The Arrogance of Humility 1

[Knowledge]

The Julian Empire, the most advanced and the only ruling empire in the Western Land thanks to the powerful and genius Emperor Julius who invented advanced technologies and weaponry. The Empire dedicated most of its resources to research and expand various technologies and inventions to improve the quality of living for the people inside the empire.

Not solely focusing on technology, the empire was also trying to study and harness the supernatural force of magic and the scientific force of alchemy. The goal was to create the ultimate and unparalleled force of knowledge dubbed ‘Gnosis’ by combining the three.

While the other kingdoms considered the study of magic as taboo and sinful, thus forbidding it because of religious and beliefs issues, the empire instead encouraged everyone in the empire to learn and harness magic.

For those reasons, the empire opened grand academies for those who desire to learn and improve technology, magic, and alchemy. The academies were available in each region with the Center being the first and the most advanced because The Emperor lived there.

Each academy’s layout was all the same. Being composed of three mansion-like buildings. The left building or known as the dorm was a three-story rectangular building that could fit approximately 300 persons. The first and the third floor were a long and wide hallway with 25 rooms on each side. Each room fitted and facilitated two persons with two beds, two wardrobes, two writing desks, two cabinets, a bathroom complete with a water shower, and a veranda (first floor only) or balcony (third floor only).

The second floor was the luxurious grand dining hall, and the fourth floor was the rooftop. The rooftop was an open area where the power generators that powered the entire left building were. Although not allowed, students tended to spar there due to it being spacious enough and closer than the arena.

***

During a quiet morning, on the third floor, inside room number 1. Two 17-year-old girls were sleeping peacefully in their beds.

The sun rose from the horizon and a light shone through the ventilation to the left girl’s face and her exposed pale-ivory skin.

She yawned and opened her azure eyes, seeing her roommate was still asleep. She straightened and fixed her long blonde hair and bangs so more sunlight could light up her face.

“Hngh!” She stretched her arms, letting out her soft, girly whimpers, and fixed her tight sleeveless tops.

She is the protagonist of this story, Luxianne Verre Serafell, or called Lucy casually or Lux formally. She was a famous student in the central academy because of her skills and achievements. Despite her talents, she was overall kind, laid-back, and humble towards everyone. Her most known trait was her anarchism, as she did everything her way and disliked formality.

“Still sleeping, hngh?” she thought with a gentle smirk. “What a model student she is.”

She sat on her friend’s bed, wiping her long wavy dark-brown hair from her ivory skin so the sun could get into her face, but she didn’t even wake up.

“My, my, Gina!” she muttered from seeing her friend still sleeping. She removed the blanket covering her body, letting more sun rays to her skin.

Lucy stood and removed her clothes to take a bath. The warm, refreshing water covered her beautiful and untouched body, relaxing her.

Thanks to the advanced technologies of the empire, it was possible for everyone to have running water. The electricity was also available to give power to the lights and machines. Heck, all of the people there lived in modern times far before the others who were still stuck in medieval or ancient times.

After the bath, Lucy looked at Gina; she was still sleeping peacefully even with the blinding light all over her body.

“Hmph?” Lucy muttered as she sat on Gina’s bed, looking at her. “Is she dead already?”

She removed Gina’s clothes and put her ear on her chest to feel the heartbeat; she was still alive. She later noticed Gina’s face had some shade of pink on it signaling that Gina was having a pleasant dream. Now, Lucy had an idea...

“Could she be dreaming of meeting a good man there?” she thought as she pinched Gina’s cheeks and fondled around her soft chest. “My, my Gina… You surely had become a woman.”

She held Gina’s waist and whispered sweet, romantic words into Gina’s ears, and as expected, Gina’s face turned red, much to Lucy’s enjoyment; She couldn’t stop giggling. Her reactions were so priceless that, if camera was invented that time, she would surely take a picture of Gina's face.

“Well, well,” she thought. “Enough playing already.”

Lucy held Gina’s shoulders and shook her body while calling out Gina’s name aloud. Lucy went like that for three minutes. But Gina’s eyes won’t open.

“My… There’s no other way then,” Lucy stood facing Gina while pointing in front of her friend’s face. A moment later, a blue circle sigil appeared on Lucy’s fingertip as she performed basic magic.

