New Calendar, Year 531

  "…Teacher? Teacher? Enid!"

  Enid was awoken from her sleep by the familiar voice—Antonio, the one who had been traveling with her in the same carriage.

  "We’ve arrived. We’ll be getting off soon. Please, have some tea and wake up," Antonio said, grinning as he looked at the drowsy Enid, holding a strange rectangular device in his hand.

  "To be honest, it’s the first time I’ve ever seen you nap, Teacher. It’s so rare that I couldn’t resist taking a few pictures. You don’t mind, do you?"

  Enid stared at the device in Antonio's hand. Noticing her gaze, Antonio explained, "This is a 'Memory Stone,' a magical device that quickly records and duplicates the scene before it. It was recently invented, and it comes from the Magic Academy’s Science Division!"

  As she watched Antonio animatedly explain the Memory Stone, Enid remembered a dream she’d had earlier. She realized she couldn’t quite reconcile the shy, adorable red-haired Antonio from the past with the confident, humorous white-haired man before her now.

  "Ah… looking at it this way, Antonio was cuter back then," she muttered.

  "Hm? What did you say, Teacher?"

  "Nothing, wasn’t the station already here? Lead the way, Headmaster of the Magic Academy."

  "Ha ha… I’m guessing you just said, ‘I think I liked the old me better, right?’"

  "…You heard that?"

  "I guessed it, and I’m right. After all, how could I not understand you by now? We’ve spent a few years together."

  "Only you’re clever. And no more talking about how I’m getting old. When it comes to looks, I’m practically your grandfather."

  "Yes, yes, the incredibly beautiful young elf lady, please allow the handsome and charming old Antonio to escort you~"

  "…Still, the old Antonio was cuter… How did you end up like this? Where did the cute, brave, kind red-haired Antonio go?"

  "Haha, little Antonio is forever a memory for you, Teacher! And don’t forget about the young Antonio, beautiful yet forgetful Enid."

  After some playful banter, accompanied by the train conductor’s farewell message and bow, the two of them stepped off the highest-class carriage and walked toward the nearby city.

  Since the Rokiskar Train Station was so close to the Stahier National Magic Academy, it took them only about ten minutes on foot to reach their destination.

  From a distance, Enid had already seen the academy's architecture—or more accurately, the complex. The campus was mainly made up of a central tower surrounded by ten enormous towers.

  The scale was so massive that it felt like half of Rokiskar was used to build the academy. Rokiskar, the city next to the Empire's capital, was just as bustling, and the academy was practically a city within a city.

  The Stahier National Magic Academy was located in the large city of Rokiskar, right next to the Empire’s capital. It was the capital city of the Dreis Duchy, which Antonio had been in charge of.

  The academy itself was founded by Antonio and several other emperors, with the mission of providing high-quality education to all young people in the Empire.

  The academy was divided into ten faculties, each specializing in a different area:

  The Department of Nature

  The Department of Magic

  The Department of Enchantment

  The Divine Studies Department

  The Officer Training Department

  The Medical School

  The Arts Department

  The Science Department

  The Literature Department

  The Maritime Department

  Despite its name as the "Magic Academy," only the Magic and Enchantment departments focused primarily on teaching magic. Other departments, while touching on magic, were more focused on their specialized fields.

  For example, the Medical School’s main focus was medicine, but it also incorporated healing magic from the general magic system. The Science Department covered everything from architecture to new technology and magical sciences.

  The Divine Studies Department mainly taught the teachings of the Empire’s state religion, the Saint Spirit Church, but also offered courses on other prominent religions in the region.

  The Nature Department, which Enid was about to join, wasn’t just about teaching nature magic. It also included subjects like elemental applications, herbology, fruit and vegetable cultivation, garden design, and animal husbandry. Some people even referred to it as a "miscellaneous farming academy."

  Enid’s role at the academy would be to teach Natural Magic Theory and Application in the Nature Department.

  Although Enid had many titles—Guide, Hero’s Mentor, Saint’s Educator, Master Sorcerer’s Mentor, Dwarves’ Best Friend, Savior of the Empire, the Legendary Nature Sorceress, and so on—her reputation as an ancient and noble natural elf, known for her unmatched natural magic, was famous throughout the Empire. In fact, her fame even eclipsed that of the Four Saints who had defeated the Demon King and founded a new nation.

