The God Of Destruction's Academy Life

Chapter 3: Chapter 3. Fear Is An Excellent Instructor

The entire room was silent.

Every expression was grim.

Eric sat at the head of the table with one hand resting on his chin. He looked around at the senior professors. Every single one of them looked like they had aged ten years since this morning.

Then Helen, professor of the Alchemy Department, spoke.

"Everyone, I would like to resign from my position as Professor of Alchemy and move to the mountains to live there."

"Denied," Eric said without looking up.

"I don’t want to be here. My life is more important than my job. Please. I am begging you. Let me resign."

"Denied."

"But Lord Eric...."

"Nobody in this room has permission to resign. Sit down, Helen."

Helen slowly sank back into her chair. She stared at the table with the expression of someone mourning their own future.

The rest of the professors watched her with deep sympathy.

Because they all felt exactly the same way.

Then Ronald, professor of the Combat Department, leaned forward.

"Why would Lord Necrotize want to enroll in the Academy in the first place? What could he possibly want from a place like this?"

Eric placed both hands on the table.

"He wants to experience... academy life."

Ronald stared at him.

"What do you mean by academy life?"

"From what he told me, he wants to experience assignments. Tasks. Living alongside classmates." Eric paused. "And... some spicy stuff."

The room went quiet again.

"What does spicy stuff mean?" Ronald asked. freewebnøvel.coɱ

"I don’t know."

Nobody pushed further.

Nobody wanted to know.

Then Aldric, professor of the Enchantment Department, slowly raised his hand.

"Are we going to set any... rules for him?"

Eric looked at him.

"What kind of rules?"

"I don’t know. Things like... no destroying the Academy building. No reversing time on school property without written permission. No..."

"Are you suggesting," Helen interrupted, "that we hand a list of rules to the being who erased thirty kilometres of forest with 0.01 percent of his power?"

Aldric opened his mouth.

Then closed it.

"...I’ll be quiet."

"Good idea," Eric said.

Marcus, professor of History and Mythology, folded his hands on the table and spoke in a measured voice.

"I think it would help everyone here to understand what we are actually dealing with. If I may."

Eric gestured for him to continue.

"From what we have in the historical records and various religious texts—including the Bible of Goddess Luna—we can say with certainty that among the Seven Ancient Origins, Lord Necrotize has the most unpredictable and curious nature. Approximately fifty thousand years ago, he visited this world because something caught his interest. We still have no idea what it was. Several gods of our world attempted to find out."

Marcus paused.

"He killed thirty of them for interfering."

The room absorbed that.

"So what you are telling us," Ronald said slowly, "is that he killed thirty gods because they were being nosy."

"Yes."

"And now he is going to be sitting in our classrooms."

"Yes."

Ronald leaned back in his chair and stared at the ceiling.

A long silence followed.

Then Edmund, professor of the Divine Studies Department, made a sound.

It was a strange sound. Something between a laugh and a sob. Everyone turned to look at him.

Edmund was a small man with round glasses and thinning grey hair. He had dedicated his entire academic career to the study of the Ancient Origins. He had written four books on the subject. His most recent one was titled Necrotize: The Unknowable Destroyer and had taken him eleven years to complete.

"I have spent..." He stopped. Started again. "I have spent thirty years of my life studying him. Thirty years. I wrote papers. I translated ancient scripture. I learned dead languages specifically so I could read texts about him."

His voice became very quiet.

"And now I have to give him a grade."

Nobody said anything.

"I have to give him a grade."

"Edmund...."

"What grade do I give him, Lord Eric? Tell me. What grade do I give the embodiment of Destruction on his understanding of Divine Studies? On a subject that is literally about him?"

Eric opened his mouth.

Closed it.

"...We will figure that out later."

Edmund removed his glasses and set them on the table. He stared at nothing.

Mira, professor of the Healing Arts Department, quietly slid a cup of water toward him.

"Thank you," Edmund whispered.

