Arcane Innovator

Standing inside the locked classroom and hearing nothing but the echo of my own breath, I sighed with relief. 'It looks like those crawlers won't bother us anymore…' I then turned around and examined the small chamber we found ourselves in.

At first, it seemed just like any other classroom. However, this feeble illusion was quickly shattered when the board at the front came to life and started spouting one magic theory question after another.

I muttered a curse, as I wasn't a big fan of written examinations. Still, this wasn't all that bad. All we had to do was think it through and write down the right answers.

'This is fine; there isn't even any time lim—' I mused happily. But before I could even finish that ill-fated thought, I was abruptly interrupted by a sudden rumbling sound.

'What the…' Then, to my horror, the classroom's walls moved, and the chamber began slowly shrinking. It turned out there was indeed a time limit, and such that left no doubt about what would happen to us if we failed to provide the correct answer in time.

Coming out of my stupor, I threw a covert glance at Mira—the peculiar girl I stumbled upon in the hallway, and I couldn't help but think. 'Is she cursed or something?' Everything was so nice and quiet, and until now, I haven't encountered any issues at all, but the moment I met her, it all went to shit.

Still, there was no time for regrets. Unless I wanted to find out how I looked as a pancake, that is. So with no time to lose, I hurried toward the damn board, ready to give it my best shot.

However, as I looked at the first question, my smile froze. It read: [What phonetic component influences the strength of an incantation the most?]

'Oh, no… Oh, crap. Yeah, I'm dead… I'm so dead.' I sighed with resignation.

At a glance, this wasn't that difficult a question. I even remembered reading about something like this. The problem was that I usually didn't bother with the incantations while casting. So, I simply memorized the most common chants for basic spells and didn't learn the grammar behind them.

I have always hated grammar, even back on Earth. Thus, I did the only sensible thing—avoid it whenever possible. I just never expected it would come to bite me in the ass like this.

"Do you know any of it?" I asked Mira, who stood motionlessly behind me. Time was running out, and I was running out of options. So I decided to grasp at any chance, however small, to make it out of here in one piece. Besides, it was her fault we ended up here in the first place.

I didn't expect much. It was more like a vain hope that I wouldn't have to figure this all out on my own. Yet, to my surprise, the shy girl simply nodded and stepped forward.

As I watched her grab a piece of charcoal and begin to answer each of the difficult-looking questions flawlessly, I couldn't help but blink. It turned out that what Mira seemed to lack in combat skills, she more than compensated for with her knowledge.

With every correct answer, the room quieted down, and the moving walls slowly slid back to their original position. It was like nothing had happened at all. The only thing left was a few plumes of dust, an unnerving memento of what had almost transpired.

Then, with the last question successfully answered, the doors clicked again, and we were apparently free to leave. I looked at the girl again, sizing her up. It turned out that she was not only knowledgeable but a bona fide genius, finishing all the questions in a heartbeat.

So, it was no wonder that after this stunt, her value rose sharply in my eyes, and I resolved to protect her at all costs. Mira returned my look, her pale face flushed with exhilaration. "You're pretty good at this," I said with a raised eyebrow.

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"I like studying," She answered matter-of-factly, but her face betrayed a hint of suppressed pride.

'What a nerd…' I briefly thought, shaking my head in exasperation, before proceeding toward the now-unlocked doors. I was eager to be out of this place before the creepy classroom could change its mind about letting us go.

However, right as we were leaving, I noticed a small coin lying at the frontmost table. 'What's this?' Examining it, it looked like a somewhat dull-looking soul coin. 'Are we supposed to collect these?'

Well, it kind of made sense that we would be given some proof of how many challenges we overcame. 'So we need to enter as many classrooms as we can, finish the tasks inside, and gather as many of these coins as possible. Got it!'

Smiling happily, I began striding toward the door, but then I paused for a moment before pressing the coin into Mira's hand. "Here, take this."

After all, it was mainly her accomplishment, and I was not that despicable to appropriate Mira's well-deserved reward for myself. Besides, we didn't agree to form a party or anything, so our current alliance was a pure happenstance forced upon us by unfortunate circumstances.

Yet Mira once again subverted my expectations by not accepting the offered coin. Instead, she simply shook her head, saying, "Keep it."

"Does it mean you want to continue together?" I asked, mildly surprised.

To this, Mira gave me a quick nod and then nonchalantly continued into the spacious hallway. I blinked a few times, unsure what to make out of it, before quickly following after her.

'Ah, so the doors were blue!' I thought as I examined the entrance we had just exited. I then looked down the hallway, which was still peppered with doors of various colors. This left only the red doors a mystery. 'Should we try it out or stick with blue?'

Deep in thought, I failed to notice the quiet steps heading toward us. It was only when I heard Mira's alarmed yelp that I finally perked up.

'Huh?' Turning around, I was then met by a small group of first-years—three boys, each sharing a stocky build and a crown of unruly black hair. And judging by their malicious looks, it was pretty clear they were up to no good.

I berated myself for failing to properly monitor our surroundings, but it was too late to cry over spilled milk, so I just stepped forward, putting on a confident front. "What do you want?"

"Give us all your tokens, and we'll let you go." The largest of them demanded, his voice leaving no room for negotiation.

I blinked, momentarily stunned by the sheer audacity of their demand. 'Who do these clowns think they are? After everything we had to do to get that stupid coin, did they think they could simply walk up to us and shake us down?' I almost laughed.

"What makes you think we have any?" Still, my answer was calm and measured, and I made sure not to show any of my true feelings.

"Don't try to play smart! We saw you walk out of that classroom over there! So give them to us or else!" The boy spat out while his companions spread out to block any possible escape route.

"Oh, well…" I sighed. It seemed we would have to do this the hard way. I then stole a glance at Mira, who was cowering by the wall. Correction—I had to do something about it. It was pretty obvious that if I weren't here to shield her, the shy girl would have already crumpled under the boys' gazes.

"And what if I say no?" I retorted.

"Are you dumb or something? Can't you see it's three to one? Or do you expect your little girlfriend here to back you up?" He said while closing up the distance and threatening me with his fist.

'He is pretty good at this.' I had to admit. It was obvious all three of them had plenty of experience in this type of 'work,' which only made me wonder how someone like him was admitted to the academy in the first place.

Still, the boy's actions were nothing but comical to me when put in the context of where we stood. "No, I don't. But unlike you lot, I have magic, so I don't have to resort to such crude methods."

"What do you take us for? Of course, we have magic! Don't try us, or we'll show you how it's done!"

"Really? All I see is a bunch of worthless twerps trying to act tough. If you had magic, you'd know that incantations take a while, so you'd start preparing your spells the moment you saw us." I said mockingly before adding, "…like I did."

Of course, I didn't need to chant an incantation to send out a spell, but they didn't need to know that. I then followed up by releasing all my subdued essence, which made the air crackle with static electricity.

"Now let me show you how a true mage fights."