Advent of the Three Calamities

Chapter 200 The Five Phases of Emotive Magic [2]

The class continued from that moment.

Unfortunately, I was hardly able to stay focused. It mainly had to do with the fact that I was still suffering slightly from the side effects of the professor's emotive magic.

'….Is this how Leon felt?'

Just a tiny bit, I started to feel guilty.

It certainly wasn't a great feeling, I would give him that.

No, rather...

It felt like shit.

"That will be it for today's class. Today you've learned about the five phases of Emotive Magic, and what they can do. Next class, we'll talk about how to learn Emotive magic, and how to control it."

Snapping me out of my thoughts was the Professor's voice as she announced the end of the lesson.

Following her words, the cadets proceeded to stand up from their seats and head out.

I was just about to stand up and leave alongside them when the Professor stopped me.

"No, you stay. I have something I need to talk with you about."

"….?"

Something to talk with me?

Despite my confusion, I complied with her orders, and as I watched the others leave, it was eventually just the two of us.

She sat on the chair opposite me and offered a sincere smile.

"Your emotive magic is great. I dare even say that amongst those your age, there isn't a single person that can match you."

I was a bit thrown off by the compliment, but I still nonetheless took it.

"Thank you."

"But, that's it."

"….?"

Confused, I tilted my head as I noticed her expression turning more serious.

"I'm sure you also don't care about facing your peers. You're so ahead of the pack with regards to them, that they must be toddlers compared to you. Here lies the problem, you shouldn't be content with just being the best in your group age."

"....."

"That's hardly an achievement. You will eventually be facing people who are on a higher level than you in Emotive Magic. When the time comes, you will probably struggle. That's why I'm here to help you."

I was a bit thrown off by the words that she was saying, but seeing that all the words seemed to be directed toward my future, I relaxed a little.

"Did the Chancellor put you up for this?"

I had been told by Delilah beforehand about an Emotive teacher.

It was clearly her.

Was the reason she was so willing to help me because of this?

"Oh, no, no, no. Please."

The Professor waved her hand in dismissal.

"As if I'd care about what that little girl says."

"….Little girl?"

I blinked my eyes slowly while looking at her.

Certainly, she didn't look young, but there age gap between her and Delilah shouldn't be to the point where she'd call her 'little girl'.

Or at least, that was what I thought.

Seemingly being able to read my mind, Professor Evenhart laughed.

"Oh my, well… I'm much older than that little girl. There's a reason why I have reached this level with Emotive Magic."

"....."

I was stunned at first, but the more I thought about her words, the more I realized they made sense.

'Indeed, Emotive Magic is very difficult... It's hard for someone to be that good, and yet still be so young.'

Well, I was the exception...

But I had a cheat.

I nodded my head and didn't say much more with regard to the topic.

I knew that I was threading dangerous territory.

"That girl…"

Shifting the topic, the professor wore a peculiar expression as she began to talk.

"She used to come to me all the time."

"The Chancellor?"

"Yes, yes "

This was an interesting piece of information.

"It's been a while since she last visited. Hmm, she did visit me recently for the first time, and…"

The Professor looked at me, her gaze hinting at what she was trying to say.

'It's because of me.'

The reason Delilah visited her.

"She used to beg me all the time to teach her about Emotive Magic. I tried, I really tried, but…"

With a bitter look, she looked at me.

"She really is bad at it. Despite the many talents she has, she struggles to understand or feel emotions. That girl... she's an iceblock. No matter how hard I try, she just doesn't get it. And yet, she still stubbornly tries to learn it. What am I supposed to do with her... "

"…."

To that, I had nothing to say.

I was reminded of the vision that I had seen and closed my eyes for a brief moment.

The hollow and lost look on her face… I could still vividly recall it.

How could someone who had been broken since childhood know how to experience emotions…?

I now better understood why she always expressed her jealousy at my Emotive Magic despite her being so talented.

It was rather sad.

"Well, enough of that."

The Professor tapped on the table to gain my attention again.

"Let's talk about you again. The reason why I told you to stay back, is because there's a few things that I would like to talk to you about with regards to your emotive magic."

I felt my back straighten at her words.

While I was still unsure about her identity, I knew that she was someone extremely important in the Emotive field.

