As the second period came to a close — which, mind you, consisted of me reciting straight from the textbook like a well-dressed talking scroll — the class quietly stood at the sound of the hour chime echoing through the academy halls. Not a bell, mind you, but one of those regal, soul-humbling clocktower tolls that sound like someone important just died.
The students filtered out in clusters, likely off to sip weak tea, nibble on candied citrus peels, and spread rumors with the efficiency of trained intelligence agents. And me? I remained.
Well... not entirely alone.
One figure lingered behind.
Luke.
Yes, that Luke — brave, fearless, scholarly Luke, who once dared to ask what others wouldn't whisper. Okay, fine, I'm overselling him, but credit where it's due — the kid didn't bolt.
he stood up and spoke
"Professor Victor," he said, voice carrying that delicate tremor — not quite fear, but the kind of hesitant shyness reserved for confessing sins or asking for extra credit. Not fear of me, mind you. Just... the sort of anxiety a student gets when they're actually excited to learn. How precious.
"May I ask you a few questions about Essentia?" he continued, fumbling slightly over his words. "I had some ideas I've been thinking about… and you're the only teacher I feel I can actually speak to."
Ah. Sympathy achieved. Nicely played, Luke.
Unfortunately for him, the "Professor Victor" he's appealing to? Yeah… that guy's long gone. Poor lad's speaking to an isekai'd soul from god-know-where, currently held together by sarcasm, frayed nerves, and two hours of sleep.
Still… points for bravery.
"You may. Ask whatever comes to mind, Luke," I said, with all the composed grace of a man who did not want to be caught improvising metaphysical theory before lunch. I gave him what I hoped passed for a reassuring smile — not too warm, not too dead inside.
To my dismay, it worked.
He smiled wide — poor, sweet boy. His eyes lit up, as if I were a sage on a mountain rather than a fraud from a planet with microwaves and crippling student debt.
"Okay, I wanted to ask a few things I've been thinking about," he began, his voice steadier now, curiosity winning out over nerves.
He raised a hand and counted off, finger by finger:
"First... if the Grimoire is our medium for casting, is it truly necessary forever? Or could we refine our Essentia itself — our own being — to the point where we no longer need a medium at all? Could we become the spellbook?"
Right. That's fine. Start with a casual philosophical dismantling of the entire magical framework of society. Why not.
"Second… is it theoretically — or practically — possible for a mage to master all six elemental affinities? I know most people are born attuned to one or two, but could training, or sheer willpower, override that limitation?"
I nodded slowly, resisting the urge to whistle. Ah yes, the age-old question: "Can I power-grind my way to omnipotence?"
"And finally…" he glanced downward for a second, more hesitant now. "What exactly are sub-elements? I've heard whispers — ash, steam, crystal, metal, blood — are they just combinations? Or something deeper? And how do they interact with the prime elements they stem from?"
...
There was a long pause.
He looked up at me, eager, trusting, entirely unaware that he'd just dropped three questions that should be asked in a royal symposium, not to a magically plagiarizing imposter with a caffeine addiction and a decent poker face.
I blinked.
Then I smiled. Smooth. Academic. Only a little terrified.
"Excellent questions," I said aloud, while my brain screamed internally:Cool cool cool, you've just been hit with metaphysical calculus by a kid who's not even old enough to buy tea without sugar.
But I couldn't help it — I was impressed. Genuinely.
These weren't simple classroom curiosities. They were the kind of questions someone asks when they don't just want to use magic — they want to understand it.
So yeah.
Yup.
I'm definitely going to spend the next eight hours buried in books I pretended to have read.
I'm practically dumber than the students. Fantastic.
I couldn't answer any of those questions. Not then. Not without accidentally creating a new branch of theoretical magic or having a mental breakdown mid-sentence. So, I did what any responsible adult impersonating a professor would do — I grinned.
A big, overly confident, terribly fraudulent grin.
Then I walked over to Luke, patted him on the head like he was some bright-eyed apprentice in a coming-of-age novel, and said:
"Luke, I'm genuinely moved by the questions you've asked. They're insightful, profound, and honestly, delightful. That kind of curiosity deserves real answers — proper ones. So, come by my residence later today, just before sunset. We'll go through them thoroughly."
