I was watching Julius and Olivia fight off three ants we had encountered. It was the fourth encounter of the day. Angelica and I were watching from the sidelines, but we were both primed to intervene if necessary.

Olivia was doing better than I had expected. She used combinations of basic magic with minimal hesitation to dispatch her foes. Her selection of magic also minimized her stamina consumption. All in all, she was progressing admirably. In fact, she was doing too admirable of a job. She never needed to move from her spot once she started casting because the monsters could not get close enough to her. I'll need to assess her evasion at a later point.

Julius was disappointing. I was expecting to work with a level one character, and I was still disappointed. It wasn't even as though I was comparing him to Olivia's current abilities. Luxion and I had extrapolated how the in-game numbers would exist in the real world based on what I remembered about Luxion's parameters and Olivia's base and growth stats.

He struggled to fight one ant even with Olivia giving him magical support. The brat even got injured during the first encounter (Angelica was not pleased but relaxed when I claimed it was merely a flesh wound and would heal with one spell).

He fought too rigidly. His joints kept locking up, and his muscles were too tense. It was affecting his attacks and ability to dodge. Julius's stamina was flagging too quickly. Was he too nervous? Had my demonstration shaken him? Perhaps I should consider giving him praise despite his poor showing. I need to make sure that he wouldn't break mentally.

"Good work you two. We're taking a break from combat. We'll be mining magic stones here since these are some fine deposits. Be aware of your surroundings while you collect the stones," I called out to the duo.

Julius gave me a look that screamed defiance, but it was halfhearted. I could see the exhaustion in his eyes. He must have realized that he was holding us back, and I had tried to save him some face by commenting on the deposits. He was an ungrateful prick since he thought I had only done so because he was the crown prince.

Resisting the urge to roll my eyes, I tossed two sacks of tools at his feet. My rude display was taken well by Julius based on the fact that I could see the corner of his lips curve up. So easy to manipulate.

Looking at my student, I saw that Olivia was staring at the deposits with wonder, or was it happiness for the windfall of income? These magic stones were worth quite a substantial amount of money. Seeing more than spending money for once must have been a miracle for her.

Angelica took the time to approach me while I fiddled with a deposit away from Olivia and Julius.

"So your verdict?"

"Olivia's performance was acceptable. She's exceptionally gifted with magic. I think she's already well beyond what I could teach her in that regard."

I had initially thought that I could teach her more, but her cool use of magic had me reconsider. She was using some of the spells beyond their intended purpose. Continuing my tutelage would slow her growth at this point.

"You've already hit your limit? I didn't find her showing particularly impressive," stated in disbelief. I didn't know how exactly she saw me, but magic was not my forte.

"She's capable of casting high-level magic. She can also combine mid-level spells. I think I saw her trying to cast thirty-six spells in parallel. She's using basic-level spells because she's trying to conserve stamina. She's killing the monsters with a single basic spell anyways."

"I suppose that I'll be taking over her magic training?"

"I think she might be beyond your skill as well. At least on the theoretical side. Honestly, I think you only need to help her get a feel of handling the raw amount of magic necessary to cast advanced-level magic. She will intuit the rest very quickly."

"Excuse me?"

"I've seen the books she carries around. She's been studying more advanced magic on the side. She's correcting the third-year course material. I think the only thing she lacks is experience casting advanced and superior magic spells."

Olivia was the definition of a min-max character. She was already maxing out her magic and intelligence parameters. Optimistically speaking, she would be ready for endgame events sometime in our second year.

"That's... that's miraculous."

"Yeah, and it terrifies me that I may be right about the existence of a prophecy."

"At least it's in service of preventing the apocalypse. I would hate to think that my efforts would contribute to the rise of our new overlord," Angelica said in jest.

I barked out a laugh. Angelica may not have been on board with my made-up prophecy, but she knew how to play with the idea.

"Careful now. Don't give me any ideas. I may just join her as the new royal advisor."

