Hell Difficulty Tutorial
Chapter 601 – Professor Elian

At least my office is awesome. It isn’t all that big, but it is located in one of the Academy’s towers and therefore has a pretty nice view. This tower is entirely reserved for professors or something. Which raises the question: how the hell do you teach people who might not even have the same kind of skills you do?

So I pause to think about it for a moment.

Oh, could it be that each of the professors has a high level in some valuable skill, prompting people and organizations to send students here to acquire desired skills and learn how to level them. Maybe professors are of a higher level, or maybe they only have a higher level in that skill, while young students have no skill at all. Combine that with knowledge about the skill, someone willing to teach and share that knowledge, and you can plan out your growth quite nicely.

You spend years learning a skill, then spend a few years with an assortment of personal tutors to learn different skills that could lead you to certain classes, after which you level up.

With the right application of knowledge, you could optimize your growth. Since there are only ten spots for skills, you could avoid picking useless ones. You could aim for a certain class whose requirements are known, just to get a particular active or passive skill.

The same idea could apply to traits, tempting people to attend the Academy to learn more about their quirks and applications.

Of course, something like that is probably extremely expensive, given the extreme value of such information. Students here must be well off, or from powerful families, perhaps including the descendants of surviving members of the first generation, scions of prominent clans, or people with connections to a Champion or other powerful individual.

Hmm, wouldn’t a Champion have better resources than this? But as I think of it, even if your father is a Champion, wouldn’t it still be worth sending you to such an academy to create contacts with rich kids of important people? Stronger people often live hundreds of years, and Absolutes go into the thousands, so a few years here isn’t much. Plus, maybe there's a bored professor who has an especially fancy skill you might want to acquire.

Eventually, I cut those thoughts short and take another look around.

There is a huge window nearby that offers a view of the Academy buildings: the pearl‑white ornamented towers, a set of cathedral‑like structures nearby, a lake and a huge bridge spanning its shores, a lot of gardens, and some kind of forest in the distance.

Everything is vibrant and beautiful, with things jutting out at angles that shouldn’t be possible. A tower that defies the laws of physics, trees shaped in ways that don’t make sense, massive windows that should lead to their buildings collapsing, and more.

Surprisingly, I don’t see anyone flying around, nor do I sense many powerful mana signatures washing over the area. I suspect flight might even be banned in the vicinity, or it is considered rude, together with large‑scale scans.

It is hard, but I restrain my instincts and instead rely on detecting vibrations sent through the air by the movements of people and objects around me.

Again, I cut off my thoughts and examine my office once more.

There’s the main desk, then there’s another one covered in inscriptions. There are a few cabinets and shelves in the corner covered in various items, all in that same grand style, leaving everything a step away from looking over the top, yet it’s still nicely balanced. It looks expensive, but it’s also kind of cozy and has a high quality appeal. The colors are nice, and the materials are as well.

I have already taken apart a few of the items from the shelves and, unable to put them back together, have hidden the broken pieces behind one of the cabinets.

Absently, I lean back in the chair and put my legs up on the boxes containing the thermonuclear warheads.

Then I finally choose my rewards. “I'll take the three active skills combination token and two 30 day Beyond stay tokens.”

As I open my status I can only say that damn, my tokens and shard balance really does look nice right now:

Tokens:

Beyond 3‑day stay token

Beyond 1‑day stay token

Passive skill combination token (Upper Arcane)

Communication with your disciple for 10 minutes

Send a single item to your disciple (up to epic rarity)

Three active skills combination token

Beyond 30‑day stay token

Beyond 30‑day stay token

Shards: 1,039,631

Given where I am, it might be a bit irresponsible to combine my skills right away, not that I’m exactly the responsible type. But maybe I could gather some useful information first. It’s not like I’m in any rush to use it.

There’s also a bit of interesting information included with the active skills combination token.

This token allows you to combine three active skills into one. One skill is designated as the main skill, and the other two function as supportive skills. These are then combined into a new active skill.

Just that short explanation. It is almost unusual, and even though it’s brief, it’s better than nothing. But I guess when you have something that rare, the system gives out a bit more info.

As for the skills available for combinations, [Focus], [Redistribution], [Eclipse], and [Empyrean Lance] are missing. As annoying as it might be, it clearly shows these skills are a cut above the rest. Even though I wouldn’t say that about Focus, it is missing as well. Mr. Focus has served me well ever since the first floor, and I’m sure the two of us will pull through until the end of the tutorial.

As for the rest, [Perception], [Mana Domain], [Mana Crown], [Mana Manipulation], [Ley Line], and [Knitting] remain. With that interesting setting of one skill being the main one, I’m currently thinking of either picking [Ley Line] and combining it with [Mana Manipulation] and [Knitting], or, and this is a spicy one, choosing [Mana Manipulation] as the core skill with [Mana Domain] and [Knitting] acting as the supporting components.

Of course, that does leave the option of setting [Mana Crown] or [Mana Domain] as the main skill and combining it with [Mana Manipulation] and something else for support. Hell, even [Perception] could fit nicely as a supportive skill with certain combinations, maybe if I set [Mana Domain] as the main component.

There are just way too many options. It’s just like going into a store with shelves and shelves of snacks and standing there looking for the perfect one you are in the mood for, until you notice the saleswoman watching you, as if she thinks you’re going to steal something.

Then that leaves the dilemma of the passive skill combination token being upper arcane. I mean, I’m not complaining. I’m fairly rich, and that thing is very good. Maybe even too good.

