Story 1: Chapter 3: Test and Years (Patreon)

Story 1: Chapter 3

Disclaimer: I own nothing.

Chapter 3: Test and Years.

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- Elias Rimmon -

I walked ahead to the training field in my designated place as I waited for the Demonic Beast to be released.

I wondered what kind of beast it would be. I had no combat experience to speak of and the best case scenario I could think of would be shifting my attributes to sneak in a quick hit at a weak spot.

I did have some spells and even prepared a few in advance. It still depended on what kind of beast I would be facing.

The wait didn’t last long as a magic circle summoned the demonic beast a good distance from me.

The first thing that came to my mind on seeing the beast was… damn, it was ugly.

It looked like a rhinoceros but bigger. Its skin was thick and spiked. Yellow eyes stared at everything around as if waiting for the restraints to disappear to charge forward and crush them under its massive hooves.

“Ready.” I heard the examiner call.

I nodded.

In my mind, I already made a basic plan of attack.

It was a land based demonic beast so take to the sky. That would stop most of its attacks. I don’t know if it can still use ranged attacks so keep a healthy distance to dodge in case I need it.

And as expected, as soon as the beast was released, it charged towards me.

I took to the sky in a moment and shot a volley of spells towards it.

Every spell missed the beast and hit the ground beside it but I couldn’t help but smile.

The very next moment, the ground under it crashed into a deep pit with at least 20 metres depth. The beast roared.

I used the second spell, one that was the most basic spell used by the low class devils.

A spell to create water to fill the hole.

The roars increased in volume and the ground around the pit shook from the beast struggling and hitting the walls.

The roars soon got quiet as it was drowned in the water.

All I needed to do was wait out for a few minutes for it to suffocate and die.

Once done, I looked up and gave a thumbs up to the crowd now looking at the scene with a  deadpan.

I walked towards them and Miss Maya greeted me. “Mr. Rimmon, first of all congratulations. You have passed your second test. Before you take your last test, could you perhaps tell me why you chose the spells you did to take down the Demonic Beast?”

“Because it was the most efficient case. I was told to take down the beast. No methods were mentioned. I wasn’t told if the Demonic Beast would be used after I took it down or not, so I decided to err on the side of caution in case I lost any marks for making a mess and reducing the price of the body. Again, in case it was a case of fighting, I would prefer to keep my more dangerous spells to myself and not exhibit them publicly for show.”

She looked at me for a moment and then nodded. “Very good. Let’s proceed on to the next test. Please show me two spells of your creation. The better the spells, the more the chances of you being picked by a senior magician as a student or even an apprentice, so don't hold back.” she patted my back and I stared at her for a second more than necessary before realising and then quickly nodded.

Apprenticeship. This was not mentioned before.

I did read about this before. Apprentices were treated much better than normal students and given much more resources. They were basically the elites among students.

“What does an Apprenticeship entail?” I asked.

“It will mainly be people reading about your demonstration and deciding if they want to take you as an apprentice. An Apprentice gets better resources than normal students of the same level and are nurtured with a lot more care because they are considered to have more potential. In general, the restrictions that your rank imposes on you for learning things, are far more relaxed if you can become an apprentice of a High Class Magician or if you are lucky, someone even higher.”

This changed things… a lot.

I nodded and went back to the field. Miss Maya waved her hand and targets appeared around the place.

In all this time I had studied mainly Wind Magic.

But even simple wind magic with some basic knowledge of science can give wonderful results.

I looked at the targets in front of me and used the spell I previously made.

Twenty wind bullets formed, spinning in the air like drills.

I waved my hand and the bullets rushed, in a direction far away from the targets.

The bullets whirled past the targets by a large margin but just as everyone thought that the shots were a miss, twenty targets had their heads pierced with bullet holes.

I let a slight smile appear on my face.

Mirage Bullets.

Changing the density of air through heat to bend the light in a way that the real direction of the bullets cannot be seen. It works on the same principle as the formation of mirages in deserts. While that took a very large amount of air to bend the light sufficiently, in this case I had a cheat called Magic.

I looked at the crowd and the lady gave me a nod so I went on to the second spell, which was basically a blatant plagiarism.

“I will need someone to attack me for this next spell. It is a defensive type magic.”

Miss Maya nodded and almost instantly several whirling bullets of wind formed in the air and I found myself with a hung jaw. She copied me.

I however didn’t have much time to think as the bullets shot towards me.

A Magic Circle appeared under my feet and wind spun around me in the form of a sphere/ The bullets stuck the sphere and were deflected instantly. The Spell was inspired from the Hyuga’s Rotation Technique. This however was more of a Counter-Attack Type Magic than a Defensive Type. The sharp winds around me would have shredded anyone to pieces if they had tried to approach me. The consumption was a bit much but it was the best defence I could think of for now.

