Chapter 7: Student Instructors (3)

~7.3~

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“Next up, magic!” Kye said with a quick hop. “Okay, let’s start with something fun!” She formed four golden flaming orbs, but Alethea cut her off quickly.

“You put that away this instant!” Liliana and Aliana tackled Kye to the ground while Alethea placed a barrier around each orb. “Kye! What are you doing?!”

“Did her retainers just tackle her?” “Wow.” “But why, though?”

Kye was grinning the whole time, even while on the ground. She pushed her attendants off and popped the bubble barriers around her orbs, reclaiming them. “These are MINE! You can’t have them!” Her three friends glared at her intensely. Kye sighed and explained, “Look, I am one hundred percent in control! You know very well that I’m not a novice.” She pulled them close together. “See? No boom. Relax. They’re not even catalysts for Detonation, they’re just basic-tier fireballs… with a lot of mana. Anyway, you asked me to cover magic, so shush!” The three exchanged glances and simply sighed.

Meanwhile, the class was watching and unsure what to make of the interaction. “What’s Detonation?” “Yeah, I’ve never heard of that.” “Is it a higher tier spell?” “I think I saw it in a video once.”

Alethea’s eye twitched as Kye smirked. “‘What’s Detonation?’ you say…”

“I really wish nobody had said that,” Liliana mumbled.

Kye, still smirking, pointed toward the mountains. “See those mountains over there?”

The various students nodded.

“Good. Keep looking at them.” Making a blatant show of it with her right hand, Kye poured more mana into the fireballs and transformed them into catalysts before sending them flying. Nobody noticed what she did with her left hand.

“She really did that…” Alethea sighed.

“What? She threw her fireballs? That’s it?” “They’re flying really fast, though.”

The catalysts quickly reached the mountains.

“Shi-chan, you checked, right? Nobody’s over there?” Alethea asked as she focused her mana to sense people around and beyond the mountains. “Okay, I don’t sense anyone.”

“Of course.” Kye flicked her hand and shouted. “Now. <<Detonation>>!”

Far beyond the mountains, the four catalysts, pulsating with powerful mana, collided. The resulting explosion was much smaller than the one she used in battle against the S-rank demon beast, but was still large enough to throw a mushroom cloud into the stratosphere.

Most of the class was speechless.

“Uh…” “So the other day…”

“Same spell!” Kye grinned. “Just smaller.” She snapped her fingers and the mushroom cloud vanished.

“Wait, what?” “How’d you do that?”

Kye glared at Alethea and their retainers. “Did you really think I would cast Detonation for no reason other than to show off? That was just illusion magic.”

“How in the world did you make it seem so real? Even I couldn’t tell!” Alethea said, the look on her face doing nothing to hide her surprise.

Michelle, who had just walked into the training grounds with Doran right as the illusion explosion went off, was laughing. “Kye, did you really just do that? Whew.”

Kye shrugged.

Alethea glared at Kye. “How’d you do it? The catalysts were real!”

Kye giggled and patted Alethea’s head. “I’ll show you later, love.”

Alethea was exasperated and furiously typed into her NeuraPhone. Layla and James arrived mere seconds later, sat on a bench, and watched as Kye began her lesson, as if saying, “We have our eyes on you…”

She’s gonna hold that against me for a while.

Kye shook her head and returned to the lesson. “As you just learned in the mana control exercise, visualization is your best tool. These here,” she remade the four orbs of golden fire and moved them around, “are simple balls of fire with light mana. The most basic of fire magic spells is Fireball. The exercise I want you to complete is to generate and manipulate four of these at once. Sounds easy, right? Well, it’s not. For every additional instance, you require that much more control. Control is the most important thing in casting. Not power, not grand flashy spells, not high-tier spells… control!” Kye snapped her finger and the number of orbs multiplied. She created a hemisphere of golden fireballs, earning some oohs and ahhs from the class.

“Wow, you can control that many at once?” Astrid asked. “You truly are the Goddess of Light!”

“I wish you’d stop with that…” Kye sighed in exasperation, but quickly bounced back and dispersed her magic. “Anyway. There is an equivalent to Fireball for every element, so I will hear no excuses for affinities. Remember to visualize. To complete this exercise, you must insta-cast the basic spell four times simultaneously. Anything less will not suffice!” Kye stepped back and left the other students to work on the exercise. She walked over to the bench where Layla and James were sitting and leaned against the wall next to them. “Remember how I was almost asked to become an instructor at the council meeting? Is that possible if I’m a student myself?”

“What you and Alethea are doing is about the closest you can get. Officially, you cannot hold a teaching position without certification. I doubt you’d have any trouble with some of the requirements for that, but you fail two right from the start and probably one more.”

“Oh?”

Layla started tapping in midair, and soon Kye received a message on her phone. It included a link to a private document that lists the various requirements for instructor certification.

1. Must pass the Instructor’s Mana Control exam.
   2. Must pass the Instructor’s Magic Casting exam.
     3. Must pass the Instructor’s Combat Proficiency exam.
     4. Must pass the Instructor’s Certification course.
     5. Must possess a General School Diploma.
     6. Must be legal age 25 or older.
     7. Must be capable of channeling 1b or higher in mana without compression.

“I see. One, two, and three are a given. Four is probably not an issue. Five and six are the two I fail right from the start, with seven being the one I’d probably fail, which you’re correct about. I can’t channel that much without compression, not even close. Probably in another year or so. Six is straightforward enough, but what is the General School Diploma?”

“You don’t know?”

Kye shrugged. “This is the first I’ve heard of it.”

“It’s granted differently depending on the school, but the requirements are similar everywhere. You will obtain it at this academy at the end of your third year.”

“So, by the end of my third year, the only thing in my way will be number six. I’m guessing that’s there so that no instructor at this academy would also be a student at the same time.”

“That’s right.”

Kye sighed. “I guess I’ll have to wait to do this professionally, though I may not get to even then. Father seems to be determined to pass the throne to me as soon as possible.”

Layla nodded. “That he does. However, if you decide you want to become an instructor, that actually takes precedence over the throne.”

“It does? Hmm…” She shrugged again. “Well, to be determined. Would you mind bringing it up with the council during the next meeting, anyway? If it becomes possible for us, then I’d legitimately consider it.”

“Us? For you and Alethea, I assume?”

Kye nodded.

“Okay. I’ll see if I can stir the pot a bit.”

Kye gave her mother a smile. “Thanks. I should go check on the students.”

“And of course, Atalante can overrule laws and order the two of you to become instructors, regardless of the requirements.”

Kye chuckled. “Right. The empress’s orders supersede laws. Thankfully, we have a proper ruler that would never wield her power irresponsibly, so there would likely be zero pushback among the council if she appoints us.”

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Revision: 12-2-2023