First Move, Checkmate: How Will You Respond?

Erica’s harassment was to be expected, and Victor realized it quickly. He did not plan on sitting idly by.

Just then, the bell suddenly rang and Victor smiled at her.

“If there are any issues, we can discuss them next class.”

He had finished teaching and his performance was decent enough that no one could pick out any flaws. There was no need to complicate things at this point.

Erica was unwilling to go along with Victor’s wishes and persisted, “As far as I know, professors have a duty to answer students’ questions when asked.”

“Of course, if your professor title is merely gilded and you’re just pretending, then you need not answer me.”

Her aggressive questioning did not upset those around her. Rather, they became more eager to see how Victor would respond.

“How rude.”

Victor held his forehead and sighed. In a place full of industry insiders like this, his grudge with Erica was common knowledge.

Everyone knew about him harassing an underage girl, so they were naturally eager to see the two clash.

Maybe with this opportunity to gain first-hand material, tomorrow’s headline would already have a title.

Victor did not want to let this group have their way, otherwise he would become the new laughing stock of the academy or even society.

Of course, he would not let that happen.

But he also did not want Erica to embarrass him in front of so many people.

He had to teach her a small lesson, at the very least.

Victor did not back down from Erica’s questioning. His face darkened as he pointed at the desk in front of him, enunciating each word, “This is my classroom, my rules, and what I say goes.”

“Also, if you’re trying to morally strong-arm me with a professor title, I advise you to abandon that thought immediately.”

Victor looked up, a hint of disdain in his cold gaze.

“I refuse to answer you.”

Having said that, he prepared to leave the classroom. But he had barely lifted his foot when the surroundings started becoming blurry, flashing by in streaks of blue light.

When he came to, he was back at the lectern.

Victor focused his eyes and saw a faint blue magical circle flickering.

“A teleportation circle…”

“I didn’t expect her to set this up at the door.”

Erica watched Victor with a proud yet disdainful expression, as if wanting him to reveal some panic and cowardice for her to enjoy.

Then she said to Victor, “This is the question I wanted to ask.”

“If Professor Victor cannot answer, then you cannot leave.”

Those around them widened their eyes in shock upon seeing this.

Wow!

This is…teleportation magic!?

“The genius student of the Royal Academy of Magic actually secretly set up a teleportation circle.”

“So this is the power of the Royal Academy’s top students? Second rank mages are this formidable?”

“Teleportation magic can be set up so mysteriously and quickly?”

“The mastery of magic is simply astounding!”

Victor did not directly answer because he had inherited ‘Victor’s’ rank and magic but not his knowledge.

He only knew how to use magic but not the principles behind it.

Like people knowing they can start a fire with a lighter but not knowing why a lighter can create fire.

He did not expect Erica to inadvertently hit his blind spot.

Veega’s voice sounded in his mind, “Do as I say.”

Hearing Veega’s voice, Victor felt his confidence swell. The corners of his lips curved up slightly.

“Then I’ll give an extra lesson.”

He pointed at the teleportation circle’s decomposition matrix and said to Erica below the lectern:

“You just need to disrupt the weak connections between the small matrices. It’s simple.”

As he spoke, he gestured a series of runes. The runes instantly inserted themselves into the core of the magical circle, directing streams of light at the tiny matrices.

The circle began destabilizing and losing its glow.

Seeing her teleportation circle easily resolved by Victor, Erica’s expression darkened and beads of sweat appeared on her forehead.

She could clearly feel the connection between herself and the circle weakening. No matter how much power she channeled into it, she could not delay its dissipation.

She was already too powerless to maintain it and had been completely severed from the circle.

Victor snapped his fingers and a hair clip from Erica’s head flew into his hand.

“Let me borrow a hair clip.”

Erica stared dumbfounded as her hair clip was snatched away.

Her teleportation magic had been exploited.

The others were still craning their necks to watch the spectacle. The now lusterless teleportation circle suddenly lit up again, only it seemed under Victor’s control now.

One moment he teleported the potted plant by the window onto the lectern, the next he transferred the clock on the wall onto the ceiling.

It was as if he could freely teleport anything in this room however he wished.

Finally, he swapped Erica’s seat, teleporting her from the frontmost spot to the very back.

Seeing things were under control, Victor withdrew. He traced a rune and after some maneuvers, restored the teleportation circle to its original state.

He gently placed Erica’s hair clip back on the lectern and said to Erica in the back:

“Alright, you can try activating it again now.”

Erica stared at him resentfully and attempted to restart the circle.

The hair clip on the lectern vanished abruptly again, neither returning to Erica’s hand nor teleporting into Victor’s.

Victor maintained his poker face and flatly said, “Congratulations, your hair clip has been teleported to another dimension.”

Erica was stunned. No matter how she operated the circle, the vanished clip did not come back.

Victor had not stopped his actions and continued, “There is another way to deal with this circle.”

He snapped his fingers and the Mage Hand on his right hand emitted six rays of light as six magical circles simultaneously lit up in the air.

Those around exclaimed, “Simultaneous casting!? And six-fold!?”

“How is that possible?”

“Nothing’s impossible, Victor is a third rank mage!”

“The confrontation between the Royal Academy’s genius professor and genius student, this is totally worth it!”

Victor waved his hand, ignoring their praise, and calmly said, “Simply suppressing it works.”

As he spoke, the Mage Hand gently squeezed in the air and the six circles simultaneously activated.

Boom!

Under the astounding magical pressure, a shocking fissure appeared in the teleportation circle.

Then it vanished without a trace.

Erica kept her head lowered, her body trembling slightly.

Her expression was unclear.

Victor smiled lightly and turned to leave.

“Student Erica, remember this answer from your teacher, along with a little lesson.”

“The teacher is busy and wants to end class on time.”

He did not care what impact this would have and directly walked out of the classroom.

The moment he stepped out, an eruption of voices sounded from the classroom behind him, but that no longer concerned him.

…

Victor returned to his office to kill time. As the final class bell rang, he recalled the library and decided to go check if there were any discoveries.

He directly teleported over from the Mage Tower. The library that entered his vision was the same as his memory of it in the game.

He casually picked up a book and started flipping through it. His vision suddenly prompted a dialog box:

[Learn 1st Rank Magic: Rolling Fireball?]

[Materials needed: Blaze Flower, Habbie Feather]

This was why Victor had purchased so many materials earlier – they could not only be used to craft items, but also consumed in the library to learn magic.

Naturally, learning magic cost some money, but Victor was a lord, rich and generous. He did not care at all.

This was also exploiting loopholes in the game.

Those materials could only be obtained by killing neutral monsters outside.

But Victor could simply rely on his wealth to madly buy them from shops.

Seeing it was still early, Victor furiously studied in the library, learning many beginner rank magics on the first floor.

He continued until his coin pouch was emptied of all materials and a large portion of his gold.

He had basically learned all that he could.

By now, it was dusk and the golden light shone into the library, casting the floor in a yellow tint.

As the sky darkened, an out-of-place bright glow suddenly lit up from the depths of the library.

It seemed he was not the only one diligently “studying” in the library.

Victor wanted to see who it was and followed the light.

Seeing the person, he was slightly surprised.

“Hennie?”

It was his teaching assistant. She currently sat at a desk, a pen in hand, scribbling away furiously.

He could even hear her murmuring:

“Let’s have Professor Victor lecture with this topic tomorrow…”