality of the soul, was far purer and free of impurities compared to the compressed atmospheric mana from a furnace. Many precision devices required that pure mana to function.
Thus, building a few large mana furnaces to supply an entire city was far more practical than chaining people up.
Mana furnaces were semi-perpetual engines that generated ongoing profit once built, while living people needed food and rest.
Of course, like most magic-related conveniences, access to mana furnace output was largely a noble privilege.
But clearly, the Magician Association’s magical cities — symbols of openness and cutting-edge technology — along with their academies, were exceptions.
This vast city housed hundreds of mana furnaces. Conduits extending from them ran almost everywhere underground.
The larger the mana furnace, the higher the efficiency and storage capacity.
Installing individual small furnaces in vehicles within such a city would be wasteful.
Far more economical to simply connect a “mana cable” and draw power directly from the city’s furnaces.
This was something no other city in the world — not even the imperial capital — could achieve.
No matter how wealthy the nobles were, they wouldn’t bother magitech-izing an entire city just to convenience the commoners, who didn’t deserve such luxuries.
Besides, nobles had their own exclusive modes of transport and had no need for magitech trains.
Even the former Ye Xu had only heard of them.
“This is our Magic Academy’s exclusive mode of transportation — the cable magitech train.”
“Even the magical city outside doesn’t have access to it~”
“Until you learn magic, or get rich enough to develop your own unique way of getting around,”
“This thing will be your companion for quite a long time.”
Common unique transport methods included riding broom-like magitech tools. Flashier options involved using wind magic or other spells to fly.
Or one could simply purchase expensive, ostentatious magitech vehicles.
Ye Xu could manage any of those if he wanted, but there was no need.
For now, he was curious to experience this novelty — something he’d never tried before — and see how it differed from ordinary magitech trains.
With a soft scraping sound, the train stopped in front of them. The doors slid open slowly, and students from several nearby classes boarded one by one, brimming with curiosity.
A minute and a half later, the doors closed. The students immediately noticed the difference from the cable magitech trains they’d ridden to reach the academy.
— It was far smoother, far quieter. Even the faint friction between train and cable vanished once inside. Everything outside seemed to glide steadily backward.
Paired with the academy’s beautiful, vibrant scenery, it offered a uniquely pleasant atmosphere.
Ye Xu nodded in satisfaction, quietly approving of the invention’s excellence.
He found a relatively quiet seat toward the back of the carriage and settled in, intending to prop his head on his hand and enjoy the view.
But just as he turned toward the window, he felt his other hand being grasped.
Turning back, he saw Isxila — who appeared to have chosen the spot simply for peace and quiet — calmly take the seat beside him. She pulled out a book and placed it on her lap to read.
If one ignored the fact that she had seized his hand and discreetly slipped it beneath her school uniform skirt, resting it on her smooth, fair, and delightfully soft thigh…
“……”
Ye Xu stared at the princess, whose expression remained as composed as ever — save for the faint blush creeping across her cheeks — and the corner of his mouth twitched.
— If any classmate happened to come over and take a close look, both of their academy lives would be over.
Fortunately, the students were completely absorbed by curiosity, peering left and right inside the train. And with Isxila’s royal status on full display, no one dared disturb her once she’d chosen this spot for solitude.
After a brief, firm attempt to withdraw his hand — which failed — Ye Xu caught the sly glint in her eyes. In the end, he could only sigh helplessly and turn his head back toward the window.
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