20

Lost watched what looked more like a one-sided fight rather than a "clash," from the stands.

Interestingly, Lost still hadn't met Surt.

In the original story, they should've already become acquainted.

But that never happened because Arc changed the plot.

Still, Lost had heard rumors about Surt's sword skills.

The upperclassmen were talking about him.

Lost wanted to see how Surt would fare against Arc.

But as soon as the duel started, it was entirely one-sided.

Arc bombarded Surt with ice magic right from the start.

Surt couldn't do anything except try to endure it.

Keeping a swordsman at a distance is typical for a magician.

So Arc's method was standard and logical.

But "logical" doesn't mean it's easy to do in reality.

In fact, swordsmen often expect mages to stay away from them.

Figuring out how to close that gap is a swordsman's main tactic.

Usually, a swordsman takes advantage of a mage's cooldown.

After a mage casts a spell, they need some time before they can cast another.

But Arc barely had any cooldown time and kept casting without stopping.

He was using the Sharix Theory to drastically cut down the casting time.

Sharix Theory uses parallel processing to speed up magic calculations.

With it, you can cast magic without chanting and even chain two or more spells quickly—or at the same time.

However, the sheer amount of calculation still exists.

Normally, nobody could handle that much at once.

But Arc did it as if it were nothing.

Lost saw Arc's talent as frightening rather than impressive.

Meanwhile, Arc was just thinking, "Wouldn't it be awesome if I could spam spells?"

That's all.

He didn't realize that most of the computations were done by the magical markings on his body.

So Arc was just firing off spells on autopilot.

This gap in understanding is why people see him differently than he sees himself.

◇　◇　◇

Surt and Arc's duel happens in the original story too.

But the setup and result are totally different.

Originally, Arc is furious at the audacious commoner, challenges Surt to a fight, and ends up getting destroyed.

That's how it was supposed to go.

But this time it's reversed.

Surt was the one who challenged Arc, and Arc crushed Surt.

So the story started to go off-track.

A huge crowd of students saw Arc overwhelm Surt with ice magic.

Arc is fairly handsome and acts cold toward others, so some people started calling him "The Ice Prince," which is painfully embarrassing.

Arc doesn't know this.

Only a few female students say it.

They recently formed the "Arc Fan Club."

If Arc has a fan club, it might mean the world is doomed.

◇　◇　◇

Ugh… so annoying.

We have this stupid "training exercise."

We have to go survive on some island.

For a noble like me, survival training is unthinkable.

So I complained as much as I could.

I even took it to the headmaster.

I said it was too dangerous and we should cancel it.

But the headmaster just laughed and ignored me.

So typical.

I hate this academy.

What's the point of my noble authority if it doesn't work here?

This place is full of stuff I can't control.

It makes me want to go home.

At home, the commoners, the servants, and even my sister do whatever I say!

Whatever.

I'll figure out how to handle this "training exercise" in the most elegant way possible.

It lasts three days.

Everyone is forced to take part.

It's worthless.

We have to fight golems for three days.

But since the instructors made them, they aren't really dangerous.

Not that it matters.

If a golem beats you, you're out.

So if you want to leave early, you could just let a golem knock you out.

But me, a noble, lose to a mere golem?

Never!

Not in a million years!

So even though it's a huge pain, I have to keep fighting.

Three days of survival… it'll drive me crazy.

And our supplies are limited too.

This is the worst.

But there's one way to end it quickly.

Destroy every golem.

Then the exercise ends immediately.

So that's my plan.

Take down all the golems in one day and finish this.

I can do that.

I even decided to have Camilla secretly help me.

I told her, "Make sure I finish this exercise safely behind the scenes."

All she has to do is kill the golems.

For some reason, Camilla asked, "Are you worried the Dark Hand might show up?"

No way.

I said, "They won't be here."

She just tilted her head.

I kinda like how she sticks to her "role."