Chapter 348 - 348: Mixing

Mera let out an "oh"; this time she truly understood.

"Then what if the object cannot return to its original structure?"

"You already have the answer, don't you? That is mixing."

As soon as he finished speaking, Kain abruptly increased the speed and force of his spoon. Before their eyes, the small mass of ice cream could not resist for more than a few seconds, immediately dissolving and merging into the cup of water, which was turning murky.

"The distinguishable difference between stirring and mixing is that when a substance is stirred and stretched into layers, the more you stir, the more those layers are divided into even smaller layers, until a certain limit is reached where the entire structure collapses and is torn apart into different parts."

Kain's movement changed again; he reversed the direction of stirring with the same angle and force, but that only made the water murkier as the ice cream dissolved further.

"At this point, no matter if I perform the exact same reversal process as before, the mass of ice cream will not return. Structure is only useful as long as it exists."

"So we are done with the theory. Do you have anything to say, Mera?"

Facing Kain's question, Mera stroked her chin for a moment before speaking tentatively.

"Earlier you said... these two bowls of ice cream only exchanged with each other, right?"

"Correct."

"And what they exchanged was matter."

"Exactly."

"Combined with what you just said, if we consider that brush to be an act of stirring, the two bowls of ice cream are two quantities of discrete matter that can circulate, meaning at that moment, they..."

"Stretched into layers."

"I was thinking that... almost there... stretched into layers. Those two stretched layers of matter were the two streaks of ice cream exchanged with each other. Because they were not entirely in a suitable environment, the stirring process was only half-completed..."

"And because your previous pushing motion was too decisive, that stretched layer of ice cream was simply torn away from the original structure, retaining its own structure while joining the new one. Two equal and complete streaks of ice cream."

"I was about to say that..."

Mera grumbled, then grabbed her bowl of strawberry ice cream. He only chuckled softly, intending to reach for the spoon in the water cup, but she ambushed him with a spoonful of strawberry ice cream in front of his face.

"For you."

"I was about to do that too..."

...

Returning to Esten, returning to Kanzax Academy, Kain's group was not without things to do. As decided beforehand, a duel with the champions of the second-year and third-year students had been scheduled.

The time for the duel was set for one week later.

"Lend me Elna."

In the academy's flower garden, Kain and Faith sat opposite each other, with a chessboard between them. The situation on the board was treacherous and unpredictable, with neither yielding to the other, yet outwardly both spoke with calm and composure.

"Hmm, why should I lend her to you?"

Faith smiled thinly, gently placing a piece directly into a vital weakness in Kain's strategy.

Kain's expression did not change as he neutralized the critical situation on the board while saying, "Logically speaking, until this semester ends, Elna is still a member of my team. Betrayal or whatever is fine, but leaving the team like that will lead to a bad evaluation, you know?"

"Tsk, Elna will come, alright."

Faith changed his method of attack. Now that he was a member of the academy, he obviously could no longer ignore the rules at will like before. Of course, if it were just a small matter like this, it wouldn't matter if Faith ignored it. But he himself could not fail to acknowledge the kindness of the Principal—the person who could have abandoned him and Cecilia to avoid conflict with the Sword Family Ancestor, who was now a noble grand-class Magus.

Furthermore, Faith only wanted to tease Kain a little; he didn't truly intend to refuse the request.

"But are you certain? Although the second and third-year students are currently a bit weak, the champions among them won't be easy to deal with."

They both knew that this year's student selection at Kanzax Academy had encountered an attack from a strange force, causing many who should have joined the academy to lose their lives. It was serious enough that the grand-class Magus Ebadon personally went out to investigate while the Principal strictly guarded the academy.

And those who survived this event were much stronger than their peers, posing a direct threat even to the second and third-year seniors.

"As long as they aren't at the level of a mid-class Magus like Cecilia was before, it's fine."

Kain was still not certain if he could face Cecilia again if they went back to that day, especially since she was extraordinarily powerful in that unconscious state. Seriously, without the Invincible Shield rule, he would have been cut down seven or eight times over.

But now he didn't have to worry about meeting Cecilia next year anymore, as she was now a high-class Magus and had directly moved beyond her student status.

Kain heard that Cecilia was following another teacher as an apprentice and was currently a teaching assistant for the combat department.

"It's not that extreme, but there are likely still a few mid-class Magus of Cody's caliber."

Cody, the strongest subordinate under Faith, also had very strong talent. Back then, if Kain hadn't cooperated with Mera as two mid-class Magus working together, they might not have won against him.

Thus, it could be seen that the gap between first-year students and second or third-year students was not easily bridged.

"If it's only that much, then I am somewhat certain."

However, both Mera and he had made great strides in magic. He had already seen Mera's combat state; not only had her ability to hide and confuse the enemy increased, but her destructive power had more than doubled.

"Tsk."

"Tsk."

Both clicked their tongues at the same time because the last piece besides the king had been captured; the chess game had entered a perpetual draw.

...

The day of the great battle.

Kain, Mera, Myra, Katie, and Elna walked together into the central area of the hall where the opening ceremony and the start of the tournament had once taken place, under the gaze of countless other students.

By the way, a few days ago, Myra's [Fire Magic] had broken through to mid-class. Even her [Life Magic], which had been stagnant for a long time, had taken a major step forward. Although she could not yet freely cast the corresponding mid-class spells, her combat strength was no longer the weak point of the team.

It seemed that after partially resolving the knots in her heart, Myra had finally been freed from the shadow of the past, officially stepping onto her own path.

As humans, they will eventually grow.