To be able to gain feedback from her…

I wasn't planning on wasting the opportunity.

"Just like mana, emotive magic requires a certain level of control from the user to be used. Imagine unleashing a spell with no regard for the flow. It'll just be raw and unfocused power. That's not what we want."

Shaking her head, she pressed her finger against her temple.

"The key to human emotions is the brain. The reason we feel what we feel, and do want we do, is all because of this thing hiding within our skulls."

Narrowing her eyes, she coldly said,

"Target it. Don't just inject your emotions with no direction. No, you have a direction. It's the brain. Don't forget that."

She put her hand away.

"From the moment you are capable of directly targeting someone's brain when utilizing Emotive Magic, that will be the day when you will take the next step."

So she said.

But it was a lot easier said than done.

So far, the feat wasn't something that I was capable of doing.

In the first place, I didn't even know that I could control the flow of Emotive magic on the human body.

All I knew was that I needed to inject it into my target's body.

That was about it, and it worked most of the time.

"….How am I supposed to be able to practice that?"

I was genuinely curious.

This was the first time I had heard all about this, and while I knew that I had been lacking severely in the control aspect, I didn't know it was by this much.

"While I don't know how you are capable of producing such raw and intense emotions, there is no need to worry much about control. It is much harder to be able to gather so much emotion than to control it. With that regard, all you need to do is practice with this."

The Professor retrieved something from out of nowhere and placed it on the table.

Tak.

"This is…?"

I looked at the object. It didn't look anything special. It was just a square with six different sides.

In essence… it was a regular metallic cube.

Or so I thought.

"It looks normal doesn't it?"

The Professor went on to say with a smile.

I could only nod.

"….Yes."

It really did look normal in every way shape or form.

Nothing about it looked special.

With that being said, I knew that it was supposed to be something that was supposed to help me and I didn't let appearances deceive me.

"Take a look. I'll show you how it works."

Extending her hand, the professor placed her finger over the top of the cube.

With her gaze fixed on me, she mumbled,

"Fear."

The cube glowed the moment she mumbled those words.

Shortly after, it started to deform.

Under my very eyes, the cube's shape started to change, turning slowly into a… dog?

"….Uh?"

In my confusion, I accidentally let out a sound. Staring at me, the Professor laughed and removed her finger.

The moment she let go, the dog disappeared, and the cube returned to its regular shape.

"….. it's a cool little toy isn't it?"

"That…"

I didn't know what to say.

I was still confused about what it did.

When I raised my head to meet her gaze, she started to explain,

"This cube, or toy you can say, feeds on Emotive Magic. By channeling it into the cube, you can mold and change the shape however you wish. It's a great way Emotive Mages can learn control. How about you give it a try?"

"….."

I blinked slowly while staring at the cube.

…It looked easy from the way that the professor had been able to do it, but I knew that it was the furthest thing from easy.

The only reason why it looked easy was because of the massive gap that there was in abilities between me and her.

It was for that reason that I reached out for the cube with heavy concentration.

'All I need to do is channel my emotive magic. Once I do that, I need to try molding it into the shape that I want…'

That was easier said than done.

The moment my hand touched the cold surface of the cube and I channeled my emotive magic, it felt as though I was surrounded by quicksand.

Regardless of how much I tried to move, my body simply refused.

I felt beads of sweat drip down from the corner of my face as I put even more effort into trying to move, but as if it knew of my struggle, the sand became more and more rigid, until eventually, I was unable to move at all.

"Alright."

Startling me out of my thoughts was the Professor's voice. Looking up, she was staring at me with her usual smile.

"Not bad for your first try. There's no need to be disheartened. Many are the same."

Looking down, the cube was nowhere in sight.

Instead, all I saw was a liquid pool of silver.

With a wave of her hand, the pool of silver returned back into its regular shape, a cube, and she tossed it to me.

"Even though it looks like a simple cube, it's rather expensive so be careful with it. This will be it for your first lesson. Once you are capable of molding the cube as you wish, then we can move to the next step."

Standing up, she said a few more words and tips before eventually leaving.

"….."

Sitting in the middle of the classroom, I stared at the cube for a few seconds before grasping it.

"Alright."

I guess it was time for me to add a new routine to my training.