Chapter 80 - True Competition

"This is amazing!" Goran exclaimed in elation. "Where is Guy?" He said while jumping up from his seat.

"He's in a village a few days away from the city," Al answered.

"That's great! I'll invite him over!" Goran declared as he began to walk out. But he was quickly stopped by Al.

"No, don't!"

"Huh? Why?"

Al wore a serious expression and suggested, "I think it would be better if we went to him."

Goran frowned, "And why is that?"

'*sigh* I hope he isn't one of those arrogant and conceited teachers who let their success go to their heads...' Goran muttered internally. However, Al's response completely surprised him,

With a bitter smile, Al elaborated, "You should already know by now just how fond of Guy I am. But haven't you wondered why I didn't actively seek to keep him here in the academy? It's because I don't want him here!"

Goran's eyes widened in disbelief.

"Even though he lost during the tournament, it was within my authority to override his termination and take him under me. But I chose not to do that since I didn't want him to remain here. It was because this isn't where he's supposed to be."

Goran furrowed his brows and said, "That doesn't make any sense! Why isn't he supposed to be here? The academy is the perfect place to nurture a teacher with great potential. They will have access to the required resources and the support from the powers backing the academy."

"But you seem to forget what occurs behind the curtains. Sure, he would have access to the required resources, but you skip the fact that to qualify for the best resources he would have to suffer through a brutal competition against his peers to rise above the ranks and stand out. Certainly, he would get the support of the academy, but with that, he would also gain the irk of the powers opposing the academy," Al explained.

"But isn't that necessary? To achieve greatness, one must overcome these brutal competitions, right?"

"That's now how Guy works," Al retorted while shaking his head. With a light chuckle, he continued, "To Guy, true competition is when two competitors enter a rivalry with the sole purpose of growing stronger, together. They learn from each other through their bouts and offer support to the other when necessary. That is the only way that everyone can improve.

However, when two competitors treat their rivals as simple stepping stones, they will never truly advance. Because all they are doing is pushing the other person below them, while they remain in place."

Goran then commented in a low voice, "That... is pretty insightful..."

Al nodded proudly and said, "That is why I didn't want you to drag Guy back here. In fact, I'm sure that he will thrive more in that village. For some reason, I get the feeling that it is his true calling!"

"Then... What do you suggest?" Goran asked.

Al gazed at Goran and Jean, and declared, "We should go to him!"

"To the village?" Goran retorted in disbelief.

"Yes!" Al affirmed. "What do you think, Jean?"

Jean alternated her gaze between her father and Al. In truth, she was still pretty dazed after successfully casting her very first spell.

"Huh?"

"How would you like to travel to Guy's village, to meet him?" Al asked with a hopeful expression.

Without pausing to think, Jean said, "Yes!"

____

"...Do you surrender?..." A boy's voice echoed for the first time within Jean's boudoir. Jean gazed ardently, for the thirteenth time, at the stoic figure of the boy named Markus, in the projection from Uncle Al's recording artefact.

After they'd decided to travel to meet the - now unemployed - teacher named Guy Larks, Uncle Al handed Jean a recording artefact showing the result of the teachings of Teacher Larks.

Since then, she had immersed herself into the contents of the recording, with the aim of decomposing every single detail hidden within.

"I don't understand this spell... Josie, have you ever seen this spell before?" Jean asked while pausing the recording at a frame.

Josie walked closer and observed the frame carefully.

"To answer Young miss, the spell appears to be similar to |Acid Mist|," she answered with a respectful tone.

Jean hummed in affirmation, but retorted, "But isn't that at least a Tier-2 spell?"

"To answer Young miss, it is."

"Then how was he able to cast it?" Jean interrogated.

"To answer Young miss, I do not know."

Jean exhaled loudly and started to note down her observations into her personal journal.

"It appears that Teacher Larks has found a way to allow a Late stage Mana Condensation mage to cast spells a little beyond their level. The initial hypothesis is that it is related to the enchanted weapon called the 'Magic Wand'. Alternatively, it may also have to do with the modified spell circle," she muttered.

This was how Jean worked. Even though Jean had no aptitude for magic, she tirelessly pursued the field of medicine and healing. The reason why affinity to magic is important for a healer, is because mana increases their capability to perform a diagnosis and implement treatment regimes for their patients. In some cases, mana allowed a healer to skip the use of any medical drugs altogether, simply stimulating the cells and vitality of the patient through expertly controlled mana circulation.

But without the capacity to exploit this feature, Jean was forced to develop means and methods to overcome the limitation.

In the end, she formulated a highly rigorous and methodical strategy to approach any problem. This method sought to isolate every possible variable that could affect the outcome of a scenario and evaluated their effects through controlled tests. It was a time-consuming process, but Jean found that it was often equally, if not more, accurate than the established strategies, in which physicians would seek out the closest existing solution and perform tweaks starting at that point.