Perfect dodge. Graceful. Academic. Evading the question like a politician with tenure.
But now, of course, I had to actually come up with answers. Great. I've assigned myself homework — at my own age — as the teacher. Wuhuu.
Luke beamed, then looked down bashfully, clearly pleased."I'm honored, Professor. I'll come by today. I'll head out now."
And off he went, leaving me standing there in stunned silence — like someone who'd just been handed a thesis to defend by a child still learning long division.
Isekai'd into another world only to be outclassed by a teenager. Fantastic.
Now it was just me, myself, and I. Solo… okay, just kidding. But yeah, I was alone. With nothing else to do, I figured I might as well wander around and explore this so-called academy for a bit.
I stepped out of the classroom and gave the hallway a long, measured look — the kind of look you give a suspiciously quiet room in a horror novel right before the violins kick in.
The Academy wasn't large. Not some towering, castle-spired monstrosity or a sprawling campus with fountains and overly complicated maps. Just one long, rectangular building with a straight corridor running from the front doors to the back wall like someone designed it in their sleep and decided "Eh, good enough."
Six classrooms in total. Three on the left, three on the right. Mine was the only one that didn't look like it had been abandoned by civilization.
Desks? Present. Chalkboard? Covered in brilliant diagrams and incoherent panic. That subtle scent of ink and overachieving students? Still fresh. A real, living classroom.
The rest?
Empty. And I don't mean "just cleaned" empty — I mean haunted orphanage levels of vacant. No desks, no chairs, no faint whisper of purpose. Just polished floors, whitewashed walls, and the kind of silence that screams louder the longer you stand in it.
They weren't even dusty. Which made it worse, somehow. Like someone had gone out of their way to keep them clean but not in use — as if knowledge itself was evicted.
The windows filtered in lazy beams of light, catching the empty spaces with a dramatic flair usually reserved for divine revelations or mental breakdowns. The creak of my boots echoed like I'd stepped into a cathedral of disappointment.
In short?
The whole place had big "the funding ran out, but the dream didn't" energy.
And here I was — one mildly traumatized professor with an imported soul and a lingering headache — stuck trying to make something magical out of what looked like an abandoned ministry building.
Marvelous. Truly. Living the isekai dream.
I walked back into the classroom and dropped myself into one of the student chairs.
Yes, I'm the teacher. Yes, I'm sitting where a fifteen-year-old would. No, I don't care. It's not like they're coming back soon… probably. Hopefully. Please.
I leaned back, stared at the ceiling like it held divine answers, and let the mental spiral begin.
Let's review the last twenty-four hours, shall we?
Yesterday — well, the yesterday of this world — I was just a guy. Next thing I know, I wake up in someone else's body, in some magical kingdom with zero Wi-Fi and a suspiciously Victorian obsession with cloaks. Cool.
I get home, only to discover the person I've replaced was already living with a demon — as casually as one might live with a cat or a particularly grumpy roommate. Not long after, I heroically (read: accidentally) rescue a vampire from the clutches of an international magical task force and a deranged saint who was practically drooling over blood. Lovely.
I follow a lead to a bar because I'm a curious cat. Instead, I find a building that looks totally out of place — sleek, quietly magical, and called Jacob's Bar. Except it's not a bar at all. It's a secret magical library. Because, naturally, nothing here is ever what it seems.
And just when I think, "Hey, maybe today won't get worse," I get ambushed in my own academy by a blade-wielding cultist screaming about flames, fates, and me being a fallen peasant. Really puts the "public" in public education, doesn't it?
So here I am.
Not even a full day in, and I've lived through demonic roommates, vampiric saints, covert libraries, magical enforcement agencies, and murder attempts — plural.
Most people don't go through this much in an entire lifetime. I did it between breakfast and break period.
Truly living the dream.
