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Late afternoon after class.

I approached Dyke, who was just about to leave, for the first time.

“Instructor Dyke.”

“…”

Dyke didn’t even acknowledge me. He ignored me as if I were invisible and walked on.

I watched his back and asked sarcastically,

“What star-rank mage is Hector?”

Pause—

Dyke stopped involuntarily.

“What did you just say?”

“You heard me.”

Dyke turned his head, his eyes narrowing slightly.

“I thought you’d finally quieted down, but your insolence knows no bounds. He’s not someone you should even mention.”

“So how strong is he?”

“You brat!”

I shrugged and said,

“It wasn’t a difficult question. I’m sure the Vice Tower Master isn’t a secret position. If it’s hard to answer, he must not be very skilled.”

It was an obvious provocation, but Dyke’s eyes blazed. His pride was hurt.

“The Mage of Crimson Flame.”

“What?”

“That’s the Vice Tower Master’s epithet. Since you seem to have asked out of ignorance, I’ll tell you this once. He’s a 7-star mage, and one of the top five mages in the entire world.”

7-star mage.

In the past, this would probably be equivalent to a 6-circle mage.

As expected, he’s a high-ranking mage.

But for him to be one of the top five with just that level of power means that the current generation of mages must be quite weak.

I suddenly remembered something I had discovered while flipping through books last night.

Four magic towers exist besides the White Magic Tower.

The Red Magic Tower, specializing in fire and wind attributes.

The Blue Magic Tower, specializing in water attributes.

The Yellow Magic Tower, specializing in earth attributes.

The Black Magic Tower, shrouded in mystery.

If Hector is one of the top five mages in the world, the Red Magic Tower must also have a high standing.

“Now that you know, abandon your disrespectful attitude.”

“…”

Unable to hold back, Dyke added,

“If it weren’t for the Vice Tower Master’s generosity, do you think a backwater family like yours would have the opportunity to learn Red Magic Tower magic?”

“So that’s why you taught us half-heartedly.”

“What?”

I looked at Dyke and replied,

“You. The reason you teach the apprentices half-heartedly is because of that.”

From what I observed in a day, Dyke was only providing nominal education. There was no genuine care for the apprentices.

Dyke didn’t deny my words.

“There are plenty of families who would be grateful for even that much.”

I said casually, “Then you won’t mind if I do whatever I want outside of training hours.”

“You’re probably thinking of foolishly reciting incantations again. Don’t worry, I don’t have time for that.”

With that, Dyke turned to leave. After a few steps, he abruptly turned and waved his hand.

Whoosh—

A gust of wind rushed towards me, ruffling my hair. It was a familiar spell.

[4-star, Wind Press.]

I watched the incoming magic without flinching.

Bang—

The compressed wind struck the ground just a hair’s breadth away, kicking up a cloud of dust.

In the distance, Dyke looked at me with his chin held high.

“I think I’ve given you more than enough chances. If you intend to stay here, I won’t tolerate any more disrespect. Address me with honorifics.”

I laughed inwardly. Let’s see how long you can keep that up.

* * *

*Thud—*

As soon as I entered the dormitory, a rag came flying at my head.

I dodged it with a slight tilt of my head and looked up. The guy who had cursed at me this morning was snickering upstairs.

I think his name was Zion.

“Hey, you moron. Did the instructor leave?”

“He’s outside. He said he’s going to spank that Zion kid. Who’s Zion?”

The guy was startled and asked me,

“What did you say?”

I grinned and said,

“You must be Zion.”

Only then did Zion realize he was being teased. He flared his nostrils and retorted,

“You bastard, I told you you’re dead. Come outside.”

“Good idea.”

I followed Zion out of the dormitory.

We passed the training grounds and went deeper into the mountains. Zion stopped abruptly at one spot.

‘Hmm?’

A big guy with a bare chest was waiting for us.

His name was Makan, and he was one of the three I had initially taken note of.

“You brought him.”

“Yeah, heh.”

Zion cracked his neck and glared at me.

“Do what you did earlier.”

“What did I do?”

Zion raised his middle finger and waved it.

“Don’t remember? Huh? You fucking bastard?”

“Such foul language for a young one. Be careful, it’s a bad habit.”

“You crazy bastard. Are you trying to act tough because this is Samael? You’re really dead.”

“Hold on.”

I turned my head and looked at Makan.

This guy’s eyes didn’t look that malicious, so I didn’t understand why he was here.

“Do you feel the same way as Zion?”

