Chapter 612 - Fellow enthusiast

The more I play around with [Framework], the more I like it. It helps me with the structure of mana creations, including arrays and inscriptions. It also has a mental component that allows me to store the frameworks of the arrays more effectively in my mind.

It will be difficult to decide between it and [Ur Line], and probably a few more skills I might explore later, but that is a problem for future me. Screw that guy.

As for the drachen I had earned, they are all gone, kaput. The head accountant, for a cut of course, was able to secure lessons for me from one of the five people in the Academy rumored to be either close to level 400 or just over it.

It all happens surprisingly quickly, but when I hear who agreed, I understand why, having dealt with that person in my previous loop. The requirement they impose to hold these lessons also explains a lot. It is a simple one, but it reveals much.

Bring your bond to the lesson.

All the money buys me three lessons. Just three for a mid-arcane item. I mean, how crazy is that? It is an extremely poor financial decision on my part. I know that logically, even if that person is so highly leveled, such an item has enormous value. But overall, I do not care that much. In the next loop, I will get the shards back. And yes, let us not consider the option that this is the last loop.

Hehe.

Damn. Please do not be the last loop.

In the end, on the second day of this loop, I met the Vice Director in one of the private training grounds, the ones where they do not allow servants. There are five of these high-tier training grounds in the Academy, each very different.

For example, one of them is underground and huge, and I mean huge huge. From what I have heard, it is a huge cubic hole underground with walls reinforced by a Champion. That "cave" is shaped like a cube and is apparently nearly indestructible. Sometimes, there are even duels held there.

But the one I head to is not it. It is a hemispheric cupola on the surface, its wall covered in small black hexagonal pieces similar to those of a sensory deprivation tank. It is also quite large, and to keep it from being an eyesore, there are additions that make it look nicer. A few splashes of color, a huge tree nearby whose branches are shaped to lean over the cupola, and similar details. In the end, it is quite pleasant.

There is no guard at the entrance; instead, I gain entry only after placing my hand on the nearby panel and sending my mana signature in. Once my reservation is confirmed, I am allowed inside.

Biscuit, in a rare burst of energy, decides to leave my arms and float like the tiny burrito shaped airship he is. Lately, he seems to have been staying in his puppy form most of the time, and part of me strongly suspects it is because he receives more food and pets this way.

A part of me also hopes he does not realize that in his giga form, he would probably be able to eat even more. But who knows. Even in puppy form, we have not found a limit to his hunger.

The interior of the training ground is quite pretty. The flooring is made of simple white stone, and the walls of the sphere display something akin to an illusion or projection, showing clouds and a bright blue sky from a point of view as if one were flying through them.

The Vice Director stands there, rocking her big pointy hat, wide at the brim and tall like something out of an old wizard tale, and a robe. Her tiny owl sits on her shoulder, glancing between me and the floating Biscuit. For some reason, it even hoots and pecks the selari woman's cheek a few times.

As I saw before, the vice director lets it happen without even trying to defend herself.

“Greetings, Assistant Professor Gwyn.”

“Greetings, Vice Director.”

“Greetings, great bond.” With what sounds to me like more enthusiasm than when greeting me, she greets Biscuit as well.

The corgi quickly tilts his head in a confused manner, causing his ears to flop.

Tuu-tu!

The tiny owl shouts and pecks the selari woman three times in reaction to something.

“Assistant Professor Gwyn,” the vice director says.

“No,” I answer.

(Food?) Biscuit floats closer to me and boops my cheek three times with his nose, as if mimicking the owl bond´s pecks.

“Vice Director, may I ask what your specialization is?” I ask while I hold Biscuit so he does not escape, and I boop/peck his cheek three times with my own nose.

In a terrible arc of revenge, he starts wagging his tail, floats higher, bites into the hair near my temple, and starts pulling on it, leaving saliva on it and even pulling some out.

Kwit! Kwit!

The tiny owl pecks the Vice Director five times.

Only then does the selari woman answer: “It is rare for people to offer that much drachen to someone whose specialization they do not even know. Very well. I rarely teach, but before I joined the Academy, my specialization was in Continental Infrastructure Destruction and Large-Scale Containment Operations.”

“You used to be in the army?”

“I used to lead a unit that operated directly under one of our Champions, Angar. Our work was, as I mentioned, either independent operations or the creation of protocols and arrays that could be used on a mass scale with additional personnel or even powered by the Champion.”

“Sounds important. Is Champion Angar the one who will be visiting the Academy to give a talk soon?”

“Champion Angar is dead. He was the leading candidate to become the Absolute, but in the end, he died to the man who became our current Absolute. We, as his subordinates, were given the option to either die or to serve.”

“That is how you ended up in the Academy?”

“Correct. Now, Assistant Professor Gwyn, may I ask what your specialization is so we can proceed?”