My Mirage Bullets cannot be dodged by eyesight alone.

Still… Did I invent an already created spell of this woman, or did she copy it with just one look?

Fuck… and she is supposed to be just a High Class Magician.

I remember the anime and Mid Class Magicians seemed to be the type of cannon fodder who everyone and their grandmothers could beat even after waking up from a bad hangover.

Am I really that weak?

Shit.

I went ahead, but no one spoke anything and Miss Maya just instructed me to complete the rest of the exam.

The last part of the Exam was to spar with her for a bit. It was mainly to see if I have the overall abilities and skill of a Low Class Magician.

She walked into the Training Ground in front of me.

“Don’t hold anything back. Although this examination was made in order to avoid you taking any advantage of your Devil Heritage, it still is an advantage. Giving it up would be the utmost level of foolishness so, don’t hold back. Come at me with the intent to kill, with everything you have got.” She said and I nodded.

And right then I felt her magic pour out of her.

I am not able to sense Magic that well. I did get the ability after my own Magic Power and Spirit Stats reached a certain level but… this time I didn’t need to. Wisps of bluish purple magic power appeared around her.

I pushed two hundred points from my Spirit to my Body. I might need to dodge.

Host: Elias Rimmon

Body: 240

Mind: 2,000

Spirit: 2,050

Magic: 400

"Start."

I raced towards Miss Maya several dozen wind bullets forming around me.

The speed this time was much faster as they raced towards her.

I am very sure I saw her smirk before my Wind Shell appeared around her. At the same time, I felt my blood chill as hundreds of wind bullets formed around her. Not ones, not tens but fucking hundreds. I tore off another page of my Grimore, activating another spell which I had plagiarised.

Air Armour. It was used to increase the density of air around the user and change the direction of any light weight projectile shot at the user, including bullets. It just changes the angle of the attack lightly and makes them in a way… slip away from the user.

The Wind Bullets rained towards me, only to slip away from me. I, in the meanwhile, used the next spell.

I created the fucking Wind Shell. I would be a fool to not invent a counter for it.

Two pages of my Grimore were torn and several dozen Wind Bullets formed around me, ready to pour down on her at a moment's notice.

I could see that smile on her face as she raised the Wind Shell again… annoyingly.

This time however, the Wind Bullets were not made to attack her but rather to make her activate the Wind Shell.

Another couple of pages of my Grimore were torn off and a Magic Circle formed around the Wind Shell of Miss Maya.

Nox Out. A spell that changes the nitrogen and oxygen in the atmosphere to Nitrogen Oxide which is poisonous and can knock out the opponent if inhaled in large quantities.

It was mainly used in close spaces… but if my opponent was kind enough to make a bubble of high speed spinning wind around her, who am I to not take advantage of it?

I am not expecting the spell to actually knock her out, just to disorient her a little.

A single moment of lapse in concentration was enough for me to take advantage of.

The bombardment of wind bullets continued for around one minute. I was preparing the next step of my attack in the meantime.

Two spells were set for use.

Bias Release - a wind spell that compresses air in a certain area to great degrees and releases it in one direction. This can be focused to have greater effects.

And, Freezing Wind. Compressing the Nitrogen in the air to high pressures to liquefy it. Liquid Nitrogen can instantly freeze an area reaching sub zero temperatures.

Combine the two spells and I have a Freeze Spray of Instant Death, ready to make a popsicle out of my opponents at a moment's notice.

Magic is like a software used to hack Nature. If we know well enough what to do, the effects of the magic gets enhanced.

Still Magicians use Magic in a very raw form. Making icicles and bombing the opponents with it. How wasteful.

Miss Maya's Wind Shell wavered and I released all my spells almost instantly at her.

A five metre area around her froze over.

Mists covered the entire place and it got difficult to see what had happened to her.

Suddenly, I dodged to the side and the place I was standing on was bombed by what I recognized as my Bias Release.

"The combination was quite good but… don't you have anything better? This much is not good against a High Class Magician." I turned towards the voice to see Miss Maya standing in the air.

She teleported.

I said nothing. The last few spells took a lot of toll on my Demonic Power reserves. I did however use a move to give a reply.

A magic circle formed above me as a ball of compressed and spinning wind formed, slowly turning into a shuriken made up of wind.

She merely stood in her place and watched me use the spell.

I again waved my hand and the huge spinning ball of death rushed towards the biggest target and showed everyone on the training ground why Naruto Uzumaki could sail through the entire ninja war with just a single technique and its variations.

The Rasenshuriken's attack struck true. The rocks around her looked as if vapourized. In a way it was true because this attack worked on the cellular level. The only problem with it was the energy required for this. Three Rasenshurikens took almost all of my Demonic Power as a Mid Class Devil. There was also the fact that the attack required a few seconds to prepare and form completely.

