Ch 7 Once in a Generation

“…Huh?”

Professor Sylvaine von Eckert forgot how to breathe.

Magic was not a wild, unpredictable force. It was a science. It was architecture.

It all started with a single building block: the cube.

According to every textbook, every grandmaster, and every historical archive, casting a spell required strict adherence to the laws of nature.

You gather mana inside your core through controlled breathing. You project an invisible barrier in the shape of a cube to act as a crucible. You gather mana inside it, compress it, assign it an elemental property, and then you released that mana in a controlled burst.

It was the law of the universe.

And the eight-step procedure was simply the most optimal and stable method for maintaining that cube.

It was the method of the Hero, Asterion.

But this boy—this lazy-eyed truant—had completely bypassed every single mandatory process a mage was supposed to go through.

…What in the name of the Goddess is this?

The boy had claimed it was two steps, but from the outside, Professor Eckert couldn’t even see the steps happening.

It had all occurred in the blink of an eye.

Professor Eckert had been studying the arcane arts for thirty years, and he had never seen anyone cast magic this fast. Perhaps the Dean—a monster in his own right—was capable of such speed. But a student?

That arrogant brat’s cube had simply bloomed out of nowhere and fired the spell.

But the absurdity of the moment didn’t end there.

Just before the residual flames—which had effortlessly pierced the fire-resistant dummy—could scorch the wall behind it, the air in the room warped. With a hizzing sizzle, unrealistically transparent droplets of water materialized out of the heated air.

Water washed away the very space the fire had just occupied.

Heat and cold had perfectly coexisting in the exact same space, without causing even a fraction of an inch of magical collision.

Double Casting? When did he—

Professor Eckert’s wire-rimmed glasses slipped off the bridge of his sweaty nose and clattered onto the floor, but he didn’t even seem to notice it.

Manifesting two diametrically opposed elements simultaneously, without any preparatory movements?

In theory, this was impossible.

It broke three different laws of thermodynamics and at least one foundational rules of arcanology.

Even if the Hero Asterion himself ripped his way out of the grave and returned from the dead, he wouldn’t be able to perform miracles this casually.

T-This makes no sense…

Burning curiosity threatened to burst out of his chest; he desperately wanted to demand an explanation for what he had just seen. But Professor Eckert dug his fingernails into his palms, forcing himself to hold it back.

He was an educator. A figure of authority that these students were supposed to look up to and respect.

He couldn’t afford to break down so pathetically right here.

He swallowed the lump in his throat and forced his racing mind to rationalize the impossible.

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Didn’t it happen occasionally throughout history?

An unprecedented, once-in-a-generation genius suddenly emerging from nowhere, just like the Hero Asterion had.

This student—Ivan—couldn’t possibly comprehend the true depth of his own abilities. He was still just a young, inexperienced kid.

An unpolished gem. A diamond in the rough.

And Professor Eckert himself was the very first person to discover it.

I cannot let him slip through my fingers…!

This was the ultimate dream of every educator. Even if you weren’t an unprecedented genius yourself, everyone desired to claim the title of “the master of the genius.”

Ivan’s talent would be an unbelievable asset to Professor Eckert’s personal research.

I need to kidnap him to my private graduate program immediately…!

The students were already murmuring loudly, the whispers spreading like wildfire.

“Whoa, did you see that?”

“That was insane! He didn’t even chant!”

Admidst the rising chaos of panicked and awestruck whispers, Asterion dusted off his hands.

“…I’ll be taking my leave now,” said Asterion, heading for the door.

“W-Wait just a moment!”

The imposing dignity of a man who had just been threatening failure and expulsion had long since been tossed into the nearest garbage bin.