Chapter 358: Hour of Disappointment

Solomon left the Technomagic wing, passing by the sprawling outdoor training arenas. While walking across a raised glass bridge connecting two faculty buildings, he happened to glance down into an open courtyard. He spotted Elizabeth quickly entering a closed, specialized training chamber.

’What is she doing in there?’ Solomon wondered. ’Is she looking for me?’

Solomon felt something in his chest he had never felt before. He wanted to know what she was doing.

Curious, he vaulted over the railing of the glass bridge. Utilizing his Basic Parkour, he dropped down the side of the building, bouncing off a stone pillar to break his fall, and landed smoothly on the courtyard grass. He followed the path Elizabeth had taken and quietly approached the rune-etched doors of the training chamber.

He peeked through the small observation window set into the door. Inside, Elizabeth was standing in the center of a circular room lined with massive clay pots filled to the brim with water. The walls were covered in waterproof, magical dampening tiles designed to absorb stray spells.

Elizabeth was taking private magic lessons from Madam Alfoy.

Solomon stood by the door and watched them. ’I completely forgot she was a mage,’ he thought to himself. ’I am curious to see her magical prowess. I have literally never seen her cast a single spell before. She always just uses her rapier.’

He listened closely as Madam Alfoy guided her through the arcane theories, correcting her posture and explaining how to channel mana through her meridian pathways rather than relying on physical muscle tension.

Elizabeth listened intently, nodding and trying her absolute best to follow the instructions.

She closed her eyes, took a deep breath, and began to conjure a spell.

The water resting inside the nearby clay pots began to tremble. Slowly, streams of clear liquid rose into the air, swirling together in the center of the room to form a perfectly spherical ball of hovering water. For a brief second, the spell looked perfectly stable.

But just a second later, the spherical shape violently lost its cohesion. The magic collapsed entirely, and the water splashed uselessly onto the tiled floor.

Elizabeth let out a frustrated sigh, her shoulders slumping as she stared at the puddle of failure.

"There is no need to be so frustrated, Elizabeth," Madam Alfoy reassured her, stepping forward to pat the girl’s shoulder. "Learning to control pure water magic is undeniably one of the toughest arcane disciplines in existence. Ninety-nine out of a hundred mages completely give up on learning elemental magic if they awaken a pure water affinity."

Solomon watched the exchange, processing the implications. ’So she is a pure water mage. That is definitely going to be tough for her.’

In the magical hierarchy of the realms, pure water magic was generally looked down upon by combat-oriented guilds and militant academies. The primary reason was not that water lacked destructive potential, but rather that its fluid, formless nature made it incredibly difficult to control and weaponize effectively in a high-speed battle.

Fire could be easily condensed into explosive projectiles. Similarly, earth could be raised as solid, impenetrable shields, and lightning provided instantaneous, lethal strikes. Water, however, required immense, constant mental focus just to maintain its shape, let alone forcefully propel it at an enemy.

Because of this inherent difficulty, the vast majority of mages who awakened a water affinity chose to abandon the pure element entirely.

They would spend years studying specialized arcane courses, desperately trying to artificially modify their core attributes to learn Ice Arts instead. By freezing the water, they could bypass the fluid control issues, utilizing the ice to forge solid weapons, sharp projectiles, and sturdy defensive walls.

However, successfully modifying an innate core affinity was a dangerous process that not everyone could survive or afford. Those who failed to convert to Ice Arts and remained stuck with pure water magic were frequently frowned upon, mocked by their peers, and relegated to low-tier support roles or basic healing duties.

’She is trying to master the pure element instead of taking the easy way out with ice,’ Solomon realized, feeling a surge of respect for her stubborn determination. ’I don’t know the reason, but it seems she wants to master water magic only.’

He didn’t want to interrupt her intense training session, so he quietly backed away from the door and made his way toward the Grandmaster’s office.

Just as he reached the main ground-floor junction connecting the academic wings, Solomon’s path was abruptly blocked. He was instantly surrounded by a massive crowd of students. Some were familiar faces from his theory class, while others were older students he had never seen before.

Solomon stopped walking, resting his hands in his pockets. He glanced around the hostile circle. "What is the meaning of this? Are you guys here for my autograph? Because I do not give them out."

The crowd parted slightly. The arrogant C-rank noble boy from the theory class stepped out into the front. He was covered in white bandages and glowing healing patches, though his bruises were mostly healed thanks to the academy’s advanced medical facilities.

"You made a mistake touching me, commoner," the C-rank noble sneered, pointing a bandaged finger at Solomon. "I am a high-born noble. And today, you are going to pay in blood for your unforgivable arrogance."

Solomon simply could not believe it. His disappointment in the sheer stupidity of the aristocracy was immeasurable, but his day was certainly not ruined.

"You do know that I just spent the last few weeks fighting elite cultist assassins who were infinitely more powerful and skilled than your little playground gang, right?" Solomon asked the C-rank noble, offering a pitying sigh. "Do you really think you guys can even so much as touch me?"

The C-rank noble laughed mockingly. "It does not matter how strong you think you are! You absolutely cannot fight against dozens of us at the exact same time! I gathered one hundred students for this! All of them hail from my kingdom, and all of them are senior second-year and third-year disciples! They are all from prestigious noble houses, and they are highly trained and incredibly skilled in advanced combat! And you are a filthy commoner who just got lucky. It doesn’t make you special. Know your place! A commoner will always be a commoner!"

Solomon decided to play dumb just to provoke them further. "Wait, I am confused. What does being a noble have to do with any of this? Did you not state in class that an individual’s limit and potential is determined by their talent rank?"

He smirked from the corner of his lips. "So how come these guys are suddenly considered stronger and more skilled just because of their noble titles? And did you conveniently forget that I officially possess an SSS-rank talent? Even if there happens to be a hidden S-rank senior standing among your little mob, by your own logic, they cannot do anything to stop me."

The C-rank noble’s face flushed a furious shade of red. He realized his own elitist logic was being used to mock him again. "It is one SSS-rank talent versus one hundred high-ranking talents!" he shouted desperately. "Get him! Whoever manages to injure him the most will be officially invited to join my family’s inner faction!"

With that pathetic bounty declared, the one hundred senior students lunged at him simultaneously. They aggressively activated their various innate talents, lighting up the junction with a chaotic, blinding display of magical auras and elemental spells.

Solomon decided not to draw Eden’s Penance. Unleashing the S-rank holy relic against a crowd of students would be overkill, and he didn’t want to accidentally bisect a hundred nobles and trigger an international diplomatic crisis.

He simply cracked his knuckles and relied entirely on his bare hands.

The ensuing brawl was uncoordinated chaos.