Professor Landry was true to his word.
His first lecture after taking over held very little substantive coursework; it was mostly an introduction to how the curriculum would change going forward.
"This lecture won't run the full two hours. We should be able to dismiss class about an hour early today."
Lanqi turned his head and glanced toward the window. The formulas and symbols he had inscribed across the glass acted like a sundial, allowing him to roughly gauge the time.
"Every Monday, Wednesday, and Thursday, from two to five in the afternoon, I will be in Office 812 on the eighth floor of the Spert Building in the Grand Monastery. I am open to speaking with anyone from the academy. If you wish to seek clarification on questions, please schedule an appointment in advance."
He stood at the center of the podium with his back to the blackboard.
Dozens of pairs of eyes were fixed on him in unison.
Evidently, his brief display of skill earlier, paired with his stirring, provocative speech, had already captured the hearts of many students.
Yet some students still appeared largely unmoved. Across the room, as viewed through Talia sharing Lanqi's eyes, those who slouched lazily or sat upright listening intently were all exceptionally gifted youths without exception.
Their vibrant, youthful faces were brimming with pride, looking completely confident of victory, for each was the crème de la crème among elites—the "chosen darlings" of the Southern Continent's magical engineering world.
Whether Lanqi's words had truly convinced them or not, he had at least stoked their curiosity and an itch to investigate this professor further.
Perhaps even a competitive drive.
That meant Lanqi had succeeded.
Talia found herself somewhat baffled.
She remembered that Lanqi hadn't possessed such knack back at Ikerite Academy.
Ever since the brat returned from the Northern Continent, he seemed to have accumulated more and more bizarre skills, as if someone had fine-tuned him into something entirely different, no longer the disciple she knew inside and out.
Perhaps it was just her imagination; Lanqi had virtually zero luck with women, so it was impossible he had been molded into someone else's shape.
Thinking this over, Talia relaxed.
Just like what she had taught Miss Zhuzhu: when dealing with guys, prioritize food, and you were guaranteed to win.
"Everyone, you are fortunate to have come to Saint Creti Monastery to study magical engineering alongside the best of the best. Looking at you, I see my former self."
Lanqi spoke at an unhurried pace, his voice reverberating through the vast, auditorium-like lecture hall.
"For a scholar, the greatest temptation is not fame or fortune, but settling for the status quo. Magical engineering is an unfathomably profound domain; picking almost any unsolved problem could sustain you comfortably through all the winters and summers of your life. However, blindly pouring yourselves into the achievements of your predecessors will never make you masters. To attain a legacy that echoes through the ages, you must possess the courage and vision to surpass those who came before you."
He paused briefly, his gaze sweeping across the faces of the monastery's imperial students.
Just as he had planned, once he offered a bit more encouragement today, the lecture would be just about over.
The principles written in Demon Magic Script on the wall were enough to keep these students studying for quite some time. Each student had different specialties and speeds of comprehension; they needed time to digest and absorb it.
As for those proud students who weren't so easily won over, there was no rush to convince them of anything immediately. Lanqi knew he had plenty of work ahead in the Creti Empire, and new tasks would continually find their way to him; teaching was merely one facet of it.
Lanqi left the students to ponder his earlier words and began packing up the books on his podium.
"Professor Landry."
A student on the noble side raised a hand.
"Go ahead."
Lanqi gestured politely with an upturned palm, signaling that the student could speak.
"Thank you."
The noble girl with upturned green eyes and purple hair smiled with a distinctly boyish swagger.
"First off, I may cause offense, but my honest impression is that the grand promises you've painted here might fill some students with eager expectations. After all, so long as you smoothly pass this one-month probation period, you'll be officially hired by Saint Creti Monastery whether this project succeeds by semester's end or not. Meanwhile, no one guarantees our rights as students,"
she said to the professor on the podium.
The rest of the students in the classroom all turned to look at her.
Even though most students here were upperclassmen, the majority had heard of this Gryphon Heiress from the Marquis Roland family—Ursula.
She had never been one to stay out of trouble at the academy. Whether it was students foolish enough to provoke her or instructors targeted by her, she proved to be an excruciating headache for all.
"A long-term syllabus like this could indeed be arranged by you to let us gradually see your capabilities, but it could just as easily serve as an elaborate con to cover up flashy yet unsubstantial teaching. If you truly possess such talent, why haven't you caught the imperial military's attention yet?"
Ursula, the Gryphon Heiress, spread her hands, voicing her core question:
"In my view, every word you speak sounds convincing, but your performance resembles less a magic engineer and more a politician—a politician skilled at demagoguery and agitation, trying to manipulate us."
Once her words fell, hesitance reappeared on the faces of the students across the room.
They weren't surprised by what Ursula had said; speaking her mind without filter was her signature style, and she certainly harbored no fear of offending any professor at Saint Creti Monastery.
