Re:Birth: A Slow Burn LitRPG Mage Regressor

Vivian adjusted her glasses and carefully traced another line in her notebook, forming the delicate curves of an amplification rune.

The common room buzzed with the usual afternoon chatter, but she'd found a corner table where she could work relatively undisturbed. Her collection of runic theory books formed a protective wall around her workspace.

She was working on a theoretical modification to the standard light rune--adding a tertiary loop that might allow for color variation without requiring additional mana input. It was probably beyond sixth-year level work, but runes had always made more sense to her than people did.

"Hey, Eren, I heard you know our new teacher?"

The voice drifted over from a nearby table where Kaelan had just sat down across from Eren. Vivian didn't look up from her work, but she couldn't help overhearing.

"What do you mean?" Eren's voice sounded cautious.

"My father's on the Academy Council," Kaelan said, lowering his voice with the satisfaction of someone about to deliver premium gossip. "He told me the battle mage sixth years are getting a new runicology professor this year."

Vivian's hand paused mid-stroke. A new runicology professor? That was actually interesting. Professor Jade had been teaching the same material for decades without any real innovation.

"It's the Ghost."

There was a long pause. Vivian glanced up to see Eren staring at Kaelan with an unreadable expression.

"The Ghost of Xerkes," Kaelan continued, clearly enjoying the reaction he was getting. "You know, the guy who--"

"I know who you mean," Eren said quietly.

"My father was at the meeting when they announced it. Apparently he applied for the position and they couldn't say no. I mean, who's going to turn down a four times Krozball champion?"

Now Vivian did look up properly, her attention fully captured.

"The guy's what, Nineteen? Twenty?" Kaelan leaned forward conspiratorially. "And he's already a certified runicologist, battle mage, and druid. At the same time. Do you know how impossible that is?"

Vivian's eyes widened behind her glasses. A triple certification at that age? She'd read about theoretical frameworks for combining different disciplines, but she'd rarely heard of anyone actually achieving mastery in multiple fields simultaneously. Not in a while.

Other students were starting to drift over, drawn by the increasingly animated conversation. Lyanna dropped into the chair next to Kaelan, her notebook forgotten.

"Are you talking about Adom Sylla?" she asked breathlessly. "I can't believe he's going to be teaching here. I remember seeing him around campus all the time when he was still a student. That wasn't even that long ago!"

"I remember him too," added Theron, leaning against the table. "He was incredible at krozball. Single-handedly won the inter-academy championship four years running."

"And now he's going to be our professor," Lyanna continued, a dreamy look in her eyes. "Those eyes of his... so blue and deep and mysterious."

Ew.

Vivian made a face and returned to her notebook. Of course they were more interested in his appearance than his academic achievements.

"It's that white streak in his hair that gets me," said Mira, who'd appeared seemingly from nowhere.

Ewww...

"They say it's a mark from when he got trapped in that high-ranking dungeon. Survived for days, killed dozens of monsters..."

"Some say hundreds," Theron corrected.

Eren wasn't saying much, Vivian noticed. Just sitting there with that neutral expression he got when he didn't want to be part of a conversation but couldn't escape it either. She assumed he already knew about the appointment--maybe that's why he looked so resigned.

"Does he have a girlfriend?" Mira asked suddenly.

"I heard he was dating someone..." Lyanna tapped her chin thoughtfully.

"Wait," said Caspian, approaching with more students trailing behind him. "I heard something else. My brother graduated last year, and he's got friends who work in the administrative offices. They're saying the Ghost isn't just taking over runicology."

"What do you mean?" Kaelan asked.

"He's also going to be our titular professor. Replacing Crowley."

That got a reaction from Eren. A very quiet "Oh no" that probably only Vivian caught because she was paying attention.

The crowd around Eren's table was growing larger now, and their voices were getting louder. Vivian sighed and tried to concentrate on her work, but it was becoming impossible.

"You do know him, don't you?" Lyanna was studying Eren's face. "I can tell by the way you're reacting."

"What's he like?" Theron asked eagerly. "Is he really as powerful as they say?"

"Does he actually glow white instead of blue when he uses magic?"

"Is it true he can fly for hours?"

