Spatial teleportation—it sounds so simple, doesn’t it? Just hopping from one space to another like it’s nothing. At least, that’s what most people think when they hear the phrase.
When I first read about my ability, that’s exactly what I thought too.
A sweet little power—teleporting instantly to any location I remember. Sounds like the ultimate convenience, right?
At first, I just used it as described in my status screen: simple space-to-space travel. But then, during my first brush with d*ath in Arcania, I came to understand the true potential of my teleportation ability.
As I stood there, realizing that if I did nothing, I was about to kick the bucket, I thought, Alright, try something.
Whoosh—the sound of slow-moving doom heading straight for me.
A massive lump of flames lazily drifting toward me like it had all the time in the world. I raised my hand ever so slowly, watching it approach.
The fireball, flanked by something that flapped dramatically in the air, still moved at the same sluggish pace.
I stared at it, mildly annoyed by its utterly ridiculous and inefficient shape, and extended my palm toward it. In that moment, a sensation of space unraveled at my fingertips.
It happened like this: Open the space, let the fire pass through, and then close it again.
The entire sequence was so fast that no human eye could’ve caught it.
Unless you’re some elite powerhouse, I’m pretty sure neither the blonde punk who tossed the fireball nor the random girl who popped up out of nowhere had any clue what just happened.
“Wh-what was that?!”
Cain, the blonde thug in question, looked visibly startled as his oh-so-proudly summoned fireball disappeared in the blink of an eye. His earlier d*ath-glare aimed at me was gone faster than his fireball.
“So much for controlling your own magic, huh?”
“Th-that can’t be… St-stop!”
“Sssshhiiiikkkk.”
Seeing my approach, Cain frantically waved me away while taking a few steps back. Not that I intended to rush him—no audience meant no flashy moves.
But the audience mattered today, though. That girl standing by the doorway with a bewildered look, staring at me silently.
Crack!
“Guh!”
I decided to teach him a lesson. A properly weight-packed punch.
Cain groaned, the sound so painful it might as well be echoing off the walls. His body doubled over in an instant, then slumped down like a rag doll, utterly unconscious.
Without getting hit on the head, he passed out after a single punch to the gut. Kids these days—no stamina whatsoever.
“Hmmm…”
Crack-thud.
With a satisfying crunch, Cain tasted the full flavor of my powerful fist and promptly drifted into unconsciousness, face-first on the floor.
Judging by the thud, he must’ve smacked the back of his head pretty hard when he fell.
“Oh, uh… Excuse me?”
“…Um, yes? Me?”
“Yes, you. This was self-defense, right? You’re my witness?”
“Uh…”
The girl with purplish hair slowly nodded up and down, strands of her hair swishing gently.
Witness secured.
“Haaa…”
Amillion sighed heavily, yet again. The recent string of events had made sighing something of a reflex for them.
“That was self-defense. Cain Hover cast a fire spell toward Ryu first in the sparring room…”
“Mm-hmm. Yes, that’s correct.”
“But even so, how could he—”
Amillion recalled Cain Hover lying unconscious in the infirmary, mouth foaming while he lay face down. Definitely not the kind of scene one expects from a proud noble heir.
Checking on him closer, they were relieved—aside from a minor head injury from where he fell, Cain was fine. Of course, the real issue was the scandal. A noble heir, from the illustrious Hover family, getting knocked unconscious by a commoner—talk about trouble.
This whole ruckus centered around none other than Ryu, the same commoner who gave Amillion quite the headache during the entrance exam.
“Haha… I didn’t expect him to go down so fast…”
“Quiet.”
“Yes, Professor.”
Amillion stifled Ryu’s half-hearted excuses, gripping their head as though trying to calm the pounding inside.
According to the testimonies gathered, it was true—Cain did provoke Ryu, and Ryu retaliated in self-defense. It was all by the book.
However, the glaring issue was that Cain looked like he’d been flattened by a stampede, whereas Ryu looked unscathed, not even a scratch.
Should the patriarch of the Hover family, White Hover, get wind of this on the boy’s very first day…
“Tch, ugh.”
Thankfully, the skilled healers in the infirmary had erased most of the visible signs of struggle.
“Hmph. You’re dismissed for now.”
“Yes, Professor!”
“Yes, Professor.”
Sending Ryu and Cynthia on their way, Amillion decided to reflect on the matter more thoroughly. Technically, nothing that happened was Ryu’s fault. The injury was on Cain, and the fault was on Cain.
Yet still…
“Huff.”
As the door clicked shut, Amillion glanced at Cain again, letting out another subtle sigh.
