Chapter 38

C38: Elemental Attribute Class (3)

I looked down at Aidan, who had grown pale, and was a bit perplexed inside.

'What the hell is he doing?'

At first, I thought he was doing something against me. I asked him to stop at that time, but is he expressing his dissatisfaction subtly now?

'Looking at his reaction, it doesn't seem like that's the case.'

He doesn't know what to do. There's no way he's acting. In other words, Aidan doesn't really know how to manifest his elemental attribute, which can be said to be the basis of elemental magic.

I can't believe it. The owner of a rare [unusual] type of magic can't do such a basic thing?

'How should I do this?'

I thought he was a promising player, but seeing that he is blocked in this part, it seems that he is not. Was it because of the special type of magic that he was allowed to enter Theon in the first place?

'Ignoring him like this would be the way to go.'

There is no need to take care of a guy who can't even follow the basic lessons. The more I do that, the more I eat up the precious time of the other students.

Wasn't that something I said when I had the 1st and 2nd graders listen together in class in the first place? I have no intention of being considerate of a guy who can't keep up.

It may be nice for me that Aidan, who may know my secrets, will fall behind in class on his own. Yes, I don't need to do anything. The world is, by nature, a cold place.

* * *

"Aidan. What are you doing?"

Aidan closed his eyes tightly saying that it was finally coming.

"I, that......"

"You can't even manifest the elements. Are you going to rebel against me now?"

All eyes of the students turned to Aidan and Rudger.

Rudger frowned and turned to the students.

"Have the students who are paying attention to this area already perfected their element manifestation? I'll have to check it myself."

The students immediately turned their heads and began to focus on their elements again.

Aidan was sweating profusely and didn't know what to do.

Rudger asked, leaning back.

"Aidan."

"......Yeah."

"Have you not been able to properly express the elements yet?"

"......Yes. I'm ashamed."

Aidan wanted to hide in a mouse hole. All the other students who came in were following the course content brilliantly, but he was lagging behind.

Aidan's entry into Theon was also due to the fact that a kind of 'special exception' was applied, and the basic magic that other people could do basically was still lacking.

"What attribute elements can you use? Do you know that?"

"Fire, water and wind."

I thought he would specialize in more elements just because he dealt with a special type of magic, but he wasn't. It is common knowledge that the more talented a person is, the more elements he can handle.

"Then I'll start with fire."

"Yes."

"I am going to teach you because I can't just let students fall behind from the first class."

"But I......"

"I absolutely loathe having such a guy in my class. Disagreements are not accepted. Concentrate."

"Ah yes!"

"Gather your magic. A basic manifestation should be possible, right?"

"Yeah."

Aidan nodded his head and created a sphere with magic. It was a basic manifestation that anyone could do if they learned a little magic, which could not be called first-level magic.

"Think of turning that magic power into an attribute. As I just said, it's a flame."

"I'll do it."

Aidan looked intently at his magic sphere.

Tracy and Leo silently gave Aidan their supportive gaze.

However, no matter how focused Aidan was, it was difficult to properly manifest the fire attribute. At the moment when he wondered if this was the case, Rudger, who had been watching silently, opened his mouth.

"Don't overthink it and take it easy. No matter how hard you try to think of fire in your head, it is difficult at first. So don't just think with your head, feel with your senses."

"Feel......?"

"Use your senses. Picture the image of a blazing fire. Close your eyes and focus."

"Yeah."

Aidan concentrated on Rudger's advice, and an image of fire came to his mind, however it was not easy.

"Concentrate. Relieve the moment when fire was the most intense in your memory."

"Yes."

When he said that, he felt like he was holding on to something. Concentrating his mind, Aidan was able to slowly recall the most impressive moment from his memory.

—The feeling of burning firewood in a country house.

His family watched the fire. At that time, the scarlet fire fluttered to and fro inside the hearth.

Rudger's voice rang in his ears.

"Now think of the sound of fire."

Instead of answering, Aidan followed Rudger's instructions.

The sound of fire rising in the wind and the sound of burning firewood at the same time. The puzzles were put together one by one in Aidan's head.

Rudger's voice was heard.

"Next is the sense of smell."

Aidan traveled to the depths of his unconscious. The pungent odor from burning firewood and the subtle scent of charcoal. Aidan's family used to cook stew over such a fire.

"You have no sense of taste, so think of the sense of touch. It's about reliving the sensations you felt with your skin when you faced the fire."

Following Rudger's guidance, Aidan created a picture-perfect memory of his past. The senses that were put together one by one vividly recalled the memories of the past.

He recalled a memory from 8 years ago. One day during the cold winter a blizzard blew through the dark blue windows outside. Wrapped in thick clothes to avoid the cold, he put firewood into the stove to keep the burning fire from going out.

His two sisters clung to him and whined that it's cold so the whole family sat down in front of the fireplace and ate together. His sisters chattered, his mother nagged, and his father smiled softly at them.

He couldn't even eat fancy food, and a cold wind blew through the cracks in his clothes that weren't tucked properly. Clearly, the memory of that time is as vivid as it had just happened a moment ago.

The fire was not hot and wasn't scary either. The flame he felt then was warm. He remembered being able to spend the cold winter comfortably.

"That's it."

"Ah."

Aidan opened his eyes at the sound of Rudger's voice and saw a small sphere of flames burning in front of his eyes.

"......!"

Aidan widened his eyes as if in disbelief. It seemed to be like the flame that existed in his memory. It was warm rather than hot, soft rather than destructive.

