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An Otherworldly Scholar - 204
🕑 Added 2025-02-19 05:46:28 +0000 UTC“This scroll will turn you into a great Imperial Knight,” Talindra happily said, holding the scroll above her head.
The parchment radiated a faint trail of mana, but hexes were deceitful. Regardless of the mana, the effects could be really powerful. Without going any further, the Silence Hex could restrain even a high-level warrior’s body.
The cadets exchanged excited glances, and for the first time that day, a glimmer of hope appeared on their faces.
“This scroll contains a Restrain Hex,” Talindra said. “Upon activation, your powers will be sealed.”
The glimmer of hope disappeared, and a hushed murmur rose from the back rows.
“Don’t be alarmed!” Talindra quickly added. “It is completely safe. To activate the hex, you must select the target level and the duration of the effect. Your level, mana, skills, and passives will be toned down to match—”
A girl stood from her seat. Her straight white hair fell like a curtain over her shoulders, and her black uniform was one size too big for her slender frame. Instinctively, I checked the girl’s ears. They were round like mine. She wasn’t an elf, and yet she had a mystical aura.
“Isn’t sealing our powers dangerous? What if we must use our skills while the hex is active?”
Talindra lost the trail of her words, and that was all it took to unsettle the cadets.
“T-there are safety measures in place. You can break the hex by shouting a passphrase,” Talindra explained as she loosened the scroll’s knot.
The cadets shifted in their seats. Their expressions told me everything I needed to know. Kids immediately drew conclusions about which teachers were trustworthy, and Talindra was losing them. Beliefs were powerful beasts, and the belief that a teacher wasn’t up to the task predisposed the kids not to take the lessons seriously. Credibility alone could make or break a class.
Talindra untied the roll, revealing several sheets of paper. She put one in front of every student.
“The Restrain Hex will allow you to learn to use your existing skills before achieving new ones,” Talindra said.
Not quite the use I was going to give them
I grinned. Sealing the cadet’s powers was just what I needed for my teaching style to thrive. The pass rate for the first semester was about fifty percent. I wondered if I could get that number close to a hundred percent. My eyes wandered over the classroom. The cadets looked at the Restrain Hex like it was a skeeth turd sandwich.
The white-haired girl sat, defeated.
Just like the Silence Hex, the Restrain Hex seemed unavoidable.
“Let’s talk about your schedule,” Talindra continued. “One month from now, you will have your first selection exam. Until then, your schedule will focus on practical lessons with M-mister Clarke and me. Those who approve the exam will be allowed to continue with the program. Those who fail will be expelled,”
Talindra let the words float in the room.
“Look around you. Half of you will not pass, so I beg you to give your best and push yourselves to the limit. You will have only one chance.”
Nobody seemed particularly confident. Not even those of a noble upbringing, who had been competing with their family members for a place in their dynasty since the moment they learned to walk. Talindra’s words had the opposite effect that she expected. Although she wasn’t factually wrong, she sounded hopeless.
Classroom management wasn’t her forte.
I wondered if she was new to this.
“Any questions before we start with today’s lesson?”
“What is the selection exam about?” the white-haired girl asked.
“It’s a secret, even to us instructors,” Talindra replied apologetically.
The girl was confused.
“They will test us, but they will not tell us what the test is about?! This is unfair! How are we supposed to become Imperial Knights if we don’t even know what to do?” she said with utmost gravity. “How do we know your lessons are useful? The older cadets told us both of you were new instructors!”
Many more cadets joined her unrest. Malkah was the only one who remained composed during the conversation. He was almost like a statue. The class was reaching the point of no return—just where I wanted it to be.
Talindra tried to reply, but she was out of words.
“Mind if I take it from here?” I asked, standing from the desk and walking to the front of the platform.
Talindra was startled, as if she had forgotten I was sitting behind her.
“S-sure. No problem,” she stuttered.
“Can I have a hex scroll?”
Talidra nodded, handing me a sheet of paper with a trembling hand.
