Mia Returns from School

Matthews then turned to his younger sister, Mia, and said awkwardly, "Alright, since that's settled, let's go."

At a large restaurant near the academy entrance, Matthews ordered some snacks the little ones enjoyed. During the meal, Winter pestered Matthews with many questions about how to act cool, and Matthews offered him some pointers.

"True coolness is invisible; you have to make others praise you."

Winter asked earnestly, looking like a student seeking wisdom, "Big Brother, what do you mean?"

"Look, for example, you'll have grade-level competitions in your first year. If someone manages to win first place, won't that make others think he's a big shot?"

Winter nodded, fully agreeing with this point.

"Big Brother is truly wise. I must win first place."

Matthews said firmly, "No, there's absolutely no need for that!"

Winter asked in surprise, "Ah, why not?"

Matthews chuckled and said, "Think about it. He wins first place and is there acting all smug, showing off his style. That's when you snap—you open your folding fan."

"You walk out of the crowd looking cool and dashing, then say to him: 'What kind of status do you think you have, acting all cool here?'"

Seeing Matthews acting it out, narrating with vivid gestures, Winter hurriedly asked, "Big Brother, then what?"

"At this moment, you look down your nose at him and say, 'You're only a Level 1 Mage. I, Winter Utteridge, am already a Level 2 Mage!'"

"Doesn't that slap him right in the face? Tell me, is that cool or what?"

"Wow, Big Brother is truly brilliant."

Seeing the light in Winter's eyes, Matthews continued, "I suspect you still don't understand the main point."

"Ah, isn't the point that you have to slap his face to act cool?"

Matthews slapped him on the head with a snap and said directly, "The point is that you must actually have the level of a Level 2 Mage."

"Ah, so that's how it is."

"Exactly. That's why true masters must silently accumulate the strength to act cool first. Only then can you reach the realm of not making a sound until you stun everyone with a face-slapping display."

Winter nodded, looking thoughtful.

Mia watched the two of them fall into this strange logic, looking at them with the expression of someone watching two idiots engage in a vivid conversation.

They finished their meal quickly, and Matthews took them to the magic academy.

Looking at the feast that cost a gold coin, Matthews regretted acting so cool. In the end, even though Winter wanted to pay, Matthews ended up footing the bill.

"Sigh, let's head back first."

Matthews looked at the most powerful magic academy in the Furio Empire. Since he was already twenty years old, no magic academy was willing to enroll him, so he could only go back to forge weapons and equipment. Then, he would head to the Magic Beast Mountain Range to kill magic beasts, obtain magic cores, and trade them for gold coins to see if he could find a way to obtain a battle qi cultivation technique.

Inside the wind element classroom at the Imperial Capital magic academy, Mia and her roommates sat in the second row. A young female teacher walked in, stood on the podium with confidence, and began to explain, "I am very happy to be your introductory teacher. My name is Claudia."

"Wind magic is the most powerful among all elemental magics. Not only does it have the strongest single-target attack spell, Dimensional Blade, but at Level 7, you can also learn the flight spell, Wings of Wind Soaring!"

"You are very lucky to possess wind talent! We will likely be studying together for a long time, so I suggest everyone introduce themselves first to get to know each other!"

Everyone began their introductions quickly. When it was Mia's turn, she said, "I want to become the strongest mage to protect my brother!"

"A very good wish. Next!"

This lesson was just for the students to get to know one another; the teacher didn't teach too much knowledge. Starting from the second lesson, the teacher would guide everyone to begin meditation and teach them how to absorb magic elements!

"Mia, class is over. Where are you going if not back home?"

Mia didn't even turn her head as she said, "I'm going to the lightning element classroom to audit a lecture."

"Ah, don't you lack lightning talent?"

Mia's voice drifted back from afar, "I'm going to learn a bit about it."

While Mia was busy learning meditation and absorbing elements during class, and taking time to sneak into lightning element lectures, Matthews wasn't idle either.

In a small smithy on the outskirts of the Imperial Capital, the bright furnace fire illuminated the dark night a deep red.

Clang, clang, clang—

The rhythmic sound of hammering echoed one after another. Beside the fiery furnace, a man drenched in sweat swung a heavy hammer. As his solid muscles drove the movement of his arms, the iron ore on the anvil was tempered strike after strike, and a slender, blade-like shape slowly began to emerge from the ore.

As time passed, the rhythmic clanging continued to ring out.

Sizzle—

With the quenching complete, Matthews picked up the finished blade and examined it, feeling quite satisfied. This was the most perfect item he had forged after a month of effort, having wasted countless iron ore before this.

After finishing, Matthews checked the sky. He tidied up the stall, extinguished the furnace, and went to rest.

The next morning, he began working on the finishing details of the blade!

"Brother, I'm back!"

Matthews, who was busy, looked up at the sky and realized it was already late afternoon. Time passed quickly without him noticing. Seeing his younger sister jumping around happily, Matthews asked, "Why are you back?"

"We have tomorrow and the day after off."

Mia finished speaking with an expression she couldn't hide, as if she had a surprise for him, and asked directly, "Brother, guess what gift I brought you."

"Oh, so our little Mia even knows how to bring her brother a gift now."

"Yeah, yeah! Brother, hurry up and guess."

Matthews hummed for a moment before saying, "It wouldn't be a medal from your magic academy, would it?"

"Wrong guess! Our magic academy doesn't give out medals."

"Silly brother, I've learned meditation and how to absorb magic elements. I'm already a mage!"

Matthews pulled the little girl into a hug and flicked her nose.

"Our Mia is such a little genius!"

"Stinky brother, don't flick my nose. I was planning on teaching you meditation, but now I'm angry!"

As soon as Matthews heard there was meditation to be learned, he grabbed her little hand and swung her arm, saying, "Little genius Mia, how about you teach your brother magic?"

"Hmph, since you're begging me, this genius will reluctantly agree to teach you!"

"That's great!"

Mia didn't have much experience with teaching, and at the beginning, Matthews was filled with distracting thoughts. He couldn't enter a meditative state at all, and thus failed to meditate successfully.