Surviving the Assassin Academy as a Genius Professor - Chapter 103

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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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Chapter 103
EP24 – Department of Illusion Magic Professors (3)

One step. Another step.

As Professor Dante Hiaka approached, the professors felt their hearts begin to race.

And something felt strange about it. At this age, having become a professor—they never thought they’d feel this way again.

Dante examined each professor’s Basic Particles carefully before moving on to the next one. Those few seconds stretched on like an eternity.

‘Why does he keep lingering here? He’s making me anxious…’

The professor where Dante tarried longest muttered inwardly.

But after walking for so long in this manner,
at some point, Professor Dante came to a stop.
Before one of the senior professors.

Senior Professor Heidin.
Among all the professors gathered here, he was the most experienced—a hundred and fifteen years old. At that age, even a skilled warrior tended to look like an elderly man.
Dante spoke to him.

“You’re creating a cat.”
“Pardon? Ah, yes indeed. It’s one we keep at home. His name is Hiaka.”
“Hiaka, then.”

Dante carefully reached out to touch it.
Just then the old man flicked his finger, and the cat’s front paw rose.
Meow!
The cat happily waved its paw.

“Impressive.”
“Heh. When I come home, he greets me just like this.”
“And each hair is meticulously rendered.”
“Ah, I used the Scratching formula in reverse, you see.”
“Scratching, in reverse?”
“Yes, yes. Normally that formula works by scratching particles like sandpaper to create texture, but in the old days, we’d do the opposite—scratch the space to expand the particles and create hair texture that way. It’s quite an old technique, though.”

Even as he spoke, Senior Professor Heidin felt a flicker of nervousness, recalling that the formula hadn’t been used in over eighty years.
The man before him was no young professor.
Young people invariably dismissed the methods of the old age as crude and unnecessary—a bitterness every elder knew well. They themselves, after all, were relics of another era.

“…Remarkable. Truly astonishing.”

But high praise came instead.

“Really, is that so?”
“Yes. I’m genuinely impressed. Scratching is such an active formula—reversing it would require considerable time and effort.”
……

Tears gathered at the corners of Senior Professor Heidin’s eyes.
He was genuinely surprised. So this man understood? Scratching—a formula that fell out of use half a century before he was even born?

“In just ten minutes, you reversed the direction and manifested the fur, even implemented the movement. It seems you never cease your practice.”
“…Ah, yes. That’s right. Illusion Magic is my life’s work.”
“Personally, I believe formulas that have fallen into disuse possess considerable merit. To put it bluntly, with contemporary formulas like Enumeration or Extension, one cannot extract hair quite so naturally.”
“Ah, yes. Quite so. Thank you…. Ehehehe….”

Dante turned to leave.
In that moment, Heidin exhaled a silent sigh of relief, and Dante’s praise had genuinely pleased him.
It was the finest compliment he’d heard in recent memory.

‘Mm. How pleasant.’

His mood felt oddly affected.
The praise had been unusually gratifying to receive.

‘What could it be? I hear words of commendation often enough…. Why does this feel different?’

Why should a compliment from this young professor stir him so?
He pondered it carefully.
Perhaps it was because Dante, despite his youth, carried an aura that was not youthful at all.
Rather, he possessed an air of maturity.

‘Ah. I understand now.’

With that realization came clarity.
It had been a long time.

‘It was the feeling of being a student before a professor….’

His thoughts descended into the distant past.

That was roughly ninety years ago—when he was truly young and delicate, during that period when, with his family’s wholehearted support, he had ascended to the capital with tears in his eyes….

At that time, Manifestation Illusion Magic had not yet established its foundations in Hiaka, and the professors who studied and taught it were exceedingly rare. He had been fortunate enough to receive guidance from a professor whom he revered deeply.

Yet a professor’s greatness and a student’s growth were separate matters entirely.

Though he had worked diligently at his craft, the results proved poor, and he was scolded severely by his professor. He wept alone behind the stables at the Academy.
After weeping, he steeled his resolve and continued his research. And in the end, he created an Illusion Magic through nights spent without sleep.
……That was the first praise he had ever received from his professor.

‘Yes, it was like that. How I miss those days.’

