Chapter 43

C43: Framework

"Flora Lumos, what the hell is going on here? Why are you hanging around my door like a thief?"

At Rudger's words, Flora jumped up from her seat and coughed, wiping the dust off her school uniform skirt.

The forehead Rudger bumped into as he opened the door was still red and flushed, but she tried to pretend it was okay and opened her mouth.

"Hmmmm....I came here because I wanted to ask you something."

She acted gracefully, but she couldn't hide the subtle trembling of her voice.

"If you have any questions related to the content of the class, you can come to me anytime, don't wait outside like this."

"No, not that. First of all, I would like to express my gratitude to Mr. Rudger."

"Gratitude?"

"I, that......You saved me by stopping magic that almost went crazy."

So it was because of that. She came here to say thank you? As Rudger stared at her with a look of surprise, Flora was furious.

"Why are you looking at me like that?"

"It is nothing."

Perhaps it was because she had never expressed gratitude to anyone like this, so Flora was very awkward about herself. She felt something tickling her skin to say this, but she was determined to say it.

"Thank you for saving me."

"I just did what I had to do as a teacher."

Rudger spoke so succinctly, that it seemed like he had no feelings of selflessness at all.

Flora seemed fortunate, but it also strangely hurt her self-esteem. Still, since she came to apologize, she decided not to complain about the little things.

"......I thought that what the teacher said was not wrong at all."

She rubbed the hair with her fingers and hit her feet.

Rudger pondered what else to say and immediately realized what she was talking about.

'Use meaningful magic. Do not lower your value.'

"I wish I had known."

"......Rather, are you okay, sir?"

At Flora's question, Rudger asked, wriggling his eyebrows.

"What do you mean?"

"The power consumption must have been great. I too was exhausted from suppressing my magic power, wasn't it harder for teacher than for me? The burden of helping people is several times higher."

"I'm fine."

Rudger said so, but in fact, he almost passed out from the depletion of his magical powers.

He had a magic potion that he had prepared in advance in case of any unforeseen circumstances, otherwise he might have collapsed in front of the students.

He was fortunate enough to have a lot of medicine in case he would be short of mana. Of course, he ended up using almost all of the medicine he had prepared to stop Flora's magic.

'Well, I can make it again.'

This is Theon so there are places that teach pharmaceutical classes, and there is also a pharmacy room where teachers can freely enter in the research building.

Since the pharmacy room, where he can make any number of medications you want, is equipped with all kinds of materials, it doesn't matter if the teachers just fill out an access list whenever they want and start experimenting right away.

Flora wiggled her fingers and asked.

"How many elements does Mr. Rudger handle?"

"Why are you asking that?"

"You talked about 5 in class. Isn't that quite a lot?"

Rudger suddenly wondered why Flora was asking him so many questions. Most of the children called geniuses move on their own, and because of their strong ego, they don't have much conversation with others.

Rudger thought that Flora was like that. In the class, he thought that she tried to combine 3 elements because of that reason.

A student is still a student, right? She probably wanted to check the level of skill of the teacher who teaches her.

Rudger pondered what to answer.

'Actually, I know how to handle almost everything.'

The 10 most common elements. Rudger knew how to use them 'all'. He was the exact opposite of a single attribute wizard who achieved the ultimate in that element. However, for that reason, he did not achieve a certain level in any element.

In the eyes of others, he may seem like an all-rounder with great talent, but in reality, Rudger himself evaluated himself as an incompetent bastard.

'Even so, if I say I can use every element it will be a problem.'

Among the wizards remaining in the history of the Magic Tower, 8 are known to have handled the most elements. This is the official No. 1 record specified in the <Wizard Book>, the history of wizards but now, Rudger has already broken that record.

If this fact is known, the tower will probably be overturned once more and there will be chaos. A quick-tempered person might want to dissect Rudger alive. In fact, Rudger did not consider it unusual that he dealt with all of the ten elements.

'At first, Master didn't say anything good to me either.'

If I had to pick the person who had the greatest influence on me after I was born in this world, of course Master is number one. He is the one who taught me magic since childhood, how to live in the world, and other miscellaneous tips and knowledge.

He took me as a disciple purely because he thought that I was unique and fun. Even considering that, I felt quite grateful to my teacher. However, since he was such an eccentric person, he only evaluated my source code as 'not bad'.

Naturally, it was his teacher who advised Rudger, who uses all the 10 elements, to say, 'you won't go anywhere with that kind of stuff'.

So, under the serious advice and teachings of his master, Rudger was never arrogant, even if he knew how to handle all ten elements.