Then I thought to myself—I have the ability to cast without a grimoire. Luke even asked about casting without it, a question that not even high-level mages ponder. Kael was laughing when I tried casting without one and mistook my spell for an artifact's ability. So why can I cast like this? And why was Luke so obsessed with finding out?
While I was lost in thought, Noelle walked in with Zeke, Elizabeth, and Aria, all chatting away—especially Noelle and Zeke, if you catch my drift.
"Oh, Professor, what a surprise to see you sitting in a student chair," Aria said with a sly smile. "I was expecting you to be standing, as always." Her elegance and sharpness were impossible to miss.
"I'm just taking a quick break," I replied, grinning. "Not that it matters—you guys just walked in, the next period's about to start."
Honestly, I was glad. This subject lined up perfectly with what I'd been obsessing over during last night's spell research — spell structure and elemental philosophy. Lucky me, it was a brand-new book starting from the basics.
Perfectly fine. I stood up and went behind my pulpit while the other kids filtered in. No sign of Luke yet, so I waited. He showed up late, looking rough — like someone had roughed him up. Obviously, must be from this damn class. Who messes with my pupil?
"Luke, you're late. What happened? You look like you fell into a pit of dust."
"Oh, it's nothing," he said, holding his right arm and looking down. "I tripped when leaving for break. Nothing major." He slinked to his desk, getting glares from the other students — the usual story: commoner gets beaten by some self-entitled noble bum.
"Alright, last period of the day, and it's a new book. I didn't bring mine either, so who's gonna be kind enough to share?" Out of the three periods, I'd only brought one book — luckily, this one was only fifteen minutes shorter than the others.
Aria and Elizabeth stood ready to hand theirs over, but both shot each other disgusted looks like, 'I was gonna give it, how dare you stand there like a leech?' Then they both reached out and shouted in unison:
"Here, take mine, Professor Victor!!!" Passionate as hell — I swear, these kids are way more graceful than those on Earth. Well, except the ones who beat up my precious Luke. That's going to be addressed.
I couldn't take one without making the other mad, so I looked at Zeke. He caught my eye, understood what I was about to do, stood up, and handed me his.
"Here, take mine, Professor Victor," he said, looking away, embarrassed or something. I couldn't tell.
"Thanks, Zeke. Now class, this book is new." I opened it. "Take your seats, Aria and Elizabeth. If you've got a problem, take it outside." They exchanged death glares like someone just killed a family member.
"The name of this book is The Philosophy of Spells and Elements."
They all went silent, flipping open their books like they were about to discover the secrets of the universe or, more realistically, a reason to nap.
"As we all obviously know, the six main elements are fire, water, earth, air, light, and dark," I said with all the prestige of a guy who'd just survived a murder attempt and a demonic roommate. "Sure, there are subcategories, but who cares? Not important."
I paced a little, letting my voice drop like I was about to announce the cure for boredom. "To understand a spell — heads up, I'll be teaching you guys two of them before the year's out, a little gift before you march off to the Royal Institute to become real mages — consider it an honor. Or just insurance against dying horribly."
"A spell consists of a lot of things — theory, understanding, science..." I barely got the word out before Aria and Elizabeth shot their hands up like eager puppies. I sighed and glanced at Aria, who clearly won the hand-raising Olympics. "You first."
She stood, eyes wide, and asked, "Sir, what's science?"
No way. How do they not know this? Fine. I'm giving them the benefit of the doubt — they're still early in their education, not dumb, just... tragically uninformed.
"Great question," I said, channeling my inner TED talk host."Science is the systematic study of the natural world through observation and experimentation. It relies on evidence, not personal beliefs, and tries to explain how things work by testing ideas again and again." I launched into a mini-lecture, but honestly, only Luke and Aria seemed awake, their faces a mix of 'Whoa, this is new' and 'Wait, we're actually learning something?'
I got sidetracked — shocking, I know. But hey, science is the one thing I actually have a degree in… or had, in my other life. So the moment I smelled a chance to ramble with real authority, I took it. Unfortunately, judging by the sea of blank stares, only about two of them understood anything I said.
I cleared my throat and pivoted back to the task at hand."Anyway. Enough of that tangent. Let's get back on track."
