Chapter 15: A Spark of Destiny

“The Spark of a New Bond”

Boryan Baist’s decision to invite Sion to form a party was simple.

‘An academy student? A freshman, maybe?’

The moment the weekend arrived, Boryan headed to the adventurer’s guild.

Among the diverse outfits, the academy uniform stood out like a sore thumb.

Wearing a uniform in a place like this was practically an open invitation to be underestimated.

‘It’s like advertising, I don’t even have proper combat gear~,’ she thought.

That’s why she approached Sion.

‘I should help him out. Heh.’

Born as the daughter of the master of the Baist Dojo, Boryan had trained her fists from a young age.

Inspired by her father’s cool demeanor, she had been practicing martial arts since childhood.

Thanks to her rigorous training, her peers couldn’t keep up with her.

The sheer volume of her practice and the internal energy she had built in her dantian translated directly into her skills.

Her invitation to Sion was a mix of kind intentions to help a fellow academy student and a bit of prideful desire to show off her abilities.

‘Now that I look at him, his face is kind of nice too,’ she thought.

Unlike the gorilla-like muscular guys dripping with sweat at the dojo, Sion had a delicate, slender frame that seemed almost fragile.

His youthful face and below-average height gave him an air of vulnerability.

“Let’s go! You lead the way?” she asked.

“Sure. Time to annihilate these goblins,” Sion replied.

As they arrived at the cave, Boryan felt her spirits rising.

The Baist Martial Arts she had learned from her father was invincible.

She had already defeated goblins several times, so she wasn’t worried.

‘What if he ends up confessing to me because he falls for me? Ahh~ I just want to focus on my training. Should I reject him? Hehe.’

Boryan’s thoughts wandered as they walked through the forest, her confidence brimming.

But perhaps her overconfidence was her downfall—she failed to notice a trap that she would normally have spotted with ease.

With a loud scream, Boryan was caught in a snare trap set by goblins.

“Kyahhh!!”

The sudden sensation of being lifted into the air startled her. Before she knew it, she was dangling from a tree branch.

She didn’t have a knife to cut the rope, and even if she tried, it was too high to safely drop down.

‘Damn… I let my guard down!’ she thought, scolding herself.

Even skilled fighters could die if they weren’t careful.

Monsters would do whatever it took to survive, using cunning traps if necessary.

Her excitement had led to a major blunder.

‘What should I do? Should I yell at him to run?’

Hearing her scream, goblins began emerging from the cave.

While they were still far away, Sion could likely escape if he ran.

But if he did, she would be left completely defenseless.

“S-Sion! Get me down!” she shouted.

“Can’t you get down yourself?” he asked.

“I don’t have a knife! And—ahh! Don’t look up!!”

“Oh, uh… sorry.”

Her desperate solution was to ask Sion to free her.

Whether he used a knife or fire magic, all he had to do was cut the rope.

Once free, she could take care of the goblins herself.

‘There’s no way a magician can handle a horde of goblins alone!’ she thought.

Magicians had long casting times and delays between spells.

Even if one goblin fell to a spell, the next could quickly close the distance.

Without a frontline fighter to buy time, handling more than two or three goblins would be impossible—or so she believed.

“Fire…!”

To her surprise, Sion cast a fire spell.

She had seen the 1st-circle fire magic, Fire, before—a small flame conjured in the palm of one’s hand.

“Keeek!”

“Krrk?!”

“???”

But this was different.

From his hand, a blazing pillar of fire erupted, scorching goblins from a distance.

Even from her perch in the tree, she could feel the intense heat.

‘How is that a 1st-circle spell?!’

Her mind reeled.

The fire’s range, power, and sheer scale shattered her preconceived notions about magic.

Moreover, he hadn’t even used a proper incantation.

And it didn’t stop there.

His 1st-circle wind spell, Wind, sliced goblins clean in half.

His 1st-circle earth spell, Earth, crushed a goblin’s head entirely.

And his 1st-circle water spell, Water, pierced through goblins with pinpoint precision.

‘…Are these really 1st-circle spells? How is this possible?!’

Boryan had never seen such powerful magic in her life.

Even someone unfamiliar with magic would shake their head in disbelief if asked whether these were truly 1st-circle spells.

“…It’s done,” Sion murmured.

Boryan stared at him in a daze.

He stood there, looking at his trembling hands, as though marveling at his own victory.

His shaking hands betrayed the tension he felt during the fight.

For someone who had just demonstrated such overwhelming power to also show such vulnerability—it made her view of him shift.

Her initial impression of him as “kinda good-looking” changed to “strangely charming.”

Her face flushed with heat.

‘What… what’s happening to me?’

Boryan couldn’t understand her own reaction.

She convinced herself it was just embarrassment over almost revealing her underwear to him.

But as they continued exploring the dungeon, her feelings deepened.

When Sion used his light spell to illuminate their path without rest.

When he unleashed devastating rock cannons to crush the goblins.

Her heart thudded louder with each display of his abilities.

“Good work today, Boryan,” Sion said after they exited the guild.

“Thanks. You really helped out today… even though I made a fool of myself.”

“For the record, I didn’t see anything.”

“That just makes it sound more suspicious! Ugh, whatever!”

As they split the reward money and prepared to part ways, Boryan hesitated.

Finally, summoning her courage, she took out her student ID and held it out with both hands, bowing slightly.

“Th-thanks for teaming up with me today! Um… if it’s okay, could I… maybe… get your contact info?”

“…Contact info?”

“I-I mean, I’d like to party with you again sometime. If you don’t want to, I understand… but even though I embarrassed myself today… ugh…”

She handed him her student ID.

‘Why am I so nervous?’ she wondered, unable to understand her own feelings.

