“It’s strange… really strange…”

Left alone in the headmaster’s office after Lucas departed, Alberto rubbed his aching temples, troubled by questions he couldn’t unravel.

Knock, knock, knock

“Come in.”

At his permission, the door opened and Aman stepped inside.

“Oh, Aman Tinoor! You came at just the right time.”

“Haha, being welcomed so warmly, I hardly know what to do. Is there some problem?”

“There is, indeed there is…”

“What sort of…?”

As Aman sat down, Alberto placed the magic stone he had just shown to Lucas onto the desk.

“About first circle.”

“What do you mean…?”

“I had Lucas use this mana measuring stone. Without reciting any incantation, he showed me Light magic. Well, calling it Light is generous—it was barely a faint glow.”

“Hm…”

“I thought at the very least that child would have second-circle, perhaps even third-circle mana. But I was wrong.”

Alberto placed his own hand upon the stone.

In an instant, the stone blazed brightly, filling the room with light.

“In case the stone itself was faulty, I tested it over and over. As you can see, there’s nothing wrong with it.”

“……”

Aman’s mind swirled.

The mana he had felt from Lucas was clearly above fifth circle. Mana so abundant that one could even expect him to become a great archmage of the continent. Such a raw gem—yet now, the stone showed only first circle? Something was definitely wrong.

“But I still don’t want to believe I was mistaken. So, could you keep an eye on him for me?”

At Alberto’s careful request, Aman silently nodded.

“I will.”

After a short bow, Aman left the office, his chest filled with an unexplainable thrill.

This will be a most delightful game.

A brat daring to hide his true power! What he had felt back at the count’s manor hadn’t been wrong. Out of curiosity, he had suggested the mana test to Alberto, and just as before, the little human brat had concealed his strength flawlessly.

It’s so much fun I could go mad!

Aman trembled with joy, stomping his feet like an excited child.

A fleeting human life, short as a blink. But this one would be worth watching closely.

“Hahahaha!!”

So delighted that he forgot his dignity, Aman burst into loud laughter in the middle of the corridor, his steps lighter than ever.

Cute little brat. I’ll keep you close and savor every drop.

Back in his room, Lucas suddenly shivered as an eerie chill ran down his spine.

Perhaps the room was cold? He carefully shut the curtains and sat at his desk, picking up a booklet.

The words on the cover read: Guide to Arant Magic Academy.

Just as it said, it was a handbook for new students.

Within its pages were not only the brief history of the seven-year-old academy, but also a detailed introduction to the school itself, its map, faculty, and even portraits and positions of all the staff.

“Quite thorough.”

Lucas read for a while before his eyes stopped on one particular page.

—Library—

“A library, huh… How long has it been since I last read a human book?”

To a dragon, human books had always been useless. Histories, stories, their fleeting chronicles—none of it mattered to a creature that lived thousands of years.

During his past games in the human world, he had skimmed a few books out of curiosity.

‘The Dragon’s Bride,’ ‘The Virtues of Dragon Bones’… such absurd tales, but he had found it amusing to see his kind written of as though it were fact. That had been the extent of his reading.

With that thought, he stood up and headed toward the library.

As soon as he opened the door, the musty scent of old books washed over him.

The library spanned two floors, its walls lined from floor to ceiling with shelves packed full of volumes.

“Looks like they’ve brought together every book in the world.”

Just thinking about how to find what he wanted Amang the endless stacks gave him a headache.

“How may I help you?”

As he stood pondering, an elderly man in a long robe that reached his ankles spoke to him. A librarian.

“Ah, I’m a new student. I’d like to read some books.”

“Haha… Wasn’t the entrance ceremony only yesterday? Such eagerness to learn—remarkable.”

The white-haired man gave him a kindly smile, addressing him with utmost respect despite his young age.

Lucas liked that about him.

“My name is Brandy Trendaion. I am the librarian here.”

“……?”

The name struck Lucas with shock.

“Why so surprised? Is there something wrong with my name…?”

“N-no. I’m La… I mean, Lucas Roderigo.”

He had nearly let his past-life name slip.

Brandy… Has that much time already passed…

The white-haired librarian standing before him was someone Lucas had once met in his former life.

“Perhaps you might try reading this.”

Lost for a moment in old memories, Lucas blinked as Brandy handed him a book.

—What is Magic?—

Lucas shook his head after a glance at the title.

“No. I’m looking for something else.”

“What book would that be?”

“Hmm… I want to find something about mana.”

“Ohh…”

At Lucas’s answer, Brandy’s eyes shone with curiosity.

“You wish to study the primal power of mana.”

