I turned the heavy iron key, locking the door to my room in the Annex Manor. Collapsing into a wooden chair that groaned in protest, my body trembled. It wasn't just the lingering physical weakness; it was the sheer, mind-numbing magnitude of the "fraud" the previous Adrian had orchestrated.
"System," I commanded, my voice flat. "Display personal status. Immediately."
[Ding!]
[Current Data Interface]
Name: Adrian Faulkner
Title: The Trash Professor
Level/Rank: No Magic Circles (Destroyed)
Mana: 10 (Critical Deficit) [5% Pathways Unlocked]
Skills: None
I stared at the translucent blue text, a bitter sneer tugging at my lips. "The original Adrian possessed only a single, pathetic magic circle. A rank so shameful it wouldn't even qualify him as an entry-level student. So how, exactly, did he become a professor?"
The filthy memories flooded in, connecting the data points. Adrian had weaponized the "Faulkner" name and his father's ducal authority, funneling massive bribes to Academy officials to forge his academic records. On paper, he was hailed as a 4th-Circle magical genius. In reality, he was an empty husk who hadn't opened a textbook in his life.
Because of this elaborate forgery, he entered the Royal Magic Academy as a professor, yet taught his students absolutely nothing. He spent his lectures spewing hollow insults and completely ignoring the curriculum. It was an unsustainable equation, and the result was inevitable: Class 9 had filed a massive, collective complaint against him.
With an official investigation committee breathing down his neck, Adrian had panicked. Terrified of exposure and expulsion, he committed his final, suicidal blunder. He turned to the black market, purchasing a 'Phantom Mana Elixir' from Dark Mages. His plan? Chug the elixir, project a fake 4th-Circle aura during a public evaluation, and secure his position.
But his frail vessel couldn't handle the synthetic pressure. Instead of projecting a fake aura, the violent energy imploded, violently rupturing his single magic circle and sending him into a fatal breakdown.
"A fraud who tried to cheat expulsion with an elixir, only to end up a shattered wreck," I muttered, my gaze falling upon the crumpled complaint petition on the desk. "One week. Deliver a public lecture to prove your competence, or face a disgraceful expulsion."
In the original novel, [Rise of the Elemental Monarch], this expulsion was merely the prologue to his execution in Volume Two. I remembered the exact scene: A rainy night. Adrian sprinting down a narrow alleyway, cornered by the very Dark Mages he had dealt with. They didn't kill him for money; they killed him because he was a liability who knew too much. They used a forbidden spell, Soul Erosion. I could almost see the memory of his flesh turning to ash, his pathetic screams echoing in the dark. That was how the fraud's story ended.
[Ding! Introductory Quest Activated]
Quest: Pathway Stabilization (Restorative Meditation)
Objective: Enter a state of deep meditation for the duration of the night to stabilize the newly unlocked 5% mana pathways and prevent total collapse.
Reward: Skill Activation - [Analytical Vision]
Penalty for Failure: Sudden Death (Resulting from pathway rupture and internal mana detonation).
[Skill Details: Analytical Vision]
Description: A foundational skill that overlays the physical world with geometric data and kinetic vectors.
Application: Allows the user to calculate attack trajectories, predict enemy movements before they occur, and identify mathematically perfect angles of evasion.
I smiled. It was a cold, calculating smirk, completely ignoring the agonizing burn creeping up my chest.
"The equation is perfectly clear," I whispered, slowly crossing my legs on the wooden floor. "I just need to convert this 5% from a burning chaotic anomaly... into a stable, unbreakable conduit."