Chapter 1 The Ickryte Beginning of School

In September, the royal capital of Ickryte gradually shed the summer heat.

The morning breeze at Ickryte Magic Academy carried a hint of coolness, causing Lanchi, who lived on the first floor, to yawn involuntarily.

Today was the first day of school, and he couldn't afford to oversleep.

He rolled out of bed, left his bedroom, and with a toothbrush in his mouth and sleepy eyes, Lanchi looked out the floor-to-ceiling window of the living room. He saw a few chirping birds perched on the edge of a small garden-like private courtyard – his dormitory's balcony.

When Lanchi drew back the curtains and slowly walked over to the birds, they continued to hop around, showing no intention of flying away.

Lanchi spent some time in the courtyard like this, and more and more birds gathered around him.

They seemed very close to Lanchi, as if hoping to lean against him.

"I'm not a druid, why are you all so fond of me..."

Lanchi muttered to himself, his words slurred as he brushed his teeth.

He had already noticed that whether he was in the border town, where he would attract many cute kittens just by walking, or after coming to Ickryte Academy, the birds on campus treated him like a friend.

The little animals had no reservations about him at all.

Perhaps it was his naturally gentle emerald green eyes, or perhaps the aura around him was as freehand as poetry and painting.

In any case, he didn't dislike being surrounded by these little creatures.

After washing up, Lanchi put on the Sage Academy student uniform that had been delivered by the Student Services Center.

Then he stood in front of the mirror.

The boy in the mirror had beautiful facial lines, a straight nose, and the hair on his left ear was neatly combed back. The soft black hair appeared calm and bright in the sunlight, and the slender, light eyebrows contrasted sharply with his emerald green eyes, conveying warmth, friendliness, elegance, and composure.

The long coat in a deep blue hue elegantly draped over his slender figure. The design of the Sage Academy uniform resembled the midnight sky, mysterious and deep. The wide cuffs and the hem of the coat were decorated with golden stitching, forming patterns in the artistic style of the Hutton Kingdom, which were also ancient Southern Continent writing symbols.

The collar of the shirt under the coat was folded into a vintage white embellishment, with a small golden badge at the center, engraved with the Ickryte Academy emblem and the Sage Academy's protective technique, shimmering in the sunlight like a brilliant star, while still retaining artistic flair.

Beneath the shirt were dark trousers and a pair of boots, which had been carefully polished and shone with a black luster.

Lanchi stamped his feet, feeling both stable and comfortable, perfectly meeting the needs of an adventurer.

"Perfect, let's go."

Lanchi's legendary life began today!

...

Ickryte Academy, Sage Academy Main Building.

Compared to the other classical buildings in the academy, this building appeared quite novel and unique. The roof consisted of a series of folded light-sensing magical devices that introduced different natural light sources while blocking low-angle sunlight.

The Sage Academy had over a hundred qualified freshmen this year, who were randomly divided into three classes.

Elective courses didn't have fixed classrooms and required students to go to the corresponding building based on the course schedule. Sometimes, they might have to go to the multi-functional classrooms or experimental fields of other departments.

However, required courses were compulsory for all students, regardless of their elective choices. Students in the same class would gather in fixed classrooms for required courses.

First-year Sage Academy students had few opportunities to challenge the real Shadow World in the first semester, so the basic required courses were scheduled quite densely.

For example, today, there were four required courses: *Introduction to Magic Control*, *Practical Spellcasting Techniques*, *Principles of Incantation-Free Spellcasting*, and *Magic Detection and Shielding*.

"Let's go to class with spirit."

Lanchi quickly found the classroom by following the map markers on campus.

When he saw the classroom, there were already quite a few students inside.

He should have arrived earlier, but he had spent a few extra minutes feeding the animal friends on the balcony.

The stepped classroom with wooden floors was very spacious, with each student having free and ample space and desk area.