"I heard he once killed a troll during his fourth year!"

Eren just shrugged noncommittally at most of the questions, which only seemed to make people more curious.

"Will he sign things? I have a copy of the official report from the Xerkes incident--"

"Is he really single?"

"Mira!"

"What? I'm asking for a friend."

The questions came faster now, a rapid-fire barrage. More students were gathering, drawn by the commotion.

"What's his favorite spell?"

"Does he have a familiar?"

"Is he going to be strict?"

"Will he teach us advanced battle magic?"

"How did he get so good at everything so young?"

"I heard he developed entirely new runic sequences!"

That last comment made Vivian look up sharply. New runic sequences? If that was true, studying under him could be incredible. She watched Eren's increasingly uncomfortable expression as the crowd pressed closer around his table. He wasn't answering most of the questions, just giving noncommittal shrugs or saying "I don't know" in a way that clearly meant he wanted the conversation to end.

Finally, she couldn't take the noise anymore.

She closed her notebook with a soft snap and moved to a quieter corner of the room, settling down with her books again. But just as she was reopening her notebook, Darien's voice cut through the chatter.

"Vivi's at it again with the mysterious symbols."

She looked up to see Darien approaching with his usual group, including Lyanna, who he'd been trying to impress for months now. The crowd around Eren had temporarily dispersed as people noticed the new source of entertainment.

"What are you working on this time?" Darien asked, peering over her shoulder with exaggerated curiosity. "Trying to invent a new rune?"

"Just modifications to existing ones," Vivian said quietly, hoping he'd lose interest quickly.

"That sounds incredibly complicated." Darien grinned at his audience. "I can barely manage the basic ones we're supposed to know."

Lyanna laughed, which seemed to encourage him.

"You know what I've always wondered?" Darien continued, reaching for her notebook. "How do you even see to draw these tiny details?"

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Before Vivian could stop him, he'd plucked her glasses right off her face. The world immediately dissolved into a frustrating blur of shapes and colors.

"Darien," she said, blinking rapidly as she tried to adjust. "I need those."

"Relax, I'm just looking at them." He held the glasses up to the light, examining them. "Wow, these are really thick. No wonder you're always squinting at everything."

"Can you give them back, please?"

"In a minute. Lyanna, look at these lenses. They're like little magnifying glasses."

"She probably sees everything differently," Darien continued, clearly enjoying his captive audience. "Like living in a completely different world."

"Darien, I really can't see without them."

"That's what makes it interesting! Here, catch." He tossed the glasses to one of his friends.

"Don't--" Vivian stood up quickly, misjudging the distance to the table and nearly knocking over her books.

The glasses suddenly stopped mid-air, floating gently back toward her. Vivian caught them with relief, quickly putting them back on and blinking as the world came back into focus.

Eren was standing a few feet away, his hand still raised from casting the simple retrieval spell. His expression was completely neutral.

"Thanks," Vivian said quietly.

Darien looked back at Lyanna, then at the small crowd that had been watching. There was a moment of uncomfortable silence as everyone processed what had just happened.

"That was unnecessary," Darien said finally, but his voice had lost some of its earlier confidence. "You're making me look like a bully here."

"You were being a bully," Eren said simply, lowering his hand. "Go back to your table, Darien. Find something else to do."

This idiot, Vivian thought, watching Darien's expression. She could practically see him calculating whether backing down would damage his reputation more than pushing forward.

"Just because you're older doesn't mean you get to boss everyone around," Darien said, his voice taking on that edge again.

Eren didn't rise to the bait. "I'm not bossing anyone around. I'm suggesting you stop bothering people and go sit down."

"Right. Because you're so mature and responsible." Darien was warming up now, encouraged by the fact that more students had started paying attention again. "Going on official missions, knowing famous people. Must be nice being the academy's special case."

Eren's expression didn't change, but Vivian noticed his posture shift slightly. "Darien, just drop it."

"Oh, I should drop it? Because you know the Ghost personally, that makes you untouchable?"

Eren said nothing, which only seemed to encourage Darien more.

"Everyone knows you were friends with him when he was still a student here. Probably think that makes you special or something."