“Still, though… he got knocked out from a single punch…?”
Cain Hover might have had lean skills as a wizard, but he was still part of the ‘Firebird’ Hover lineage. Known for not neglecting their physical combat training, Cain was also ranked 5th in the entrance exam—an impressive achievement.
“So what exactly is Ryu…?”
To have incapacitated the heir of such a prestigious family in one punch—Amillion found both their headache worsening and their curiosity growing. Regardless of his status as a commoner or his knack for trouble, talent was always thrilling to behold.
“It’s not first place, I hear.”
“…Yes, there was another knight who outperformed me.”
“A knight? Not a wizard?”
“Yes. He seemed completely alien to the usual air of wizards. We had a conversation, and he mentioned using only physical combat…”
BOOM!
“You lost to a commoner and calmly chatted with him afterward?”
“…”
Elaine found herself at a loss for words in the face of her older brother’s sudden outburst, fist hammering the table.
Cassius St. Claire.
The oldest, the pride of the St. Claire house, and Elaine’s strict older brother, not to mention the youngest professor ever hired at Crescent Academy. Cassius was a natural-born prodigy, excelling in swordsmanship since childhood, following a perfect career trajectory every St. Claire expected of him.
As the top student of Crescent Academy, graduating with honors, he promptly joined the Northern Border Wars, where he spent five challenging years. Despite entering the battlefield right after graduation, Cassius left the front lines with the title “The Savior Knight.”
Now, he was one of Crescent’s hottest rising young stars. Although much of the recent focus had shifted to Elaine as another prodigious St. Claire sibling, Cassius still commanded respect.
“First place was a given. And now it’s a commoner who beat you? Worse, a commoner knight?”
“….”
Elaine tried her best to maintain composure as she listened to her brother’s grievances. At first, she too was shocked—not only had she not claimed first place, but the person who topped her was a commoner with no noble lineage.
But after the entrance exams and encountering the Raven Organization incident, Elaine’s perspective shifted, thanks in large part to Ryu.
Unassuming, yet poised; humorous but not absurd—Elaine was fascinated by Ryu, both his effortless charm and undeniable strength. He effortlessly neutralized a member of the Raven gang mid-air, leaving her baffled at just how he managed such speed and precision.
“Ah. That’s enough. Go on.”
“…Yes.”
Leaving Cassius’s office, Elaine felt a faint pang. No congratulatory words, no welcome, nothing—not even a tiny bit of affirmation.
Though she anticipated Cassius’s lack of praise, his outright anger was surprising.
“Pfft.”
She let out a breath, steadying herself, then headed back to her freshmen lectures. Though finding her brother’s office took longer than expected, Elaine had no room for complaints. Her family’s cold indifference was all too familiar.
The St. Claires, one of the six major families, were known for their traditionalist knight ethos. From childhood Elaine addressed her brothers and father always with formal respect, speaking in the knightly tongue, never once out of line.
Her father only showed any warmth when she achieved something extraordinary: mastering the first St. Claire sword form at six years old, defeating her second brother in sparring at twelve…
Her obsessive dedication to swordplay in childhood stemmed from her burning desire to earn her father’s praise, to gain recognition from her elders.
“Ryu… sensei.”
Walking back, Elaine’s mind drifted to Ryu, the man who took first place in the exams, surpassing her. His rare black hair and casual demeanor stood in stark contrast to the formalities expected of a St. Claire. Yet his confident aura radiated power, the kind of composure usually reserved for true masters of their craft.
Would she be able to hold her own in a duel with him? Elaine had no clue.
It reminded her of sparring with her father: a challenge that demanded her utmost focus and readiness.
“Hey, glad you backed me up on the self-defense thing. Surprising.”
“That’s… correct.”
“Well, still. bl**d’s thicker than water, right? One would think nobles stick to nobles.”
“But hiding the truth when I know better? I couldn’t.”
“Can’t argue with that…”
Entering the room, Elaine couldn’t help but focus on Ryu’s voice and the chatter he shared with the girl with purple hair. They were practically the only ones making noise in the room.
Ryu’s cheerful ease, oblivious to the surrounding tension, made Elaine laugh softly to herself. Whatever tension lingered from earlier disappeared instantly under Ryu’s playful demeanor.
“Oh, Elaine! Where’ve you been? You missed my brush with d*ath!”
“Wh-wha? Elaine St. Claire?!”
“…d*ath? Hardly, sir.”
Walking over, Elaine couldn’t suppress her smile fully this time. It seemed he had made a new friend.
And who knows, maybe there were more surprises ahead.