This was completely different from how she interacted with the rowdy, gorilla-like guys at her dojo.

Images of Sion’s calm, focused expression as he unleashed powerful magic kept replaying in her mind, making her stumble over her words.

“Here,” Sion said, handing back her ID after entering his contact information.

“O-oh…!”

“A Sudden Question”

“Honestly, I should be thanking you. If you hadn’t invited me to party up, I don’t know what I’d have done. Let’s party again next time?”

Sion returned her student ID with a warm smile.

Boryan stared blankly at his face.

When their fingers brushed as she took back her ID, she felt a jolt of electricity.

‘Could this… really be fate?!’

When Boryan had invited Sion to form a party, she had said it was destiny that two academy students happened to meet at the adventurer’s guild.

At the time, it had been a casual remark, nothing more than an excuse. But now, she found herself hoping it was true.

If they could party together again, it would feel less like chance and more like destiny.

“Deal! We’ll team up again, right? Promise!”

“Of course.”

“Hehe! Next time, where should we go? For an E-rank quest, maybe slimes? But slimes are messy if they get on your clothes, and then the laundry—”

Grrroooowl.

…When her stomach growled loudly, for the second time that day, she felt like hiding.

Embarrassing herself twice in a row made her feel just a little resentment toward her own stomach.

Though, being able to eat with Sion afterward wasn’t so bad.

“Ugh, this is ridiculous.”

“What is? That it’s Monday already?”

“Do you even have to ask?”

Sion walked across the campus with a sour expression.

The campus, which had once seemed so beautiful, now felt repetitive and mundane.

The reason? It was Monday.

‘It’s already been two days since I partied with Boryan…’

After clearing the goblin dungeon, the two of them had shared dinner at a popular student eatery before parting ways.

On Sunday, Sion skipped the adventurer’s guild to focus on training and studying.

He spent the day using up all his mana at the training grounds, then learning the basics of magic theory in the library.

When he got hungry, he ate the free meals at the student cafeteria.

The weekend disappeared in the blink of an eye.

In his previous life, there was a meme about the week going “MonTuesWedThursFriFriSat.”

Though he understood the sentiment intellectually, his body still refused to accept it.

“Haha! Sion! Patrick! Good to see you!”

Clap!

Geivolg appeared, striking his signature pose with an upraised index finger.

It was odd, but seeing him after a few days felt a bit comforting.

“Front row again today?”

“Yep, the front row’s the best for studying.”

“Ugh… The back seats are fine, too, you know.”

“Patrick, the front row has its own energy. You feel more focused, more engaged with the lecture!”

Sion gave Geivolg a flat look.

“That’s just because you can’t slack off when the professor’s right in front of you.”

“Hahaha! You’re not wrong!”

“Shh, the professor’s here.”

As Patrick warned, the professor entered the lecture hall through the front door.

The trio quickly took their seats and prepared their materials.

It was Professor Rhonda Magret, her mint-green hair and perpetually stern expression making an impression.

‘I can’t tell if she’s always angry or if that’s just her natural face,’ Sion thought.

While he mused about Professor Magret’s expression, roll call was completed, and the lecture began.

As it was an introductory magic theory class, the content was fairly foundational.

“Magic is the power to alter the world using mana. As Magic Department students, you’ve probably heard this definition before. It’s from the great magician Celsius,” Professor Magret began.

The second week’s lecture focused on the question, “What is magic?”

She presented various definitions of magic from prominent theorists, including Celsius.

For Sion, who had only a vague understanding of magic, it was a fascinating topic.

“In the past, there were many competing theories. But modern practical magicians adhere to a more universal definition. They say this:

‘Magic is the act of channeling one’s internal mana through incantations to produce specific effects.’”

“…?”

“Incantations. A groundbreaking invention by modern practical magicians. They allow even those who know little about magic to perform it. A truly magical tool.”

Professor Magret’s tone grew more passionate as she emphasized this point.

The students, recognizing its importance, eagerly took notes—except for one.

‘Why are incantations necessary…?’

Sion tilted his head in confusion.

To him, incantations were nothing more than a tool to assist visualization.

In fact, he knew that magic gained true freedom and versatility when incantations were removed.

Using blacksmithing as an analogy, incantations were like molds for forging swords.

Molds made it easy to produce swords—just pour the molten metal in.

Similarly, with the right amount of mana and a precise incantation, magic could be cast easily.

‘But you don’t need molds to make swords.’

Without molds, you could craft swords of different shapes, extend the blade, or sharpen it further.

You could even create spears or axes instead of swords.

That’s why Sion couldn’t understand why incantations were considered so important, let alone the definitive “correct” method of modern magic.

His hand instinctively went up to ask a question—

Thud!

He caught his own left hand with his right.

Unknowingly, he had been about to raise his hand out of habit.

‘Are you insane? Asking a question in class?!’

Asking questions in class was akin to announcing, “I’m passionate about learning!”

To a professor, it was practically a declaration of intent: “Please take me as your graduate student!”

In his past life, Sion had been the type to ask at least one or two questions in every class.

But not this time.

This life, he had vowed never to become a graduate student.

‘Good. I held back. That was close…’

Sion closed his eyes and nodded, silently praising his self-control.

The quick reflex to stop his own hand had likely been honed by his trauma from grad school.

He thought the crisis had passed.

“…Sion? Sion!”

“Huh?”

“The professor’s calling you! What’s wrong with you?” Patrick whispered urgently.

Startled, Sion looked up.

“…Sion, I’ll ask again. Why were you tilting your head earlier? Do you have a question? If so, come up to the podium and ask it directly.”

Professor Magret’s sharp gaze bore down on him like a predator’s.

…Lost in his own thoughts, Sion hadn’t even noticed she was addressing him.

To Be Continued.