Chapter 21
“Magic Missile.”
The moment Shion’s spell manifested, it transformed and scattered in all directions.
The stone ants noticed immediately. They poured out in droves, rushing toward the mana masses spread around them.
BOOOOM!
Once enough stone ants had gathered, the mana detonated.
Hundreds of stone ants—so many it was hard to count—were annihilated without leaving even a corpse behind.
It was an absurd application of magic.
Separately controlling more than ten mana masses and detonating them at precisely the right moment required terrifying computational power and operational control.
Yet Shion did it with effortless ease.
As if this were the bare minimum expected of him.
The students could only stare in shock.
Did we even need to come here?
That thought crossed their minds.
Only now did they truly understand why Shion had said there was no need to worry.
He had complete confidence in controlling every situation.
With this level of magical skill, no unexpected variable would pose a real problem.
But then—
“This should be enough to get a rough idea, right?”
Shion stopped using magic.
He moved behind the students, pulled a chair out of subspace, and casually sat down.
“Alright. Now get to work.”
And then—he tilted the chair back and lay down.
He even put on a sleep mask, clearly preparing to nap.
“…Huh?”
Among the stunned students, Briella was the first to snap back to her senses.
“W-wait! What?! You’re going to sleep here?!”
“I told you. Work.”
Shion spoke lazily, not even removing the sleep mask.
“You came out wearing magical tools. Obviously, you need to raise your proficiency. And you don’t have much time.”
“…!”
“By the way, I just provoked the stone ants. They’ve already recognized us as intruders.”
“W-what?!”
Briella cried out in shock.
But thinking about it, it made sense.
After causing such a commotion, it would be stranger if the stone ants hadn’t identified them as intruders.
“Stone ants aren’t particularly aggressive, but if their group gets attacked first, that changes.”
“H-hey! Teacher!”
“No time.”
Shion remained sprawled out, clearly uninterested in helping.
“What are you doing not using magic?”
“…?!”
Before his words even finished, creaking sounds echoed as crimson eyes began to glow all around them.
Shion grinned.
“Time for your supplements.”
“Y-you insane—!”
Only then did the students hurriedly begin chanting spells.
And with bared mandibles, the stone ants charged at them.
—Kiiiiiik!
Briella screamed instinctively.
“Shion Rosteri, you crazy bastard—!!!”
* * *
[As expected, they’re inexperienced.]
Akasha observed calmly as she watched the students cast spells.
[They’ve learned how to use the magical tools quickly, but their application is poor. Even if you taught them the basics, real combat is different.]
“Of course.”
Shion replied leisurely while lying down.
To an outsider, it might look like he was irresponsibly abandoning his students.
But Shion was already aware of everything happening inside the mine.
Though the students didn’t know it, every inch of the mine was under Shion’s surveillance.
…So about a hundred is the upper limit for magic transformation.
The students hadn’t noticed, but mana masses Shion had scattered were spread throughout the mine.
Out of sight, they were guiding or eliminating stone ants.
In other words, only a manageable number of stone ants were allowed to reach the students.
Naturally, he had no intention of telling them that.
People only grow when they feel pressure.
[Are you not worried something might happen to the students?]
“Not at all. Do I look that bad at calculations?”
He had already run the numbers.
The students wouldn’t be in danger.
Some might get bitten here and there, but nothing serious.
And through that process, they would rapidly master the use of magical tools.
Meanwhile, what was Shion doing?
Even while hunting stone ants with magic transformation, I still have time left.
He was wiping out nearly all stone ants outside the students’ field of view.
With a hundred mana masses detonating every second, it was only natural.
So what to do with the spare time?
That, too, was already decided.
…Should I explore the mine more deeply?
Earlier scans revealed nothing special beyond large numbers of stone ants.
Yet something felt off.
Like he’d forgotten something important.
So while the students trained, he decided to investigate further.
[You don’t trust me, Human?! That hurts!]
Akasha protested after having already scanned the mine once.
Shion’s reply was simple.
“I’m bored.”
[Ah… well, boredom can’t be helped. The results will probably be the same.]
