I Refuse To Be A Mage - Chapter 11

“Who did you say she was?” Evan stood on the training lawn, his gaze vacant, murmuring to Ji Chi.

Ji Chi patiently answered, “Saintess Coralie.”

“Who did you say she was?” Brandon’s hand holding the wand trembled slightly, staring blankly at Ji Chi.

Ji Chi continued to patiently answer, “Saintess Coralie.”

“You just said she was…” Just as Ji Chi finished answering Brandon, Evan continued speaking like singing in harmony, but was ruthlessly interrupted by Ji Chi.

“Professor, I’d like to change partners.” Ji Chi raised his hand high.

Joseph glanced at Ji Chi. Ever since learning that he was very likely a genius across all departments and that his grade repetition was for special reasons, his impression of him had improved considerably.

Seeing now that he was the only student in the entire class who wasn’t affected by Coralie, he finally began to think this young man had some promise.

He nodded with satisfaction, thought for a moment, and simply decided to let Ji Chi and Coralie partner together.

“Coralie, you’ll train with Ji Chi today. I hope you’ll both make progress.” Joseph was very kind and friendly to students with high talent.

This statement instantly awakened the little mages of Class S from their daze—such an operation was possible!

What luck for that commoner! The little mages felt jealous and resentful, even Evan and Brandon looked at Ji Chi with grievance.

The calmest one was actually Coralie. She nodded with a smile, not feeling there was any problem partnering with a commoner. She walked unhurriedly to Ji Chi’s front and smiled gently, “Classmate Ji Chi, we meet again.”

Ji Chi hadn’t expected her memory to be so good and was somewhat surprised, “Good afternoon, Miss Saintess.”

“Just call me Coralie.” Coralie smiled gently, brilliant light flowing in her clear pupils. She turned her head to glance at the two people beside her who had become dazed again, greeting them courteously, “This must be Young Master Brandon from the Elliott family? I saw you at the Imperial Ceremony.”

Brandon, suddenly called upon, awakened as if from a dream, straightened his chest, and stammered, “Yes, yes… I’m called Elliott, no no, I’m called Brandon, call me Elliott, no no, just call me Brandon…”

Ji Chi silently turned his head away. There was a reason he wanted to run whenever he saw this young master.

Coralie seemed accustomed to such scenes. She smiled kindly, then turned her gaze to Evan.

When she sensed the extremely pure light magic power around him, her ice-blue eyes trembled slightly. She lowered her eyelids to hide her complicated emotions and naturally greeted him, “Hello, you must be Ji Chi’s roommate? Your light amulet is really well made.”

Evan had never imagined that one day he would receive praise from the Saintess. His mind went blank, he opened his mouth not knowing how to respond, his identical blue eyes full of confusion.

“He’s Evan, a light mage.” Ji Chi, seeing the situation going awry, quickly helped introduce him, afraid he too would say something embarrassingly cringeworthy.

After speaking, he immediately clapped his hands, “Alright, it’s class time now. Professor Joseph has begun his lecture.”

This clap finally brought the three little mages immersed in their own emotions back to their senses. They perked up and gently gripped their wands, listening to Joseph’s explanation.

“You are all the Empire’s finest mages. I’m sure you’re all clear on how to cast magic power.” Joseph, wearing a mentor’s black robe, stood in the center of the lawn, his gaze sweeping over the young faces before him. “Then please answer me a most basic question: what is the key to casting magic power?”

Several noble young men, wanting to show off in front of the Saintess, hastily raised their hands, “Incantation! It’s the correct incantation!”

“Wrong!” Joseph’s brows furrowed sharply as he said sternly, “It’s the resonance between the magic power in your body and the elements in the air! Incantation is merely a process of acceleration. You must never put too much attention on it!”

Joseph sighed, “It seems I still need to train you from the most basic level today. Starting now, what you need to do is feel the elements in the air, communicate with them through your will, make them respond to your magic power, and gather them in your palm.”

Joseph tucked his wand into his wide robe and extended his lean hand to demonstrate.

He closed his eyelids, without incantation or complex movements, just quietly waiting.

Gradually, the wind rose.

Wisps of breeze threaded through the little mages’ hair, lifting the corners of their robes, brushing over the verdant lawn, and gathering in Joseph’s upturned palm.

A solid wind ball slowly formed.

Ji Chi: “…”

So mysteriously described, but isn’t this just a wind ball technique? My fireball technique only needs a single click of a skill.

But the little mages exploded with excitement.

“No wand, and no incantation! How is this possible!”

“I can also do wind ball technique without a wand, but without incantation…”

Joseph opened his eyes, looked with satisfaction at the panicked little mages for a while, then said earnestly, “Do you know? All limitations are imposed by people on themselves. Incantation is important, but it’s not necessary—it’s merely an auxiliary means. In other words, if you’re restricted from speaking during battle, are you just going to accept defeat and die?”

