I’m Not Becoming a Graduate Student! – Chapter 30

“Alright, please sit in the center of the magic circle.”

“Okay.”

Sion obediently followed Professor Ronda Magret’s instructions.

As he sat in the magic circle, the cold sensation against his backside took him by surprise.

What is this? A cooling magic circle?

“As you might have guessed, this magic circle has the effect of continuously lowering the surrounding temperature. It’s the 4th Circle magic ‘Cooling Down.'”

“Ah….”

“It also makes it easier to manipulate mana. Most professors have one to help raise their Circle. It’s practically essential.”

Sion nodded at her words.

It supported his mana manipulation and blocked the heat generated while forming Circles.

It would be hard to find a better magic circle for raising Circles than this.

“Now… shall we begin?”

“Yes, I’ll be watching from the side. I need to be ready to help if anything happens.”

“Thank you.”

Sion closed his eyes, sitting cross-legged.

“Oh, let me give you a tip….”

“Yes?”

As Sion tried to focus, Professor Ronda Magret interrupted him.

When he opened his eyes for a moment, she spoke seriously.

“With your potential, Sion… you probably won’t stop at the 2nd Circle. The number of Circles inscribed in your heart will increase as you reach the 3rd, 4th, and 5th Circles.”

“That does make sense…?”

“When stacking multiple Circles, the previous ones can interfere with each other. So, it’s important to make each Circle as thin as possible.”

“Ah….”

Sion nodded.

If the heart is like a sketchbook and the Circles are the drawings, a smaller drawing would allow for more pictures.

“Sorry for interrupting your concentration.”

“No, it’s fine. Thank you for the good advice.”

“Then… good luck.”

After seeing Professor Ronda Magret make a small fist, Sion closed his eyes again and began concentrating.

Huff, whew… he steadied his breathing.

‘It’s not difficult, since I’ve done this before.’

He slowly controlled the mana flowing throughout his body.

Not forcefully gripping and shaking it, but gently and gradually changing its course.

The mana flowing through his entire body began to compress around his heart.

Thud, thud, thud, thud—!!

His heart raced in an instant.

In contrast, his fingertips and toes became cold.

Perhaps as his body temperature rose, the ‘Cooling Down’ effect was automatically strengthening?

‘No, focus!’

He couldn’t fail again after coming this far.

He directed the mana gathered around his heart to form a single line.

Curving the elongated cylindrical line into loops… now he just needed to place it on his heart.

Completing this would be so simple it felt almost anticlimactic.

‘I can’t just settle for this.’

Professor Ronda Magret lent him the magic circle and had just personally given him advice.

Making the Circle as thin as possible would be advantageous later on.

So Sion thought.

He would compress the Circle he just created even more.

Make the Circle as thin as possible.

Whoooosh—!!

“S-Sion…?!”

As Sion’s will to compress the mana clashed with the mana itself, an enormous energy began swirling in Professor Ronda Magret’s research room.

*

After the humiliation of ‘that incident’ in front of the students,

Professor Ronda Magret couldn’t hold her head up in shame.

It became a hot topic in ‘Bijanity,’ the community that anyone at the Byzantium Academy could freely use.

[Title: A Student Splashing Water on a Professor]

The first exposure was purely coincidental.

The HOT board on Bijanity was exposed on the main screen.

When she realized it was her story, she was filled with shock.

‘Has it already become such an issue among the students…?’

She read the post about Sion and Ronda Magret.

She was afraid her personal information would be exposed, but fortunately, the reactions in the comments were lukewarm.

Thanks to a prevalent culture where people wouldn’t believe anything without proof.

‘What if there are posts elsewhere…?’

Tap, tap!

Her fingers typed faster as she searched for more.

If she hadn’t searched, she wouldn’t have been hurt, but this vicious cycle forced her to search on, inflicting scars upon herself.

It was the tragedy of ‘ego-searching.’

Fortunately, the buzz about what she experienced quickly subsided.

Every day, stories of ‘new students in the Magic Department’ appeared.

…Ironically, Sion, who embarrassed Ronda Magret, helped overshadow her issue.

[Title: Another New Student in the Magic Department, LOL]

[Title: Wait, what do you mean he’s doing the class for the professor? And even doing it better? ;)]

[Title: So, there’s a new student (only a week into enrollment) who’s good at magic, teaching, swordsmanship, and using shadowless spear magic???]

[Title: So who is this kid? Come on, at least tell me his name!]

Every so often, Sion popped up on the HOT board.

