Professor Tobias didn’t press her. She supplied the answer herself. “I may look young, but I’m already a hundred years old.”
Luo Wei’s head snapped up.
In a world where the average human lived only forty years, Professor Tobias was a century old?
“Surprised?” Professor Tobias’s crimson lips curved; her deep eyes rested on Luo Wei. “For mages, reaching a hundred isn’t rare. The stronger the magic, the younger one appears. You can’t judge an Archmage’s age by the face.”
“Of course, I’m not an Archmage. I’m an astrologer.”
She was a mid‑level astrologer; another fifty years wouldn’t be a problem.
Waves churned inside Luo Wei. She knew mages lived longer—back in the Magic Beast Town she’d seen Prince Alfried, over eighty, look like a man in his forties.
But she hadn’t expected the gap to stretch this far. Professor Tobias was a hundred and still looked thirty. Wasn’t that absurd?
If stronger magic meant a younger appearance, then Headmaster Morrison—being a High Archmage—how old was he?
And Zachary on Demon Island, a high‑level Mystical Smith—was he also over a hundred?
And Troy—he’d become a Magic Swordsman in his early twenties. Was he going to live on as some thousand‑year-old monster? How many cheats had fate stacked for him to feed him up like this?
While Luo Wei was still reeling, Professor Tobias spoke again.
“Siria Magic Academy has been officially founded only eighteen years. Do you know how long Headmaster Morrison spent preparing?”
Luo Wei shook her head. “No.”
“Seventy years,” Professor Tobias said huskily. “He prepared for seventy years.”
“At first it was just him. Later he traveled everywhere, persuading Professor Temple and Professor Mike, and others—Professor Landon of the Senior Division, Professor Lucia of the Intermediate Division… Some people, sadly, died before the Academy ever opened.”
“I met him while stargazing in the wild. I was sixteen.”
“I told him I wanted to become an astrologer. He said his Academy happened to still need an astrology professor.”
“I asked which Academy. He said it was a school for commoners—so far only a chapel and dormitory.”
She smiled. “In reality it was just a few rural stone huts, quickly smashed by soldiers from the local lord.”
“Every time he tried to build the Academy—no matter where, no matter how well it was hidden—someone destroyed it. No one wanted to see a commoner Academy born.”
“Only after he became an Archmage did he begin constructing Siria Magic Academy. It took fifty years. After he advanced to High Archmage, enrollment finally opened.”
Professor Tobias finished and looked deeply at Luo Wei. “Child, you may wonder why I’m telling you this.”
Luo Wei nodded lightly. “I am a little curious, Professor. Please, be direct.”
“Then I’ll be direct.” Her tone grew weighty. “Luo Wei, I hope you’ll agree to enter the tournament. Siria was not easy to found. We don’t want it to lose its charter.”
Luo Wei blinked. “What does that have to do with the Academy’s charter?”
“Because the Church and the nobles agreed to let Siria be established on one condition: each year, all three of Siria’s tournament teams must stay within the top five among the academies.”
“If we fail, we must disband the Academy.”
“Disband the Academy?” Luo Wei frowned. “Failing to make top five—just that—and the Academy is disbanded?”
It sounded like nonsense: miss top five, dissolve the Academy. No logic. Like half-awake dream talk with no cause and effect stitched together.
“‘Disband’ isn’t perfectly precise,” Professor Tobias clarified. “If we fall out of the top five, the Church takes over and expels every commoner student.”
“That was the vow the Headmaster swore to the Pope: to prove commoners don’t ‘pollute’ nobles’ souls, that their souls are no different, and that our students would surpass noble academies’ students.”
Her words didn’t sway Luo Wei. Luo Wei answered coolly, “If that’s the case, all the more reason to pick commoner students. Wouldn’t that prove it better?”
“Besides, just getting top five—others can do that. Their strength isn’t much lower than mine.”
“I’ve heard that in all eighteen prior tournaments, our Academy teams have never slipped out of the top three. Professor, you really don’t need to worry.”
Professor Tobias shook her head. “Luo Wei, you don’t understand.”
“We’ve stayed in the top three because we value every single match—never relaxed.”
“We always choose the very best; we enter every match with the resolve to win the title. Without that, the Academy wouldn’t have endured.”
Luo Wei repeated, “I’m not the only excellent one. In raw combat, I’m not even the strongest.”
Professor Tobias set her wide brim back on, rose, crossed to the desk, and lifted the crystal ball.
“But the crystal ball tells me that this time, victory comes only with you.”
“Luo Wei, let’s shift angles.”
“Why don’t you want to compete?”
She cradled the crystal in one hand, covered it with the other. As her red lips moved, a pale violet mist filmed across the clear sphere.
Luo Wei’s guard rose; she leaned back a fraction.
“Professor, competing requires a reason,” she said evenly. “Not competing just means—I don’t want to.”
“Honor. Ambition. Responsibility,” Professor Tobias intoned. “All reasons.”
“Right. I have none,” Luo Wei said shamelessly.
“Then rewards?” Professor Tobias remained unhurried. “Potions. Magical beasts. Magic swords. Spellbooks…”
“I don’t ne—”
“Want a talking owl?”
“What?” Luo Wei was stunned.
“A talking owl; a sword‑wielding puppet; a cat that kneads shoulders and pounds legs; a Spellchant Bookworm; a Pegasus; a merfolk pearl that translates animal speech…”
“Wait—a pearl that translates animal speech? All animal sounds?”
“Yes.” Professor Tobias’s smile deepened. “Don’t you want the others too?”
“I can have them all?” Luo Wei wavered, fiercely tempted.
A talking owl and a shoulder‑kneading cat—both fluffy. And a spellchanting bookworm she could definitely use!
And a Pegasus and a puppet—any one of them would have rocked her former world. How was she supposed to choose!
…
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