The Beginning After The End novel Chapter 53

While walking to my next class, I couldn’t help but become a bit frustrated with myself. I had been impatient back there, only wanting to overpower Professor Geist to end it fast. Using only my wind and earth attributes, I couldn’t end it as easily as I’d wanted to. I guess being blessed with too many gifts had made me become a bit too impertinent. In reality, I’d yet to reach the pinnacle of strength in this continent even though I definitely had enough advantages that would allow me to reach the top. With that mindset, I needed to stop comparing myself to students my age and think bigger. My only hope was that the upper division classes would offer insight into mana manipulation that I couldn’t pinpoint on my own.

I was rather interested in my next class, Basics of Artificing. Artificing was something that never existed in my old world. I was sure there were relevant ties to technology used in my old world but the premise of manipulating and coding mana to have specific uses designated to an object would be new to me.

Upon entering the classroom, I was pleasantly surprised to see that the layout of the room was that of a laboratory. Beakers, containers, different types of ores and various gadgets filled the room, making it all the more authentic.

I was somewhat relieved to see that there was no one I knew in this class, giving me peace of mind. As students started filing in and sitting next to acquaintances and friends, a girl that looked to be about my age walked by and stood next to the stool beside mine.

"I-Is this seat taken? If it is, I’ll move somewhere else!" I didn’t know why she looked so panicked but I couldn’t help but chuckle at her innocent personality.

"No, the seat isn’t taken. You’re free to sit there if you wish." I said with a welcoming smile, taking a seat myself.

The girl was ordinary, to say the least. Her thick round glasses magnified her eyes and the freckles underneath them. Her curly hair looked like it had a life of its own, as it was forcibly tied into a ponytail down her back.

Compared to girls like Tess and Kathyln, whom everyone fawned over—and for good reason—she was rather plain. But for some reason, it was comfortable around her.

"Th-Thank you..." she muttered with her head faced down. "...mily."

"What was that?" I leaned in closer to hear her last sentence.

"Emily! My name is Emily Watsken! Please be my friend—I mean, please to meet you!" Her eyes widened, stunned at her own words.

I shared her expression before I burst out into a laugh.

"Sure. My name is Arthur Leywin." I grasped her hand and couldn’t help but become surprised by how coarse her palm was.

"O-Oh! I’m sorry! It probably feels gross, right?" She retracted her callused hand while her face turned a bit red, accentuating the freckles on her cheeks.

"No, it’s quite fine. I have calluses too. See?" I held my sword hand out to reveal the hardened lumps on my palms

"Wow...you’re right! You must practice a lot! It’s no wonder you’re in the disciplinary committee. I really admire that! For me, I really love artificing, so I end up fiddling around with a lot gadgets. Unfortunately, it makes my hands get this rough." She scratched her head, her sentences becoming faster as she got more comfortable with me

"Really? I rather admire people like you. I’m jealous that you have such a passion for artificing. The only thing you get better at when fighting is destroying and killing, but the better you get at artificing, the more things you can create." I looked down at my own callused hands.

"Woah... that’s deep." I saw Emily readjust her thick glasses while she pondered what I had just said in her head.

"Haha, I ended up saying something unpleasant. I apologize." The class was getting pretty loud as the room filled up with eager students, most of which were here as a scholar mages.

"No no no! It wasn’t unpleasant at all! Just, it’s not something you hear every day from a twelve-year-old." She desperately shook her hands to gesture that it was okay.

"You say that as if you aren’t a twelve-year-old yourself," I snickered as I looked at her.

Slumping in her chair, she lets out a sigh. "True... It’s because I’m apparently a genius of some sorts. I don’t really get why people say that but people don’t really treat me as a child anymore after I created the projection display artifact."

"Wait what? You’re the one that invented the display used to show the kings’ and queens’ announcement?" I stood up from my stool.

"Mhmm, well only a part of it... I tinkered around with some of the things in my parents’ lab and I made the basic designs a couple years back." She scratched her curly hair again.

Sinking back into my stool, I let out a deep breath. Holy crap. She built something like that when she wasn’t even 10!

"Well, I must say that it is an honor to be in the presence of a genius such as yourself." I give her a smirk, bowing my head in mock fealty.

"Oh, please. Don’t you start now too! Besides, you’re quite famous too, you know!" She gave me a smirk as her glasses reflect the classroom light, making her look like an evil scientist.

"Really? I’ve tried very hard to lay low. I guess that didn’t work." I leaned my head on my hand.

"Pfft. Well joining the disciplinary committee as a first year sure didn’t help."

"There are other first year students in the committee as well," I refuted.

"But not humans! You and Princess Kathyln are the only ones, and the Princess has been hailed as a prodigy since she awakened. That leaves you, a mysterious human freshman that has a bond with a white fox-like mana beast and no background, also able to overwhelm and completely demolish a professor that is a veteran adventurer at the light yellow core stage." By this time, she was leaning closer and closer to me.

"What? How do you already know about what happened with Professor Geist?! That literally happened fifteen minutes ago!"

"Kyu!" Sylvie echoed in protest at being called fox-like, although that essentially was what she was.

"Don’t be so surprised! This is a magic academy, after all. News travels fast and gossip travels even faster. I bet you some people in this class already know what happened." She smirked while wagging her finger.

"Oh God... You know, I noticed you’re awfully talkative now compared to when you stuttered your greeting when you first came in." I couldn’t help but realize the change in her personality.

"Shut up! I s-suck with strangers, okay? Besides, I don’t usually get along with new people this easily. You’re different, though! It was easy to get comfortable with you since we’re really similar." She harrumphed, crossing her arms over her undeveloped chest.

"Similar in what way?" I raise a brow.

She grinned broadly, "We’re both freaks!"

I rolled my eyes at her conjecture but realized that, because of how high her intelligence was, I was more comfortable with her than other kids my age.

As I was about to respond to her statement, the classroom door swung open and I saw a familiar face.

"Greetings, plebeians! Please feel honored to have me, Professor Gideon, as your teacher for this class!" The crazy scientist skedaddled his way onto the podium while the pair of goggles that were hanging from his neck bounced up and down.

As he gazed through the classroom with a condescending eye, he eventually reached Emily and me.

"AH! Well, if it isn’t Arthur. I had no idea that you would be in my class!" He clasped his cheeks in an obviously fake way, making me shake my head.