Professor Klein had made it clear.
The entire top-tier class had to work together to solve the assignment.
No one here should be able to decipher the text written in Ancient Third-Order Spell Language, and the difficulty was set so that we would have to collaborate at the library to figure it out.
But…
I can understand it…?
Of course, I couldn’t translate everything perfectly.
If someone asked me to write a full translation, it would be impossible.
But I could grasp the general meaning.
Because of that… I had already realized what the material for tomorrow’s lecture was.
How is this happening?
I had never studied Ancient Third-Order Spell Language.
Although its characters were the same as Standard Academic Language, the vocabulary and grammar were entirely different, meaning I shouldn’t be able to read it.
Then why could I understand it?
Wait, hold on.
I scanned the text on the paper once again.
And then, I noticed something.
There’s a pattern in these sentences.
I’ll say it again—I have never studied Ancient Third-Order Spell Language.
But after reading through the densely written text, I realized that there was a certain pattern.
In other words… I had already grasped the grammar of Ancient Third-Order Spell Language.
Does this even make sense?
And that wasn’t all.
The vocabulary of Ancient Third-Order Spell Language was different from Standard Academic Language.
But there were similarities. For example, a four-character word in Standard Academic Language was rearranged, with additional letters added, turning into a seven-character word in Ancient Third-Order Spell Language.
Understanding those rules… made the language itself comprehensible.
This is ridiculous.
It seemed like I had instinctively seen through these rules.
Because I realized it all at once, it felt as if I had suddenly started understanding Ancient Third-Order Spell Language for no reason.
What’s happening to me?
I couldn’t even understand myself.
If I had spent days studying Ancient Third-Order Spell Language, struggling to decipher it, I might have accepted this.
After all, I’d had experiences where I stared at a passage for days without understanding it, only for everything to suddenly click at some point.
But this time, it had happened in an instant. That was undeniably strange.
Why was this happening?
Could it be…
A thought flashed through my mind.
Reading Aptitude?
My spiritual origin—Reading.
I recalled Professor Horizon’s voice, going on about how extraordinary it was.
And my uncle, Kaisel, telling me, “Just remember that you have a unique potential unlike others.”
Did my Reading Aptitude allow me to understand Ancient Third-Order Spell Language so quickly?
The insight that would normally take days of intense study to obtain…
Had I gained it in an instant?
I wasn’t like this before. So why now?
A hypothesis formed in my mind.
Maybe after coming to Ars Magna Academy and being exposed to various magical elements, my comprehension—until now limited to reading ordinary books—had started evolving.
Just as Professor Horizon said… to become the power that reads all of magic itself.
After giving the students a few announcements, Klein left the lecture hall.
“Eriol, what should we do? Looks like we really have to work together, so you should—”
“Sorry, I need to step out for a bit.”
“Hey, Eriol!”
I ignored Cain’s call and left the lecture hall.
Then, I hurried down the stairs, following Klein.
“Professor.”
“What is it, Eriol Valencia?”
Klein didn’t stop walking, continuing down the stairs.
I caught up to him and spoke.
“About the assignment you just gave us.”
“Is there a problem?”
“The material we need for tomorrow’s lecture… it’s The Grand Debate of Oquitraust, isn’t it?”
A masterpiece that recorded the great philosophical debates of scholars from thousands of years ago.
One of humanity’s greatest intellectual legacies.
As soon as I mentioned it, Klein hesitated for a moment.
But it was only for a moment—he resumed walking as if nothing had happened.
“You’re wrong.”
“What?”
Wrong?
Did I misinterpret the text?
“The library you’ll be using doesn’t have The Grand Debate of Oquitraust.”
“…?”
“The book you’ll find there is Oquitraust and the Philosophers’ Dialogue. That’s the modern title.”
Klein’s voice was calm and indifferent as he kept walking.
“That was the title about twenty years ago.”
“The copy in my father’s study… was The Grand Debate of Oquitraust.”
“Your father must have been interested in philosophy in his youth.”
Saying that, Klein looked at me for a moment.
“So, is that all you wanted to ask?”
“…Yes, that’s all.”
“Then go back. I have work to do.”
With those cold words, Klein walked away, leaving me behind.
“…….”
After parting ways with Eriol Valencia.
Klein felt his footsteps quickening.
But he couldn’t control his pace.
Because he could barely contain his emotions.
“Heh heh heh…….”
After confirming that no one else was around, Klein let out a chuckle.
Once he started, he couldn’t stop.
“Huahahaha……!”
Klein burst into laughter.
“As expected, that guy…… he’s definitely a genius!”