That said, I am pretty sure that anyone, any Mid Class Devil, if hit by this attack would suffer.

I fell to my knees. This spell took out almost all of my Demonic Power and I didn't want to shift my attributes to give them any hints about my power. If my Demonic Power suddenly increased, it would be suspicious to say the least.

I saw Berta and Aaron gasping at the attack. It had taken me a lot of work to get the required balance for this particular skill but hopefully this gets me the much needed apprenticeship.

"Now, that was something decent."

I heard her voice, just as nonchalant as a second ago from between the dust cloud. A gust of wind blew the dust cloud away and there she stood… Completely unharmed.

Are High Class Magicians… really this strong?

The motherfucking anime and Light Novels lied to me.

I mean sure, I was hiding my power but still… I was using the stats of a Mid Class Devil to fight her.

She must have sensed my thoughts from my expressions, not that it was hard to do so because for a moment I had stopped giving shit, because she spoke. "Your power reached a solid Mid Class Level with that attack. Too bad your Demonic Power and Strength needs a lot more training. Your Magic on the other hand was… adequate."

I sat on the ground trying to gather myself.

She continued. "Just for a demonstration, this is what a High Class Magician can do."

She raised a hand towards the empty part of the field. A Magic Circle appeared in front of her hand and almost instantly a hurricane rose in the middle of the ground, almost reaching the sky. The sheer sight of the attack was awe inspiring as well as depressing. But, she wasn't done yet. Just when I thought it was over, the entire hurricane was frozen… instantly.

I felt a chill on my back as I watched the scene.

"A High Class being can destroy a village. An Ultimate Class being can destroy cities and provinces. A Leader Class or what you call a Satan Class being can destroy countries. Do not think for a single moment that you are strong just because you have gained some strength. Pride comes before the fall is a very good saying for an obvious reason. Your performance was passable. You will get your detailed results in a week as well as the information about any apprenticeship if you do get accepted by someone. For now, I declare you a Low Class Magician. Congratulations on passing, Mr. Rimmon."

"I… thank you." I answered slightly absentmindedly, still looking at the gigantic frozen hurricane in the middle of the training ground. My Rasenshuriken was nothing compared to that. None of my attacks were anything compared to that Spell, not even close.

I took a deep breath and slapped my cheeks and got up.

Isn't this just the High Class Level?

I started training a year ago and now I am a Mid Class being all by myself. A few more years. I will reach there.

With this thought in mind, I got up and bowed to Miss Maya and went to Aaron who gave me a light hug and patted my back with a smile while congratulating me.

Berta had a slightly complicated look on her face. She still nodded and congratulated me.

But didn't stay behind for long as she went behind Miss Maya to escort her to the mansion.

Aaron gave me a check up and led me to my room where I fell asleep as soon as I laid on the bed.

– Medea –

Medea watched as Aaron entered the room and bowed slightly. "How is he?"

"Elias is completely unharmed, Lady Medea. Perhaps a little exhausted but still unharmed." She watched him hesitate a little before gathering his courage and opening up. "My Lady, he…"

"Are you worried about him even after seeing his performance, Aaron?"

"I… I don't understand this."

"Geniuses are rarely understood. And my gem… He might as well be the one who gives the term genius a new definition. Did you see his performance? The spells he created, with only months of self-study. How many others do you know who can achieve the same level of skill in Magic?"

"I… . didn't even know what some of those spells were or how they worked. I could do similar spells, at least the ice magic but others, I have no idea how they worked" Aaron said after a while and then looked at Berta who shook her head as well.

"Because those spells were not brute forced. You could use the ice magic, but it would take you around 12 times more Demonic Power to achieve the same results. He was using science rather than mysticism, working within the laws of nature rather than against it to achieve the results which greatly reduced his Demonic Power expenditure. Most of his spells were using nature to enhance their power. Thus, you couldn't have copied the spell or done anything even on the same level without knowing the underlying principle. Even I myself couldn't copy his last spell. It was far more complicated than it looked at a simple glance."

"Yes. That last attack… it could have destroyed most High Class Devils easily."

"It could have done the same for most Ultimate Class Devils had they been caught off guard and there was more power behind the spell. Even the famed regeneration of the Phenex would have been challenged. That attack was not a single one but rather an uncountable number of small blades attacking the body continuously at the cellular level. Add the flames that the Phenex release during regeneration and the wind attribute of the attack would have made the attack even more dangerous."

She analysed the spell from behind her barrier and got some information about it.

And to think that he was still holding back… She smiled with sheer anticipation.

Keeping his cards till it was a matter of life and death. It was an admirable quality. Something that someone in his position would need to survive. She will get him to open up… in time.

Trust was not earned so easily after all. She of all people understood this fact.

They kept quiet on hearing the news. The one to break the silence was Berta.

