Lucian followed the method Sellen had just demonstrated and attempted the casting himself.
The earlier stages went smoothly. After all, the process was no different from ordinary spellcasting.
But at the final step—when he tried to divide the magic, something went wrong.
With Lucian's current level of finesse in controlling magical power, he simply couldn't achieve the kind of effortless, flawless division that Sellen had performed on a fully formed spell structure.
And once an error occurred during the division, the entire construction of the spell would deviate, resulting in a failed release.
Sellen spoke softly to him.
"Apprentice, take it slow. There's no need to rush."
"The Academy of Raya Lucaria is an excellent place to practice. We have plenty of time for lessons."
"The truly top-tier sorcerers within the Academy are far stronger than the ones you just dealt with."
"In combat, they're no match for you—but in terms of sorcery, fighting them should yield quite a lot of insight."
"Just treat every sorcerer in the Academy as a learning opponent."
Lucian nodded. There really was no need to hurry—after all, the Academy's sorcerers weren't going anywhere.
He then moved forward, preparing to head toward the Church of the Cuckoo.
Passing through the small garden ahead, Lucian soon arrived at the two sorcerers' corpses.
Behind them stood the elegantly designed Church of the Cuckoo.
On the surface, the relationship between the Cuckoos and the Academy appeared stable enough.
The Cuckoos guarded the Academy throughout Liurnia, and in return the Academy had even built them a church.
But in the end, it was nothing more than a fragile alliance of mutual suspicion, each side harboring its own schemes.
The Church of the Cuckoo stood apart from the Academy proper, and the Cuckoos themselves were forbidden from entering the Academy.
Likewise, the Cuckoos treated the Academy's orders with clear indifference; the ones guarding the academy town at the gates were nothing more than reanimated soldiers.
Lucian glanced down over the edge of the staircase and found the area below swallowed by thick night fog, making it impossible to see what lay beneath.
Given that the Academy was built atop an isolated cliff, it was likely a bottomless abyss below.
He picked up the two sorcerers' corpses and tossed them over the edge, sending them plummeting into the void.
Just like that, the bodies were taken care of.
Lucian didn't push open the doors of the Church of the Cuckoo directly.
This time, he was here to infiltrate.
The difference in strength was far too great, doing it straightforwardly would be boring.
Much like how, after beating the game, one starts chasing no-hit clears… and after that, level-one runs with no upgrades…
Gripping the stone bricks and carved ornamentation on the church's outer wall, Lucian climbed along the exterior, making his way to the right side where the building jutted out over the cliff—something of a tribute to a certain legendary "stealth" game series.
There, enclosed by iron railings, was a small open-air platform with several stone coffins arranged upon it.
Lucian leapt in from the outside without alerting any of the sorcerers inside the church.
This was the area located behind the hidden door on the right side after entering the Church of the Cuckoo.
As if perfectly timed, a light rain began to fall over the Academy, lending the scene a peculiar atmosphere.
Lucian found himself inexplicably feeling the thrill of a rain-soaked night stalker slipping into an unsuspecting home.
Once he reached the area with the stone coffins, Lucian retrieved Sellen's physical body from his spatial disc and laid her gently atop one of the coffins.
To keep the rain from soaking her clothes completely, Lucian quickly removed the sorceress's robe from her body and stored it away the moment it came off.
He then returned Sellen's Primal Glintstone to its rightful place.
After a brief pause, Sellen's fingers twitched slightly, and she slowly sat up.
At the moment, she wasn't wearing her Witch's Glintstone Crown. The rain dampened her smooth, flowing hair just slightly, giving her an unexpectedly soft and gentle beauty.
Sellen sat upright on the stone coffin and gazed toward a nearby window that emitted a warm, gentle glow.
"Hah… it's been a long time, Raya Lucaria Academy…"
"And this place still loves rainy weather just as much as ever."
As if recalling something amusing, Sellen let out a quiet laugh.
"Fufu… they probably never imagined that the Witch would return to the Academy in this manner."
"Right now, those people are likely congratulating themselves for having dealt with the intruders—completely unaware that I've already come back…"
Lucian took out the glintstone crown, interrupting her murmuring.
Sellen's inner garments were thin to begin with. If she stayed in the rain any longer, they'd soon become difficult to look at.
"Teacher, don't you need to put the glintstone crown back on?"
"And… your clothes…"
Sellen glanced down at herself and immediately understood what Lucian was worried about.
"Though that glintstone crown was indeed a gift from my mentor, and something precious to me," she said calmly,
"I don't regard it as some supreme honor that must be worn at all times, unlike those Academy sorcerers."
"I wore it mainly to conceal my appearance."
"But now that you're here beside me, there's no need for that."
"Surely you won't allow your teacher to come to harm, will you?"
With that, Sellen accepted the sorcerer's robe from Lucian.
She turned her back to him, removed her damp inner clothing, and slipped on the outer robe.
Then she turned back around and tossed the inner garment—still stained with blood and rain, toward Lucian.
