Chapter 81: New Professor, New Issues.

════〔 STATUS 〕═════

▸ NAME: ⟦ Alya Von Runbringer ⟧

▸ ROLE: ⟦ None ⟧

▸ TALENT: ⟦ 1. Mana Vision ⟧

▸ CORE: ⟦ Tier I Exalted ⟧

▸ NOTE: ⟦ Born as a bastard and raised without love, she was taken in by a wandering Archmage who found her talent valuable. She is emotionally unstable and carries severe inferiority complex towards her own bloodline.⟧

══════════════════

▸ TALENT: ⟦

Mana Vision – She can see inner workings of any spell.

══════════════════

As I had expected, she didn’t really have much to offer and even her sole Talent was completely useless to me.

With that done, I turned my attention back to the small cube resting on the desk before me.

Most of the students were already struggling with it and even the class’s geniuses, like Aurelion and Seles, were finding it difficult.

Hope, on the other hand, acted like it was difficult for her as well but I knew how easily she could solve it while Lily could simply ask Rwar for help but neither of them wanted to reveal their trump cards so early.

Hope hated being the center of attention. As for Lily, she wanted to keep Rwar’s existence a secret for as long as possible.

But I didn’t have anything like that to hide.

Besides, I needed this woman’s trust because she had the potential to become a valuable ally in the future.

So I might as well surprise her a little.

I closed my eyes and focused on the cube.

Although I couldn’t project my mana outside my body, I could reinforce anything physically connected to me.

Objects already infused with someone else’s mana were a different story, their mana naturally resisted mine, making reinforcement impossible and that was also why I couldn’t simply make someone explode just by touching them.

But fortunately, this cube didn’t have any mana of its own or someone else’s. So, getting my mana inside was an easy task.

The moment I reached the interior, I could sense an intricate mana formation. It was far more complex than Alya had made it sound and there was no way this puzzle was something a first-year student was supposed to solve.

Judging from the smug smile on her face, she knew that perfectly well.

But my smile widened as I carefully guided my mana through the paths before me, making sure [[Eye of Usurper]] concealed every trace of my Vector Affinity.

I didn’t want Alya, with her Mana Vision, to notice anything unusual.

I could use my Vector Affinity this openly only because I was confident I could disguise it as a Talent instead using [[Eye of Usurper]].

I knew all too well about the kind of disaster it had caused in my previous life and if I wanted to avoid repeating that tragedy, I had to make sure sharp bastards like her never discovered the truth.

My mana stumbled several times.

I lost my way through the tiny maze once or twice, still, I forced myself to remain calm because even one tiny spike of my Vector Affinity would have been enough to shatter the entire cube into countless pieces.

Only after what felt like several minutes did I finally open my eyes.

Click!

The small cube rotated with a faint blue glow before a circular token dropped onto the desk.

I solved it.

Even then, I wasn’t very happy because it reminded me once again just how terrible my mana control still was. Despite this being my second life, something this simple had taken me several minutes.

But then again, in my defense, I had never paid much attention to mana manipulation in my previous life and had devoted almost all of my time to sharpening my combat abilities instead.

Shaking off those pointless thoughts, I picked up the token and looked around. Everyone was still completely absorbed in their own cubes.

Only Lily, sitting beside me, was staring at me in surprise.

I could even sense Rwar stirring within her shadow, still trying her best to hide from me despite knowing I had noticed her from the very beginning.

I simply gave Lily a smug little smile while showing her the token.

"I did it before you."

She looked as if she was about to say something but before she could, I turned my attention back to the front of the classroom.

Alya was lazily sitting in her chair and from her expression, she seemed to be getting some kind of sadistic pleasure from watching her students struggle.

I never understood why so many professors here were such sadists. Still, without wasting any more time, I got up from my seat and called her out.

"I am done, Ma’am."

She barely spared me a glance before scoffing in complete disinterest.

"We are not here to play games, Ruinbringer. Stop lying just to impress your classmates."

Honestly, she was starting to piss me off.

Still, I kept my composure.

"As I said, I am done with the exercise."

She finally turned toward me in annoyance, clearly ready to snap at me for wasting her time but then her eyes landed on the token resting in my hand as she froze.

"Impossible... How?"

She muttered and almost instantly, the entire classroom turned to look at me.

"Holy shit! How did he finish so fast?"

"Duh, he obviously cheated."

"How can the disgrace of the Ruinbringers surpass me?"

"Didn’t you see him defeat Prince Ruvian yesterday? Maybe he is been hiding his strength all along."

"S-Shut up, bitch! That was just a fluke!"

"Come on. There’s no need to be so jealous."

All kinds of chatter echoed throughout the classroom as the smile on my face only grew wider.

Damn, being famous for something good really does feel diffrent.

"You must have used some kind of trick."

Even Alya still looked unconvinced as a small frown appeared on my face.

"I respect you, Ma’am but are you seriously accusing one of your students of cheating when the very tool you provided is designed to make cheating impossible?"

"A professor’s duty is to treat every student equally."

"But you have accused me of cheating in front of the entire class without a shred of evidence or even bothering to investigate."

My voice turned slightly colder.

Only then did she finally snap out of her stupor and realize she wasn’t speaking to me in private and was standing in front of an entire classroom.

"Uh... um... I am sorry about that."

She apologized almost immediately.

Right on cue, the bell signaling the end of class rang and without wasting another second, she hurriedly gathered her belongings, unable to hide the embarrassment on her face.

"I will see all of you in the next class. Also, keep those cubes with you. We will be using them in future lessons."

"And Ruinbringer..." She hesitated for the briefest moment before looking at me. "Come to my office after you’re done with your lectures, I will give you your reward."

She didn’t even wait for my response as she turned around and walked out of the classroom, still biting her lip in embarrassment.

Meanwhile, I couldn’t care less about her embarrassment because I had far more important matters to deal with.

I turned towards Lily and flashed her my usual smile.

"Hey, Lily... wanna grab lunch together after class?"