I CHOSE to be a VILLAIN, not a THIRD-RATE EXTRA!!-Chapter 226: Mana Control Training (5)

Unlike the first student, who had been consumed by raw terror the moment the Thunder Snake coiled around his throat, the second student's eyes held a different light.

The fear that had once gripped the room like a vice now seemed diluted, its potency weakened by repetition.

The students had witnessed the spectacle unfold and in that shared experience, a realization had begun to take root.

The Thunder Snake, for all its terrifying presence, was not a spell of certain destruction—it was more like a tool of psychological warfare in the test, there is no way a teacher would ever release a spell of that caliber which was certain death of students – That easily.

Right?

The serpent was surely there to unravel thought, to paralyze reason, to turn the act of answering a question into a battle against one's own mind where fear dominated reason.

The serpent's circling was deliberate almost hypnotic.

It didn't constrict to kill—it constricted to distract.

The students now understood that the real challenge wasn't surviving the snake's presence, but maintaining clarity in its midst. Frederick's test was one of mental fortitude, not physical endurance.

And as that understanding settled over the class like a fog lifting from a battlefield, a subtle shift occurred.

The fear was still there, but it had been reframed—not as a threat, but as a hurdle. The true test was to answer the question.

'This is what these fools must be thinking by now,' thought Ashok, his gaze narrowing as he studied the Wyrd student seated behind him.

Unlike his predecessor who fainted under the pressure, this one sat with a quiet confidence, his shoulders relaxed, his breathing steady as his eyes remained on Frederick, everyone in the class could tell that the student was prepared with his answer.

Seeing the confidence filled student Ashok slightly shook his head, since the fool was already on his path to demise under the guise of confidence, who was he stop him, it's better to enjoy the show.

"Teacher," the student began his voice filled with confidence, yet showing signs of urgency, "the reason I chose this class was because even though Mana Control takes time to master even the slightest improvement in my Mana Control would allow me to achieve a significant breakthrough in my Elemental Mag—"

BZZT!

BZZT!

HISSS!

The answer was sliced mid-sentence by the sudden, piercing crackle of thunder, so close it felt like the air itself had been torn apart beside his ear together with the loud hissing of snake.

The student flinched, his breath hitching as he turned to see Frederick's expression—one of exaggerated mockery, eyebrows raised and lips curled into a smirk that dripped with disdain.

The student's heart skipped a beat, and his instincts screamed at him.

He knew.

He knew since his future had already started appearing right before his eyes as the snake got closer and closer. It was not hard to predict what was going to happen next.

In a flash of panic, his thoughts surged forward, trying to grasp any lifeline he could find as he blurted out the words filled pleading that came to his mind.

"PLEASE GIVE ME ANOTH—" he cried out, voice cracking under the weight of desperation.

ZAP!

ZAP!

ZAP!

The serpent struck with brutal precision.

A sizzling sound filled the chamber, sharp and violent, as arcs of thunder surged through the coils now clamped tightly around the student's neck.

The snake's fangs, glowing with electric fire, sank into flesh with a hiss, and the student's body jolted as if struck by lightning itself.

The sound that followed was grotesque—like flesh searing on a forge, a wet hiss that echoed through the chamber with chilling clarity.

The serpent's fangs, made out of flame, sank effortlessly into the student's neck, their heat so intense that the skin split without resistance.

Yet no blood spilled.

The fire consumed everything it touched—flesh, fluid, even the air around the wound—leaving behind only scorched tissue and the acrid scent of burning life. But the bite was merely the beginning.

What followed was far more terrifying.

Through the puncture, the elemental formed serpent unleashed its true nature, channeling raw thunder directly into the student's body instead of striking upright.

The energy surged like a tidal wave, violent and unrelenting, flooding his nervous system with a force no mortal frame was meant to endure.

The student's body convulsed violently, collapsing to the ground as if struck by an invisible hammer.

His limbs jerked in erratic spasms, twitching with unnatural rhythm, as though his muscles had become strings plucked by a mad musician.

His eyes rolled back, revealing only the whites, and a thin stream of blood trickled from his nose, tracing a slow path down his cheek before pooling on the floor.

Just five seconds.

That was all it lasted.

But in those five seconds, the boy's body became a canvas of agony, painted with invisible strokes of lightning.

