Merlin couldn’t find the right words to characterize the disturbance that stormed his brain at Lee Jaehyun’s reveal. And it seemed he wasn’t the only one, because every single person in the css gasped.

  It was apparent that they too had come to the conclusion that gravity was one powerhouse of a Hex to have. And that was not the crux of it all either; after all, it was none other than the S-Css Mage, who was also the grandson of the president of South Korea, and the son of the Guildmaster of one of the top five guilds in the country, the Tiger Guild, who had this Hex?

  Merlin took back his words. If the boy had no real friends, then that was probably the universe trying to even the pyground for peasants like him.

  What was up with the boy having so many great things at his disposal? Life really was unfair.

  One thing fshed into Merlin’s mind at that moment, however, and it was how his Reader Mage Perk would fare against something like gravity.

  It was already absurd that something such as that could be controlled by a Mage—Merlin had never heard of it being possible before now, and it had not been an ability that had been present in Singurity Mage, at least not in all the parts he’d read—it would be even more crazy if he was really able to deconstruct something like that.

  Merlin felt a burning desire to test his theory out. But, not even considering that gravity was one overpowered Hex, Lee Jaehyun was an S-Css Mage. He was certain that he would be lucky to get away with just a broken arm if he tried deconstructing a spell from the boy. At least, in his current state.

  “Gravity, huh?” Professor Dmitri Volkov continued as he nudged his gsses onto the bridge of his nose, despite it not giving off any sign that it was about to fall. “And what do you know about it at the moment? The mechanics behind it, if I should be precise.”

  Merlin was curious about that as well, as it would prove to be helpful to him. Which was why he instantly shelved every single thought brewing in his head and listened attentively.

  If a Mage could control gravity, then he couldn’t rule out the possibility of a monster out there being the same. All information was welcome.

  Lee Jaehyun gnced at his palm and his shoulders lowered slightly. “Not much, professor,” the boy replied. “It’s a rather complicated Hex, and I’ve been unable to really figure out much about it.”

  “I see,” Professor Dmitri folded his arms. “Let’s hear about what you’ve figured out then.”

  Merlin furrowed his brows, not at Lee Jaehyun’s reply, but Professor Dmitri’s kind of pushy tone. He wondered if it had just been his ears, but the man had sounded like he, as well, had never heard of the existence of a gravity Hex. Surely, that was impossible, right? Was Lee Jaehyun really a one in a million kind of Mage?

  Lee Jaehyun sighed. He then gnced around the css, before sighing one more time. Merlin had seen that look before. It was the same one Chima had worn when Professor Jung had asked him a question back during the physical assessment. If Merlin was to cssify it, it was a look someone had when they disliked the attention.

  He’d always felt like Lee Jaehyun gave off a sort of different air compared to the kind people born with golden spoons were meant to—Choi Sangook, for example—but now he was certain.

  He was curious about the boy.

  “From what we know about Construction, our mana serves as a link between the elements that make up what we control,” Lee Jaehyun started. Professor Dmitri nodded. “My mana, however, works differently. Since gravity is a force that comes as a result of the attraction between two objects, and force doesn’t have any known elements—well, chemical elements that are composed of atoms—I can’t construct it like a Fire Mage might construct the elements that make up fire.” He took a break.

  “Go on,” Professor Dmitri urged.

  “What I do, then, is turn my mana into some sort of opposition or counter to that force, depending on what spell I want to cast,” Lee Jaehyun continued. “One of my spells, float, for example, functions by my mana serving as a sheath that interferes with the Earth’s gravitational field acting on an object. What this sheath does is redirect the lines of force, like water flowing around a rock, which prompts the object I’m casting the spell on to become a sort of distortion in the gravitational field of the Earth, so its pull doesn’t directly apply anymore, or, at least, not to the degree that it should. This is what causes the object to float to a certain extent.”

  The css fell silent, stunned by the detailed expnation they had received from Lee Jaehyun. Merlin was no different. His mind had fallen into some sort of weird coalescence of thoughts, trying to piece together what he understood from what the boy had said, and what he had completely missed.

