Academy’s New Guard is Unusual - Chapter 55

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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Episode 55
A knight’s rank is determined by how well they refine their Aura.
If you can manifest an Aura, you’re a Low-tier Knight; if you can refine it, you’re a Mid-tier Knight. And if you can refine your Aura completely, with not a tremor of instability, then you’re a High-tier Knight.
Above that are the Advanced Knights and Sword Masters, but those are the realm of genius.
Most ordinary knights never even reach High-tier before their careers end.
Perfect refinement simply isn’t easy.
That’s why High-tier Knight is called the wall.
Milo was a Mid-tier Knight.
I could understand his desperation.
But still, no matter what—
“Please touch me too!!”
Touch him? That phrasing—
My brow furrowed at the odd word choice.
“…Milo, when you speak, include a direct object.”
“Oh! My Aura, sir! Please touch it!!”
Milo thrust his fist forward urgently.
A crude Aura rippled across his knuckles—an Aura that reflected Milo’s character.
I’d deliberately carved Vivien’s Aura to teach them the sensation of refinement. Milo, already a Mid-tier Knight, had already grasped that sensation.
There was no need to carve his Aura. What Milo needed was the theory.
I could’ve just sent Milo on his way, but there was time left. Besides, it was knowledge Vivien needed as well.
“Milo, Aura refinement is like tempering steel. What matters is striking with consistent force.”
“Huh? Can’t you just touch it for me, sir?”
Milo glanced sideways at Vivien as he spoke. The Aura carving had clearly impressed him.
I shook my head calmly.
“Aura carving is something you only need for those too dull to understand explanation.”
“?”
Vivien’s eyes went wide.
Milo, who had been silent for a moment, began scratching his head frantically.
“Am I dull, sir?”
“I know. But that’s fine. You’re dull enough that I’m smart enough to make up for it.”
“Huh?”
“Listen, the principle of Aura refinement is simple. You compress the Aura. Compress it with no gaps at all, and you become High-tier. But the start is crucial. Think of pulling the protruding parts of your Aura inward. For example, here.”
I pointed to a bulging section of Milo’s Aura.
Milo focused on his fist with a slight delay. The protruding part promptly sank inward.
The problem was that another section of his Aura then jutted out.
There’s a reason it’s hard to become a High-tier Knight.
When you focus on one part, you easily lose focus elsewhere.
The solution was simple.
“Another part stuck out, sir.”
“Pull that in too.”
“…Now the opposite side is sticking out.”
“Pull that in as well.”
“Huh?”
“Keep pulling until every part is done.”
That was the answer. It sounds crude, but fundamentally, knighthood is a crude profession.
“Then eventually you’ll get it.”
It was irresponsible advice in some ways, but Milo’s eyes sparkled with painful intensity.
“Thank you, sir!!”
Milo, who had bowed to the ground, hurried back to his seat.
Last was Evangeline.
Evangeline stared at me with an oddly arrogant expression. Something seemed off, but Evangeline was always off.
Evangeline looked at Vivien and Milo in turn, then asked.
“I’m getting an explanation, right?”
“No, you can’t learn by explanation.”
“Why not!”
“Because you’re thick-headed.”
“Eek?! But you said I was excellent last time!”
“You were. For a thick-headed person.”
“”Eeeek!”
Evangeline’s mouth fell open and she sprang to her feet.
“That’s too much! Really! Then should I just manifest an Aura?!”
Evangeline spoke while looking toward Vivien.
There was something unpleasant in the way Evangeline looked at Vivien. Being grouped with her seemed to wound her pride.
Of course, there was no reason for Evangeline to be grouped with Vivien.
Evangeline’s rank was lower than Vivien’s.
“No, you won’t understand it.”
“You’re saying I’m worse than her?”
Evangeline’s mouth opened even wider. She seemed genuinely shocked.
Evangeline was different from Vivien and Milo. Her Aura stats had risen after passing through an Aura Fissure, but it was still just climbing from basement to ground level. She was significantly lacking compared to Vivien. Moreover, teaching Evangeline about Aura right now wouldn’t be efficient. Once she passed through another Aura Fissure later, her stats would rise, and it would be better to teach her then.
She could already manifest an Aura, so she wouldn’t fail Basic Swordsmanship anyway.
In other words, teaching Evangeline about Aura right now was extremely inefficient.
She’d be entering the Fissure again soon anyway.
Just then, a bright chime rang out.
The bell signaling the end of class.
“We’ll continue next time.”
“Huh? Wait—”
I ignored her and returned to the podium, surveying the lecture hall slowly.
The state of the lecture hall was a complete disaster.
Rosa still had her head buried in the ground, and Andy was sitting atop a pile of Mana Stones, tears streaming down her face.
Vivien had collapsed, her legs giving out, and Luna was still staring at the wall.
Evangeline was being Evangeline.
It was chaos beyond chaos.
Of course, I’d already expected as much.
They were, after all, carefully selected failures.
“Well then, class ends here. Be careful not to forget what you’ve learned—”
“You bastard!”
Just then, a sharp voice cut through the air.
It was Rosa.
Rosa lurched to her feet and glared at me. Her face was drenched in sweat. She’d managed to break free from the Curse.
Definitely talented.
I nodded approvingly and pointed my index finger at Rosa. A Curse flowed from my fingertip and shot toward her.
“Perfect timing. I’m giving you an assignment.”
“Wait, hold on!”
