I’m Not Becoming a Graduate Student! – Chapter 21

The next morning.

Sion and Patrick were strolling down the road together as usual.

However, unlike usual, Patrick’s expression was off.

“…You were kidding about everything you said, right? You can’t actually be trying to create a Circle by yourself. That’s just insane, right?”

“Uh? No, I’m serious! I was just sitting around in the Training Hall….”

“Are you crazy?!!”

Patrick’s loud outcry made Sion clutch his ears.

With that much yelling right next to him, his eardrums were stinging.

“What’s wrong? Why are you so sudden…?”

“Don’t you realize how dangerous it is to create a Circle? If you mess up, you could die! No, let me be clear. If that upperclassman hadn’t helped you, you would definitely be dead.”

“…Is it that serious? Well, it kind of was….”

Sion absentmindedly rubbed the back of his neck.

The fact that he had nearly died still felt unbelievable.

…Isn’t it possible to just whip together a Circle all by myself?

“I just made it following the basics you explained,” Sion replied.

“That’s just the basic principle of a Circle! I never told you to recklessly try to make one alone!”

“…Did you?”

“I did!! What do you know about the common sense of magic—sigh.”

Patrick shook his head and rubbed his temples.

Sion felt guilty for no reason. Knowing he was clueless about magic was a fact he was all too aware of.

Patrick had scolded Sion plenty of times, so he decided to keep his mouth shut.

Even as Sion cautiously glanced at Patrick, he thought to himself,


‘But I did learn the method. I nearly succeeded, too.’

Reflecting on what happened yesterday.

He had focused while sitting cross-legged, compressing all the Mana in his body to the limit.

He even succeeded in shaping it into a line and wrapping it around his heart.

If Michelle hadn’t helped him, creating a Circle would have been possible.

…He would have definitely died from the ridiculous high temperatures immediately afterwards, though.

Having come back from the brink of death, Sion still had hope.

If he were to raise the Circle with the professor’s help as she suggested, he was confident he could reach the Second Circle.

“You’re really mysterious, you know? You don’t know anything about Circles or Elemental Magic, but you’re good at magic. You’ve never even tried using basic Barrier Magic, yet you jump to using a Shadow Spear.”

“…That could happen.”

“That could happen my foot… Do you perhaps—”

Patrick shot Sion a serious look.

What was that? Did he somehow find out I was reincarnated from another world?

Just as Sion swallowed hard,

“Are you a genius at magic?!”

“…Huh?”

Sion could only blink in surprise.

“Well, that’s how it is, right? You pick up magic quickly, and you can also pull off applications like a Shadow Spear… But what’s up with your swordsmanship? Are you hoarding all the talent to yourself or what? Huh?”

“Ah, haha….”

Patrick’s guess wasn’t strange.

He had no knowledge of magic, yet somehow he managed it well.

To anyone watching, it could indeed seem that way.

‘Maybe I should tone it down a bit?’

Sion briefly thought that, but so what?

As long as he wasn’t in grad school, showing off his skills wasn’t really a bad thing.

Especially to prevent scum like Clif from looking down on him for being a commoner.

“…By the way, when are we getting there? We’ve been walking for a while.”

“We’re almost there. Look, there’s the Hut.”

Pointing with his finger, Sion indicated a lonely hut in the distance.

They were on a narrow Forest Trail.

The hut at the end of the trail was today’s ‘Classroom.’

‘Can’t we do something about this…?’

The name of the quirky lecturer in the hut was Lunia Yggdrasil.

She belonged to the ‘Elf’ race, which is a staple in fantasy.

However, what was more important than that was her unconventional teaching style.

‘This is when I see her again after a week.’

During last week’s orientation class,

Sion had stumbled upon the fact that Lunia had “no skill in dealing with students.”

He tried to ignore her, but she grabbed him and wouldn’t let go…

Until they ended up having dinner together while she lectured about “what makes a professor liked by students.”

“Phew! We finally arrived. …Huh? What’s this?”

“…No way?”

Sion doubted his own eyes.

Upon reaching the hut, he saw what was laid out in neat rows.

“Chairs?”

That’s right. Regularly spaced, protruding stone pillars from the ground.

They were the perfect height and width for students to sit on.

In fact, some other students were already squatting down and sitting.

‘She really made progress!’