Outside the side floor-to-ceiling windows was a green lawn. Sunlight streamed through the windows, making the classroom bright and welcoming. The lighting combined natural and artificial light, which could be adjusted as needed.

The students in the classroom simultaneously showed a "discovering a rare creature" expression when they saw Lanchi enter.

The black-haired, green-eyed young nobleman was indeed "Dark Great Magister," the top student in this year's Sage Academy entrance examination.

This was a title some students at the academy had given Lanchi, a new type of law-based professional within the Sage Academy.

Despite Lanchi's fairly famous performance in the second round of the examination, no one knew his actual combat abilities.

The more widespread rumor was that "this guy is incredibly lucky; in the third round, he ran into an examiner who suffered from a congenital cardiovascular and cerebrovascular disease, so he easily passed."

So many students were actually a bit envious, jealous, and skeptical of Lanchi.

"Eh."

Just as he walked into the classroom, Lanchi glanced at everyone's scattered seats and quickly noticed a rather isolated presence in the back row –

Lady Hyperion, Duchess of Hebertleon.

She was the good teammate he had met in the third round of the practical examination, Infinite Phantom Canyon.

She seemed to have actively chosen a seat towards the back.

But not only that, but the entire circle around her was empty, as if everyone was deliberately avoiding her.

Looking at it this way, it felt as if Hyperion was being isolated.

Lanchi felt that this phenomenon wasn't good.

So he walked up the steps to the back of the classroom, until he reached the row where Hyperion was sitting, and sat down near her.

"Good morning, Hyperion."

Lanchi greeted her with a smile.

"Mm."

Hyperion glanced at him in surprise, then turned her head and ignored him.

The conflicted look in her eyes clearly wasn't meant to snub Lanchi, but for Lanchi's sake, she was keeping a bit of distance from him.

Seeing this, Lanchi didn't chat much with Hyperion.

For him, it was all the same where he sat, and he only knew Hyperion anyway.

So he opened the *Hutton Kingdom Judicial Examination - Collection of Real Cases* in his hand and began to study seriously.

With this morning reading companion, the time before class started was truly wonderful.

...

Until today, the dull and boring required courses predictably ended the first three sessions.

Four o'clock in the afternoon.

The sky had turned orange-red, and the sun would soon begin to slowly set. The shadows of the trees outside the classroom windows cast long shadows on the grass, and the leaves rustled in the wind.

Hyperion was still sitting in that seat in the back row, and Lanchi was still sitting near her.

However, the two were in completely different states than in the morning.

Hyperion found these courses very easy to learn, even effortlessly.

But Lanchi...

He was now lying face down on the desk, fast asleep.

As if the first three classes had overloaded him, this half-hour before the last class was his rare time to recover.

This classroom was located in the Sage Academy's historic renovated building. The wooden frames of the classroom doors and windows contrasted sharply with the red brick walls outside.

In this space, the distinctive high ceilings were made of exquisite plaster, with details preserving the classical style of the Hutton Kingdom. The several automatically adjustable magic lamps in the dome cast a soft light, making the students in the classroom feel very comfortable.

Despite being in the classroom during a time when there were no classes, it was much more lively than in the morning.

Besides the students who had arrived early and were waiting for the next class to begin, sitting in their seats and reading the textbooks, older students, or students from other academies, came to the Sage Academy's corridors and classrooms to chat about various anecdotes with acquaintances who were newly enrolled today.

In stark contrast, the back row of the classroom seemed particularly empty, as if a barrier insulated the two spaces.

Hyperion, with her amber eyes, sat quietly there, her cold gaze looking out the window at the distant sky. Her face was expressionless, but her eyes held many thoughts.

Some of the older students who came to "visit" were originally good friends or acquaintances of the freshmen in the class before they enrolled, and there were also "star freshmen" like Princess Vivian from other classes who were destined to be surrounded by people even before they enrolled.

However, all this liveliness had nothing to do with Hyperion.

