Academy’s Undercover Professor

At the training grounds, where the special lecture on summoning magical beasts was taking place, there was a noticeable difference in the atmosphere.

Unlike the usual calmness, the training grounds were now bustling with activity.

The students, each adorned with a summoned magical beast, had formed a bond with their mana.

'I can't believe they all succeeded.'

Rudger examined the magical beasts summoned by the students, most of which took the form of common animals.

It was somewhat expected.

Magical beasts, as companions or familiars born from a magician's mana, naturally manifested as animals commonly kept as pets.

Flora summoned a giant blue jaguar.

On Cheryl's shoulder, a vibrant parrot perched, its colorful feathers reflecting her hair.

Amidst the students, a small commotion arose.

At the center of it was Erendir.

Curious about the cause, Rudger noticed it was because of the magical beast resting on her forearm.

A golden eagle emitting a radiant light.

Its majestic presence and regal demeanor captivated the attention of onlookers, showcasing its splendid allure.

Among the newly summoned magical beasts, it stood out distinctly in terms of appearance alone.

Rudger clicked his tongue and shook his head.

'A magical beast is more than just its appearance.'

For the students who were unaware of this fact, Erendir's summoned magical beast was nothing short of remarkable.

Rudger glanced at Erendir.

As the surrounding students began showing an unusual interest, her face was filled with joy.

She tried her best to conceal it, but her cheeks couldn't hide the slight flush.

Indeed, one could doubt whether she truly belonged to the imperial lineage leading the empire.

'Well, for now, let's just let them enjoy it.'

If it were the usual Rudger, he would have reprimanded them for being fascinated by appearances alone.

But now, things were different because he had personally witnessed Erendir's difficult situation at palace.

Overshadowed by her eldest sister, Eileen, and relentlessly tormented, it was far from an ordinary hardship.

'And Eileen herself calls it an expression of affection.'

The problem was the excessive and distorted way she expressed it.

What might be cute to an ordinary person could be a traumatic shock to a hamster, for example.

Rudger decided to let Erendir fully enjoy being the protagonist, even if it was just for a fleeting moment.

But perhaps fate did not want to let go of Erendir.

The attention and interest of the students soon shifted to another student.

"Uh, uh? What is that?"

"It's a magical beast... in the shape of a sword?"

In the place where the students' gaze gathered, there was Aidan quietly staring at his magical beast.

Unlike the other students' magical beasts, Aidan's summoned beast had the form of a tool.

It was a sharp sword.

The sword made of faint magical energy floated in front of Aidan.

The students watched Aidan with a mixture of envy and jealousy.

Leo muttered with a sigh at that sight.

"Anyway, he always manages to attract people's attention."

Sitting on Leo's shoulder, there was a cat with fur of the same color as his hair, gracefully wrapping its tail around his neck.

Leo himself had summoned a rather ordinary magical beast and glanced at Tracy.

Tracy was staring intently at Aidan's magical beast with an expression of disbelief.

Above Tracy's head, a sunflower bloomed.

Could it be a plant-shaped magical beast?

Thinking about Tracy's usual appearance, it felt strange to call it a sunflower.

However, it was not an ordinary sunflower.

It emitted a faint red light, and the parts that could be called petals were made of flames.

Tracy's magical beast was definitely not ordinary in appearance.

In fact, Tracy herself was secretly proud of the magical beast she had summoned.

She thought that she could easily crush the arrogance of those who had ignored her before.

However, the important role was taken away by Aidan, who accompanied her.

"How can he summon such a magical beast...."

"Hey, Tracy. Calm down. As Mr.Rudger said, the appearance of a magical beast isn't everything."

Aidan tried to calm down Tracy, who was disheartened.

"Phew. Yeah, you're right, Aidan. The appearance isn't everything. Still, it's not common to have a tool-shaped magical beast."

"Tracy's magical beast is also something to be proud of. right?"

"...Really?"

