In the private deliberation room behind the stage, tension hung like pre-storm air. Professor Theron paced, his face flushed with restrained fury.
"This is an outrage!" he hissed, slamming a scroll of parchment onto the table. "We are the Dawnlight Academy, the most prestigious institution in the Imperium! We train wielders of Blessing and honorable mages, not... not whatever that is! He has not a drop of mana! Allowing him in will stain our heritage of centuries!"
Instructor Zander, polishing his practice sword with an oil cloth, snorted. "Your heritage won't matter if you're blind to real strength, Theron. I don't care if his power comes from gods, hell, or mud. I see a warrior. He stripped Orion Vex—a noble trained since childhood—in less than ten seconds. That's not luck. That's efficiency. That's predator instinct. Rejecting him is folly. We'd be discarding a valuable weapon."
"Weapon?" Theron sneered. "He's a monster! A walking void! His very existence is a heresy!"
"Enough," a calm yet authoritative voice cut through their debate. Headmistress Alina Sunstone sat composed in her chair, her slender fingers steepled. She regarded both colleagues with eyes as sharp as crystal.
"You're both right," she said, surprising them both. "He is a paradox. Theron, you're correct; he is a void. An anomaly that defies everything we teach about holy magic and mana flow. His existence here is a risk."
She turned to Zander. "And you're also right, Zander. He is a weapon. A highly efficient predator with a mind as sharp as your finest blade. Ignoring him would be an even greater risk."
Alina stood and walked to the window, gazing at the main hall where Nihil waited in silence. "For a hundred years, this academy has produced no true breakthroughs in magical theory. We've merely repeated old teachings. We've become stagnant."
She turned, her eyes now blazing with the light of a researcher who had found the most fascinating subject of her life. "That boy... Nihil... he is something new. Something our books cannot explain. He is a living question. And the duty of an academy is to seek answers, not to run from questions because we fear them."
"So, you will accept him?" Theron asked, disbelieving.
"I will accept him," Alina confirmed. "But not as a regular student. He doesn't fit into any department. He will be his own department."
A few minutes later, Nihil was summoned back to the now-empty hall. The three powerful figures waited for him.
Theron stepped forward, his face rigid with forced compliance. "Nihil," he said, the name uttered as if it were a curse. "Despite your complete lack of magical talent... and your... uncivilized methods of combat... the Headmistress, in her wisdom, has decided to grant you an opportunity."
"You are accepted," Alina took over. Her voice was clear and authoritative. "But your status will be unique. You are not a student of the Department of Holy Magic, nor of the Department of Blade Studies. You will be the academy's first 'Special Research Student.' You will report directly to me."
She regarded Nihil sharply. "You have two obligations. First, you will attend basic classes like the other students to understand the foundations of this world. Second, you will undergo a series of 'special assessments' with me personally. Your goal is to learn, and my goal is to learn from you."
This was the best outcome Heze could have imagined. Legal access. Protection from the most powerful figure in the academy. And the chance to study this world's magic system from within.
"I understand," Nihil replied succinctly, his head bowing slightly.
"Good," Alina said. She tossed a small bronze key to him. "That is the key to your room. In Gryphon Dormitory, the sector for scholarship students. Your first class begins tomorrow morning. Foundations of Magic, with Professor Theron. Do not be late."
With that, they turned and left, leaving Nihil alone in the vast hall. He stared at the key in his hand. A small object representing a new world full of dangers and opportunities.
That night, for the first time since arriving in Solara Magna, Nihil slept on a bed, not a pile of sacks. His room was small and simple, far from the luxury of noble students' chambers. But to him, it was a palace. These walls were a shield. The locked door was freedom.
He had successfully passed the first gate. Now, it was time to conquer the fortress from within.
Nihil's first morning as a student began with an awkward silence. When he entered the "Foundations of Magic" classroom, all conversations ceased. A hundred eyes turned to him—a mix of curiosity, mockery, and fear. He ignored them all and took the empty seat at the back row, in the corner.
Professor Theron stood at the front of the class, his cold eyes briefly piercing Nihil before beginning his lesson. That day's topic was "Mana Channeling," the most basic process of drawing magical energy from the environment into the body.
"Theory alone is not enough," Theron said, his sharp voice sweeping the room. "A true mage must feel the flow of mana, just as they feel the blood in their veins."
He walked between the desks, his gaze never straying far from Nihil. "Today, we will perform the simplest exercise. Creating a small ball of light. A wisp. This is the first proof that a student has a connection to the magical world."
One by one, the students cupped their hands. Small balls of light began to appear, some bright and steady, others flickering weakly. Darius val-Luminar created a ball so bright it was blinding, earning him a satisfied smile. Even Celia managed to produce a soft, soothing green light.
