Chapter 128 : Chapter 128
Chapter 128. Contracting with a Spirit (2)
Following Cryptozoology and Alchemy, Transmutation Magic time came.
The first-year students were exhausted from the consecutive practical final exams.
“What kind of assignment will come out this time?”
“I don't know for sure, but I don't think it will be easy.”
A friend who still hadn't succeeded in taming the rock eagle in Cryptozoology muttered.
“It won't be harder than Cryptozoology, right?”
“And what about the potion that makes you smarter. I want to stop pulling weeds…….”
A friend who hadn't finished the Alchemy assignment yet also muttered gloomily.
They looked towards where Radel was without realizing it.
Radel was the one who grabbed 1st place in both Cryptozoology and Alchemy practicals.
“Will Prince Radel be 1st place in Transmutation Magic too?”
Just then, a sharp voice intervened.
“1st place, 1st place! Is it really right to only remember 1st place!”
“Right! There is no eternal 1st place!”
The ones who intervened in their conversation were Leon’s followers.
“He just barely grabbed 1st place by luck, originally 1st place means our Prince Leon.”
“Right! If they compete with real skills, Prince Leon is sure to win!”
Leon’s followers shouted triumphantly.
“We don't know how he has done until now, but Transmutation Magic is the realm of geniuses among geniuses!”
“It’s only because he didn't take the Transmutation Magic lecture, if he were here, 1st place would be Prince Leon. Not Prince Radel who wins with tricks!”
There was a reason why the Magic Supremacists, Leon’s followers, said this.
Among magic, Transmutation Magic was a very tricky field.
Unlike intuitive Summoning Magic or Attack Magic, it was abstract.
Turning a human into a cat, or freely changing the form and properties of matter was required.
However, no matter how much of a magician one was, it wasn't easy to break away from realistic thinking.
Among magicians, it was said that understanding Transmutation Magic was equivalent to understanding the rules of the world.
There was no way Prince Leon, their idol, couldn't do such great magic.
Especially more than the 8th Prince who didn't know a single thing about magic!
“Were you perhaps talking about me?”
“Hiiik!”
At the sudden sound, Leon’s followers screamed.
To think the 8th Prince, the person involved, would approach!
Although they spoke triumphantly, they were inwardly afraid of Radel.
The appearance Radel showed during the first semester was more than enough to instill fear.
Aren't the grade’s top bullies playing in Radel’s hands too.
They shook their heads feeling shame.
“Keuk, no.”
“Really? Then finish what you were doing.”
That leisure! That unlucky attitude!
Leon’s followers ground their teeth at Radel’s back as he leisurely left their side.
Furthermore, something that made them shudder happened again.
“I will inform you about the practical final exam. Please check the shield placed in front of each of you.”
Professor Thomas Arcane recited a spell and brought his staff to a shield.
Then the solid shield drooped and became mushy.
The last midterm assignment was to make a soft cloth hard, but this time it was the opposite.
The first-year students whispered in surprise.
“It is much harder than last time?”
“How do we do that?”
Strengthening cloth and softening steel were vastly different.
At least the students felt that way.
But there was someone who accomplished it.
It was Radel.
“How did you do it?”
Professor Thomas touched the soft shield placed in front of Radel.
The shield melted in Professor Thomas’s hand beyond being mushy.
Drip.
And then it clumped together again and formed the shape of a shield.
Among the first-year students he had taught so far, he had never seen a student who accomplished this assignment to this extent.
Professor Thomas’s pupils trembled slightly.
“Didn't you say before that the most important thing is trust? So I did just that.”
“Tell me…… a bit more concretely.”
Radel pondered for a moment and began his explanation.
“I thought there is no hard shield from the beginning. Since steel becomes hard only when beaten. Since its essence is so, I assumed there is a time axis somewhere in the world where steel is not hard.”
Professor Thomas’s pupils were now trembling violently.
“Whether it is the past or future, or time of another dimension, that moment surely exists somewhere. I just believed that.”
When Radel’s answer ended, Professor Thomas’s eyes were in a completely different state.
He coveted him before, but now he was impatient.
The majority of people couldn't grasp a clue about Transmutation Magic throughout their lives.
Even majors often graduated from the Academy without realizing the essence of Transmutation Magic until the end.
But a mere first-year student was accurately piercing through Transmutation Magic.
If such a talent didn't dedicate his life to Transmutation Magic, it would be a great loss to the magic world.
Professor Thomas made up his mind and drew Radel’s attention with a fake cough.
“Ahem, I heard you are close with Pasion from the 3rd year…….”
“Yes. I am receiving a lot of help from Senior.”
Right.
There is no way grade representatives wouldn't be close!
Professor Thomas shouted cheers of joy inwardly.
Originally, connections also influenced deciding a major.
Since the 3rd-year representative Pasion was majoring in Transmutation Magic, perhaps he would be more interested than other majors.
“Have you perhaps had in-depth conversations regarding Transmutation Magic?”
“No……?”
……There isn't.
Professor Thomas’s eyebrows went down slightly.
He moved to another place lonely.
Seeing Professor Thomas like that, the Magic Supremacists were fuming behind.
“No! What is that attitude towards Professor Thomas Arcane!”
