"Deconstructing and rebuilding the Earth Elemental."

"Forcing direct control over the molecular structure."

"That’s the charm of Transmutation magic."

Arthur mumbled to himself, using his fingers to quickly carve patterns into the clay lump.

It had only been less than ten seconds.

Arthur stopped his hands.

The azure blue arcane glow wrapped around the object suddenly faded.

The object’s physical properties instantly snapped back.

Clang.

Arthur flicked the object in his hand with his finger, and it rang out with a crisp, metal-like chime.

It was no longer a jagged chunk of obsidian.

It was now an exquisitely crafted stone dagger, about a foot long!!

The blade was as thin as a dragonfly’s wing, gleaming with a deadly edge.

There was even a lifelike rose carved into the crossguard!!

From a hard rock, to a soft lump, to a beautiful dagger.

The whole process didn’t release even a tiny bit of destructive force.

But the magical concept behind it hit everyone’s brains like a nuclear bomb!!

Clang!!

The scorepad in Professor Harris’s hands fell straight to the floor, landing right on his foot, but he didn’t even flinch from the pain.

The veteran professor, who had taught at the academy for over twenty years, was shaking like a sieve.

He scrambled up the platform, nearly tripping because his legs gave out.

"Give it... give it to me!!"

Professor Harris practically snatched the obsidian dagger right out of Arthur’s hands.

He held the dagger up in the air, letting the sunlight pour down from the dome hit the blade, his trembling fingers stroking the surface.

"No marks of high-heat forging..."

"No residue from alchemical acids..."

"The weight didn’t drop, and the size stayed the same..."

"This is pure matter transformation!!"

Professor Harris suddenly looked up, his eyes no longer looking at a student, but at something too bizarre to even name.

"Good god..."

"How is this even possible??"

"Changing the shape of lifeless matter at will? That’s a power only the Creator has!!"

Professor Harris’s voice already had a clear crack of tears in it.

It was the wild excitement of a scholar who had struggled down the path of magic his whole life, seeing the door to truth kicked open right in front of him.

The freshmen down below were completely numb.

If the earlier "Magic Missile" just shocked them with Arthur’s precise control over Magic Power.

Then this "Stone Shaping" just took their whole magical worldview and trampled it into the dirt!!

So what if it had no attack power??

If Arthur used this on a battlefield wall, an unbreakable fortress would turn into mud in an instant!!

If he used it on an enemy’s heavy armor, steel defenses would instantly turn into traps that strangled their owners!!

This wasn’t magic at all!!

This was a miracle!!

"Fourth-level Transmutation spell, Stone Shaping."

Arthur shoved his hands back into his pockets, his tone as casual as if he was talking about what he had for breakfast.

"But this spell has a few limits. It can only change the shape, not the original properties of the material. Like, you can’t turn stone into gold."

"Also, this thing has zero damage."

"Professor Harris, would this pass the test??"

Pass??!

Hearing those two words, Professor Harris nearly choked on his own blood.

If this just counted as passing, then all those geniuses throwing fireballs and chunks of ice earlier should be dragged out and drowned!!

"S... no, this can’t even be rated!!"

Professor Harris clutched the stone dagger to his chest like it was the most precious lover he’d ever held.

"This is a great miracle that just started a whole new school of magic!!"

"Student Arthur, you... how exactly did you do this??"

Facing the professor’s almost humbled request for knowledge, Arthur just shrugged.

"Read more books, think more, and burn less stuff."

Those words, mostly brushing him off with a touch of sarcasm, drew zero pushback from anyone at that moment.

Andrew slumped to the ground, his face the color of ash.

His proud "Explosive Flame Shield" looked as crude as a barbarian’s wooden club compared to this stone dagger with no attack power at all.

Meanwhile, Elena, who had been standing right in front of Arthur, fell into a long silence.

In her usually calm, ice-blue eyes, a massive storm was brewing.