"What do we do from now on, My Lady?"

"Nothing. You will all maintain the illusion about him being a Mid Class Devil at best. I will teach him personally and let him flourish his talents as much as he can."

"Yes, My Lady."

She noticed a slight hesitation on Berta's face. She has really grown close to her Gem.

"You are not cheating him, Berta. Rather you are doing this to keep him safe. Children of his talents are either recruited or killed. Not to mention if he finds out about his power, he might get cocky. You are just doing what any responsible guardian would do to keep him out of trouble. After all, mothers scaring their child with imaginary monsters and such to keep them from doing mischief is not something new."

Except this time, the monsters would be very real.

- Elias -

I woke up from my sleep and looked around my room, only to fall back after remembering yesterday.

The frozen hurricane at the end of the test was something that had been imprinted on my mind.

I looked at my Status screen to see the current level of my stats.

Host: Elias Rimmon

Body: 240

Mind: 2,000

Spirit: 2,050

Magic: 400

I shifted my stats around for the grinding mode.

I was only learning magic for a few months now and it was just my start. The frozen hurricane might be impressive but one day I will surpass it.

For now I just need to keep on training.

Host: Elias Rimmon

Body: 40

Mind: 500

Spirit: 4,000

Magic: 150

The Spirit stat as I observed, increases my Magic Stat passively. From my guesses, I could deduce that the stronger someone’s soul, the more their magic grows naturally. The greater the difference between my Spirit and Magic stats, the faster the growth and thus when I am not training or studying, I always keep my Spirit Stat at a high level.

For the same amount of magic training, there can be drastically different results for my growth in Magic Stat, depending on the spirit. I guess, the ones with great talent and such must have very High Spirit Stat and such.

I got up to get fresh for my training.

- Two Years Later -

Three years have passed since my test.

Three days after my test, I got my results formally. I was accepted in the Gauzaburer’s Magician’s Organisation as a Low Class Magician.

Surprisingly, I got a mentor as well.

Miss Maya took me in as an apprentice.

She told me that while she won’t be taking me with her all the time, she would come every month to keep an eye on my studies and the rest were books.

The books.

I have a large shelf full of books in my room all as a courtesy from Miss Maya.

Everything I would need to study up to the Mid Class level. It also contained some books about other schools of magic such as the Norse and the Greek ones.

Miss Maya did as she promised me and came every month and stayed for a few days in the mansion and taught me Magic.

My personal favourite was still the one I started with, The Human Magic System or the Merlinean Magic System.

It was quite a lot like programming and I remembered a Light Novel Series from my previous life which served as a massive inspiration for my Magic.

The Irregular at Magic High School.

There was a big reason for it too.

The way in which the Merlinean System approached Magic was very slightly reminiscent of that one. The Human Magic System had many types too. The ones Merlin created was just the base or rather the first one of its kind. Later on many others took it and made other styles of magic of their own.

It was kinda like having different programming languages to do the same thing.

Many famous magicians had invented their own programming languages for Magic. These were people who created Magician Organisations basically. People like McGregor Mathews and Rudriger Rozencrutz.

My stats had grown a lot in these two years. It was mainly due to the help of Miss Maya and my newest spell.

A Wide Area Gravity Concentration Spell, Gravity Field.

I could understand why they said that Gravity Manipulation was High Class Stuff.

Manipulating one of the fundamental forces is something else.

The spell has to be powered continuously by my Demonic Power. It had a great energy requirement too.

The gravity worked on my entire body at the same time and was much more effective than the weights had been.

A rough calculation showed that they were almost twice as effective.

The hardest part about the spell however was the control required over it. The fluctuating input changed the output accordingly too so to keep a stable gravitational field, the user had to keep a stable input as well, which, believe me, is easier said than done.

Well, no. It can be done easily but my mentor advised me not to.

According to her, if I was doing this to train myself, I should not add the component to regulate the power.

This will help me improve my control over my Demonic Power.

The ones with shitty Magic Circles like me can use this method to close the gap, even if only slightly. I thought about it for a moment and it made sense.

The difficulty though… I think my mentor might be a closet sadist.

To put it into words, it was like running an obstacle course with a mad Demonic Beast chasing me while I had to balance a pot of burning lava on my head.

I couldn’t make a stable field for two months straight.

The training though… It helped all my stats grow simultaneously.

The strain from the concentration needed to maintain the stable Gravity field, increased both Mind and Spirit. The push ups in the Gravity field increased my Body and the drain on my Magic to maintain the Gravity Field, increased my Magic Stat.

It was the best training someone like me could get.

The results showed this.

I gain around 6 Stat Points from this method… every hour.

Currently, I can keep this up for eight hours before fainting but it still nets me 48 points in those eight hours alone.

