And so, Duanmu Huai entered Manaria Magic Academy as a student, beginning his studies in magic.
Of course, while he was studying, Lorena and Olgis weren't idle either. They traveled around Manaria to investigate the situation within the country.
Duanmu Huai discovered that in this era, most countries were essentially large city-states. Whether it was the Holy City or Manaria, both seemed to follow this model. Take the Holy City, for example — Todheim served as the nation's political center. It was a large city surrounded by walls, home to the majority of its population. From the Holy City, roads spread out in all directions like a spider's web, branching into agricultural zones for crop cultivation, mining areas for mineral extraction, and so on. Each of these zones had gathering points in the form of small towns.
In short, this era's nations were basically a large central city plus several towns forming a city-state.
Manaria was the same, except it had two cores — Manaria Magic Academy and the royal capital, existing as two separate cities facing each other from a distance. The towns and areas in between these two cities made up Manaria's total territory.
Compared to the Holy City, Manaria's territory was somewhat larger, though not by much.
Olgis and Lorena's task was to investigate Manaria's situation — whether society was stable, what stage of development it was in, and what would be required if the Holy City were to engage in trade with it. Since Lorena was a missionary priestess of the Church, it naturally fell to her to handle such matters.
Meanwhile, Duanmu Huai remained in the Magic Academy, learning magic.
Manaria's magical knowledge was quite extensive, and their magic had unique features. For example, there was a technique called "Mana Amplification," which was very interesting. This technique allowed a mage to reduce the cost of a high-level spell by repeatedly casting lesser spells beforehand.
In card game terms, if a large spell cost 100 [Mana Points], the caster could repeatedly use small, fast-cast spells, and "Mana Amplification" would lower the cost of that large spell — potentially even to zero.
Simply put, the caster could use small spells in the early stages to build up amplification, then unleash multiple high-cost spells instantly for zero cost, overwhelming the opponent.
There was also another technique called "Earth Secret Arts." This was a more defensive, steady approach — by refining "Fragments of the Earth," one could steadily increase attack and defense to ensure stable performance throughout battle.
Of course, both had pros and cons. "Mana Amplification" lacked early power, making it easy to be defeated before the buildup was complete, but if the late game was reached, it could deliver devastating bursts. In contrast, "Earth Secret Arts" lacked explosive late-game power but kept the caster in a strong position throughout.
Duanmu Huai hesitated at first but ultimately chose "Mana Amplification." After all, he wasn't worried about a lack of defense or firepower early on — maybe the frail mages of the Academy needed to worry about that, but not him.
Here, Duanmu Huai once again experienced the long-lost feeling of campus life.
Yes, campus life — just like before.
At first, wherever Duanmu Huai went, he caused a stir. There was even an incident where he went to borrow books from the library and was mistaken by students for a rampaging magic construct. Later, once everyone learned he was an envoy from the Holy City, such misunderstandings stopped — though few dared to speak with him.
His height alone was intimidating, and combined with his armor — even more so without the helmet — most people preferred to keep their distance.
But Duanmu Huai was long past the sentimental age of youth and didn't mind.
Besides, it wasn't as if he had no friends.
"Ah, found you, Mr. Knight!"
Sitting in his chair reading, Duanmu Huai looked up to see a brown-haired girl in the Academy uniform running toward him excitedly with a friend in tow.
"You really are here, I guessed right."
"Well, I couldn't be bothered to move."
He chuckled as he answered, looking at the brown-haired girl — none other than Princess Anne of Manaria, whom they had met shortly after arriving.
Perhaps due to her status as a princess, Anne was attentive to Duanmu Huai and the others, and over time, they became acquainted. To Duanmu Huai, Anne was lively, cheerful, a little clumsy, yet intelligent and friendly — reputedly the strongest mage in Manaria, which didn't surprise him.
Following behind Anne was a short-haired, crimson-haired girl with a charming face. But anyone's first glance would be drawn not to her face, but to the long, thick tail emerging from beneath her skirt and the bright red wings on her back.
This was Anne's friend, Gureya.
Anne had explained that Gureya came from Regnis, the Dragon Kingdom on another continent of Manaria. She was a half-dragon, her father the king of Regnis, who had fallen in love with a human, leading to Gureya's birth and her enrollment in Manaria.
Compared to Anne's bright and clumsy personality, Gureya was more introverted and less talkative. Most of the time, Anne did the talking while Gureya listened.
But Duanmu Huai had seen her before.
It was during the soul resonance — he had witnessed a battle between humans and dragons, where Gureya descended from the sky. She had seemed slightly older then, but otherwise much the same.
So, the princess who led humans to defeat the dragons was Anne?
He frowned slightly at the thought. Just by looking at the two chatting happily now, it was hard to imagine they would one day be at war.
Moreover, he sensed some contradictions.
According to Anne, humans and dragons were not exactly close but weren't hostile either. Yet in his vision, Gureya looked barely older than she did now, meaning that battle wasn't far in the future.
Why would such a war break out between humans and dragons?
"Mr. Knight? Mr. Knight!!"
Lost in thought, Duanmu Huai didn't notice Anne speaking to him. Seeing him ignore her, she reached out to wave in front of him — but their height difference was so great that even jumping and waving couldn't reach his chin. Frustrated, she pointed her finger and fired a flash of light at his face.
"Heyah!"
The flash startled Duanmu Huai, bringing him back to his senses. Anne was pouting at him.
"What were you thinking about? You keep zoning out."
"Sorry, just thinking about other things… my apologies."
"That's better. We're two beautiful girls keeping you company, you know. It's rude to zone out."
She nodded in satisfaction at his answer.
"So… where were we?"
"Right before — I still wanted to hear your story, Mr. Knight."
"My story, huh…"
He chuckled. Of course, he wasn't spending time here for nothing. At first, to liven things up, Anne had asked him to share his adventures. Being princesses, she and Gureya rarely experienced such things, so they were curious about the life of an adventurer.
Duanmu Huai didn't mind. In the game, he had gone through countless adventures, many worth sharing. Naturally, he also told them about the [Chaos Gods] — since one day they would fight alongside him against them, knowing more could only help.
They were both enthusiastic listeners, and it had become their daily routine to gather during breaks to hear his tales.
"So, where did we leave off yesterday?"
"The Smurfs couldn't return home, so they built a second Empire!"
"There's no such thing as a second Empire."
He rolled his eyes. You can't just say that — the loyal Smurfs have no secrets.
"Alright, let's continue then…"
As he spoke, his eyes flicked to the wall nearby. Behind it, a humanoid heat signature appeared — none other than Owen, Anne's bodyguard, whom Duanmu Huai had met before.
Seriously, Princess… why does your bodyguard act like a stalker?