Time passed quite quickly... not that Malik cared.
Days bled into each other, with him making subtle moves at every chance he had.
What mattered to him wasn’t the curriculum, or the progress reports, or the expectations of the Chancellor.
He was here for one thing.
And yet, as days became weeks and weeks folded into months, he too started to learn.
Perks of being a professor here meant that he had access to what was otherwise priceless to the average Magi.
The Pathing of Abilities.
Especially the ones later along a Magi’s path and those at least a rank above the basic Ability, an ’upgrade.’
He memorized all he could, building up the total of his Abilities to seven, which was an addition of two, as he previously had five.
That wasn’t all; two of those seven abilities had a rank upgrade.
His fourth Ability, {Mirage Strike}, ranked up, becoming {Scorpion’s Sting}.
It was much the same, an attack that confused, only now, it was poisonous and much stronger.
The first of his two additions was {Zephyr’s Kiss}, a growth-type Ability.
It manipulated the wind, allowing him to summon a massive sandstorm to disorient foes no matter the location or environment.
This Ability would be perfect for creating a short pause in the middle battle, giving Malik the time to perform a stronger attack.
The second of the two new Abilities was {Shifting Ground}, which, when activated, would cause the earth beneath him to shake violently, opening cracks where sand would pour out.
This sand would devour all that stood above it, hungry for enemies.
Malik saw this ability as "useful," but unfortunately, for those of his Divine Rank, dodging this was easy. The most it’d do was disrupt their footing, which wasn’t all that helpful since most Magi in this Divine Rank could do well above ground.
So, he decided to upgrade this one first into its next rank, and he eventually did.
It took him time, a few years for this ability alone, but it was all worth it in the end. NovelHub
{Sandveil} was its new name, and now he could call upon this rising sand to protect him.
As the name implied, it acted as a veil, one covering his entire body in its embrace.
This veil, contrary to its thin appearance, could withstand a lot of force, perhaps even a full-on clash with a strong attack from a similarly Divine-Ranked enemy.
That spoke of just how much stronger a first-rank ability was when compared to the second.
Of course, its Pathing complexity nearly quadrupled, alongside its Aether consumption, but that was to be expected considering its capabilities. NovelHub
Now Malik finally had a proper arsenal of abilities.
He was always a bit behind, but if written on a scroll like so...
{1st-Ability: Elemental Acquisition}
{2nd-Ability: Ember’s Touch (Growth Type)}
{3rd-Ability: Goliath’s Fall (Growth Type)}
{4th-Ability: Mirage Strike}
{Level 2: Scorpion’s Sting}
{5th-Ability: Crowned Trail. (Growth Type)}
{6th-Ability: Zephyr’s Kiss (Growth Type)}
{7th-Ability: Shifting Ground}
It wouldn’t fall short against any similarly ranked Jinn.
Rather, his arsenal was pretty strong, especially when considering his age.
By the time he consolidated this new knowledge, Malik had only turned forty.
Well, at least his body’s age was forty, even though he looked no older than twenty.
But yeah, that was pretty young considering the average lifespan of a Jinn.
Anyhow, his routine might seem monotone, which it somewhat was, but behind it all, things moved along quite well.
’Things’ started happening around him, too.
Zafar continued to stay behind after class... learning to rely less on his luck day by day.
His technique and general fighting style were still somewhat raw, yet they began to carry more precision.
Eventually, however, he no longer demanded to be taught.
Ego was returning home, and its owner was celebrating, too happy with the results and compliments to care, having formed a group of yes-men around him.
Nobles with too little pride or talent, ones that decided to hug what seemed to be the thickest and easiest thigh to latch on to.
Noor no longer sat in corners. She questioned, dissected, and shared. She spoke rarely, but when she did, every student listened.
Her presence became generally known in the Academy, acting out the role of a class leader, perhaps.
It was all by design.
Her own design... her own.
Noor was building the foundation of her empire, and no one seemed to notice.
No one except her professor, who in fact helped guide her in most of what she did.
He watched as she traded items she’d gotten from God knows where, forming trade routes, accumulating wealth, and establishing an official faction in the South, where news of her successes wouldn’t spread over to the west, allowing her to move uncontested by Al-Ayan.
Malik’s suspicion of her unnatural abilities increased by the day, but it reached a ridiculous point where he just stopped caring about it, vaguely chalking it up to some Blessing like Zafar.
It wasn’t something he focused on or cared about, so her secret was safe...
Hm. Well, Roya, meanwhile, succeeded in her act, becoming averagely performing, averagely known, averagely looking student who coasted by well with the class.
Malik learned much about her too.
...She wasn’t a threat.
She was so far from a threat that her continuous wantonness with blood became somewhat hilarious. If Malik could laugh, he’d have done so a lot at her.
But while she wasn’t a threat, his own reputation was.
The students didn’t like Malik. They didn’t joke with him. Didn’t talk freely.
They feared him. Many ended up hating him.
Some even joined Roya in her suicide attempts.
But those were very few and far between.
For despite all they felt about him, in the end, they respected him quite greatly.
And strangely... or perhaps not, they wanted to impress him.
No, not ’even.’ It’d be too accurate to say that they were the ones who most wanted to impress him... Perhaps they realized they could never beat him on an inherent level, but their pride didn’t allow that, so they chose this as a replacement.
An objectively hilarious and ironic replacement.