Ch 104 – A Mysterious Old Man

***(A Few Weeks Later)

There he was, a certain short figure silently stood in front of a golden gate wearing a featureless white mask with weirdly no eye holes for him to look through. His full body was covered in a skin-tight black suit, along with a black cloak, not only that, but he also wielded a staff of spiraling wood with a violet gem on top.

"Uwah, to think the entrance exams would come so soon. Sigh, I haven't even had the time to start learning Tier and Rune Magic," Lute muttered behind the mask, though he felt a bit weirded out as even the air of the surrounding area passed through his white mask without obstruction. In fact, he can even see through the mask without any problems even though it has no eye holes.

'So this is what it's like to wear Kira's mask.' Lute thought, chuckling at how Kira always wore this mask even when going to sleep, and looks at the other people around him flowing in endlessly through the golden gate of the Sage's Magic Academy. Many of them were young adults like Lute, but the majority of them had the air of a rich young master to them.

Of course, it would be like this, many rich families would of course want their sons and daughters to study at this magical institution that can be said to be the pinnacle academy of this very world they live in. Not only that, many beings belonging to royal households are planning to join the academy. One glance alone and Lute saw some princes and princesses from many kingdoms belonging to kingdoms in the Central Continent.

Taking in a deep breath, Lute walked in towards the golden gate and entered the academy grounds of the Magic Academy. Looking around, he saw ginormous buildings spanning more than a hundred meters. Large fields of grass can be seen, some even had patches of beautiful flowers and rare herbs like Celestial Lily and Death Rose.

'So this is the power of the number one academy in the world, personally owned by the greatest mage to ever be born, the Z Rank Mage, Aldrich Stolas.' Lute thought.

'Though I do wonder how Tier and Rune Magic would work, considering how they require no support at all to use magic with. With the Rune Magic, I theorize that they must be using a certain rune to write runes on air and use magic that way, but how does the Tier Magic do it?' Lute thought, grinning widely behind his mask as his mind started to feel exhilarated at the new prospects he can explore.

And so, before he even knew it, he entered one of the buildings and did the registration absentmindedly. And just like that, Lute arrived at the testing room absentmindedly.

"So, Lute-san, what's your attribute?" the examiner asked, causing Lute to regain clarity and answered calmly.

"My attribute is Sacrifice."

"Oh? Sacrifice? That's a pretty rare attribute you have there, though it is pretty trashy now that I think about it. So you wanted to learn new types of magic because it's more convenient?" The examiner grinned.

"Mmm."

Lute nods his head. Walking up to the other side of the room, Lute watches as the examiner grabs something from the wooden table and it was a magical orb that would detect his talent.

Grabbing it, he poured some of his mana inside it, and he watches as the examiner gasped in shock.

"Woah! I didn't know you had a Pure White Soul. In the time I spent as an examiner, you're the first one I met with a Pure White Soul."

"Really? I thought they wouldn't be that rare when it comes to the Magic Academy?"

"Well, I did only become an examiner this morning, so… ehe."

"Okay, do you have any experience with Tier or Rune Magic?"

Shaking his head, the examiner walks back to the table and took two books, and passed them to Lute.

"Study these two, and just call me when you're ready. We're going to test your talent in magic right now, your true talent. You might not know this, but we had rejected some Pure White Soul talents because they had a poor aptitude for Tier and Rune Magic. These two types of magic are more closely related to your mental fortitude, so those young masters are usually rejected," the examiner chuckled, as if he was reminiscing the time those arrogant bastards couldn't enter the academy.

Nodding his head, Lute grabs the two books and walked towards the desk in the distance, and went to study the two books intensively.

'Tier Magic: A form of magic made personally by the Sage, Aldrich Stolas, with his knowledge in the path of magic. It works through constructing magical circles in your very soul, which acts as the support to cast Tier Magic, a form of magic that allows one to cast a variety of spells without a reliance on attribute…' Lute continued to read further and further into Tier Magic, as his grin widens at the absurd possibilities this magic holds.

'Rune Magic: A form of magic made personally by the Sage, Aldrich Stolas, with his knowledge in the path of magic. It works through creating a runic inscription on your very soul, removing the need for physical support to cast spells… Hmm, so this magic's progression is more close to the typical progression of reinforcing the soul and having more mana reserves for more potent spells. Though the two magic systems are quite different, Tier Magic is more like math while Rune Magic is more like Color Theory.' Lute hummed lightly as he read through the two books at a very fast pace, flipping many pages in minutes as the knowledge of the two books was quickly ingrained into his mind.

'So to progress in Tier Magic, I just need to create new magic circles in my soul to cast higher tier spells of higher complexity. Though it does follow the same principle of more mana/better mana equals stronger spells. Though you generally need to have a strong soul to support more Magic Circles, considering I have a B rank soul right now, I can hold up to 5 Magic Circles and cast 5th Tier Spells.' Lute thought.

'Though Rune Magic is very interesting in this aspect. The amount of runes a person can cast at the same time isn't purely reliant on Soul Strength, it is also closely related to a person's mental strength. So I can essentially generate more runes endlessly considering I have endless mana.' Lute thought. Nodding his head, he finally decided to first start constructing his first Magic Circle in his soul.

'Eh? He's going to start creating it already? Sigh, he should have said it to me, well it's time to guide hi- EH?!' the examiner thought, his eyes bulging out as he clearly felt the magic circle being constructed in Lute's soul. Not only that, he sense that as minutes passed by, Lute finally stopped after five bursts of mana erupted from his body.