“Newbie, I heard you insulted me.”

As if it were obvious, Zion nodded.

“Yeah, Makan. I heard this guy cursing you out with my own ears.”

“Now the little brat’s lying, too.”

Zion glared at me.

“Little brat, my ass. You were grumbling about Makan earlier. You said he looked like an uneducated idiot.”

“Oh?”

I instantly revised my assessment of Zion.

As they say, you can tell a lot about a person by one action. This guy is quite cunning.

Because Makan actually did seem like an uneducated idiot.

“Hey, newbie. You need to be taught a lesson.”

Sure enough, Makan’s face reddened with anger.

With Zion mixing truth into his words, Makan had no choice but to believe him.

Zion grinned and said,

“Heh, some guys only learn after getting beaten up. You teach him a lesson first, Makan.”

“Alright. Newbie, you brought this on yourself.”

The more I looked at Makan, the more foolish he seemed.

The kid was talking like an uneducated knight.

“This is why the dumb ones always get hit first.”

Seeing Makan approaching me with a glare, I felt a thrill I hadn’t experienced in a while.

I looked back and forth between the two of them and then raised my hand.

“Hold on.”

“What is it, newbie? If you want to apologize, go ahead. I’ll only hit you once.”

“You two, let’s make a bet.”

Zion, who was watching from a distance, scoffed and replied,

“You’re crazy. What kind of bet?”

“The loser of the fight becomes the other’s servant. How about it?”

“Servent? How?”

“Like fetching water if asked, getting hit if told to, running if ordered, and even chanting spells.”

Suddenly, Zion’s lips curled up into a smirk, and then he burst out laughing.

“Hahaha. You dream big, kid. It would be fun, though.”

I asked Makan,

“What about you? Do you agree?”

“Let’s do it, newbie. But there’s no need to fetch water. Instead, if you lose, I want you to do my laundry every morning.”

“Of course. But there’s no way that’s going to…”

I trailed off and crouched down, secretly grabbing a stone and rotating my mana circle.

I resonated with the mana in the air and guided it to my feet.

Whir—

An intense wave of mana gathered at my feet.

By the time Makan sensed something strange, I had already finished my preparations.

“Pushing wind, Wind Push.”

I kicked off the ground hard, gaining momentum, and headbutted Makan right in the chin.

Crack—

“Ugh!”

Blood spurted from Makan’s mouth.

When Makan’s eyes rolled back in his head, I used the stone in my hand to strike his chin again.

Crack—

“Argh!”

The impact was electrifying. It was a satisfying feeling I hadn’t experienced in a long time.

This is it. This is what being a mage is all about.

With a thud, Makan was knocked unconscious.

This is what they call a swift victory.

Zion stared at me, dumbfounded. His eyes said he never expected me to attack first.

“You bastard, you dared to ambush me? How cowardly!”

“Thanks for the compliment.”

“This bastard, seriously!”

Zion was definitely quick-witted.

He backed away a few steps and started forming hand signs.

But no matter how clever he was, he had chosen the wrong opponent.

“Fire Spear.”

“Bullshit.”

Seeing the incoming spear of flames, I scoffed.

A 2-circle chant producing something so weak was pathetic.

“Blazing flames, Fireball.”

The fireball I conjured swallowed Zion’s spell.

“What? How can you block a Fire Spear with a Fireball?”

Panicked, Zion turned to run, but it was a futile attempt.

“You idiot.”

My chant was a few seconds faster. I launched another fireball, hitting Zion squarely in the butt.

*Bang—!*

The seat of Zion’s pants caught fire and ripped apart. He screamed and rolled on the ground.

“Argh! It’s hot!”

Seeing the young boy, who had just barely shed his childish looks, scream in pain, I suddenly felt a pang of pity.

“Tsk, tsk, how pathetic.”

“S-Stop it!”

“Blowing wind, Wind Blow.”

*Slap, slap—*

“Aagh! You bastard! You said you pitied me!”

“I pity myself.”

*Slap, slap—*

Seeing Zion’s buttocks turn bright red from the wind slaps, I finally felt somewhat satisfied.

“Ugh, stop it. I’ll be your servant,so stop!”

*Slap, slap—*

“Ugggh…”

I silently looked down at the two unconscious boys.

* * *

“Ugh…”

Makan woke up. Next to him, Zion was squatting, clutching his reddened buttocks with both hands.

I immediately leaned over Makan’s head.

“Did you sleep well?”

“Wh-What?”