  What he did realize, though, was that Lee Jaehyun used his mana kind of in the same way he did with Reader Mage. He wondered if that meant he too could control gravity, but he recalled the recap of the lectures Nora had done for him back in the library. Mana were sentient beings, and each mana was imbued with the branding of a singur Hex, like a newborn baby being given a name. In practicality, anyone would be able to use their mana the way Lee Jaehyun used his, but it wouldn’t work, because their mana was not imprinted with the Hex: gravity.

  Merlin was no different.

  Something else bothered him, though, and he didn’t realize when he’d opened his mouth until after…

  “Isn’t that basically Construction and Creation being used at the same time?” he asked, breaking his promise with Professor Dmitri, as everyone’s gaze fshed in his direction—the professor included.

  Bollocks…

  He was definitely going to be sent out. And just when things were getting interesting.

  “What do you mean? It’s impossible to use both Construction and Creation. Isn’t that the whole reason for the two courses being separate from each other?” Oh Jihye was the one to ask, and the first to speak up amongst the flurry of eyes upon him.

  Merlin wondered why Professor Dmitri was yet to gesture for him to leave with a roar, and was confused if that meant he could answer Oh Jihye’s question.

  But if no one was sending him out, then he was not going to shy away from participating. Thankfully, he had covered a bit on the topic of Construction and Creation already with Nora, so he would not sound completely lost. And even if he did, he was already a ughing stock just because of his presence, it wasn’t going to change anything. In fact, answering correctly would do well for his pride.

  “Construction deals with tinkering with the existing features of something, while Creation is basically creating those features from scratch,” Merlin began, stealing a side gnce at Professor Dmitri who only nudged his gsses upwards. “He’s kind of doing both if we think about it on a deeper level. He’s creating a sheath with his mana, emphasis on the ‘creating’ I mentioned, which he then uses to tinker with the existing features of gravity, the concepts that make up the lines of forces that come together to bring about its existence.” Oh Jihye blinked. Merlin wondered if she wasn’t understanding him. “You know, things like magnitude, direction—”

  “I know what you mean,” she cut in, visibly displeased that he had thought of her as dumb—maybe dumber than him, because she had not sounded so angry when Lee Jaehyun had been expining things to her before.

  Well, it didn’t matter.

  Merlin cleared his throat. “That’s what I meant when I said he’s using both Construction and Creation at the same time.”

  “That actually makes sense,” a student noted, turning to his seatmate—perhaps, even friend—as they murmured between themselves, dissecting Merlin’s information. And, like a virus, their act spread throughout the css; every other person did the same.

  Oh Jihye, on the other hand, folded her arms, still shooting Merlin some sort of appraising stare that he wasn’t exactly appreciative of, so he turned away, hoping to escape it. But then he met Professor Dmitri’s instead. He decided to settle with looking towards the cssroom’s window.

  “Ugh… Will you all shut your traps already?!” Choi Sangook bellowed, angrily cutting through the ruckus that had ensued. “Gravity this, gravity that. What’s so special about it?” He turned over his seat and shot a gre at Lee Jaehyun. “Doesn’t matter if one can control the universe itself, everything can be frozen. Don’t be getting all smug, you hear me? You’re not special.”

  All of a sudden, the air was doused in a stifling tension, and every student present wasn’t exactly sure why.

  Merlin, however, had a guess—well, two guesses. Choi Sangook mentioning the fact that anything could be frozen in particur, gave Merlin the idea that the boy was certainly an Ice Mage. And, as for his second guess, there was no way the sons of the top five guilds were not without some sort of enmity between each other. Running a guild was still a business after all. Their parents were definitely rivals, which would automatically be the same for their kids.

  Thankfully, before the battle of gres could escate any further, the bell rang, signifying the end of the css.

  “That’ll be all for today,” said Professor Dmitri as he packed up his things. “All of you who didn’t have the chance to talk about your Hex, you’ll do so in our next css. Before then, I suggest you do a bit of research on what you can and can’t do; I’ll be asking questions. And, Choi Sangook, no freezing in my css. Be warned.”

  Choi Sangook sneered, but didn’t say anymore. He was being rather attentive of his professors. Merlin appreciated that. It showed that the boy could be put on a leash by those in authority. He didn’t even want to imagine what it would have been like if that was impossible.

  Satisfied, Professor Dmitri left the css, but not without sending one st gnce Merlin’s way, causing a shiver to crawl down the Deficient Mage’s spine.

  Merlin instantly had second thoughts about attending the man’s next css.