He didn't scream—he couldn't. The current had stolen his voice, locked his jaw as he only let out yellow foam out of his mouth.

Yet the silence was deafening, more haunting than any cry. It was the silence of someone enduring a torment so profound that even sound had abandoned him.

When the spasms ceased, the student lay motionless, his body limp and steaming. Wisps of white smoke curled from his skin.

His once-confident posture was gone, replaced by the stillness of unconsciousness and the lingering scent of scorched mana.

Above him, the Thunder Snake hovered, its body crackling with residual energy.

"Pfft…"

The sound was soft, almost imperceptible, but in the silence that followed the violent electrocution, it rang out like a bell.

Just as Frederick raised his fingers to dismiss the unconscious student to the infirmary, a muffled laugh broke the tension.

Heads turned sharply, eyes narrowing toward the source—Adlet.

He sat with one hand casually covering his mouth, his shoulders trembling slightly with suppressed amusement. His gaze remained fixed on the smoldering body of the Wyrd student, not with concern or pity, but with a glint of mockery.

Isolde and Althea exchanged stunned glances, their expressions caught between disbelief and unease. Yet here was Adlet—grinning.

Their minds struggled to reconcile the scene: a student nearly killed, a teacher who hadn't offered a single explanation, and now a classmate laughing as if the entire ordeal were a joke.

They turned toward Frederick, expecting reprimand, a rebuke. But Frederick didn't even open his mouth.

He simply snapped his fingers, and the unconscious student vanished in a shimmer of light, sent to the infirmary without ceremony or comment.

The Teacher only muttered 'Another Failure' as he struck his name from the class list.

No reaction to Adlet. No acknowledgment of the absurdity.

'What is happening?' Isolde thought, her mind spinning. 'A teacher just electrocuted a student without warning. Someone laughed at it. And the teacher didn't even flinch upon the disrespect.'

Her thoughts spiraled, trying to grasp the logic of the moment.

Was she the only one disturbed by this?

Was she the one missing something fundamental?

Had the rules of morality and sanity shifted without her noticing? Or was everything opposite just in this class?

Unlike the earlier lectures she had attended just hours before—ones filled with structured theory, calm demonstrations, and the occasional light-hearted banter—this class suddenly felt like upside down as if a descent into madness.

No other instructor had ever electrocuted a student mid-sentence without even giving a reason. No other lesson had involved serpents made of thunder and fire.

She began to question whether she had walked into the wrong classroom because this was not how Mana Control is supposed to be taught. 𝒇𝒓𝒆𝒆𝙬𝒆𝒃𝓷𝒐𝓿𝙚𝙡.𝒄𝓸𝒎

Althea, seated nearby, mirrored Isolde's unease. Her expression was calm, but her eyes betrayed the storm within.

She had a vague idea about why the student has failed— it was certain that the student had failed to meet some unspoken standard —but even that guess felt flimsy against the sheer violence of the punishment.

After all nobody could have thought that the snake who was only supposed to hiss will start to bite.

Wasn't the snake there for just intimidation tactic? When did it suddenly start to strike?

And yet, she remained silent.

Raising a hand to question Frederick's decision felt akin to stepping into the serpent's coils voluntarily. There were no records of student deaths at the Academy, and that fact alone offered a sliver of reassurance.

The boy who had just been scorched and silenced would likely recover, even if his pride and nerves didn't. He might have a permanent scar against fire and lightning in the future, though living with a scar was better than being dead.

Reputation was a shield now, and both Althea and Isolde clung to it, choosing silence over defiance, restraint over curiosity.

Frederick's eyes flicked toward Adlet, who still wore the remnants of a smirk, and though Frederick could have silenced him with a word or a gesture, he chose not to.

He wanted to see what the boy would do when the serpent turned its gaze on him. 'I wonder if you'll still laugh when your time comes,' Frederick mused after all there is no need to spoil the best food in front of you.

Adlet's confidence was a puzzle not seen in others, and Frederick was a man who enjoyed solving puzzles—especially the kind that screamed for unraveling.

"Next." The serpent stirred, its body crackling with anticipation, and in a flash, it was airborne again.

It coiled around Isolde's neck with practiced grace, its heat radiating against her skin, its fangs glinting with fire.