The wording of the Restrain Hex was as simple as the Silent Hex I had signed the day before. The Restrain Hex, however, had empty spaces to fill the details of the effect—level, duration, and passphrase. I wondered how that information was translated into runes. I made a mental note to check on it later.
“What’s your name, miss?” I asked, pointing at the white-haired girl.
“Leonie,” she replied reluctantly.
No surname. Commoners usually stated their place of birth, but she didn’t act like one. Was she keeping her lineage a secret on purpose? I shook my head. She was probably thinking I was merely singling her out.
“Leonie, we don’t know the precise contents of the exam, but they are implied in the date,” I asked.
The girl looked at me in confusion. I gave her a moment to think. I could almost see the gears turning inside her skull. Just an instant passed, and her eyes lit up.
“They are testing something that can be taught in a month…” Leonie said, but she quickly shook her head. “No! They would tell us if they wanted us to learn something in a month. They are testing something we have from before! Something that can only be tested on short notice… They are testing our ability to improve.”
I smiled.
“My thoughts exactly. The first test will be about adaptability; those who can’t improve fast enough will be expelled.”
A cadet's initial improvement could be a good indicator of their overall potential. Cadets with low potential would improve slowly, while cadets with high potential would improve faster. I could see the reason behind the test, but ultimately, it was deeply flawed. Such a test rewarded competitive personalities to the detriment of the steady workers.
Instead of interrupting me, Leonie raised her hand.
“Is it okay for you to tell us the contents of the test? The Academy wanted to keep it a secret, after all.”
I shrugged.
“I’m a firm believer that a teacher shouldn’t test something they didn’t teach. Besides, I’m not here to send you back home. I’m an instructor, and I’m here to help all of you pass the exam.”
Leonie nodded approvingly.
I had one in the bag already.
Others, however, didn’t seem to believe my words. I understood them. In their heads, power and skill were all about levels, not something one could achieve locked inside a classroom unless you were a Scribe or a Scholar.
“Leonie, if you were in charge of the exam and your goal was to put the cadets in an extreme situation to test their adaptability. What would you do?”
Leonie closed her eyes, deep in thought.
“I will have them level up against a wide variety of monsters,” she said. “Although that sounds dangerous… and contradicts the usage of the Restrain Hex.”
A shy hand rose behind her. It was the girl with a mousey face and messy hair who tried to steal from me during my first day in Cadria. I made a mental note to talk to her after class. I couldn’t have an Imperial Cadet stealing from the merchants at the market.
“What’s your name, miss?”
“Kili,” she replied.
I nodded for her to continue.
“If I had to put cadets in an extreme situation, I would restrain their Personal Sheets back to level one. They will have to learn on the fly without access to their skills,” she said. “Everyone knows Lv.1 is the most dangerous of all. You have barely any resources, so you must get creative.”
That was precisely what I wanted to hear.
I wondered if she had learned that lesson in the streets.
“Take your quills and write on the hex scroll. To prepare yourselves for the Selection Exam, for the next month, you will all be Lv.1 again,” I said, clapping my hands.
Seventeen cadets were in the room, and I only had won over two. Leonie and Kili were the only two on board with my ideas, and Kili likely only followed my lead because she was scared of me revealing her secret. As expected, my announcement wasn’t well received by everyone.
A boy with black curls and an angular face spoke above the murmurs.
“I will not return to level one. We are supposed to become Imperial Knights. How will we get stronger if we can’t use our skills to their full extent? Excuse me if I sound harsh, but neither you nor the woman are Imperial Knights. You don’t even have experience teaching at the Academy. How are you supposed to know what’s best for us? The exam is only a month from now. We don’t have time to play around low levels.”
Most of the cadets agreed.
I expected someone to challenge me openly.
“What’s your name, sir?” I asked.
“Yvain Osgiria, son of Lord Enric Osgiria, second in line to the throne of Ortheon Tower, Duelist Lv.10,” he said.
My heart skipped a beat. Lord Vedras killed Enric Osgiria during the feast at Farcrest. This was the son of the man whose cause of death I had falsified to gain Prince Adrien’s favor. Reality struck me like a tidal wave. Because of me, the boy would never know the real reason his father died, nor would he find justice against the perpetrator. Vedras was too valuable for the royalist faction.
