Nanomancer Rising: Divine Alchemist Reborn as Academy's Worst Teacher
Chapter 113: Changing perspective

Chapter 113: Changing perspective

"So much work, so little time..."

Lukas dragged his body through the academy streets, deprived of all his energy before even the middle of the day.

This was supposed to be a free day for him. A rare oddity in the life of a student who managed to score a master.

Before, he was always at Julius’ beck and call, always ready to serve in whatever way the man desired, all the while subject to the whims of the leader of the faction his former master was an unofficial patron of.

Torn between the plethora of tasks Julius dumped on him that could be easily solved by his staff, and the requests from the faction that robbed him of what little time he had left, he often ended up balancing his need to sleep with his desire to cultivate.

Still, it was a fun life. Always busy, always occupied, Lukas never really had the time to think about anything else but work, study, odd jobs, and some rare moments during which he could cultivate.

Then came the change of his master, something as unexpected as, in hindsight, bound to happen. And Lukas’s life turned on its head.

This time, he hardly had to do anything. In fact, most of the stuff that he had to do separately before has now combined into a single, maybe two activities at times!

Following his master? Cultivation? Taking care of the business and thus learning how to do it himself?

What used to be three separate activities have now all turned into one! And while the idea of free time was replaced with just following his new master around, this new life of his was still something he wouldn’t even dare to dream of in the past.

An oddity greater than all the wild and wicked scenarios he would dream about at night.

And yet, when his master apparently reached his own limits and gave him a day off just to get some rest himself... Lukas felt as if he jumped right back into his old life.

At the very least, though, it was all for the right reasons.

After parting ways with Theo and Tesh, he rushed back to his old quarters at the academy, gathering all the small, little personal items he had amassed during his stay at the academy, happily moving them over to Julius’ mansion where his master already organized a room for him beforehand.

Then, for the first time in what felt like years, he took his time to write a letter back home, spending nearly thirty minutes just agonizing over what words to use to apologize for not writing for so long. Completing the rest of the letter, though, took him no longer than just a few more minutes, even though that part stretched over several pages’ worth of text, as opposed to just the few lines of the initial preamble and apology.

At that time, all that was left for him was to get the letter to the academy’s postal service, get the postal token, and then go to the academy’s student bank to turn the token into a bill of exchange. Then, with his letter now turning into a fund transfer out of the academy, he rushed back to the postal to complete the whole procedure.

Leaving the building, Lukas felt a plethora of different emotions. From the relief of finally doing his duty as the household’s oldest and supporting his family after all the sacrifices they made to send him to this academy, through the happiness of finally writing back, all the way to the one feeling that triumphed over all the others.

A feeling he struggled to deal with right now.

"What am I even supposed to do next?"

What was supposed to be a free day, a day for him to enjoy himself, get a proper rest and clear his head for all the challenges that would start tomorrow, has turned into a day even busier than back when he still served under Julius. This day, however, was busy in a different way.

Back in Julius’ service — because that’s what most of their master-disciple relationship was all about — all that he did felt like something Julius shackled him with just for the amusement he got from watching Lukas work himself to the bone like a horse. Tasks he would have to complete were often meaningless, contradictory, or outright pointless, designed just to waste his time rather than to achieve anything of actual meaning.

Right now, though?

"I guess I could take a moment to cultivate, huh?"

There were still a lot more things that Lukas had to...

’No, I’m not under Julius anymore,’ he thought as he gritted his teeth, weirdly amazed by the changes to his mental state brought forth by only about a week of Theo’s teachings.

There were still a lot more things that Lukas didn’t have to, but wanted to complete. Things that made actual sense, that he had to put off for months if not years, never having the time to deal with them.

And with such a backlog of tasks stuck to the back of his head, Lukas decided to take the easy way out and complete the absolutely most critical one out of them all, one that felt more like a rest than an actual activity, yet carried way more meaning than other stuff.

Lukas decided to retreat back to the now-Theo’s mansion, hide in his room and after setting a small, magical clock right next to where he sat down on the floor, he closed his eyes and focused on his inner self.

For the short moment, all of Lukas’ worries disappeared, replaced with nothing but sheer amazement at the changes to his cultivation.

The amount of energy that could fit his inner structure pretty much tripled, while the energy itself felt heavier, much more... thicker?