The problem is that the cheapest upper‑arcane passives start at around 2,000,000 shards, and the better ones trend even higher. So I bet that thing is going to sit there for quite a while if I even get an opportunity to use it before the end of the tutorial.

It’s insane to give that to an attendee, and once again, I wonder. This is what I got when Lissandra was doing stuff - like killing an Absolute, and decimating record numbers of waves. Just how much would I have gotten if I were the one who’d somehow killed the Absolute? 10,000,000 shards instead of just the one? 100,000,000 shards? Damn, who knows.

Anyway, it’s good stuff, I like it. Gimme more.

I then spend a few hours going through the pile of documents on the table. Most of them seem like lesson materials, all written in that pretentious mana science bullshit talk I dislike so much. Still, as I have many times before, I force myself to work through this glut of information, picking up things useful to me and taking notes along the way.

Then, remembering Professor Elian, I store some of the information in the back of my mind and practice a bit. The entire time, I find myself wondering how the hell I ended up as an assistant professor.

Lastly, there's another big change. The current number of Beyonders from the 5th round of Earth's tutorial now shows 8/10, instead of the 10/10 it was showing not that long ago.

I’ve been keeping an eye on it, and the number changed about 15 minutes after Lissandra and Myrra went to Beyond.

This could mean a few things. They might have succeeded and left the tutorial, or they both could have died. There's also the chance something else happened, but I don't have enough information to build a theory around that.

Still, I’m definitely hoping for one of these options over the others.

Following behind the blonde professor, I head toward the class hosting his lesson. Part of me is curious about how it might look. I'm also curious about the man himself. There must be a reason I was designated his assistant rather than someone else. Plus, we share the same eye trait, so maybe there's something I can learn from that.

The hallways are empty and our steps echo through them as we reach the class. Professor Elian enters without hesitation and the noise inside stops immediately.

I follow behind him to a small podium set in front of a huge blackboard. There are some unknown inscriptions diagrammed on its surface.

As for the students, there are around thirty of them seated at sloping tables. All of them wear the same white uniforms embroidered with golden ornamentation and black shirts or sweaters. None are carrying weapons, and the students are mostly humans, thylarin, and that strange pink race. Though there are occasionally students from another race.

Some of the students sit to the side with guards standing beside them, wearing the same clothes Tess and Maya wore. These guards stand there, eyes scanning the surroundings. Though, as far as I’m concerned, it seems to be more of a way to flaunt one's status and maybe sneak in an attendant to annoy others than an actual defensive measure. Who knows how rich people think?

There are also a few familiar faces in the class. The twins are sitting with three other students, and they seem to have formed a band, having taken the opportunity to joke around just before we came in. I’m not surprised. Aaron and Dennis are cheerful, easygoing, and easy to like, so it makes sense that they would quickly find people to team up with.

As Professor Elian starts his lesson, he activates the blackboard. Thin strands of pale-blue mana crawl across the surface, forming clear diagrams with annotations.

“Today we’ll continue with theory, focusing this time on layered feedback control in active states,” he begins, speaking without looking at the students. “If you submitted your last assignment correctly, you should have already identified the stability breakpoints in the triple-loop model.”

He pauses for a second, then draws three intersecting circles on the board. “For those of you who substituted direct feedback with modulated resistance, I hope you enjoyed your oscillation failures. If you are still experiencing overcorrection at phase shift two, consider recalibrating your buffer delay.”

Has there ever been a man as confused as me at this moment?

Some of the students shift in their seats. A few proceed to nod like they understand. One guy near the back lets out a quiet sigh and flips to a blank page in his notebook.

“The purpose of this structure,” Elian continues, tapping the diagram for emphasis, “is to allow simultaneous manipulation of flow density and shape modulation. Without them interfering. If your mana pool cannot segment cleanly under artificial compression, you are not ready for this.”

He must be bullshitting, right?

The professor begins to demonstrate. His hand rises and a ribbon of mana appears midair, flat and pulsing evenly. He twists his fingers slightly and the ribbon splits, one part twisting into a helix while the other flattens out.

“If you cannot isolate three active commands in less than two seconds, stop wasting time and return to dynamic shaping.”

Everyone remains quiet.

Understandable.

Some students glance at each other. One girl starts shaping mana on her own, gets halfway through, and then lets it fall apart. No one comments on it. Elian doesn’t even look at her.

I stand quietly off to the side, just observing. That’s my only task for today. He doesn’t call on me, doesn’t ask me to assist.

Still these brave little souls pretend to understand all this bullshit. Notes are taken. Heads nod.

The twins are smart enough to hold back instead of trying to show off and stand out. We've talked about it, and right now, everyone in Group 4 is trying not to show much, at least for now.

The lesson continues and Elian teaches like the sort of man who assumes you already know most of the things he’s talking about. He also really seems to like using all kinds of fancy words.

I still don’t think I like this guy, but at least he doesn’t pull some third rate villain stunt just to punish me or something. Like making me teach the lesson in his place. To be honest, I had expected something like that to happen.

When the lesson nears the end, he introduces me very briefly to the students, and then we leave. Something about the students’ reaction to me and his introduction feels off, and as we walk the hallway, the professor turns to me.

“I hope you’ve learned your lesson. I don’t want you causing trouble again, like showing up late, or I’ll have to take away your chance to assist in class again,” he says, as if it were the worst thing that could happen.

As he leaves, acting like he just punished me and taught me a lesson, I can’t help but wonder.

What the fuck is this setting?