Diligence

"You want me to teach you Magic...?"

"P-Please." Kosma bowed his head.

"But Kosma, I'm not a registered mage of this region, nor do I have the certificate to teach a member of the guild like you. Plus, as you can see, I'm quite younger than you. It doesn't make sense for a teen like me to be your advisor." I made up some excuses to test if he is willing.

I could teach him all right. I mean, I already did it with Miss Vanessa despite being younger than her in terms of this generation's age. But Dravengarde is chock-full of prideful mercenaries who would boast about their egos now and then. Most of them are self-taught, and they want to keep it that way.

And it's not as if I'm doubting Kosma's integrity and personality either. I just wanted to be sure that he is someone I can nurture without receiving any setbacks.

"I don't care about that..." He muttered.

"Huh?"

"I'm saying that I don't care about that. When I saw you kill those wolves like nothing earlier, I already knew that you were a powerful mage. And I think you have your reasons for hiding your strength from us, but... As you might have seen a while ago, I was deemed the most useless member of the party."

Rion's words got to him, huh?

"Rion's right. I'm still weak and immature. I might even cause more problems in the future if I stay like this. They were the ones who accepted a nobody like me. So the least I can do is to be strong so that I can also protect them. And for that, I'm willing to do anything steady and consistently, even if it means bowing my head to a kid like you..." He continued.

Ah, this is such a nostalgic sight. There was once a student like him in my past life, and they both exude diligence, proficiency, and talent. Even their reason for wanting to become strong is quite similar—to protect their group.

I shouldn't overthink this anymore. As a professor and pioneer of Magic, I can't back down if a potential student wants to learn and improve themselves.

"Hah... Alright. Meet me outside of town tomorrow. And don't be late, okay?" I sighed and smiled.

"T-Thank you so much, Lugh!" With that, Kosma returned to his room with enthusiasm.

To reiterate, learning magic is quite a long and arduous process. It took five years for Miss Vanessa to completely improve her constitution, magical energy flow, and polycasting, which adhered to the original lessons from Codex Arkanum. That in itself is already a massive commitment if I were to do it again. And that's where the problem comes in.

I wonder if I should just teach him the bare minimum?

I didn't consider staying in Dravengarde for like another five years or so, since my only goal here is to find Naden. If I were to commit to teaching Kosma, it would pose some impediments to my plans.

I sat down at my desk and pondered for a little bit.

"Now then, how should I deal with this...?"

***

Highmarch Province
Citadel Aurenthall - Office of the Holy Order

A middle-aged man wearing the Grand Arcanarch robe was standing near the window of the Cathedral. His frame was oozing with regal authority and superiority, something that he has kept consistent ever since he was appointed as an Arcanarch.

He gazed at the deep night sky, his eyes filled with looming darkness and deception.

Every corner of the council hall was stern. A few Aetheric Scholars can be seen working on a file of paperwork from the desk. Most of them are expressionless and rigid. Perhaps it is just the nature of the Holy Order of the Arcane Arts to be reserved and serious.

A knock was then heard outside the office door.

"Come in..." The middle-aged man said.

As the door opened, another man in a full black suit wearing a creepy Jester Mask walked in. "Yo, Mister Lawrence. It's been a while, huh?" He greeted with a delighted tone.

"What are you doing here, Head of the Disciplinary Magic, Lord Vareth Thorne?" Lawrence asked.

"Hehe~ Well, I figured I should let you in on some information that I gathered from one of the magic academies. It's something that may intrigue you..."

Lawrence narrowed his eyes and turned to him. "I'm listening..."

Lord Vareth then grabbed a document inside his coat and laid it on the desk. It was an application form with the crest of the Caer Thalor Institute of Archeomancy. The label indicates the name of Vanessa Hamilton. Lawrence took the paper and skimmed through it.

"This lady, at an exceptional age, was able to do a no-chant magic cast during her practical examination in Caer just a few months ago."

"A no-chant cast? That is impossible. Only a few on this continent can achieve such mastery in Arcane Arts. You're telling me a prodigy has entered the academy?" Lawrence sighed.

"You don't believe me? Well, it is a good thing that I brought a copy of the full documentation, plus a video recording of her doing multicasting."

"Where did you get that...?"

"Well, I have eyes in every academy, Professor... I can collect any information that I want." Lord Vareth shrugged.

Lawrence took a moment to study the video recording. After finishing it, he closed his eyes and sighed. "Hmph, her magic spells and methods are... different."

"Oh, you noticed it as well? Not only was she able to do no-chant, but she can also do multicasting and a few combinations of spells that are not present in our codex. Someone like her can't learn such a magnitude of advanced magic even if she is a prodigy. And if you take a look closer at her stances, does that look familiar to you...?"

Lord Vareth rewound the video from when Vanessa did a stance and blitzed through the dummies like it was nothing.

"No way! That's—!" Lawrence's eyes widened in surprise.

"Yes, that's right. That combination of offensive spells and the stances that she takes—all these unconventional methods are directly taken from that old codex that our ancestors destroyed, the Codex Arkanum."

"That's impossible! How can someone like her learn this?!"

"We suspect that perhaps a surviving descendant of the old Era Arkan might be the one who fed her this knowledge."

"The higher-ups need not know about this. We need to eliminate both the Lady and this descendant immediately!" Lawrence declared. "But how can we even do that? Those four academies are untouchable because of the previous decree."

"Hehe, calm down, Mister Lawrence. Have you forgotten that I am the Head of the Disciplinary Magic?" Lord Vareth grinned.

"Ah, that's right. You are an overseer, right? You can practically visit any of the academies and you'll have no trouble. Then, should I leave that job to you?"

"I suppose I shall deliver the ways of our Lord this time..."

After that, Lord Vareth left the office, leaving Lawrence in utter distress.

"We mustn't let those heretical teachings spread, no matter what!"

***

Morning came quicker than I expected. I wasn't able to sleep properly last night because I kept on tweaking the lesson plan that I would present to Kosma. It would be a disaster if I were to stick to my ways of teaching, so I did what I could and managed to come up with a decent routine.

After eating breakfast, Kosma and I immediately went outside the town on the outskirts to start our lesson.

Just like before with Miss Vanessa, I did a little orientation to introduce Kosma to how Codex Arkanum works and demonstrated its application and usage. He was genuinely impressed when I showed him the foundation of magic, making him more enthusiastic than before.

I then discussed with him our routine and how the process will go on so that I wouldn't have to monitor him for like another five years or so.

The premise is basically like this:

Train the body in the morning, do Active Conjuring State in the afternoon, and then rest. Simple as that.

"U-Ugh...! Do I have to do this, Lugh?" Kosma whined as he started doing push-ups.

"Your body won't be able to handle the setbacks from Active Conjuring State if you don't build muscles," I replied.

"Yeah, but I thought using Magic doesn't affect your body. That's why the other mages don't train."

"Haha, like I said earlier during our orientation, you'll have to throw away any of your previous perspectives when it comes to magic. The way it works is not as simple as what everyone has been doing for the last century." I explained.

In battle, the mages are always presumed to be the weakest because their options are limited outside of Magic. When it comes to defense, they're weak because they have to rely on casting magic spells. But what if the casting failed? How can a mage who only uses their brain and magical power consolidate their lack of physical prowess?

That's why training the body or building muscles is also very important in one's constitution and survivability, not just in the Active Conjuring State.

"Hah, I feel like my shoulder will snap..." Kosma grumbled.

"Keep on going. After this, we're gonna run some laps towards that valley over there until we reach the river."

"Ugh...!"

Welp, this is also a perfect opportunity for me to train my own body while growing, so I guess I'll join Kosma in this routine.