Chapter 116
Rampaging Mana
“Oh, as expected of Izolde.”
“Incredible. To match an existing spell formation with less than 1% error…”
“That means she’s optimized it to nearly the same level as an ancient master, right?”
“She’s amazing.”
The other students couldn’t hide their admiration for Izolde’s exceptional magical skills.
“Ugh… I can do it too!”
Fiona from the Notos Dorm also succeeded, but since she used the same wind spirit method as Izolde, it didn’t impress anyone. It just looked like she was copying.
“Haha, Fiona. No need to be so competitive. Let’s take it slow.”
Lorenzo also succeeded by summoning a wind spirit and retrieving the wand.
“This is… kind of embarrassing.”
Rudolf also easily summoned a wind spirit and completed the retrieval spell.
“Ah…”
“The heirs of the Elector families and the ones who did pre-study are all doing great.”
“Then why did they tell us not to study ahead? What was the point?”
However, when noble and gentry students who had studied with private tutors came forward, they all failed to cast the spell.
“Ugh, why isn’t it working?”
“This isn’t as easy as it sounds.”
“We only memorized the incantation…”
“So this retrieval spell can’t be done with just memorizing the chant.”
“Summoning a spirit remotely without a wand is too hard!”
Outside Dunamis Academy, mages usually just memorize chants left by their predecessors and use magic that way. They rarely tried to customize, optimize, or create new spells.
Students who pre-studied outside the academy couldn’t adapt to Dunamis Academy’s method and were being tripped up by their own assumptions.
“Retrieve!”
A student named Percifier, from the Adventurers’ Guild, used a retrieval spell taught to adventurers.
A wind barrier formed around the wand and it flew straight to him. If there was an obstacle, the barrier would push it aside and adjust the wand’s path until it reached him.
“That’s not the ‘My hand’ incantation, but another type of retrieval spell. That’s fine. It’s good to know there are different methods.
However, using that kind of spell could damage the wand. And the mana cost is quite high, right?”
“Yes, that’s true. I learned this magic privately outside the academy.”
“I see. That would use up a lot of mana. Still, for expanding our understanding, I’ll award you 1 merit point.”
Professor Magram gave Percifier 1 merit point.
Since most others had used the wind spirit method after Izolde, Percifier’s attempt with a different approach earned recognition.
Then it was Karl’s turn.
“You’re all too boring. The northern winds are far more intense! Watch, and tremble!”
Karl dramatically raised his wand, and a chilling northern wind began to swirl inside the classroom.
From Karl’s wand, freezing air poured out, and the wand shot toward him. Ice began to form around the wand, turning into a large ice spike—ferocious and threatening.
Instead of a simple retrieval spell, Karl had modified the “Nordic Ice Spear”—a combat spell—targeting himself.
“What?!”
Even the assistants panicked, but Karl quickly canceled the spell.
However, the ice hadn’t disappeared completely, and the wand was still flying toward him encased in ice.
Karl expanded his aura and caught it—like catching a javelin mid-air.
Even though the spell had been canceled, the force was so strong that Karl’s feet slid backward.
Crack!
The wand broke.
“Huh. Well, that was a very creative approach… I said I didn’t want everyone doing the same thing, but I never expected something like this. I’ll give you 2 merit points. But please, don’t try something like this again. It’s dangerous.”
“Y-Yes, thank you. I won’t do it again…”
Despite showing off the northern wind, Karl looked like he regretted it after breaking his wand.
“That wand must’ve been expensive. It broke. Shall I fix it? That’ll be 5 Aka coins.”
Professor Magram, ever practical, offered a repair—at a price.
“…Please fix it.”
“Alright.”
Magram casually cast a spell and repaired Karl’s cracked wand. He also cast a healing spell on Karl’s injured hand.
“This one’s on the house.”
Even though Karl canceled the spell, he’d still hurt his hand catching the wand, and Magram seemed kind enough to heal it for free.
“Whoa, that Ice Spear spell was scary.”
“Karl really knows his magic. And to catch that… his physical skills must be amazing too…”
“…But why does he act like such an idiot?”
No one doubted Karl’s skill anymore.
With the 2 merit points he just earned, Karl’s total rose to 11 points, surpassing Izolde again.
