(CLYDE ASTLEY POV)

Holy Era – Year 1514

Month – Dawn of the Mana Lake.

Graponia Royal Academy – Student Council Building – President’s office.

“What is this?”

I threw the paper onto the desk of the Student council president.

On it was the list of the nominees to enter the council.

The young woman with dark purple hair glanced at the paper once before continuing with her work. She was the current student council president, Victoria Arden. She was the daughter of the Marquis Arden Household.

“That’s the nominee list. Is something the matter?”

“I can see what it is. I want to know why my name is on the list.”

In fact, it was at the very top of the list. Even the most prestigious noble children lay underneath my name.

She tilted her head.

“Do you not know how this works? Students vote who they would want in the student council. You’ll be a third year in a few months. That’s the year we pick our council members from. We still need a vice president since Lord Ryan is currently missing. There was also the fact that the transfer student from the Magic Empire refused because of other responsibilities.”

‘Huh? Ryan’s missing?’

“And then there’s the fact that we don’t have enough members. There are only three other members aside from me. I’ll be finishing my duties as president in two years so there’s that as well...”

I thought presidents only got selected in their final years but that was different in this world’s academies.

If an incompetent person was selected as president then a test was held to determine if that person was suitable for such a position as student council president of an entire school. Victoria won overwhelmingly against the former president even if she was a year younger.

“I don’t know if you’ve heard but my core was–“

“Yes. I know that there was some trouble during Princess Charlotte’s first campaign. I had someone from my house join her ranks. She is the one of the students who are most likely to take my place so I spared no expense to make sure this news spreads fast. This will hinder the one that ordered the hit on her in the future. His Majesty will also not idly sit by and watch his daughter be killed. The good thing is that they’ll hesitate to order another strike on her highness.”

‘She really thought ahead...’

“Losing your mana core doesn’t mean your grades worsen. We aren’t like those brutes from the Student Disciplinary Committee who take people for their strength alone.”

She got up from her seat and took something out from the cupboard.

It was a stack of documents.

“These are all your test papers ever since coming to this academy.”

“Huh? Why does a student have this?”

She smiled.

“I have my methods.”

“...”

I stayed silent and looked at all my test papers.

“It’s weird how every single one of your results end in the tenths. And it’s even more weird that your grades are always second in your class year.”

She sat on the desk and crossed her exquisite legs wrapped in tights. I swear I saw a garter belt. Her sweet fragrance entered my nose.

Fuck. I’m all pent up.

I felt guilty after going to a brothel so I held myself back. I made a friend in the academy so I couldn’t refuse him. I was scared he’ll think I’m lame after refusing.

Is Victoria intentionally sitting like this? My seat was a few centimetres away from her desk. Her legs were right in my licking range.

She crossed her legs again as she looked at one of my first year papers.

“80 out of 160. That’s considerably low if we were to rank the top students throughout the years. In your case, it’s different. You are able to correctly answer whichever question was given on the paper. You intentionally left the others blanked out.”

I cursed at myself inwardly. This is why I hate smart people.

“Some say it’s a coincidence that someone with your brains always scores lower. But there’s a possibility that you do it intentionally. That’s what I think. Are you doing it to stay away from the eyes of the elitists and the other nobles?”

I lowered my head and nodded.

Victoria clicked her tongue.

“As expected. It’s always them. It’s because of them that our most brilliant commoners enrolled into the academy leave before completing their studies. They either get a job at a noble’s house or they go missing. Even if we share the same statuses of noble children, I honestly hate them. This is why I always intervene in matters related to cases such as yours. One of my friends lost her position in the academy after she was targeted. I don’t want the same to happen to brilliant students like you.”

She took the papers again and put it back into the cupboard. She sat back in her chair again.

“Are you here to reject the position of vice president?”

“...”

I averted my gaze. Now that I was an ordinary student with no power of my own, I was vulnerable to people like them. Erica and Damian said they’ll protect me inside the academy but I wasn’t sure if they’d able to do that outside as well.

Something may even happen to me if I try and go home to our village. Edna was still recovering from her injuries and mana loss so I couldn’t rely on her for the time being. The two of us will part soon as well.

“Well?”

Victoria tapped her finger on the desk.

She looked like a loan shark cornering a poor man with heavy debt. Is this my only way out? Either I continue my path as a student and become an official for the Mage Tower or I leave the academy.

I looked into Victoria’s eyes and took a deep breath.

“If I win, then please look after me.”

She smiled brightly.

“Excellent.”

◇◇◇

“Ah, you’re back.”

When I exited the Student Council building, I saw Erica sitting on a desk underneath a tree, reading a book.

Her pigtails were no more. Her medium length hair was let loose on her shoulders. And who wouldn’t notice her body maturing already?

Had she been changing her diet?

“Sorry for taking so long. I had to sign a few things.”