  To avoid causing a commotion at the academy, Enid chose to use an alias while working there. Her appearance would remain unchanged, of course.

  The reason why Enid didn't bother covering her appearance was that she had hardly appeared in public over the past few centuries, and it had been about a hundred years since she was last seen among crowds. So, aside from Antonio or other important figures of the Empire, no one really knew what Enid looked like.

  Moreover, Enid believed her beauty was a gift and a masterpiece sculpted by nature itself. To hide such beauty would be a disrespect to nature and an insult to herself.

  Except in crowded places where she would use light-based magic to reduce her presence, she would never hide who she was.

  Thus, going by the alias "Enis" (but still known as Enid), she was a young and extraordinarily beautiful high elf—though not a natural elf, but one of the subtypes known as high elves.

  As they entered, a gargoyle puppet at the gate recognized Antonio's identity and opened the grand doors leading inside the academy.

  Once inside, Enid was greeted by a massive fountain square, with sculptures and fountains made from exquisite stonework and exceptional craftsmanship. Around the edges of the square were nine large statues, including Antonio's, representing the founders of the various academies. Antonio, not only the founder and headmaster of the academy but also the first dean of the Magic Faculty and honorary dean of the Nature Faculty, began explaining the lives of the nine figures depicted in the statues as they walked.

  Enid noticed something odd: there were ten academies in total, but only nine statues.

  "Why is there a statue for every academy founder except the Nature Faculty’s? What's going on?" Enid asked.

  Antonio, anticipating her question, answered cheerfully, "Well, naturally, that's because the Nature Faculty has never had a dean. My honorary title as the dean is just to show that the Nature Faculty isn't empty... but, well..."

  Clearing his throat, Antonio continued, "As you know, the current magical system is divided into four categories by the Mage Tower: the Nature System, the Spellcraft System, the General System, and the Divine System. The Nature Faculty was created to teach the Nature System of magic."

  "I know all that, but how does it relate to the lack of a dean?" Enid asked, intrigued.

  "Ha, of course it’s related. Let me explain. There are two reasons for it. First, my personal wish: I believe the title of the first dean of the Nature Faculty should belong to you, Teacher Enid."

  Enid was slightly surprised. "For me? But don't you think leaving the dean's seat vacant would affect the teaching efficiency of the Nature Faculty?"

  Antonio awkwardly stroked his beard. "Well... that's the second reason. There simply isn't anyone suitable within the Empire to take on the role of the Nature Faculty's dean."

  Antonio then briefly explained why the Nature Faculty was so unique.

  Before that, however, he needed to introduce the basics of how Nature Magic worked and its historical context.

  In the current magical system, magic is divided into four types based on the essence of the magic power required for their casting:

  The classical Nature Magic system, which uses elemental magic drawn from nature.

  The Spellcraft Magic system, which forces elemental magic to be converted into cursed magic.

  The modern General Magic system, which uses pure magic (also known as Ether magic).

  The Divine Magic system, whose conversion principles are still unknown.

  Let’s start with the Nature Magic system. The magic power for Nature Magic comes directly from the natural elements, drawn during the magic storage phase.

  The Nature Magic system refers to those magical powers and energies derived from the "authorities" of the world, but it is a disorganized and chaotic system with no proper categorization.

  As "Nature" is an all-encompassing "authority," its derivatives—elements—don’t reject any form of magic extraction. Elements are present everywhere, so classical Nature Magic mostly refers to elemental magic.

  As for other "authorities," Nature Magic has its own unique magical systems, though the properties of the magic are very similar to elemental magic. The key differences lie in how they are used and the process involved.

  For instance, there’s "Dream Magic," linked to the "Dream" authority, or "Killing Magic" tied to the "Killing" authority, and so on... In fact, many of these magical systems rely on elemental magic as a medium.

  Aside from the "authorities" and certain high-level immortal beings, there are few who can wield such magic.

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  There are currently confirmed elemental magic attributes, including: Fire, Water, Wood, Earth, Wind, Lightning, Ice, Metal, Light, and Darkness.

  Next, a caster can directly release the corresponding elemental magic during the casting phase.

  The process of casting Nature Magic can be broken down into two stages:

  Storing magic,

  Releasing magic.

  This is known as the two-stage casting method.