“You were sleeping so soundly, I waited for you. That’s how considerate I am of my servants.”

Makan, who had been dazed for a while, seemed to finally remember what had happened.

He grabbed his chin with a pained expression and looked at me with a slightly resentful gaze.

“Why that look? Do you feel wronged? Want to go again?”

“Ugh. No, a loss is a loss.”

“Good. Now get up, my servants.”

“…Huh?”

“If you lost, you become servants. Get up.”

Makan and Zion rose from their spots, bewildered.

“From now on, address me with respect. Have you ever seen a servant speak informally to their master?”

“…”

“Do you have a problem with that?”

“N-No, sir.”

“Run.”

“…?”

“I said run, you bastards!”

Seeing me pretend to cast a spell, the two boys jumped up in surprise and instinctively ran forward.

The reason for running was simple.

The foundation of magic is physical strength.

This was the first step in raising Samael’s apprentices my way.

* * *

Zion collapsed onto the ground, his legs trembling uncontrollably.

“…That bastard.”

His body wouldn’t obey him.

He had run like crazy all night and only returned to the dormitory at dawn, so it was understandable.

What rotten luck.

After catching his breath for a while, Zion glanced at Makan next to him.

“…Makan, does this make any sense?”

“It’s frustrating, but there’s nothing we can do.”

“You idiot. Are we going to run like this every day?”

Makan flexed his chest and replied,

“The air was surprisingly good, though.”

Surprisingly, Makan seemed relatively fine despite running through the mountains for hours. Zion shook his head and said,

“That’s not the issue right now. Are you going to fetch water for that Ruin bastard every day, Makan? Did you come here for that?”

“But a loss is a loss.”

“That guy was the one who acted cowardly first. Who attacks in the middle of a conversation?”

“Now that you mention it, that’s true.”

A smile finally returned to Zion’s face.

“Let’s join forces. If we bring in the others, we can easily take down that sneaky bastard.”

“I’m not keen on it. Then what?”

“We’ll make him our servant. I can’t stand it anymore.”

“Hmm.”

“It’s settled then.”

“…Alright.”

Only then did Zion yawn widely.

“Haahm. Damn, I’m so sleepy.”

“I feel a bit tired, too.”

It was already six in the morning. Zion and Makan fell asleep immediately.

And a few hours later.

Instructor Dyke returned, and training began.

Ruin didn’t show up.

Zion searched for him with burning eyes, but he was nowhere to be found.

“Where did that bastard go in the meantime?”

* * *

“You eat so well, our Ruin.”

I came down from the training grounds and went straight to the dining hall, hurriedly eating first.

I was so hungry. I had been surviving on the dried jerky the fat boy gave me, and my teeth ached.

“Hoho. If you need more, I’ll give you more, so eat a lot.”

A few loaves of rye bread, tomato soup, tough meat stew, and vegetables.

It was a meager meal for someone telling me to eat a lot, but it was still a hundred times better than jerky.

Even after the middle-aged woman left the dining hall, I continued eating for a long time until I felt full.

“…Phew, I feel alive now.”

I looked down at my body.

My body was skinny, with only a protruding belly. It was better than a week ago, but still unsightly.

‘Truly a worm-like body.’

I immediately left the dining hall and headed to the manor’s spacious central training ground.

I had no intention of delaying. It was time to improve my physical condition.

I started running around the training ground.

I focused endlessly as I ran.

To naturally resonate with the surrounding mana without conscious effort.

*Thud, thud—*

Even when my body reached its limit, I continued to focus all my nerves on making the process automatic.

I repeated this until the sun reached its peak and then set again.

The servants started coming out to watch… and in the distance, one or two old men I had never seen before also appeared.

A day passed. And another day passed.

I felt like a monkey, but it didn’t matter.

Even if I was the only one doing what everyone used to do in the past.

Because this was something that naturally had to be done.

“Huff, huff.”

On the third day, I heard a voice in my head.

– 『Ability 〈Mind Eye〉 is activated』

– 『Some tendencies are changed』

– 『Tendency [Sickly] disappears』

– 『Tendency [Cowardly] disappears』

– 『Tendency [Drug Addict] disappears』

– 『Tendency [Weak-willed] changes to [Steadfast Will]』

…

– 『Title [Trash of the Trash] changes to [Skinny Shrimp]』

The surrounding mana started to feel denser…

And the mana rotating in my heart’s circle reached saturation.

A smile unconsciously spread across my face. I knew what this phenomenon meant.

It was time to create another circle.

————