“It’s okay. Anyway, you wanted to see me?”

I sent a letter to her after she finished her exam. I was expecting to wait at least a week since the examinees had to rest but I didn’t expect her to reply so quickly. The vitality of a Saintess was frightening.

I sat on the bench with her. Lunch break was still ongoing at the moment.

“I’ll just get to the point. I told you in the letter that lost my mana core... so I was wondering if you can help me fix it. You know, with your divine power...”

I felt shameful while asking her that.

In response to my request, her face looked troubled.

“I’m sorry but I can’t help...”

“Ah...”

What was I expecting anyway...

“I-It’s not that I don’t want to! It’s just that my power cannot restore things that aren’t alive. I could perhaps restore organs and flesh but that’s the extent of my power. Manifestations of energy are out of my league at the moment...”

She held my hand.

“I’m sorry... I’ll keep looking for anything in the Magic Tower that might help.”

“Thanks, Erica.”

◇◇◇

I feel a little bit better now after speaking with Erica. She told me that the exam wasn’t as hard for her as it was for others.

She even scored full marks. How difficult would an exam be that made the professors give students two weeks in order to finish it?

During those two weeks, she managed to answer all the questions. Even the chairman couldn’t achieve that back when she started as an apprentice mage at the Magic Tower. She scored 4890 out of 5000.

That itself is impressive for a graduate mage. But Erica scored the full 5000. Sponsorships arrived for her the very next day when she exited her room to check her mailbox.

She told me that there were quite a lot of noble houses that tried reach out to her. The elitists are keeping an eye on her. She said that dangerous people had been stalking her and one even jumped her when she was alone. By the way, she crippled the poor guy. He lost both his legs and was thrown into a dungeon the next day for attempting to kill a student from the academy.

The boy was said to be a slave of someone. Before investigators could decipher the seal and the magic power used to make it, it disappeared the next day.

These nobles really piss me off. I had to deal with them in the future.

‘I’m more worried about them than Erica.’

She was strong enough to look after herself.

My next destination was the library. We had practical classes now which I was going to be useless for anyway. Observing others fight would be boring. I might lose credits but that couldn’t be helped.

The library had lots of students busy studying for the upcoming exams.

There was an old woman with white hair behind the desk when I came up to her.

“How may I help you, young man?”

“Ah, hello. I’m looking for any books about mana cores. History books can be included.”

She told me to wait one moment before going to the back of her office.

The library looked as large as the palace from inside. How do people reach the books in the 100 meter tall bookracks?

‘Maybe flight magic?’

Then what about normal people?

I continued thinking about trivial things until the old woman came back.

Thud

“...”

She brought at least ten books with a cart.

The number wasn’t the problem. The sheer number of pages of each book, however, was.

‘What the heck...’

I counted at least ten thousand pages in one of the books.

‘How much information about mana cores are there?’

“It’s rare seeing young people interested in books. I’ve read mostly all the books here so this might help you with your...” She looked at me up and down. “Problem...”

She waved me goodbye after she gave me the cart.

“Okay! Now where should I begin?”

I looked at all the dates the books were written.

HE230

I groaned.

I have a lot of research to do.

_Mana cores. Where did they come from?_

—Ever since humanity existed, we have been born with the ability to cast magic. Before the Great Sage’s birth, no one knew what magic actually was. Some call it manipulation of nature after hearing how she saved her neighbour’s house from burning down using water magic. It was the first ever spell recorded in history called [Hydro]. She told scholars at the opening of Graponia academy that she never casted magic before that time.

She could always remember sensing mana in the atmosphere ever since birth. This was after she discovered she had a strange orb within her body. It was but by natural instinct that she could control it.

Many people over the continent also discovered mana cores within their bodies. Unlike the Sage, who was born with whitish mana, others started with black unrefined mana. The colour of the mana influences the core which is why there are phases for a mage.

The Great Sage was the first 9th rank mage after they, the heroes defeated Rodion. Her mana was a mix of black and white which made her ascend to a new class that had never been created before.

She, along with the other three heroes were the ones that created the Dragon Order which is today called the White Order. They only consist of 8th class mages or master class warriors.

There can be two leaders since there are only nine seats. There is a sub leader along with a leader. If the leader is absent then that means the sub leader must take the position to lead their comrades.

-

So if you’re a head mage then you’re classified as an 8th class mage. How big was the gap from 8th to 9th? If even the current Head Mage couldn’t cast god rank magic then that meant the gap was considerably large.

My master had the nerve to say I could become the next Head Mage in the future.

Even the king said so. That was too much pressure on someone like me who couldn’t even stand in front of people and talk.

There were multiple volumes of [Understanding the Mana Core]. I took a few home which the librarian was nice enough to lend me.

I still didn’t find anything useful.

But... It was still too early to give up.