At this point, he was practically a troublemaker, but then again, when hearing the stories, they all seemed plausible.

He didn’t cause trouble; rather, each incident proved his skills.

While grateful for having his own shortcomings covered up, she couldn’t help but feel uneasy.

‘Was the sense I felt during orientations real…?’

During the orientation for ‘Basic Magic Studies,’

She displayed flashy magic that lacked practicality.

While all the students were spellbound by her magic, two students remained unimpressed.

Serenne Camileya, the top student in the Byzantium Academy’s Magic Department, and Sion.

Only the two of them saw through her magic as empty bravado.

…She resented her past self for being looked down upon just because she was a commoner.

Ha… how to approach this?

Her relationship with Sion was as bad as it could get.

Unable to focus on her own class, she had arrogantly challenged the definition of magic…

After trying to tease him a little, she ended up being beautifully tricked herself.

While she lost face as a professor, Sion’s value continued to rise.

At this moment, he was still proving his worth—

He might become a heavyweight in the magic world someday.

He could also harbor resentment and seek revenge against her later on.

Maybe even her position as a professor at the Byzantium Academy would be in jeopardy.

‘Ugh, what should I do…?’

Everything was purely hypothetical and nothing but worry,

But on the flip side, it was all too possible.

That realization was driving Ronda Magret mad.

If she could use time-reversal magic, she would want to cast it immediately.

“Ha…”

Tap, tap.

In a situation she couldn’t grasp, she walked to her research room.

She was wondering what on earth she would say when meeting Sion next Monday.

The beautiful lake of the academy today looked dull and gray.

…Wait, that back sitting on the bench looks familiar.

‘Sion…?’

A small back and messy black hair weren’t common sights at the academy.

Especially the black hair, often seen more in commoners than nobles.

Seeing the red tie meant he was a first-year, further raising the odds.

‘Right, now’s my chance. …I’ll apologize and go back to being on good terms.’

There was no going back to the past. She couldn’t just twiddle her thumbs.

So she gathered her courage to approach him.

Of course, she was scared he might harbor hatred or contempt.

After all, it’d be true he had looked down on her as a commoner, and she had faced misfortune because of that.

Now she felt guilty for expressing disdain only after his skills were revealed.

‘Huff… let’s go!‘

Ronda Magret fidgeted behind him and finally sat down next to him on the bench.

When she peeked over, it seemed Sion hadn’t noticed her and was busy scribbling something.

Curious, she leaned over to see he was writing down the names of professors in the first-year Magic Department.

‘But why does he have an X next to them?’

With a cautious expression, Sion ticked them off one by one.

“First and foremost, I need to become a 2nd Circle magician.”

“…!”

“So that leaves Ronda Magret, the professor…?”

Looking for a professor to help him become a 2nd Circle magician, the reason was now apparent.

‘What a good opportunity this is!’

Ronda Magret’s eyes sparkled.

She could apologize to Sion and while helping him, smoothly improve their relationship.

“Seems like Ronda Magret is out of the question.”

“What do you mean by out?”

“…Huh?”

Sion looked stunned.

Fearing he might leave right away, Ronda Magret hurriedly revealed her main point.

It was, of course, a ‘sincere apology.’

“I’m sorry.”

“…Huh?”

“Honestly, I underestimated your abilities, Sion. Most commoners attending the academy are cases of donation cases, and such folks usually lower the quality of the class.”

Her face burned a little, but she managed to apologize smoothly.

For a professor to personally apologize to a student… the seasoned professors of the academy might have exploded in frustration at such a drop in authority.

However, it was important to make a good impression on Sion, who could dominate the magic world someday.

She didn’t forget to give a fitting compliment.

“But you, Sion, were different. That Barrier Magic… you really learned it for the first time up there, didn’t you?”

“Yes, do you believe me? Everyone else doesn’t…”

“You seem to have no reason to lie… seeing this, I have no choice but to believe.”

She showed him a post about Sion’s exploits that had come up on Bijanity.

In the process, his previous search records about herself slightly slipped into view…

“…You saw that?”

“What? What did you mean?”

“This search… no, it’s nothing.”

Fortunately, she managed to pass over that quickly, so it seemed Sion didn’t notice.

Since she took the courage to apologize first, Sion gratefully accepted Professor Ronda Magret’s apology.

“Professor, I’m sorry, too.”

“Sion, there’s no need for you to apologize.”

“No, during the… process of using that Barrier magic, water splashed on you, so your clothes—!”