Even though she was the second-ranked freshman in the Sage Academy this year, no team would recruit her.

In the past, with her father around, no one dared to bully her because of her demon bloodline, and everyone around her seemed to be a good person. Now that she was alone and weak, she finally felt how much hostility and suspicion demons would face in this country.

It was already fortunate that she had made it smoothly to the afternoon.

Unlike most people, she didn't want anyone to find her at all.

Because if other older students took the initiative to find her, they would surely be those troublesome figures from the royal capital, and it would only be a disaster, not a blessing.

The other thing that could be considered fortunate was perhaps that there was a gentle person by her side who didn't dislike her being a jinx, and had never harbored a trace of malice since they had met.

Hyperion couldn't help but look at the talented, yet somewhat clueless, sleeping boy.

Originally, several students from other classes had come to inquire about Lanchi, but when they saw Lanchi sitting next to her, their expressions changed, and they left with some excuse.

And, Hyperion had finally discovered something.

Lanchi, this seemingly very intelligent guy, was actually a magic idiot.

Aside from using magic cards, he hadn't learned how to use any spells himself, which was completely unlike a normal magic-based combat professional.

But he was also particularly upright, and even though he was suffering terribly, he was unwilling to skip class or not study seriously.

Hyperion sighed helplessly, not expecting that Lanchi, who seemed so omnipotent, also had things he wasn't good at.

Even though there were students chatting in the classroom, and noise outside in the corridor,

Hyperion quietly turned the pages of her book, trying not to wake Lanchi next to her.

A bit of kindness deserves a bit of repayment. She always held grudges, but she would also remember the good things others did for her.

What's more, for some reason, Lanchi's presence seemed to be accompanied by a kind of talent that would unconsciously calm the minds of the surrounding living beings, even if he was just lying there sleeping.

Unconsciously, her thoughts were also immersed in the book.

...

The sky outside the floor-to-ceiling windows quietly changed with each passing moment. Thick clouds seemed to drift past, briefly obscuring the bright afternoon sun. The natural light in the classroom occasionally dimmed, and the shadows on the ground seemed to be covered by a layer of gauze.

However, this didn't affect Hyperion's reading, because she only felt a strange sense of peace. It had been a long time since she had experienced this feeling.

"Hyperion, I didn't expect you could successfully enroll."

Accompanied by a soft and abrupt voice, a chill ran down Hyperion's spine, and she quickly turned her head.

She saw a young man with a fair face and his hands behind his back standing in the aisle next to her seat. His expression was calm and composed, with an arrogant look.

"..."

Even though Hyperion's expression didn't change, her aura had become quite terrible.

"Modan... what do you want from me?"

Clearly, this was someone she was very reluctant to see.

Modan Gasigas, the second son of Marquis Gasigas, was also a third-year Sage Academy student with powerful strength and extraordinary talent as a Shadow World challenger.

Compared to the nobles of the faction opposing Hyperion's father, Duke Alanzar, the Gasigas Marquis family, who had originally been on good terms with Duke Alanzar, was even more hateful to her.

Ever since Duke Alanzar had disappeared, Marquis Gasigas not only showed no intention of helping her, but instead had been eyeing her covetously, wanting to force her to marry into the Marquis family in order to control her.

"Hyperion, if you want to challenge the Shadow World in your first year, you can consider joining my team. Or rather, you can only join my team, because only I would be willing to take you through the Shadow World."

Modan's words sounded polite, as if an older brother was speaking to his younger sister, but his eyes didn't hide his naked desire to possess and plunder Hyperion.

"No need."

Hyperion simply responded coldly.

She knew that even if she and Lanchi had become Iron-ranked adventurers due to their high evaluation in the entrance examination, and were exempt from the exam.

But due to the rule that first-year freshmen couldn't challenge alone, she was destined to waste many opportunities to become stronger in her first year.

Because.

As Modan said.

No team or its members in this school would be willing to accept a demon like her.