Departure

In an inconspicuous, uninhabited valley of the Morian Mountains on the eastern border of the Thorn Empire, an army of over ten thousand was now encamped.

After more than ten consecutive days of rain, a clear day had finally arrived. General Keli and Magician Abraham sat on open ground outside their tent, drinking morning tea. Even under such harsh conditions, Magician Abraham stubbornly clung to the lifestyle of the empire's upper class.

This army had entered this uninhabited border zone twenty days ago. After the long wait, troop morale had inevitably declined. But those who complained the most were the mages accompanying the army.

With muddy sludge underfoot and facing a brute like Keli, Abraham felt today's morning tea carried a hint of a moldy taste. According to the agreement, yesterday was supposed to be the date to deploy troops. He truly couldn't understand what that crude man before him was waiting for.

"The intelligence my people sent back is very clear. Eli is a Level 3 mage, and with his son just promoted to Level 4 Knight, the rebel forces in Tris Province are enough to tie down the entire southern combat power of the Feymont Empire. If you don't deploy now, aren't you afraid of missing the opportunity?" Abraham finally spoke coldly.

"Haha, one or two days won't make a difference. Come on, let's keep drinking tea..."

"General..." A junior officer handed a small paper scroll into General Keli's hands: "A secret message just delivered by a White-headed Messenger Crow!"

General Keli picked up the scroll, confirmed the sealing wax was intact, and then carefully opened it.

Watching his furrowed brow, Abraham couldn't help asking: "What does it say?"

General Keli didn't answer. Instead, he handed the scroll to Magician Abraham.

"...What! Eli was shot dead on the spot. The entire Tris Family is dead except for Derrick, who was severely wounded and captured..."

"There never was any rebel force. Eli's farce ended in a single morning!" General Keli said coldly.

"This fool! After scheming for so long, he couldn't even stir up a ripple." Abraham's expression was furious.

"Hmph, the Feymont Empire probably knew about our arrangements long ago. They're just waiting for us to jump into the trap..."

This time, Magician Abraham felt that General Keli's look at him was a bit strange.

***

Tris Magic Academy, Dean Devis's laboratory.

"So, the one who killed Eli was just a Twelve-Element Magic?!" Victor's face was full of surprise.

"And a three-element Ice Spear..." Donald added.

"Brilliant! Absolutely brilliant..." Victor's old face flushed red. He turned to Devis and said: "See, I told you long ago, natural philosophy is more amazing than magic! The academy should allocate more budget to natural philosophy research..."

Dean Devis ignored Victor and continued examining the magic staff in his hands. "This material... could it be..."

"A quarter of it is mithril," Donald answered.

"A quarter mithril?! Are you sure?" Victor snatched the magic staff from Devis's hands, turning it over and over for a closer look.

"How did you get your hands on this much mithril?" The usually composed Dean Devis's voice trembled slightly.

"I have some cooperation with the gnomes. Same as the magic crystals I used to pay tuition last time—I sold them inventions in exchange."

"Several dozen magic crystals is one thing..." Victor weighed the staff in his hand. "A kilogram of mithril is an entirely different matter... Do you know how many magic crystals this much mithril is worth?"

"Ten thousand magic crystals?" Donald answered cautiously.

"You couldn't even buy it for a hundred thousand!" Victor shouted.

"Then I'd better return it to them. This deal is too much in my favor..." Donald hadn't expected the price difference for mithril between the Central Plains and the Extreme North Country to be so huge. The gnome sisters had really gone overboard this time.

"What's yours is yours—how can you give it back!" Victor hugged the staff tightly, then suddenly felt his words were a bit off, so he added: "What I mean is, dwarves care a lot about face. If you return it, that's disrespecting them..."

Donald was speechless.

Dean Devis slowly stood up, opened a side door in the lab, and said to Donald and Victor: "Come, let's test how powerful it really is."

Donald followed Dean Devis through the door. The room was larger than the lab, almost empty and spacious. In the center stood a metal humanoid sculpture covered in various marks, clearly used for testing magic power.

"This dummy is sturdier than the one in the magic lab. It can withstand a full-force strike from a Level 5 Knight at most," Dean Devis explained to Donald.

In fact, as a third-year student, Donald wasn't even qualified to enter the magic lab.

Donald took the magic staff from Victor, aimed it at the dummy, and pushed, pulled, and twisted.

Boom. In the enclosed room, the explosion sounded even louder.

Dean Devis and Victor both stepped forward to inspect at the same time.

"It's already surpassed a full-force strike from a Level 3 Knight, and the force is more concentrated!" Devis's voice trembled.

"And from this distance..." Victor added.

"Exploding Ice Bead never had this much power before..." Donald was still a bit puzzled.

"That's the effect of the mithril. Enclosed in such a small space with such a high concentration of mithril, magic power multiplies several times over," Dean Devis explained. "Under normal circumstances, no one would cast magic inside a mithril container, because it's pointless."