The meeting continued.

It was Sylara, professor of the Summoning Department, who raised the next point. She was a calm woman who rarely spoke in meetings. When she did, people listened.

"I want to raise something that nobody has said yet."

The room turned to her.

"What happens if he gets bored?"

The temperature in the room seemed to drop.

"What?" Eric said.

"He enrolled because something caught his interest. Academy life. Whatever that means to him." Sylara kept her voice even. "But what happens three months from now? Or six months? What happens when the novelty wears off and a being with the power to erase continents decides that this was not what he was looking for after all?"

Nobody spoke.

"He destroyed thirty kilometres of forest with a fireball he barely thought about." She folded her hands. "I am not asking this to frighten anyone. I am asking because if we are going to do this, we should think about how to make sure he stays engaged. Interested. Happy."

She paused.

"Because the alternative is something none of us want to imagine."

The silence that followed was a different kind of silence from before.

Heavier. Sharper.

Helen put her face in her hands.

"I want to go to the mountains."

"Denied," Eric said automatically.

Throughout the entire meeting, one person had not spoken.

Nicholas sat at the far end of the table with his arms crossed and his expression exactly as it always was. Slightly gloomy. Completely unreadable.

He had listened to everything without reacting.

Eric noticed how calm Nicholas remained and finally turned to him.

"Nicholas, what are your thoughts?"

Nicholas answered calmly.

"I disagree with Professor Sylara’s idea."

The room turned toward him.

"Think about it. Lord Necrotize is enrolling because he likes how the Academy is running right now. If we suddenly start adding things he never asked for, and he dislikes them, that could make the situation even worse."

He paused for a moment before continuing.

"I believe we should continue exactly as we always have. Treat Lord Necrotize as a normal student. He himself requested the same thing. If we go overboard, it may upset him."

For the first time that evening, the professors looked genuinely relieved by a suggestion.

"Well said, Nicholas," Marcus said. "I also believe that is the safest approach."

Eric let out a long sigh.

"Alright. Here is what we are going to do. We treat this exactly as Lord Necrotize asked. He is a student. We are his professors. We do our jobs. We do not panic in front of him. We do not worship him. And we do not resign."

He looked directly at Helen.

"Any of us."

Helen looked devastated.

Then Eric reached into his desk and brought out an envelope.

The room immediately grew tense again.

"Now," he said grimly, placing it on the table like it contained a cursed object, "we move to our second topic of discussion."

Ronald frowned.

"What’s in there?"

Eric’s expression darkened.

"Lord Necrotize’s theoretical exam papers."

.....

The room stared at the envelope in complete silence.

For several long seconds, nobody moved.

It sat there on the table like a sealed curse.

Ronald pointed at it.

"You opened it first. That makes it your responsibility."

Eric looked deeply offended.

"I am the Chancellor, not a sacrificial offering."

Helen folded her arms.

"Debatable."

Eric ignored her.

With the expression of a man preparing to read his own execution order, he slowly opened the envelope and removed the papers inside.

Several sheets.

All covered in Necrotize’s handwriting.

Eric adjusted his glasses.

"Question One," he said, his voice heavy. "Explain the principles behind Magic Hexagon Synchronisation and provide an example of advanced application."

He looked down at Necrotize’s answer.

Then he stopped.

A long silence followed.

Ronald frowned.

"Well?"

Eric looked up slowly.

"He wrote... ’Why would anyone use six when three is enough?’"

Silence.

Marcus blinked.

"That cannot possibly be the full answer."

Eric continued.

"’If the explosion is not large enough, simply add more destruction. Stability is only important for people who intend to survive the process.’"

The room was silent.

Even Helen forgot to complain.

Eric turned the page slightly.

"There is also a diagram."

Aldric leaned forward.

"A magical formation?"

Eric stared at it.

"No. I believe it is a crater."

Ronald covered his face.

"I hate this."

Edmund, however, had not moved.

