Chapter 22: Ah, I know your level very well

As the magic circle emitted light, the lecture hall fell silent, as if a spell of stillness had descended.  

Clap clap! To the land of illusions.  

Into dreams.  

Thus, silence reigned.  

The summoner from a prestigious family, who had spent the previous night restless with anxiety, quickly closed her eyes and slumped onto her desk.  

In her dreams, she could boldly say the things she hadn’t been able to—like confessing her feelings or apologizing for avoiding someone out of shyness.  

With a bashful smile, she mumbled in her sleep about how she had come to like someone.  

Meanwhile, the hope of the Blue Magic Tower, a woman known as the “Ice Flower,” furrowed her brow but ultimately succumbed to sleep, leaning her weight onto her chair.  

Memories of her carefree childhood surfaced, softening her expression for the first time in a while and relaxing her tense body.  

Crackle-crackle-

Gradually, thin ice began to form along the hem of her clothes, and the surrounding air grew colder.  

It wasn’t just them. 

A spirit summoner girl with wolf ears also fell into a gentle slumber, and the top student of the year—a woman heralded as the next leader of the Mystic Sect—closed her eyes softly as well.  

Every student in the lecture hall, without a shred of doubt, stared at the magic circle and promptly fell asleep.  

Caught in the trap set by the professor.  

To the land of dreams.  

That should’ve been the normal outcome…  

“…Mm.”  

Yet one person remained awake, acting as if nothing had happened, with an utterly nonchalant demeanor.  

Shin Yuseong.  

The only male student in Combat Department Class 1, and a skilled individual who had clinched first place in the level test by the slimmest of margins.  

According to other professors, his classroom attitude was impeccable—a veritable dream student.  

Truly, he lived up to the praise.  

The only thing that bothered her was…  

Breaking a high-ranking mage’s spell in an instant was undoubtedly something to boast about.  

Yet, instead of pride, he wore an expression of apology for not reacting to the magic in time, which nagged at her.  

Aris Severus, the combat department’s magic professor, unconsciously rubbed the bridge of her nose as a thought struck her.  

Why does he have such a subtle reaction despite dispelling the magic on his own?

Perhaps he hadn’t actually dispelled the spell—maybe he’d just been lost in thought for a moment.  

If he’d been dozing off at the perfect moment and avoided falling into the dream, that would explain the awkward, apologetic look he was giving her.  

It made some sense.  

She hadn’t expected someone so universally praised by the faculty to be like this, but it seemed that during the lecture… he’d briefly zoned out or gotten distracted.  

She wasn’t about to reprimand him for it.  

Yes, even a seemingly perfect human—student—could make mistakes.  

But if he didn’t intentionally cause this situation, then he didn’t perfectly dispel the spell.

Even if his exceptional skill was aided by a stroke of luck, he wouldn’t survive repeatedly without knowing the proper counter.  

Thus, she decided she needed to test him again.  

With that thought, Aris Severus furrowed her brow slightly and snapped her fingers.  

Snap!

A kind of trigger to reinforce the spell.  

The light of the magic circle bewitched the eyes, while the sound, transmitted through the medium of air, dominated the ears.  

The intricate design of the magic, controlled by a high-ranking mage, combined with profound mana.  

Snap!

All these elements aligned perfectly, creating a spell where mere coincidence wouldn’t suffice.  

An unplanned second stage of the illusion spell.  

A second level test, just for him.  

“Open.”  

“Infused with worldly enchantment, 《Magical Illusion Manipulation》.”  

To the land of illusions, together.  

Blink blink

“Ah.”  

After blinking a few times, Professor Aris Severus stared blankly at the male student still locking eyes with her, as if nothing had happened.  

His expression showed no sign of resisting or overcoming any spell.  

Aris blinked repeatedly, wondering if this was reality.  

What’s going on? 

Is this a dream? 

Is this not real?  

She was starting to doubt herself when Shin Yuseong, having unintentionally dispelled yet another spell, opened his mouth with a visibly flustered 

“Oops.”  

“Ahh!”  

For Aris, who had gone to the trouble of casting an elaborate spell, this reaction somehow made her even more irritated.  

***

Meanwhile, in her dream—where she was holding a wedding with him, raising two kids, and lecturing them with “Listen to Daddy”—  

“…Mm, huh?”  

Sephine Alabard suddenly stirred, blinking as she regained her senses.  

Wait, what? 

When did I fall asleep?

Having never experienced this before in her life, she was startled and quickly scanned her surroundings with a flustered expression.  

It wasn’t about checking if others were watching her.  

Some people in the world valued the honor of a noble family or took immense pride in being a mage, but she didn’t care about that.  

As long as everyone else is fine, I just hope the Hero didn’t see me sleeping like a log.

Praying inwardly, Sephine only cared about Shin Yuseong’s reaction.  

But for some reason, he wasn’t in his usual seat.  

