Mage of the Magic Tower (6)

It was an endless cycle of fragile Kyle being knocked down and getting back up again.

If you summarize the contents of the original novel that serves as the setting for this world, <The Academy's Gritty Mage>, in one sentence, it's roughly this.

In the early part of the novel, Kyle himself is absolutely terrible at magic.

From the middle of the story onward, once he'd grown somewhat and could shrug off most incidents without issue, he gets attacked by black mages.

At first, the black mages only popped up one or two at a time, just enough to create a bit of tension.

The point where those cockroach-like bastards start blatantly making a scene and showing their presence in earnest is the hellish beast, Nebula's hatching episode.

I stared intently at the egg sitting on the stage platform beyond the glass window.

Irregular gray spots were scattered across the dark, grimy shell.

One corner was slightly cracked, as if it had bumped into something.

And above all, faint ripples of shadow shimmered around the egg like heat haze...