What’s the most important thing in magic?

It’s the incantation.

This had been an unchanging common sense until now, and it was a statement based on actual experience that countless magicians had felt while using magic all this time.

However.

For Shati, this thing that was as good as common sense was overturned overnight. Because of Meiyel, the professor of her magic class.

What she said was the source of magic is ‘imagination’.

It was an idea that no one had ever had before, but as they actually became able to use non-verbal magic by firmly establishing their imagination as she said, Shati’s own skills skyrocketed, and this was the same for other students who were taking the class together, so they had to realize that Meiyel’s words were an undeniable theory.

Therefore, for Shati, who had lived a life full of arrogance until now, Meiyel was nothing short of an object of admiration.

Although Shati had never respected even her father who had received the title of Archmage, for the first time, she came to respect someone.

Following in her footsteps and trying to grasp her coattails somehow, when she suddenly looked back, Shati had recorded growth far higher than her growth over the past 10 years, and as she chased hard for a month like that, she was able to know Meiyel in detail.

‘I was able to know quite a lot.’

Things like how she always had eyes half-closed with a cat-like impression, but in fact, she wasn’t sleepy at all, or how she unexpectedly had good physical abilities and could easily lift loads exceeding 100kg, and yet she solved most things with magic despite having such physical abilities.

And among these, what she had believed until most recently was that she had different aspects from her other sisters.

Right away, if you heard stories from her classmates Arin, Kana, and Riana, they had heard that Meiyel’s sisters, Aria, Kama, and Yujia, were like demons, with their classes being Spartan-style and conducting classes inorganically as if it was nothing.

But what about Meiyel, whom she respected? Although the classes were quite Spartan-style, didn’t she always heal us with her cute appearance?

Her drawling way of speaking is cute, and her eyes blinking slowly to match are even cuter. All the students taking the magic class had been healed by Meiyel’s appearance like this while taking the class.

If she were to be called an angel, the word angel would come out, but the word demon could never come out.

However, as I said earlier, this was only ‘what she had believed until recently’.

“You all saw that noble earlier, right…? Flying into the sky and falling to the ground…. So today… we’re going to learn gravity magic…”

The first words Meiyel said when the magic class started.

Hearing those words, Shati couldn’t help but think.

These sisters are all the same in the head, from the older ones to the younger one.

---

Somehow, when I said we’re going to learn gravity magic, the students’ faces became extremely gloomy.

…Why on earth?

No, I really don’t understand the reason.

Now that everyone can use non-verbal magic, adding a little magical property to that and learning gravity magic shouldn’t be too much, right?

‘Well… I don’t know the reason, but we have to learn it anyway. I guess there’s no need to worry about it?’

I was considering whether to find out why the students had become gloomy, but soon gave up on the thought and shook my head.

The gravity magic we’re going to learn this time will shine brightly when we go to the Underwater Kingdom, so as many as possible need to master it perfectly.

Therefore, the students have no right of refusal. Though it seems like they never had it from the beginning anyway.

I finished this series of thoughts and, as I had done in the classes so far, waved my staff to visualize the magic in the air.

Being able to use non-verbal magic means that one’s proficiency as a magician has reached a certain level.

If so, it was more efficient to show the class using magic directly like this rather than writing formulas on the blackboard.

“Well then… let’s start the class…”

At my words, the students came up holding their wands and staffs on their own and sat in a cone shape in front of me.

Of course, since they were students who could now somewhat materialize imagination, they each sat down after creating chairs by reconstructing the magic of earth.

And only after checking the students who had sat down like that once did I turn my eyes back to the magic I had visualized.

Saa──

The magic glowing blue, befitting the wind element attribute as it was spread in the air.

I poked at those magic particles with my staff and asked the students.

“Before learning gravity magic, what you need to know first are the properties of elements… Does anyone know how many basic properties of elements there are…?”

A simple common sense question that magicians know as basics.

Naturally, at such a common sense question of mine, the students raised their hands en masse.

Although I wasn’t giving any points, it seemed they wanted to answer.

As everyone had confident faces and it looked like anyone could give the answer, I pointed at an extra student sitting in the middle.

“Yes… you tell me…”

“Yes! There are eight basic properties of elements: fire, water, earth, wind, light, darkness, life, and death.”

“Hmm, that’s correct…”

As expected of a common sense question, they easily get the answer right.

I nodded to the extra student who got the correct answer and then brought my staff to the visualized magic particles one by one.

Woong───

The magic particles floating like soap bubbles slowly change their color as soon as they touch my staff.

Red, blue, yellow, sky blue, gold, black, green, and purple respectively.

