Chapter 108: The Spell That Refused to Obey
Chapter 108: The Spell That Refused to Obey
The door opened.
The moment Lyra saw Andras, she looked at him with mild reproach.
"Young Master, you’re finally back. The food I prepared has already gotten cold."
Andras stepped inside and closed the door behind him.
"I was reading in the academy library."
His voice remained flat.
Lyra sighed.
"You should take a bath. I’ll prepare fresh food for dinner."
Andras glanced at her.
"You don’t have to."
"I already decided."
She turned toward the dining room.
"Go take your bath, Young Master. I’ll cook again."
Andras didn’t argue.
"Fine."
He took a bath and returned shortly afterward.
A fresh meal had already been prepared.
Andras sat down, and Lyra served the food before taking the seat across from him.
Andras noticed that she hadn’t eaten.
"You haven’t eaten?"
Lyra shook her head.
"I was waiting for you, Young Master."
Andras gave a short laugh.
"That’s unnecessary."
Lyra looked at him.
Andras continued eating.
"Eat whenever you’re hungry. You don’t need to wait for me."
He glanced at her.
"If it’s dinner time, then eat. Waiting for me like this is pointless."
Lyra lowered her head.
"Yes, Young Master."
She began eating.
The rest of dinner passed quietly.
Once they finished, Lyra cleared the table while Andras returned to his room.
He didn’t think about the Ring of the Eternal Reservoir anymore that night.
There was nothing more he could do about it until he had more information.
Eventually, he went to sleep.
---
"Young Master."
A voice pulled Andras from his sleep.
He opened his eyes.
Lyra stood beside the bed.
"Young Master, it’s morning."
Andras sat up.
He glanced toward the window.
Morning light had already begun filling the room.
He quickly got ready and left his room.
The academy was already busy by the time he arrived.
Students moved through the streets toward the campus, some walking in groups while others hurried toward their classrooms.
Andras made his way toward Class A.
As he approached the classroom building, two familiar figures caught his attention.
Lucian and Vespera were walking ahead of him.
Andras quickened his pace.
"Hey, Vespera. Good morning."
Vespera turned around.
Her eyes settled on Andras.
"Good morning, Andras."
Lucian also looked back.
Andras smiled faintly before extending his hand.
"Hello, Lucian. It’s good to meet you."
Lucian glanced at his hand for a moment before accepting it.
"Likewise."
Their hands met.
Andras’s gaze briefly dropped toward Lucian’s hand.
Nothing.
No ring.
No visible artifact.
Nothing that suggested he had obtained the Ring of the Eternal Reservoir.
Andras released his hand.
So Lucian didn’t take it.
At least that possibility was solved.
His thoughts returned briefly to the empty case.
Then he pushed them aside.
There was no reason to dwell on it now.
Andras looked at Vespera.
"So, you’re both heading to class?"
Vespera nodded.
"Yes."
Andras nodded.
"Then let’s go."
The three continued toward Class A.
A short while later, they reached the classroom.
Andras entered and immediately noticed that Seraphina was already there.
She looked toward him as he approached.
"Good morning."
"Good morning."
Andras took his usual seat beside her.
More students gradually arrived.
The classroom slowly filled with conversation.
Aurelia entered.
Lenore followed.
Several other students took their seats, while others discussed the previous day’s lessons.
Andras remained quiet.
Before long, nearly every seat was occupied.
Then—
Click.
The classroom door opened.
The conversations gradually faded.
Professor Alaric walked inside.
Unlike Professor Elowen’s calm presence or Professor Kaelen’s stern demeanor, Alaric carried himself with a noticeably more relaxed air.
He walked toward the teacher’s desk with an easy smile.
All the students already knew him.
There was no need for a formal introduction.
Alaric placed a stack of books on the desk and looked over the classroom.
"Good morning, everyone."
"Good morning, Professor Alaric."
The students responded almost in unison.
Alaric smiled.
He rested one hand against the desk.
"You already know me, so I won’t waste your time introducing myself."
His gaze swept across the room.
"But there’s something you may not know."
The classroom gradually became quieter.
Alaric picked up a piece of chalk.
"You know who I am."
He turned toward the blackboard.
"But you may not understand what my subject actually means."
He wrote two words across the board.
MAGE SPECIALIZATION
Alaric stepped aside.
"Professor Elowen taught you the foundation of spell casting."
"Mana."
"Magic circles."
"Spells."
He tapped the board with the chalk.
"Professor Kaelen taught you about weapons and the principles behind wielding them."
He turned toward the students.
"My subject begins where basic spell casting starts to become insufficient."
A few students straightened in their seats.
Alaric smiled.
"Mage Specialization."
He wrote beneath the title:
Control → Efficiency → Construction → Mastery
"These four concepts will form the foundation of my lessons."
He pointed toward the first.
"Control."
"Any mage can gather mana."
"But an experienced mage doesn’t merely gather it."
"He controls every movement of it."
Alaric raised his hand.
