Chapter 12

Chapter 12 – Little Bird (1)

Just like its exterior, the interior of Hebrion Academy showed off the school’s

opulence . This was especially evident in its training center: the grandiose

recreational area was home to both a track-and-field section and an aquatic-

training section .

The track-and-field section featured an enormous running track as its

centerpiece . Other specialty facilities surrounded the circuit, such as practice

arenas, simulation training areas and fitness gyms staffed by personal trainers .

The academy had also spared no expense on its aquatic area, which showcased

an olympic pool with over 30 lanes and many other arenas to prepare students

for underwater battles .

And between the two training centers, a grand tower stood imposingly—a

training facility for student mages, according to Desir’s guidebook .

The tower had a total of five floors, each one dedicated to training a specific

attribute . And, like the training centers below, each floor housed a number of

different training areas .

Hebrion Academy’s massive training section could easily accommodate the

entire student population at the same time . The sheer grandeur of the facility

took Romantica’s breath away .

Anyone would feel honored to train with such amazing amenities . No other

place in the world boasted such a collection of top-tier facilities .

"If I could just access these training areas, I would swear loyalty to Hebrion

Academy forever . I mean it . ” Of course, Romantica meant unrestricted access of

those facilities . After all . . .

For Alpha Class use only .

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That sign, posted above the entrance to those luxurious training facilities,

spoke to the reality of the situation: blatant discrimination in treatment

between the Alpha Class and the Beta Class .

The trio moved on, leaving the Alpha Class training area behind them .

After climbing a winding staircase, they reached the shabby and dingy Beta

Class training facility, at the very top of the training area . By size and

convenience of access, the Beta Class facility couldn’t compare to the Alpha

Class’s—it looked like an old attic .

The rusty door, left unoiled for an untold amount of time, creaked unpleasantly

as it opened . The sight was enough to destroy all their motivation .

“ . . . Unbelievable . ”

“This isn’t even comparable . ”

Layers of dust swirled up as the trio entered the room, and their noses met a

rotten smell .

"Ahhhhh!" Pram’s outburst rang through the room .

Romantica was already on-edge, and almost yelled, "What's wrong?"

"S-something just ran across my foot and skittered away!"

As soon as Romantica heard Pram’s answer, she hurriedly turned the lights

on . . . but whatever Pram felt had already disappeared . Relying on the dull,

flickering light Romantica peered around nervously . Then, she noticed a small

mouse hole in the wall . She screamed as though the grim reaper himself had

come . "Desir, we need to get out of here right now . "

"There aren’t any other training facilities we can use, Romantica . "

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"I absolutely cannot ever train here! I hate mice!"

"Let's look on the bright side . " Desir rubbed his hands together . "No one ever

comes here, except for us . Again, this is the best training area for us . "

Romantica uneasily began to inch away towards the exit, but Desir was one

step faster . Desir blocked the door—Romantica’s only way out .

"Lets clean this place up and use it as our office . " Desir grinned at Romantica .

"Y-you're joking? Please tell me you're joking? Please?"

"We're going to become an amazing party here . "

"Look at this place! Look at this absolute mess of a place! It’s a rat’s nest!"

*click* At that moment, the light that had struggled to stay on went out .

Romantica inched towards the light switch to try to turn the light back on . . . but

before she could, a flood of red eyes appeared in the darkness .

"Oh . . . " It took a full three seconds for the dire situation to register in

Romantica’s head .

“Squeak . ” Rodent and human squared off against each other in an interspecies

stare-off . And as expected, the rodents achieved the victory! “Squeeeeek!” A

swarm of angry rats charged at the humans .

"KYAAAAAAAAAA!" An ear-splitting scream rang out, and Romantica flew into

the air and latched onto Desir . The girl had gone hysterical, and her whole body

was shaking like a leaf .

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Art from Official Release

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As the light blinked back on and the darkness retreated, the army of mice

skittered away .

Desir blinked . “Lots of rats, huh?”

“Squeeeeaaaak . . . . ”

Though the rodents had disappeared, Romantica had no intention of letting go

of Desir . She channeled even more strength into her arms and legs and

clambered even further up Desir’s body, as if touching the ground would kill

her .

Desir sighed as he looked at Romantica’s face, milliseconds away from bursting

into tears . "Fine . "

"We're leaving? From here? Right now?" Romantica's face lit up in an instant—a

small sliver of hope had pierced the heavy clouds of despair . Romantica

gripped that small hope with everything she had and looked at Desir with

puppy-dog eyes, hoping beyond hope that he would fulfill her wish .

But that desperate hope would be short lived . "I'll block the mouse holes, and

I'll leave the sweeping to you . "

"Then we . . . "

"Then we're going to clean this place and use it . "

Romantica’s eyes darkened in despair .

***

Six hours later, the Beta Class training room looked totally different . The fully

recharged magic light cast a bright gleam across the room, reflecting off the

spotless, almost mirror-like floor .

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Desir, with a satisfied face, looked around the room, then at his cleaning crew—

everyone wore a similar expression . "Well done, you all worked hard . "

"Wow!"

"Whoaa . . . "

Without any further words, they all collapsed in exhaustion and relief on the

floor . Just the cleaning process alone would have sufficed for their first

physical training session . But unfortunately, Desir had other plans .