The old professor had not expected to feel that old emotion again. He watched Dante’s retreating back with an inward smile of contentment.
Could such a young man actually have awakened that feeling in him?

‘He is no ordinary man. That young professor….’

Indeed, he was the only one among those gathered who harbored no lingering attachment to the Chief Professor’s lecture itself—he had simply found the examination itself to be enjoyable.

Perhaps because this first exchange had been favorable, the professors could set aside their anxieties.
After all, would not a mage be displeased to hear criticism from an assassin younger than himself? Yet Dante seemed to be a professor who understood respect.

……That expectation, however, would be shattered in the next exchange.

“What is this.”

The professor in question was Ulberg, a man of forty.

“I beg your pardon?”
“What, exactly, is this.”

Ulberg was crafting a ‘3×3 cube’—a puzzle where you rotated a solid geometric form to align the colored faces.

“Ah, it’s a cube. A cube. You know what I mean?”
“Why are you making a cube?”
“Well, this isn’t just an ordinary cube. It has several additional mechanisms built in. You see, structural Illusion Magic like this is what I’m most confident in.”
“Does a cube with those added mechanisms rotate?”
“Ah, yes. Of course it does—it’s a cube, after all.”
“Then the edge and corner pieces must be detached from the axis, mustn’t they?”
“Right. Yes, exactly. For rotation to work, the pieces have to come apart.”

Why do no living creatures in nature possess wheels?
True, the absence of roads plays a role.
But for a wheel to exist, the axle and wheel must remain separated while withstanding rotational friction between them—and in that state, metabolism becomes impossible.

“Then that single Basic Particle—is that what you meant?”
……

At this, Ulberg’s mouth clamped shut.
This Illusion Magic had a Basic Particle modified by the Division operation.
Because aside from the axis, there needed to be twenty-six additional blocks to make it a proper “cube.”
And so Ulberg began to falter.
A Basic Particle with Division applied to it—was it one, or was it not?
This was a matter of definition.

‘This is…’
‘He’s made a mistake.’

The professors of theoretical Illusion Magic—those who knew the answer—exhaled silently.
According to the Illusion Magic textbook, it stated: “The moment a Basic Particle divides, it is defined as no longer being one.”
In other words.
The instant Ulberg said “cube,” he had already erred.
If it doesn’t rotate, it’s not a cube.
The moment it rotates, it’s no longer a single component.

“…I believe it is one, though.”

He pressed on anyway.

“Is that so.”

Professor Dante turned his body away at those words, and Ulberg’s expression clouded over. The weight of defeat had settled upon him.

And in that moment, everyone’s perception shifted slightly.

When one thinks of Assassination Illusion Magic, the common assumption is that it focuses on practical application while lacking in theory—so much so that there’s even a derisive term for it: “Vulgar Illusion Magic.”

But Professor Dante was different.

For instance, most of the professors here didn’t know the old Scratching operation, and conversely, the definition of Illusion Magic itself had been updated by the Empire just this spring. Dante possessed precise knowledge of both.

From this point onward, Professor Dante’s evaluations began to grow sharper, as though he’d sprouted wings.

“Making it look like Space by pushing Expansion to such an extreme level—that’s impressive. However, given that the exam’s subject is Form Shaping, I’m curious why you chose to make it appear as though you were working with Space Shaping instead. What was your reasoning for that choice?”

“You’ve managed to fit the entire scripture onto this one page. Well, not the entire scripture—the Confession section specifically. Ah… it’s quite refined and beautiful, but by my assessment, there are some broken characters. About a hundred places. Could you correct those?”

“The peacock is truly beautiful. But as you well know, the moment the feather thickness drops below 0.022 millimeters, it lacks sufficient lift—and then you have a peacock that cannot fly. Since a peacock is a bird that should fly, it would be difficult for me to award you a good score if it cannot.”

The professors felt their breath catch in their chests.
Dante’s evaluation had proven far more meticulous than they’d imagined.

This was no longer a matter of “knowing how to see properly.”
He was evaluating their work with the precision of a madman.

Feather thickness down to 0.022mm?
He’d found fractures in lettering so fine it was one-fiftieth the width of a human hair?
Was he truly claiming such precision was possible through mana, stating it now as naturally as if it were obvious?

