The Villain Professor's Second Chance

Draven's cold, piercing gaze swept across the lecture hall, lingering on each student as if reading their very thoughts. His sharp eyes held no sympathy for the haggard faces that stared back at him, exhaustion evident in the way they slouched in their seats. Amberine, Elara, and Maris sat among the others, sharing the same fatigue, but none dared to speak.

The weight of the mid-term exam hung heavily over the room, and now, with their results given, the anticipation was almost unbearable.

For Draven, the tension was expected, perhaps even calculated. He was not the type of professor to coddle his students or spare them from the harsh realities of magic. His method was clear—he would push them to their breaking point, and only then would they truly begin to understand the depth of their abilities.

Today, he stood before them not just as a lecturer but as an unyielding force, a master of magic who had crafted the exam specifically to test more than their technical skill. It wasn't enough to simply cast spells or weave mana. Draven demanded creativity, emotional control, and adaptability—qualities that went beyond memorization. It was, in his eyes, a test of their potential as true magicians.

"The exam you've all just taken," Draven began, his voice as cold and measured as ever, "was designed to do more than challenge your knowledge of magic theory. Any textbook could teach you that. What I am interested in, however, is your ability to adapt to the unpredictable, to weave emotion into your magic without letting it overwhelm you, and to create something new from the chaos."

The room remained silent, the only sound the quiet rustling of robes as the students shifted in their seats. Amberine leaned forward slightly, her exhaustion momentarily forgotten as she listened intently. Beside her, Elara sat with her arms crossed, her stoic expression unreadable, though the glint in her eyes suggested she, too, was paying close attention.

Maris, usually more reserved, seemed to hang on Draven's every word, her mind still reeling from the strain of the exam.

Draven took a step forward, his gaze never wavering. "You have all struggled with this exam. Some of you more than others. But there are layers to each question, layers that I expect you to understand, or at the very least, begin to grasp.

Today, I will guide you through those layers, not to show you how difficult magic can be, but to reveal how simple it actually is—if you approach it from the right perspective."

A flick of his finger, and the room's temperature seemed to drop slightly, the magic in the air shifting as Draven prepared to dissect the exam.

He pointed his finger toward the front of the room, and in an instant, a glowing magic circle appeared in the air, rotating slowly. The first question.

"Let's start with question one: Deciphering the Corrupted Circle." His psychokinesis pen hovered in the air, tracing over the floating diagram of the corrupted magic circle, the fire and earth elements tangled in chaotic wind energy. "Many of you approached this question by trying to fight the wind element directly, as if eliminating it would stabilize the circle. That is incorrect."

He glanced at Amberine, who stiffened slightly. She remembered the frustration of trying to force the wind energy into submission, her fire magic clashing violently with it.

"The wind was not the problem. The problem was your perspective," Draven continued, his voice precise, each word like a sharpened blade. "Chaos doesn't always need to be controlled. Sometimes, it needs to be redirected. The wind element was there to disrupt, yes, but it was also there to balance the flow of fire and earth.

All you needed to do was realign the circle's mana flow to work with the wind rather than against it."

The magic circle shifted, and the wind energy began to flow smoothly, spiraling around the fire and earth elements rather than disrupting them. The simplicity of the solution was staggering. Amberine felt her cheeks heat up, not from her fire magic, but from embarrassment.

It had been right in front of her the whole time, but she had been too focused on overpowering the problem rather than solving it.

Draven's eyes flicked toward Elara next. "Question two: Elemental Harmony of Fire and Ice."

With a mere thought, another diagram appeared, this one showing the opposing forces of fire and ice, their destructive natures threatening to cancel each other out. Elara had spent hours agonizing over this question, trying to balance the mana ratios without losing control of the opposing elements.

"Most of you approached this as a mathematical problem," Draven said, his voice calm but firm. "You attempted to balance fire and ice by calculating precise mana ratios, thinking that logic alone would harmonize the elements. That is also incorrect."

Elara's brow furrowed slightly. She had been so sure of her calculations.

"Fire and ice are not just opposites in elemental theory—they represent opposing emotional states as well," Draven explained. "The trick is not in balancing their power through numbers, but through emotional control. Fire is passion, ice is calm. Only when you master the balance between those emotions—when you can maintain both calm and intensity—can you fuse these elements into a stable spell."