"Ok, we'll rest for 30 minutes, and then we begin training . "

"Whaaaaat!?!" Romantica exclaimed in exasperation . "We cleaned everything

today, let's just call it here!"

Desir shook his head . "Romantica, you haven't forgotten what Professor

Brigitte said when you joined this party, have you?"

"That’s . . . . . " Romantica grimaced, recalling Professor Brigitte’s warning .

“You must be absolutely certain before giving me an answer . Joining Desir’s party also

means agreeing with Desir’s ideals . In other words, you’re throwing in your lot with

him . You must obey your party leader’s commands, and follow his instructions at all

times . To join this party under these constraints, what matters most of all is your own

determination . ”

The professor’s words had contained no ambiguity . Desir continued, "And I also

have the contract that you signed . . . "

"I get it! Alright! Fine! I’ll just do it . " Nothing but a series of hardships . Little by

little, Romantica began to secretly regret her decision to join this party .

***

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Thirty minutes later, Desir kicked off Romantica’s training by bringing out a

blue ball . "First of all, we’ll have you work on your casting speed . "

"My casting speed is already plenty fast! You saw it during the entrance exam . "

Romantica took pride in her renowned casting speed—a remarkable talent for a

wind-attribute mage .

Desir agreed with her . . . to an extent . "Truth be told, your level of speed is pretty

good—if you were just a regular mage off the street . But within the Alpha Class,

your skills are just so-so . "

The top-tier students from around the world gathered in the Alpha Class, so its

members would naturally progress leaps and bounds faster than the

commoners in the Beta Class .

Nobles received the best training and tutoring from a young age, so their power

levels couldn’t even be compared to that of the commoners . Thankfully,

Romantica had received some of that education herself, so she had some skill to

show for it . But still . .

"We’ll be fighting them with a disadvantage . Even if we were on their level, we

would still have difficulty competing against them—we’ll have to get your skills

up to par . "

Romantica raised her eyebrow . "But how are you going to raise our skills in

such a short time?"

"It's simple . You develop a new ability . "

"A new ability?"

"You’ll be learning chantless casting . "

Instead of processing mana through a spoken formula, “chantless casting”

utilised one's senses to manipulate and shape the mana, thus manifesting the

spell .

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Desire knew the Romantica from his previous life very well . She had already

specialized in speed-chanting, and the danger of the Shadow World pushed her

to constantly hone her skills and discover new talents .

Her efforts had given rise to chantless casting, an ingenious new method of

releasing magic without ever having to speak .

But the Romantica of his previous life had spent an unimaginable amount of

time and effort developing that method—Desir would help the present

Romantica develop those skills in a much shorter span of time .

"That impossible!" But as for right now, that was Romantica’s immediate

reaction .

Desir had expected as much . "No, it's possible . You just feel like it’s impossible . "

"I told you I can't!"

"If you can't, then you can just stay in the Beta Class, eating stale bread . "

The thought of the stale bread broke the stubborn stalemate .

“ . . . you're not lying, right?" She knew as long as she was part of this party, she

would have to follow Desir’s directives . Romantica sighed .

" . . . Alright . Let's give it a try . "

Desir smiled . "Great . Here, watch this ball . "

Desir placed the ball at Romantica's feet, then proceeded to draw two circles on

the ground using a pen: one around the ball, and another five meters away

from her . "Try moving the ball from that circle to this circle over here . "

Romantica placed the ball down and tried to push the ball across, but Desir

interrupted her . "No physical contact . You are not to move from where you are

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now . And, of course, you can’t speak . Use nothing but air currents to push the

ball . "

Air current manipulation .

Trying to control the air’s current was like a human trying to flap a pair of

wings . It wasn't just exercising one of the body's five senses—rather, it was an

entirely new, unfamiliar limb .

It was obviously difficult . However, if a mage could master air current

manipulation, they were well on their way to learning chantless casting for 1st

circle spells .

Romantica focused her mind and stared down at the ball . But how was she

supposed to create a current without chanting a spell? "Hnnngggggg . . . . . . . "

As he observed Romantica’s efforts, Desir spoke up . "Romantica, do you

remember what you felt when we were cleaning?"

'Remember what!?' Romantica grew frustrated, both by her current inability to

move the ball, and by the memory of their slave-like labor . There had been so

much to clean up, they could only barely finish the task with the help of magic .

"You may have utilized spells at the time, but you definitely should have felt

something else—like you were moving with the wind . Remember that feeling .

That feeling of sweeping away the dust . Think of the ball as the dust . "

Romantica blinked, glared down at the ball, and refocused . ‘Think of the ball as

the dust . . . ’

Romantica applied Desir’s advice, and the ball budged from its spot for the first

time . Though it had inched in the wrong direction, the fact that it had moved at

all was worthy of praise .

Desir patted Romantica's shoulder . "Your first steps are good . Keep at it . "

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Her first praise .

Romantica forcibly choked down the cheer forming in her throat and continued

to practice .

"Right, next is Pram's training . " Desir turned towards Pram, who had moved

some distance away so as to not interrupt Romantica .

Pram looked up at the approaching Desir, eyes brimming with expectation .

However, that expectation was to be betrayed—Desir had no intention of

training Pram .

The reason was simple .

"Truth be told, I have nothing to teach you . "