She stared hard at the rose Arthur had carved into the crossguard.

It was the quietest, yet loudest reply to her doubt from just a moment ago.

Elena’s proud Frost Dragon Roar worked by using her S-rank talent to forcibly pull moisture out of the air.

In the end, it was still just stacking power on top of power.

What Arthur showed off was absolute control over the microscopic world.

"Matter transformation..."

Elena whispered the term quietly, a word unheard of in this world.

She finally realized that the boy in front of her was on a completely different level than them.

He looked at them like an adult watching a toddler brag about how strong he is.

"I take back what I said earlier."

Elena suddenly spoke up.

Her voice was still cool, but the high-and-mighty arrogance was replaced by a deep, complicated feeling.

She looked at Arthur, and for the first time, let go of her pride as the Grand Archmagus’s granddaughter, taking a completely equal stance.

"Arthur Voss, you are not a loser."

"In magical theory and structure, you have gone further than any of us."

Elena bit her lower lip. These were the most humble words she had ever spoken.

"But Magic Power Affinity is a natural limit."

"If you can never increase your Magic Power storage, you won’t be able to cast these precise spells more than a few times a day."

This was already a friendly warning.

Arthur raised his eyebrows in mild surprise.

He figured the Ice Rose would lose her temper, but she actually showed the kind of calm composure you’d expect from a real caster.

"I’ll save you the worry, Miss Klein."

Arthur let out a yawn, lazily turning around to head down from the platform.

He’d already made enough of a scene for one day.

Just as everyone was still reeling from the sheer shock of "Stone Shaping," and the air was so thick with tension it felt like it could drip...

...an extremely out-of-place, clear, and cheerful voice suddenly rang out at the arena entrance.

"Arthur!!"

Every single head snapped toward the sound.

There was Lilian August, the little princess of the Kingdom of Oran, bouncing her way toward the platform.

She was wearing an extremely cute pink dress today, her golden curls bobbing with every step like a finely made doll.

Lilian completely ignored the weird, heavy silence that had fallen over the crowd.

She also ignored Professor Harris, who was dripping with sweat, Andrew, who was still collapsed on the floor, and even Elena, who wore a deeply conflicted expression.

She rushed up the platform like a burst of happy wind and grabbed Arthur’s arm.

"I knew you’d totally blow everyone away!!"

Lilian tilted up her round apple face, smiling so hard her eyes curved into crescents.

"I didn’t even hear a sound from in there. They must’ve been too scared to speak because of you!!"

That blunt remark made the talented students in the crowd flush with embarrassment, but none of them could argue with it.

Because, honestly, they had been.

Arthur looked down at the little girl clinging to his arm and let out a helpless sigh.

"What are you doing in the Inner Academy??"

"Class is over!!" Lilian said, acting all proud of it.

She rubbed her flat little stomach, her big watery eyes full of expectation.

"Arthur, I’m so hungry."

"To celebrate your total victory in your first combat class, let’s go eat at the most expensive spot in the capital, the Golden Rose Restaurant, okay??"

"It’s on me!!"

Lilian patted her bulging little purse, acting all rich and mighty.

Arthur stroked his chin.

Casting "Magic Missile" and "Stone Shaping" back-to-back earlier, even with the most efficient Magic Power techniques, was still a pretty heavy toll on his double-F body.

He was actually pretty hungry.

"Alright, I’m not gonna turn down a free meal."

Arthur agreed without much thought.

He let Lilian drag him along, strolling out of the arena like he owned the place, while a crowd of envious and jealous stares lingered behind them.

As he passed by Elena, his steps slowed just a little.

"By the way, give that dagger to Professor Harris as a souvenir."

"And as for the rose on the hilt, I just carved it on a whim. Don’t read too much into it, Miss Klein."

With that, Arthur walked out the door without looking back.

Elena stood her ground, her icy blue eyes locked tightly on Arthur’s retreating back.

Her pale, jade-like fists quietly clenched.