“Aqua!” Lucy said aloud, and a small stream of water splashed out from the sigil to Gina’s sleeping face, waking her up in an instant.

“Ah—!” Gina shouted in surprise as she sat down, wiping her face from the water.

“Finally. You’re awake—!”

“Luuuucy!!!” Gina shouted as she huffed. “Why did you wake me up like that?!”

“Sorry,” she said as she held her laughter. “It’s because you sleep like a corpse.”

“Humph!” Gina removed her clothes and wiped her face with them. “Can you just wake me up like normal?!”

“Only this worked, you know?” she said as she winked although it’s obvious she was lying; she just wanted to wake her up that way.

“Don’t do that again!” Gina said, irritated as she looked away.

“All right. Next time, I’ll forcefully kiss you on the lips to wake you up then. Was the dream of meeting a gorgeous man fun?”

Gina’s face turned red as Lucy mentioned that.

“S-Shut it!” she said as she ruffled her messy and wet hair. “It’s embarrassing, Lux!”

With her job done, Lucy wore her clothes back and dry her wet towel on the balcony.

“Do we have any class for today?” Gina asked as she calmed down.

“Today’s the sparring day, right?” Lucy wore her clothes as she told her that. “How could you forget? I thought you are more diligent than I.”

“Oh!” Gina’s eyes widened as she gasped. “I forgot about it! I haven’t prepared myself!”

“Prepare? Just do what comes naturally.”

Of course, for a Mary Sue like Lucy, it would be a piece of cake to win the sparring.

“It’s easy to say, especially for a talented mage like you,” Gina stated as she looked at Lucy with an annoyed look.

“I’m not that talented, okay?” Lucy said denying the truth.

“Says the one who won the national match five times in a row,” Gina said as she stood, going to bathe while Lucy made up her bed.

“Aww, come on. You know that I was lucky, right?” Lucy said with a concerned look.

“Yeah, yeah,” she said before entering the bath. “Whatever, Lux. Looks like the goddess of luck only believes in you. Or perhaps you’re the goddess of luck herself.”

Moments later, they were in the hallway, completely dressed and ready. Lucy wore a black robe with gold stripes on the edges and white lines from the arms to the back. She wore her robe like a cloak, revealing her dark-red sleeveless top and her bare left shoulder, while Gina wore an all-black robe formally.

[Robes and Roles]

Everyone in the academy wore various robes with different colors and patterns showing their field of mastery or preference. The red was for the alchemists, the black was for the magi, and the brown was for the technicians.

There were four ranks on each field with Apprentice being the lowest or base before picking preference. The second rank was Magus, Alchemist, and Technician. The third rank was Archmagus, Grand Alchemist, and Master Tech. The fourth and highest rank was Sage, Wiseman, and Tech Lord.

To enroll in the academy, one had to be at least 10 years old. Apprentice could ascend to the second rank after finishing the apprentice class for three years. The second and third could rank up by completing the biannual test with an average score.

However, if desired, one could graduate at any time by reaching at least the second rank and participating in the biannual test with a minimum score of 33.

The robe’s design differed based on one’s rank. The lowest, the apprentices, would not receive their robes. The second rank robe would have a plain, solid color. The third rank robe would have gold stripes on the edges.

***

Lucy and Gina were behind a pair of friends, each wearing a brown robe and a red robe. One of them looked back and noticed Lux walking.

“It’s Lux!” the technician girl said to her friend.

“Ah!” her alchemist friend moved aside without a second thought, letting both Lucy and Gina pass.

Lucy would glance for them for a second, looking at their rather terrified expression. Was Lucy that scary that they feared her?

“What’s with them?” Lucy asked Gina as she raised an eyebrow.

“Well, I would do the same if I were in their position. I don’t want to stand in the way of the strongest girl in history if I still want to get married and have children in the future,” she answered, obviously being sarcastic to tease her.

“And here you are,” Lucy said with a pout after hearing her words. “Next to me walking side by side.”

“Should I walk right behind you then, your highness?” she said with a subtle grin.

“I don’t want this kind of treatment,” Lucy huffed with an unmotivated look. “Stop it!”