Host: Elias Rimmon

Body: 2,000

Mind: 7,000

Spirit: 29,230

Magic: 3,500

Although she is a slave driver, Miss Maya is a great teacher..

Like seriously, I thought I was training hard enough but this woman made my previous training look like a child playing around.

Once I faint from the above training, it takes me around eight hours to wake up. Although, now my body has been getting used to it more.

After I wake up, she follows it by a spar which is a polite word for a beatdown.

She used spells created by me in spars mostly so whenever I made a spell, I made it a habit to make counters for them or at least a way to defend against them.

Later on, she started using her own spells. Magic from several different styles and schools randomly thrown at me.

One second, I would be dodging summoned demonic spirits, the next second I would be dodging Runic traps on the ground.

Although, not everything was bad.

First things first. She’s hot.

She is probably the prettiest woman I have seen in both my lives. I mean Devils are beautiful in general but she is still above the common rabble.

Blue hair and elf like slightly pointed ears. She told me that she was a reincarnated Devil who was under the Lucifuge House and was originally from Greece. Although she didn’t tell me the details of anything, even this much was quite a lot.

Second, after the training is done, she adores me.

Like, ,really adore me.

For example, whenever I faint, I get lap pillows from her.

At the end of the training, we take baths together.

And outside of training, she never let me go anywhere from her lap. Although my cheeks are poor. And while that was good when I was nine, with my rapidly growing body and puberty, things are not that simple for me anymore. Not that she minded it. She was quite free when with me.

See did seem a little crazy but hey….every worth their salt is a bit crazy. Moreover….she’s a Devil Magician. And if that was not enough….she’s Greek.

Recently, she told me that my Demonic Power is barely at the High Class level, although my skills need a lot more work but were average in the Mid Class level.

3,500 Magic is barely High Class.

At least, three and a half years in, I am now near the High Class level. She still couldn’t take me out of the Underworld though because apparently I still needed to clear the Mid Class Devil Promotion exams. It sucked but that exam was in a year. I am pretty sure I could make it to the mid levels or even the peak of High Class.

I also found out something very interesting. Berta was as strong as a High Class Devil. Although only at the starting stage but still.

In hindsight, it made sense with how she had kicked my ass back in the day.

It also gave me a measure of how strong a real High Class Devil can be. The maids were all Mid Class Devils and only Berta was stronger as the Head Maid. I did spar with some maids and while they were not very good fighters, their base stats were more or less around 1,000 or so.

In Devil Society, children were allowed to take some responsibilities after they became twelve. I’m twelve but due to my regular training, I passed for a fifteen year old. This allowed me several leeways. One such thing was exploring the city.

I often went out for walks around the city. Sometimes even disguising myself to listen to others.

The Underworld was a lot like the Human World in many aspects. It also had a dark side. Criminal gangs and a Black Market.

Surprisingly, these were maintained and backed up by the Pillar Houses and Extra Demon Houses.

These Black Markets had things that wouldn’t see the light of the day normally and even if it did, would not be sold to just anyone, like rare materials, books, equipment, artifacts and even Magic Circles.There were auctions which sold these things. In fact, from the rumours many rare things like Phenex Tears were also sold.

While my Human Magic was progressing very well, I was still far behind in my Devil Magic. It was after all a part of me and I would be a fool to not utilise it

The greatest drawback for me to learn Devil Magic would be my Magic Circle. A normal 20% efficiency Magic Circle would cost me all my savings and would still leave me at least four times behind any Pillar Devil who normally has at least 80% efficiency Magic Circles.

That means, I would need at least 8,000 Magic Stat to be able to barely match the energy expenditure of a barely passable High Class Devil. And that’s not even mentioning the other facilities of a High Level Magic Circle like the spell storage, high casting speed, etc.

Just the thought of it was depressing. The only way to bypass those are these Black Markets.

That said, I would be getting nothing if I went in as I was now. I didn’t have the money for it.

There were ways of earning money though.

These places posted several tasks like collection of materials to the likes of killing someone. I am obviously not taking any of these jobs right now but… I will have to take them after my exams.

I visited the Blacksmith’s shop regularly after that. The lady was quite bored and talked to me when she was free. I got to know many things from her.

The hunters to the pits earned a pretty decent amount of money.

Unlike other territories, this territory under Grayfia Lucifuge was near the borders and the pits.

It was a dangerous place but it also meant that anything and everything that came out of the Pits was the property of Grayfia Lucifuge. However she allowed the people of her territory to hunt near the pits and sell off the things. There was obviously a tax on it to maintain the territory.

But apart from that, even the Mid Class Demonic Beasts from the Pits were priced to 40 million Liliums depending on the variety they were.

Not to mention, they collect materials from the pits.

There was also a specific team of Devil under her who helped clear out the Demonic Beasts near the pits so which cannot be handled by weaker Devils. This group needed members to be at the very least at High Class level.

