In the first place, it wasn't entirely true that Cæ was here for combat healing magic. The fact of the matter was that the reason he had gone through the pain of taking the senior healing magic course was that he had already decided that he would broaden his perspectives and learn a larger breadth of knowledge than to go in-depth into a single field.
His rationale was that knowledge of a large variety of fields would help him innovate more in his entrepreneurial pursuits because he would have a much stronger understanding of all the options at his disposal.
Healing magic was one of those.
He hoped to increase the number of business ideas he could possibly come up with by having a broad base of knowledge. Generally, hyper-specialization was almost always done with the intent of targeting a specific occupation.
Like the occupation that he had grown intrigued by in the last day, heart healers.
Nobody pursued heart healing surgeries as a specialty with the intention of opening a business related to the field.
They pursued it because of the high salary and labor income they could make from the field.
A commercial venture, especially one that Cæ was determined to make a runaway success, generally required creativity to be different.
The more knowledge one had, the more amplified one's creativity was.
That was the second important reason that Cæ had sought to go with healing magic.
The issue was that, from everything he had seen from Master Zymshire, the man wouldn't appreciate this reason for taking his class either.
Regardless, he remained silent as the class continued.
Master Zymshire spent most of the first class laying the groundwork for the rest of the course, plotting out the trajectory of topics that they would cover and what students could be expected to learn by the end of the course.
Knowledge, as he had repeatedly stressed, would be their greatest gain.
The second largest gain would be first aid magic and elementary combat healing magic.
Unlike many other professors, he didn't waste a single extra second in class, cleaning up by the time the bell rang.
RING RING RING!
"…And with that, this lecture has come to an end," the master mage declared with a tone of finality. "I hope that you found this class to be enlightening and enriching. Be sure to revise everything that we have studied today."
A thundering round of applause emerged at his lecture as the master mage picked up his little briefcase and departed from the class unceremoniously.
He was, of course, followed by Cæ.
"Master Zymshire," Cæ tried to catch up to the speedy gait of the tall master mage.
"Mr. Cæ," he remarked without even trying to turn back. "Do you not have another class to attend?"
"I don't actually," Cæ admitted as the master mage tried getting away from Cæ.
"I see, good for you," the master mage remarked. "I'm afraid I must go, however."
WHOOSH!
In the blink of an eye, without even the slightest hint of a magic circle or incantation, he took off with blinding speed. Cæ sharpened his gray eyes as several magic circles emerged before him, and he grabbed his wand from his side, shooting off after the flying professor.
WHOOSH!
Cæ gritted his teeth as he struggled to even keep the powerful master mage in his field of vision, moved by the man's powerful flight magic.
Having borne witness to a battle between two master mages, Cæ held a very high opinion of them. He knew that if the professor truly wanted to leave him in the dust, there was absolutely nothing he could even do to keep up.
WHOOSH!
It took him just a moment to cross the entirety of the Elendir Institute of Magic at the speed at which he was traveling.
STEP
By the time he arrived at where he thought the master mage was, he had completely lost the man.
He found himself in a part of the magicademy that he had never visited.
He found himself before a facility.
One that was eerily quiet.
Yet, there were no signs informing him that this was off-limits or anything of the sort.
STEP
STEP
STEP
…
He slowly entered the facility, walking through the silent facility with a hint of apprehension.
STEP
His eyes widened as he entered a corridor of laboratories on either side, visible through the glass.
Within, he saw all manner of ghastly experiments and test subjects.
He spotted a dissected human corpse, one that made his skin crawl.
Another laboratory had a humanoid creature in an aquarium.
One that he had only known about.
A mermaid.
Just like he heard stories of.
Her upper body was human, with smooth, pale skin, while her lower body was that of a fish.
She was alive.
And yet, she was not in a clear state of mind, not even noticing him.
Each successive laboratory in the facility was filled with incredible things, unlike anything he had ever seen in his entire life.
The world was filled with more fantasies and mysteries that exceeded anything that he had ever seen, cooped up in the slums for most of his life, or in one district in the inner city after he broke out of the slums.
He saw a little caged flaming bird trapped within a powerful, magical cage.
Like the mermaid, it too was in an incapacitated state of mind.
The same could be said of the unicorn he saw in the next laboratory.
One after another, there was more than he even thought was possible.
"What do you think you are doing?"
Cæ froze as the chilling, stern voice of Master Zymshire behind him sent shivers down his spine.
He slowly turned around to find himself staring into the frosty, deep blue eyes of the middle-aged master mage.
His expression was cold, clearly displeased.
"You are not supposed to be here," the professor insisted with a stronger tone. "Who gave you permission to enter my private research quarters?"
Cæ felt his heart gripping in a vice as the powerful master mage directed his fiery anger at Cæ.
