The morning sun shimmered over the F-Class training field, and laughter mixed with the sound of magic bursts and running feet.
Milly clapped her hands once. "Alright, focus! Remember Absorption Magic isn't about force, it's about control!"
Celeste nodded beside her, her tone calm but firm. "Channel your energy like a steady current, not a storm. Let it flow naturally."
The students nodded eagerly, following their two instructors' movements as they practiced absorbing the energy orbs Milly threw at them.
It was going well - too well, in fact.
Then, without warning-
Celeste froze.
Her sensors screamed in her head: "Incoming mana disturbance - rear quadrant!"
Her amber eyes instantly shifted into an icy blue glow, the disguised irises flickering with thin streams of data light.
In one swift motion, she spun around, her hand rising, her voice calm yet sharp.
"Singularity Field: Type–03."
A faint hum filled the air before a small, compressed sphere of darkness formed before her.
The sphere whirred quietly as it distorted the air around it, consuming a bright beam of chaotic magic that had been fired from the distance.
The spell vanished into the miniature void like a pebble swallowed by an ocean.
The field trembled from the sudden vacuum before the sphere compressed again and silently dissipated.
The entire F-Class stood frozen.
"D-Did she just… eat the spell!?" one of them gasped.
"Wha- what was that?! That's not even in the textbook!" another whispered.
Milly blinked, her jaw half-open.
"...Now that's an absorption spell…" she muttered under her breath, equal parts awe and confusion.
Celeste turned back to them with her usual gentle smile, pretending nothing had happened.
"Apologies for the interruption. Let's continue, shall we?"
The students erupted in amazed whispers, practically worshipping her as some kind of magic prodigy.
Even Milly couldn't help but clap her hands once. "Well, that was impressive! I didn't even see the core formation!"
Celeste chuckled lightly, trying to play it off. "Just a reflex, Miss Mila. Old habit."
Milly tilted her head.
Strange… that didn't look like a normal Absorption spell. She didn't even form a barrier…
But she shook the thought away.
Probably just a different teaching method, she reasoned, completely unaware that she'd just witnessed a fragment of Simni's true capabilities.
Meanwhile, above the training field-
two faint mana traces lingered in the air, dissipating into the breeze.
The source: a reckless duel between A-Class and S-Class students who had missed their mark.
"Those idiots," Milly sighed, rubbing her temples. "Guess I'll have to report another inter-class 'accident.'"
Celeste simply smiled again, her blue eyes fading back to amber.
"Incident neutralized," her inner voice noted quietly. "Threat level - negligible. Exposure risk - minimal."