The best part about this was that I didn’t have to officially become a member of anyone’s peerage to do so. I can just get contracts and in time become a High Class Devil by myself.

I found out about this from my teacher who is also in charge of one of these teams.

This is my plan to collect money for my research of magic. I wanted to join this team.

My final goal, make a Magic Circle for Human Magic. Kinda like the CAD’s from the Mahouka to store my spells and cast them at a moment’s notice. For this, I need to thoroughly study several Magic Circles.

As I was thinking of these things, there was a knock on my door and I heard a maid’s voice outside.

Miss Maya was back for my classes again.

I was already ready and thus left quickly.

Today however I was led to the mansion instead.

____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

I entered the mansion to find Miss Maya sitting, being served by Berta. She was however not alone.

Along with her sat the same Purple haired, orange eyed girl who changed my life with just a few words.

Ingvild Leviathan.

There was another person beside them. I found myself taking a slight breath in.

She was stunning.

Grey hair, red eyes and looks that could freeze the atmosphere with just a look.

Her power seemed to be coiled around her tightly, not a hint being released and yet, it could be felt around her, in her presence.

Grayfia Lucifuge.

“Elias! Pay respect to them.” Aaron whispered quickly beside me, making me realise that I was just staring.

I quickly gave them a bow and greeted them.

She nodded while Ingvild looked at me with a light smile. “How have you been, Elias?”

“Thanks to you, I have been well, My Lady. Everyone here has treated me well and takes good care of me. Thank you.” I bowed lightly.

“That’s good to hear.” She smiled.

“Elias.” Miss Maya interrupted the conversation, looking at me. “We are going to have a spar. Consider it a surprise test. I want you to give it your all. No bars held. Don’t hold back like you always do. Is that understood?”

I was taken aback for a moment before I stood up straight and nodded. “Yes Teacher.”

“Good. Then go to the training fields.”

I was led out by a maid while having different thoughts in mind.

Is she trying to give me an opportunity to demonstrate my talents for those two?

I did talk to her about some ways to earn money for my Magic Research and she told me that she will see what she can do and now this…

Well… the least I can do is give them a good show.

- Medea -

Ingvild was taken aback as soon as Elias’s spar was announced. She held it back but only till he was out of the room.

“Lady Medea, what is the meaning of this?”

“What else would it mean, Ingvild? I have been teaching a student and I want to see his progress.”

“But Elias!”

“Is a Genius beyond compare. I estimate that by the time he is of age, he would be a Satan Class being at the very least. It would be such a waste to let his talents go unexplored.”

“Ingvild.” Grayfia spoke this time. “It’s fine. Medea doesn’t mean any harm. If anything, she cares more about the boy than anyone else in this place.”

Ingvild’s surprise quietened her for a while and she explained the details about Elias to her, obviously leaving some of her plans for her gem aside.

“The boy however is too noble for his own good. He refuses to take anything he hasn’t earned because he thinks of it as taking advantage of us who are doing so much for him. This makes it hard to give him any extra support without being suspicious. He’s also stubborn. He can bow to others in gratitude, no matter who they are but he won’t bow to anyone in servitude. I know him enough to know these things about him. I just want to provide a way for him to grow.”

The boy is also cautious. Despite growing closer to her, he never once spoke about his powers or showed more than a normal growth to anyone. A worthy trait.

Trust is not something that should be given around so easily.

That said, if he kept on hiding his powers, he would only end up stunting his growth.

Thus, she wants to provide a way for him to learn.

Moreover, she wanted him closer to her King.

Grayfia had been a little emotional since the news of the birth of the son of Sirzechs Lucifer came out, a few days ago.

The traitor was living a happy life while she suffered alone despite all her sacrifices. It pained her.

Not the fact that a child was born… rather her own situation.

She took this opportunity to convince her to watch her testing Elias, in the hopes of having her take an interest in him. It worked.

Grayfia, who was looking for something to distract herself, followed her to meet her protege.

Now, all that was needed was for Elias to show his power.

They teleported directly to the training ground.

The situation was quite similar to two years ago when he took that Low Class magician Examination.

Oh, the examination was actually valid.

She was a member of the Gauzaburer’s Magician Organisation. The Vice Head, to be precise.

Mephisto was quite accommodating after knowing her identity and it helped her recruit talents for her King. She helped him establish the Organisation at a whole new level.

Getting a child be named as a Magician, even a High Class one was a no effort task for her.

Elias was marked as a Mid Class Magician at the age of nine. Only his records were sealed by her and the only ones to know about him were her and Mephisto.

They had already put several barriers around the place because while he thought of himself as someone at the top of High Class, he was easily an Ultimate Class Devil with a Satan Class Soul. And this was not even considering his Magical Abilities in the Human Magic System.

