The Transmigrated Professor

“HAPPY BIRTHDAY, IZZY!” Everybody cheered as Izzy blew the candles on her cake.

As with every teen who reaches the age of adulthood, Izzy’s eyes were filled with excitement about finally turning 18.

“A very happy birthday, my dear sister.” Ray wished Izzy once more as he handed her a wrapped box. “Here’s your gift.”

“Ooo, what is it?” Izzy asked curiously, ripping the wrapping off. “ …a dress!?”

“I didn’t know what you would like, so I decided to play it safe. Hope you like it.” Although it wasn’t much, Ray felt a bit proud that he had given her the first gift.

Izzy burst out in laughter as soon as she heard that.

Ray felt a sudden prick in his heart when he heard that.

“I am sorry. I know, I shouldn’t say this, but next time I would be glad if you decided to be a bit bold. I would love to see what you choose at that time.”

Ray let out a defeated sigh. “Fine. Fine. I know I don’t have good taste when it comes to women’s clothes. No need to rub it in my face.”

“I just hope your fashion sense doesn’t chase off my future sister-in-law.” Lizzy let out a stifled laugh at her “forever-single” brother. 

“Don’t worry. If anything like that happens, I will just stick around with you and your boyfriend, okay?” Ray slyly countered back.

The sheer amount of disgust Lizzy expressed at that comment could probably make goblins run away in horror. “Never make such jokes again.”

Ray was just about to fire another comment at her when someone called out to them. “I am sorry for interrupting, Professor Ray.”

Ryder and Rachel approached the two siblings. 

“We wanted to give a birthday gift to Izzy, too. I hope you don’t reject it this time.”

“As long as it is within acceptable standards.” Ray politely smiled at the two children.

This was in no way Ray slighting them, but the complete opposite. 

Previously, since Ray had cured Ryder from the Curse, the Briar Family, to show their appreciation, wanted to give Ray a building in the downtown part of Capital City as a gift to show their appreciation for what he had done.

‘As expected of the family of the #1 Hero, they do everything in excess. It hurts that I had to reject such an expensive gift.’

But Ray’s goal was to show goodwill towards the Briar Family, so it is better to keep them in debt and ask for a favour in the future.

And it is beneficial for Rufus to develop a mutually beneficial relationship with him, considering all the different types of Potions he can give him.

Rachel handed an old-fashioned satchel to Izzy, one that looked like it belonged in a museum.

Of course, the ancient-looking appearance was rather proof that it might be a strong magical Artifact.

‘Appraisal.’

Artemis’ Hunting Satchel (A) The hunting satchel used by the Goddess of Archery, Artemis. Any material that is put inside the satchel turns into an arrow that can be summoned with a single thought. Random debuffs will be applied to the summoned arrows.

‘Huh? Isn’t this item a bit overpowered to be a gift?’ Ray was shocked to read the item description.

Since Izzy hadn’t Awakened yet, she couldn’t see the description of Artifacts. I quietly whispered to her about the gift.

“WOW! You are giving this to me?” Izzy couldn’t believe her ears for a moment.

Although she was a member of the Laxon Family, who themselves had quite many high-ranking Artifacts, she had never been allowed to see them since she had still not Awakened. 

But even by those standards, an A-Rank Artifact was rare, not to mention it suited her perfectly with her archery Skills.

This weapon could very well remove the one major disadvantage she could face on battlefields.

Archery was a great profession. However, it was still not as versatile as Swords or as swift as Spearmen. 

It was because of the huge limitation of the number of arrows one could keep. Each magical arrow costs quite a lot to make, and many of them become unusable after one use. 

Not to mention the limit to how many arrows one could carry.

Of course, there were Skills like Mana Arrow, where one could shape their own mana into an arrow and shoot them but that Skill was quite uncommon, so many archers had to fight with this serious handicap and keep multiple quivers in a storage ring, but during a serious fight, precious time would be wasted on switching quivers.

The gift Rachel had given was invaluable to an archer like Izzy.

“Happy Birthday, Isabella. I hope the next time we meet it will be as an Awakened sister.” Rachel congratulated 

“I am already 18 now. My Awakening will happen any time now.” Izzy gave her a thumbs up. “Let’s have a duel once I grow stronger.”

“Sure.”

The majority of the people, Awaken on their 18th birthdays when their body has reached full maturity, allowing the mana inside them to stabilise.

This was also the reason why all the first-years at the Academy are at E-Rank.

Of course, there were always exceptions to every rule like the main characters of the story such as Rachel. Ever since she was young, she had huge amounts of mana absorbed into her body, thanks to her powerful bloodline.

