SRS 78

“Hmm…?”

Floating gently through the air with the help of a wind spirit, Professor Shinbi tilted her head as she looked down at the students one by one, silently cheering on their efforts. But her gaze stopped when she noticed one student—no, two—sitting side by side, perfectly calm amid the chaos. Even though the partitions hid them from each other, they looked as if they had agreed on the same poise beforehand.

Behind her horn-rimmed glasses, her eyes sparkled with curiosity as they settled on Yohan. Professor Shinbi’s attention moved to his pale, slender hand gripping the struggling quill spirit.

“Oh my…”

Because she could sense a spirit’s emotions and energy, the professor could feel the little quill’s plea for help, trembling and crying out that it was scared.

It wasn’t easy for a first-year student to frighten a spirit this much.

Covering her mouth in surprise, the professor looked around the room. At that moment, only three students were managing to subdue their spirits.

The first was Kitty, the beastman, who had established dominance after a long growling contest with the spirit. The second was Mikael, whose affinity with spirits since the previous years once again earned him smooth cooperation.

And the last was Yohan, who was suppressing the spirit entirely through divine power, handling it as if it were an ordinary quill.

It was an uncommon method. Resting her cheek on her palm, the professor murmured softly.

“Hmm… that method is just like…”

Her voice trailed off as someone came to mind, the headmaster of Fantasiademia. He used to handle spirits in exactly the same way. The memory made her chuckle. She whispered to the wind spirit around her.

“It must be because his divine power is so strong. The methods are similar. When someone has an extraordinary amount of divine power, they always seem to choose domination over harmony.”

Forcing a spirit into obedience through energy was one way of controlling it. But with that method, spirits rarely developed affection for their masters, and unless the master proved worthy of loyalty, their devotion would fade. The moment an opportunity arose, the spirits could easily betray or be reversed in summoning.

That was why anyone who tamed spirits through domination needed a tremendous amount of power, enough to be called blessed by the world itself.

Whether it was mana, divine power, or demonic energy didn’t matter.

Yet in terms of purity, divine power had a slight advantage over mana, so those who used domination tended to be priests or demons. Professor Shinbi found it fascinating that a first-year student like Yohan had instinctively chosen that approach.

‘From what I know, Yohan is a kind person. That method shouldn’t suit his nature. I’m curious to see how he’ll grow.’

It did seem he had simply used force because there was no time, the professor believed that, if given the chance, he would have found another way.

Riding her wind spirit lower, she decided she had seen enough of how the students handled their spirits and now wanted to check what kinds of answers they were writing.

She floated closer and peeked at Yohan’s test paper, and her eyes widened.

“Oh my…”

She didn’t make another sound, not wanting the others to hear, but her surprise was genuine. Even the trick question she had slipped in, a problem meant to be unsolvable, had been answered.

Smiling quietly, the professor turned in midair. This year’s first-years were really fascinating. For the first time in a while, she enjoyed teaching again.

“The test is over! Everyone worked hard!”

At the professor’s announcement, the exhausted students slumped over their desks like wet laundry. The spirits gathered their test papers and brought them forward. After organizing them all, Professor Shinbi smiled brightly and told the students they could go rest.

“…That was close.”

Yohan exhaled in relief. The final problem had been so difficult that he’d spent thirty full minutes on it. However, he had managed to finish everything. He was about to stand when his eyes fell on the quill spirit lying limp on his desk.

While the other students’ spirits were now cheerful—chirping, playing, or nuzzling their partners after growing close through effort—Yohan’s spirit looked shriveled dried flower.

Yohan looked at his classmates’ lively spirits, then looked toward the professor, who was still collecting the papers.

…Will my score drop because the spirit passed out?

He could remember the quill flailing in his hand at the start of the test, but at some point, its movements had stopped entirely. Once the resistance ceased, he had stopped using divine power just in case, yet it still hadn’t woken up.

Feeling awkward, as if he had gone too far, Yohan took out a handkerchief from his pocket and gently covered the tiny spirit. He made the holy sign in repentance.

Peeking over the partition, Mikael saw him do it and chuckled.