"Not bad."

Aidan was stunned at Rudger's compliment. Rudger, who had only cruelly criticized the students who were called geniuses, praised him. He wondered if he could call that a compliment, but Rudger's words were positive.

Most of the other students, who had pricked their ears, pretending not to pay attention, were astonished by what he said.

"The flame is more than a normal element, it can be called your own flame. Rather than copying what others have taught and blindly manifesting that, you are expressing the fire element that you felt. That is your magic."

"Is this my magic?"

Aidan stared at the sphere of flame he had created, like a man half lost in spirit but he lost his concentration and fire disappeared like a mirage.

"Aidan."

"Yes, teacher."

"Don't forget that feeling."

Rudger left those words and moved to find the next student.

Aidan still felt like he was dreaming. Leo and Tracy, who were watching anxiously next to him, tapped Aidan's arm.

"Aidan, you are awesome!"

"How did you do that?"

"Uh, huh?"

Rudger's praise for Aidan fueled the enthusiasm of the students who had not yet been evaluated. He glanced at those students and opened his mouth.

"As you may have noticed, this is the method I was trying to tell you at the start of the lecture."

All the students pricked up their ears.

"The application of the senses through experience."

The students waited for the next explanation at the words application of the senses.

"Elemental attributes should be based on a basic understanding of the element. Even a three-year-old knows that fire is simply hot and ice is simply cold. If you are a true wizard, you have to put something special in it."

"Something special?"

"Think of the element you wish to manifest, not as a vague memory, but as an intense moment you actually encountered. Use not only sight, but the five senses to feel the elements."

After following his advice, the students responded with joy from all over.

"Wow!"

"Much better than before!"

The students, who felt the joy of learning magic, focused more on not forgetting this lesson.

Rudger's words were not false. By comparing their memories and experiences, they recalled the elements more meticulously and understood them, much more intense elements were manifested than before.

Even the feeling of the element itself changed according to their experience and inclination.

At that moment, a strong shout erupted from one side.

"OMG. Crazy. What is that?"

"Nested elements? Is she already using that?"

Flora Lumos was at the center of the place where the astonished gaze turned. She created an element with a confident expression. To be precise, it was a combination of two elements into one.

Fire and ice.

The shape of the blazing fire had changed to light blue ice but it was moving little by little, like a ripple. It was the so-called frozen flame.

'Huh. This is nothing.'

At first, Flora was planning to create only one attribute element in moderation. It was simply because she thought it would be enough to keep her from getting criticized by Rudger.

She had already learned how to manifest elements through her five senses, and her unique magic Synesthesia made it possible to manifest the elements with a much higher degree of perfection than others.

But when Rudger carefully taught a first-year kid, and even praised him at the end. Something hot jumped up in Flora's heart and her pride did not tolerate this situation.

'You'll praise me too.'

It is not enough to simply implement one element perfectly. She was Flora Lumos and even within Theon, she has never given up the title of genius.

Wouldn't it be damaging to her self-esteem if her magic was only a single element? So she made two elements, fire and ice, which can be said to be opposites.

Fire and ice can coexist if the two magic techniques are coordinated so that they do not infringe on each other and are weaved together. Their characteristics are merged and transformed into a new form.

The nesting of elements that can be said to be an advanced level of <elemental attributes>.

Flora Lumos could easily combine two elements but she suddenly got greedy. She thought that it was because she was in a strangely good condition and was in a high state of mind. Maybe if she were now, she'd be able to achieve triple element nesting that she had never done before.

'Frozen fire. If I put the wind element's magic in it and make it swirl.'

Flora started making another new magic. Three overlaps of elements by adding one element to the existing two elements overlap. She never managed to do it before but she felt that could succeed now.

When she imagined how Rudger's face would look after she succeeded she felt like laughing but it didn't take long for Flora's complexion to change.

'Uh, huh?'

Flora was the first to "see" with her eyes. The moment the three colors were about to blend beautifully, they suddenly lost their shape and started to collide with each other. That meant that the magic flowed in a direction different from her intentions and failed.

'No!'

In the end, greed turned to anger.

The three attributes collided with each other, generating intense energy. Flora clenched her teeth and tried to restrain them, but it wasn't as easy as she thought.

The magic that had already crossed the threshold was out of her control. As the three elements merged into one, they began to emit increasingly intense light.

"Uh, huh?"

The intense magic felt in the center of the classroom also made the students realize that something was strange.

"Flora! Stop it!"

Her best friend Cheryl, who was sitting next to her, shouted, but Flora couldn't answer. Biting her lips tightly, she could only desperately suppress the magic that was about to run wild. However, she began to lose control more and more.

'I have to stop it somehow!'

If this continues it will explode. In that case, with a determination not to inflict any damage on the surroundings, Flora surrounded herself with a magical barrier. Even if the magic goes wild like this, the magic storm will not spread outside.

Flora tightly closed his eyes but at that moment she felt a warm hand.

"Uh?"

Flora opened her eyes and Rudger was standing in front of her. He faced her, his hands gently clasping the back of her hand, grabbing her magic.

'How?'

Rudger, who came in after breaking the barrier of magic so easily, added his own magic and said,

"Concentrate, Flora Lumos."

"Sir?"

"Don't give up, control your magic."

Flora stared blankly into Rudger's eyes. There was no sign of fear in Rudger's eyes, even in front of the magical power that might explode at any time.

"I will help you."