“As you wish, my princess,” Gina teased with a playful smile.

“Gina—!” Lux said, peeved. “Don’t say that!”

Gina then giggled as she covered her mouth; that was for what Lucy did to her earlier.

As they both walked, a tall woman stood in their way. She looked at Lucy with the bitter look on her emerald eyes even though only the left one could be seen due to her fluffy white bang covering her right. She was biting her lips out of irritation as she gazed at Lucy.

“Lux,” the woman said bitterly. “Wear your robe properly!”

“Ah! G-Good morning, Professor Arkana,” Gina greeted with honor as she bowed slightly.

“Good morning, Regina. Neat and polite as usual,” Professor Arkana greeted back with a sincere smile as she lowered her pointed hat a bit before looking bitter again at Lucy.

“Morning, Arkana,” Lucy greeted casually as she waved a bit.

“Lux. Your robe,” Professor Arkana said as she frowned. “Wear it properly.”

“But it’s stiflingly hot—”

“Lux!” she said a bit aloud. “Even though we are in the same rank and close to each other, I’m still your mentor. So address me as one and follow the rules! Hmph!”

“Tch! All right, ‘Professor’,” Lux huffed and looked away as she fixed the way she dressed. “You happy now? Hmph!”

“Good. Don’t misbehave.” Professor Arkana moved and went downstairs, leaving both of them.

“What a hassle,” Lucy muttered as she wore the robe just like before.

“I think you should listen to her,” Gina said as she looked at her with a concerned look, looking on her exposed shoulder. “You’re revealing your skin too much.”

“But I like it this way, hmph! They should let everyone dress the way they want!”

“Even if they wanted to be naked?”

“Yes! But wait, why though?”

They descended to the first floor, the boys' dorm. As soon as Lucy stepped her foot there. The boys all lined up.

“Good morning, Princess Lux!” the boys shouted solemnly and bowed like knights.

Lucy wasn’t even surprised anymore; she sighed and shook her head, annoyed. Every morning, this kind of treatment would always happen to Lucy, albeit in random similar ways.

“Must be him again,” Gina said as she facepalmed.

Lucy could hear the footsteps coming towards her.

“Well, here he comes,” Lucy said as she rolled her eyes and crossed her arms.

With a confident, smug smirk, a 19-year-old grand alchemist ambled towards them. He was tall enough as he looked at both of them with his head down, staring at Lucy with his shining azure eyes. He would fix his slick left side-parted blond hair vainly, so the bang hanged over his right eye.

As he walked, his gold necklace with a philosopher’s stone symbol could be seen dangling around wildly. He didn’t even bother hiding it, showing how prideful he was.

“My beautiful, gorgeous, perfect, splendid, exquisite, outstanding, shining, glimmering, and ultimate goddess, Luxianne~!” he praised Lucy overly dramatic as he knelt with one knee and lowered his head.

Lucy’s right eye twitched as he looked at her with a disgusted grimace.

“Lancelot…”

Lancelot was a high born in the empire and one of the top students in the central academy majoring in alchemy. By professors and many, he was considered a prodigy. Although he had passed the Wiseman test with a splendid score, he had yet to take the title with him.

Appearance-wise, he’s considered handsome and charming by other girls. He was a serious, coolheaded, and quiet individual... But those only apply when Lucy wasn’t around. The moment Lancelot saw Lucy, he became overreacting, overly romantic, and verbose (which Lucy viewed as disgusting and annoying) towards her.

Lancelot grabbed Lucy’s right hand without warning and caressed it.

“Such a gorgeous hand of a goddess! So fragrant, so sweet, like heavenly nectar! Yours is truly, verily, genuinely, sincerely, the most incredible and absolutely perfect—!”

Lancelot was about to kiss Lucy’s hand, but Lucy withdrew her right hand and slapped him on his left cheek. Lancelot dramatically fell to the ground and caressed his slapped cheek with both of his hands.

“I don’t even slap him that hard,” Lucy thought as she wagged her right hand out of disgust.

“Ah! Such a vigorous, powerful, and cold slap, my goddess!” Lancelot uttered as he stood vainly. “I can feel your spirit, your soft, warm, and tender flesh, and your strong desire from it! For me, this is an angel’s embrace, O my beloved Luxianne~!”

