"Where were you for the last week?" Gavin asked as soon as Raze sat down.

"Hmmm? Seems someone was worried about me," Raze replied with a smile.

"It's not that. It's the fact that nearly everyone here gave their all to be here, effort and all, but somehow you take it like a walk in the park, a little stop at the side of your journey.

It pisses me off. If you don't want to be here, then why even come at all? Everyone here has goals and desires, dreams, and some of us are giving our all for it!" Gavin snapped.

Raze looked at him, his face darkened. "Gavin, be careful. There is a limit you can't cross with me," Raze replied. He looked up, his dark expression shifting into a smile again. Gavin was stunned to hear that; he looked up and was met with a smile that contrasted the voice he had just heard.

"Gavin, do not look down on the paths of others because you feel your path is heavy, okay?" Raze asked, then turned his eyes back to the board. "You and I will never have the same path, so focus on yours," he added.

He was genuinely pissed by what Gavin said about him having no desire to learn like the other students here. If there was anything he hated, it was when someone tried to look down on his effort from a standpoint of ignorance, and that was exactly what Gavin had tried to do just now.

[______]

The teacher was speaking about casting battle spells and how to know which spell was the best to use at a specific time. He spoke about how quick-cast spells should be the first and best option for any mage.

The ability to cast quick spells rapidly could open up a chance for a better spell that would end the fight.

As he taught, a student raised her hand, a girl with white hair, so the teacher pointed at her.

"What's your question?" he asked.

"What about storing spells? I'm sure it's possible to store active spells. I've seen it in use with talismans," she said.

The teacher nodded slowly. "Indeed, that's a very good way of being ready, but the sad thing is that such talismans are expensive and carry heavy spells. No one wants to put a weak spell on an expensive talisman."

"Then why not make it with cheap material?" Raze suddenly spoke, his voice cutting through the air. Everyone went quiet and looked at him.

They began to murmur among themselves, some calling Raze an attention seeker, others saying he was dumb.

"I'm sorry, Mister Raze, but it does not work that way," the teacher spoke, then picked up a piece of chalk, walking to the board and drawing a set of runes, one looked like a backward three, the second like a triangle, and the third under it like a circle with three lines poking out.

"What I have just drawn are the three rune settings used for most talismans. Over the course of years, many have tried to find a better combination, and many have been found, some slightly better than this one, but they required more expensive materials to make.

The material is expensive and high quality because of what is known as Mana Leak, where the stored mana in the spell seeps into the talisman. If the paper used is weak, it would cause a reaction. Depending on the power of the stored spell, you might actually die," he added, looking right at Raze, thinking he had answered the question. But Raze went on to ask another.

"So when you say Mana Leak, you mean the spell I place in loses efficacy over time?" he asked.

"Yes, it does," the teacher replied. "Depending on who made the talisman, you have five days to a full month before it is completely exhausted and useless." He looked at Raze as he spoke.

"So the talisman is inefficient even after being expensive," Raze said. His words cut through the entire class, gathering shocked gasps and reactions to what he had just said.

The teacher grabbed the table before him, seething with anger. "You brat! Are you insulting something that has been worked on by the greatest wizards over their entire lifetimes?" he barked.

'Lecturers… they hate when their understanding is challenged. But unlike the university, I don't fear any teacher here,' Raze thought.

"Just because something has existed for a long time doesn't make it the right way. The runes being used are allowing mana leaks, and these leaks make the talisman slowly become useless, and yet it's expensive," he stated.

"Are you just going to state the obvious, Mister Raze, and make it look like an issue?" the teacher asked. "This method has been tested to be the best for years, more years than even your father has been alive," he said with an angry tone.

By this time, everyone was already talking, some insulting Raze, others talking about his entitlement issues, but Raze was unbothered. With a flick of his wrist, a book appeared in his hands, dark brown cover. Just then, with his mind, he had asked the librarian for something about the current topic he was discussing with the man.

Yes, he wanted to cheat, as many would say, but the library was his to use. He flipped the book open quickly, and his eyes landed on a page. A smile curled up on his face as his photographic mind already remembered everything. He tried his best not to get too focused on the book, as that would lead to him getting engrossed. He snapped the book closed and returned it before standing up.

"Since the teacher doubts me, how about I show you?" Raze said, causing another uproar in the class. The teacher glared daggers at him at this point, but Raze stood there unfazed.

"The young Mister Raze believes he can show a method that will outdo hundreds of years of development. I wish to see it. Step forward," he growled, using everything he could to stop his anger from exploding.

Raze nodded and walked out, every eye on his back, insults and mockery, all waiting for his failure. He picked up a piece of chalk and wrote on the board, drawing four rather than three signs. They were slightly similar to the ones the man had drawn, but the triangle was upside down and there was a last rune under, a horizontal line with a dash above and below.

"Here you go," Raze said. The teacher looked at the board, ready to dismiss it, but instantly, his gaze froze on it.

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