Earlier, in front of Eriol, he’d held back as much as possible to maintain his composure, but now, he couldn’t suppress it any longer.
“A freshman instantly deciphered an ancient third-order spell language? Does that even make sense?”
It was absurd.
But he couldn’t deny what had happened right before his eyes.
Eriol Valencia had instantly deciphered an ancient third-order spell language.
A problem that the entire top-class students had to work together to solve—he had solved it alone, in an instant.
If that wasn’t genius, then what was?
“He scored an average of 97.5 on the entrance exam. That guy is insane! A crazy genius!”
Klein threw both hands up toward the sky and jumped excitedly.
On the surface, he looked like a refined young man, but his greatest flaw was his tendency to act eccentrically when overwhelmed by emotion.
“Finally, my time has come!”
Klein was ambitious.
He had become a full professor at a young age, but he wasn’t the youngest in history. That title belonged to Kaisel Valencia, who had achieved it at an even younger age.
So now, Klein had set his sights on becoming the youngest department head in history. To achieve that, he had built up a strong record, lobbied in various places, and even secured the position of advisor to the academy’s top freshman class.
‘If I bring the best students from the top class into my Transcendental Studies department…… I could be the next department head.’
The current head of Transcendental Studies was old. He was expected to retire within five years, but there was no clear successor yet.
If Klein could gather outstanding students and build up more achievements…… he could take the department head position for himself.
‘Eriol…… I’m not going to let you slip away.’
Klein had already made up his mind.
He would fully utilize his position as advisor to completely win over Eriol within the year.
Of course, that didn’t mean he would act overly friendly.
Just like seducing a lover, he planned to push and pull—until Eriol was entirely his.
“Kuhaha…… Hahaha!”
Klein burned with ambition as he laughed.
Driving past in a magical four-wheeler, Kaisel glanced at him with a look of utter disdain, but Klein didn’t notice at all.
‘So…… my guess was correct after all?’
Klein’s cold attitude had left me confused, but in the end, it seemed I just needed to borrow The Great Debate of Oquitrast or Oquitrast and the Philosophers’ Dialogue from the library.
‘But how should I explain this to the others?’
If I suddenly claimed to have figured out the answer on my own, everyone would be bewildered.
How should I go about explaining it?
“……?”
As I was thinking that and returning to the classroom—
A cold voice greeted me.
“Where have you been?”
It was Monarch Orson, a noble from a ducal family.
He stood with his arms crossed, surrounded by several students, glaring at me.
“We’re all supposed to be working together on this assignment, and this is how you’re going to act?”
“…….”
“We’ve already divided up the roles. You don’t have a task, so just leave.”
As Monarch spoke, the students around him nodded in agreement.
“Yeah, let the top student handle it alone.”
“Let’s see how well you do on your own.”
It seemed these were Monarch’s loyal followers.
Most of the other students appeared to be getting swept up in the mood they had created.
“Fine, suit yourselves.”
“What?”
Without a care, I gathered my things and turned my back on them.
“Do your best.”
“Hey! That bastard—!”
There was no need to waste my time responding.
I walked out of the classroom without another word.
“Eriol!”
But some people followed after me.
Cain, Senia, and the siblings Charis and Milia.
“Hey, sorry. I let my guard down for a second, and the situation turned weird.”
“We’re sorry, too. We tried to protest, but…….”
“Some students took the lead in setting the atmosphere. They wouldn’t listen to reason.”
“They must have known Monarch from before. They deliberately pushed him as the leader and turned the group against you.”
The dean had said power was meaningless in the academy…… but these guys were doing the exact opposite.
“Forget it. I don’t care.”
“Then let’s just do it on our own.”
“Yeah, we can handle this problem together.”
When Cain and Charis spoke up, Senia and Milia nodded.
“Right. We can do this ourselves. With Eriol, we have more than enough.”
“Yeah, I think that’s the best choice. We don’t need to work with people like them.”
It seemed the four of them had already made up their minds.
“Alright, then let’s head to the library and start researching. We might run into Monarch’s group, but they probably won’t go out of their way to interfere.”
“Yeah, Eriol, that’s good with you, right?”
“Going to the library is fine.”
I spoke calmly.
“But there’s no need for research.”
“What?”
“I already know the answer.”
“W-Wait, what do you mean?”
“So we just need to borrow the book and leave. After that, let’s head straight to the dorms.”
As the four of them widened their eyes in shock, I spoke in an even tone.
“Oh, but before that, we should eat.”
While the others struggled in confusion at the library…… we would take it easy and enjoy our first day at the academy.
“Let’s eat something other than hot dogs today.”
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