“Hohoho!”

Hearing such words from a ten-year-old boy, Brandy laughed so loudly that the entire library rang.

But Lucas knew exactly what that laugh meant.

For he remembered the young man this old man once was, back in the days of his youth.

Contrary to his initial worries, life at the academy went smoothly.

The students who had shown him curiosity soon lost interest, each busy with their own lives—as humans always were.

Lucas’s consistent indifference to attention left no one with reason to approach him anymore.

And with four tests a week, no one had the leisure to meddle in someone else’s affairs.

He deliberately kept his test scores in the middle range so as not to draw anyone’s attention.

Even the professors, who had been certain he was a once-in-a-generation prodigy of the continent, slowly began to lose interest after seeing his lackluster performance.

Everything is going according to plan.

With all his classes finished, Lucas walked lightly, heading alone toward the library.

Time flowed quickly.

Before he knew it, three months had passed since his arrival at the academy.

During that time, he visited the library every single day, scouring through books about mana.

At first, Brandy, the librarian, had thought the boy’s diligence would fade in a day or two. But after watching him appear day after day without fail for a month straight, Brandy’s curiosity grew, and little by little, he began offering Lucas help in his research.

Brandy was a human Lucas had once encountered during his last brief “game.”

A boy conscripted at the young age of sixteen, thrown into the battlefield where death lurked at every step. There, he had witnessed something that would change his life.

Magic.

In the middle of war, not swords but spells.

The incantations he saw turned into flames that engulfed the battlefield, into spears of ice that pierced enemy chests.

Rain fell to soak the ground, and the wet earth clutched at enemy ankles.

The first magic he ever witnessed had annihilated enemies, but what Lucas remembered most about Brandy back then was his reverence for it.

“It was beautiful,”

he had said.

His eyes had shone brightly at the memory, though sadly, he had no aptitude to become a mage himself.

The boy became a young man, wandering the continent in search of a way to wield magic. Lucas could never forget how that youth’s eyes had glowed with longing as he spoke of its beauty—standing right in front of a dragon, yet not realizing it.

And that youth still chased the same dream. The dream of one day conjuring fire with his own hands. He had not let go of it even now, as a white-haired man in his seventies, still working in the academy library.

His body might have grown frail, but his passion remained unchanged, just as it had been when Lucas met him in his twenties.

Lost in these old thoughts as he walked down the corridor, Lucas soon arrived at the library and opened the door.

“You’ve come.”

On the face of the white-haired old man greeting him, Lucas saw overlaid the figure of that youthful dreamer.

“Yes.”

The boy smiled gently at the old man.

A semester passed.

The school year that had begun in September was now halfway through, a new year had arrived, and the cold of winter was giving way to the fresh buds of spring.

It was February. Vacation had begun.

Each student spent their break differently.

Few chose to remain at the academy, but Lucas had decided to stay.

There was nothing in Sitata, his home, that required his presence, and more than that, he was eager to resolve his problem as quickly as possible.

It’s almost there.

Day after day of studying the accumulated human research on mana had yielded impressive results.

The passion humans had poured into the study of magic was bringing about subtle but real changes in his body.

Mana, which had refused to grow no matter how hard he trained, was now—albeit ever so slightly—increasing.

Sixth circle. If I can reach that, then I’ll know this method works.

Amang all the methods he had tried, one had proven effective.

To use magic consistently.

It was simple, but once he realized it, Lucas began seizing every chance he could to cast spells.

In his previous life as a dragon, he had never needed to use magic constantly to strengthen his abilities.

In this life, protected like a flower in a greenhouse, he had neither the need nor the opportunity to practice.

But here, at the academy, the method finally bore fruit.

As with anything, practice led to improvement. It was a simple truth.

Yet one limitation remained. While he could practice magic anywhere, what he could safely practice was very restricted. He could only cast harmless spells, like creating light behind closed curtains, so as not to disturb others.

Thus, the growth of his mana was painfully slow.

Finding the right space is the most urgent matter.

He had searched constantly for a suitable place, but the academy was riddled with watchful eyes and mana stones placed throughout, making it impossible to unleash his full magic.

Slipping out of the academy and into a deserted alley, Lucas quietly cast a spell.

He thought of the place he knew best, the coordinates most familiar to him, and teleported.

“Haa…”

Standing at the base of a sheer cliff deep in the forest, Lucas took a deep breath.

“It’s been a long time…”

His gaze softened as he laid his hand against the rock face. As if an old lover lay sleeping within.

And he never noticed the eyes watching him from the shadows, gleaming with curiosity.

(End of Chapter)