“That, that impudent!”
“Even though the Professor speaks like that!”
As Leon’s followers composed of Magic Supremacists ground their teeth and cursed, Radel, who heard that sound, opened his mouth with a lonely expression.
“What are you saying. To say impudent to a failure risk group like me who couldn't even contract with a spirit……. Thanks for the really undeserved compliment.”
What on earth does that mean!
Leon’s followers were dumbfounded to the point of suffocation.
Having just finished the Transmutation Magic practical as 1st place too, what?
“Everyone calm down. The Prince is right.”
However, they were soon able to calm down.
As Radel said, right now he was in the failure risk group.
Furthermore, tomorrow was the day for the practical exam with spirit contract in Summoning Magic!
It was also the day the 8th Prince, who hadn't contracted with a spirit yet, would fall from failure risk group to failure.
“Kukuk, right, right.”
“Those words will become truth!”
Tomorrow, the 8th Prince’s nose will finally be flattened.
They rejoiced sincerely and laughed secretly from Radel.
* * *
Splash.
Radel sat next to Professor Bronson as usual and cast his fishing rod.
It was a hectic exam period, but the lakeside was quiet beyond measure.
Chirp.
Tweet.
The sound of insects and birds chirping added to the atmosphere.
Of course, just because it was a peaceful mana training time didn't mean they could avoid the final exam.
Just then, the big friends approached Professor Bronson.
“Professor, do we not take a final exam?”
Professor Bronson answered with an indifferent face.
“What are you talking about. Of course you take it. You seem not to know, but you are already taking the practical. If you do not catch more than ten fish today, you fail.”
“What?!”
It was a surprise exam announcement.
The big friends hurried and disappeared with their fishing rods.
Four or more failures meant expulsion.
It was also the reason Professor Marianne didn't forgive failure.
‘I should prevent failure.’
Radel was worried about whether he could survive in Professor Marianne’s hands more than expulsion.
Could he really escape from the professor who crushes rocks with bare hands.
To keep the promise with the professor, he had to contract with the spirit of the library.
However, worrying too much about it wasn't good either.
Radel emptied his mind and flowed mana into the fishing rod.
Since a lot of mana was pooled in the lake in the Academy, delicate mana control was needed to catch fish.
Fish wouldn't be caught just by recklessly throwing a fishing rod.
Radel was luring fish while flowing mana.
Professor Bronson asked abruptly.
“Are the final exams going well?”
“Except for one. Did you contract with a spirit too, Professor?”
Radel asked thinking this was the time.
Since it was rare for Professor Bronson to ask first, he didn't want to miss the opportunity.
“Well, in the past. Not now.”
Saying not now meant either the spirit perished or the contract was broken.
Neither was such a common thing.
“Contracting is not what is important. You can do that by making moves as much as you want.”
“Then what is important?”
“After contracting is more important. Supplying mana too. Because if you summon a spirit, it can only endure with the contractor's magic power.”
Radel listened attentively to Professor Bronson’s words.
And Tunia was watching that from afar.
‘While he hasn't even contracted with a spirit yet, what is he so calm about?’
There were already eight fish in Tunia’s bucket.
Befitting an honor student of mana training.
Furthermore, Tunia had passed most practical final exams as well as contracting with a spirit.
Tunia had developed dazzlingly after deciding to study properly.
Tunia’s eyes looking at Radel narrowed.
‘Tomorrow is the Summoning Magic practical, is he really okay like that?’
* * *
Time passed quickly and it became the next day.
First-year students taking Summoning Magic were gathered in the Academy forest.
Professor Marianne briefly announced the start of the final exam.
“From now on, come forward one by one and summon the contracted spirit.”
First-year students came forward in turn according to Professor Marianne calling their names.
Since there was no one who failed the contract except Radel last time, the progress was very smooth.
“Spirit Summon!”
Inette summoned a fire spirit.
Although she tried to contract with a different spirit in the meantime, she gave up now because only fire spirits approached even when she went to the spirit world.
Leon also summoned the four element spirits simultaneously.
The sight of enormous magic power swirling was spectacular.
“As expected of Prince Leon!”
“You are beautiful. Now I have no regrets even if I dieeeek!”
If Leon’s followers making a fuss was a spectacle, it was a spectacle.
And finally, it was Radel’s turn.
Radel came forward calmly.
“I will start.”
First-year students were more nervous than Radel.
Everyone watched him with half expectation and half worry.
Even Leon’s followers were holding their breath for that moment.
“Spirit Summon!”
Radel shouted strongly and swung his staff.
Then something appeared with a really bright light.
Professor Marianne recognized that what Radel summoned was a spirit through the change in mana.
He must have succeeded in contracting with a spirit somehow.
First-year students looked at the spirit Radel summoned with slightly pounding hearts.
“What kind of spirit is it?”
The spirit appearing in front of Radel looked exactly like a book, surprisingly.
Although small as a palm, it was clearly a book.
It even flew around fluttering its pages.
And it shouted wildly.
“Dare to summon this body recklessly?! Such a nasty guy!”
The people there received a strong shock simultaneously.
Isn't this that spirit we have seen a lot somewhere……?