The Transmigrated Professor

The marketplace of Wolfsbane wasn’t all that different from the Market District of Capital City. There were shops for almost everything imaginable, ranging from mundane items like food and clothes to items for the use of Awakened like magical weapons and Potions.

If anything, the market here appeared even more extravagant than the one in Capital City, likely as a way for the mercenaries to one-up the Heroes from the capital, who saw themselves as superior to the more money-driven mercenaries.

As the assistant who led them to the house had mentioned, the market restaurants were indeed really good. After stuffing themselves to their hearts' content, Izzy, Mike, and Rohan were sprawled on the sofa, while Jacob took a brisk one inside the house to aid digestion.

Having spent most of their day registering with the Pack and then wandering through the market, it was already 8 PM by the time they returned to the house.

“Now, I know you’re all relaxing, but in three days, I’ll be sending you into your first Dungeon. Since time is short, we’re starting lessons now,” Ray announced.

“What? Can’t you just let us relax tonight?” Izzy protested.

“Yeah. Wouldn’t we learn better tomorrow after we all feel refreshed?” Rohan chimed in, too lazy to study.

“Nope. I already told you, this isn’t a vacation. So move your butts and follow me, or I’ll whoop your asses,” Ray said firmly.

“Isn’t there some sort of law that teachers can’t beat their students?” Izzy asked, hoping to get him off their backs.

“Even if there is a law like that, what are you gonna do if I break it? There are no police or Heroes here who are going to help some strange kids.” Ray said with a shallow smile, leading them to the small garden surrounding the house.

“Just so you know, I was a Mana Professor at the best Hero Academy in the world. Whatever I teach you will help you grow as Heroes, especially when it comes to mana control. However weapon training, I am sure you guys will be the ones training me rather than the other way around. So for now let’s stick with the mana lessons.”

“Since two of you haven’t been to an Academy, we’re starting from the beginning,” Ray continued, but Rohan raised his hand.

“I already know all the basics.”

“Yes, Rohan, I know. You were in my class. But there’s no harm in relearning the basics,” Ray responded calmly. “Now, let’s begin.”

With a snap of his fingers, Ray conjured four solid bursts of mana: a mini-tornado, a small fire, an orb of floating water, and a fist-sized boulder.

“I am sure even before any of you Awakened and gained access to mana, you all knew what it was. Keeping aside the Mana Theory classes you got in high school, I am sure at an instinctive level you guys have all felt it around us. It’s like how babies breathe even when they don’t know what air is.”

“If you look at it from a research point of view, mana is just a bundle of energy. A form of energy that can directly shape the world into what you desire. Most school and Academy books will tell you that mana一this energy一can be subdivided into six elements. To an extent, this is true because they are preparing you to be Heroes, and most Heroes require only this much knowledge to fight at their maximum efficiency.”

“But if you limit yourself to this understanding, you’ll inevitably limit your growth. A prerequisite for scholars of magic such as me is to learn about the Advanced States of Mana. It’s basically when you supercharge an aspect of a particular Element and evolve the element into a completely new variety.”

“Increasing the kinetic motion of molecules can evolve Fire to Lightning. Condensing Water evolves it into Ice. The law of attraction evolves Earth to Gravity. And the freedom of Air evolves into Space. Any questions?”

“What about Light and Dark?” Izzy raised her hand.

“Those elements are intangible, so they don’t have known Advanced States. Even if they do, they haven’t been discovered yet,” Ray explained.

“Can you use the Evolved Elements, Sir Ray?” Mike asked innocently.

“Uh… I can,” This technically wasn’t a lie.

The past few months, while the world was embroiled in chaos from the knowledge of the first Curse to be broken, as well as the downfall of the Laxon Family, Ray had not stopped his training.

He didn’t have access to Misa’s private lessons anymore, however, he already knew the core principles of training.

One of the main reasons he took so long to come to Wolfsbane was because he was waiting to reach B Rank.

Once he crossed the C Rank threshold, he was finally able to access the Evolved Elements.

‘Snap!’ 

Small sparks of beautiful blue electricity danced between his fingers as he gathered mana with a snap of his fingers.

It was only when Ray finally conjured the Lightning Element for the first time that he truly realized why the original Ray was not immediately considered for the position of Professor of Mana Theory, despite his excellent grasp of the subject.