Ignoring her, Shion spread mana once more.
He mostly agreed—rescanning probably wouldn’t change much.
But resolving this nagging feeling would be worth it.
Then—
“…Hm?”
Something faint reacted to his mana.
A trivial response.
Normally, he would’ve ignored it.
But not this time.
There’s something here.
[Huh?]
Akasha sounded flustered.
As a highly advanced artificial spirit, she hadn’t even considered the possibility of missing something.
[That shouldn’t be possible.]
She hurriedly analyzed the anomaly.
After a moment, she spoke cautiously.
[Human… could this be a type of treasure that I’m incapable of detecting?]
“A type you can’t detect?”
[Yes.]
Something Shion could sense, but Akasha could not.
Though Akasha was outstanding in nearly all areas, she had lost certain functions when destiny was rewritten through the Akashic Records.
For example—
“An ancient artifact.”
—…An ancient artifact?
“Yes.”
Shion knew exactly which of Akasha’s functions were currently disabled.
He had been her creator, after all.
One of the disabled functions was—
“Recognition of ancient artifacts. It was low priority, so it was probably one of the first to be shut down.”
—Are you sure?
“I can’t guarantee it.”
—……
Akasha stared at him with deep indignation, but Shion didn’t care.
What mattered was the possibility.
Ancient artifacts were treasures so rare that even the Empire—the continent’s dominant power—possessed only five.
Even the Magic Council caused massive uproars just to use one.
That was their value.
And one might be buried here?
Then we have to check.
No hesitation required.
Even if it wasn’t an artifact, confirming it wouldn’t hurt.
[It seems quite deep underground. Are you proceeding immediately?]
“Of course.”
Shion lifted his sleep mask slightly and glanced at the students still fighting desperately.
Plenty of labor.
Might as well use it while he could.
* * *
“…Haaah.”
Tult gasped for breath and prepared another spell.
Thanks to the magical tools, the burden of casting magic had been greatly reduced.
That much was true.
But it’s still not easy.
No—it was brutally difficult.
Even with assistance, magic transformation demanded enormous computational power.
For a newly promoted third-circle mage like Tult, the strain was immense.
And the teacher did this… without magical tools?
Any mage would understand how absurd that was.
It should’ve been impossible—yet Shion had done it effortlessly.
Jealousy only arises when the gap feels reachable.
Faced with such an overwhelming difference, Tult felt nothing but awe.
And in the end, the teacher’s methods are always right.
Despite appearing reckless, following Shion’s instructions had rapidly improved his skills.
Not just tool proficiency—his overall magical ability had grown efficiently as well.
“…Explosion.”
BOOM!
After detonating the cluster of stone ants, Tult straightened up.
The other students were doing the same, focused solely on obliterating stone ants.
Having heard that stone ants were practically “elixirs,” they poured everything they had into extermination.
Some students were swollen from bites—but nothing serious.
A bit of treatment or rest would fix it.
Eventually, after fighting in a near-trance, the students emerged victorious.
“Is… is it over?”
Briella looked around while barely standing.
No stone ants remained in sight.
Only the magnet stones illuminating the mine.
“…Haa.”
She turned toward Shion.
He was still lounging calmly.
Yet that calm couldn’t be ignored.
It meant that even while resting, he hadn’t allowed stone ants to reach them.
Which also meant—
He had been watching over them.
Even if she hated to admit it.
“Teacher. It’s over.”
“Ah.”
Shion removed his sleep mask and stood up.
“It is. Congratulations. You’ve successfully exterminated all stone ants in the mine.”
“T-then we’re done, right?”
“Stage one is.”
“Stage one?”
“Yes. Stage one.”
Shion grinned.
“Now that you’re familiar with magic missile transformation, we should push ahead while the feeling’s fresh.”
“…W-what are you planning to make us do?”
Briella trembled at that smile.
Calmly, Shion pointed downward.
“Dig.”
A spell for excavating earth.
With a gesture, the ground in front of him sank inward.
“Stage two.”
He pointed at the freshly dug pit.
“From now on—
we dig.”
“…!”
The students’ mouths fell open.
