Logan jumped over the table reaching the young noble in a near instant.
He pulled the sleeve of the noble and drove his face into the table.
The young man's face collided with the table and let out a loud crack followed by a scream.
"Aaaaahhhhh! My nose! You broke my nose!" The noble yelled at Logan as soon as he rose his head.
His nose was crooked and had a two streams of crimson liquid pouring out of both nostrils.
"Come, let's go" Some people said as they took him out of the cafeteria and to what Logan guessed was the hospital.
The latter picked up his steak and placed it one another plate.
Everyone still had their attention on him and watched as he started eating until he finished and left.
****
In the forest surrounding the academy, a mass of black flames suddenly appeared.
It burned at everything, not even leaving ash or smoke behind.
The mass slowly coalesced to form a humanoid figure.
The figure compressed until the flames dispersed to reveal Aaron with burnt and damaged clothes that revealed his bruised body.
"That was close" He sighed aloud as soon as he appeared.
His figure was pale and he no longer appeared as indomitable as before.
"That spell took a whole lot out of me. Good thing he didn't know about it otherwise things would have gotten sticky" Aaron muttered as he sat on the charred smoky ground.
He appeared lost in thought when he noticed something was different.
He looked at the ground around him and noticed the small blades of grass that were starting to grow.
Trees grew in a near instant and flowers started to bloom and in less than a minute, Aaron was in the midst of a very colorful flora.
"Why must you ruin the grounds of the academy now that it's my turn to be the headmaster?" A familiar voice asked Aaron.
The latter turned around and saw a man descending with wings made of water.
"Ah. Victor, long time no see" Aaron patted the ground beside him for Victor to sit.
Victor shook his head and waved his hand.
A wooden plant grew and died rapidly, creating a seat on which Victor sat.
Ignoring Victor's plain refusal, Aaron closed his eyes to rest as much as possible.
"I guess it didn't go as planned" Victor humored at Aaron's expense.
"Things rarely go as planned when I'm involved" Aaron sighed, "Did you tell him? The third one?" Aaron opened one of his eyes to look at Victor.
"If by the third one you mean the Rune Magus then no, I didn't" Victor answered still studying the damage on Aaron's body.
"He already knows" Victor completed causing Aaron's eyes to widen, "Come on. You know how he is. Why didn't you try to hide it?" Aaron complained as he laid down.
"Now he's going to give me a hard time. As if teaching this year's battle class was not enough" Aaron mumbled much to Victor's amusement.
"I am the powerful and feared Death Magus. Why am I so unlucky?" He continued to whine and complain.
"Well even if I wanted to hide it, I couldn't. Not only is he the most powerful amongst the three of us but the wisest. He would have seen right past my tricks" Victor explained his standing.
"Soul King… He… It is different" Aaron suddenly spoke in a serious tone.
"It is growing far past our expectations. Consuming an innumerable amount of souls and that FUCKING EMPEROR IS AIDING IT!!!" Aaron yelled the last part causing darkness to surge out of him due to his emotions.
Victor watched with a sigh how the darkness released corroded the vegetation he had just replaced.
"Speaking of nasty surprises, why didn't you inform me of the kid with the white hair? I mean no streaks? You know how students can be" Victor questioned Aaron who appeared confused.
"I think I remember him. He was the kid whose assessment went horribly wrong and although his scalp was burned, I think I remember seeing a few white strands. He has no streaks? Strange" Aaron replied as soon as he remembered.
"Horribly wrong? Burned scalp? How? What happened?" Victor leaned in ready to learn as much as he could.
If anyone saw them, two of the three great magi gossiping, they would lose their minds.
"And I went back through the portal. The only reason I was even called was due to my proximity to the place" Aaron relayed to take to Victor.
"I mean I knew Soul King had interfered with one of the beasts but to think that it'll be that bad. A D-rank beast with A-rank prowess" Victor mumbled and was about to speak when a buzz interrupted him.
He brought out his tablet and checked the details.
"A couple of first year students got into a fight" He answered Aaron's silent question.
"On the day of their orientation. I remember when I did the same" The latter laughed out his heart.
Victor ignored him, summoned his water wings and flew off.
****
Logan was in his room sitting cross legged and taking in deep measured breaths.
On his way back from the cafeteria, he had made a stop at the academy's library and after surfing around for a while, he had found what he was looking for.
Mana Core Cultivation
The book contained a technique that involved absorbing mana from the environment in a controlled manner.
The absorbed mana would be used to stimulate the mana core to have a breakthrough.
With each breath, he absorbed more mana and forced it into his mana core.
The mana core naturally rejected most of the energy but it assimilated some and that was the main point.
It slowly assimilated more and more until it couldn't.
Logan stopped the technique and wondered what he was to do next when a blinding pain shot through him.
He grit his teeth as it felt as though his vertebrae was about to explode but no matter how much the pain increased, he didn't shout.
He had gone through far worse pain and so he endured until the pain subsided.
A wave of new high quality mana surged through his body.
He was now an E-rank mage.
But before he could rest, his tablet vibrated.
He looked at it and written in red was.
[REPORT TO THE HEADMASTER'S OFFICE IMMEDIATELY!!!]