“It is an honor to meet such esteemed individuals.”
A refined smile and soft eyes graced her face.
Perhaps it was her way of showing courtesy to the core members of the Imperial Nation, as the youthful girl’s figure gently closed her eyes only moments later.
All of this, simply because the six family heads had been taken off guard in an instant.
“Then, please continue your discussion.”
Even as she walked nonchalantly through the gazes fixed collectively in one place, silence filled the room.
The fluttering emblem of the ancient dragon swayed softly with each step of her quiet strides.
Though her steps appeared light, they carried a weighty significance as they finally left the dean’s office entirely.
‘Could it truly be a coincidence that the gazes of the family heads watching the girl were all imbued with seriousness?’
***
“I admit, she’s not ordinary.”
“They say birds of a feather flock together. That dragon certainly raised someone just like him.”
“Am I the only one reminded of the Sage?”
“The Sage… indeed, there’s some resemblance. Especially in those eyes.”
Even though each of the family heads held authority that could shake the heavens, they seemed utterly unfazed.
It had been a long time since they encountered someone so bold.
The fact that Letter had saved the children of the six families did little to sway the current family heads.
The person they saw and experienced firsthand was more unsettling and intriguing than a mere benefactor.
Now they understood why she bore the emblem of the ancient dragon.
Especially that boundless amount of mana.
‘It would be great if we could make her an ally.’
‘But if she becomes an enemy, it will surely be troublesome.’
‘Now I see why the dean was so confident.’
The family heads, who felt the overwhelming flow of mana comparable to the Sage, ultimately recognized the qualifications of the new professor.
She was, without a doubt, a genius born of this era.
An extraordinary talent that ordinary individuals could never reach, not even at the end of their lives.
A talent that shone faintly yet reached a level unattainable by most, achieved at such a young age.
Her potential could not be underestimated.
In other words, there was more to gain than lose from the girl’s arrival.
This was because she chose to wield a teaching wand instead of a weapon for battle.
‘If she was willing to share her insights with others, there was no reason to reject such an offer.’
“Mana Design, was it?”
“Yes.”
“New students will have a solid foundation. In some ways, this is fortunate.”
As people who lived their lives calculating gains and losses, they evaluated the “value” of the new professor highly.
Thus, for now, they planned to extract the knowledge she held.
Ultimately, however, their intention was to subtly manipulate her, just as their ancestors had done, to make her a member of their families.
‘If they could bind her unprecedented talent to their family, their clan would naturally rise to unmatched strength.’
They had no intention of letting others claim her, not even a speck.
Perhaps that was why.
Upon returning to their respective families, each family head sent a brief message to their children:
[Attend Letter Yurt’s class.]
“Grandfather himself mentioned this?”
“Why are they paying attention to that young girl?”
“Mana Design is a basic subject…”
The reactions of the students who received the message were largely along these lines.
This was because they were unaware of the weight carried by the emblem of the ancient dragon.
Nor did they realize that the message implicitly urged them to gather information on Letter Yurt.
Nevertheless, they could not disobey the orders of their family heads, so they signed up for the new professor’s class with a mix of curiosity and skepticism.
***
And thus, an unexpected scene unfolded.
-Flutter.
-Flutter, flutter.
-Flutter, flutter, flutter, flutter…
“Um, Dean, are all these students here for my class?”
“Regrettably, yes.”
“Hmm, are the basics lacking that much…”
Not only the majority of new students but even some upperclassmen signed up for Mana Design.
Having heard of the renowned prestige of Primus, Letter could only find the situation puzzling.
Among them, what surprised Letter the most was the fact that even the top students of the six great families had enrolled in her class.
The names of those students, who appeared even in the “original story” she knew, were undoubtedly prodigies who might only appear once in a hundred years.
‘What is this? Is this some sort of hidden camera prank?’
Such thoughts naturally crossed Letter’s mind, given the overwhelming interest in the Mana Design course.
This eventually led to the creation of additional classes.
After all, gathering high-achieving upperclassmen and fresh-faced new students in the same classroom was unrealistic for various reasons.
