?


    When sses started, Alice''s demeanor was a little different than usual. She looked annoyed, which for someone like her was nothing more than a slightly less robotic countenance than usual. ncing from side to side, she waited sitting in her usual spot, looking for Ryan.


    <This is a little cute to watch from afar>


    - Isn''t it cruel that you guys are enjoying this? -


    ''It''s really cute''


    Ryan was watching her from afar, and when Alice''s blue eyes met his, a huge glow appeared on that face. It was rare to see so many emotions on that girl, even more so a smile as big as the one she had on her face.


    When he sat down, in the same instant she hugged one of his arms. Leaning her head on Ryan''s shoulder, she took the opportunity to rub against him like a feline begging for affection.


    ''She''s more loving today,'' he thought, as he ced one of his hands on top of her head, gently stroking that beautiful blonde hair.


    A few minutester, Sara appeared. The girl remained as lively and funny as ever, and even with her already affectionate demeanor, today Sara was failing to rival Ryan.


    ''How strange...'' he thought, looking at the two. Sara had one of her hands on Ryan''s thigh, while the other remained writing. Alice, on the other hand, couldn''t get away from him, she was always on the lookout for any movement, and stuck to him like a turtle''s shell.


    As the bell rang, the lesson began. The first half was part theoretical magic, having some applied subjects, but most of the day was slow. Even with this excess of affection, extremely different from the ordinary, Alice still seemed to be preupied.


    She was looking at her cell phone constantly, which was quite different from normal. On an ordinary day, the girl would only check her phone when it vibrated with messages from Ryan. But today, she wouldn''t let go of that device.


    Whenever Ryan was busy or far away, she would open her cell phone and start looking closely at the messages. With a neutral face and serious eyes, which screamed to Ryan the answer of what was going on.


    Now that they were in the practical ss, Ryan could observe Alice from a reasonable distance. While she was sitting on the bleachers of one of the gyms, he was in the practice group that was supposed to draw some intermediate magic circles.


    Unlike normal days, she was not cheering him on like Sara, but rather, looking down. Unconcerned, he watched her distantly.


    ''Alice is worried about her family. She''s probably getting messages from rtives, or just watching what they''re talking about in some group'' he concluded.


    <''You''re right>


    The subus replied from behind the girl, staring at her cell phone. Nyx kept moving her face from side to side as she made strange faces, one time she would widen her eyes, the next she would bite her own nails. The reactions were so exaggerated that Ryan had to stop himself fromughing.


    ''You don''t have to be so dramatic, you idiot! Hahahaha'' he thought, with a small smile on his face.


    <''But it''s serious! The situation is urgent!" the subus replied.>


    - No, it''s not -


    <Yes! It is urgent! We''re in trouble!>


    - Don''t listen my sister, Alice''s mother is texting to ask about tonight. They''re just chatting about cordialities from your reception -


    ''Were you lying to me?


    Within seconds, Nyx vanished like ck particles, emerging shortly thereafter at Ryan''s side. Looking down, she nodded yes.


    ''I''ll need to punish youter, but now we have more to worry about'' he concluded.


    In front of Ryan, there was a line of boys of different sizes and heights. Slowly, his turn wasing. The exercise that was being performed in that ss was rtively simple, a magic circle would be thrown at the student who was in the turn, and then he should draw as fast as possible a magic defense.


    The teacher who was giving the lesson was called Margareth Wright, one of the best magic circle wizards. Thedy had curly white hair and a kind face, her features showed that she was around seventy to eighty years old, yet she was an insightful teacher.


    *VWUUUSH*


    A fiery attack wasunched at the student who was in the first position of the row, and without knowing how to react, he was thrown backwards. A transparent wall prevented it from hitting Ryan, causing the boy to be stuck in the air.


    The attack didn''t burn his clothes, but it was certainly far from a pleasant experience. Falling to the ground with some of his hair burned off, he sighed as he tried to get up. The whole ss was holding back fromughing, but soon they shifted their focus.


    "Next!" shouted thedy, who was sitting on the bleachers a few meters away. Margareth gave a smile when she saw that Ryan was next, and squinting her eyes, she held out the ck wooden staff that was in one of her hands. Pointing a crimson crystal stone, a magic circle quickly appeared in front of Ryan.


    Everyone in the gym turned their attention to Ryan. But noments or sighs came out of the mouths of those spectators, there was a certain feeling of nervousness. Each one of them wanted to watch and enjoy attentively the events that were going to happen in the next few short moments.


    When the magic circle appeared in front of Ryan, the boy''s eyes showed the answer to what was going to happen in the following seconds. That was ayered magic, a maniption of mana that generated three different magic circles, two of them were amplifiers, wind magics that served to increase speed. While the main one was a water magic circle that was written as an ice magic.


    However, the first two circles appeared first. One was about five centimeters while the other was twenty-five, the idea was to confuse Ryan. An ordinary person would conclude that it was a wind attack and with that, think of an elemental defense of that style, but Ryan knew that those circles were iplete.


    Just a millisecondter, the third one appeared. That circle appeared with speed and in the same instantunched a shard of ice, propelled by the other two designs, that spear of ice was flying rapidly towards Ryan.


    Extending both hands, with one he snapped his fingers, creating a spark and emitting a heat so great that it melted the ice before it even reached Ryan''s body. Then, before another attack could beunched by the three circles, with quick movements of his hands he deactivated that magic.


    "That boy managed to cancel my magic?!" Margareth said startled, but with a smile on her face. There were few moments when she saw such a disy of power, few in the academy could read a magic circle and deactivate it, and maybe only she could deactivate it in that same time.


    Everyone watching was taken aback, the most ignorant could notprehend what had happened. While those who understood a little more about magic, took steps backwards as they realized what had just happened.


    On the other side of that gymnasium, Alice and Sara were taken aback by that disy of power, the two were exchanging confused nces, not knowing how to react to it. As soon as Ryan crossed the barrier, thements started pouring in.


    "He nullified a magic circle?"


    "I didn''t even know that was possible!"


    "So he managed to write on top of someone else''s magic, that''s scary"


    "I thought Ryan was the type to just utilize skills, so he''s a lot more surprising than they say"


    "If he can react at that speed, I''m afraid of what he can do with a scroll"


    Mana maniption can happen in different ways. It can be physical, creating swords and bows, just as it can be vtile, creating elements and manipting elements that are around the person. Magic circles serve as drawings that trante what a person wants, so instead of using a chant to cast a spell, a person only needs to draw a system that will cast the spell needed.


    Scrolls, runes and items work this way. To deactivate a magic circle, one would first need to understand eachponent that was forming that spell, and then manipte one''s own mana and the mana of the caster. Causing the circle to lose its effect or even change its oue.


    This kind of analysis is extremely rare, which made Margareth extremely interested in that boy. Looking at him from afar, she wrote down a strange sentence in her notebook.


    <Thisdy is really interested in you. But you said you don''t like GILFS, right?>


    ''That''s disgusting, why are you talking about that now?''


    Nyx was sitting next to thatdy, who carefully wrote down Ryan Whitemane''s name. After writing in her yellowed notebook, she underlined the name and put an arrow pointing down.


    In slightly shaky handwriting, she wrote "Recruit as pupil".


    <Ohhh, this is going to be interesting>


    The subus then disappeared and returned to Ryan''s side, who was climbing the stairs of the bleachers. With a smile on her face, she looked at her master with pride.