I turned to the board and started writing out the six main elements.
"We're starting with The Philosophy of the Elements. It's a long topic, but this book does a decent job of summarizing it into something digestible — even for students who just asked me what science was."
I didn't name names. But I didn't need to.
Class ended. Finally. I closed the book with a satisfying thunk and stood up, fully prepared to bolt like a man escaping jury duty.
But I paused, waiting for the students to file out.
Except… some didn't.
Five, to be exact.
The usual suspects: Zeke, Noelle, Elizabeth, Aria — and Luke.Luke, of all people. That one actually surprised me.
They just sat there, like they were waiting for something. Or someone.
Spoiler alert: it was me.
"Is there something wrong?" I asked, confused and slightly worried. Please just let me go. I have an appointment with a bottle of tea and some soul-crushing magical theory waiting for me.
Zeke stood up, clearly the spokesperson for whatever this dramatic after-hours gathering was.
"Sir," he began, his tone oddly formal. "As future mages, we wanted to ask if we could continue learning from you — beyond the classroom. We know Count Stark didn't just pick you randomly. Even King Romulus has his eye on you. They both directed you to teach us — students who haven't even entered the Royal Institute yet."
The others nodded solemnly. I stood still, half-listening, half-spiraling.
"We're grateful," Zeke continued. "For everything. The past five years — language, history, magical theory… You taught us more than just spellcasting."
Okay, sure, keep going. I do love a good ego stroke.
"We also know you were supposed to attend the International Institute of Essentia after the Royal Institute," he said. "But you chose teaching instead. The king himself said you have the potential to be nominated as one of the Anomalies."
Excuse me, what?Victor — the body I'm currently inhabiting — had lore I hadn't even unlocked yet? What the hell kind of life did this guy live?
Zeke bowed. Then, in perfect sequence, the others followed — even Luke, which shocked me the most. I always thought he was the quiet, broody lone wolf type. Guess even lone wolves want a pack sometimes.
"We all want to change our lives," Zeke finished. "And we know someone as inspiring as you won't come along again. So… please accept us as your students — truly."
They held their bows, unified, earnest, filled with whatever flavor of teenage resolve they'd cooked up.
And yeah, I'll admit it. I was moved.
Dammit.
I didn't know what to say.Hell, I needed a teacher. How was I supposed to be one?
I've got endgame-level NPCs gunning for me, a heretical cult sniffing around my friend, and now these kids — students — want to follow me? Tag along like this is some school field trip through a war zone?
How do I bring them with me without jeopardizing them?
And let's not even start on the whole "Purification" thing.Yeah. That's still hanging over my head like a guillotine made of divine light and bad decisions.
"Raise your heads," I said, this time with full consideration.Because what they were asking wasn't small. It was a choice. A permanent one.
"I'm... really moved by your guys' decision — the way you all see me." I gave a dry chuckle. "It almost makes me want to tear up. Really. I never imagined I'd have students like this. I'm... grateful."
"But—"
The moment I said it, their eyes sharpened like daggers.Please don't say no. Please.
"This is a heavy decision. One that needs real consideration. Honestly, if you were already graduates of the Royal Institute—or even juniors—I wouldn't be hesitating like this. But you're not. You haven't even entered yet. You're still young… at least, in my eyes."A bit ironic, considering I'm not that much older. But still.
They looked devastated. Like I'd just shattered their only hope.But I wasn't done.
"I want to say yes. I do." I glanced at them, trying not to let the weight of my own world show. "But my future? It's not exactly a sunshine-and-rainbows kind of story. Literally."
You get the vibe.
"Give me time to think. That's all I ask."
They all nodded, a quiet kind of relief settling over them. One by one, they turned to leave, heading off to... wherever kids go after dropping emotional bombshells. Not my problem.
But right as they reached the door, Elizabeth turned back.
"You still haven't taught us the spell you promised. But… whenever you're ready, we'll be too."
She smiled. And then they were gone.
.And now... the cursed second half of my day begins. Send prayers. I'll need them.