Libertas sat in the back of class near the window. Absent-minded, he gazed dreamily out of the window. A pigeon stared with its silly eyes at him. It tilted its little head and cooed. Chuckling a little, Libertas glanced towards Marcus. Then while shaking his head, he sighed softly.

Marcus was glaring fiercely at Anthony in front of him. However, Anthony didn't even care a bit about that. He sat relaxed on the chair with his legs leisurely crossed over each other. Occasionally, he gestured around with his hands as he chatted with Maria.

From time to time, Maria giggled happily, or sometimes, she first glanced back at Marcus before she giggled. And whenever she did that, Marcus raised vexed his fist. In return, Maria always broke out laughing. Vexed, Marcus then pushed the blame to Anthony and cursed at him.

Unfortunately, Anthony didn't care and just lazily dismissed it with a wave of his hand. Subsequently, he resumed chatting with Maria while ignoring an infuriated Marcus.

Eventually, a female teacher walked in while she pushed something to the front of the class. Unfortunately, a piece of cloth hid it, and hence, no one could see what was underneath it. Nevertheless, in return, this aroused the curiosity of the students.

What could the teacher possibly have hidden underneath the piece of cloth?

Seeing the teacher walking in, Marcus snorted one last time at the uncaring Anthony before he looked at the hidden something. Maria giggled, and she too turned her attention towards the something hidden.

Standing silently in front of the class, she smiled gently at the students. She waited a moment until the class quietened down. Following, she spoke, "Welcome to my art class. My name is Ms Angelica, and from today onwards, I am your art teacher. As for now, let us begin with making a nameplate. I believe you all are sick of self-introductions by now, right? Then let us do that! After that, we can begin with the true art lesson."

Soon the students began building simple nameplates out of paper. After quickly writing their names on top of it, they just placed it in front of their table. Subsequently, they talked with their neighbours after seeing that the rest of the class were still not done.

Bored, Marcus poked Libertas with his shoulders as he finally saw Libertas finish building the nameplates. He then casually asked, "Hey, why didn't you help me earlier against that damned prince?"

Shrugging, Libertas took out a pencil and wrote his name on the nameplate. At the same time, he replied careless, "What should I do? He ignores you, and he would do the same with me."

When Marcus realized that, his shoulders drooped before they swiftly raised again. Following, he said, "What about your fiancée, no, I mean, Maria? She wouldn't ignore you! Moreover, Anthony seems very sensitive about her!"

Seeing that Marcus changed his wording after Libertas glared at Marcus, he nodded satisfied. Then he spoke earnestly, "You shouldn't attack the innocent, only because you want to take revenge on someone else. As an upright person, you don't do that! Only shady people do that. Just challenge Anthony with your honour on the line, or whatever you want."

Indignant, Marcus raised outraged his hands. While pointing at Maria, he retorted, "How is she innocent? She laughed at me!"

Hearing that, Libertas faked a laugh, "Haha. I am now evil too?"

Marcus stared speechless at Libertas. Was that really his friend and not one of his enemies? Sighing, Marcus drooped resigned his hands to the table. Then he said weakly, "You won. Anyway, can't you have just supported me next time? Aren't we friends?"

While looking satisfied on his nameplate, Libertas replied casually, "Maybe. It depends on the situation. After all, I couldn't bring myself to support you if you had done something evil, right?"

Appearing anguished, Marcus remarked yielding, "I really made friends with the devil himself."

"Isn't that nice? The devil is, after all, powerful."

At first, Marcus stared dumbfounded at Libertas before he chuckled, "Yeah, you are right!"

After a while of further chitchatting, Ms Angelica clapped her hands and waited until the class calmed down again. Subsequently, she said, "Alright, stop talking now. We will now truly begin with the art lesson."

She paused for a second after which she smoothly continued, "All of you surely already had art lessons in your preparatory classes. However, the art lessons from here onwards and the one you had are entirely different. While you will still draw pretty flowers or sculpt beautiful little creatures, the main focus won't be the same. Have anyone of you an idea what it could possibly be?"

