Erika's troublemaking was completely within expectations, and Victor quickly realized what she was up to. He had no intention of sitting still and waiting to be cornered.
Just then, the bell suddenly rang. Victor smiled at her.
"If you have any questions, we can discuss them in the next class."
He had already finished teaching for the day, and his performance was more than satisfactory, at least, no one could point out any real flaws. There was no need to create unnecessary complications now.
But Erika had no intention of letting him off so easily. Relentless, she pressed on, "As far as I know, when students ask questions, the professor has an obligation to answer them."
"Of course, if your title of 'professor' is just for show, just some gilded name to make yourself look good, then you don't have to answer me."
Her aggressive words didn't cause any displeasure among the people around them. On the contrary, everyone started looking forward even more to how Victor would respond.
"How rude."
Victor rubbed his forehead and sighed. In a place filled with "professionals" like this, his grudge with Erika was already public knowledge.
Everyone knew about the rumor that he had flirted with an underage girl, so naturally, they were eager to see the drama between the two unfold.
Who knew, maybe by taking advantage of this moment, they could gather first-hand material for tomorrow's front-page gossip.
Victor had no desire to give them that satisfaction. Otherwise, he'd become the laughingstock of the entire academy, maybe even of society.
Of course, that was not going to happen.
But he also didn't want to be humiliated by Erika in front of everyone.
At the very least, he'd give her a small lesson.
Victor didn't back down in the face of Erika's questioning. His expression darkened, and he tapped the desk in front of him, speaking word by word,
"This is my classroom. My rules. I decide what happens here."
"And if you think you can use the title of 'professor' to morally blackmail me, you can drop that idea right now."
Victor raised his head, his cold, sharp gaze carrying a faint trace of contempt.
"I refuse to answer your question."
As soon as he finished speaking, he turned to leave the classroom, but the moment he lifted his foot, the world around him blurred. Blue light flashed like lightning.
When he came back to his senses, he was once again standing on the podium.
Victor focused his gaze and saw a magic circle glowing faintly with blue light.
'A teleportation circle…'
'I didn't think she'd set something like this up by the door.'
Erika's face carried a proud, disdainful smile as she fixed her eyes on Victor, as if trying to savor the look of panic and fear she expected from him.
Then she said to him, "This is the question I wanted to ask."
"If Professor Victor can't answer it, then you're not getting out of here."
The people around them widened their eyes in shock.
"What the hell!?"
"Was that… teleportation magic!?"
"The Royal Academy's genius student actually managed to set up a teleportation array right under everyone's noses?"
"So this is the level of the Royal Academy's top students? A second-tier mage that strong?"
"She set up teleportation magic that fast and secretly?"
"Her mastery of magic is terrifying!"
Victor hadn't answered her before because, although he had inherited Victor's rank and magic, he hadn't inherited Victor's knowledge.
He knew how to use spells, but not how they worked.
It was like knowing how to use a lighter to make fire, but not knowing why it could make fire.
And now, Erika had somehow hit right at his weak spot.
Vega's voice echoed in his mind, 'Do as I say.'
Hearing that voice, Victor felt his confidence return, and the corner of his lips curved upward.
"Well then, let's add another short lesson."
He pointed at the decomposition structure of the teleportation spell and spoke to Erika below the podium, "All you have to do is disrupt the faint connections between the smaller runes. It's quite simple."
As he said that, he extended his finger and formed a row of runes. The runes instantly sank into the core of the magic array, streams of light running between the small sub-circles.
The circle started to flicker and dim.
Erika watched as her teleportation spell was effortlessly dismantled by Victor, her face growing darker, a sheen of sweat appearing on her forehead.
She could clearly feel her connection to the array weakening. No matter how much magic power she poured into it, she couldn't slow its collapse.
Her link with the spell was completely severed.
Victor snapped his fingers, and suddenly, the hairpin from Erika's head flew into his hand.
"Borrowing your hairpin for a bit."
Erika froze, staring blankly as her hairpin was taken.
Her teleportation magic had been hijacked.
The others craned their necks to keep watching the show as the dim teleportation array reignited, but this time, it seemed to be under Victor's control.
He teleported the flowerpot by the window onto the podium, then moved the clock from the wall to the ceiling.
It was as if, within this room, he could teleport anything he wanted, wherever he pleased.
And finally, he switched Erika's seat, sending her from the very front row to the back.
Once he was done, Victor stopped, formed a few more runes, and restored the teleportation circle to its original state.
He gently placed Erika's hairpin back on the podium and said to her at the back of the classroom, "Alright, now you can try activating it again."
Erika stared at him with a resentful expression and tried to activate the circle once more.
The hairpin on the podium vanished in an instant, but it didn't appear in her hand or in Victor's.
Victor's expression remained calm, his voice indifferent. "Congratulations. Your hairpin has just been teleported to another dimension."
Erika froze. No matter how many times she reactivated the array, the vanished hairpin never returned.
Victor, still moving his hands, continued speaking. "There's another way to break this spell."
He raised his right hand and snapped his fingers. A mage's hand appeared, glowing with six lights, as six magic arrays simultaneously formed in the air.
Gasps erupted all around him.
"Multi-casting!? Six spells at once!?"
"How is that even possible?"
"There's nothing impossible about it, Victor's a third-tier mage!"
"A duel between a genius professor and a genius student, this is worth watching!"
Victor waved his hand dismissively, ignoring their praise, and said calmly, "Just suppress it directly."
Then the mage's hand clenched in the air, and all six circles lit up at once.
BOOM!
Under the crushing pressure of his magic, the teleportation circle cracked with a sharp sound,
and then vanished completely.
Erika's hairpin never came back.
She lowered her head, her body trembling slightly, her expression unreadable.
Victor chuckled softly and turned to leave.
"Erika, remember this. That's your answer, and a small lesson along with it."
"Class is over. The teacher's busy."
He didn't care what consequences might follow and strode straight out of the classroom.
The moment he stepped through the door, a wave of noise erupted behind him, but that was no longer his concern.
———
Victor returned to his office to kill some time. When the final bell of the day rang, he thought of the library and decided to go there to see if he could find anything useful.
He teleported directly from the Mage Tower. The sight before him matched his memory from the game perfectly.
He casually picked up a book and began flipping through it, when suddenly, a dialogue box appeared before his eyes,
[Would you like to learn Tier-1 Spell, Rolling Fireball?]
[Required Materials: Flame Flower, Harpy Feather]
This was exactly why Victor had bought so many materials before, not only could they be used to craft items, but also to consume for learning magic in the library.
Naturally, learning spells required money. But Victor was a lord, rich and unconcerned with such costs.
A neat loophole in the game system.
Normally, those materials could only be obtained by slaying neutral monsters in the wild.
But Victor could simply buy them in bulk with his wealth.
Since it was still early, Victor spent his time in the library, furiously studying spell after spell, learning nearly every beginner spell available on the first floor.
By the time he was done, his pouch was empty of materials, and more than half his money was gone.
He had basically learned everything he could.
By then, it was evening. Golden sunlight streamed into the library, tinting the floor a warm yellow.
As the sky darkened, a faint and unnatural glow flickered deep within the library.
Apparently, he wasn't the only one "studying hard."
Curious to see who it was, Victor followed the light.
When he saw the person, he froze slightly.
"Henny?"
It was his teaching assistant, sitting at a desk, pen in hand, scribbling furiously.
He could even hear her murmuring softly to herself, "Tomorrow, let's have Professor Victor use this paper as his lecture topic…"
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