  The advantage of the two-stage process is that it bypasses the complex procedures seen in other magic systems, such as chanting, drawing runes, deconstructing, arranging, and reconstructing. This allows for faster casting and more efficient conversion of magic power.

  However, the downside is that the process heavily depends on the mage’s natural talent for sensing elements.

  For example, Enid, being a high elf who is closest to the essence of nature, is a superior being who governs the "Nature" and "Balance" authorities. As a high immortal, she has an innate ability to distinguish the subtle differences between various elements, allowing her to categorize chaotic magic with great precision.

  Because “elements” exist through “nature,” and Enid, as the master of nature, has unquestionable control over them—though at the moment, she is merely a fragment of nature, broken into countless pieces.

  Enid is capable of precisely categorizing ten different elements, making her an exceptional practitioner of Nature Magic.

  Other races, however, are not so fortunate.

  For instance, a Nature Elf’s body acts like a highly efficient filtering system that automatically categorizes magic power as it is absorbed.

  It’s important to note that "Nature Elves" aren’t actually elves in the traditional sense; they are better described as “Nature Beasts,” a high immortal race.

  On the other hand, the various types of elemental elves are shorter-lived races, even though they live for an extended period. The elves were originally the “offspring” of a certain Nature Beast, who played around and gave birth to this race, which later became an independent “short-lived race.”

  Of course, this has nothing to do with Enid herself.

  Most subspecies of elves also have filtering abilities for specific elements, but the types of elements they can filter and their efficiency vary between subspecies.

  As for other intelligent races, they are like massive “fire blowers,” absorbing a lot but also expelling a lot. They are unable to differentiate the chaotic magic they absorb, so the elements mix within their bodies, making it hard to separate them.

  The result of using chaotic magic to cast spells is that many mages only manage to control part of the elemental magic they absorb during the casting phase.

  The unactivated elemental magic is also released in the process, causing the spells of ancient Nature Magic mages to be highly unstable and prone to failure.

  Now that we’ve covered the Nature Magic system, let’s move on to the Spellcraft Magic system.

  The Spellcraft Magic system evolved from the "Twisted Dark Arts" used by demons. During the magic absorption process, spellcasters forcibly convert the chaotic magic into “cursed magic,” or “evil power.” This process is known as conversion.

  Thus, the release process of Spellcraft Magic follows a three-stage method:

  Storing magic,

  Converting magic,

  Releasing magic.

  This is known as the three-stage casting method.

  The essence of “evil power” is the product of twisted chaotic magic, and it’s characterized by considerable damage and difficulty in healing. During the casting phase, the stability is high, making it easy to control and hard to counter.

  The cost, however, is that improper use of this power can cause severe damage to the user’s mind, body, and even soul.

  The main branches of Spellcraft Magic include:

  "Thunder of Hatred"

  "Fire of Rage"

  "Earth of Anxiety"

  "Water of Sorrow"

  "Wind of Fear"

  In many ways, Spellcraft Magic is a double-edged sword. After a basic level of training, anyone can use it, but not everyone can use it safely.

  Next up is the Divine Magic system.

  The Divine Magic system is a bit more unique compared to the other two. Unlike them, Divine Magic uses a special type of magic power generated by strong faith or goodwill, known as divine power.

  Divine power has a wide range of uses, including healing physical injuries, curing diseases, dispelling curses, healing damage caused by spellcraft, and providing blessings and rituals.

  However, the conversion process of divine power remains unclear to this day.

  The thing is, divine magic practitioners are, without exception, either fanatical followers of some faith or individuals who are highly devoted to selfless good deeds.

  Most of these practitioners have never received a theory-based, materialistic magical education, so they can’t comprehend how divine power is formed. To them, this “miracle” can only be bestowed upon those with pure faith or selfless dedication. When such people experience a surge of faith or devotion, the “miracle” will naturally manifest in their lives.

  Therefore, divine magic is seen by religious figures as “a gift from the gods” and is used as a powerful proof of the existence of their deities.

  In the past, those who wielded divine power were typically religious followers, and these followers either used it to aid others or to amass wealth.

  Over time, these religions gained immense sacred status among the people, with many royal families also converting to the faith.