“Are you ready, Elias?” She asked him again.

He nodded and she smiled. Then she attacked.

- Elias -

My heart almost jumped into my mouth when I saw her attacking.

She wasn’t holding back.

The entire sky was covered with magic circles as they were ready to fire blasts from all angles at once.

I quickly transferred my stats to my body and mind, readjusting myself to be able to dodge everything.

Host: Elias Rimmon

Body: 5,000

Mind: 8,000

Spirit: 25,230

Magic: 3,500

And then I momentarily closed my eyes before opening them once more, only this time the entire scenery around me had changed completely.

This is an ability I just awakened when my Spirit Stat crossed 25,000.

It was also the main reason why I was using the Mahouka System of Magic as a reference.

It was because this ability reminded me of something from that world.

Elemental Sight.

The ability to see the Information Realm.

My ability was eerily similar. I could see the entire world in terms of information. What Magic did was tamper with this information to create changes. The problem however was that they didn’t know where or what exactly the information was and could only make pointed guesses. This resulted in them using a lot of Magical Power.

What we underestimate is just how much this wastage is.

Even for someone like Miss Maya, according to my calculations, she wastes around two thousand four hundred times more energy than necessary.

With time, a Magician can estimate the information through more practice and experience leading them to control the power much better.

For a Magician like me, it was the best possible thing I could get.

I could see the invocation of a spell and attack a part of it to destabilise and break it easily.

I can also study the flow of Magic and the formation of the spell and copy it perfectly, although I could do the same with Magic Circles. It’s just that I need a basic Magic Circle as a cover up before I can do such a thing. The scope of what I could do with it was just boundless.

This skill had an insane range as well.

The only problem was that I needed to keep my Spirit Stat above 25,000 at all times to keep it usable.

Not much of a sacrifice if you ask me.

I stamped the ground under my feet, crushing it under me and creating a small crater as I rushed forward.

My eyes were already predicting the areas where the spells will hit and my Air Armour, protecting me against small attacks.

Her magic Circles were tracking my body heat and thus the next spell.

A wide area Oscillation Spell, Inferno.

My grimore’s page was torn and the spell came to life as I injected my Magic into it.

The spell caused a massive inferno around her, disorienting the Magic Circles targeting ability making it go haywire.

- Grayfia -

“She’s not holding back. He’s just a child, Grayfia.” She heard Ingvild’s voice but didn't shift her attention from the fight in front of her.

Over the last three years, she had her ears filled with the abilities of her bishop’s so-called Gem and now she was getting to see the said abilities first hand.

“It’s fine. Medea knows his abilities best. She will not hurt him.” She assured Ingvild although she was a bit doubtful internally. The attack she just used was used in wars against entire squadrons of enemies. It was not something one would use on a single person, let alone a child, no matter how talented.

Her next thoughts were all halted when the entire area around Medea turned into an inferno as the child… or whatever he was blasted over the ground at a pace that would make even Ultimate Class Devils do a back take with nothing but pure physical force.

The attacks rained around the entire ground for a while before Medea dispelled the Magic Circles.

The next second the area around them froze, putting out all the fire.

Mist covered the entire area before she heard a crash.

Huge chunks of ice were thrown towards Medea which she easily dodged but soon after, she saw the mists twisting and a sharp sound of wind from several areas of the mists.

Medea cast a strong wind spell, blowing away the mists, only two find white coloured balls of wind approaching her with a shrill sound.

The attack hit the ground as Medea dodged with a short ranged teleport to land on top of a giant piece of ice as the attack struck the ground she was at, shredding the entire area into pieces.

The ice and earth looked as if vapourized under that attack and the fifty metres area around the place was rendered clean.

Medea had spotted the boy and fired a barrage of spells once more towards the child as he erected a barrier while weaving a spell of his own.

"Standing still in a battle? I thought I beat that habit out of you Elias?"

The spells got concentrated on the barrier tearing it apart. The boy's eyes widened as he dodged the barrage but still got caught in the shockwave, throwing him away.

Ingvild shifted worriedly beside her and even Grayfia was a little moved.

Medea on the other hand looked unphased.

"Come on. I know, an attack of such level won't hurt you directly, let alone from a shockwave. Stop pretending."

And just as she stated, the boy disappeared from his place in a haze.

An illusion?

No… a mirage.

He appeared directly under the place Medea was standing and froze her in a cube of ice till her neck, breathing heavily on his knees.

The match seemed as if it was over but Grayfia knew otherwise.

The Medea in the ice cube melted in shadows and another Medea appeared behind the boy.

“Interesting. But do you really think I would be caught so easily, Elias? I find your lack of faith in me… hurtful.”

“On the contrary, teacher. I am going to win this exactly because I trusted you to dodge it.”

Runes appeared all around the two and Medea’s magic frizzled out as she got stuck to the ground.