‘…Is this what a Grandmaster’s level truly looks like?’

Their confusion made sense—at Hiaka Academy Department of Illusion Magic, there was only one person with Grandmaster rank: the Chief Professor himself.

‘This makes no sense.’

Yet one particularly prideful professor found himself bristling at the situation.

‘He’s making a fool of us, this youngster.’

No matter how he looked at it, Dante seemed to be spouting nonsense indiscriminately. Otherwise, no matter how brilliant, a man barely thirty years old could not possibly evaluate the Illusion Magic of professors from entirely different specializations with such authority.

A scholar who studies bee wings
does not know bird wings in detail.
That is how modern Illusion Magic works at such an advanced level.
Yet Dante now pretended to understand everything—from bees and birds to dragons, airships, and artificial satellites.

“You’re certain of what you’re saying?”

The professor who could no longer hold his tongue spoke up.
Dante turned to face him.

“What is your question?”
“I mean no disrespect, but I wondered if perhaps you were speaking carelessly. If it’s no trouble, would you offer feedback on the Model Garden I created?”
“I have nothing to say about that Model Garden.”
“What?”
“It’s perfect.”
……

Flush.
The middle-aged senior professor felt heat rise unbidden to his face.

……

Perfect, he said?
Well…
That was only natural, wasn’t it…
He was a man who had spent over thirty years crafting nothing but Models within Shaping Illusion Magic…
The fingers of his inner self, pressing against each other in mutual resistance… ☞☜

‘…I was mistaken. He truly knows how to see.’

Then it happened.

“What exactly are you doing?”

Dante’s voice turned suddenly sharp and accusatory.
Directed at a female professor wearing a hood.

“…I’m sorry?”
“What are you doing here, I asked.”
“…And why would that bother you?”

He’d been kind a moment ago. The sudden shift in his demeanor made the professors tense, their eyes darting toward him nervously.

“You seem to be enjoying yourself.”
“…What do you mean by that?”
“Show some restraint. A person of your standing should understand why that’s inappropriate in a setting like this.”
…….

The professors shifted their gaze to examine her creation.
What she had made was simply an ordinary yet beautiful stone statue. So why, then…?
That was when the female professor laughed.
And then she spoke.

“…This is exactly why I can’t stand sharp-eyed little brats.”

—In a man’s voice.

‘What the—?!’
‘Huh? What’s…?!’

The face began to distort, shifting before their eyes.
The young female professor’s face—the one wearing the hood—
transformed into that of a mischievous old man.

‘No way! G-Galois?!’
‘When did he even get there…?’

Wizard professors administering an exam don’t use Detection or anything of the sort. And without checking, there’s no way to know. The old man had been hiding in that gap the whole time.
Galois chuckled with delight.

“Sharp eyes you’ve got, kid!”
“Leave, please. This examination is strictly controlled. Unauthorized individuals cannot be present.”
“Yeah, yeah, I get it. You’re a tough one, aren’t you? I’ve written twelve Illusion Magic papers, and this is how you treat me?”
“Did you write them yourself?”
“What did you just say to me…?!”

Even the professors who had regarded Dante with such contempt until now were taken aback—because they understood that Galois maintained considerable distance from most faculty members.
The same Galois who ordinarily observed strict formality with everyone was now treating someone with the casual ease of an old friend.

Dante appeared to be quite a bigger fish than they’d realized…….

“Off I go, off! You heartless thing.”
“Close the door behind you as you leave.”
“Ugh!!”

And with that, Galois was ushered out.

Time passed through all of this. One or two candidates began finishing their work.

The tension remained, though the atmosphere wasn’t unpleasant. Perhaps because when this was called an “evaluation exam,” some had expected Dante to be quite critical.

Some professors had even come prepared for a confrontation. But Dante was showing respect, and there was nothing wrong with his assessments.

Dante had presented nothing but pure fact, rendered no judgment of his own. Yet his pride was not unscathed.

What could he possibly argue against?
He had spoken only the truth.

At last, every grain of sand had fallen.

⋮

“You have worked hard. I will now announce the results.”

Professor Dante spoke without inflection.

“All candidates are disqualified.”

EP24

Professors of the Department of Illusion Magic

END

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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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