The problem was that her doubts were not without merit.
As for the principles written on the glass, none of the students present could easily prove their practical value,
nor could they confirm whether those ideas could truly be transformed into functional, successful magical engineering creations.
Professor Landry's observation that bombarding a magic card caused it to split into several smaller shattered mana bodies while releasing a massive amount of energy—though he had not yet provided a theoretical explanation—was not difficult to test or measure, since failed fabrications of magic engineering devices and magic cards were often accompanied by energy bursts of varying magnitudes.
The crux lay in the subsequent principle described by the text on the wall: the theory of magic card chain reactions—namely, that the fission event of a single magic card could trigger a cascading chain reaction, where each fission released more mana bodies, which in turn could induce fission in even more magic cards.
Although Professor Landry had merely proposed a fundamental concept akin to humans stealing fire from the gods,
it was far too wild. Theories had their limitations, and no one could guarantee success.
Its value was either beyond measure, or absolute zero.
"Professor, have you considered this: if you have truly unlocked a door to a 'hidden world' and we are witnessing history, how will you ensure that you aren't targeted by extremist factions within the Empire or assassinated by Allied spies?"
"Professor, do you currently have any 'concrete' achievements, aside from this project shrouded in uncertainty?"
More and more questions and doubts were raised.
The more the students considered Ursula's words, the more grounded they seemed, as though snapping them back to reality.
Upon deeper thought, if this new professor were an established academic titan, his words might command trust and inspire grand aspirations. The problem was that he had virtually no prior accomplishments to his name, making this appear all the more like a castle in the air spun from obsession with his own pet theory.
"Ursula...!"
Landry's sister, Elsa, bit her lower lip and looked over at Ursula on the right side of the room, at a total loss for what to do with her.
Her brother's first class was supposed to end smoothly, but with Ursula stirring up trouble like this, things threatened to turn unpleasant.
Elsa believed without a doubt that her brother possessed outstanding talent, but achieving his goals took time and steady progress.
Once dragged into Ursula's game of doubting first and only believing after, conducting research under a cloud of constant suspicion would only meet escalating resistance.
"..."
Stared down by Elsa, Ursula showed not an ounce of remorse; instead, she flippantly blew her a two-fingered kiss, as if openly signaling that she was messing with Professor Landry purely for amusement.
"!"
Elsa felt instantly that Ursula was impossible to reason with and turned her head away from the woman.
Right now, she couldn't tell whether her brother was contemplating how to resolve the situation or simply waiting for the clamoring classroom to quiet down before speaking.
The only certainty was that Professor Landry still looked completely composed.
Inside the room, not only the aristocratic students but even the commoner prodigies couldn't help agreeing with Ursula's assessment.
To some students, whether Professor Landry's bold declarations stemmed from a newcomer's arrogance or genuine ability was too early to tell.
After all, his true competence had yet to be tested, and doubts lingered in their minds.
"Just how capable is your brother, really?"
Just as Elsa was worrying for her brother, a young man sitting in the row ahead turned around to ask.
This youth seemed to be the focal figure among the commoner students, or at least someone held in high regard by his peers. He had thick, curly brown hair and clean, handsome facial features, with deep blue eyes set beneath slender brows.
His attire was clean and simple. Apparently uninterested in flashy ostentation and preferring to focus on substance, he wore only a plain white shirt paired with casual trousers, carrying the gentle, scholarly air of a refined academic.
"Senior Nathaniel..."
Elsa was caught slightly off guard, not expecting this magic artificer to address her out of the blue.
As the student most favored by the professors at Saint Creti Monastery, and a genius alchemist considered highly likely to claim the Creti Empire's highest honor in magical engineering—the Grant Award—within the next decade or two, Nathaniel had already become the empire's youngest active Royal Magic Artificer. He could graduate from Saint Creti Monastery at any moment, or continue his advanced studies while serving as a part-time tutor.
It was no exaggeration to say that he possessed the highest level of mastery among all the students in this lecture hall.
Once Nathaniel posed the question, even more commoner students turned their attention to Elsa.
"I haven't seen him in many years, so I'm not really sure,"
Elsa pressed her lips together and shook her head.
"But my brother is truly amazing,"
she added.
In truth, Elsa was just as curious about her brother's real caliber, longing only to catch up with him after class was dismissed.
Having missed him dearly for all these years, she found him both foreign and familiar.
Because of that, she hoped more than anything that this lecture could conclude peacefully.
"If you say he's amazing, then he must have real skill."
Nathaniel replied to Elsa, then turned his gaze back to the podium.
Whenever he was lost in deep thought, his brows would furrow slightly, and his lips would press into a straight line.
Although Nathaniel believed the prudent course of action was to ignore Ursula or deflect her with clever rhetoric,
he personally hoped to see Landry demonstrate something more.