Thus, the original basic-level Mana Design course was expanded to include intermediate and advanced levels.
***
About three days passed, and finally, it was the day of Letter’s first class.
“Um, Professor?”
“Yes?”
“S-Sorry, but we can’t really see you clearly because the podium is too tall.”
“Oh.”
Upon arriving at Primus’s vast lecture hall, Letter immediately encountered a minor obstacle.
Despite her earnest preparation for the class and running multiple simulations in her head, she had overlooked the height of the podium.
“Hmm…”
In the end, Letter simply pushed the podium aside, which had been hiding everything below her nose.
Only then could she fully face the many students seated before her.
‘Wow, quite a crowd showed up…’
Even though the students had been divided into three groups—basic, intermediate, and advanced—the turnout was impressive.
What made Letter give a wry smile was the fact that the current class, the advanced group, had the smallest number of students.
Still, these were students who had chosen to attend her class.
Determined to respond to their enthusiasm, Letter resolved to do her best.
“Alright, let’s begin.”
She drew a single circle in the air.
A simple circle, the foundation of any magic circle, appeared in the air, capturing the students’ attention.
“Magic circles are diagrams that control the flow of mana. Therefore, the circular shape is considered ideal for evenly distributing mana.”
A moment later, a very simple diagram appeared within the circle.
It represented a basic wind magic spell, akin to a light breeze, causing some students to tilt their heads.
It was only natural.
Among the students present, there wasn’t a single one who didn’t already know such basic magic.
‘What’s going on?’
‘Isn’t this supposed to be the advanced class?’
‘Hmm…?’
As most students watched Letter’s lesson with puzzled expressions, something changed.
***
-Swish.
Additional diagrams began overlaying the basic magic circle floating in the air.
What unfolded was a series of magic circles, almost like an elaborate chronicle.
“Each component has its role, and as long as these components follow certain rules, a magic circle is a form of language.”
The very basic magic circle began to evolve, transitioning through intermediate and then advanced stages.
Eventually, it reached the final stage.
“If you interpret and analyze what the magic circle is trying to ‘say,’ you’ll understand what it discards and what it chooses to transform a light breeze into a typhoon.”
The result was a colossal storm spell capable of sweeping away the entire area.
However, the final stage of the magic circle appeared somewhat strange to the students.
Its shape and structure resembled the previous stages, yet it seemed more like a mutation than a progression.
The flow appeared continuous at times, only to break abruptly, giving an overall awkward impression.
Just as the students were tilting their heads again at the oddity of the magic circle…
“Now, analyze, dismantle, and reassemble this magic circle to match the form shown here, just as you’ve learned.”
Another magic circle appeared, presenting the students with a new goal.
Setting aside their doubts, the students began deconstructing the magic circle based on the principles ingrained in their minds.
Finally, they dismantled the circle into its smallest components and carefully reassembled it according to Letter’s instructions.
“…Huh?”
Instead of a sense of accomplishment, what they felt was a numbing shock, as if they’d been struck on the back of their heads.
The magic circle now before their eyes mercilessly trampled upon all that had been passed down for generations.
It gathered and forcibly unified elements previously considered inefficient or impossible.
Yet, it was astonishingly precise, and they could find no contradictions in it.
The newfound relationships between elements, once deemed degraded over time, triggered a paradigm shift they never anticipated.
This felt like the pinnacle of magic itself.
Elements previously regarded as impractical or discarded had now become the most functional and efficient parts of the circle.
Even those forgotten as “impossible” seemed to mock the years of neglect, shining brilliantly within the circle and asserting their presence.
“You must learn to use everything at your disposal. Exploration and discovery are the foundational principles of magical science.”
The rules and evolutions of magic circles, mastered through countless hours of studying hundreds of diagrams.
Even the so-called immutable truths deemed absolute over eons were rendered insignificant in an instant.
“As far as I know, you’ve already learned a lot. So instead of teaching you something new…”
-Swish.
“I’ll teach you how to handle what you already know in a more efficient and practical way.”
Revolution.
There was no other word to describe it.