Since they were still some distance away, Mason only nodded slightly in greeting toward Ron and Edith—a simple acknowledgment.
He recalled that Ron had mentioned he'd be coming to study at the Magic Academy soon. With Professor Hicks out of town today, having Edith do the teaching seemed perfectly reasonable.
"They're looking over here!"
"Edith just looked at me! She nodded at me!"
"Nonsense! She was clearly greeting me!"
"Huh? Weren't you the one saying Illya was the real deal just now?"
Mason rolled his eyes and barked a few words to shut them up. The students finally quieted down a bit.
Ron followed Edith to a spacious part of the training ground and stood on an open patch of dirt.
Edith turned to face him and began explaining the Earth-Tilling Spell(Soil Turning Spell), demonstrating it as she spoke.
Ron could clearly feel mana flowing inside her, traveling along specific meridians, eventually guiding the surrounding earth element to activate the spell!
The soil before her began to roll and churn, about the size of a bed, rippling like a wave. Ron couldn't help but be impressed.
Come to think of it, ever since crossing into this world over two weeks ago, this was his first time witnessing real magic in action.
Using his spiritual sense to detect the lively earth elements in the soil, Ron truly experienced the wonder of being in another world.
"You can try now," Edith encouraged. "This is a Tier 1 spell. As long as you guide your mana through three specific meridians in the right sequence, you should be able to release it."
"Of course," she added in a reassuring tone, "this is your first attempt. It's perfectly normal to fail. Most mages need at least a week of serious training before they can cast their first spell."
Ron nodded and began channeling his mana seed.
Meanwhile, across the field, a group of freshly advanced Tier 1 mages was still struggling with Earth-Tilling. Some of them glanced curiously toward Ron and Edith while trying to cast the spell.
Whenever Instructor Mason wasn't paying attention, the students would whisper among themselves:
"Hey, Edith's using Earth-Tilling Spell."
"What are they doing over there?"
"Looks like that guy's learning the spell?"
"Seriously? Who is he, to have Edith personally teaching him?"
"Right?! Why do we get some grumpy old dwarf instructor?!"
"If Edith were teaching me hands-on, I'd get it right on the first try!"
"Yeah, right. You can't even lift a speck of dust…"
"Still better than that pretty boy over there. I bet he can't even circulate his mana!"
"…Why don't you take a better look before you speak?"
—
Ron guided his mana smoothly along the three designated meridians. Under the guidance of his spiritual sense, everything went perfectly.
The surrounding earth element responded promptly, gathering into the soil before him.
A moment later, a head-sized lump of earth rolled up from the ground—and it just kept growing.
Edith stared in astonishment, seeing that Ron was still maintaining the Earth-Tilling Spell. She quickly recovered and spoke in a gentle tone:
"Very good! That's it. Try to feel the speed and flow of mana through the meridians. Make small adjustments and see if you can improve the spell's effect."
Ron didn't answer—he was too focused—but he did follow her instructions, making gradual tweaks.
As time passed, the affected area steadily grew, expanding to the size of a large box.
Finally, as his focus slipped for a moment, the spell abruptly ended.
"Why is he so skilled…?"
"There's no way this is his first time casting a spell!"
"Obviously. First-timers are lucky to kick up some dust!"
"Damn… and Edith's guiding him so gently too?!"
"Is that even the real Edith? Where's the fierce version?"
"Fake or not, did you see the size of that spell?!"
Mason, hearing the students go off-topic again, frowned and gave a couple of warning coughs to shut them up.
As for Ron casting Earth-Tilling?
Mason wasn't surprised in the slightest.
He already knew this was Ron's first attempt at magic. But given that even Professor Hicks had been impressed by Ron's magical talent, a mere Tier 1 spell wasn't worth making a fuss over.
However, Edith—who hadn't seen Ron's earlier feat of creating an elemental ocean whirlpool during mana seed formation—was just as shocked as the students.
Even among the most gifted elves, it was extremely rare to have such a successful first spellcasting experience.
At the very least, Ron clearly had a high affinity for earth magic.
Otherwise, even if he somehow managed to succeed on his first try, there was no way he'd be able to maintain and scale the spell so precisely.
Not even she—an elven saintess—had done so well during her first time.
"To be honest, this is the first time I've seen anything like that," Edith admitted with admiration. "Your talent for earth-element magic is off the charts."
"It's… probably just okay," Ron replied, a little embarrassed by the praise.
In truth, Ron had the system to thank. His Natural Meditation Technique subtly enhanced his affinity with water and earth elements.
Plus, the Seed Acceleration Spell he learned from the system had two prerequisite spells—Dewdrop Spell and Earth-Tilling Spell.
Although Ron couldn't use Seed Acceleration yet due to not having learned its prerequisites, the system's teaching method had already drilled the necessary theory and structure into his mind.
In fact, the three meridians required to cast Earth-Tilling were part of the nine needed for Seed Acceleration.
That head start gave Ron a huge advantage—he didn't have to explore blindly like other mages. He could jump straight in.
Edith, unaware of this, simply thought Ron was being modest. So humble, she thought. Even with such amazing talent, he stays grounded…
Ron continued practicing and soon became even more proficient at Earth-Tilling.
At his request, Edith then taught him the Dewdrop Spell, which he also mastered smoothly and quickly—once again shocking Edith.
With both Earth-Tilling and Dewdrop learned, Ron was completely satisfied.
He also tried casting Fireball and Wind Blade, just to test his abilities in other elements.
Thankfully, Edith was relieved to see that he didn't succeed right away this time.
It took him more than ten tries to finally get both spells to trigger, and even then, his control was poor.
This confirmed her assumption: Ron was likely a dual-element mage, highly gifted in earth and water, but with no standout talent in fire or wind.