"What makes you think I won't take that position? Both of us are her tutors. I would think she would choose the one with more political experience."

"True. I can't argue with that my Lady. Please have mercy_" I said before chucking a dagger down the corridor. It struck between the eyes of an ant that had been crawling on the roof. The ant fell and dissipated into smoke as it died.

"I didn't even hear it get so close. Thanks, Leon," Angelica stuttered.

"Leon? That's new."

"I'm sorry. I suppose it was rather forward of me."

"No apologies necessary. Just surprised. It's fine if you call me by name."

"Then you must call me by mine."

"Already did in my head," I said cheekily. I saw Angelica was ready to berate me. It was so easy to get under her skin.

"That was amazing, Leon," Olivia chimed in before Angelica could sound off on me. The sound of the monster's death rattle must have caught the two attention as they were rushing over to us.

"Really? I guess I still have some tricks to teach you then."

"What do you mean by that?"

"I guess congratulations are in order. You've officially surpassed what magic I can teach you. I'm proud of your progress. Angelica will be taking over your magic studies from this point on since she still has some things she can teach you."

"I see," Olivia said.

"I'll still be putting you through the paces though. Knowing how to cast is worthless if you can't maximize the results or be able to do it at the drop of a hat," I said to preemptively resolve whatever issue was going through her head.

"You shouldn't push Olivia so hard," Julius said quickly.

"Push? I think I have a good measure of my student's abilities. If anything, I have been going too easy on her given how she's handled herself today."

"A maiden such as Olivia shouldn't have to sully herself with such dangerous work."

I personally agreed with him. Too bad the world didn't.

"Angelica, permission to slap your fiance?"

"No. Why would you think that I would allow it?"

"Because Olivia doesn't realize the insult Julius just unintentionally hurled at her."

Angelica then looked at Olivia for a second with a thoughtful look. Olivia was worried about a conflict breaking out, but she didn't seem offended by Julius's words.

"The answer is still no, Leon. Olivia, Holfort is founded by adventurers. When His Hi... When Julius said you shouldn't do such dangerous work, he essentially said that you were not fit for the Kingdom's nobility. Do take in mind that it's only an insult toward nobles, though I suppose that your attendance here could add you to the list but I digress. It would have been more acceptable had he said that it was his duty to do the dangerous work," Angelica said to us but emphasized the last part as she stared at Julius.

"That's not what I meant by my comment," Julius angrily spat.

"I know. That's why I wouldn't let Leon slap you and am explaining the issue. You have to understand, Julius, that what you say and how you say it matters. You may not intend it to be an insult, but the rest of the nobility does. Many of the nobles would see it as your unofficial blessing to mistreat her since you don't respect her enough to treat her as an 'equal'. Even Leon, who doesn't observe formalities strictly, felt the need to correct you."

Julius didn't respond after Angelica had poked a sore spot. I wasn't sure if he listened properly because of that. He hated the burden placed on him by his position to the point that he was blinded to the lesson he should have heard. It didn't matter that Angelica was telling him gently and calling him Julius, he just saw his fiancee reminding him of his burdens.

"Interjection, I don't care if he ruins his image. It's not my job to babysit him. I just don't want his carelessness to harm those around him," I said since I realized Angelica's lesson had fallen on deaf ears.

Angelica gave me a stern look as if to ask why I was deliberately antagonizing the prince. She knew that I needed to strengthen the prince, but she naively thought that I would maximize results by being on good terms with him. Julius (and Greg) were the type of guys that did better with a rival.

"Babysit? Like I need it. Besides, you haven't lifted a finger this whole time. You're supposed to be some hotshot adventurer, but Olivia and I have been doing all the work."

"Because this was supposed to be an assessment for Olivia. Can't damn well test her if I do all the work, but tell you what, we should be coming up to a large room soon. There are bound to be plenty of monsters there. Let this court jester show you what he can do, Your Highness," I said while changing how I was addressing Julius. I even bowed to piss him off even more.

