The Professor

Catherine was stunned for a moment.

The first thought that came to mind was that this must be a hidden camera prank.

Perhaps there was some sort of voice-recognition sensor in the blue crystal – one that would activate when they detected the words in the instruction manual being said.

Perhaps it would then send out a burst of light to alert the culprits of its exact location, for the culprits to rush over and pretend to have been in the neighbourhood.

Unfortunately, even if all of that was somehow true, it still did not explain how the crystal disappeared, as well as the head spinning feeling that she was experiencing right now.

Simply judging by these effects alone, this situation actually felt much closer to an elaborate plot for robbers than a hidden camera prank.

Wait... could it really be that?

Could the crystal have been made to sublimate into some sort of numbing gas upon activation, allowing someone to come over and rob her house while she was intoxicated?

Slam-!

Catherine immediately slammed the door shut and locked it.

It's better to be safe than sorry!

Still, she felt a little bad to have suddenly slammed the door on someone. That was why she followed up by shouting from behind the door. "Sorry, but I am not interested. Goodbye and have a nice day!"

After saying that, Catherine continued to lean against the door, but not by choice.

She had to do so for support – to prevent herself from collapsing.

Her body was getting weaker by the second, as though she was quickly being drained of all her energy. Just shouting a short line like that already made her extremely breathless.

What exactly is happening to her?

Could this be... a heart attack?

Catherine looked towards her phone that was still lying on her desk.

Should she call for the ambulance?

On the other side of the door, the young Jin stared blankly at the closed door before turning towards the Professor. "Is this why we made a detour?"

"Haha... there must be some kind of misunderstanding here," the Professor forced out a dry laugh as the corner of his lips twitched. "Perhaps she is just flustered to have met a famous person like me?"

"She seems to be more scared of you than anything," Jin commented. "Can we go now?"

"No! As men, we need to live our lives with determination and willpower. Since we are already here, how can we give up so easily?" the Professor adamantly refused before knocking on the door once again. "Miss, I would just like to have a quick chat. I promise it won't take long."

"..."

There was no response from within the unit.

"Can we please just go? This is embarrassing," Jin did a quick scan of their surroundings. Thankfully, there was no one else along the corridor.

"Wait," the Professor said before closing his eyes. Then, he carefully extended his spiritual sense past the door and into the unit.

With that, the scene within the unit started to appear in his mind.

From the unmade bed to the messy desk, from the unwashed tiffin container on the floor to the young lady leaning against the door, everything appeared without fail. It was as though he was watching a live stream with full control over the camera's position and angle.

The Professor zoomed in on a box and note on the desk.

"The OC12 Pro mana awakening crystal..." the Professor muttered under his breath. "...and she is alone?"

The Professor could not help but frown as he realised what just happened here.

What kind of teacher actually decided to let their apprentice awaken their mana without any sort of supervision?

How reckless!

One had to know that the moments right after mana awakening were absolutely crucial to a new mage.

This was a time when the mage could easily be overwhelmed by the sudden appearance of an entirely new source of energy in their body. If the mage failed to properly control this energy, they might end up with lasting consequences that could take countless years to resolve.

If the situation took a turn for the worse, the mage could suffer heavy internal injuries, or even die from this!

Looking at the young lady's current condition from behind the door, the Professor's frown deepened.

Flushed red, cold sweat forming, fever, heavy breathing... these were all symptoms of mana going out of control within a new mage's body.

As expected, something is wrong with her!

Only... why is she so old?

Mages usually choose to awaken their mana around the age of five to seven. Even for the ones with weaker constitutions and thus needed more preparation, they would try not to delay this matter past the age of ten.

This was because that was the ideal age range to start learning magic.

The later one awakened their mana, the more one would have taken in the turbid air of the world. This would negatively impact the purity and volume of their awakened mana, as well as complicate the purification process that followed.

In fact, there are even geniuses who awakened their mana before the age of five.

The only reason why most mages did not attempt to do so when younger was because being too young likely meant that their willpower had yet to fully develop. This could result in them not being able to handle the temporary backlash that accompanied the mana awakening process.

On the other hand, Catherine seems to be already in her late teens.

That is far older than anyone he had ever seen undergoing a mana awakening!

No, her age is not important now.

The important thing is that there is something wrong with her. If he does not act right now, who knows what will happen to this young girl?

The Professor opened his eyes, and reached out to grab the doorknob.

Mana surged out from within him, gathering upon the hand that was holding onto the doorknob.

"Professor?" Jin raised an eyebrow. "Are you breaking in? You do know that is a crime, right? The police will arrest you for this."

