First Mission

The morning at Stellar Magic Academy had started in classic Adonis fashion — with pain.

"Ow—stop that!" Adonis sat up in bed, glaring at the white menace on his head.

Quackner was pulling his hair with its little beak, flapping irritably and quacking toward an empty chip packet on the floor.

"You're hungry?" Adonis asked, groggily. He looked around, but unsurprisingly, his dorm had no snacks. Mages didn't eat much; mana sustained most of their energy needs. He, at most, nibbled when he felt like it.

He turned to the room's other eternal resident. "Eclipse, do you have any snacks left?"

"Uwuu." The robe replied, clearly insulted.

Adonis sighed. "Fine. Take my ID card and go buy some. I only have ten mana runes left, so don't waste it — and don't lose it."

Eclipse twirled excitedly in the air like a child handed a credit card. It scooped up Quackner, and the two zoomed out of the dorm in a blur of fabric and feathers.

"…Please don't start a scandal," Adonis muttered to the empty room and began getting dressed for class.

In Class E16, Adonis settled into his usual seat — first row, first column. Whispers buzzed around like bees as usual.

"That's him…"

"The one with the duck?"

"He defeated Tyrant with one move, right?"

"And he's dating the Ice Princess…"

Adonis tuned it out. He was getting used to it. Some part of him had just... accepted that peace was no longer an option.

"Good morning," he greeted, turning slightly toward his partner.

"Good morning," Mia replied in her usual glacial tone, her phoenix chick quietly perched on her shoulder.

After a beat, Adonis leaned in. "Today's advanced magic class… You're in illusion, right? Can you teach me after school?"

Mia raised an eyebrow. "You know you can't learn two advanced magics. You only get one ring."

"I know." Adonis nodded. "But I still want to learn illusion magic. Just for fun. I'll focus on space magic, but it's… interesting to me."

Mia considered for a second, then shrugged. "Fine. I need you for training anyway."

At that moment, the classroom door opened and Ms. Catherine stepped in.She wore her usual strict black robes and sharp expression.

"Good morning. Since today your specialized advanced magic classes begin, I won't be teaching. But don't think that means you get to slack off."

She snapped her fingers and projection runes lit up behind her.

"Your assignment for the week: go to the Fire Dungeon and defeat three Flame Orcs."

The class broke into hushed gasps.

"Flame Orcs?! Those are violent as hell!"

"I've heard they're hard even for experienced aristocrat mages!"

"She said three? I can maybe handle one if I prepare gear in advance…"

"Looks like my rank is about to nosedive…

Catherine continued. "Each of you will need to record the battle and submit it as proof. No proof, no credit. And remember, failure to submit means your ranking will drop."

Adonis scratched the back of his head.

"I don't even know what a Flame Orc looks like… but okay. I've fought worse."

Then reality hit him.

"Wait. I need someone to record me. Eclipse will probably spin the camera into a smoothie maker. Quackner might eat it…"

He slowly turned to Mia.

"Um. Mia. Can you come with me to the dungeon?"

"You don't need me to beat Flame Orcs," she replied, uninterested.

"No… I need someone to record me. I, uh…" Adonis looked down awkwardly. "I don't really… have anyone else."

There was a pause. Then, with her usual stoic calm:

"Fine. In return, you'll record mine."

Adonis's head lifted in relief. "Really? Great! Thanks, Mia."

"…We'll go after class," she added quietly, looking away.

Adonis nodded, completely unaware that from a distance, a small group of students were already murmuring:

"See?! He asked her out again!"

"She said yes this time!"

"True power couple. They're even going on dungeon dates now."

Meanwhile, Eclipse robe and Quackner were bartering snacks off a first-year alchemy student — in exchange for a perfectly preserved mana crystal they probably shouldn't have.