“Let’s go, Yohan.”

“Yes.”

Yohan stood up, carrying only what he needed. For the first time in days, he was finally parting with the thick Spirit Studies textbook he’d been carrying around with hunched shoulders during the test period.

“So, all the tests are over now?”

“Yes. We finished all three, so it’s free time from here on.”

Yohan answered with a lighter heart.

“Then all that’s left is Friday’s battle with the griffin.”

Mikael congratulated his friend and reminded him of the single task remaining.

“Oh.”

Yohan stopped, suddenly realizing what he’d forgotten.

There was still the basic ability evaluation.

He had thought that with all the aptitude tests done, he could finally rest for a while and review at his own pace. But that wasn’t the case. To prepare for Professor Ariel’s test, he’d have to spend the remaining days strengthening his bond with the griffin and practicing how to calm its frenzy. His shoulders drooped, and Mikael tried to cheer him up.

“Come on. It won’t be that hard. Actually, it’s a good thing. You’ve always been so busy that you never had much time to prepare, but now you’ve a few days to get ready.”

“You’re right.”

Deciding to take it positively, Yohan left the classroom with Mikael.

“Mikael, you’ve taken the basic ability test several times, right? What was it like before?”

“Hmm… it changes every year and even every month, so it’s hard to compare. But last year’s final basic test was a naval battle. We went to sea and fought a massive kraken.”

“You went to sea? You mean, you left the school?”

“To be precise, it was on an island owned by Fantasiademia.”

“Oh, the school has an island too.”

Yohan replied absentmindedly, walking beside the student. Then, after a few steps, he realized something was strange and stopped.

Wait a second.

“So, you’re saying there’s a kraken living on an island owned by the school?”

“Yes.”

“…….”

He didn’t even know where to start pointing out what was wrong. Krakens were classified as high-risk monsters. Why would such a creature be living on academy property, and why would students be the ones fighting it?

Yohan was speechless for a moment, then recalled how the headmaster had once dumped his own duties onto the students in the commercial district. It started to make sense.

Yes. If it was the Nameless One, he’d definitely own a bizarre island like that and use it as a test site.

Once again, Yohan’s already crumbling trust in the headmaster dropped even lower.

“Hmm. The school isn’t actually training us to be combat soldiers, right?”

Two weeks ago, when some of his classmates had said things like that, Yohan had laughed it off as ridiculous. But after seeing one suspicious thing after another, he couldn’t dismiss it so easily anymore.

When he asked the question with a serious look, Mikael incredulously laughed.

“Of course not. This academy is run by the gods themselves, why would they create a combat unit? Fantasiademia is a school for resurrection, nothing more. You have my word on that.”

Coming from a student who’d repeated his grade several times, it sounded at least somewhat believable.

Just then, a sudden commotion rose outside the window. A student from the Magic Department crashed through the glass and fell into the corridor where Yohan and Mikael were standing.

“Ugh…! Ah, my back…!”

The student was obviously in pain. He spat blood, wiped his mouth, and forced himself to his feet, gripping a bloodstained staff.

“Aquador! Watch out! It’s heading your way!”

“What?”

Crash!

The glass next to the broken window shattered, and a grotesque black creature jumped into the corridor. It aimed for Aquador’s throat.

“Guh!”

His face turned purple in an instant.

“Aquador!”

Yohan reacted on instinct and used his divine power. A bright light burst out, throwing the monster back. It lost its grip on Aquador’s neck and fell.

“Aquador, are you alright? What happened?”

Yohan and Mikael ran to him and tried to get an explanation, but the student’s eyes weren’t normal. They were spinning, unable to focus. Within seconds, Aquador lost consciousness.

Yohan glanced down at his limp friend in his arms, then at the creature that had been thrown to the far wall and was already rising again. He looked at Mikael.

His eyes seemed to ask, “Do you still think this is just a resurrection academy?”

Mikael looked away.

Yohan started to say something, but when the creature fully stood up again, he clicked his tongue. Pulling the staff from Aquador’s hand, he handed it to Mikael.

He had no idea what was going on, but he felt like he had to fight first.