After looking around, she still waited a second before she picked one of the students, who raised their hand. Promptly, the chosen student answered, "Well, I have many paintings from famous artists at my home. My father always says when he sees them that they have a unique magic signature. Hence I think that we will learn how to imbue our works with our Mana."

Nodding, Ms Angelica looked around before she opened her mouth. However, unexpectedly, she didn't confirm the student's answer. She instead picked another student to answer again, "Libertas, right? What do you think about it?"

Startled, Libertas looked at the teacher. Why did she pick him? How could he know something about that? After all, he knew almost nothing about magic! Hence, he only replied half-heartedly, "I don't have anything else to add. Please continue."

Suspicious, she squinted her eyes as she asked again, "Do you really have nothing else to add?"

Did she have something against him? Annoyed, Libertas thought over what else he could say. Sighing wearily, he answered, "Well, I think that the concept we have in our mind at the time of whatever we draw or create will influence the result at the end too."

Instantly, a smile emerged on her face as her eyes shined ominously. Without giving Libertas a break, she promptly asked the next question, "Oh? What exactly makes you believe that?"

Libertas stared speechless at her. Ms Angelica, couldn't you have just continued the lesson without bothering me? However, as he looked at her eager expression, he couldn't bear to say that into her face.

Hence, he replied resigned, "If we want to draw or create something, at least I wouldn't just start with no idea of what I would like to do. I would first think about it and only then begin. How should it look like at the end? Why am I doing this? Should it fulfil a purpose? A concept can show the rough direction."

The teacher squinted once more her eyes before she pressed for more answers, "Only that?"

Then as Libertas heard that, his lips twitched. Why did she only ask him? Did she forget the other students? Helplessly, he glanced at Marcus, who in return just shrugged at him. Annoyed, he looked at the teacher again. Subsequently, he said, "Ms Angelica, there are still other students. Won't consider to ask them instead of me? We don't have a private lesson here."

She froze right away. Looking around, she wryly chuckled before she coughed softly, "I am sorry. I was fascinated about how you could have known about something, you currently usually shouldn't have."

Then she paused for a moment to take a deep breath. Following, she continued with a soft smile, "Well, the topic this year won't be about imbuing Mana into our work. It will instead be all about concepts. For example, you will learn how to imbue a certain concept with Mana or how you even begin to create a concept."

Her gaze wandered through the class before it stopped on Libertas. While she kept staring at Libertas, she asked the class, "But for now, does anyone of you have any ideas for what you can use a concept for?"

Then she waited. Despite her asking the whole class, her eyes only focused on a single person, Libertas. However, when she noticed that he didn't make any notions of raising his hand, Ms Angelicas disappointedly sighed. Her head drooped a bit as she reluctantly picked another student.

When Libertas saw all that, he only speechlessly stared at her. Just what kind of teacher did he get?

The picked student only spoke after a short pause, "The notion of a concept got firstly introduced by the Founder and had a variety of uses. However, they are mostly used in art or calligraphy. Although it too can be used in battles or smithing, the veterans despise the use of concepts as they believe that concepts are only nonsense."

Positive surprised, the teacher asked the student curiously, "Oh? How do you know that?"

"My father is the renown sculptor, L-"

Hearing this, Ms Angelica interrupted him while exclaiming with a mischievous smile on her face, "Ah! Wow! If he is your father, then you must already have experiences with conceptions, right? Then you can help others with it later!"

Before the student even could nod or shake his head, the teacher ignored him. She just continued with her lesson without giving the poor student any choices. Although the student appeared indignant that she interrupted him, he wasn't sad. He instead seemed proud, and he even had his nose raised high….

Ms Angelica told the class, "However, I know most of you haven't even heard of it until now. Hence, I have applied for something special from the school. Unfortunately, it is only for today. As such, use the opportunity today to gain something, as this may be your last one."

With a quick jerk of her hand, she pulled the piece of cloth away and revealed a plain mirror. However, when Libertas saw that, his eyes widened in horror. How could that be? Panicky, he looked around as his breathing hastened. How could that be! Aghast, he stood there, frozen.