Julius just grunted before gesturing for me to go further. Surprisingly, he was the only one to take issue with my attitude. Olivia looked excited. She must have been wondering what I could do when I let loose. Angelica also had a starry look in her eyes. I guess her excitement was greater than her desire to admonish me, or she accepted that I had a reason for antagonizing Julius. The fact that Julius was allowing me to demonstrate my skills instead of getting in a yelling match must have been the thing that reassured her that it was all going to plan.

"Looks like there are six of these ants crawling about," I mused out loud.

"Getting cold feet, Bartfort?"

"Nah, just wondering if I should even bother going all out."

What to do? This was a good chance to show the prince what end-game bosses should look like. The only issue was that showing off too much would discourage him. Not showing an impressive enough demonstration wouldn't motivate him.

"Big talk. You said you wanted to show me what you got."

"Yeah, but emasculating my prince by showing him something he could never hope to achieve does have its consequences. I could still easily take out these numbers without pulling out the big guns."

"You wouldn't want to disappoint the ladies now," Julius said with a smug expression as he gestured towards Angelica and Olivia thinking that I didn't have anything suitably impressive to pull out and was making excuses to explain away any lackluster performance. I guess it was all out then.

I rolled my eyes before stepping forward. I drew my blade and assumed a fighting stance. The ants hadn't noticed me yet. Good. I hadn't fully mastered how to do this spell on my own yet. It was probably best to use only five percent output to err on the side of caution. Taking a deep breath, I initiated several basic electricity spells that lined up along key points on my body. After I felt that the spells were reasonably stable, I activated all of them simultaneously. There was a mildly painful jolt signifying that I had succeeded though imperfectly. Looking at my blade, I saw electricity running along it.

Looking back up, I saw that ants were halfway across the room. It seemed that my spell had aggroed the monsters, which worked for me since I couldn't hold the spell together for a long time.

I darted forward, and the ground cracked from the force. In an instant, I was already cleaving through the first ant. The exoskeleton was cut through as if it were paper. With a quick turn, I shifted the cut midway and the blade swung out the first ant's side and beheaded a second ant.

Using my free arm, I grabbed an ant that had jumped in the air and smashed it down on another ant. Both ants dissipated upon impact.

The two remaining ants had turned around to retreat and call for reinforcements. Seeing that, I quickly sheathed my sword and willed the spells that I had used to coalesce to my hands. It only took an instant to charge since I was working with electricity.

I took aim above the monsters at the end of the room, and I discharged the electricity as bolts of lightning that initially rushed to the space above the monsters before crashing downward, vaporizing the ants instantly.

I screwed up. Looking at the palms of my hand, they were raw. I was too slow on activation, couldn't hold it for long, and I still couldn't do it without hurting myself in the process. It was a spell I had initially come up with before meeting Luxion thinking I was some anime protagonist. It damn near killed me the first time, and I hadn't tried again until after I met Luxion. His processing power and biometric scans allowed me to figure out how to do it on my own (at a measly ten percent), but it was a technique reserved for when I had his support (and even then we had repurposed the spell for use in an armor). Luxion would have commented how useless I was without him.

"Olivia, would you be a dear and heal my hands? I still haven't worked out the kinks of that spell," I called back.

"You can use holy magic?!" Olivia asked excitedly as she rushed over to me.

"That can't be though, only women have ever been recorded to be able to use that kind of magic," Angelica said as she also rushed over.

"But we saw his body light up, and he moved too quickly. The only known spells that would have that effect are all holy magic," Julius said loudly.

Well damn. He was more curious about my performance than comparing himself to it. I guess I couldn't rely on his competitive nature to motivate him to improve.

"Maybe the burns are because he's a man trying to use holy magic?" Olivia asked excitedly.