He was staring at the page with terrifying focus.

Slowly, he stood up.

"Give me that."

Eric handed him the paper.

Edmund adjusted his glasses and read the answer again.

Then again.

His expression changed.

Helen noticed immediately.

"...Why do you look like that?"

Edmund did not answer right away.

When he finally spoke, his voice was quieter than before.

"Because... I don’t think this is nonsense."

The room froze.

Ronald lowered his hands.

"...Explain."

Edmund placed the paper carefully on the table, as though it had become fragile.

"Modern magical theory teaches Hexagon Synchronisation because six-point stability creates controlled mana circulation. It is considered the safest and most efficient structure."

Everyone nodded.

That was basic theory.

Edmund continued.

"But Lord Necrotize is approaching the problem from an entirely different perspective. He is not asking how to stabilise mana."

He tapped the paper.

"He is asking why stability is necessary at all."

Silence.

Aldric frowned.

"...Because instability kills people."

"Yes," Edmund said. "People."

Another silence.

And then understanding began to spread across the room.

Helen slowly sat up.

"You mean..."

Edmund nodded.

"To a being like him, destruction is not failure. It is function. If survival is irrelevant, then maximum output becomes the only priority."

Marcus leaned forward.

"So reducing six points to three..."

"...would massively increase volatility," Aldric finished, now staring at the page himself. "But also dramatically increase raw destructive power."

Ronald looked horrified.

"You’re telling me he accidentally submitted forbidden war-crime theory as a first-year entrance exam answer?"

Edmund looked at him.

"I am telling you he may have submitted pre-civilisation magical doctrine."

Nobody spoke.

Because somehow, that was worse.

Eric rubbed his temples.

"I preferred when I thought he was just writing nonsense."

"That was the comforting version," Helen agreed.

Edmund turned to the second page.

"Question Two: Explain methods for improving mana circulation efficiency."

He read Necrotize’s answer aloud.

"’If your mana refuses to circulate properly, perhaps it simply lacks motivation. Threatening it helps. Fear is an excellent instructor.’"

Ronald stood up.

"I would like to fight the exam paper."

"Sit down," Eric said.

Ronald sat down.

Marcus, however, was frowning.

"...No."

Everyone turned.

"No?"

Marcus adjusted his glasses.

"I hate that I am saying this. But that also makes sense."

Helen looked exhausted.

"Please tell me it doesn’t."

Marcus ignored her.

"In ancient divine scripture, mana is sometimes described not as energy but as a living extension of will. Primitive cultures believed mana responded to intent, emotion, even authority."

He pointed at the answer.

"To us, this sounds ridiculous. But to someone who predates modern magical systems entirely... he may genuinely be describing an older method of control."

Aldric slowly nodded.

"Domination rather than circulation."

"Exactly."

Helen stared at the ceiling.

"So we are all too academically mortal for this conversation."

"Yes," Edmund said quietly. "Deeply so."

Eric leaned back in his chair.

"So let me understand this correctly."

He gestured at the exam papers.

"We are not dealing with a failed theoretical exam."

"No," Edmund said.

"We are dealing with magical philosophy so old that modern academia cannot properly classify it."

Eric closed his eyes.

"That is somehow much worse."

Nicholas, who had been silent the entire time, finally spoke.

"It also means failing him would be incredibly dangerous."

Everyone looked at him.

Nicholas folded his arms.

"If we fail him, we are essentially declaring that either Lord Necrotize is ignorant... or that our understanding surpasses his."

The room went still.

Nobody wanted to sign their own death warrant.

Helen raised her hand.

"I vote for not doing that."

"Strongly supported," Ronald said.

"Passionately supported," Aldric added.

Eric slowly nodded.

"Yes. I, too, value continued existence."

He looked down at the papers one last time.

Then he said the sentence no educator should ever have to say.

"We may have to give the embodiment of Destruction the highest theoretical score in Academy history."