Never Die Villain

"How are you liking the Magic Department so far?"

Ilya accepted the cigarette Vera handed him before settling onto the couch.

He considered the question for a moment, rolling the cigarette between his fingers as he tried to find the right way to describe the difference.

"How do I put this...?" Ilya leaned back. "The people here are much more... liberated?"

"Hm?" Vera raised an eyebrow. "Do tell."

Ilya placed the cigarette between his lips and flicked his finger, producing a small spark that immediately caught the tip.

He took a drag before continuing, his thoughts returning to the lecture hall and how quickly everyone’s attitude toward him had changed.

"They know who I am, and they know my reputation. Half the room was staring at me as if I had walked into the wrong class, but all it took was showing them that I could actually use magic and... I guess that was it? They just stopped caring."

"Heh. Well, that’s one of the differences between the Magic Department and the Knight Department."

Vera crossed one leg over the other and took a drag from her own cigarette.

"Most people here are too busy worrying about their research, spells, Circles, and whatever experiment they’re about to blow themselves up with to spend much time caring about someone else’s family problems."

"Hm. Not exactly." Ilya took another drag from his cigarette. "They seem to have plenty of time to flock around me."

"Oh?" Vera grinned. "Mister Popular already, huh?"

"I couldn’t even leave my seat."

"Well, get used to it."

Vera tapped the ash from her cigarette.

"The thing about the Magic Department is that nobody stays at the same level forever. One insight, one breakthrough, or one lucky experiment can completely change a wizard, and the person you made fun of yesterday might suddenly understand something you won’t figure out for another five years."

Ilya nodded slowly.

"It isn’t like the Knight Department, where progress is much easier to see coming," Vera continued. "You train your body, refine your technique, and gradually work your way upward. Talent still matters, obviously, but you generally have a good idea of where someone stands and how long it’ll take them to catch up."

"And magic doesn’t work that way."

"Yup." Vera pointed her cigarette at him. "You’re a perfect example."

"...."

"Five months ago, you barely knew what a Circle was, and now you come back telling me you helped subdue a Black-Labeled Distortion?"

"More like I participated, but..."

"Hey. Take some credit, will you?" Vera waved his correction away. "Who cares about the others?"

Ilya chuckled.

Just as he’d thought, the Magic Department was much more liberated, but the most liberated person he had met so far was undoubtedly Vera.

She lived however she pleased, said whatever came to mind, and seemed to enjoy life in a way Ilya couldn’t help but envy. There was something about that attitude that made him want to take a page or two from her book.

"By the way, Senior." Ilya glanced around the office. "What are we eating today?"

Vera tilted her head. "Aren’t those cigarettes enough?"

"...No."

"Huh."

Vera looked down at the cigarette between her fingers as though she had genuinely expected a different answer.

Then she looked at Ilya, took another drag, and leaned farther back into her chair.

"You’re surprisingly demanding for someone I invited into my office."

"You invited me here for lunch."

"I invited you here during lunch."

"...."

This wasn’t even her office.

* * *

Spell Construction class.

To put it simply, Spell Construction was exactly what its name suggested.

Rather than teaching students new spells, the class focused on how spells were built in the first place, from the arrangement of a magic circle to the formulas that determined how mana would behave once the spell was activated.

"Magic is not a list of spells for you to memorize."

The professor stood before a massive blackboard covered in circles, symbols, and equations that Ilya could barely follow at first glance.

"Anyone can memorize an incantation and pour mana into a completed formula. If that’s all you intend to do for the rest of your life, there are thousands of spellbooks in the library, and frankly, you have no reason to be sitting in my classroom."

Ilya rested his cheek against his hand.

Unlike Advanced Magic Theory, this was one of the classes he had actually been looking forward to.

Most of what he knew about magic had come from books and whatever Vera had thought necessary to teach him, so while Ilya could cast spells, he had very little experience actually creating one from scratch.

The professor drew a simple circle on the board.

"Every spell begins with an objective. You want fire, but fire alone isn’t a spell. Do you want it to burn something? Explode? Spread? Remain stationary? Follow a target? How large should it be, and how much mana are you willing to spend maintaining it?"

More symbols appeared within the circle as he spoke.

"Every answer adds another instruction, and every instruction makes the construction more complicated. Your job as a wizard is to accomplish what you want with as few instructions as possible."

Ilya narrowed his eyes at the board.

That part caught his attention.

"So..."

The student beside him glanced over when Ilya suddenly muttered to himself.

"If I already know a spell, I can change how it works by changing the construction?"

The professor stopped writing.

"Yes, Belozersky."

"Even the activation?"

"Provided you understand the original construction well enough."

Ilya slowly sat upright.

Until now, the spells he knew had always felt somewhat fixed. He could alter how much mana he poured into them or change where he aimed, but the actual spell remained fundamentally the same each time he cast it.

Spell Construction meant that didn’t have to be the case.

"Just like research, your goal for this semester is to conduct your own study and eventually produce something from it."

The professor turned back toward the board.

"You will begin by forming groups and choosing the kind of spell you wish to create, then gather existing spells, theories, and research related to that subject."

Several students immediately began taking notes.

"Of course, you are not expected to invent everything from nothing. Study what other wizards have already accomplished, review existing spell constructions related to your topic, identify their limitations, and use what you find as the foundation for your own research. By the end of the semester, each group will be expected to present one fully functional original spell."

The professor tapped the chalk against the board.

"And when I say original, I mean original. Taking a Fireball, changing its color, and submitting it as Crimson Fireball will earn your entire group a failing grade."

A few students stopped writing.

"If your spell is good enough, however, your work doesn’t necessarily end in this classroom. Holy Trinity Academy regularly reviews exceptional research produced by its students, and spells that meet the required standards can be formally recorded and published under the names of everyone involved in their creation."

That immediately caused a stir throughout the room.

"Published?"

"Even undergraduate research?"

"Even undergraduate research," the professor confirmed. "Provided the spell works, is sufficiently different from existing magic, and is supported by a theory your group can properly defend. There are spells in your textbooks right now that began as student research projects, so don’t treat this as nothing more than another requirement for passing my class."

"...."

Ilya stared down at the empty page in front of him.

An original spell.

Not something taken from one of Vera’s books or copied from a formula someone else had created centuries ago, but something they would have to research, construct, test, and eventually make work themselves.

Ilya picked up his pen.

That sounded interesting enough.

Visit and read more novel to help us update chapter quickly. Thank you so much!