Magical Cat

"Li En, are you alright?"

The sudden noise startled Elaine.

She was still a little unaccustomed to calling Li En by his name, but under Li En's strong insistence, she could only obediently do so.

"Did you eat something bad?" Elaine asked worriedly.

Although magical beasts rely solely on magic to survive and do not need to eat or drink, that doesn't mean Li En won't eat random things.

These past few days, when Li En went to the cafeteria, he would always try some of Elaine's dishes, but he would only take a small bite each time.

Li En waved his paws, indicating that he was alright.

He hadn't expected that carefully examining the contents of his notes would consume so much of his mental energy.

But to be fair, this notebook is truly a treasure, as it records such detailed insights and experiences regarding magical beast training.

Even a basic introductory spell has been explained in such detail, as if they were afraid that some magical beasts wouldn't understand it.

Li En first shifted his attention away from his notes and took a breather.

The notes explain in detail how to learn the Wood Spike Magic, and with Li En's intelligence, it shouldn't be difficult as long as he follows the instructions.

For Li En, mastering magic and completing missions is the top priority.

He can look at the rest of his insights and experiences regarding skills later.

After running with Elaine, the two of them went to class.

Li En still couldn't understand the lessons, but he needed to study on his own.

Today's lecturer was an old man wearing reading glasses. His voice was so soothing that it made people drowsy, and the content was incredibly boring.

Li En only listened to a couple of sentences before he couldn't help but yawn.

Fortunately, the old scholar didn't seem to have any problem with Elaine. He just went about his class on his own when it was time and didn't make things difficult for Elaine like Ms. Flint had done before.

This kind of teacher is already considered a great person in this magic academy.

Elaine listened intently to the old scholar's lecture, her eyes sparkling with the thirst for knowledge unique to academic achievers.

But the others weren't as focused as Elaine.

Magical knowledge is inherently obscure and difficult to understand, and coupled with the old scholar's soporific teaching style, even these top-notch magical apprentices couldn't withstand it.

Li En noticed that some people were chewing on some kind of herb while listening to the lecture, or taking out a bottle and smelling the gas inside.

These all seem like methods to perk you up, but they don't seem to hold up for long in the dry, scholarly tone of the old man, and you have to repeat each method every few minutes.

"Being a magician is truly not something an ordinary person can do."

After complaining, Li En crawled under Elaine's table and began to study on his own.

In fact, the principles of magic in this world are mostly the same: attracting elements, then guiding and arranging them in a specific order to achieve the desired effect.

Li En had previously assisted Elaine in casting elemental ball spells, so he was not unfamiliar with her.

Following the instructions in the notebook, he began to gather elements and attempt to cast a spell.

But things didn't go smoothly at first. The elements attracted by Li En were like naughty children who wouldn't listen to him at all.

Even if Li En concentrates his mind and makes the elements move according to his will, they will still run around randomly.

At times like these, he needs to appease each element and make them obediently listen to him.

This made Li En feel like a kindergarten teacher, having to manage a group of energetic but disobedient children.

The more powerful a magician is, the more powerful a kindergarten teacher they are, able to command even the most unruly and mischievous elemental children.

Thinking this way, Li En did not feel discouraged. Instead, she felt that each element was a unique child and tried to understand them more.

With this mindset, Li En felt he was getting closer to the elements more quickly.

At first, the elements seemed to only fear Li En as a dignified adult.

But now, the elements seem willing to get closer to Li En little by little and begin to understand him.

Lee Eun closed her eyes and focused intently on guiding the elements, unaware that a smile was gradually appearing on her face.

Gradually, he was able to sense the emotions of the elements.

Strangeness, suspicion, fear, curiosity, enthusiasm, friendliness...

A mix of different emotions, each element with its own thoughts.

If Li En wants to cast a spell, he needs to guide enough elements to follow his lead.

Guiding elements requires consuming magic power within the body, but thanks to the Magic Perception skill, Li En can recover some of his magic power during the casting process, which makes things much easier for him.

"We need to select a group of obedient children first..."

After an unknown amount of time, Li En suddenly had a thought.

Before he knew it, he had become able to command enough elements.

Li En quietly suppressed his excitement and then began to guide the elements to cast a spell.

This time, the obedient elements acted according to Li En's wishes, and the magic was successfully cast.

"Wooden spikes."

Li En muttered a word to himself, and the next moment a wooden splinter about the length of a finger emerged from the classroom floor, its sharp point exposed.

"Meow~"

"It's a success!"

✪ω✪

Li En was thrilled to have successfully cast a spell for the first time.

But at that moment, the old scholar who was lecturing coughed and reminded, "Pay attention to the lecture and don't fidget."

Li En immediately covered her mouth, blinking her big eyes.

He was a little excited and couldn't help but make a sound.

Elaine blushed and tried to wiggle Li En with her foot, but he dodged her every time.

"Did they hear a sound, or did they sense that I had cast a spell?"

Li En climbed up Elaine's clothes and into her arms.

Elaine maintained a serious expression of listening attentively and taking notes, but under the table, she patted Li En's bottom to make him behave.

Li En, thick-skinned as ever, assumed Elaine was giving him a massage.

He quietly poked half his head out from under the table and looked at the old scholar on the podium with one eye.

The old scholar merely offered a reminder before continuing his lecture, seemingly without intending to pursue the matter further.

Li En breathed a sigh of relief, thinking that the old man was a pretty good person.

But when he looked up, he met Elaine's reproachful gaze.

Li En chuckled and pretended to be cute to get away with it.

After snuggling in Elaine's arms for a while and getting a couple of pats on the bottom, Li En finally climbed down contentedly.

Looking at the small splinters he had made on the ground, Li En felt a surge of pride.

"Now I'm a magical beast that can use magic too."

"To be able to cast magic even in a juvenile form, that must be pretty impressive."

Although the splinter was small, Li En felt a great sense of accomplishment.

At that moment, a new prompt appeared on the task panel in Li En's mind.

[Mission complete, active skill learned: Eye of Quantification (Silver)]

Li En was thrilled. Today, he not only learned his first spell, but also mastered his first active skill.