The fire and ice in the projection shifted, merging into a harmonious stream of energy, balanced perfectly not by mana, but by emotional equilibrium. Elara's eyes widened ever so slightly. Of course. It wasn't just about the numbers—it had been about her emotions all along. She had approached the problem like a puzzle to be solved with logic, but it was deeper than that.

Draven moved on, his pen tracing the next question with effortless precision. "Question three: Mana Weave Combination. Fireball and Water Shield."

This had been a particularly frustrating one for many students, the idea of weaving two opposing spells together without causing disruption had left them baffled. Draven wasted no time in addressing the core issue.

"Many of you tried to force the fireball and water shield to coexist, without understanding the nature of the weave," he said, his tone clipped and focused. "The key to weaving spells isn't brute force—it's timing and flow. You must allow the two spells to complement each other, rather than clash."

He demonstrated with a flick of his wrist, the fireball and water shield appearing side by side in the air. The fire and water began to intertwine, not through force, but through a careful dance of mana, each element moving in harmony with the other.

"Emotional state plays a critical role here as well," Draven added. "If your emotions are turbulent, the weave will be disrupted. Calm focus is required, especially when combining opposing elements. A moment of imbalance, and the entire weave collapses."

Amberine slouched slightly in her seat, remembering how she had tried to push her fire magic into the water shield with sheer willpower, only for the whole thing to explode in her face. Elara, though more reserved, had struggled too, trying to calculate the exact mana flow without factoring in the emotional side of the equation.

The next magic circle appeared, showing a complex design of intertwined elements. "Question four: Constructing a Spell Nexus."

"Here, you were asked to create a nexus that balanced both offensive and defensive magic using three elements of your choice," Draven began, his voice now carrying a subtle note of challenge. "Most of you understood the theory, but your execution lacked balance. The issue wasn't the elements you chose—it was how you distributed their power."

He pointed to the magic circle, highlighting the nexus's core. "A spell nexus is not just about power—it's about flow. The offense and defense must feed into each other, drawing strength from the same source without draining it dry. Many of you created nexuses that either leaned too heavily on offense, leaving the defense weak, or vice versa."

The diagram shifted, showing a perfectly balanced nexus where offensive lightning spells powered defensive earth barriers, and vice versa. "The key is in the flow—offense supports defense, and defense strengthens offense."

Maris, who had used illusions in her nexus, watched closely. She had struggled to balance the power of her offensive and defensive spells, and now she saw why. She had been too focused on keeping them separate, when they should have been feeding into one another.

"Question five," Draven continued, moving on without missing a beat. "Emotional Influence on Magic."

This question had been deceptively simple, asking students to describe the effect of heightened emotions like anger on spellcasting. Many had assumed it was straightforward, but Draven made it clear they had missed the nuance.

"Anger and frustration, when channeled properly, can fuel your magic—particularly fire magic," Draven said, his gaze shifting briefly to Amberine. "But if left unchecked, those emotions lead to volatility. The key is in controlling the flame, not letting it control you."

A projection of a fire spell flickered in the air, growing more and more erratic as emotions flared, until finally, it exploded out of control. "Many of you let the fire consume you, rather than guiding it."

The explanation continued, each question dissected with cold precision, each solution laid bare before the students. The layers of complexity that had seemed insurmountable during the exam now appeared simple under Draven's scrutiny. He made it seem effortless, but the students knew better—it wasn't the questions that had been difficult. It had been their own understanding, or lack thereof.

By the time Draven reached the final question—The Convergence of Magic and Emotion—the students were thoroughly humbled. Amberine, Elara, and Maris had thought they had understood the question well enough, but Draven's explanation had them questioning their entire approach to magic.

He stood in front of them, a single finger raised, calling forth another projection—this time, a glowing sphere representing the convergence of magic and emotion.

"And now, the last question,"

As Draven's words landed in the last question, Amberine, Elara, and Maris stiffened. It's not because they are not confident with their results, they already got A, after all.
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But what they are interested in is.

What kind of projection would the professor's magical emotions show them through question 10?

That is something that all of them very much like to know.