The boy on the other hand disappeared.

Grayfia spread her senses around and this time felt him at the source of the seals, under the ground.

He came out, a distance away from Medea and looked at her.

Medea was actually too stunned to speak for a few moments before she laughed. She laughed. “Well done, my little gem. Well done indeed. But you put so much faith in me. How would it look if I didn’t measure up to it.”

Her Demonic Power rose. She stopped holding anything back and everything around her started to crumble.

The boy jumped back quickly as he looked in awe.

“This is what an Ultimate Class being feels like when they get serious, Elias.”

Grayfia had the urge to roll her eyes. This level of power would make most Ultimate Class beings cry and run away in fear. Medea was one of the few Satan Class Reincarnated Devils in the Underworld and now she was using her full power just to break a seal against a twelve year old. She did remember telling Medea to keep the boy humble lest he gets in over his head and get killed but still… this is too much.

“Ultimate Class?”

“Yes. I got promoted two weeks ago. And congratulations. For being able to force me into such a situation, you proved yourself as well. By my authority, I promote you to Mid Class Magician. Congratulations.”

Ingvild looked at her with utter disbelief at the statements while the boy himself seemed overjoyed with the situation.

“Grayfia… What is she talking about? How is Elias a Mid Class Magician? That level of skill… he’s clearly at an Ultimate Class. I didn’t even notice several of the spells between them or how and when they were casted. He’s clearly much above…”

“A Mid Class Magician who’s barely into the High Class. I know. But it’s better that he doesn’t know about it yet. Children can get overconfident easily and could get themselves into trouble. This is even more so due to his situation. You know how much danger he would be in if his powers were discovered by others. There won’t be any negotiations and he would become a target of elimination immediately. Medea is understating his powers to prevent just that from happening.”

"But… . "

"We will tell him everything when he passes the Mid Class Devil exams next year. He will be strong enough to protect himself by then and also make a choice."

Ingvild looked a little unsatisfied but agreed nonetheless.

They watched as both the teacher and student fought with each other till the student collapsed.

– Elias –

I woke up on the familiar lap of my hot teacher.

She never takes it easy on me during the spars. That said, when it's over, she dotes on me like no one else.

"That was quite an impressive performance, my Gem. Your counter attack was very great. It was on the level of a new High Class being. Congratulations."

I knew this tone of hers. It was when I could laze around and act a little spoiled.

So, I took full advantage of the situation and hugged her waist, snuggling into her lap a little more as she giggled lightly. "I really thought that I was going to win this time."

"I had to up my training so that I don't get left behind by you. My Student is too talented and so I am also working hard."

“You didn’t tell me that you were taking an Ultimate Class Examination.” It totally caught me off guard. I mean, sure I was happy that she became an Ultimate Class Magician and even promoted me to a Mid Class one without taking an exam but still…. It came out of nowhere.

“I didn’t because I wanted to surprise you. You surprised me more so I guess we are even.”

We talked about random things for a while.

"Elias, you are now of passable strength to join the hunting teams under the Lucifuge House. I have a team of my own. Would you like to join us? I have talked to Lady Grayfia and she has agreed to this. She was quite impressed by your talents and decided to support you. You can decide what to do for your future when you pass the Mid Class Devil examination. You will not be forced to stay there if you don't want to."

… . 

… . 

"Okay."

” I replied. It was the best part I can think of for now.

Free training and real life experience for someone like me. Not to mention a chance to earn enough money and make connections for the future.

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Beta Reader: LuluViBritania(FF.N, SB, WN and QQ)/-LuluViB|99th Britannian Emperor(Discord)

Author’s Note:

Another chapter of Story 1 after a long time.

Elias is in the upper ranks of the World and he doesn’t even know.

Medea is a ruthless teacher and an equally awesome waifu.

I had to do the time skip or it would have slowed the already slow progression a lot.

I mean, there was nothing much to be added.

Elias is a cautious guy, one of the reasons why he doesn’t question anything is because it is in line with his goal of becoming stronger.

In fact, Elias also takes an initiative to hide some power of his own. He always states his power and even performs one level lower than his normal powers as he keeps most of his stats in Mind and Spirit.

Add this with Medea’s deception and we get an MC who is two levels stronger than he thinks himself to be.

The Elemental Eyes from Mahouka is Elias’ original ability. The Original Ability or Clan Trait that Elias has awakened.

It requires the Spirit Stat to remain above 25,000 for now but it will improve slowly and become permanent.

We will be seeing many of the Mahouka Abilities as Elias will be working on it.

After all, Sirzechs has got nothing on the One True Onii-sama, Godsuya.

Some might have noticed that Milicas was born much earlier than we know. What changes will that cause and how will the world be affected by it?

Enjoy the new chapter.

Good Day, Peace Out.