Sion felt inexplicably moved.

This meant Professor Lunia had listened to his suggestions and implemented them in her class.

He recalled the conversation he had with her in the past.

-Professor, nowadays students prefer reports over a written test format….

-Reports? What reports? Surprise quizzes are way better!

-Even so, writing reports is better for applying knowledge and cultivating students’ skills—

-Who’s going to read and grade all those reports if you write them by the dozens? Are you gonna do it? And why do you keep giving unsolicited advice? You the professor now? Huh?

Just imagining that was enough to make him shudder.

Whenever students tried to subtly suggest their thoughts, professors had a meltdown.

Deep down, their minds were equipped with the thought of “How dare a student teach a professor?”

But Professor Lunia was different.

Sion actually suggested that “standing for 2-3 hours in front of the hut to attend class would build up complaints among students” and as a result, didn’t she set up chairs for them?

“Ah, hello! I’m Professor Lunia….”

Creeeak.

Coming out of the hut, Professor Lunia changed the students’ gazes immediately.

Sion could even hear the whispers of nearby students.

“What’s this? Is she the same person?”

“She looks way too different…?”

“Was she that cute?”

“Hey, hey! She’s a professor! What’s with that talk….”

“But it’s true.”

“…True, though.”

Professor Lunia, who had appeared in a disheveled outfit with ragged appearance,

was now wearing neat clothes.

Though her hunched posture and timid gestures remained, that alone changed the atmosphere completely.

‘I guess I can expect this class.’

Sion smiled from the back as he watched Professor Lunia.

The start was good. She switched the chairs and changed her clothes.

Those were all the suggestions Sion had given Lunia.

He was already eager to see how much the class would change—

“Okay! Today’s content for our Elemental Studies… Uh, so, uh, we learned about the definition and history of Elementals last time! Today, we’ll learn about their… different types? Uh, yes. Different types! Uh, Elementals can be… uh, categorized… No, I mean, there are many categories! Uh, multiple criteria for categorization! Yes, right! They can be divided based on several criteria!!”

“…………”

Sion hung his head low.

What good was looking neat and considering the students if the explanation was a mess?

A confused explanation, a voice that keeps trailing off, and the habit of stuttering here and there.

Each of those was already a major barrier to understanding, but Lunia’s explanations hit three of them.

How on earth she could become a professor was a mystery.

Don’t professors usually give a demonstration lecture…?

This wasn’t just Sion’s thought.

“What’s the point of looking pretty if the class is in this state?”

“Hey, hey! I’ll listen!”

“What’s for lunch?”

“We should go to the student cafeteria.”

“I’m sick of that already; let’s check out some store.”

“Sure.”

Chatter, chatter.

Students began to lose focus on the lecture.

It was somewhat expected. There were no proper textbooks, and the explanations were lacking.

Aside from changed seating, nothing else seemed different.

‘…Sigh, what should I do about this?’

Sion felt sorry for Professor Lunia.

Her willingness to immediately correct her actions based on his advice and her readiness to listen to a much younger student’s input were admirable qualities.

If only her lecturing skills matched!

He slowly glanced around.

The students, thinking they weren’t going to get caught, whispered and giggled among themselves.

Even contemplating lunch options already.

Professor Lunia was clumsy but not foolish.

The person who knows best that the students weren’t concentrating in class is the professor leading the lecture.

Lunia’s trembling eyes wandered aimlessly until they locked onto Sion’s.

“Okay, hold on a second!”

She suddenly approached the students with a grand slip-up.

Students flinched and averted their gazes.

Is she going to scold someone for talking during class?

‘But why is she looking only at me?’

Lunia kept her gaze fixed solely on Sion as she walked straight towards him.

Well, I didn’t say anything, so why…

No matter what Sion thought, Professor Lunia steadily approached him.

Finally, she stood in front of Sion, her hand extended stiffly like a machine.

“Before we start the class… I need to, uh, go to the restroom. …Sion, you’re coming with me….”

“……Huh??? What do you mean by…?”

“Come on… hurry up…!”

With a firm grip on Sion’s sleeve, Lunia hoisted him up.

In a situation where everyone was frozen by her completely outlandish statement,

Professor Lunia dragged Sion off into the forest.

“What did I just… hear?”

Patrick’s voice next to Sion perfectly represented everyone’s feelings.