It felt like a mountain weighing down on him.
"…I just wished to speak to you," Cæ carefully replied. "I thought you had entered the facility and followed to speak with you."
The master mage frowned at those words. "Did you not see the sign outside that said this facility was off-limits?"
"There was no such sign, sir."
"Really?"
"Yes, sir."
"Tsk, stupid student council," the professor huffed with a hint of disdain, before turning to Cæ with a hint of resignation.
"You are a persistent one. Tsk, to have such little respect to me a master mage is truly impudent," the master mage huffed, shifting his glasses as his deep blue eyes bore deep into the light and dark gray in Cæ's. "What do you want from me?"
"…I wanted to consult you regarding healing magic and the heart healing sector in particular."
"Heart healing? Do you wish to become a heart healer?"
"No, Master. I am… considering it for a… potential business opportunity."
"…What?"
The incredulity and confusion in the master mage's voice killed the previous tension in the air.
"You are considering it for what?"
"…Business, Master."
Cæ reluctantly admitted it.
He didn't like admitting it because it forced him to confront something that was otherwise just an intuition. In case it was a failure, he could just walk away from the matter with a shrug. However, if he admitted that he was looking for the potential to come up with an innovative solution, then he felt the need not to give up as easily.
"…"
He stared at Cæ with a hint of disbelief.
The two of them simply stood in the corridors of the strange, abandoned facility with creepy and unnerving laboratories.
"Out of all the reasons that a student has ever sought to speak with me, none of them have been about business," the master mage frowned. "Well, for now, let us speak in my office."
Cæ heaved a sigh of relief as they departed from the abandoned facility.
For a moment there, he truly thought he was going to die.
He was just moments away from revealing his pure magic ability by using it against the professor, hoping that he would catch him off guard.
That would have been, of course, a blunder among blunders.
Even with pure magic, he would not have been able to kill a master mage.
Regardless, it wasn't long before they reached the private office of the master mage in the administrative wing of the Elendir Institute of Magic. His office was spacious, with a comfortable and luxurious set of sofas in the very middle, around a little tea table. The bright light of the morning sun illuminated the extravagant office.
On the far left were a set of shelves filled with books, while on the far right, by the wall, was a neat and spacious wooden table and chair with all manner of items spread across it.
"Have a seat," the master mage remarked as he took a seat in the luxurious chair on his table.
Cæ sat opposite him, gazing at him with a dubious expression.
The dignified master mage raised an eyebrow.
"What is that look about, Mr. Cæ?"
"…I just couldn't help but wonder what that facility was about, Master Zymshire," Cæ replied with a respectful tone.
Unlike with the Headmistress, he didn't have a rapport with this master mage; therefore, he dared not be disrespectful to a powerful mage of the third rank.
The master mage huffed. "It is nothing but my private research, of course. Entirely approved and funded by the magicademy in exchange for my services as a professor to brats like you."
Cæ raised an eyebrow with a hint of skepticism. "…May I ask you what field you were conducting research in?"
The master mage simply gazed at him with an unimpressed expression. "You saw the experiments, did you not? Can you not tell based on the test subjects?"
Cæ fell into thought.
Phoenixes. Mermaids. Unicorns…
Cæ's eyes sharpened. "…Immortality?"
His voice was reduced to a whisper.
It was the holy grail of healing magic.
To cure the condition of death itself.
It was a goal that many a mage had dedicated to finding.
And a goal that received virtually endless funding from one source or another, from those who had the most to gain by living longer.
Those who had lived their lives cultivating magicapita did not want to die.
They had spent their lives cultivating the power of value itself and were also thus the ones who were most desperate for a longer life to enjoy the magicapita they cultivated for longer or to cultivate it even longer.
Especially when they knew it was possible.
There was a scant handful of those who had successfully evaded death, those who scoured the world to that day.
"Correct," the master mage replied simply. "It was an ordinary part of the magicademy. A place you weren't supposed to enter."
Cæ frowned. "…Why was the research facility entirely devoid of anybody? Surely you don't conduct your research by yourself, Master Zymshire."
"I tire of your questions, young man." The master mage sharply gazed deep into Cæ's eyes. "I would even be talking to you if not for the fact that I am obligated to interact with my students and answer their questions. And to answer yours, my research has unfortunately come to a dead-end, and the research facility will be cleansed by the magicademy administration."
"Ah…" Cæ's eyes lit up with realization. "I see, that makes sense."
"Now, quick," he remarked impatiently, shifting his glasses. "What is it that you wanted to inquire about me?"
Cæ grew serious as his attention returned to the topic that he originally wanted to discuss with the professor.
"I wish to speak to you about the heart-healing industry," he continued with an eager tone. "I wish to understand the challenges that this sector faces in its stressed supply of heart-healing surgeries."