"Hate to disappoint, but I can't do holy magic. Otherwise, I would be healing my hands," I said as I waved my burned hands.

Olivia sheepishly began the healing process.

Seeing as they were giving me expectant looks, I began to explain.

"I was using basic electricity spells. A lot of them... and I directed them inwards."

"What compelled you to do something so stupid? Why would you ever think doing that would do anything other than kill you?" Angelica said angrily as spit flew from her mouth.

"I was a precocious brat that lacked an understanding of the fundamentals. The only reason why it 'worked' when I first did it was that I had enough sense to undercharge my spell on the chance that I was wrong. And like the stubborn brat that I was, I kept shocking myself... a lot. But hey, I have an original spell... sort of. Thank you for the healing, Olivia. My hands feel much better now."

Olivia nodded before asking, "So the spell is incomplete? In what way, other than the burns?"

"The burns are the most important issue, but I suppose that it could be improved by having an instantaneous activation. I also think I could increase the performance though that would probably kill me. In any case, your holy magic will be much more impressive since it shouldn't have any side effects. My spell is only a parlor trick using the fundamentals."

"I think what you did was much more impressive, Leon. You arguably replicated holy magic and possibly surpassed it if you can perfect your spell," Olivia said. I could already see her put on her thinking cap to figure out how to fix my spell.

"Stopping thinking about how to do it. I'm not teaching you the spell, Olivia. This spell dies with me. Understood?" I said sternly as I directed a look to the other two.

"But why? This is such a revolutionary spell. You stand to make a fortune with this spell and move up in the world," Angelica asked. She had a baffled look. She must be wondering what noble would turn down the prestige.

"Do you trust people not to screw up performing the spell?"

"Ah..." the girls said simultaneously.

"I'm not too keen on people dying trying to perform or further this spell. Going up the ranks isn't worth selling my soul."

"But why bother improving the spell if you aren't planning to reveal it?" Julius asked.

"You never know when you need an ace in the hole."

Angelica gained a look of understanding. She also wore a concerned expression. We would likely have to talk about this later.

Julius also narrowed his eyes. It seems that he was wise enough to consider that I hadn't been completely honest with my comment. I intended to use the spell for a purpose. For what, he couldn't fathom. All he knew was that I had deemed something required it down the line. While not how I expected him to react to my performance, it seemed he was going up his training. It would have to suffice for now.

"Why would you ever need such a spell?" Olivia asked worriedly.

"Let's just call it paranoia. Hopefully, I will never find the need for it. But as they say, better to have and not need than to need but not have," I said evasively. I couldn't exactly reveal that I was saving it for the end-game boss should Olivia and the boys need more time to activate her final skill. I especially didn't want to tell her what the final stage of the spell would entail if she failed to do her duty.

AN:

1) Olivia's magic is broken. She's able to utilize her end-game skills in one year without the Saintess items as long as she isn't bullied. So naturally, she has to have a ridiculous growth curve.

2) Not good at writing fight scenes, but then again it's against trash mobs in the beginner dungeon.

3) Wanted to expand a little bit more on the magic a bit. In the novel, it's kind of a thing, but it's never really used much. Though it'll probably fall off later in this fic too since the story uses mechs for everything, or at least Luxion just solves everything.

4) Wanted to make holy magic something more by having it exclusively have buffing skills, or at least without harming the recipient. (This means I removed everyone's ability to use buffs.) Holy magic never seemed to be anything special aside from Olivia's brainwashing and healing skills (largely because magic is a side note in the series). The only benefit I've read is that it's super effective against the undead... in volume ten, and I don't recall it being used. Leon just brought out holy water and some special bullets (even if it did cost a lot of money).

5) Wanted to add that detail about Leon trying to create an exclusive spell but technically failing. It would give some more subtle reason why he's so resolute on being just a mob. Also, some of the details he says about his spell are a lie since he can't come out saying that he has a sentient Lost Item doing the heavy lifting for him.