Unlike Ursula, who stirred up trouble for fun, students like him held a genuine, deep-seated disdain for superficial instructors, though they would still maintain proper decorum on the surface.
"..."
Within Lanqi's spiritual realm, Talia silently observed it all.
She realized that Lanqi's hypnotic persuasion and agitation didn't always work.
For example, back in the City of Flowers, Palieu, Lady Christina of House Baptiste had been immune to Lanqi. Some individuals possessed unique traits that made it difficult for Lanqi to easily manipulate their desires.
And as long as one person stayed clearheaded, they could wake up the entire crowd.
Right now, if Lanqi wanted to prove his theory correct, he had nowhere to begin.
While the Empire was still trying to navigate going from zero to one, Lanqi already held the finished product at ten. The trouble was precisely that his progress was so far ahead that he couldn't possibly reveal it.
It wasn't even mere fission, but the vastly more potent fusion. The issue was that he couldn't casually whip out something like the [Nuclear Fusion Wolf]—its obsidian-like divine age visual effects would expose his identity as the holder of the sealing slate.
No matter how one looked at it, for a Tier 6 professor hailing from a remote province like Landry Washington to bring out such a creation would be utterly absurd.
Undercurrents surged through the classroom.
Yet the man at the very center of this chilly vortex seemed oblivious, lightly clapping his hands with an easygoing smile.
"Power operates only in the shadows; such are the rules of politics. What we are discussing here clearly remains within the realm of magical engineering."
From the podium, Professor Landry addressed Ursula's challenge that he resembled a politician rather than a magic engineer.
As he spoke, the classroom gradually settled into silence.
"So, would you prefer to see knowledge that any student in this room could master and apply, so long as you are willing to put in the effort?"
he asked.
As a newly arrived professor, he sensed the lingering, indelible skepticism in the hearts of some students regarding his earlier remarks.
"Of course,"
several students answered.
Others chimed in as well, and the atmosphere suddenly grew lively.
For the first time, Professor Landry's words had thoroughly ignited their curiosity.
Ursula's tactic of "question everything first, regardless of truth" was essentially a rogue rhetorical trick. Once she acquired that knack, she wielded it adeptly, and many professors in the academy had learned to sidestep it.
Although Professor Landry had no need to fall into the trap of self-justification, possessing genuine, undeniable capability was another matter entirely.
"Then let me teach you something plain and accessible. I hope it proves useful to you."
Professor Landry looked around the grand classroom.
With that, he walked to the far left of the whiteboard, gently picked up a paint marker, and began writing at a deliberate pace.
At first,
it was merely basic concepts and axioms.
Yet it soon evolved into a remarkably intricate derivation process.
Symbols and incantations flowed and propagated endlessly across the board, Professor Landry's practiced figure completely absorbed in the work as though no one else were in the room.
"Isn't that just the original text and commentary of the *Tome of Creation*?"
"He seems to be writing the *Chapter of Sealing and Imprisonment* and the *Chapter of Fire and Wrath* in Demon script."
A low buzz of murmurs persisted below; none could discern the professor's objective.
This time, it was easy enough to follow.
After all, interpreting the *Tome of Creation* was covered in Level 1 and Level 2 courses. Every student seated here had long since studied the contents of those thirty-three chapters.
"Does he really think he can fool us with something so elementary?"
"Over all these years, aside from the divine arts that remain uncracked, the insights *Tome of Creation* can offer to magical engineering have already been thoroughly exhausted."
Listening to the whispers, Elsa slowly lowered her head, feeling embarrassed.
The fact that even she could understand what her brother was writing meant it was far too rudimentary to impress these magic artificers of Saint Creti Monastery.
"Wait..."
"This interpretation..."
Yet as the derivation deepened, the lecture hall grew increasingly silent, until only the rapid scratching of the paint marker remained.
Watching the text grow denser across the whiteboard, the students unconsciously leaned forward, perplexed expressions washing over their faces.
When Professor Landry inscribed that epoch-making concluding symbol on the final line,
the entire hall fell dead silent.
Everyone stared dumbfounded at the writing.
A gasp broke out immediately after.
In an instant, the classroom erupted into chaos, students arguing over one another.
"Why do I feel like I've just had an epiphany?"
"Especially regarding the Fire and Sealing attributes!"
"I don't get it, what is this? What did you understand? Teach me!"
They pointed, shook the people sitting next to them, exclaimed in awe or skepticism—yet not a single soul could fully articulate the profound mystery before them.
In the blink of an eye, the established conventions surrounding both the Sealing and Fire attributes seemed completely shattered and rebuilt from scratch.
The more they looked, the more mind-boggling it became.
The professor's interpretation was clear and accessible, yet unfathomably profound—as if two Original Slates had been dissected bare and laid out before their very eyes!
Even Ursula's initial sneer had completely vanished.