I used [Foresight] to push those thoughts aside.
“Yvain, the only way to be prepared for the unexpected is to have solid bases,” I said, looking around the classroom. I was going to drop a bomb. “The truth is the System is a crutch. Regular people let the System control their powers, but there is another way. I want to teach you how to fight without that crutch so you can make the most of your skills.”
The room fell into silence.
“The System a crutch? This is ridiculous. I am reporting this to Lord Astur,” Yvain said, getting on his feet and walking to the door.
It was time to throw the bait.
“I can prove it. I can prove the System is slowing you down.”
Yvain stopped.
“How?”
I raised the Hex above my head so everyone could see the piece of paper and completed the blank spaces with my [Magical Ink]. For one hour, I would be a Lv.1 Sage.
“If I can defeat you at Lv.1, would you believe me?” I asked.
The classroom glanced at me with alarmed expressions.
“You wouldn’t forfeit your powers, would you? What if someone sneaks inside and uses the hex to harm you while you are level one? You will be defenseless!” Yvain was horrified.
That was a good point. I could break the hex anytime, but some attacks would be faster than I could yell the passphrase—Pineapple Juice was kind of a mouthful. I turned around, and my eyes fell on Talindra. She shrank on her chair.
“Miss Talindra will keep me safe,” I said.
“Do you trust her that much?” Leone interjected.
“I’m asking you to trust me. Wouldn’t it be hypocritical if I didn’t trust her?”
Talindra was distressed, as if someone had suddenly handed her a newborn baby. I didn’t give her time to complain.
“What do you say, Yvain? Are you able to defeat a Lv.1?”
“I respect a man who puts his honor where he puts his mouth,” he replied.
The cadets exchanged expectant glances.
“I-I will prepare the arena,” Talindra said. “Cadets, please stand by the door.”
Mana surged through Talindra’s body. The room trembled, and the stands and stage retracted into the wall. The chalkboard rotated, and a series of cabinets with glass covers appeared. The cabinets contained training equipment and a first aid kit with enough potions and bandages to bring a platoon back to health. What did instructors do with the cadets here?
I had no time to feel awe because Yvain entered the arena.
“Mask, gauntlets, and sword,” I said, opening the cabinet and pulling a training sword.
Masterwork Starkwood Practice Longsword. Enchantment threshold: 2000.
I swung the sword a couple of times and rolled my shoulders while Yvain got his equipment.
“Aren’t you going to use a mask?” He asked.
“You are not going to touch me,” I replied, walking to the center of the combat zone.
The cadets exchanged amused glances. Sparring without safety equipment was a massive no, but I needed to put on a show for the cadets. A bit of retaliation for Yvain was also in order. If I wanted to keep a disciplined classroom, I couldn’t have him calling Talindra ‘woman’, even if it was technically correct.
I pulled my dagger from my belt and pricked my thumb. Then, I pressed the drop of blood against the scroll. The hex was way less dramatic than I expected. Shy blue sparks emerged from the scroll's surface, and I felt a strange pressure on the chest where my mana pool was located. Suddenly, I felt like I was moving through a sea of gelatin.
“How does it feel?” Leonie asked from the sideline where the cadets were sitting.
“Sluggish.”
It wasn’t the first time I lost my powers, yet during the past two years, I had grown accustomed to them. Without [Foresight], I felt like someone had put a set of blinders on me. My spatial awareness returned to ‘normal’ levels. I couldn’t follow the exact position of each one of those present in the room anymore. The insight into the cadets' expressions slowly disappeared until I could barely tell what they were thinking. The skill was still there, but I couldn’t feed it enough mana pool to get the most out of it.
For an instant, I panicked.
What if the hex interacted weirdly with my rune injection?
Name: Robert Clarke, Human.
Class: Sage Lv.1 [SEALED]
Titles: Out of your League, Hot for Teacher, Consultant Detective [SEALED], Researcher of the Hidden [SEALED], Headmaster, Classroom Overlord [SEALED]. 16 others [SEALED].