Tracy's expression seemed to relax slightly at Aidan's praise, even if it was just a little.

But her expression darkened again when she looked at Iona.

It was because of the gauntlets on her arms.

"How...can both of them have tool-shaped magical beasts...."

Iona's magical beast, like Aidan's, also had the shape of a tool.

When Tracy was feeling desperate, Leo approached Iona and spoke.

"Your magical beast is cool."

"Oh, thanks. Your magical beast is cute too."

"It's cute yes. No need to say it out loud."

"But it's true."

Watching this whole scene, Rudger silently admired.

'Out of those four, two of them have summoned tool-shaped magical beasts.'

Martin, who had summoned a humanoid-shaped magical beast, was also the same.

Among 80 students, even if just one person summoned a unique magical beast, it would have been considered a lot, but this exceeded expectations.

'As for the other students, there doesn't seem to be anything particularly noteworthy.'

Most of them were animal-shaped magical beings.

Birds, dogs, cats, and mice.

Occasionally, there were noticeable magical beings like turtles or fish.

'If I had to pick something unique, it would be Julia Plumhart's magical beast.'

Some students seemed to share a similar thought as they couldn't take their eyes off Julia's magical beast.

Considering her exceptional magical talent, mysterious smile, and the attitude that kept others at bay.

Even if her summoned magical beast had an animal form, he thought it would be a dazzling one, like a peacock or a white tiger from the snowy mountains.

However, Julia's magical beast was completely different from those.

'A jellyfish, huh? I wonder what symbolism lies behind it.'

It moved through the air, appearing like a white angel with its flowing movements.

That mysterious atmosphere vaguely resembled Julia herself.

The rest of the students mostly had plant-shaped magical beasts.

'There is a human-shaped one and even two tool-shaped ones, so there shouldn't be anything more surprising...'

While thinking so, Rudger widened his eyes as he saw the last student.

At the end of his gaze was Rine.

More precisely, it was the magical beast she had summoned.

'What is that?'

The first thought that came to Rudger's mind when he saw that magical beast was confusion.

Rudger did not specialize in magical beasts.

Naturally, compared to experts, his knowledge was lacking.

However, thanks to the thorough education by Grander, Rudger was able to explore various knowledge that ordinary wizards might not know.

Even for someone like Rudger, he had never seen a magical beast like Rine's before.

'What do you call such a thing? A shape?'

It was neither an animal, plant, tool, nor humanoid.

It was a form that he had never seen in any magical being.

The three-dimensional shape, floating in the air, had a translucent appearance.

As Rudger regained his composure, he finally recalled where he had seen that shape before.

'That's a polyhedron.'

It was an imperfectly refined dodecahedron. (12)

Although its overall shape was round, it was clearly a dodecahedron.

What was even more surprising was that the polyhedron was not in a fixed shape.

Even now, it was changing its form in real-time, transitioning from a cube to an octahedron, and from there to a dodecahedron.

Rine, seemingly surprised herself for summoning such a form of magical beast, turned to Rudger.

"Um, Professor. My magical beast..."

Before Rine could finish her sentence, something strange happened to her magical beast.

The magical beast, in the shape of a geometric figure, started trembling and emitting a faint light.

Simultaneously, a sound like glass shattering echoed in everyone's ears.

Had something broken?

Before such a question could be answered, the surrounding magical beasts began to react fiercely.

"W-What's happening?"

"C-Calm down! Stay still!"

"Ack! I can't control it!"

The magical beasts gathered here were like newborn babies in human terms.

It was natural for novice magical beasts to react strongly to the unknown waves emitted by Rine's magical beast.

Suddenly, Rudger had a thought.

Perhaps even a seasoned wizard summoning a magical beast in this place would be taken aback.

However, that was not important right now.

If the magical beasts started rampaging, the surroundings would become a chaotic mess.

'I need to calm the situation.'

Without hesitation, Rudger summoned his own magical beast.