"Be quiet!" the Professor snapped before focusing back on the doorknob in his hand.

Click-!

At his will, mana passed through the doorknob to the other side of the door, forcibly unlocking the door from within.

"Huh?" Catherine, who was still taking deep breaths while leaning against the door for support, exclaimed in surprise when she heard the door unlock. "Wha-?!"

Before she knew it, the door swung open at an unbelievable speed.

Even though Catherine was leaning against the door, it felt like her weight was completely negligible. The door flew open as though she did not even exist, throwing her straight into the unit like she was a mere pebble.

"Ugh!"

In her current weakened state, Catherine's legs immediately gave way from the impact, causing her to fall helplessly to the ground.

"Professor, the police will catch you for this..." Jin repeated anxiously upon seeing the man force the door open.

"Sometimes the end justifies the means!" the Professor replied before stepping into the unit.

Jin took another look down the corridors to make sure that no one was watching, before finally deciding to follow him in.

"Argh..." Catherine held her head with both hands as she squirmed around on the ground in pain. She had a splitting headache right now, though partially also because she had hit her head on the floor when she was blown away by the open door.

Still, it was not as though she was unconscious, so she could still hear the hurried footsteps approaching her from the door.

Damn it, this really is a house robbery ploy!

Catherine waited until the footsteps got close enough. Then, while forcibly enduring the pain in her head, she gritted her teeth and suddenly swept her leg out, wanting to catch the other party by surprise.

She had been attending Muay Thai classes for a while now.

Even though she had never tried sweeping anyone from such a position, Catherine was still confident that the pure speed and power behind her kick should be able to take down any common robber!

However, she never expected the other party to easily stop her single-leg sweep just by angling his foot and placing it in the way.

"Ouch!" Catherine cried out in pain.

When her shin hit the sole of his foot, it felt like she had just rammed her leg into a concrete wall.

Momentarily, Catherine completely forgot about the pain in her head and chest. All she could think about was whether her shinbone had broken from the impact!

"It looks like you are faring better than I thought," the Professor let out a sigh of relief. "Still, stop struggling. I am here to help."

"I… I don't need... help..." Catherine muttered breathlessly.

She wanted to get up, but that sweep earlier took just about everything she had. Now, she had completely lost all strength to resist.

It's over.

I should never have tried that stupid crystal.

Thankfully, most of my money is in the bank, so I just have to cancel my card before they withdraw everything!

As Catherine was thinking about her next steps, the Professor slowly squated down beside her, and placed his palm on Catherine's abdomen area.

Catherine could not help but be alarmed.

Wait, don't tell me they aren't satisfied with just money!

That would be the worst case scenario!

"What's wrong with her?" Jin asked curiously from the side.

By now, even he could tell that something was obviously wrong with Catherine.

"She has lost control over the newly awakened mana in her body. This is what happens when you fail to make the necessary preparations before mana awakening. Now do you see why I stressed so much on the importance of memorising your foundation meditation technique?" the Professor said.

"Mm," Jin nodded obediently.

Having witnessed the current state that Catherine was in, he could not help but feel relieved that the Professor had caught him every time he tried to skip out on his meditation practice.

"Young lady, you need to hurry and start executing your foundation meditation technique. That's the only way to control the mana in your body," the Professor said solemnly.

"Foun… foundation… what?" Catherine asked weakly.

"What do you mean 'what'? Your foundation meditation technique!" the Professor said before he was struck by a sudden bolt of realisation. "Wait, don't tell me that your teacher didn't pass one down to you?"

Catherine feebly shook her head.

She did not know what the other party was saying, but why did this situation seem so familiar?

Right, it's similar to her dream during work this morning.

Everyone was just spouting all sorts of nonsense that she had no idea how to make sense of.

Actually, can she really still call it a dream at this point?

"Your teacher really did not pass one down to you?!" the Professor was shocked.

He had thought that the teacher was irresponsible to have left her to awaken her mana on her own. But it seemed like that might not be the case here.

Instead, did this girl choose to awaken her mana behind her teacher's back?

Standing by the side, Jin was shocked as well. "Her teacher is even worse than you, Professor!"

The Professor's lips twitched, but he chose to ignore Jin as he continued speaking to Catherine. "It can't be helped then. Since this is an emergency, I shall stand in for your teacher for the moment. From now on, listen carefully to every word that I say and recite it in your mind. This is the incantation for the 106th Steel Hunter's Meditation Method."

Following that, the Professor spouted a long chain of words.

At least, that was a nice way to put it.

Otherwise, it would be better off calling it a long chain of noises.

No matter what, one thing was for sure – Catherine had never heard any of these words in her entire life!