Rosa cried out urgently, but the Curse had already enveloped her.
However, unlike before, I didn’t force her head down. Class was over, after all. I merely covered her face lightly.
But this Curse would be harder to break than the one before. Breaking that Curse would be Rosa’s assignment.
“Next, Andy. Use all the Mana Stones by next class and submit the remains.”
“S-sir! That’s too many!”
I handed Andy a bundle containing Mana Stones. Andy whimpered, but I ignored her lightly.
“Next is Luna. Luna, use Curse thirty times every day.”
“Heh, thirty times? Are you hoping to watch this world collapse?”
Finally, I had Vivien exhaust her Aura to her limit.
“Wait, what about me?”
Evangeline raised her hand and asked.
Assigning something to Evangeline now wouldn’t be efficient.
But Evangeline’s eyes were clearly sullen. If I just let it go, she’d definitely cause trouble.
The way to prevent that was simple.
“Evangeline, you’re the class representative.”
“C-class representative?”
Evangeline was deficient in every aspect, but the most deficient was her social skills.
Her social skills were severe. Even in regular lectures, assigning her to give a presentation would make her unable to bear it and flee.
Normally, if I assigned her something like class representative, Evangeline would certainly bolt under the pressure.
But not now.
Evangeline slowly surveyed the lecture hall, and a smirk played at her lips.
“I can manage this.”
“Evangeline, your assignment is to supervise the other students’ assignments.”
“Heh heh—”
Evangeline began to smirk wickedly.
Andy looked at me. It seemed to ask why I’d entrust such a position to this disaster of a person.
I nodded to Andy and spoke.
“Andy is the vice representative.”
“No! Sir!!”
Andy stood up urgently, but Evangeline caught her. Evangeline placed a hand on Andy’s shoulder and whispered.
“Let’s do well together, yeah?”
Andy squeezed her eyes shut.
* * *
Leon is an alumnus of Elysium Academy.
Because of that, he knew the academy’s curriculum well.
In truth, what first-year students learn at Elysium Academy, aside from their major, isn’t particularly nutritious.
Non-major lectures are merely a cursory introduction to different attributes. They don’t offer much practical value.
If foundational lectures are that way, what of electives?
Most elective courses for first-year students are designed simply to pique the students’ interest.
But Grave’s lecture was different.
On the surface, Grave’s lecture seemed extremely strange. He’d suddenly have students bury their heads in the ground, force them to cast Curses at walls, toss Mana Stones at them.
All of it happening in a single lecture hall. The classroom was utter chaos.
Even Leon, who knew Grave was a general of the 444th Unit, was bewildered.
But watching carefully, he could see the changes.
The magician Andy was the first to show transformation.
‘The quality of her magic is rapidly improving with each Mana Stone she uses.’
At first, Andy had used Mana Stones while nearly in tears, but now she was using them two or three at a time. She was still sad-faced, of course, but her pace had quickened.
The growth was visible even to Leon’s eyes.
Next was Luna. Luna cast Curses at the wall, and with each casting, they became progressively sharper.
Of course, they were still terrible, but there was progress compared to the beginning.
And he’d even carved Vivien’s Aura directly with his own Aura.
Carving Aura with Aura. Leon had never seen such a thing. Even a Knight of Radiance couldn’t do that.
Then Leon understood.
‘This is a lesson tailored precisely to each individual student.’
Normally, lectures at Elysium Academy are strictly separated by attribute. Different attributes require completely different instruction.
The students in this class all have different attributes. Yet Grave was conducting a lesson tailored to each one individually.
Suddenly, what Grave had said during orientation came to mind.
— Through individual analysis, I will conduct lessons optimized for each person.
It was exactly as he’d said.
Grave’s lesson was completely optimized for his students.
Then the two of them arrived at Leon’s office. Grave naturally sat at Leon’s desk.
Leon naturally stood at attention before him.
“How was it?”
Grave asked indifferently.
“It was the finest lecture!”
“Flattery—”
“No, sir! I’m serious!! I wanted to attend it myself!”
He was serious.
What professor in the world would carve a student’s Aura with his own Aura while teaching Aura refinement?
Odd as it looked, Leon was certain that Grave’s lecture was the finest among all lectures at Elysium Academy.
“Is that so? Care to join then?”
Grave asked Leon indifferently.
Leon felt a sudden surge of unease.
“That’s quite alright!! Just watching was tremendously helpful!”
“Don’t you want to become an Advanced Knight?”
At Grave’s indifferent words, Leon swallowed hard. He did want to become an Advanced Knight.
“I-it’s fine! You’ve already helped me plenty!”
“Reaching Advanced Knight alone won’t be easy. From High-tier onward, you need to expand your internally-refined Aura outward.”
That was precisely the difficulty Leon was facing. He found himself asking despite himself.
“…Is there a way?”
“There is. You force what’s inside to come outside.”
“But you can’t force Aura out, can you?”
“True. You’d have to force something else out.”
Something other than Aura—
What else is there inside to force out?
‘…Organs?’
Leon’s face went pale.
“I’m fine! With that, sir!”
Sensing danger, Leon shouted urgently.
“If you change your mind, let me know.”
Looking at him lick his lips, Leon made an internal vow never to ask.
“By the way, be in your office this evening. There’s a freshman welcome reception.”
He couldn’t see how a freshman reception concerned him as a professor, but Leon’s answer was predetermined.
“Yes! I’ll be in my office!”
Leon answered with all his might.

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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