Lyanna was looking increasingly uncomfortable now, glancing between Darien and Eren with worry. But Darien seemed completely oblivious to her expression, too focused on salvaging his pride.

"Just because you went on some mission to the north doesn't mean you're better than the rest of us," Darien continued, his voice getting louder. "And just because you're old enough to be our older brother doesn't mean we have to listen to you."

Eren's jaw tightened slightly. "I'm not trying to be anyone's older brother."

"Good, because some of us don't need one."

"Darien," Lyanna said quietly, tugging at his sleeve. "Maybe we should--"

"No, I'm tired of this." Darien shook her off, and Vivian could see Lyanna's face fall. "Tired of him acting like he's in charge of everything just because he's a couple years older."

Even Lyanna looked genuinely worried now, but Darien was too focused on Eren to notice. Vivian shook her head slightly. He was so focused on not looking weak that he couldn't see how his behavior was actually affecting the person he was trying to impress.

"You want to know what I think?" Darien said, taking a step closer to Eren. "I think you're just embarrassed that someone the same age as you is going to be our professor. Must hurt, right?"

"That's enough," Eren said, his voice lower now.

"Is it? Because I think we're just getting started--"

The common room door swung open.

Every head in the room turned toward the sound.

Darien's voice cut off mid-sentence.

Vivian squinted toward the doorway, suddenly very grateful to have her glasses back, but even with clear vision, she could only make out a tall figure silhouetted against the hallway light.

But she could feel the change in the room's atmosphere. The way everyone had suddenly gone very, very still.

The tall figure stepped into the room, and Vivian immediately recognized him despite the year that had passed since she'd last seen him around campus.

Adom Sylla moved with the easy confidence of someone completely unaware that an entire room full of students had just gone silent.

Several scrolls and thick textbooks floated behind him in a neat formation, bobbing gently in the air as he walked. He was adjusting his glasses with one hand while muttering something under his breath about "theoretical applications versus practical implementation."

He looked older than Vivian remembered, though not by much.

The white streak in his dark hair was more pronounced now, and there was something in his bearing that suggested he'd seen considerably more of the world since his student days. But he still had that same focused intensity she remembered—the way he'd walk across campus completely absorbed in whatever problem he was working on, usually with his red-headed friend chattering beside him and a blue quillick perched on his shoulder.

She'd seen him with Eren plenty of times too, along with a few other students who seemed to orbit around him like he was some kind of academic gravity well.

He looked up from whatever he'd been mumbling about and blinked at the sea of frozen faces staring back at him.

"Oh, hello class." His voice was pleasant, carrying easily across the silent room. "I'm not late, am I?"

He pulled out a pocket watch and looked at it. "Oh, good. One minute early."

The floating books and scrolls arranged themselves neatly on the front desk as he moved to the center of the room.

"Nice to meet you all. I'm Professor Adom Sylla," he said, gesturing casually toward the blackboard. Chalk lifted itself and began writing his name in neat, precise letters. "I'll be teaching runicology this year, and apparently serving as your titular professor as well."

His gaze swept across the room, taking in their faces. "I couldn't help but overhear a bit of commotion on my way in," he continued, his tone remaining pleasant but gaining a subtle edge. "I want to make something clear from the start—I don't tolerate bullying in my classroom. Or fighting, for that matter. We're all here to learn, and that works best when everyone feels safe to ask questions and make mistakes."

He didn't look at anyone in particular, but Vivian noticed Darien shift uncomfortably in his seat.

"That said," Adom continued, his smile returning, "I'm looking forward to working with all of you this year. I have some exciting ideas about practical runic applications that I think you'll find interesting."

His gaze found Eren, and his expression became noticeably warmer. "Some of you I already know, of course. Hello, Eren."

Eren rolled his eyes in response, a gesture so subtle that Vivian was probably the only one who caught it. When she glanced back at Professor Sylla, she realized he'd noticed her noticing—and he smiled at her.

Vivian felt her cheeks warm slightly. She'd been studying him with the same analytical attention she usually reserved for particularly complex runes, and he'd caught her at it.

But his expression suggested he found her observation amusing rather than annoying, which was... unexpectedly reassuring. Most professors didn't appreciate being studied quite so intently.