  Those who were capable of wielding divine power, but who did not belong to any faith, were declared saints, holy sons, or holy daughters by various churches, and were kept tightly controlled by the religious institutions. These institutions ensured that the use of divine power remained inaccessible for public study, particularly by mages.

  As a result, the study of magic by mages didn’t begin systematically until about a hundred years after the founding of the Stashier Empire, when they managed to come to a delicate agreement with the mainstream religions, after trying to either co-opt or suppress them.

  According to current research, when a person experiences a strong positive emotional fluctuation, the elemental magic within them, especially Light and Darkness magic, undergoes an extremely complex and subtle transformation process that is hard to detect. Activities like praying and meditating can significantly speed up this transformation.

  Once transformed, the divine power doesn’t dissipate immediately. Instead, it is stored within the person’s body and released when needed.

  The magic community is still debating the release process of Divine Magic. Some mages believe it follows a two-stage casting process, while others argue for a three-stage process, and a few even suggest a four-stage method. No unified or systematic research results have been achieved so far.

  Nature Magic relies too much on talent, Spellcraft Magic is too dangerous, and Divine Magic is too abstract. Was there no magic system that anyone could learn?

  Before the advent of the modern General Magic system, many mages had pondered this question.

  The answer came from none other than the greatest natural mage in the world, Enid—the high elf who mastered Nature Magic—through her great apprentice, Antonio Dreyas. The process that led to this discovery could even be called comedic.

  When Enid first became a teacher, her ability to educate was, frankly, disastrous. But this could be explained by the fact that Enid had lost many of her past memories, and teaching Antonio how to use magic was, in fact, her first attempt at teaching anyone.

  At first, Enid noticed that Antonio had an exceptional ability to sense the elements of Fire, Water, Wind, and Lightning, and his affinity for them was high, so teaching him these elements went smoothly.

  But Enid's teaching style was, clearly, a bit excessive. She wanted Antonio to become a master of all natural elements like herself, but Antonio, who had no ability to sense other types of elemental magic, couldn’t understand her lessons.

  So, Enid’s teaching method became:

  “Watch me do it, then you do it. If you don’t get it, I’ll do it again and you watch. Then you try again.”

  As you can imagine, the dynamic between Enid and Antonio was tense.

  To Enid, Antonio was the most untalented and slow-witted person she’d ever encountered—no one else came close. She taught him over and over, but he still couldn’t grasp it.

  To Antonio, Enid’s teaching method wasn’t even teaching—it was impossible to learn anything! What did it even mean to “feel the presence of all the elements of nature”? What was the point of “filtering different types of magic”?

  She showed him how to release magic once and then expected him to follow along? That was like asking a newborn baby to become a master of Nature Magic!

  Eventually, Antonio became frustrated. With a psychological fear of Spellcraft Magic, and with Divine Magic being even more abstract than Nature Magic, he, in desperation, blindly tried to change the essence of elemental magic.

  To his surprise, he discovered a fascinating process for transforming magical essences. Both Enid and Antonio were intrigued by this phenomenon and began to study the "mysterious magic" together.

  Their initial conclusion was that this was a new type of magic essence—not elemental magic, not evil magic, and definitely not divine power.

  As they dug deeper to understand the core transformation process, Enid fell into a long slumber again due to a curse, and Antonio was left to continue the research alone.

  After a long time of experimentation, Antonio finally uncovered the key transformation principle.

  When chaotic magic was transformed with too much force—through violent chanting and intricate rune arrangements—the chaotic magic essence would turn into evil power. But Antonio found that by slowing the transformation process, clearing his mind, and strictly following a particular pattern, using chanting, runes, deconstruction, and arrangement, the chaotic magic essence would eventually transform into a special type of magic essence.

  He named this new essence Pure Magic, or Ether Magic.

  At first, the transformation process was so slow and complicated that even Antonio thought it was a completely useless magical essence. But just as he was about to give up, Enid woke from her slumber. With help from other talented mages of that era, Antonio decided to push forward and fully investigate the process.

  The final conclusion was shocking and exciting for all mages.

  Different elemental magics had specific methods of conversion depending on their properties. For instance, Fire magic would convert to Pure Magic with one chant, two rune carvings, and three deconstructions, while Lightning magic would require three chants, two runes, and one deconstruction.

  Once Antonio and his team discovered the "conversion keys" for different elements, the speed of converting to Pure Magic improved significantly, making it usable in practical combat.

