Chapter 63 - Academy Reactivation (2)

Acel's magical power was fluid. Rather than saying the flow was smooth, it was more like the nature changed as he wished. Of course, the flow was smooth too, but the characteristic of freely occurring nature changes was more prominent.

Considering that sometimes magical power went against the owner's will, this was a very advantageous characteristic. Absolute magical power that was never influenced by others' interference and only followed the owner's commands.

Even with an archmage's magical power manipulation ability, it wasn't such an easy thing. Acel's talent had easily overcome even such differences in rank. It was enough to make mages who struggle at ranks 5 and 6 for decades foam at the mouth.

It wasn't for nothing that ranks 5 and 6 were called the graveyard of mages. Although one can do a proper job even at that level, if one intended to be satisfied with that, they wouldn't have become a mage in the first place.

The desire for rank advancement was as high as academic enthusiasm and curiosity. That was why there were not a few mages who aimed for rank advancement through human sacrifices or wicked rituals. Perhaps such corrupt mages played a large role in creating the current perception of mages.

Proper mages mostly belonged to some organization or sat alone in a room doing research. The mad mages like in rumors were only a very small minority, but that minority was frequently exposed externally, shattering perceptions.

Just look at Acel, who had already met two people like Jerbil and Virsia. They were all monstrous fellows, and the magic they used was still vividly imprinted in his mind.

Continuous research was essential, if only to avoid being helplessly defeated if he ever encountered them again. Research through Aleph was also part of this.

[Phosphorus Fire]

Aleph directly constructed the formula on a blank page, then manifested magic by consuming Acel's absorbed magical power. Then a will-o'-wisp about the size of a fist floated above Aleph. Aleph rotated it freely while saying...