I had converted the wind element magic into the properties of other elements in the order the extra student had mentioned.

And the students watching this scene all let out exclamations and opened their mouths.

“Woooow…”

“How can you change elements so easily…”

“It’s the first time I’ve seen elements refined so cleanly!”

For magicians, changing elements is not difficult, but that’s only when changing lumps of magic power for using magic.

Changing each magic particle individually like this is a skill close to divine.

Probably, for students to master this, unless they’re main characters, they would have to devote at least 10 years or more, so it’s natural for them to be amazed.

However, as I just said, what I’m trying to teach is not such a miscellaneous skill that requires more than 10 years of dedication.

This is just reference material to show the colors and forms of the elements.

I waved my staff once again and changed all the magic particles that had turned into various colors back to yellow for the earth element and black for the darkness element.

“Some of you might know this, but gravity magic is an artificial element created by combining the earth element and the darkness element… And if you know how to handle this gravity magic, you can do quite a lot of things…”

For example, you can lightly create a black hole, or turn an enemy into a cube-shaped lump of meat, or even send them flying to the stratosphere as I showed this morning.

As I listed and told the examples that came to mind one by one, the students’ faces slowly hardened.

Seeing their faces that seemed to say how could they do such things, I smiled slightly under my robe and slowly flew up into the sky.

“But these are too difficult for you to do… So what you’ll be doing today is lightly lifting heavy things with gravity magic…”

“Thank goodness…”

“Professor, really. Creating black holes and such. That’s impossible.”

“But it’s scary because it seems like it might actually be possible…”

The students started chattering with relief at my words that we would only be doing a class on lightly lifting heavy things.

And among them, Shati, who was already practicing creating gravity elements, raised her hand and asked me.

“Professor! Then what are we supposed to lift today?”

I wondered what she was asking, but it seemed she was curious about what I was going to create.

Asking what we’re going to lift? Isn’t it boring if you know that in advance?

Instead of answering Shati’s question that sought a specific answer, I started building shields around as if to say see for yourself.

A shield built so solidly that not even an ant could escape. The students looked up at me with questioning faces as my shield started to cover the ground they were standing on, but I cleanly ignored that and just silently continued building the shield.

Kagagagagangーーー Kang!

“It’s done…”

And at the end, a cubic shield of about 100 cubic meters was completed.

Only the students were trapped inside the shield, and I was floating in the air outside the shield, looking down at the students.

Now that the shield construction is finished, it’s time to clearly answer Shati’s question.

“Wait a minute… This feels ominous somehow.”

“…I agree.”

But as expected of Shati and Pina with good intuition, they seemed to have detected an uneasy future from my actions taken without any answer.

However, well, it was a detection of ominousness that was utterly useless the moment they were already inside the shield.

“I’ll start now… Everyone prepare gravity elements. You’ll need to handle gravity…”

“Uh, wait a minute, this is a bit difficult. Have you done it?”

“Yes. Try fusing it a bit more. Like melting in a furnace.”

“Ah, I got it!”

At my words to prepare gravity elements, some students who still haven’t grasped the feel of it manage to create gravity elements with the help of those around them.

Nevertheless, it seemed a small number of students still couldn’t properly fuse the elements, but I wasn’t generous enough to wait for them.

This is all training for the future, after all.

I started adjusting the magic inside the shield while waving my staff widely.

“『Let the sea be created』.”

A word filled with magic to materialize imagination, not something like a skill name.

And as these words of mine echoed, a massive amount of water began to be created above the students’ heads.

Water that fills half of the inside of the shield in the blink of an eye. As soon as they saw that water, the students muttered while looking at me with disbelieving eyes.

“No way…”

“Even though you’re Spartan-style, this is a bit…”

“Yeah, no matter what, surely that’s not…”

The students shook their heads, desperately denying reality.

Shati and Pina were also exchanging words saying it’s impossible, slightly disrupting the gravity elements they had been creating, but in the next moment, they had to hurriedly grab the elements again at the words I uttered.

“Today’s class is lifting these waters with gravity magic… It’s a joint assignment, so everyone do your best…?”

If you can’t do it, you’ll end up looking like drowned rats.

And as soon as my words ended, the gravity magic that the students desperately squeezed out began to clash with the falling water spray.

“Uwaaaaaaaah───!!!”

“Block it all!!!”

“You craaaaaazy!!!”

Using the students’ screaming cries as music, I comfortably sat on my staff and opened a snack bag.

‘I should double the amount of water in about 10 minutes.’

Harboring such devilish thoughts inwardly, I crunched on a chocolate snack from the bag.