"That's right. If you hadn't spread the mithril evenly in this staff, but instead used all of it for the explosive chamber near the handle, the power would be even greater. The mithril in the front half, aside from reducing weight, is actually wasted," Victor added.

Donald nodded silently. What Victor said made sense.

"That Twelve-Element Magic—did you create it yourself?" Devis asked.

"It was a sudden inspiration when I was building the model. I even hurt my hand back then. It wasn't until my duel with Aldrich that I thought of using it that way. And then I came up with this idea..."

"I remember Vivian is also a dual water-fire affinity..." As he spoke, Devis walked out of the lab and instructed his assistant to summon Vivian.

Vivian, the meditation course instructor, had also been injured in yesterday's battle. Her complexion was still a bit haggard.

"Dean Devis, Professor Victor. Oh, Donald, you're here too." Vivian warmly gave Donald a hug.

The sight of a mature, seductive female body gave Donald no small shock; for a moment he worried she might notice something amiss on his face, but fortunately Vivian's eyes didn't linger on him for long.

"Dean, you called for me..."

"Vivian, if I recall correctly, you cultivate both water and fire elements?" Devis asked.

"Yes, Dean."

"Donald, describe to Professor Vivian what model your Exploding Ice Bead magic uses."

A most basic Twelve-element Defense Model, merely using different Divine Elements for the inner and outer layers—Vivian understood immediately.

"Be careful, the explosion's power could hurt your hand."

"It's fine, my magic resistance is much higher than yours." Vivian said somewhat playfully, then extended her right hand. Without any preparation, an ice bead appeared in her palm, considerably larger than Donald's Exploding Ice Bead.

Puff, the ice bead burst apart, and then a small flame flickered past.

"How could this be?" Victor wondered.

Devis frowned deeply. Only after seeing Professor Vivian out did he speak slowly.

"Donald, it seems your talent is special. You don't need to chant incantations, and every spell in your hands becomes more powerful—this Exploding Ice Bead magic is the same. To maintain such a small volume with such explosive force... perhaps only you can do it."

Before Donald left, Devis said some encouraging words about inheriting the Academy's glory and such. Donald thought it all felt too distant. Still, it was clear the Dean was somewhat disheartened by the failed promotion of the magic rifle.

Donald wasn't affected by Dean Devis's mood at all. On the contrary, if not for Victor's sake, he wouldn't even have been willing to reveal the secret of this Magic Staff—a unique skill was always better than one everyone possessed.

From that day on, Donald became a full-fledged star student at the Magic Academy. Students he didn't know greeted him everywhere he went, which made him quite uncomfortable. Fortunately, Wesley's attitude toward him remained unchanged; he even borrowed that miraculous Magic Staff several times to show off around the Academy. Donald knew Wesley couldn't actually use it, so he let him have his fun.

Lucia returned to the capital on the very day the rebellion ended, accompanied by Kaz.

Dick, who had injured Kelly during the tournament, reappeared after a few days' absence. With a face full of scars and a similarly fractured right arm (likely self-inflicted or from family punishment), he sought out Donald on his own. He tearfully confessed his deep remorse for everything he'd done while deceived by Carl, sobbing bitterly. Donald listened silently, then turned and left without a single word. Dick remained terrified afterward, eventually unable to bear it and withdrew from the Magic Academy.

Richard recuperated for over ten days in the dwarf laboratory. Once recovered, like Kelly, he threw himself into Adarua's devilish training.

After the unexpected events of the Martial Magic Tournament, the two trained with unprecedented fervor. Adarua simply treated them like dwarves, increasing the training intensity day by day.

The results of the alloy experiment were sent back to the Extreme North Country, and a reply soon arrived from the Engineering Academy. The letter gave the experiment extremely high praise, stating that once this achievement was widely adopted, it would greatly improve mining efficiency.

For this, Natia Vida even wrote a letter of thanks to Donald. Later, the gnome sisters and Adarua invited Donald, Richard, and Kelly to a restaurant near the lab for a proper celebration. Adarua even ended up stumbling drunk.

As for that Magic Staff, Donald insisted on returning it to the gnome sisters. Neither side would yield, and in the end they compromised: the staff was remade, using pure Mithril for the Exploding Ice Bead's reaction chamber, while the other components used Dwarf Fine Steel with only a small amount of Mithril added to ensure strength. This not only increased power but also saved most of the Mithril, allowing Donald to accept it with a clear conscience.

In mid-May, the Magic Academy received an official letter from the capital, inviting Donald and Wesley to participate in the Martial Magic Grand Event held in the capital at the end of May. The event's guest list also included Roger from the Knight Academy. Additionally, the letter invited Dean Devis, Victor, and several other Magic Academy professors.

Though the royal family didn't state it explicitly, observant people could easily see that these were all individuals who had refused to compromise with the Tris Family on the day of the rebellion and had even contributed to quelling it. This gathering was likely intended to reward their merits.

The day after receiving the letter, a team of four carriages and over a dozen people, led by Dean Devis, set off at dawn, heading toward the capital, Coennas.

This was the first time Donald's footsteps had carried him beyond Tris Province.