She blinked in confusion, turning her head this way and that, chasing the afterimage of the man.  

Even so, she couldn’t spot him.  

Murmur murmur-

Then she realized—though not to her extent—everyone around her looked equally bewildered. 

The atmosphere was one of people just waking up after a brief blackout, and Sephine Alabard pieced it together.  

…Oh, I was caught in a spell!  

It was a bit embarrassing for a mage, but there was only one person here capable of pulling this off. 

Following a natural train of thought, Sephine shifted her gaze to the magic professor, Aris, standing at the podium.  

She must’ve done this to teach us a lesson, and now she’ll show us how to break it.

She looked over with what she thought was a reasonable deduction—  

Professor Aris Severus stood at the podium with an expression colder and more rigid than usual.  

It wasn’t quite anger at everyone who had fallen asleep without resistance—her face carried an oddly melancholic air.  

She remained frozen like that until everyone regained their senses and looked at her, then finally began to move.  

Tap, tap.  

Her hand tapping the green chalkboard seemed strangely devoid of energy.  

“Let’s resume the lecture.”  

Sephine, eager to make a good impression on the Hero, quickly focused on the lesson.  

***

[The goddess, flustered, says she feels like she’s committed some grave mistake.]  

I got kicked out of class.  

Even back in middle school when I was ruled by the Black Flame Dragon, or in my hot-blooded first year of high school, this had never happened.  

Should I call it embarrassing?  

It felt like I’d unintentionally done something wrong.  

“You don’t need to attend this class today. You’ve passed. Go rest.”

In truth, far from doing something wrong, I’d been praised by the professor for doing exceptionally well…  

“The professor looked kind of dejected, didn’t she?”

[The goddess, with a serious expression, elaborates that it wasn’t just a little—she looked utterly devastated.]  

Devastated, really…?  

“Ugh.”  

I wanted to play along, and I’d even mentally prepared myself to react.  

But the spell came at me with such ambiguous strength that I hesitated and couldn’t respond.  

I mean, I braced myself, expecting it to hit me with a whoosh—  

“Is the professor weaker than I thought?” 

No, more likely, I’m just too resistant to magic, like it’s my natural counter.  

It makes sense, in a way.  

I’ve never formally learned magic, but how many demons and devils have I killed by now?  

I forged my soul and body to break their spells, building resistance by directly enduring their tricks.  

It’s been so long since a human mage last got the better of me that I must’ve misjudged their power.  

Yeah, I really did something I should feel sorry about.  

Anyway, having successfully completed the lecture, I earned some time to lie on a bed in the men’s lounge. Staring blankly at the ceiling, I muttered to myself:  

“Ahh, I get it now—your level.”  

So this is the magic of this world?  

Even the weakest of the Four Heavenly Kings would be at this level.  

How laughable…  

[The goddess, with a grave expression, advises me never to say that in front of people.]  

“I’m not going to, okay?”  

Step, step-

***

Having finished the lecture, Aris Severus leaned back in her chair with a dazed look, as if she’d just woken from a nightmare.  

That morning, she’d been brimming with energy for the first class of the semester.  

But now, for some reason, all the strength had drained from her body.  

“Ha…”

She was dumbfounded.  

She sat there, blinking, groaning softly until the phone on her desk rang.  

Ring-ring-ring-ring-

With the incessant ringing showing no sign of stopping, Aris sighed, shook off her lingering thoughts, and picked up the receiver.  

“Hello? Oh, have you finished your class, Professor Aris?”  

It was Shin Arin, a combat department professor currently away on a periodic subjugation mission in Africa.  

They weren’t particularly close, but Aris had picked up on her conversation patterns during recent lunch breaks.  

As a high-ranking mage with a knack for foresight, Aris covered her eyes with her palm and sighed.  

“So, did our Yuseong fall to the magic? I bet he didn’t. Right? I just love that kid—his mana barrier is impressive, but the effort and passion he put into getting there are what really stand out. Oh, right, so did Yuseong withstand the magic? Hello? Professor Aris? Are you listening?”

“Ah, I suddenly feel like dying.”

***

Ding!  

A text message popped up.  

It was from the school notification app I’d downloaded at someone’s insistence.  

Getting a message after three weeks felt kind of novel.  

[The goddess covers her mouth with both hands, sneakily glancing at me as she reads the message.]  

But the contents were far from ordinary.  

<The day’s lecture will be canceled due to health issues.>  

“…Huh.”  

It’s probably just a coincidence, but getting a cancellation notice for an advanced magic class after only the second session?  

No way…  

There’s no way this has anything to do with me, right?  

Denying it for a moment, I checked the follow-up notification and smacked my lips, deciding to just accept it.  

The ever-diligent professor had even attached a photo of a medical certificate.  

[Reason: Mental strain]  

…Oh, I see. I can’t argue with that.  

“Hm.”  

Looks like I really did mess up.