小嫂子的味道

After Ryfin was done explaining the matters of how an incantation-driven spell is converted into a magic circle-driven one, he told the students, and we started off practicing the lighting-type custom magic spell he'd shown us in the beginning.

He made one of the workers bring an easel and then pinned an extensive white paper on it, which was painted with a magic circle—the same as the one that appeared before Ryfin's palm when he cast the spell back then.

The students started memorizing the magic circle with all the efficiency they could muster. Some were glaring at it attentively, while the others were drawing it in their notebooks over and over again in hopes of engraving the patterns in their brains during the process.

There were a few confident ones too, those who were done in the span of a few minutes and went on to blast off the lighting. Only to embarrass themselves in front of the whole class.

Half an hour passed before a handful of students were able to summon the magic circle with their mana. An hour passed before they were able to shoot lighting but one that extinguished before reaching its target. An hour and a half passed before a single student was able to blast the bolt.

The sound of the roaring thunder caught everyone by surprise when they were busy with their work. However, it was only a matter of time since everyone paid no mind and went back to minding their own business.

As for me. Well, I was facing the same problem I did with the elemental magic circles. I was done memorizing the circle in about a little more than thirty minutes, but when it came to summoning it with my mana, it was still a downfall for me.

Whenever I tried to channel my mana and summon the circle, it felt like my mana was not going where I wanted it to go. It was like water flowing out of the drains and going in an entirely different direction.

I still don't know what was causing it. Yes, I had theories but in the end, that is all they were…theories with no solid proof backing them up.

So for now I was just pretending that I can't memorize the circle and killing time somehow. From time to time I noticed Ryfin glancing over to me to see what I was doing, but there was no way he found what he was looking for.

During the entrance exam, I had gone a bit overboard and made a cringe choice of threatening him by showing him some of my powers and what I was capable of. I honestly don't know why I did this—probably because I thought of him as an NPC and thought that he would forget about me after a while, but he didn't.

From then, I was aware of him and aware of how much I messed up that time. Ryfin was probably looking for a chance to see my powers again and what I was capable of—he also mentioned that I was 'interesting' during our conversion after I returned to the academy—but to his bad luck, I was not giving him that chance.

He might know my true nature and some of the things I've done but he hadn't seen the true extent of my physical or magical prowess. And I wasn't keen on making him know…

One by one the students succeeded in casting the spell, and by the end of today's session—which was three hours long—out of 40 students, a quarter of them were able to completely activate the spell and blast off the lightning bolt.

The remaining of the class was not able to go with it till the end, but most were able to summon the magic circle, if not shoot the lightning. I was the only one who failed, along with a few more students, but they weren't even trying to learn, so it doesn't count I guess.

The class ended and I walked out of the Bunks and headed out toward the green, open fields. There was a fifteen-minute gap before the classes for sword arts started so I decided to take a good little break.

I walked out in the open and after rolling my eyes here and there and looking for a good place, I found a tree with its leaves casting a gentle shadow on the ground. I went there and sat on the ground, leaning my back against the trunk.

Closing my eyes, I let my body relax as the slow, lukewarm breezes of wind passed by. The sound of the leaves dancing due to the air rang in my ears, but it was not bad. The wind came and embraced me, and since it was a warm gust in the cold winter, it felt nice.

…I'd be lying if I said that I wasn't disappointed and turned off by how things played out.

Despite all the things that had been going on around me there was still a part of me that wanted to try custom magic. After all, that was my main interest when I enrolled in this academy, unaware that I was in a world based on loli_pop's novel.

Not being able to do it ruined my mood, even more so when I didn't know exactly why I was unable to do it.

"...It's frustrating," I sighed, letting out a heavy breath.

A few minutes passed and I lay there still, ignoring the world as if time had stopped for me, or not minding anything as if I didn't belong here and did not care about what would happen here like it was not my business.

However, nothing lasts forever. And my sense of comfort was also brushed away when the academy bell rang and resounded throughout the whole campus, marking the start of the classes.

I exhaled, letting out another heavy sigh. I gathered my thoughts and forced my body to my feet, dusted the dirt off of my clothes, and headed back inside the Mains. The walk was tiring and the distance felt longer than usual, there was this feeling I couldn't figure out.

Maybe I wanted to rest, but couldn't afford to. Hence I had no option but to keep on going, facing whatever hurdle fate threw at me. It's not like I had a choice, to begin with, my journey and troubles were already set in stone the moment I was born in this world.