Then, Theron stopped right in front of Nihil's desk. The entire class held its breath. This was the moment they had been waiting for.
"Mr. Nihil," Theron said with a sarcastic smile. "Considering your genius score in the theory exam, I'm sure you can enlighten us all. Please. Show us your wisp."
This was a public execution. An attempt to humiliate him on his first day.
Nihil calmly met the professor's gaze. He did not cup his hands. He knew it was futile. "I cannot, Professor," he replied honestly.
"Cannot?" Theron echoed, his tone dripping with false triumph. "What do you mean, cannot? Is your grand theory useless in practice?"
"I have no mana to channel," Nihil said, his voice still flat. "However," he continued before Theron could interrupt, "if the goal is to create light, then mana channeling is just one of many methods."
Theron frowned. "What nonsense are you spouting?"
Nihil raised a single finger. He focused a small portion of his Capacity, not to create magic, but to apply the physical principles he remembered. He used Atomic Manipulation.
[Using Atomic Manipulation. Target: Air Molecules at Fingertip.]
[Application: Focused Kinetic Acceleration to Generate Plasma Glow.]
[A small, very bright point of light, bluish-white in color, appeared at the tip of his finger. The light was not warm like the students' magical light. It was silent, sharp, and felt... empty. It hummed with a frequency nearly inaudible.]
The entire class fell silent. Darius stopped smirking. Seraphina val-Argent leaned forward, her eyes wide with analysis. This was not magic. There was no mana flow. No holy energy emission. It was something entirely different.
"Light without fire. Magic without mana," whispered Lian, the secluded genius, from another corner of the room. "Fascinating."
Theron's face shifted from triumph to confusion, then to rage as his plan backfired completely. "This... is a cheap trick! An illusion!"
"Is it, Professor?" Nihil asked, letting the light fade. "Or perhaps your definition of 'magic' is too narrow."
Before Theron could retort, the bell rang, signaling the end of class. Students began to file out, now regarding Nihil with a new mixture of emotions. No longer just mockery, but also confusion and a hint of fear.
At lunch, Nihil felt the alienation more sharply. No one wanted to sit near him in the bustling dining hall. He took his tray and sat alone at a corner table.
"This seat's free, right?"
Nihil looked up. Celia stood there, offering a tentative smile. Behind her, Darius and his group glared murderously.
"Sure," Nihil replied.
Celia sat across from him, ignoring the intense stares from the entire room. "What you did earlier... in class," she said softly. "I've never seen anything like it."
"I merely demonstrated what I can do," Nihil said.
"Don't listen to them," Celia said, nodding toward Darius' group. "They're just afraid of what they don't understand."
At that moment, Headmistress Alina Sunstone summoned him through the small communication crystal she had given him. "Nihil. Come to my office. Your first special assessment begins now."
Nihil nodded at Celia and stood. He walked past Darius' table.
"Enjoy the Headmistress's protection while you can, Kitchen Boy," Darius hissed, without looking at him. "Outside these walls, theories and cheap tricks won't save you."
Nihil didn't respond. He kept walking.
He arrived at Alina's office, which turned out to be a private laboratory connected to the Great Library. The room was filled with strange artifacts and arcane diagrams.
Alina pointed to an object on the table. A rusted metal orb the size of a head, covered in faded runes. "This is an 'Ancient Golem Heart'," she explained. "Its power core was destroyed a thousand years ago by a corrosion spell. There's no mana residue left. It's beyond repair."
She looked at Nihil. "I don't want a light show. I want to see the truth of your power. Show me what you can do to something that's truly dead."
Nihil stepped forward. This was the real test. He placed both hands on the cold metal orb. He could feel the 'wound' within it, the emptiness where magical energy should have been.
He closed his eyes. He wasn't trying to infuse energy. He was trying to do the opposite. He would erase the concept of 'damage' itself.
[Using Atomic Manipulation. Target: Internal Structure of Golem Heart.]
[Application: Realigning Metal Crystal Bonds & Erasing Corrosion Traces.]
[Capacity: 24/25 -> 20/25 -> 15/25]
His energy drained rapidly. The metal orb in his hands began to vibrate. The rust on its surface started to disappear, turning to dust and falling to the floor. The faded runes began to glow with a dull bronze light from within. The process was silent, methodical, and profoundly unnatural.
Alina Sunstone held her breath, her sharp eyes recording every detail.
Nihil opened his eyes, a slight sheen of sweat on his forehead. In his hands, the once-dead Golem Heart now pulsed gently with energy, its surface smooth and gleaming once more.
He had revived something that had been dead for a thousand years.
Alina smiled, the smile of a scientist who had just witnessed the impossible become possible. "Welcome to Dawnlight Academy, Nihil," she said. "Your true lessons... have just begun."