“Lancelot. For the last time: Stop this! I don’t love you—!” Lucy declared aloud as she held her disgusted feeling in her gut.

“Yet, my goddess~. Love requires a process. Just like alchemy. To reach the goal, the magnum opus, One has to try countless trials and errors.”

Lancelot clapped three times, and a boy approached Lancelot, bringing a fancy box with him. Lancelot knelt like he was proposing in front of her while holding the box with his hands.

“Open it, o my beautiful goddess~.”

“Hey! This is embarrassing! Stop it already!”

Lancelot stood and opened the box in front of her. Inside the box was a clear eight-pointed crystal star necklace of an unknown metallic substance.

“I made this for you, my goddess,” Lancelot said. “Please, accept—”

“I’ve told you before, I—!”

“It is fine if you don’t love me yet, my goddess. This is but a mere gift of mine for you. Please accept this azoth necklace.”

“Azoth?!” Gina blurted as her eyes opened wide.

Azoth was a special substance and material for alchemy appearing in liquid form. Azoth was a mix of mercury, salt, and sulfur. The creation of azoth itself required great patience and countless attempts, as the materials themselves couldn’t mix.

“I crafted this necklace solely for you. I poured all of my thought and love into this. Luxianne, my love. Please wear it for me.”

Luxianne shook her head as she reached her right hand for the necklace. But before she touched it, she withdrew her hand.

“Luxianne?” Lancelot said, surprised as he looked at her eyes which she averted as she looked away.

“Forgive me,” she said without giving a proper reason. “I can’t accept such a precious thing.”

“Please…” Lancelot begged with a hoping expression.

Lucy sighed as she shook her head.

“My answer remains the same, sorry Lance.”

Lancelot closed his eyes as he closed the box. Even though Lucy rejected it, he smiled at Lucy and called one boy to hold the box

“Fine then. I won’t force you. If you ever change your mind, say it. Today’s a failure, but tomorrow might be a success,” Lancelot said as he gave her a confident smirk and a wink, giving her a finger gun. “Later, my gorgeous, magnificent, unparalleled beauty~.”

Lancelot turned, leaving the place. After Lancelot was far enough, the boy acted as nothing happened.

“Why are you guys doing this again?” Lucy asked a technician boy next to him.

“He paid us for this. Who doesn’t want quick money?”

“You’ve got the point though.” Lucy grabbed Gina’s hand, heading for the exit. “Let’s go and leave this damned hall.”

“Why don’t you accept it?” Gina asked on their way out.

“I can’t just do that. You know achieving Azoth is no simple task even for a Wiseman, right? How could I just take such a valuable item?”

“I know but he made it for you, right Lux? I felt that you just wasted his hard work and feelings he poured by rejecting it.”

Lucy won’t answer anymore as she just shook his head.

Now, they were outside, at the academy field. The field was a place used for the academy regional monthly sparring in which the best students had to face another best student from different academy branches. Luxianne was the undefeated champion for five months.

Many students were there, sitting at benches while chatting. Some mages practiced their magic, some alchemists studying trees for potions, and some technicians testing their automatons and puppets.

When Lucy stepped there, they all stopped what they were doing, glancing at her until she was steps away. Lucy just sighed as she just looked forward, avoiding eye contact with them.

She could still hear them mumbling, talking stuff about her. Whether they knew she could hear them or not, she didn’t care anymore.

“It’s she! Luxianne, the youngest of the sage!”

“I envy her. Even though I’m older, I couldn’t even reach her rank.”

“What a lucky girl… It’s almost unfair.”

“She has everything easy at start… Even the professors are giving her special treatment.”

Lucy ignored their words as she entered the building, to their classes. Gina went to her class on the second floor while Lucy on the third.

In Lucy’s class, she was the only Sage while the rest were archmagi. She was the youngest person there as the rest were 21 years old or above. She sat alone in the front most row; none was brave enough to sit next to her for some reason…

They were all busy reading their grimoires while Lucy just sat in silence, drowning in her thoughts as she held her head with her hand on the table.

The bell rang, and from afar, footsteps accompanied by the sound of a walking cane were echoing throughout the hallway.