“It is hard to say. I would say it is large-scale attacks that might require some preparation. Also channeling large amounts of mana. I am also decent at mana disruption. There is primordial energy I have and…”

“Two energies. There is no need to lie to me. So it seems like Grand-Scale Destructive Assaults, judging by your mana levels, then High-Capacity Mana Channeling and Wide-Area Mana Interference.”

“Does everything need to have such fancy names?”

“I apologize, but it is something I am used to because of protocols and jargon in the military. As for the lesson, what I have often found helps my students the most is pointing out the mistakes they make and the ways I would counter them. It is something I am very good at, as shown by my experience leading a unit directly under a Champion. How about I ask you for smaller examples of your capabilities, and I will point out how I would counter them in combat so you can work on those areas?”

“That sounds good.”

“Very well,” she turns her head to the side to look directly at the tiny owl and whispers in a very gentle voice, “Lulu, can you stop limiting my mana, please?”

Hoo!

There is no change I can see, but immediately I can feel it. The pressure surrounding the selari woman increases multiple times, to the point where the mana radiating around her forms huge pulses that are rhythmically sent into the area.

“Now then, Assistant Professor Gwyn, as a fellow Amplificator, there is a lot I can show you. Unlike you, I was never great at handling the amount of mana I possess and always had to rely on my bond or other methods. Therefore, I ask you: please be very careful and try not to die in case I lash back against you by reflex. Please start with mana interference.”

Glancing at her, I activate my eyes and in the same moment deactivate them after noticing the instant reaction of her mana and the way it starts to fluctuate.

She just tried to make me pass out from information overload the moment she noticed my eyes. She must either know the trait or suspect it.

How annoying; it means it can happen in the future. Liss already used it against me during the fifth event, my new skill, now her. I will need to do something about that.

I also move my mana and raise it. The surroundings start shifting their colors as I activate [Eclipse] and gradually strengthen it.

Then she does something interesting. The best I can describe it is creating “sacrificial” structures that she modifies and sends against my skill. None of them contains that much mana, but each is complex enough and present enough for my skill to target them first. These structures are deployed multiple times per second with minimal mana and little effort. Even though she puts herself down, she demonstrates impressive control over her mana.

As I raise my mana, she raises hers as well, and for the first time in a while, there is someone who shows a larger mana pool than mine, aside from those at the level of Champion or higher.

She is probably "only" seventy to ninety levels higher than I, but her mana completely overwhelms mine, something I do not think would be possible without her investing in it in a manner similar to mine.

While I deal with my mana through my talent in mana channeling, containment, and using Mana Cycling, she has her bond to help her, and other things I cannot yet perceive.

Both of us face each other, raising our mana to the utmost.

The shift is subtle at first. The air grows thicker, not from pressure, but from the sheer saturation of mana leaking into the environment. Colors dim. Sounds become muffled as if underwater. Dust on the floor begins to tremble and rise up. My mana slides against hers, the edges clashing in overlapping frequencies just out of sync.

Gradually, it reaches the point where I have to devote my entire [Focus] to handling it and sending it crashing against hers.

As if we agreed on it, I drop [Eclipse], and she also does not bother with sacrificial structures; only her bond is helping her handle all that mana.

At this point, both of us forget about everything else, and it turns into a mana measuring contest.

For the first time, she shows a slight smile as her robes and pointy hat flicker around her from the sheer pressure of her mana.

Indeed, an Amplificator and fellow mana enthusiast.

Then she forgets to hold herself back; the mana around me is overpowered by hers, and I am thrown against one of the walls, most of the bones in my body cracking.

Her pressure disappears, and a look of sudden concern flashes across her face, making it clear that this was not her intention.

As I slide down the wall, the blood trail stays behind, and I activate multiple healing marks Lily left on me, healing myself and realizing for a moment how close I was to dying.

Then my mana rises again. I channel it much quicker than she can raise hers again. She herself told me she cannot channel as swiftly as I.

My mana crashes against hers and sends her onto the ground, where she slides until she crashes against the wall. Her hat falls off, and her bond lifts up, circles once in the air, then lands back on her shoulder.

Even during that, her mana pressure continues to rise, less instant and more gradual than mine, but she overwhelms me entirely and sends me stumbling back until I cannot move, pinned against the wall with her mana constantly destroying my attempts.

The Vice Director stands, picks up and dusts off her hat, and slowly sets it on her head before turning to me.

She is showing a wide grin.

Then I start feeling tightness in my chest; I grow light-headed and feel as if I am about to vomit. Funnily enough, it reminds me of the lesson I gave a class of students while with Elian. But I do not give up. I fight back as long as possible, trying my best, using all the mana I can gather and channel. At this point, there is so much of it filling the room.

I use the Mana Wavelength Tyrant passive, I rely on my Mana Physique, use my reservoir, and weaken my constructs just to release the entirety of my mana. I push my mental passives to their limit.

But the gap in skill level, levels themselves, and mana pool is far too wide.

In the end, I throw up and pass out. Just before the world goes fully black, I feel my head slam against the floor.

What a great training session, I think with satisfaction.

***

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