Passive: Lv.1 Swordsmanship [SEALED], Lv.1 Riding, Mana Mastery [SEALED], Foresight [SEALED], Master of Languages.
Skills: Identify, Magical Ink, Silence Dome, Invigoration, Mirage [SEALED], Minor Aerokinesis [SEALED], Minor Pyrokinesis [SEALED], Minor Geokinesis [SEALED], Minor Hydrokinesis [SEALED].
A quick examination of my mana pool told me everything was right. The hex didn’t inject runes into my skills but wrote a new parameter inside each instance. The new parameter seemed to call a function from the System itself. I couldn’t edit it. When I opened my eyes, I sighed in relief.
“This feels nostalgic. Kinda reminds me of when I was a Lv.1 Scholar,” I said, stretching my arms and testing the new depths of my mana pool. I did not have much to work with.
Yvain cleared his throat.
“Rules?”
“Only one rule. Try to get me. I won’t use offensive or defensive skills, only my weapon mastery,” I said.
Malkah’s stooges laughed, but the rest remained silent—a hard crowd.
“I will do the same, then,” Yvain replied, raising his sword as a salute. “I don’t need more to defeat a Lv.1.”
The kids at the sideline were starting to get heated.
I saluted back and raised my guard. Unlike Firana when we first dueled, Yvain examined my stance before separating his feet and raising his sword—a low guard. Yvain was the son of an Imperial Knight, and he probably got coaching from his father. I couldn’t underestimate him.
“Whenever you want,” I said.
Yvain attacked, testing the waters. I pushed his blade aside almost dismissively. His arm was heavier than mine, but my swordsmanship was superior. My heart raced. [Foresight] wasn’t predicting Yvains movements. I felt like someone had taken my sight and left me stumbling through an unfamiliar environment.
I was on my own.
During the past two years, though, I haven’t been idle. Izabeka, Risha, and Astrid were the best training partners I could wish for. My [Swordsmanship] had advanced to Lv.6, but the knowledge was safely stored in my head, not the System.
We tested each other’s strengths. Yvain was skilled, but he had a long way to go.
I pressed the offensive. Yvain blocked my blows and tried to put more space between us. I didn’t let him. I stepped forward, keeping an eye on his hands. Yvain’s style was gentlemanly, with solid footwork and no hidden tricks, just straightforward fencing. He didn’t even try to go for my unprotected face.
I wondered if Enric Osgiria had taught him.
Firana had tried harder to smack me.
I tested Yvain’s style for another minute until I started seeing the patterns of his weapon mastery taking control of his body. If I had to guess, he had a Lv.2 [Longsword Mastery]. To Yvain’s misfortune, the ‘movepool’ of a low-level mastery was highly predictable.
Like Firana two years ago, he was letting his [Longsword Mastery] do the job.
Having memorized his movements, I timed Yvain’s strike. Our blades crashed, and I pushed forward, the hilts grinding against each other and preventing him from linking another swing. I grabbed Yvain’s sword and used my waist to seize control of the position. Then I twisted, turning the momentum against him.
Yvain was taken by surprise but didn’t let go of his sword.
I violently bent my body. The soles of Yvain’s boots broke apart from the ground. For a short, glorious moment, he flew through the dueling area before his back smacked against the wooden floor.
Yvain let a faint growl as the air left his lungs.
I threw his sword to the side and faced the cadets, who glanced at me in awe.
“First lesson of the Rosebud Fencing Academy: you don’t need the System to be a good sword fighter.”
Comments
Trevayne
Thanks for the chapter. I wonder how many more lives he can touch in this year at the academy.
Ben Bass
TYFTC! I agree - Rob is definitely going to get a bunch more titles out of this. He is definitely going to win them over, and hopefully he can actually get most if not all of them to survive the first ‘culling’ of students.
Jouni Osmala
Rob is definitely going to get more titles out of this job. At minimum more than 10 "favourite teacher":s.