'Fi-five in one go?! Th-that would take a lot of mental strain! Wh-what place did this monster come from?!' Bewildered, the examiner shook his head in disbelief and glanced at Lute who raised his right hand towards the wall beside him.

"[Summon Air Elemental]."

With a flash of windy green light, the examiner opened his mouth wide as he sense a 5th Tier Air Elemental, or basically a B Rank Air Elemental appears out of nowhere.

'A-a-a 5th Tier Spell?! THAT'S HIS FIRST FUCKING SPELL! M-monster!' The examiner can't believe what he was seeing, to think he would witness the day a newbie uses a 5th tier spell as their first spell in an entirely new magic system.

But then, out of nowhere, Lute waves his right hand in the air and the examiner saw tens of runes suddenly appear out of nowhere; his eyes bulged outwards once more, this time, he felt like fainting at the number of runes that appeared, a number he can't even begin to imagine being able to wield.

With a burst of white light, the examiner watches as the runes shoot directly to the Air Elemental and shielded his eyes from the blinding light. Slowly opening them, he felt blood trickle down his nose as he can't believe the grand, nay, a divine feat the newbie in front of him has achieved.

'T-th-why does the AIR ELEMENTAL LOOK SO HOT!' The examiner thought, his eyes widening as he saw the formless air elemental now appearing like a hot babe. But as if the demon has taken away his precious soul, Lute snapped his fingers and watched as the Air Elemental now in human form dispersed into mana in the air.

"NOOOO!!!" The poor examiner wept, tears flowed from his eyes as he fell down to his knees on the ground and cried loudly.

"Uh… Did I pass?"

"YES! YOU PASS! NOW GET OUT OF MY SIGHT! YOU DEVIL!"

Shrugging his shoulders, Lute waved his arms once more and watches numerous runes form into a doorway, and the air in the doorway outline of runes warped and turned into a dark gateway.

'Huh, Rune Magic is quite useful with my current powerset. By just using some simple runes like space and gate, I managed to replicate the Gate spell. Hehehe, I can't wait to learn at the library now that I have enough time to study!' Lute thought; walking through the portal, Lute finds himself right in front of the school gate in a discrete location.

"Dada! You're back!" Raiden shouted once he saw Lute walking through the dark doorway that suddenly appeared beside him and Kira while they were playing rock paper scissors.

"Mmm, Dada's back. Let's go home already!" Lute shouted, waving his arms, the gate appeared in front of him once more as Raiden gasped in shock.

"So cool! Will I also be able to do that in the future, Papa?"

In response, Kira nods his head and gave a thumbs up.

"Really?! Uwah, I'm going to train harder than ever before then!"

While shouting, the trio walked through the portal and arrived right in front of their house's wooden door. Putting his hand over the doorknob, Lute twisted it and heard a clicking sound, and pushed open the door.

"Eh?" Both Lute and Raiden muttered upon opening the door, for they were greeted by an old man with a regal white beard in the living room. Not only that, but he also wore a dark blue scholar robe and a wizard hat on his head.

"Hello there, Lute-"

"Raiden."

"Mmm," Without waiting for a response, Raiden's body crackled in crimson lightning and appeared directly in front of the old man, choking him by the throat as Lute manifested a searing hot ball of flames while Kira constructed a series of white swords.

***

'D-dangerous! I didn't expect them to just go in for the kill like that!' Siting within Lute's living room was the same old man; opening his eyes wide, he calmed himself down and muttered a spell.

"[Create Projection], this should trick them long enough, [Remove Presence]."

Walking into the shadowy corners of the room, the old man nods his head and watches the door open once more just like last time.

"Hello there, Lute-"

"Raiden."

"Mmm," just like last time, the old man watches as the child got enveloped in crimson sparks and appears directly in front of his projection at absurd speeds invisible to the naked eye.

"Eh?" Raiden said, his hand passing through the projection as the old man decided it was finally time.

"You shouldn't act so rashly, Lute," the old man said with an amicable smile, while secretly wiping the cold sweat on his palms.

"Who are you," Lute asked, his eyes turning into a glare while pointing his staff at Lute. Not only that, he dispelled the mana on his current outfit and the old man raises his eyebrow when Lute's clothes vanish into purple flames including his mask.

"Well, you should read this first," the old man responded, tossing a card he took out of nowhere towards Lute who caught it with one hand. Opening it, he read it slowly, and soon, his eyes started to widen in shock.

"Eh? I'm going to be the Student Council President?!"

"Yes, Lute! You're officially the Student Council President of the Sage's Magic Academy!" The old man laughed lightly while rubbing his regal white beard smugly.

"Huh?! Who decided that? And why? Only the Sage should be able to do… that," Lute muttered.

"It seems you finally realized, huh? I couldn't expect less from my official disciple! Call me Sensei, Lute."

"EH?!"

AN: This chapter has 2135 words.

Future author here, I've been reading too much Otome Isekai lately. Also, Arc 6 is probably gonna turn into Volume 7 because holy fuck, I just realized how much world building I'll have to do for that arc. It would have a different main character, a different setting, different power systems, and also, an original fucking world! I know, this is already getting far from a normal fanfic.

Writing hard, power stones good.

(July 28, 2022 – 246th day of writing)