It was because of the huge boost in power that Heroes faced when they jumped from C to B Rank.

It was a feeling that couldn't be properly explained to students unless they had experienced it themselves.

The Evolved Elements were just that powerful.

Just a single bolt of Lightning could cause as much destruction as ten Fireballs, that's how big an increase in attack power and mana efficiency there was.

“I wanted to introduce you to Evolved Elements to show you the true potential of mana. Most Academies don’t even mention them until a student’s final year because using them is as rare as the Light and Dark elements.”

"Doesn't that mean it is useless for us to know about them?" Rohan pointed out.

"It's not, because I am going to make sure you guys can use it. Now, moving on to element compatibility. Academies typically use mana balls to determine what elements a student can use. Since we don’t have one, I’ll just tell you what your element is-”

“But isn’t it impossible to determine element compatibility without a mana ball?” Rohan asked, confused.

It was a question Ray had already expected. If he was going to train these three to their maximum potential, he would eventually have to reveal his ‘Appraisal’ Skill to them. However…

“Call it a Skill or an educated guess. It’s up to you.” Ray said, evading a direct answer.

Information like this is dangerous. If they can figure it out by themselves, then it’s fine, but there’s no reason to just give them this information.

“Mike, you’re most compatible with Light, followed by Darkness—an extremely rare combination.”

“Izzy, you’re compatible with Air. It’s common, but paired with your archery skills, no other Element could have been more suited.”

“Rohan, I am sure you were told about your Elements at the Academy, but I will remind you again. You are most compatible with Air as well. However, with a little bit of effort, you can master the Water and Darkness Elements too.”

“So Rohan, since you were in my class, can you tell me the rarity levels of elemental compatibility?” Ray asked, moving on.

“Having one element is common. Two is rare. Light and Darkness are rare by themselves. Three elements happen once in a million. And while you can perform small spells of all four elements, mastering them all is almost unheard of,” Rohan answered after thinking it over.

“You guys will be happy to know that your teacher is one of those miracles. And FYI, Rohan, including me, there are exactly three people in the world who can use all four elements perfectly.”

Normally, Rohan and the others should have been stunned at hearing this information. However, their brains were still somewhat processing how an ordinary Professor was able to straight away tell them their element compatibility without a mana ball—something that was still deemed to be scientifically impossible.

“To end this lecture, tell me: What’s the most important thing for mana training?” Ray asked in a scholarly tone.

“Mana control,” Rohan suggested.

“Using spells?” Izzy guessed.

"..." Mike stayed quiet.

Rohan, Izzy, and Mike answered.

“Wrong! Wrong! And…at least guess, dude!” Ray said, shaking his head. “The most important thing is…mana.”

Izzy and Rohan stared at him as if he was saying that the water was wet.

“It may sound obvious to you, but a person's mana capacity is very important. If you don’t have enough mana, forget enchanting your weapon to fight—you won’t even be able to make a teensy tiny spark.”

Ray tossed two marbles to Izzy and Mike. “These aren’t mana orbs, but they have a similar function to them. They glow up in the presence of mana.” As a demonstration, the third marble in his hand was glowing red. “However, the catch is, these fragments only light up when you fill them with a certain amount of mana. If you can’t make this glow, don’t even think about being able to cast any spells.”

“What about me?” Rohan asked, noticing he wasn’t given a marble.

“For you, I would rather train your Skills, but that seems impossible at the moment…” Ray’s eyes flicked to the amulet Rohan was wearing suppressing his Skills. 

“Nevermind. Take this sword.” Ray said in a regretful tone, as he pulled out a blunt sword from his dimensional ring and handed it to Rohan. “Coat it with Air Mana and hack that tree over there. Don’t stop until the whole thing is down.”

Having allotted all the tasks, Ray turned around and stood at the edge of the garden to supervise them.

“Did you seriously call that ten-minute talk a lecture? You are basically telling us to figure everything out ourselves!” Izzy stared at her brother in disbelief.

"I know my teaching methods may not be conventional, but mana is something that is learned better while feeling it. The only thing I can help you with is picture Mana better. And contrary to your expectations, the tasks I have given you are easier than you think. So, get to it…We haven’t got all night.”