’To think I wouldn’t be sure what words to use to describe this change,’ Lukas gulped his saliva down, struggling as much with expressing his amazement as he did with putting it into words.

Even though he couldn’t quite name it, though, he could tell how it changed.

It was still the same mana that he knew after years of training and cultivation. The same world’s power that could be put to work in ways that often went against one’s natural instincts.

A universal energy given shape by thought, a perfect material from which a trained mage and cultivator could mold anything they desired.

And yet, with just how much heavier it now felt, Lukas could feel just how much more efficient using it would be.

It was a lot more responsive too, smoothly flowing through his inner structure, unobstructed by anything. Unlike in the past, before his reformation, where he would have to put an effort to drive his mana to flow.

"Haaah..."

Lukas exhaled a long sigh, dropping his concentration and opening his eyes, only to lean back and then fully lie down on the floor.

"This might, very well, be the biggest change of all."

The act of cultivating was all about forcing the mana to actively flow through one’s structure. A process that conditioned the body to get more used to the flow of mana, more adept at handling it and progressively more resistant to the flow itself.

In the past, it was a task Lukas had to dedicate half of the time he had to sleep out of fear of falling behind his peers and thus losing whatever little benefits Julius offered in exchange for his extensive services.

Now, though?

Cultivation, the very thing that Lukas spent hours at a time to achieve even the tiniest increase to his capacity...?

It has now turned into a perfectly automatic process, an activity as natural to Lukas as breathing.

With no resistance in the flow, there was no need for him to actively engage with the process. And while the benefits of actively controlling the flow of his mana were still there, it still made him more adept at handling his own mana... Now that he no longer had to actively cultivate, there was only one question that continued to ring in his ears, in his head, and in his soul.

’Why the hell did he share such a wonderful thing so openly, for free, and with hardly any strings attached?’

Lukas didn’t even need to think to know that just the transformation of his cultivation his master bestowed upon him was worth more than all the resources Julius provided for him in the three years he was in the man’s service!

And as if that wasn’t even enough, his new master reformed his cultivation mere days after winning all of Julius’ possessions in the tribunal hearing...

A tribunal hearing that Lukas’ very own report set in motion to begin with!

"Ha... hahaha..." Lukas’ next sigh turned into a slightly crazed laugh as he pushed his head as far back as he could before springing his body up, standing up in one graceful motion. He then leaned forward, his entire body shaking as his laughter grew louder and louder, all the way to the point where Lukas had to forcefully expel all the air from his lungs in fear of his laugh waking his master up.

’This doesn’t make even the slightest fucking sense!’

The clock on the floor indicated he spent a little over an hour, a lot of time that he didn’t even feel passing, too immersed in his new cultivation to notice. And yet...

"I want to cry out, ’not again!’," Lukas whispered, adding a little dramatic voice at the end as he realized just how well-rested he became after just an hour of basking in his own mana.

A process that was supposed to tire him to no end now felt even more refreshing than taking an actual night of proper sleep!

Instead, however, Lukas merely shook his head, his lips once again curving in a slightly crazed smile.

"Is there even any point in getting surprised by now?" he muttered to himself, perfectly mindful of the volume of his voice. "Or maybe that’s just it?" a sudden idea popped into his head. "Maybe the cost of serving Theo... is my ability to feel surprised?"

Shaking his head with a genuine smile, Lukas sighed before standing up straight and then taking a look at his room.

Even though he just moved in here a few days ago, it was already cluttered beyond belief, with his own stuff occupying only a small area in the corner.

Everything else were items that once belonged to Julius that he had gathered, catalogued, and then researched the potential price of, all in a bid to do a good service to his new master in order to gain favor with the man.

Later, this storage room that he turned his bed into became his greatest advantage in his race with Tesh for bringing their teacher as much money from the sales as they could.

But now?

Now, Lukas’ room became nothing more than a reminder that there was still a lot of work to be done. His room was filled to the brim with items he was supposed to sell, after all!

"Those things I was supposed to take care of for ages..." Lukas shook his head, only for the smile on his face to melt down, replaced with a look of pure, unadulterated determination.

"I guess they are going to wait just a little bit longer."

//\\ End of Arc One: Unlikely path to a fated calling //\\