“So today’s task is to communicate with the elements in the air using the magic power within your own bodies.”

After listening, Coralie looked thoughtfully at her smooth palm and sighed softly, “The Magic Academy’s curriculum is indeed different. The first lesson is already quite difficult.”

Though she said this, sparkling points of light had already appeared on her pale palm, and her speed of gathering elements was even faster than Joseph’s demonstration, drawing envious exclamations from the little mages around her.

Ji Chi was quite useless. He had no thoughts about the professor’s mystical theories and simply felt this lesson was quite good—no need to listen to lectures, no need to move his lips to recite strange incantations, and he could even stand and sleep without anyone noticing.

Provided the professor wasn’t staring at him.

Ji Chi helplessly opened his eyes and looked at Joseph, who was staring directly at him from a meter away, “Professor Joseph, may I ask what you need?”

“Can you feel it?” Joseph asked without warning.

Ji Chi was puzzled, “Feel what?”

Joseph looked at him somewhat resentfully, his robes gently billowing and fluttering.

There was no wind today, Ji Chi suddenly realized.

So Joseph was referring to feeling the wind elements he had gathered? Ji Chi smiled. He was beginning to find this old man somewhat adorable.

Unfortunately, he was just a bug, with a constitution different from people of this world, and couldn’t…

Wait—

Ji Chi frowned and looked toward the distant teaching building, “What’s that sound? Is someone calling me?”

The whispering voices by his ear became increasingly clear, like a group of invisible little spirits curiously discussing him.

Joseph’s eyes widened slightly, and a trace of joy appeared in his usually sharp-as-a-knife eyes, “You can hear the elements’ responses? Are they answering you in ethereal, gentle tones?”

Ji Chi’s frown deepened. Ethereal and gentle? What did these extremely loud, chattering things that wouldn’t stop have to do with ethereal and gentle?

“Everyone come quick and look! What is this thing? Feels quite different from ordinary mages?”

“Oh my, I like him! His magic power smells so good!”

“His magic power is mine! I saw him use fire magic power last time, but I didn’t have time to respond before he wouldn’t release it again.”

“How did it become yours? I want to respond to him too! I only need a tiny bit of magic power…”

Ten types of elements gathered around Ji Chi, noisily colliding with each other, stirring the surrounding air into turbulence. Joseph vaguely sensed the wind elements around him becoming unstable. Not understanding what was happening, he could only secretly increase his magic power output.

Thus, the most concentrated wind elements gained the upper hand.

“Scram, scram, scram! He’s sensing me—what’s it to you?” More and more wind elements gathered around Joseph, ready to defect the moment Ji Chi released his magic power.

“So what if you have numbers? Just wait!” The other elements, unconvinced, left harsh words and scattered to rally their companions.

Soon, the little mages practicing nearby began to exclaim in low voices. Different elements gradually appeared as flickering lights in each of their hands, and magic balls of various colors slowly formed.

“Look! I summoned it! Did you see? I didn’t use incantation!”

“Mine appeared too! This isn’t very difficult at all! Where’s the difficulty the professor mentioned!”

But before long, some of the little mages sensitive to magic power noticed something was wrong.

Coralie frowned slightly, gazing meaningfully at the brilliant light magic ball in her hand.

These elements didn’t seem to be under her control. They were more like restlessly stirring, waiting for the right moment…

Just then, Joseph nodded with satisfaction before Ji Chi and gently encouraged him, “Come, now release your magic power.”

Ji Chi hesitantly opened his palm. He had never tried whether magic power could be successfully released without clicking a skill.

This worry was obviously unnecessary. Ji Chi merely had a thought, a warm current flowed through his body and gathered in his palm, and his magic power value began to change.

[MP-5]

The moment his magic power value decreased, Ji Chi’s expression changed slightly.

“He released it! Brothers, charge!!!”

“Charge!!! Whoever grabs it gets it!!!”

Overwhelming battle cries surged toward Ji Chi, accompanied by colorful flashes representing various elements.

“Hey, hey, hey, what’s happening?”

“Why isn’t my magic power under my control anymore?”

“Where are they going?”

The little mages were in chaos. The elemental balls that had just been floating in their palms suddenly lost control. Fire, ice crystals, electric arcs, water streams… magic formed by ten different elements all frantically converged toward one place. Ten different colors intertwined on the open grassland, forming a restless hurricane that made everyone’s black robes flutter loudly.

Everyone’s gaze followed this hurricane and finally fixed on a pale, thin palm. Looking up, it was a familiar face with black hair and black eyes, handsome and refined.

Ji Chi held a colorful magic ball formed by the interweaving of ten elements, quietly raising his head to look at Joseph, who was too shocked to speak.

His eyes were calm and unperturbed, showing neither surprise nor joy, but his heart was in turmoil.

This body was quite different from what he had imagined.