 This allowed her to Awaken much earlier than peers, and train faster, making her entry at the Academy at D-Rank.

Ray had appraised Izzy’s Awakening earlier this morning.

 

Name: Isabella Laxon Rank : Unawakened (Awakening: 99%) ==========LOCKED========== Potential Rank: A+ Suitable Class: Archer Mana Compatibility:  Air: 84%

 

In terms of her speed of Awakening, Izzy was the same as the average Hero, and would probably Awaken by the afternoon or at most evening. 

For Skill and Potential, she would probably be at par with the students at the top Hero institute, Star Academy.

Although it was expected of the Laxon bloodline, Ray felt a bit of pride seeing how strong his sister would be.

“Um, I have something for you, too.” Ryder hurriedly handed Lizzy a small box. 

Inside the box was a beautiful sapphire ring.

“Ryder, I didn’t expect you to give a present like that.” Ray’s eyes scarily narrowed at the boy seeing the suspicious gift.

“I-its nothing like that. See, I said you should have given this present.” Ryder panicked at the misinterpretation, turning to his sister.

“Aww, where’s the fun in that.” Rachel smiled smugly at her brother.

‘Wow. That’s not a good person to have as a sister.’ Ray inwardly thought.

“That storage ring has a bow made from durable Mana Wood. It would go well with the Artemis’ satchel. The ring’s a gift too” Rachel explained. 

“Thank you very much!” Izzy couldn’t wait to use the weapons she had just got.

After the Briars had handed their gifts, the rest wished Izzy and gave her their gifts.

Mike gave her a ‘Free Wish Coupon’ to be used whenever she wanted in the future while Father Jacob gave her a Bible from his church. 

The gifts couldn’t compare to the ones she had just received, but Izzy still took them with a smile.

After the cake and gift opening had been done, everyone sat down at the dining table to enjoy the wonderful brunch Father Jacob had prepared for them.

“I really went all out for this, so nobody hold back on the calories, okay?” Jacob announced to the table, as he unlid dish after dish.

There were fried prawns, spicy mutton stew, sushi rolls, egg fried rice and many more items, making it hard to believe that he had made them all in one day.

“Father, if you ever decide to open up a restaurant, please tell me. I will be your regular.” Rachel commented, stuffing a piece of sushi in her mouth.

“I am already well past the age to start a business. Just let this old bag of bones retire now.”

“That’s unfortunate.” Rachel didn’t push the topic any further. 

Slowly, the conversation steered to other topics such as the Heroes that they idolise, the Academies that were on the rise lately, and which one is better and more.

As the conversation stirred in this direction, Ray felt a little uncomfortable.

“Lizzy. Mike. Come here for a moment.” Ray sat them down, once Ryder and Rachel had left. 

“What happened, brother?” Hearing her brother call them in such a serious tone, Lizzy’s body tensed up.

“I originally planned on telling you this after you had Awakened, but I think it will be better to tell you this sooner rather than later. I am not sending you both to an Academy.”

“What!? Why?” Their shocked expressions were expected. 

Every teenager, after Awakening their Skills wished to go to the high-ranking Academies where their abilities could be sharpened to make them full-fledged Heroes, revered by all in society.

However, there was a major problem.

“Soon, these Academies won’t be able to develop the Skills you would eventually need to survive in the new world.” Ray did his best to explain the situation to them.

“People have gone there for decades, and they are doing quite well in the world. Great, in fact.” Lizzy yelled back, unyielding in her stance.

“And I am telling you, the world is going to change soon. And it won’t be for the better. We need to be prepared.”

“Is this because of what the Laxon Family did? I thought you said we won’t have to face any consequences.”

“It's not about the consequences, Lizzy. It’s about the reason why Edward even thought of joining the Chaos Alliance. Do you think it was a coincidence he chose now to join them?”

“You know something, don’t you? Tell me.” Despite all her yelling, Ray was still hesitant.

This matter wasn’t anything to be taken lightly, and could very well ruin all the efforts he had taken to save him and his sister from the Laxon Family execution.

“Mr. Ray, I think it will be best if you can elaborate on that.” Father Jacob's kind voice interrupted their screams and tantrums. “I understand it might be difficult, but it would help everyone to understand things from your point of view.”

Jacob only lightly advised him, instead of pressuring the matter. 

After all, the fall of one’s family, no matter how sorry an excuse for a family they were, would always be a sensitive topic. And the way Ray was hesitating, there might be more things they were unaware about.

Finally, Ray decided to give up. Everyone would find out about it eventually, so it will be better to prepare them for the future.

“What I am about to tell you three is top secret, you understand? Even in the Hero League, very few know about this matter. So no matter what, you can't tell anyone about it.”