Chapter 310

310

Everyone looked at Tina with shocked faces.

Tina yawned lazily and scratched her left calf with her right toe.

With both hands in the pockets of her robe, she wore a lackluster expression, clearly differing from an ordinary elf.

“What a strange person.”

Kal whispered to Leo.

“Definitely a weirdo.”

Leo said bluntly with his chin rested on his hand.

“But if she’s so strange, why doesn’t she seem particularly surprised by anything?”

Leo chuckled at Kal’s question.

“It’s because I’ve seen many unusual elves.”

“Hmm. Lunia or Eiran aren’t exactly your typical elf images either.”

“So what does a typical elf look like in your mind?”

“Uh…maybe Star Cloud’s ancestor Luna? That kind of benevolent and harmonious feel? Kind of refined and elegant.”

Leo gave a strange expression.

Benevolence, harmony, elegance.

‘The adjectives that least suit Luna. When exactly will her true nature come to light?’

“Anyway, why has someone from the Tingel family come to Lumeran as an invited professor?”

Chelsea tilted her head in confusion.

The Tingel family.

The family of Comet Wizard Seirun.

Not just considered the best among elves but also regarded as the strongest magical hero lineage across all races.

The fact that someone from Tingel came to Lumeran instead of Seirun as an invited professor was surprising.

Especially since the relationship between the human magical academy and the elven magical academy has been quite sour recently, thanks to Ren’s “Introduction to the Magic of the Stars” thesis.

It was certainly unexpected that Ren, the author of that thesis, had invited Professor Tina here.

As Chelsea spoke and Kal crossed his arms deep in thought,

“Looks like some students are curious about why I came to Lumeran as an invited professor.”

Tina’s words made a few students look awkward.

Seeing their expressions, Tina calmly said,

“There’s no need to think too strangely about it. I’m from the main line of the Tingel family.”

Hearing this, students’ gazes became even more peculiar.

If she’s from the main line, her coming to Lumeran seemed even less understandable.

“I see.”

But Abad nodded as if understanding.

“What do you mean, brother?”

Beside him, Chelsea looked curious, tilting her head.

“If you’re from the main line of the Tingel family, you should be famous. Have you ever heard of Tina Tingel?”

Smiling gently as always, Abad watched Chelsea thoughtfully shake her head.

Her signature light-blue hair swayed.

“Since you haven’t heard of her despite being from the main line, there must be a reason. Especially considering Professor Ren called her one of the best in magical artificial engineering.”

“Oh.”

Chelsea exclaimed, as if realizing something.

The students of Lumeran also began to grasp the hidden meaning of Tina’s words.

Seeing this, Tina nodded.

“The students of Lumeran are pretty smart. Though I just gave a vague story, you reached the conclusion.”

“Hmm, we teach to nurture wide-ranging thinking among magicians. Deduction is the most critical factor in magical theory.”

“Professor Ren, this isn’t the time to boast, is it?”

Anna sighed deeply, but Tina nodded as if it didn’t bother her.

“You’re right. The current generation is too accustomed to activation formulas and generally weak in deduction.”

Tina looked at the Lumeran students with her bored golden eyes.

“You guessed right. I’m a member of the Tingel family but prohibited from public activities. I can’t participate in the magical academic world either.”

The students started exchanging glances.

Tina continued unperturbed by their reactions,

“I can’t use magic power due to my congenital condition. Thus, I’m not a magician as a user.”

“Indeed, Lady Tina can’t use magic, but I have no doubt she’s a mage.”

Ren grinned,

“Speaking of Lady Tina, she wrote incredible magical theses in all fields of magical artificial engineering! One example is creating the famous [Human Body Magic Activation Imprint Formula]! This magical formula greatly contributed to [Introduction to the Magic of the Stars]!”

At Ren’s explanation, Chloe’s eyes widened,

“[Human Body Magic Activation Imprint Formula] is the paper written by Magician Depoi, right?”

“Depoi is my pen name.”

Chloe was at a loss for words.

“Why is she suddenly like this?”

“World! It’s Depoi! Depoi! What do I do!”

Kal looked at Chloe with a puzzled expression as her cheeks turned red with admiration.

“She’s the author of many magical theses that Chloe admires.”

“Oh.”

Leo’s reply made Kal nod.

“One of her well-known works is [Philosophical Reasons Why Ice Mages Should Learn Ice Magic], right?”

“Correct.”

“What? Just the title sounds strange and gives me a headache.”

Kal made a discontented face.

In truth, most of the magical books Chloe reads are hard for Kal and more than half of the second-year magic students alike.

Excitement didn’t just grip Chloe when Depoi was mentioned. Some other students also showed excitement.

“Professor Ren.”

“What is it, Kal student?”

“How did you get to know someone operating under a pen name?”

Seeing Kal’s raised hand, Ren chuckled.

“I’ve been moved by Lady Tina’s magical theses and wanted to meet her since long ago. But I couldn’t find her in the academic world, so I wrote her an earnest letter.”

Ren’s passion for magic is already famous among students.

