I Will Kill The Author

Chapter 24 Mana Theory [2]

?The classroom was spacious, with ten rows of seats arranged in an ascending pattern.

At the front of the room was a small stage, on which stood a podium. The distance between the stage and the rows of seats was quite large.

At the risk of sounding repetitive, I'll say this again, the class was quite spacious.

So there was no problem if cadets were to use basic magic spells inside the classroom.

But our instructor, Liz Snyder, didn't just ask us to use spells. No, she asked us to hit her with spells.

There were around 20 cadets standing with me, and everyone looked pretty baffled.

It was clear that these poor souls had no idea what to do and how to respond to this absurd order.

Should they really hit her with magic spells? What if something happens?

Sure, Liz was strong. She was a Section Commander, which is like the second highest rank a soldier can achieve in the military, and an ‹Immortal› ranked warrior.

No way a bunch of kids with very little to no prior martial arts or magic education could injure her.

But their worries were understandable.

Offensive spells, even the most basic ones, are extremely lethal.

To understand the logic, you can compare offensive spells to hot weapons of modern times like guns.

If a person with a bulletproof vest comes up to you and asks you to shoot them, you wouldn't immediately agree to it, right?

Exactly.

Although everyone present here knew that they couldn't hurt Liz, they were still hesitant to follow her order.

Of course, for every cadet who was hesitant or confused to act on Liz's orders, there were also some who weren't all that panicked.

These people were the ones with firsthand battle experience— Nero and Quinn. Both of them had already started to circulate mana in their body.

For the record, I wasn't hesitating either.

That's because I had two reasons.

First, I was excited to use a magic spell!

Although I had Lucas' memories of him learning and using magic during his childhood, 'I' myself had yet to try it.

Second, I knew how much of a monster Liz was. It would be a miracle if anyone in this city— cadets and instructors alike— could even scratch her.

"O' nevae, wenta!"

From my right, the first one to finish conjuring his spell was Quinn.

Quinn had his right palm facing toward Liz. He had no expression on his face as he yelled out his chant in elven tongue.

I don't know the grade of the spell but since Quinn had only had an affinity for darkness, it was bound to be a shadow-type spell.

And in the next moment, I was proven right.

Quinn's right hand was engulfed in pitch-black darkness, almost like it was shrouded in shadow.

Kzzzzz—!

In an instant, the formless shadow transformed into a pitch-black snake and lunged at Liz.

With its gaping maw and intent to devour Liz, the shadow snake bore its dark fangs at her.

Of course, Liz wasn't just standing there waiting to be attacked, though. She channeled mana into her right index finger and raised her hand in preparation.

In the next second, Liz made a quick downward swipe with her finger through the air.

Swoosh—

One slash.

With just one slash of her index finger, Liz was able to dispel the shadow snake before it could even reach her.

"Tsk!" Quinn clicked his tongue in frustration.

Although he had expected this, and this wasn't the strongest spell in his arsenal, to think someone would dispel his shadow magic without any effort.

Clap— Clap—

"Waaaa! As expected of masta~" While Quinn was grumping, Nero started applauding.

No, he wasn't impressed by his master's performance or anything. Rather, he knew she was just trying to act cool, so he interrupted her performance to irritate her.

"You brat," with eyebrows twitching in annoyance, Liz gritted her teeth. "I've told you not to call me that during academy hours. Now, come forth."

"Sure, sure~ I'll keep that in mind… masta~."

While continuing to irritate her further, Nero stepped forward and started speaking in high elven.

"Lvae tormentorum!"

At the same time, using his right hand to mimic a handgun, Nero pointed his index and middle fingers at Liz.

From all around his surroundings, particles of light started to cluster at the tip of Nero's 'handgun.'

The whole class brightened up. It looked like Nero had created a mini sun at the tip of his fingers.

The cluster of blinding light was about to break and shoot at Liz when….

Swoosh—!

With a quick, panicked swipe of her finger, Liz dispelled Nero's magic.

She had a look of disbelief on her face when she yelled, "When did you learn this?!"

"Huh?" confused, Nero looked at Liz like he was looking at a mad woman. "Weren't you the one who asked me to learn this spell?"

It was true.

A few months ago, prior to Nero's enrollment in Global Academy, Nero asked his master, Liz, to provide him with some high-grade spells.

Liz, of course, avoided that request, but Nero kept pushing it.

In the end, Liz handed Nero a mid-grade light elemental spell and asked him to master it.

Light element, much like Dark element, is a tricky one. On top of that, Nero, who was on ‹Silver-1› rank, could only dream of mastering a light elemental mid-grade spell.

Unfortunately for Liz, Nero was the 'protagonist' of this world. Achieving something impossible was his normal Tuesday routine.

In the span of 2 months, Nero managed to master a mid-grade light elemental spell and left his master puzzle… once again.

Facepalming, Liz didn't even know how to act in this situation.

Shaking her head, she said, "Fine, go back to the line. Next cadet, step forward."

"Huh!! What do you mean by 'fine'?! You should say something like: `Good job, dear handsome disciple! I'm lucky to have you as my protege!"

At Nero's response, a nerve quivered on Liz's forehead, but the latter managed to calm her temper down quickly.

With a dead scary smile, Liz said, "Do you not love your life anymore, dear handsome disciple? Want me to end it for you?"

A chill ran down Nero's spine. He quickly straightened his back and yelled before getting back in line. "No ma'am! Sorry ma'am!"

Everyone was just as confused as the person beside them. No one knew how to react to this.

Should they be more surprised at the fact that a mere 18-year-old cadet mastered a mid-grade light elemental spell or at the fact that Liz easily dispelled a mid-grade spell with one finger?

Dispelling a magic spell is very simple in theory but very hard when applied practically.

To dismiss a magic spell cast by someone else, you need to overwhelm the area they had cast their magic spell on with your own magic power— mana.

Sounds simple right?

However, simple doesn't mean easy.

There are two restrictions to dispelling a magic spell.

First, you need to 'overwhelm' the area with your mana where the opponent has cast their magic on.

To do this, you must keep a few things in mind.

You need to predict the exact location the spell is being cast on by your opponent.

It would be best if you had a bigger mana pool than your opponent because dispelling takes a lot more mana than spell casting.

If your opponent has cast a spell of opposite elemental affinity to yours, you'll need to overwhelm them with sixty times more mana they had used.

Meaning, if your affinity is with fire and someone has cast a water spell, you'll need to use sixty times more mana than they have used in order to cancel whatever spell they've cast.

You'll also need to be wary of the 'area of dominance.'

'Area of dominance' refers to the area where a mage has absolute control over mana.

Everyone who can manipulate mana has an area of dominance around their own body because no one can control mana inside someone else's body. It's a natural law.

As a result, no one can cast a spell inside someone else's body because that area is under the complete control of the person it belongs to. Only they can manipulate the mana in their own body.

Additionally, the closer a spell is being cast to someone's area of dominance, the less control others have over that area.

So, if I cast a spell close to my body, it would be really difficult for someone else to dispel it because it's close to my area of dominance.

By training, it's possible to expand one's area of dominance and create a 'domain' where only they can cast spells. However, doing this is very, very challenging.

The second thing to keep in mind is:

It is advised to cancel someone's magic spell before it is fully materialized.

For example, if I cast an earth bullet spell, dispelling it after the earth bullet has been created would be nearly impossible since mana has already taken a physical shape.

Yet, Liz managed to do both of those things.

She nullified a magic spell that was opposite of her affinity (she has an affinity towards darkness), and she also canceled two spells AFTER they materialized.

Truly, she's the very definition of 'defying common sense.'