"Five elements."

"Five......Surprisingly a lot."

"Is that the end of the questions?"

"I have one more question about the source code. Will the source code be taught to all the students in the class?"

In the first class, Rudger deliberately showed the source code to attract the students' interest.

He didn't stop at just showing. Rudger actually intended to teach students the source code. However, he did not properly explain to whom, how much, and when.

"No, because this magic is like the bottom line for me as well. There are conditions."

"What are the conditions?"

"It's something I will pass on to only the top five students."

In response, Flora smiled curiously.

"That's few since the total capacity of the class is 80 people."

"Because that's magic."

"What about the evaluation? Are you lowering it as a final evaluation of the semester? In one semester, the evaluation is divided into 4 parts in total. It must be difficult to make a decision as the rankings are constantly changing for each evaluation."

"I expected that to happen, so I devised a way."

Rudger immediately activated a magic trick on the palm of his hand.

It could be seen as monotonous because it was made of only pure white magical lines, but the complex structure it created made it impossible to take this magic lightly.

Flora also exclaimed softly at the color felt from the magic itself.

"That's.......a part of the source code."

"You saw it right."

Rudger nodded his head.

As Flora said, the magic technique he has now demonstrated is one of the main components of the source code.

"I call this <Framework>."

"Framework......"

"Source code consists of a total of four frameworks."

"So you want to give this framework to the top 5 on a quarterly basis?"

"Yes. The semester is divided into 4 parts, and each of the 4 frameworks will be delivered one by one. In other words, someone who doesn't consistently make it into the top 5 won't get the entire magic."

The students can't get the complete source code just because they got in the top 5 just once. If they want the entire source code the students will have to attend classes, submit assignments, and pass the exams well for a semester.

Flora, realizing this, looked at Rudger with a slightly bewildered look.

"......You are very calculating."

"I wonder if this solves the problem?"

"By the way, can you just show me this?"

"What do you mean?"

"Isn't this a framework? What if I analyze it?"

Flora pointed to the framework technique still floating on Rudger's hand.

It's impossible for a wizard to keep revealing his magic so openly, unless he trusts the other person.

'Ah.'

Rudger realized his mistake. Wizards basically do not show the magic they have developed to others for a long time. They don't publish a thesis or submit a patent, because if someone copies their technique and claims it's theirs, it will be a headache.

In fact, that often happens. It was for this reason that wizards thoroughly kept their arcane magic a secret.

Rudger recognized his mistake, but he decided it was no big deal.

"Does not matter."

"Yeah?"

"It doesn't matter if you see it."

Rudger knew that Flora Lumos is a genius and after seeing what she did in class today he realized that she'll take the first place.

'No matter what she does in my class, she'll get first place.'

Even if she doesn't, she'll be consistently in the top 5, so it won't be a problem if he shows her a framework anyway. If it were her, she would be able to learn the whole source code.

"Yes?!"

But Flora took Rudger's words differently.

Her face reddened, and then she began to stutter her words out of nowhere, despite her usual arrogance.

"Why are you so upset? After all, aren't you going to confidently take first place in my class and receive a framework?"

"Oh, no, but......."

"Still, it's against the law to say that..."

Flora Lumos replied in a low voice so that Rudger could not hear her. But as she thought about it, she couldn't stop her heart beating.

Even if she pretended not to be blunt on the outside, the fact that this man was taking good care of her made Flora wince her lip and try to keep going up.

"Then I'll let you go."

As Rudger turned his back, Flora unknowingly called him up and stopped him.

"Sir!"

"What else? Do you have any more questions left?"

"No. That, ah, nothing."

As she turned around and saw Rudger's face staring at her with an unwavering gaze, Flora's face flushed red as if it was about to explode.

Hearing those words a while ago, she couldn't possibly look directly at Rudger's face. Just the touch of his eyes made her skin tickle.

'Strange. I've never had anything like this before.'

Rudger looked at Flora, who was bewildered and helpless, and then he turned his back on her and left.

Flora, who had been staring endlessly at Rudger's back as he was leaving, finally regained her reason and calmed her excitement.

'Yes. Calm down Flora Lumos. You aren't like this.'

Wasn't she the one who always made fun of others with her own abilities?

To Rudger, although she tried on the first day, she failed horribly, and she lost again this time but her will has not yet been broken.

Didn't she promise to surpass him next time? Her heart should not have been weakened like this. Flora made up her mind to be weak.

'Come to think of it, I was going to ask what he was talking about with that commoner girl, but I forgot.'

Even if she pretended not to be, she was curious about why Rudger had called Rene separately.