[Aether Nocturnus]

Sensing Rudger's will, it appeared on his shoulder in the form of a raven, not in the form of clothing.

"Please."

Rudger spoke like that and grasped his long staff.

Aether Nocturnus reluctantly nodded its head.

As the form of the raven collapsed, it seeped into Rudger's staff.

The most effective way to control magic beast is through its owner.

But if the summoner cannot handle it properly, external intervention may be necessary.

And naturally, the most effective influence on magic beast came from the same magic power.

Thud.

The staff that engulfed Aether Nocturnus struck the floor of the training ground.

From the tip of the staff, a black shadow spread in all directions.

Like pouring black ink into clear water, the black pool rapidly expanded around Rudger as the center.

Rudger infused more power into Aether Nocturnus embedded in the staff.

The shadow, greedily swallowing the power, finally satisfied, swelled its own size even more.

In an instant, the black shadow engulfed half of the training ground.

The magic beasts who were about to rampage were all frozen in place.

They sensed the presence of a superior magical beast, surpassing their own strength.

Just like being terrified in front of a predator, the newly born magic beasts were powerless against their natural instincts.

Some magic beasts couldn't withstand the pressure and even reverse summoned.

"The magic beasts have calmed down!"

"W-What is this black thing?"

The startled students could finally see that Rudger had taken some action.

"Incredible."

Flora exclaimed softly as she looked at Rudger.

Beside her, her magic beast wrinkled its brows as if displeased and growled softly.

There were 80 magic beasts in this place.

More than 70 of them were on the verge of going berserk.

Rudger, relying solely on his own power, managed to suppress the situation that could have escalated into a major disaster.

'Moreover, this scent....'

When Flora smelled the deep, yet familiar fragrance emanating from the shadows.

Rudger, who raised his head, opened his mouth.

"Everyone, stay still."

Rudger swept the audience with a grim gaze.

'What a gaze.'

'Just intimidating the magic beasts with his momentum?'

'More than that, this black shadow, is it Rudger's magic beast?'

The students were astonished by the dignity of the magic beast shown by Rudger for the first time.

How on earth could he make a magic beast this enormous, covering such a vast training ground, almost halfway?

'Is this... the rumored ability of Teacher Rudger?'

'Moreover, isn't this still not his full power?'

They had already been sufficiently amazed, but there was still more to be astonished about.

The students regarded Rudger with a mixture of awe and respect.

However, for Rudger himself, it was a bitter experience.

'I feel dizzy.'

Aether Nocturnus was not in his original form but deliberately changed into a different form.

He had also filled the magic beast with power, making them fearful.

Just this simple act alone required Rudger to consume a tremendous amount of mana in real time.

He had to finish the job before all the mana was depleted.

"Rine."

Rudger called out Rine's name as he approached her slowly.

To avoid provoking that unknown magic beast.

Fortunately, after showing abnormal behavior, Rene's magic beast did not show any further response.

Perhaps it was frightened by the presence of Aether Nocturnus.

At that moment, Rudger thought it was fortunate regardless of the circumstances.

Rine turned to look at Rudger.

"Teacher."

Her pupils pierced through Rudger's sealing magic, radiating a brilliant light.

Simultaneously, a tear rolled down her cheek.

"Why are you showing me such emotions?"

"..."

When Rudger was about to say something, Rine collapsed like a limp doll.

With the loss of consciousness of the owner, the enigmatic magical beast was also involuntarily unsummoned and vanished.

Reacting swiftly, Rudger summoned shadows to catch her falling body.

Upon examination, he found that her breathing was steady, and her complexion appeared normal.

It seemed that she had simply fainted.

Rudger called the shadows that had been scattered around.

Swoosh.

As if rewinding time, the black shadows were drawn into the tip of Rudger's staff.

From the end of the staff, the shadow transformed into the form of a raven.

All eyes followed the sucking shadows and focused on Rudger.

No one could utter a word.

"Today's lesson ends here."