She was starting to suspect that Adom Sylla might be the kind of teacher who actually noticed things. Who paid attention to the quiet students in the back corner, not just the ones who raised their hands constantly or caused disruptions.

That could be either very good or very problematic for someone who preferred to blend into the background.

"Now then," he said, clapping his hands together with obvious enthusiasm. "Who can tell me what the fundamental limitation of standard amplification runes is?"

*****

Adom looked out at the class and felt his enthusiasm deflate slightly.

Damn. No one was raising their hand.

"Really?" he asked, letting a note of surprise creep into his voice. "No one?"

His gaze found Eren, who was studying his desk and pretending not to exist. This little... Adom knew Eren knew the answer.

But the fact that Eren wasn't volunteering wasn't what worried him. What worried him was whether the rest of the class actually knew the material or if they were just intimidated by having the Ghost of Xerkes suddenly standing in front of them asking questions.

He was about to sigh and give the answer himself when a hand rose hesitantly from the back corner.

The blonde girl with the thick glasses. The one who'd been watching him with that analytical intensity when he'd entered. She did look properly nerdy, which was encouraging. Rune enthusiasts usually were. And as a fellow rune lover, he could appreciate that.

Adom smiled. "Yes, Miss...?"

"Vivian," she said quietly. "Vivian Hartwell."

"Miss Hartwell. Do you have an answer for us?"

She adjusted her glasses and straightened slightly. "Standard amplification runes are limited by exponential mana decay. The tertiary binding loop creates feedback resonance that increases power draw by roughly forty percent for every additional amplification layer."

Adom nodded, pleased. That was exactly right.

But she wasn't finished.

"The fundamental issue is that the rune treats each amplification as a separate magical process rather than a unified enhancement matrix," she continued, warming to the subject. "So instead of smooth power scaling, you get geometric mana requirements that make anything beyond basic amplification prohibitively expensive. The theoretical solution would be restructuring the core binding pattern to create recursive reinforcement loops, but that requires modifying the fundamental architecture of how amplification magic interfaces with ambient mana flow."

Adom blinked.

She'd just explained not only the limitation he'd asked about, but the entire theoretical framework behind why that limitation existed and the general direction research was taking to address it. In one breath. Without consulting any notes.

"Where did you learn that?" he asked, genuinely curious now.

Vivian looked suddenly uncomfortable, as if she'd said too much. "I... read a lot."

"That's not standard sixth-year battle mage curriculum," Adom said. "In fact, most of what you just described is advanced graduate-level runic theory. Battle mage programs focus on basic defensive and offensive applications."

She shifted in her seat, clearly wishing she could disappear. "I know."

"So why are you in the battle mage track if you have this level of runic knowledge?"

"My mother is a runicologist," Vivian said quietly. "She taught me. But I wanted to be a battle mage for... personal reasons."

The way she said 'personal reasons' suggested this was not a topic she wanted to explore further. Adom filed that away for later consideration.

"I see. That's interesting."

But it was more than interesting. Runicology was vast, and at the advanced levels, fiendishly complex. For someone her age to have that depth of understanding suggested either exceptional natural talent or truly outstanding instruction. Probably both.

His curiosity was thoroughly piqued now.

"If you don't mind me asking," he said carefully, "who is your mother?"

"Lysandra Kallistrate," Vivian replied.

Oh.

Adom went very still.

Lysandra Kallistrate. The Lysandra Kallistrate.

He let out a little cough, and maintained a neutral face, but his thoughts were churning now. This new life had been full of surprises, to say the least.

First, there had been Eren—someone he'd never known in his previous life, but who had somehow become a two-circle mage at twelve years old.

Then Fili, who he knew would grow up to become the legendary blacksmith Fyre.

And now he was meeting the daughter of the woman who, in his original timeline, would become his mentor in advanced runic theory three years from now. The same woman who would take him on as her assistant and teach him the fundamentals of primordial rune research.

This was remarkably good fortune.

He'd been planning to approach Lysandra Kallistrate anyway for a project he had in mind regarding primordial runes with Professor Kim. Only now, instead of trying to convince her to work with him three years in the future, he had a direct connection to her right here in his classroom.

Three years early.

Very, very good.