He reflexively reached out to catch it, only to realize a split second too late that this was… not exactly appropriate.
But his hand was already extended, leaving the garment hanging awkwardly from it.
"Uh… Teacher, what does this mean?"
Sellen tilted her head slightly, one finger resting against her chin, looking at him with an unreadable smile.
"Didn't you say this was a stealth operation?"
"A proper infiltration shouldn't leave any traces behind, should it?"
"My dear apprentice," Sellen continued with a teasing lilt,"you wouldn't want your little infiltration to be discovered, would you?"
"If that's the case, then be a good boy and put it away properly~"
"Besides, don't you have a way to store things anyway?"
Lucian shrugged, then casually tossed the garment over the railing.
Outside was nothing but sheer cliff. Thrown down there, it would leave no trace whatsoever.
Sellen had only been teasing him in passing and didn't really care how he handled it.
"Teacher," Lucian asked, "where do we go next?"
Sellen was undoubtedly familiar with every corner of the Academy of Raya Lucaria.
If so, then the route ahead was best left to her judgment.
She looked toward the second floor of the Church of the Cuckoo. She remembered that there was a corridor up there leading to a detached structure.
Nearby, she could faintly sense the lingering magical presence of her mentor—Master Azur.
Azur was no longer within the Academy, which meant what she was sensing must be something he had left behind.
"Apprentice," Sellen said, "let's go to the second floor of the church. There's a passage there that leads somewhere important."
At her words, Lucian also recalled that location.
If he remembered correctly, there was a Primeval sorcerer reduced to a glintstone mass there—as well as Azur's Glintstone Staff.
Approaching it from the outside should be fairly easy.
Having decided on the route, Lucian stepped closer to Sellen.
His sudden approach made her tense up instead—she briefly wondered if she might have gone too far with her teasing.
Lucian stopped in front of her and, without hesitation, wrapped his right arm around her waist.
"Teacher," he said calmly, "hold on tight. We're moving."
Pressed close to him, Sellen felt a sudden, inexplicable flutter of panic.
Before she could even process what Lucian was planning to do, her body reacted on instinct, her arms wrapping around him as instructed.
Seeing that she was ready, Lucian leapt up, stepping onto the railing, then pushed off hard—his foot leaving the iron bar as he launched himself into open air.
A roaring wind surged beneath them.
With the storm's assistance, they crossed the gap in an instant, landing atop a distant rooftop.
Sellen, a pure sorceress, had never experienced anything this thrilling—or terrifying.
Her composure shattered instantly. The calm confidence she'd worn moments ago vanished without a trace.
Her legs clamped tightly around Lucian's right leg, and she clung to him like an octopus.
And it was hardly surprising.
The Academy of Raya Lucaria stood upon towering cliffs that pierced the clouds; calling what lay beneath a "bottomless abyss" was no exaggeration.
As a sorcerer, Sellen had never once placed herself in such extreme danger.
Fortunately, she didn't cry out—otherwise, this infiltration would have ended right there.
After landing, Lucian immediately scanned their surroundings.
Thankfully, the nearby rooftops were empty—no Marionette Soldiers in sight.
The distant avian marionettes also failed to notice them.
Marionettes and their bird-like counterparts were little more than expendable fodder. On a rainy night like this, they had no chance of spotting someone from afar.
After a moment to steady herself, Sellen finally came back to her senses and loosened her grip, pulling her arms and legs away from Lucian.
Standing on the rooftop, her limbs were still slightly weak.
Only then did she realize she had completely lost her composure in front of her apprentice.
Embarrassed, she turned her gaze away, not daring to look in his direction.
Watching Sellen suddenly fall silent, Lucian couldn't help but laugh.
She had been the one teasing him nonstop earlier—yet after real physical closeness, she was the one who turned shy in an instant.
"Teacher," Lucian said lightly, "why did you let go so suddenly?"
Sellen glanced back at him briefly, then immediately turned away again.
"Cough… well, haven't we already arrived?"
Seeing her like this, Lucian felt a mischievous urge rise within him—a little counterattack, perhaps.
Smiling, he said,
"Teacher, we're only on the rooftop. We haven't gone down yet."
"There doesn't seem to be any stairs or passages leading down from here, does there?"
"Looks like the only option is to climb down from the edge… and break in through a window."
"Sigh… that's rather troublesome. After all, there's an abyss beneath us."
"If someone slips and falls… that'd be the end of it."
"Teacher, as a sorcerer, you wouldn't want to do something this dangerous, right?"
Sellen hadn't expected her own words to be thrown right back at her so quickly.
Grinding her teeth, she turned around and took the initiative, wrapping her arms around Lucian once more.
Pressed against his chest, she whispered softly,
"Apprentice… I didn't expect you to have such a mischievous side."
Lucian laughed happily.
"Haha, I have my teacher to thank for that."
Sellen lifted her head and shot him a glare that tried—and failed, to look fierce.
"Hmph—"
"Enough. Hurry up and get us down there."
Yet with her current posture, and the faint flush coloring her cheeks, there was nothing intimidating about her at all.