Unlike the students whose eyes were glued to the whiteboard, her astonished and bewildered gaze was fixed primarily on Elsa's brother.
"The professor couldn't have seen [Original Slate - Fire] and [Original Slate - Sealing], could he...?"
"What nonsense are you spouting?"
Though some students mumbled the thought, they knew full well that a joke was just a joke.
[Original Slate - Fire] was a slate that contemporary magic artificers could virtually never hope to lay eyes on in their lifetime.
For one reason and one reason alone: its current owner.
Going to Bishop of Destruction Ivanos with a request to inspect his slate was practically signing one's own death warrant.
And [Original Slate - Sealing] was something people of the Southern Continent had zero chance of ever seeing.
Only a madman would scheme to lay eyes on Askesan's slate in the Northern Continent.
"..."
Talia was somewhat speechless.
In truth, nobody suspected the fellow actually possessed both slates.
After all, believing this professor possessed Original Slates was even more preposterous than believing Loren would rise from the dead.
As Lanqi's co-researcher, Talia knew better than anyone that Lanqi had merely woven a fraction of the magical engineering mysteries contained within [Original Slate - Sealing] and [Original Slate - Fire] into his commentary on those two chapters of the *Tome of Creation*, making it appear entirely detached from the Original Slates themselves.
This effectively granted the students a preliminary glimpse at the surface of both [Original Slate - Sealing] and [Original Slate - Fire]—naturally broken down into more digestible insights through the combined interpretations of Lanqi and Great Love.
Consequently, today's lecture could no longer be considered an ordinary inaugural class for an incoming professor.
It was an academic symposium. By tomorrow, the entire imperial academia might turn its gaze toward Landry Washington.
Countless imperial heavyweights would likely come knocking on his door.
Wait...
Talia suddenly felt that things were spiraling out of control.
How on earth was this brat actually rising through the ranks of the Empire step by step?!
"I hope this helps you."
Professor Landry seemed to have anticipated this reaction all along.
He picked up the books from the podium once more. His voice shook the students out of their trance, pulling their hungry, inquisitive eyes away from the board and back onto him.
"Every single one of you has the potential to shine brilliantly over the coming years and become a luminary in your respective branch of magical engineering within the Creti Empire."
He turned and, with rare force, rapped his knuckles against the gleaming whiteboard behind the podium.
"I have no interest in teaching you useless textbook theory. If what you learn cannot be turned into practical skill, it is nothing more than a waste of both your time and mine. Therefore, this journey will be grueling. You may need to steel your resolve: plunge into mortal peril to survive, place yourselves in death's grasp to be reborn!"
His words landed with resounding weight, every syllable packing immense gravity, as though he truly intended to pass on the sum of his life's mastery to these students.
The students were stunned at first.
Then, their blood surged, flames of fighting spirit and exhilaration blazing in their eyes.
Compared to dodging a trap of self-justification, meeting suspicion head-on and utterly shattering it was by far the best way to earn trust.
And this professor had done precisely that.
Setting aside what the professor had written on the window earlier, the gift he had just bestowed upon them was more than enough reason for them to commandeer this lecture hall for the entire day.
They might very well be witnessing history!
No other instructor or student would even dream of using this room today; the writing on that whiteboard must under no circumstances be erased.
Ursula appeared remarkably composed, staring unblinkingly at the new professor as she pondered something with meticulous care.
Gradually, the corners of her tight lips curled slightly upward.
"Your brother is quite interesting, Elsa,"
she muttered under her breath.
Beyond her, many young imperials in the hall—individuals who seemed born to be protagonists—all began to view this mysterious new professor in a different light to varying degrees.
Every celebrated young prodigy harbored their own distinct thoughts.
"Before this war, Saint Creti Monastery was hailed as the zenith of scholarship on the Southern Continent. Thanks to legendary imperial magic engineers such as Owen Grant, Leonardo Wilson, and Mila Talinsky, the throne held by Saint Creti Monastery has remained unshaken for four centuries. And you—you might very well be the next magic engineer to carry Saint Creti Monastery into even greater glory—"
Lanqi draped the gray overcoat over his shoulders, stepped across the podium, and swept his arms back into the sleeves in one fluid, dramatic motion, looking every bit like a virtuoso concluding a passionate performance.
"The world is pivoting at breakneck speed. Your moment has arrived."
Following that parting declaration, the classroom remained frozen in dead silence for tens of seconds.
Then, thunderous applause erupted.
Aristocratic and commoner students alike rose involuntarily to their feet, sending off the professor with profound respect.
"Long live Creti!"
"Glory eternal to Imperial Magical Engineering!"
"The next one to bring glory to the Empire will be me. It has to be."
The applause and cheers echoed endlessly.
The students pumped their fists and cheered, their fanatic gazes tracking the professor's departing silhouette.
Chapter 721