Jean lay down her writing utensil and returned her attention to the recording.

As she drilled into Markus' every action, subtle or otherwise, the voices in her head sprang into another debate.

*Such a capable lad! He managed to rise to Late stage of Mana Condensation realm through effort alone!*

#That I agree. But do you think that Jean can achieve the same outcome? Hmph! She's weak, incompetent, stunted, trash!#

*Stop deriding her! You can do it Jean!*

#Psshht! Look at him, and then look at yourself. You're a waste of air, Jean. You should just kill yourself!#

"ENOUGH!" Jean screamed.

"Young miss? Is there a problem?" Josie quickly walked up to the inflamed Jean.

"... Nothing... Umm... Josie?" She asked.

"Yes?"

"Do you think it will work? Consulting Teacher Larks, I mean," Jean added with evident doubt and uncertainty in her voice.

"To answer Young miss, this slave has said it before and will say it again: this slave firmly believes that Young miss is destined to soar through the heavens!"

"That's just false hopefulness-"

"This slave may be presumptuous to ask this, but why does Young miss firmly believe that she will fail?"

Jean lowered her head and said, "We've failed so many times already..."

"But Young miss, to borrow from miss' own words, unless we test it out, we should not readily write out an unexplored possibility as a foregone conclusion."

"But if all we ever face is failure, what confidence is there that the n-th outcome will be anything different?"

"Miss seems to forget that this time, it was not a failure. Miss managed to incite a flame using magic. Does that not count for something?"

Jean sighed and confessed, "It's just... I'm scared... What if this doesn't work out? What will happen to father?"

"Young miss should not preoccupy herself with such worries. Miss should remain hopeful because this slave firmly believes that miss is-"

""destined to soar through the heavens!"" Jean and Josie said together. To that, Josie acted out of character and chuckled lightly which was met by a forced, yet apt smile by Jean.

"The boy was unfortunate to have met a mage with Abyssal Wyrm Bloodline," Josie commented as the recording approached the scene where Markus was crushed by Gaige's outburst of power.

"Have you ever experienced how this felt, Josie?" Jean inquired.

Josie nodded and said, "Once. Back when I was under the late Madam, we happened to cross paths with an Abyssal Wyrm. In fact, the late Madam met the Lord during that confrontation."

Jean's ears perked with interest as she paused the recording and turned towards Josie with a curious gaze.

"The late Madam and this servant were travelling through the forests of the Narue region in search of a rare herb known to contain an abundance of the decay-nature. We traversed day and night, through the dank and murky forest, until we stumbled upon a massive cavern, which was known to house this herb. Unfortunately, what the information failed to contain, was that the cavern was also home to an Abyssal Wyrm!"

Josie paused for effect, and continued, "The late Madam did not know of this at first, so she casually walked in. However, a large burst of oppressive power enveloped us and threatened to crush us into a fine dust. It was power beyond anything this slave had ever felt before. It was the first time that this slave felt true helplessness and fear. Thankfully, both this slave and the late Madam had sufficiently advanced cultivations to be able to withstand the assault, as just a minute after, a group of mages stumbled upon the cavern and noticed our plight. The man leading the group, the Lord, did not hesitate twice before jumping to action."

"The Abyssal Wyrm had sensed the presence of additional intruders and showed itself - a woman with beauty beyond comparison. She had raven black hair, deep blue eyes, and a slender and seductive figure. However, the vision was only short-lived, because the wyrm recognised the threat and immediately morphed into her true form. A slithering, elongated mass of unrivalled terror - an abomination of the highest order. Its entire body was coated in darkness - one couldn't recognise its face if not for the presence of four unblinking, bone-white balls marking its eyes. When it opened its mouth, rows and rows of domineering teeth welcomed us, ready to tear us into nothingness. This slave is still unable to fathom how an alluring and elegant figure could hide such a horrific presence..."

"To conclude the story, the Lord and his companions, with the assistance from the late Madam and this slave, managed to overpower the Wyrm and drive it out of the cavern. But the Young miss should note, that the late Madam and this slave were only able to survive the Wyrm's attack due to the Madam's unrivalled background as a healer. By the time the Wyrm's oppressive power had retreated, both the slave and the late Madam were left with shattered bones and perforated internal organs. Our survival was nothing short of a miracle."

Jean turned back to the recording and resumed right as the scene approached the point where Markus stood up after experiencing the overpowering attack of the Abyssal Wyrm bloodline.

As she saw the boy's broken yet impressive figure rise up, Jean hummed affirmatively and commented, "Markus... What an impressive boy..."

As she finished that statement, Jean started to feel her cheeks warming up for some reason.

"Young miss? The miss' body seems to be heating up all of a sudden. This slave will fetch her some water immediately!"

Jean felt her forehead to confirm that she was heating up. She felt her neck and muttered, "Heart rate increasing? What.... just what is happening to me?"