Chaos Cycle: The Eye of Genesis

"Why are you following me?" Elior asked. He was on the way to Professor Aleister's office room, but before he could even walk there, he found the silver-haired senior was following him.

"I have something to report to Professor Aleister, thought it would be good going along with you," she said with a start.

Elior did not converse further with her on the way to prepare and calm his mind. He was not nervous about what the test was going to be, but he needed to pass with whatever question his old mentor would ask him. Knowing him, Elior knew the question would not be tough, but rather a simple question with a complicated answer.

They arrived before the door of the professor, and he let Aanya knock on the door. A curt 'Come in' sounded as she opened the door. The two of them went inside. Professor Aleister was reading some reports in his Hollowbook, while dressing the neat and clean.

Elior stood even straighter than he usually was, sharpening his uniform.

"You are late," Aleister said, looking through the transparent screen of the hollow book. His eyes moved to Aanya for a moment and asked her, "Are you the reason he's late?"

Aanya tilted her head for a moment and thought. "No," she said with a laugh. "He was just looking at girls."

"Ahem!" Elior coughed self-consciously.

"Minus 10 points," Professor Aleister did not seem to care about what business he had; he only knew Elior was late. He told them to sit in the chair before her desk.

He rested the device on the desk and sat upright and looked at Aanya first. "Aanya, I thought you already finished your schooling here. What business do you have to delay me during the important time?"

His voice was not rude, but affectionate, either. It was the typical voice of Aleister Scribe when he got what he did not ask for.

"Well, Uncle, why are you so formerly all the time?" She asked, though she knew the answer. "I heard you need a few volunteers for the few freshmen. I wanted to join it."

Aleister raised an eyebrow. "That's it?" he said. "You could just send a message for it."

"Other than that, I would like to watch my junior's test," she said, gesturing her eyes at Elior. "After all, I gave him my notes on magic and won't want him to go on the wrong path."

"You did that, huh?" Alister frowned for a while.

"Professor, could you send her away?" Elior joined the conversation. "I would like the test to be alone."

"Uncle, he's late for the test. He should not have any say in the matter," Aanya protested within a second. "Besides, I gave him my notes. I would like to see if he wasted the opportunity or learned something."

"I see, you two become quite friendly during these few days," the professor sighed. He saw Elior grunting in protest. He said to Aanya, "I can let you be here on the account he learned from your notes, but you are not allowed to utter a single phrase during the process. Did I make it clear?"

Aanya did not answer, but made a gesture with her fingers on her lips as if she was closing a zip.

Aleister focused on Elior then. "You want to be exempt from the Magic spell mastery classes," he said. "The reason being, you already mastered all things about elementary magics. Is that correct?"

"Yes," Elior voiced out clearly, knowing a little indifference would disappoint his old mentor.

"I heard a few things from Professor Sarah, but I would like to look at it with my eyes," Aleister said. "Show me whatever tricks you have under your arms."

Elior did not shy away and stood up. He formed the formula of elementary fireball and released enough mana into it. A small sun-like fireball formed, radiating yellow light. He formed another one similarly and customised the formula according to his will. The ball turned into other shapes. First a cube of fire, then a helm and a few other things.

At last, he stopped it while combining the two formulas and made a fireball that could not be said to be elementary magic.

Aanya's eyes were widened, and she was not the only one; Aliestor too was startled, though he hid it well. Both of them could do this type of wizardly with a flick of their finger, but they were surprised to see Elior, who was only here for three weeks, could manage that.

"I guess that performance proved your mastery," Aleister said, and Elior sat down again. "Now, I need to see if you are that good in theory as well."

Elior nodded.

"Tell me, the spell you cast just now, what higher domain do they belong to?"

That's a tricky question. If it was asked to any other freshmen, they would only say, it was Creation. Fortunately, Elior knew better. "Creation and Destruction," Elior answered. "Creation when I created the fireball and destruction when I stopped the fire."

"You say creation. How can you say it is Creation when you didn't even know how the fire formed entirely?" the professor asked again.

That was not an elementary level question.

"You don't have to know entirely how you do it. Even if something is complicated, in the beginning, it is just the simple part combining together," Elior answered not entirely, leaving a few parts behind.

"I don't understand it properly," the teacher said with a frown. In his mind, Elior's words were repeating. He knew where this little guy was going to—but he was not sure. It just could be an excuse or it could be what he thinks it is. If that was true, then he had truly found a gem.

"You just manipulate the formula, and fire element with mana. How can it touch the law of creation?" the teacher asked, still frowning.

Elior took in a deep breath and recalled his teachings. "As I said a moment ago, even though creation is complicated, it is made of simple pieces of a puzzle. For instance, a potter creates a piece of a pot with mud. He did not need to know about how hydrogen and oxygen formed together to make water, nor did he need to know how the earth came to form. He just needs to know the way around to make his pots. That is the simple form of creation in its core."

A still silence flew in the room, until the professor leaned on the chair more, raising his arm.

"Wow, I did not know. A student would be so philosophical about the law of magic," Alister said with a smile on his lips. "You take an example of a mundane thing and use it as a way to explain a complicated law of magic. I have one more question for you: after that, you are good to go.

"Let's take one of the most normal things in the universe, Reproduction. A woman conceives a child—explain it through the law of magic."

Elior sucked in a deeper breath again. He could talk about this topic for hours, but that was not needed now. He had to give a simple and concise answer here that would satisfy the examiner.

"Reproduction is one of the most normal things, but it is quite magical in its way," he started. "And it will not be wrong to say it is a complicated magic spell that can be performed quite easily."

Aanya chuckled in between his answers. That earned her wide-eyed stare from the professor and Elior. She closed her mouth with an arm, showing she would not disrupt them again.

"Even though it was easy," Elior continued. "It touched the four high domains of magic. Life, Death, Creation, and Destruction. Like the creation of fire, it creates a new life, though the process is far more complicated, but it did not form out of nothing. I'm sure the professor is well-learnt in biology to know this. As for the spirit, soul, or whatever, that proves it's a life, and it could be something far above our understanding, or it could be a part from the parents' cells. . . ."

Elior stopped and waited for the teacher to give the evaluation.

"Wow, now I have a new perspective on magic," Aanya added from the side.

Aleister released a deep breath. "You passed the test and you can get exempt from the elementary class," he announced.

"But?" Elior asked with a raised brow. Knowing his old mentor, there was definitely a but.

The professor raised his eyebrow too. "But, from now on, I'll check your progress on spells, and I will only want to see progress from here," he said. "You can ask me relevant questions in my free time or other professors such as Sarah. All have to do is to make progress from now on. You will have a lot harder time from now on."

"Hardship does not frighten me," Elior said.

"That's good to here and I would like to see it with action as well," the professor added. "The next Monday you will be one among the ones who will get to advance to first order. Be Prepared."

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Thank you for the votes.

A week more until, I'm free.