A small sphere of mana appeared above his palm.
It was barely visible.
There was no impressive explosion.
No dazzling display.
The sphere simply remained suspended in the air.
Then Alaric changed the flow.
The sphere compressed.
Smaller.
And smaller.
Until the amount of mana inside it was almost impossible to perceive.
Several students leaned forward.
Alaric released his control.
The sphere disappeared.
"That was not a demonstration of power."
He looked around the room.
"It was a demonstration of control."
He picked up the chalk again.
"Two mages can possess the same amount of mana."
"One may waste half of it creating a spell."
"The other may use nearly every drop."
He underlined the second word.
Efficiency.
"Which one do you think will win after casting the same spell ten times?"
A student near the front answered immediately.
"The efficient mage."
"Correct."
Alaric nodded.
"Raw mana reserves matter."
"But efficiency determines how long you can continue fighting."
He moved to the third concept.
Construction.
"Professor Elowen taught you that a magic circle gives mana structure."
"My lessons will go further."
He drew a simple circle on the board.
"An ordinary mage learns a spell exactly as it was taught."
"A specialized mage learns to understand why the spell works."
His chalk moved across the circle, adding several lines.
"Once you understand the structure..."
He added another connection.
"...you can begin modifying it."
The classroom became completely silent.
"Perhaps you can reduce the mana cost."
He erased one section.
"Perhaps you can increase the spell’s speed."
He altered another line.
"Perhaps you can change its range."
He stepped back.
"Or perhaps..."
A faint smile appeared.
"...you can create something entirely new."
Several students’ eyes widened.
Alaric placed the chalk down.
"That is what separates a spell caster from a true mage."
His gaze swept across the classroom.
"Knowing a hundred spells is useful."
"Understanding why those spells work is far more valuable."
He paused.
"Because once you understand the principles behind magic, you are no longer limited to what someone else has already created."
Andras’s eyes narrowed slightly.
That was more interesting.
Much more interesting than simply memorizing spells.
Alaric continued.
"Of course, none of this will happen overnight."
He smiled.
"You’ll make mistakes."
"Your magic circles will collapse."
"Your mana control will fail."
"You’ll waste mana."
"And occasionally, you’ll create something so terrible that you’ll wonder why you ever attempted it."
A few students laughed.
Alaric’s smile widened.
"That’s normal."
He turned back toward the board.
"Magic is not about avoiding mistakes."
"It’s about understanding them."
He wrote one final word beneath the others.
Mastery
"Control gives you precision."
"Efficiency gives you endurance."
"Construction gives you freedom."
He looked toward the students.
"And mastery..."
He paused.
"...gives you the ability to use all three without thinking."
The classroom remained silent.
Alaric placed the chalk down.
"That is where we’re going."
He looked around the room one final time.
"So don’t expect my class to be another lesson where you memorize definitions and copy notes."
A faint smile returned to his face.
"I intend to teach you how to think like a mage."
Andras leaned back slightly.
For the first time that morning, his attention was completely focused on the professor.
Alaric turned toward the blackboard again.
"But before we end today’s lesson, I want to show you something."
The relaxed smile disappeared from his face.
The change was subtle, but every student noticed it.
Alaric raised his hand.
The mana in the classroom suddenly shifted.
Andras’s eyes narrowed.
For an instant, the entire room seemed to become heavier.
Then hundreds of faint lines appeared across the blackboard.
A magic circle.
No—
Andras’s expression changed.
It wasn’t a normal magic circle.
The structure was far more complicated than anything Professor Elowen had shown them.
Multiple layers overlapped one another, each rotating at a different speed. Fine magical symbols appeared between the layers, connecting them in patterns that seemed almost impossible to follow.
Several students stared in confusion.
Alaric looked at the circle.
"This is an advanced spell construction."
He paused.
"Most first-year students won’t be able to understand even half of it."
A few students swallowed nervously.
Andras, however, continued staring.
Something about the structure felt familiar.
Not because he had seen it before.
Because there was something fundamentally wrong with it.
One of the mana pathways was incomplete.
Andras’s eyes narrowed.
Alaric noticed.
Their gazes met.
For the first time since entering the classroom, the professor’s relaxed smile returned.
"Interesting."
Andras remained silent.
Alaric turned back toward the blackboard.
"Perhaps one of you will notice the problem."
He raised his hand.
The magic circle began to rotate.
Mana slowly gathered within its center.
The pressure inside the classroom increased.
Several students instinctively straightened.
Andras’s expression became serious.
That incomplete pathway...
It wasn’t a mistake.
It was deliberate.
The moment the mana reached the final layer, the entire structure suddenly trembled.
Cracks of blue light spread across the circle.
A few students gasped.
Alaric’s expression remained calm.
Then he said quietly,
"Now..."
His eyes swept across the classroom.
"Tell me."
The circle began to collapse.
"What happens when a mage understands a spell..."
The mana surged.
"...but the spell itself doesn’t obey him?"