Watching the rankings shift in real time sparked fierce competition among the students.
“Oh… wow. So the rankings really can change like that.”
“Don’t forget, Lady Idnia still has 9 points to give out from the public pool.”
“Come on, she’s from an Elector family. She wouldn’t shamelessly give all the points to herself, would she?”
“Anyway, now that rankings are shifting, who’s next?”
Now it was Marie, the Saint Candidate of Astraea’s turn.
“O-Oh spirit of wind! Retrieve the wand, ‘Nae-son-eu-ro’!”
Marie didn’t try anything risky. She chose the same wind spirit summoning method Izolde had used.
A wind spirit answered her call—unlike the others, this one had wings. It merged with the wand, and it looked like transparent wings had grown from it.
The winged wand zipped through the air and spun gently around Marie.
“Ah!”
Marie lifted her hand, and the wand flew straight into her grasp.
It wasn’t violent like Karl’s magic, but the spirit was fast and powerful.
“Huh?”
“That’s an Air Archon! Amazing. She truly is a Saint Candidate.”
Professor Magram was impressed.
He always gave generous reactions to even small achievements, but this time he seemed genuinely surprised.
“Air Archons are the lowest class of angels in the wind spirit realm.
Previously, she also summoned a Flame Archon, which is an angel of fire. To summon such high-level spirits for simple, temporary spells—most wouldn’t even respond to such calls. She must really be blessed by the angels.”
Shockingly, Magram publicly stated that Marie had divine blessings.
That was practically official confirmation that she had strong Saint potential.
“What?”
“Does this mean Marie really is a Saint?”
“Well, she’s just blessed by angels—it doesn’t mean she is the Saint. Besides, the concept of a Saint is a bit vague…”
Magram trailed off, smiling at Marie.
“I’ll give you 1 merit point as well. Your spell method was a bit old-fashioned, but you’ve improved a lot.”
Marie now had a total of 4 points. It wasn’t as high as Idnia, Izolde, or Karl, but she had caught up with Lorenzo.
“A-All thanks to Lady Idnia’s guidance. She’s been helping me so much, even outside of class.”
Marie openly credited Idnia.
“Ooh…”
“She’s even kind to her Saint rival. She’s truly noble…”
Everyone admired Idnia’s character.
Only Nora grumbled.
“She’s struggling with her own magic. What’s she doing teaching someone else? What if there’s an accident?”
“Shh, be quiet.”
Kate hushed her.
Now, it was Idnia’s turn to perform the retrieval spell.
Marie had just praised her in front of everyone. But unfortunately, Idnia was currently suffering from a pulse-type mana circuit imbalance.
All eyes turned to Idnia.
All the Elector heirs had succeeded, and Marie had just proven her Saint potential again. The merit rankings were constantly shifting.
With so much pressure, it was only natural that everyone focused on Idnia now.
‘Marie meant well, but now this feels like extra pressure…’
Idnia had once been the clear top student, but now Karl had overtaken her with 11 points, and Izolde had 10.
She was now in third place. Even though she didn’t want to care about points, the intense atmosphere made it hard to ignore.
‘I’d rather not care about points, but… I guess I’m caught up in it now.’
Idnia walked to the starting point, placed her black steel wand in the retrieval spot, and prepared to cast the spell.
She was already low on mana from the previous test. Would she be able to cast a more complex spell in this condition?
“Well then, I’ll begin. Spirit of wind…”
She tried to summon a wind spirit like everyone else. But the moment she spoke the chant, her mana circuits flared out of control.
Since she was low on mana, the pulse-type circuit kicked in properly—but now, too much mana surged into the spell uncontrollably.
‘This is bad!’
Idnia realized she had lost control of the spell.
Because of her mana circuit, she couldn’t properly cast spells that didn’t use enough mana relative to her reserves. And when she tried to lower her mana first, it made control harder—like someone pushing past their limit at the gym and getting crushed by the weight.
Now, far too much mana had entered the spell. If she cast it like this, something could go very wrong.
So she made a split-second decision:
‘I’ll switch to a spell that uses more mana to match the amount already flowing in!’
She immediately changed the spell and shouted:
“My hand!”
And then, something incredible happened.