After hearing Ren’s words, Chloe was impressed.

“Her earnestness must have moved Lady Tina!”

“No. Because she kept ignoring me, Professor Ren even tried adding tracking magic to the letters.”

Tina looked at Ren expressionlessly.

“I thought he’d really come searching for me if I ignored him, so I met him willingly. After speaking directly, he seemed like a fun person, so I agreed to be invited.”

Everyone stared at Ren with peculiar eyes.

Anna held her head and shook it.

With all students wearing strange expressions, Tina said,

“By Professor Ren’s invitation, I will be staying in Lumeran for some time. I’ll be teaching you about ‘Magical Artificial Engineering.’ Your exam task is to create a servant familiar.”

Tina walked to the center of the classroom.

“Who wants to talk about familiar spirits?”

Several students raised their hands at her words.

Tina scanned them with an expressionless face and pointed to Emio sitting at the back.

“My name is Emio Luchan.”

Emio, ranked fifth in the second-year Department of Magic, stood up.

“Alright. Explain about servant familiars.”

“A servant familiar is a traditional assistant for magicians, receiving their magic power and aiding in battle.”

“Right.”

“But it’s also a field almost on the verge of extinction.”

Emio paused before continuing.

Most magic students nodded in agreement.

“The origin of familiars lies with summoners’ summoning. Strictly speaking, familiars are also considered a form of summons broadly. However, magicians cannot make contracts with spirits and familiars, so servant familiars are essentially far lower than spirits or familiars.”

Many students slightly frowned at Emio’s words, predicting what he would say next.

“Therefore, I have doubts about servant familiars being this mid-term exam task. I’d like Professor Ren to explain.”

Despite the discontent in Emio’s words, Ren smiled.

“I understand Emio student’s opinion; servant familiars are undeniably declining.”

Ren nodded.

“In the past, familiars were used to buy time for activating magic. But as time passed and magical formulas have evolved, magic activation times have significantly shortened. There have even been studies that using the magic power required for familiars to cast attack magic is more advantageous in battle. Familiar usage has been limited to guardians or messengers. That was the magic community’s trend, and I thought the same.”

Ren gave a meaningful smile.

“However, after seeing Lady Tina’s research laboratory, I changed my mind. I feel servant familiars will regain mainstream status in the magical academic world.”

It’s been hundreds of years since familiar spirits fell out of favor. The thought that they might return to the mainstream made the students wide-eyed.

“Lady Tina, our invited professor, will explain that for you!”

At Ren’s words, Tina scratched her buttocks and said,

“Emio… was it? You’re from a military family, right?”

“Doesn’t the name Luchan ring any bells?”

“Yeah, I don’t know. I’m technically Tingel, but I don’t need to remember names from other families, let alone different races.”

Tina clearly stated this, causing Emio’s face to slightly distort.

“Military magicians tend to overly favor practicality. They strongly follow recent magical trends and prioritize combat over research. Well, understandable as they’re soldiers.”

Tina spoke nonchalantly.

“Fine. You’ll see how useful familiars can be in combat soon.”

Tina pointed outside with her finger.

“Shall we head out?”

*

In the magic laboratory within the classroom.

Tina stood in the center.

Seeing her, Emio asked,

“Should I fight?”

Her seemingly provocative statement drew a lackadaisical look from Tina.

“Actually, it’d be better if the student could perform diverse attacks.”

Tina smirked for the first time,

“Like an all-classes type.”

At her words, everyone’s gaze turned to Leo.

Leo stood in the center of the magic laboratory.

“If you’re alright with me.”

“Yeah.”

Tina looked at Leo with interesting eyes,

The glimmer had returned to her previously dull gaze.

Looking at those eyes, Leo thought of Luna.

‘That’s the look you had when I first met you.’

The eye that was filled with curiosity when encountering something for the first time.

With that memory, Leo waited for Tina to summon her familiar.

After a while,

Tina extended her hand.

Smooch – Thud!

Blue liquid flowed out of Tina’s upper body, dropping to the floor.

Then, it began to coagulate.

Students looked bewildered upon witnessing this.

“What? A slime?”

“Is she going to fight with a slime?”

“I thought it would be a unique familiar.”

Slime – an artificial creature created by alchemy, and one of the most common familiars for magicians.

Voices tinged with disappointment echoed all around.

However, observing the slime, Leo squinted his eyes.

‘What kind of modified slime is this?’

Leo quickly counted the number of magic symbols embedded in the nucleus of the slime.

‘Whatever source of magic energy could activate this many magic symbols all at once?’

The magic formula usually used on slimes amounted to no more than five at most.

But this slime had employed about a hundred sorts of magic incantations.

As Leo watched the familiar with interest,

Smooch…

The slime began to congeal into one mass, shaping into a form.

Seeing this, Leo squinted.

‘An elf?’

Taking the form was a magical elf around Leo’s age.

At this moment, Chloe looked astonished.

“The Comet Wizard?”

At this comment, Leo squinted his eyes and stared at the slime.

‘Exactly the same appearance.’