  The most important discovery was that this Pure Magic essence could, through special magical reconstruction, be converted back into elemental magic!

  To summarize: the mage first stores magic, then uses specific "conversion keys" to turn natural magic into Pure Magic. Then, using Pure Magic reconstruction—through chanting, rune carving, and deconstruction—the magic is simplified and turned back into elemental magic, which can then be released.

  The process is as follows:

  Store magic, unlock, reconstruct, and release magic.

  This is known as the four-stage casting method.

  Of course, mages can also choose to use pure magic directly for casting, which then reverts to the three-stage method, but with a slight difference:

  Store magic, unlock, and release magic.

  This new discovery was revolutionary, and Antonio named the system the Modern General Magic System.

  However, the General Magic System is not all-powerful.

  The process of unlocking and reconstructing the essence of magic is quite complex. Without systematic education, regular mages wouldn’t be able to reconstruct it accurately, reducing the efficiency of the transformation and weakening the spell’s power.

  Still, this new system became the starting point for most mages.

  Even though learning the Modern General Magic System is challenging, over time, more stable and faster reconstruction formulas were developed, forcing general mages to continue learning and constantly update their unlocking and reconstruction formulas to keep up with the advancements of the system.

  Even those with no ability to sense elements can still learn the General Magic System as long as they can absorb magic.

  By memorizing various "unlocking keys" and "reconstruction formulas," even mages with the weakest natural talent can become highly skilled magic users.

  For those with terrible natural talent, this was nothing short of a life-changing opportunity.

  Furthermore, pure magic—without going through reconstruction—was also very useful.

  It could be released through various means, such as music, dance, painting, writing, or geometry, depending on the mage’s skill.

  This led to the creation of numerous magical schools, and the derived branches of the General Magic System became extremely popular.

  This is why, in modern times, most mages focus on learning General Magic.

  At that time, Enid missed many key moments in the evolution of the General Magic System due to her frequent slumbers caused by her curse.

  Additionally, her arrogant mindset of "If you can’t understand, I can’t teach you" had not yet fully changed.

  By the time Enid finally reflected on herself and realized that her teaching methods were not suitable for everyone, it was already too late.

  The Nature Magic System had clearly become a symbol of backwardness and barbarism. Many general mages looked down on and even despised Nature Magic.

  Perhaps it was because they envied the innate talents of Nature Magic users, or maybe they were simply dazzled by the rapid progress of the General Magic System.

  Moreover, most magical creatures—those that crawled on the ground, flew in the sky, or swam in the water—were all users of Nature Magic.

  Along with wild mages who used magic purely based on talent, without proper training, the stereotype of "backward and barbaric" became deeply ingrained, and the disdain for Nature Magic reached unprecedented levels.

  So, when Enid, having achieved enlightenment in the Forest Tower, made the decision to one day restore the glory of Nature Magic and make it great again, she knew it would have to wait until she could break free from her old ailments that caused frequent slumber.

  This wait lasted for centuries.

  Then, the situation changed.

  From Antonio, Enid learned that, currently, Nature Magic was neglected because there was no authoritative magical education theory system in place.

  Aside from natural-born Nature Mages or magical creatures, hardly anyone practiced Nature Magic.

  This was also the reason Antonio had not established the position of dean for the Nature Faculty:

  In the civilian world, there were few qualified natural mages to become deans. The true masters of Nature Magic were either ancient, reclusive beings living deep in the mountains or other high immortal creatures like Enid, whom Antonio could neither hire nor had ever met.

  Plus, Antonio wanted to personally hand the title of Nature Faculty founder to Enid. Though he created the General Magic System himself, he was Enid’s student and wanted to provide her with the opportunity to restore the prestige of Nature Magic.

  Of course, Antonio would never admit that part of him still harbored resentment for the times Enid had looked down on him. That had wounded his pride deeply.

  But he was eager to see how his beloved teacher would accomplish great things in such a dire situation. He was definitely not harboring any bad intentions—definitely not.

  This was how Antonio reassured himself.

  As they continued talking, Antonio led Enid to a chair in the main hall of the city tower, where they casually sat and continued the conversation.

  By the time Antonio had explained the entire situation about the Nature Faculty to Enid, the sun was already setting.