…It did hurt a little to have Sion hit such a sore spot.

Nevertheless, the awkward atmosphere between them considerably improved.

Ronda Magret didn’t want to let this good opportunity slip away.

“Then let’s go. Sion.”

“…Huh? Where to?”

“Wasn’t it what you wanted? To achieve the 2nd Circle?”

“…!”

Professor Ronda Magret led Sion to her research room.

On the way, she mentioned that he had tried once and nearly succeeded.

‘If he was so close to success without the magic circle… then the 2nd Circle should be within reach.’

The magic circle significantly assists when raising Circles.

It cools the heat generated from compressing mana and creates an aura that makes mana manipulation easier.

It was practically an impossible situation for him to fail.

That way, Ronda Magret would be indebted to Sion for helping him attain the 2nd Circle.

Then, they could grow closer, and possibly even enroll him as a graduate student under her….

‘Oh dear. I need to focus.’

Ronda Magret pushed aside her daydream and looked ahead.

Sion was concentrating while sitting cross-legged.

The magic circle was visibly working hard, indicating he was approaching the final stages.

Then, something unusual began to occur.

Whoooosh—!!

“S-Sion…?!”

Inside the closed laboratory, Ronda Magret’s hair whipped around.

The hot energy emanating from Sion was starting to push everything away with its mighty force.

‘The output of the magic circle has increased. Simply trying to create the 2nd Circle shouldn’t cause this kind of phenomenon… could it be?’

At lower Circles, nothing goes wrong when you aim to raise your Circle.

Of course, one could die because of body heat, but destruction or chaos didn’t happen.

For that to occur, it had to be a situation where someone trying to raise their Circle was at the 5th Circle level or higher, creating interference with existing Circles—

Or, someone would need to be compressing their mana to the limit.

‘Could it be that Sion is… because of what I advised him…?’

Ronda Magret recalled the advice she had just given Sion.

– With your potential, Sion, you probably won’t just stop at the 2nd Circle. The number of Circles inscribed in your heart will increase as you reach the 3rd, 4th, and 5th Circles.

– That does make sense, doesn’t it…?

– When stacking multiple Circles, the previous ones can interfere with each other. So it’s important to make each Circle as thin as possible.

He had to make each Circle as thin as possible.

That wasn’t an incorrect statement. Even high-level wizards often sighed over Circles they had drawn in the past.

But… that was a piece of advice given to a ‘1st Circle magician.’

How could a 1st Circle magician release energy to this extent?

If she told other magicians, they would surely scoff and insist she was lying.

It was only natural that a 1st Circle magician couldn’t compress mana this much.

What was abnormal, however, was Sion’s ‘overwhelming talent.’

‘I… have to stop this…!’

With a firm resolve,

Ronda Magret stepped forward despite the scorching gale blasting at her.

Since it was her advice that led to this situation, she had to take responsibility.

Even with the 4th Circle magic ‘Cooling Down,’ there were limits.

Steam began rising from Sion’s body.

Cooling Down wouldn’t do anything at this point.

If this continued, his body temperature would rise uncontrollably.

Time was of the essence.

“S-Sion! Y-you need to… sto… stop this!”

Inhaling the heavy air filled with Sion’s overwhelming energy, she staggered forward step by step.

In the delusion of facing a dragon’s breath head-on…

Finally, just as she reached out to touch him—

Thud.

The torrent of heat that had been pouring out suddenly disappeared.

“Whoa… I did it! It’s the 2nd Circle!”

Sion shouted with a big smile.

Indeed, the reason the heat had vanished was that, despite the enormous compression, he had succeeded in inscribing an incredibly thin line onto his heart.

Thanks to this, he was spared from injury, but—

“Wah, uhh!”

The powerful force that had once pushed away Professor Ronda Magret faded at that moment,

Causing her body to pitch forward uncontrollably.

Losing her balance, Ronda Magret toppled towards Sion…

BAM!

She ended up falling dramatically forward.

‘Ugh… what a ridiculous scene.’

She rubbed her eyes due to the dizziness.

Fortunately, it didn’t seem like she had any excruciating pain or broken parts.

After all, she had a magnificent ‘cushion’ lying below her.

“Prof… professor?”

“Ugh… Sion, are you okay—Hi, Hiyaat?!”

When Ronda Magret’s vision returned to normal, she realized too late.

What she thought was the ‘cushion’ was none other than Sion, who had just attained the 2nd Circle…

And Sion found himself beneath her.