Ikerite Academy of Magic, Learning & Education Building.
This building serves as a multidisciplinary academic facility, designed to meet the needs of countless students. Unlike the traditional concept of isolated towers, its structure incorporates extensive horizontal expansions, creating broader spaces for study and activity.
Inside, the clustered walls break down the scale of the building into finer details. Corridors, courtyards, beams, terraces, and stairways are shaped into modern-art-inspired landscapes—canyons, forest trails, habitats, cliffs, and open-air theaters—creating miraculous indoor scenery.
Fourth Floor – Department of Magitek Research.
Inside a special lecture hall, designed like a vast artificial canyon interwoven with woodland elements and natural sunlight streaming from skylights, a fresh and unique learning environment unfolded.
In this spacious classroom, the tiered seats were nearly full.
Unlike other required courses in the Sage Institute that were split into smaller classes, this course—General Knowledge of the Magic System—was compulsory for both Sage Institute and Magitek Institute students.
Thus, the class gathered both faculties together in large-scale lecture format.
At the very back, Lankey and Huperion sat, with a few empty seats still scattered around them.
Recently, a new rumor had already begun spreading across campus—the tale of the “Capital Bully Trio.”They were said to be the fiercest lackeys in Student Council history. Their very first appearance had crushed the clubroom of the Fighters’ Soul team, infuriating the gentle senior Zirvini to the point that she chased them down, face flushed, before collapsing into tears.
“No wonder they’re called half-demon and Lankey race… They look even less human than when we saw them in the Shadow World…”
Many Magitek freshmen, seeing the two with their own eyes for the first time, whispered in hushed amazement.
At the rear, seated on natural wooden stumps, Huperion was, as always, studying diligently.
What was rare, though, was that Lankey wasn’t his usual languid, sickly self.
Instead, he sat upright, brows furrowed, listening intently.
This was the only required course that never tortured him, since it was entirely about theory—magic and Magitek fundamentals—without any spellcasting practice.
And the instructor was someone familiar to both him and Huperion: the gentle Teacher Teresa, who had overseen their third-round entrance exams.
It seemed Teresa was about to touch on something important.
Even Lankey straightened his posture slightly.
“There are thirty-two Primordial Slates in this world. Each one stands at the pinnacle of epic-grade magic cards, representing the apex of a particular branch of magic.”
“But unlike ordinary epic cards that fade into history, the Primordial Slates endure throughout eternity!”
From the semicircular gray wooden podium, Teresa’s voice rang clear and inspiring. She raised her arm, pointing at the magical projection screen displaying the image and attributes of a slate.
[Primordial Slate – Wind]
- Type:
Equipment Card
- Grade: Orange Epic
- Attribute: Wind
- Rank: 5
- Passive Effect: The Primordial Slate cannot be destroyed. Only a living being of this world may soul-bind to it, and at most one slate can be bound. All wind-attribute magic, martial skills, equipment, and summons receive comprehensive strengthening. Upon the binder’s death, the slate will unbind.
- Note: All things will be reborn. The wind shall forever sweep across this land.
The projection rotated in three dimensions, showing a thin, delicate slab of ancient stone, edges smooth and streamlined, faint magical etchings whispering of millennia past. The texture was warm and timeworn, its hues deep and rich after centuries of history.
Intricate, mysterious inscriptions coiled across its surface, spirals like streaks of stars across the night sky—brilliant yet secretive, carrying wisdom and power that not even the end of the world could erase.
“The example shown here,” Teresa continued, “is the Primordial Slate – Wind
, owned by High Priest Loren of the Goddess of Fate’s Church. It appears as though crafted by the gods themselves, yet also bears traces of Magitek modification.”“For Magitek students, merely observing the slate firsthand can spark profound insight into the crafting of related magical artifacts.”
Her words rippled across the room like a stone cast into a pond, stirring animated discussion among the students.
Teresa stood calmly at the podium, smiling as she sipped water to soothe her throat.
The classroom’s open design naturally encouraged discussion, almost like a symposium.
She understood this type of course thrived not on one-way lectures, but on stimulating curiosity and allowing free debate.
Sure enough, chatter filled the rows below.
“No wonder our Magitek Institute has a graduation task where you must seek out a slate bearer somewhere on the continent and earn a chance to observe it!”
“Some shameless seniors even went straight to the Sage Institute to beg Principal Loren to let them see his Primordial Slate – Wind!”
But Loren, as both Guardian of the Hedon Kingdom and High Priest of the Goddess of Fate, was far from idle.
He would never parade his most vital magic card around like some exhibition piece.
Instead, Loren would assign important kingdom or church missions. If students completed them, he would reward them with the opportunity to witness his slate.
Occasionally, Magitek students—or even professors—from allied nations or academies would also seek him out, and Loren would always lay out equally fair trials.
As for other slate bearers, however, many were solitary, cold, or unreasonable, often refusing to acknowledge visitors at all.
“Just owning a single Primordial Slate makes you a towering figure, admired everywhere… I want one too! Hey, Huperion, do you know of any other slate owners besides Principal Loren?”
Lankey chuckled and sighed as he spoke.
These days, he and Huperion often exchanged idle chatter. Outside class, they sometimes played with Frey, or relaxed in the Student Council chambers—a wide and comfortable haven.
Yet his words struck a hidden wound.
Huperion’s eyes flickered with a dim sorrow before quickly looking away, unwilling to let Lankey notice.
She merely lowered her head and gave a small nod.