The Academy's Time Looper-Chapter 39: Magic

The afternoon of Athen’s first official day at the academy...was underwhelming, to say the least.

After Athen risked his life countless times and basically gambled everything on his journey here, you would imagine he would be eager to learn and explore.

However, Athen and Kai simply ate the snacks that had been pre-prepared in their room while staring out the window in silence.

For the first time since leaving his hometown, Athen felt regret...and shame.

In the next second, though, as Athen consumed a strawberry tart, that reget transformed into joy...immeasurable joy.

Swavering the sweet and savory taste of the strawberry jam, Athen felt peace and solace.

The buttery crust of the tart, combined with the sweet filling and fresh strawberry, made for a heavenly taste.

"Is this magic...?"

Was the magic simply the food we ate along the way?

Unable to withstand the awkward silence anymore, Kai finally sighed and said.

"So...now what?"

Dusting the crumbs off his pants, Athen put down his empty plate and stood up.

As the boredom set in after the initial excitement of their massive room, Athen began to wonder what the other one thousand students were doing right now.

Were they also rotting in their rooms?

Seeing Athen about to sit back down, Kai gripped his shoulder and began walking towards the door.

"Out."

"..."

Thus, the two boys departed from their room, entered the magic circles, and ended back up in the lobby.

The previous silent and empty lobby was gone as dozens of students crowded the common areas and conversed while sitting on the various pieces of furniture scattered about.

Scratching his head, Athen pushed open the glass doors of the lobby and curiously asked.

"Will it be like this every day?"

"I guess so..."

Pulling a paper out of his pocket, Kai gestured for Athen to stop before neatly unfolding it, revealing the paper as a map.

"Where to?"

Holding back the urge to point at the lobby building and say their dorm room, Athen examined the map for a second, noting important locations like the training hall, canteen, and class buildings.

The campus was a circle, with the plaza and administrative buildings in the middle, and was split into four quadrants.

Each quarter was separated by a small strip of forest and had its own theme: housing with dorms, education with classrooms, health with the training hall and cafeteria, and entertainment with the field and various shops.

Surprising Kai, who was glancing at the fourth quadrant, Athen pointed at the training hall and replied.

"Here."

Where would the top ten ranked students go on the first day of school?

After a second of silently staring at Athen as if changing his character evaluation of the boy, Kai nodded.

Thankfully, you didn’t have to walk all the way to the center of the academy, where the plaza was, to cross from quadrant to quadrant, as there were paths through the forests.

Surprisingly, as the two boys walked through the forest and navigated their way to the training hall, they didn’t spot many students.

Well, it was understandable as most students wouldn’t just aimlessly wander around after hearing about the entrance exam.

Within a few minutes, Athen and Kai were in front of the massive training hall, which seemed more than capable of accommodating five hundred students at a time.

Silently looking at Athen with an expression that said, "Are you sure you want to do this," Kai pushed open the doors of the hall.

Unlike the dormitory, which had a ton of different floors, the training hall had only one, but because of that, you could see everything from anywhere in the hall.

Standing at the entrance, Athen ignored the tons of different weight training, cardio, and weapon equipment and looked for students.

After a few moments, Athen spotted a familiar figure with black hair standing a few meters away from a dummy with a bow and quiver in hand.

Why was she using a normal weapon...?

Curious, he turned to Kai and questioned.

"Do you know how to use magic?"

Not noticing Alice’s figure, Kai also began walking towards the dummy section of the hall before replying.

"Depends on what you consider magic. I’m fairly decent at controlling mana within my body, but I can’t infuse things with mana or cast spells if that’s what you’re asking."

As if sensing Athen’s next question, Kai picked up a spear off one of the racks and added.

"Magic is defined as the art of controlling mana; it doesn’t necessarily mean creating spells or making your sword light up different colors."

Pointing at his shoes, Kai continued.

"Watch for a second."

Following Kai’s finger, Athen noticed that Kai’s right shoe now had a faint light-blue hue surrounding it.

When comparing the hue surrounding Athen’s body when he activated his ability, Kai’s hue was practically nothing, but at least he could hold it for longer than five seconds.

As Athen blinked once due to the brightness of the lights above, he stepped back in shock upon seeing Kai’s right shoe going up and down at an incredible speed.

Athen couldn’t even follow the movement of the shoe, only seeing a light-blue cloud appear every time it moved up and down.

"You can use mana within your body in different ways. For example, I’m speeding my feet up right now with mana, but if I wanted, I could use strength and jump higher in the air."

Shifting his gaze upward, Athen observed that Alice’s right arm was covered in a similar light-blue hue as she pulled back the string of her bow.

When she released the string, the arrow shot forward at the speed of a bullet and easily impaled the hard material of the dummy within seconds.

"So...this is what I’m up against."

Rather than being disheartened, Athen was actually pleased.

He expected the powerhouses of the first year to have the same power as the professor he had witnessed earlier, but nope, they were using regular wooden weapons with no spells.

According to Kai, no one in the first year could even cast a spell or even infuse another object with mana.

Maybe...catching up wasn’t that hard after all!

Unbeknownst to Athen, Kai carefully examined a nearby weapon rack before finally leaning down and picking up one.

Walking up to Athen with the weapon in hand, Kai held it out and said.

"Why don’t you try with this?"