Before entering the room, he would make sure his appearance was neat as he fixed and combed his spiky undercut hair and checked if his English mustache and beard were good. Even though he was a professor, he wore the sage robe like a cloak complete with a white brooch.

He entered the class, looking around with his light-brown eyes, seeing everyone had arrived for the lesson.

“Good morning, everyone,” he greeted, standing before the class. His voice was naturally a bit high, giving an impression of a jovial man but in truth, he’s a dead-serious person. “We will have a sparring practice today using a grimoire. But before that, I will teach you how to use the grimoire effectively. Some of you might have learned this before, but I will teach it again since it’s the beginning of the new semester.”

The professor was explaining a lecture while the students listened, except for Lucy; she was sleeping out of boredom. With a peeved face, the professor looked at her and stood in front of her desk.

“This girl…” he muttered, irritated.

“Luxianne!” he shouted and smacked her head with his walking cane’s handle, waking her up, causing her to jump. “Don’t sleep when I’m teaching.”

“Ouch…” she held the spot she got hit with a grimace. “Well, I’m sorry, dad! But you didn’t have to hit me either!”

“It’s Professor Vennefer!” He would say aloud. He later noticed Lucy didn’t even bring her grimoire as he looked at her with an annoyed look. “And where’s your grimoire, Luxianne?”

“Is it that necessary?” Lucy asked as she relaxed her stiffened neck

“This girl…” Professor Vennefer thought as he clenched his cane handle, irritated.

“You will need a grimoire to cast powerful magic with ease!” he said aloud.

“As long as you remember the sigil correctly, you can use magic without a grimoire. Isn’t grimoire basically just a cheat sheet for magi?”

Professor Vennefer looked away, having nothing to say as he shook his head; she was right.

“Anyway, let’s continue the lesson,” he said as he stood again before the class before writing on the blackboard.

“Grimoires contain various sigils of powerful magic,” he explained. “Does anyone know how magi use their magic?”

A moment later, a girl raised her hand, wanting to answer.

“All right,” Professor Vennefer said as she pointed at her. “Please explain to us from your seat.”

“To use magic, one has to remember the sigils’ patterns and, if remembered correctly, the same pattern will be projected. After the sigil is complete, the sigil will project the desired magic. The cost of magic is the user’s energy. The stronger and complex a sigil is, the more energy it requires.”

Professor Vennefer clapped after hearing the student’s explanation.

“Splendid!” he said. “You may sit down. Now please, someone explain to the class various kinds of magic.”

He looked at Lucy; she was daydreaming, half-conscious, prompting him to slam his arms on her table to wake her up.

“Luxianne! Please explain various kinds of magic to the class!”

She jumped after the impact.

“Eh? Wait? Why me?” she asked as she stood slamming the table too.

“Just do what I told you to!”

“Fine,” huffed as she frowned while pouting with her arms crossed.

“Please stand before everyone.”

Lucy stood before the class and began explaining.

“There is too much magic in this world,” she explained. “So, to make it simple, the Sages categorized them according to several factors.”

“The first: Elementum, the most common of all. Elemental magic includes fire, water, wind, earth, lightning, ice, and etcetera. The second: Vita, the magic that affects living creatures. Either to heal or to poison them. Alchemy was the base of Vita.”

“The third: Maleficium, the vilest of magic. Maleficium uses the power of evil spirits such as demons and shedims to inflict curses or serious injury. The fourth: Necromantiae, the magic related to the deceased. Either to communicate with the deceased for divination or make the deceased possess an animate object.”

“Very well,” Professor Vennefer said. “I think it’s enough—”

“The fifth: Deus, the forbidden magic which is considered taboo. The goal of magic itself is to defy the law of nature, but Deus—”

“Luxianne. Enough.”

“Tch! Whatever. I was getting on the best part,” Luxianne said as she sat back like a lazy person.

Luxianne’s explanation of Deus surprised the class, as they were never aware of the existence of such a type of magic.

“Everyone! Attention here!” Professor Vennefer shouted as he clapped his hands once to catch their attention.

The class became silent as they focused their attention on Professor Vennefer.

“Without further ado, let’s begin the sparring!” he announced.