Moen walked along the familiar sycamore-lined path back to his dormitory.

In just a few days, the dormitory building that had been destroyed during the previous battle had already been restored to its original state. Not only were there no traces of the combat, but even the tiles on the building had new designs applied to them.

A pink pig.

Quite adorable, actually.

With a sigh of amazement at the wonders magic could accomplish, Moen entered the dormitory building.

The dormitory matron was sitting in the small room by the entrance, just as she always did, filing her nails. When she saw Moen, she called out to him.

"Hey, hey, Moen, my boy!"

"Hmm?"

Moen turned around and, as usual, flashed her a sunny smile.

"Is there something you need, ma'am?"

"Your dorm room key."

The matron's cheeks turned slightly red as she handed Moen a key.

"Your room was destroyed before, so the door and everything have been replaced. The key is new as well."

"Oh, thank you."

Moen accepted the key and thanked her, only to notice the matron’s face growing even redder. She hesitated for a moment, then abruptly turned her head and shyly said to Moen:

"Moen... you looked really cool back then!"

"..."

Moen was speechless.

Absolutely insane.

He had tried pulling off a suave act to impress some cute girls but ended up attracting middle-aged women and, apparently, men as well.

Had he inadvertently misallocated his charm points somewhere?

Shaking his head in resignation, Moen ignored the matron’s bashful expression and quickly headed upstairs.

The dorm room, destroyed by a group of overzealous tough guys, had been restored completely. Even the day-to-day items were neatly placed back where they had originally been.

For someone like Moen, who came from a fairly well-off aristocratic background, his valuables were typically stored in his personal spatial storage device. This prevented awkward situations like what had happened to Reine during the repair work.

After surveying the room to confirm that everything was in order, Moen walked into the bathroom and took a shower, washing off the medicinal smell lingering on him from the infirmary.

Feeling refreshed, he then threw himself into his studies.

After receiving guidance from his senior mentor, Moen was able to review and prepare on his own, even without further instruction.

After all, Professor Mela’s demands weren’t just about catching up; she required him to pass.

The foundational magic theory exam in a month would mostly cover second-year material.

But thanks to his mentor’s explanations, Moen understood that foundational magic theory was an extremely cascading subject.

If he didn’t fully grasp the earlier concepts, he’d find himself completely bewildered when tackling the advanced ones later on.

Therefore, Moen’s most pressing task now was to master all the first-year knowledge.

During this period, all other aspects of learning could be temporarily set aside—even the nightly battles in the Black Book.

For the next month, everything would be dedicated to this one subject.

...

The next day.

Moen wasn’t granted much time to rest, as the academy’s courses had already resumed.

The first class was one Moen was all too familiar with: combat techniques.

However, before the combat class started, Moen sought out Instructor Kaid.

“You want to apply for a temporary suspension?”

Instructor Kaid looked at Moen, somewhat surprised.

At Saint Maria Academy, a magic-focused institution, its curriculum included not only dry theoretical lessons and rigid lectures but also various field practice classes and research activities within student groups.

Due to the longer duration of such activities, they frequently overlapped with regular courses, leading to the development of a suspension system.

Students could apply to temporarily skip a course by submitting a reasonable explanation to the teacher responsible. If approved, the student wouldn’t lose academic credit for the leave.

Of course, they would still have to sit for the exam.

As field practice and research activities were typically reserved for upperclassmen, Instructor Kaid rarely encountered second-year students applying for suspension.

Especially not someone like Moen, who hadn’t been particularly diligent in attending classes before.

In fact, Kaid couldn’t help but suspect ulterior motives.

This kid... could he be skipping class to chase girls?

With this thought, the perpetually single Kaid’s gaze suddenly sharpened.

“Alright, then. Your reason?”

“Well, uh...”

Moen scratched his head, awkwardly smiling.

“Instructor Kaid, you know I scored three points on last semester’s basic magic theory exam, right?”

“I know. That’s become a legendary tale among the faculty, alongside your other feat of mastering Lighting Spell in one year. The two incidents combined are regarded as educational miracles.”

“Two educational miracles? What kind of bizarre lore origins are these? Are people seriously turning my academic history into campus legends now?”

Moen silently criticized it before continuing:

“So, I wanted to temporarily focus my energy on studying foundational magic theory...”

“You mean...”

Instructor Kaid’s eyes narrowed, his expression serious.

“You intend to abandon the path of the warrior for the sake of magic?”

“What? No, I...”

“No way, Moen Campbell!”

Before Moen could explain, Instructor Kaid slammed a hand on his shoulder, his eyes wide and resolute as he thundered:

“You’re the type I’ve seen far too many times—those who face a bit of hardship in martial arts then switch to studying magic, believing it’s a path requiring less efforts. But in the end, they fail to learn proper magic, abandon their martial skills, and become utterly worthless! The kind of person who ends up doing nothing but inheriting the family estate! Moen Campbell, is that who you want to be?”

“No, no, no! I wasn’t quitting martial arts! I just... I mean...”

“I just had to catch up on my Fundamentals of Magic Theory class first for some reason”

Moen rubbed his sore shoulder and smiled wryly.

Moen rubbed his shoulder that had been slapped raw and smiled bitterly:

"And Teacher Kaid has seen it, right, my strength in terms of martial arts nowadays is considered to be one of the top ones in the entire second year, so there shouldn't be any impact if I quit for a while."

"It's just because of your talent in martial arts that you can't give up!"

Teacher Kaid seems to have decided that Moen is trying to give up on the path of a martial artist, shaking Moen's shoulder, with a sorrowful face, he said:

"Look at you, just going home for the holidays and being worked out by the Duke of Campbell for two months, you're able to have such a great progress, as long as you seriously go on in this path next, Teacher, I don't dare to make a guarantee of how much you will achieve in the future, but at least it's the future that can be expected ah!

Think about your level of magic, three points in that Basics of Magic or what, is that something an average person can take? My three year old niece scribbling on it might even be higher than that, so this brain of yours, he wasn't born to learn magic!"

"......"

Moen's mouth twitched.

Although he knew that Teacher Kaid was kindly advising himself, how come he always felt that his heart was vaguely aching instead when listening to this.

However, all in all.

"Teacher Kaid, although what you said has a little bit of truth to it, I probably am indeed not talented in learning magic."

Moen sighed, grabbed Kaid's hand and took it off his shoulder, then stared into his eyes and said with incomparable seriousness:

"But-

I also have my own reasons, and for the next month, I have to focus all of my energy on the Magic classes.

Therefore, regardless of whether or not Teacher Kaid agrees, I won't be coming to the martial arts class for a while."

"--As for the credits, if the Campbells are willing to give a little more to donate to the school, I think Dean Pink Bear would be happy to grant me some."