"No, you fucking idiot! How the hell did you get into this school?!" a completely different version of Professor Tenningbrew spat at a young Gerwin Finst.
The boy in question was looking down in embarrassment while his entire left arm was hanging by a single thread of muscle. His hand swung back and forth on its own, brushing against the floor in the process.
Just a few minutes earlier, Professor Tenningbrew was working with Gerwin to improve the boy's current refinement of his Mana Circuits. Since there was such a small group remaining in the class, the Professor didn't bother taking Gerwin anywhere private during the process.
He simply raised a privacy wall that William could easily see through with his Vision Talent, then asked Gerwin to cast a weak Spell of any Element. It was supposed to be a simple test, but little did Professor Tenningbrew know that Gerwin started refining his Mana Circuits from his shoulder, and not his hand.
William watched Gerwin's shoulder swell like a balloon until an audible pop caused the pressure to release, Gerwin's blood and flesh splattering against the walls like a Jackson Pollock painting. It was gruesome, but definitely nowhere close to the worst that William had ever seen.
The students weren't the same. Despite being in the Tribulation Transcendence or Ascension Realms, these children had been sheltered within the Celestial Planes for their entire lives. When the privacy wall was taken down to have Gerwin healed, the two students felt their stomachs grow queasy, one of whom spilling his lunch onto the floor.
While the wild was much more dangerous than the Mortal Realms, millennia of road development and protection from their families allowed them to travel safely. The number of times they had to see someone injured could probably be counted on one hand.
How many times had William seen a dismembered Cultivator? A thousand? Ten thousand? He could remember, but it would take too much effort. Of the memories that he could easily recall, William had been responsible for at least a few hundred Cultivators' deaths himself.
Such is how the Cultivation World works. These kids were bound to experience it at some point. Thɪs chapter is updatᴇd by novelꜰire.net
William didn't give the matter much thought.
"William! You won't disappoint me, right? You are my favorite student, after all." Professor Tenningbrew looked at William with his usual cheery expression. The 180 attitude was almost comical.
Will nodded and walked over while the Professor raised another privacy wall. "Are you sure you should be picking favorites in class?"
Tenningbrew spoke loud enough for the others to hear over the wall, "Why can't I? If the others are jealous, they should work harder to surpass you." he wagged his index finger while clicking his tongue in shame.
William shrugged and pulled up the sleeve to his cloak, "You said I should start manipulating Mana Circuits from the elbows, right? I spent all day rerouting all of my Mana Veins to the same Point."
Tenningbrew's eyebrow twitched, "You're joking, right?"
William looked at the teacher in earnest, "Wait, are you saying I wasn't supposed to do that? I specifically remember you saying, "It's good to use your toes to cast Magic, but the real power comes from your elbows". This isn't what you wanted, professor?"
-Are you gaslighting your professor?
It's hilarious, isn't it?
The System didn't say anything, but William could tell it was smiling through their mental connection. He and the System watched Professor Tenningbrew's expression, whose veins started to pop out in anger.
Before William could say anything further, the Professor grabbed William's elbow and inspected it with the same Spell he had cast on himself earlier. To his relief, William's Mana Veins in his arm did not seem like they had been tampered with, nor had the Mana Point been connected to all six.
"Did I get you?" William's wide smile revealed his intentions in an instant.
"Damn it, you little trickster!" the Professor laughed.
William smiled and raised his right hand, casting the same Earth Spell from his index finger to conjure a small rock. Its size was smaller than the previous rock, but he was still nowhere near being able to accurately control his Magic.
The Professor had him cast the Spell a few more times while inspecting William's Mana Veins, muttering to himself in the process.
He stopped when reaching the end of the first Mana Vein, where it connected with a Mana Point at the tip of William's thumb. "What did you do here? Where's the rest of your Vein?"
"Huh? I cut off the excess and destroyed it." William explained simply.
"I see..." Tenningbrew dispersed his own Spell and nodded. "I can't say you're wrong for doing that... but just remember that those Mana Veins stretch across your entire body. There may be parts where the excess length would be useful to you, so be very careful when dealing with excess."
William understood Tenningbrew's meaning. If the Mana Veins near his feet were too short, he might have needed the excess near his hands to correct the issue.
"What should I do if I need more but don't have enough?" William asked.
"Just regrow the Mana Vein. It takes significantly more Mana and a few months, but it shouldn't be too much of a setback. Anyways, you'll probably have a lot of excess right now, so it's no issue this time."
The Professor reached into his pocket and pulled out a Tenningbuck, "You've done well, so if you stick around until the others are done, this Tenningbuck might be yours."
Tenningbucks had become much more valuable in William's eyes ever since they were worth Ascended Points. He gladly accepted Tenningbrew's offer, especially because he had no intention of leaving the school's Dimension until the Heavens were gone.
The other two students only took a few minutes to be tested, each showing such good results that Tenningbrew decided to give all three of them a Tenningbuck. As for Gerwin... he was told to stay behind for another lecture.
-Earned a Tenningbuck: +1 AP
-The Heavens are entering the Filem Academy Dimension.