After Crushing the Final Boss, I Got Infinite Mana and Returned to Earth ～With Cheat-Level Power, I’ll Rule Both the Game World and the Real World～ - Chapter 08: I Got a Senior-Junior Classmate Who’s Actually My Peer

Chapter 08: I Got a Senior-Junior Classmate Who’s Actually My Peer

The Special Class classroom wasn’t in the main school building—it was in a separate annex.

Following Arshiel, I arrived at a tower-like structure standing inside the academy grounds.

Once inside, we climbed a short staircase that led to a large circular platform—big enough for several people to stand on.

Arshiel stepped onto it and chanted a spell, and in an instant the disk began to rise.

A magic-powered elevator, basically.

“Here we are. This is your class.”

The moment we got off, a door stood right in front of us.

At Arshiel’s urging, I stepped through—and there she was.

A cute girl stood waiting.

Her blue hair was cut in a wolf style, her golden eyes shining brightly.

Petite, with a slender frame, she dressed boldly: a cropped tank top that showed off her midriff beneath her robe, hot pants baring her thighs, and long socks.

Oh? This person is…

“Oooh? Miss Al, don’t tell me this guy is the new Special Class student?”

“That’s right. Be nice to him, Lune.”

The girl—Lune—trotted over the moment Arshiel said her name, staring right up into my face.

Her upward gaze was surprisingly cute.

After a few seconds of locking eyes, she suddenly broke into a delighted smile—

And in a high-pitched voice, she threw her arms around my arm.

“Yay♪ You’re actually pretty hot, huh♪ I’m Lune, came here on exchange from the neighboring Silverian Empire♪ So, big bro—got a girlfriend?”

“My name is Georg. Unfortunately, no good matches have ever come my way, so I have no such experience.”

“Ehh♪ Kinda surprising♪ In that case, maybe I should apply to be your girlfriend myself~ Just kidding♪”

“Ah, I see. Good to know it was a joke—because that was the first time a guy ever confessed to me, and I wasn’t sure how to react.”

“…Huh?”

My words froze Lune solid, his face going pale.

“W-Wait. How’d you figure out I’m a guy?”

“At first, I didn’t. But I noticed a faint Adam’s apple, and once I saw that, your bone structure didn’t look very feminine either.”

“…No way. This is the first time someone’s caught me on the spot like that.”

“By the way, why dress like that?”

At my casual question, Lune answered with a sly grin.

It wasn’t cute in the least—just the nasty smile of someone who enjoyed messing with people.

“Duh. It’s all so I can watch the look on guys’ faces when they confess to me thinking I’m a girl, and then I drop the truth and crush ‘em.”

“…I see. So you’re just a sadistic little brat.”

“Boooring.”

Lune muttered, apparently losing interest, and slumped into his seat with his face down on the desk.

That’s when Arshiel chimed in.

“Oh, Lune—forgot to mention, but this guy’s actually a prince of Magiluke. So don’t go being rude, okay?”

“Whaaat, Miss Al!! That’s the kinda thing you say first!! A prince is, like, the ultimate jackpot!! Hey hey, Prince!! I may be a guy, but I’ve got confidence in my skills, you know!! How about you and me start dating!?”

“I’ll pass on the sadistic types. And for the record, while I may be called a prince, until recently I couldn’t even use magic, so I had no succession rights at all. Just a prince in name.”

“Tch. Don’t get my hopes up like that.”

“At least you’re so refreshingly scummy it makes you easier to deal with. Anyway, nice to meet you, Lune.”

“Yeah yeah, nice to meetcha, sure.”

Lune waved his hand lazily without even looking my way.

…Speaking of which, I had beaten Bavek in a duel for succession rights.

After that, the king called me in and the whole thing got brushed aside, so I had no idea what my actual claim was now.

Not that it mattered—I’d only fought that duel to avoid being underestimated. The throne itself didn’t interest me.

“Well then, since you two seem to be getting along—today’s class will be self-study.”

“Oh? No lessons today?”

“Sorryyy. Got an official request from the kingdom to go clean up some monsters out in the frontier. You can go home for today. See you tomorrow~”

With that, Arshiel left the Special Class classroom, leaving just me and Lune behind.

Not sure what we were supposed to do, I sat down and tried striking up a conversation.

“Is Professor Arshiel always like this?”

“Hmm, yeah, pretty much. She’s got that laid-back vibe, but she’s actually crazy busy. If you get one class a month out of her, you’re lucky. Well, not that I care. I’m a genius, after all—still manage to stay at the top of the rankings easy.”

“I see… That’s troublesome. I was hoping to learn the finer points of mana control.”

“Hah? Mana control? That’s baby-level stuff.”

“I only just recently gained the ability to use magic. Which means my fundamentals are… lacking.”

“Pfft.”

Lune burst out laughing, grinning wide.

“You can’t even control mana? Wow, you’re done as a mage! Pukukuh! Maybe you should just quit the academy right now and find another career path?”

“Rather than ‘done,’ I’d say this is finally where I’m starting. And unfortunately for you, I plan to stay until I’ve devoured every last grimoire in the library.”

“…You’re supposed to get mad at that. Man, you throw me off my rhythm, Prince.”

Scratching his head in frustration, Lune suddenly leaned in closer, closing the distance between us.

“…I’ll teach you.”

“…Sorry?”

“I said I’ll teach you, duh!! When Miss Al’s not around, I’ll handle showing you the ropes—mana control and all that!!”

“And what brought this on?”

“Don’t get the wrong idea!! I’m only doing it because I’m your senior, got it!? Also, I want Miss Al to praise me!! So don’t forget—you’re just my stepping stone to better evaluations, junior!!”

I wasn’t entirely sure what his deal was, but Lune had been studying under Arshiel in the Special Class far longer than me.

Naturally, his skills as a mage were leagues above mine.

Originally, I thought I’d just bury myself in grimoires at the academy library for self-study.

But for today, I decided to accept his offer.

“I’ll be in your care, Sir Lune.”

“Hmph. At least you understand your place as the one learning. Fine—let’s start with sensing your mana.”

“Sensing my mana…?”

And so, Lune’s lesson began.

“Mana’s like blood flowing through your veins—it circulates through your whole body. You’ve gotta be able to sense that flow before you can do anything with it.”

“…Hmm. Now that you mention it, I can actually feel the mana moving through me.”

“Hoh? Not bad. Guess you’ve got some talent.”

“That’s thanks to your excellent teaching, Sir Lune.”

“I haven’t even taught you anything yet, idiot!!”

Still, it was a strange feeling.

The mana flowing through me wasn’t originally mine—it belonged to Diabel.

No wonder there was a faint sense of discomfort, like carrying around energy that didn’t truly belong to me.

Even so, I quickly managed to sense and recognize the flow of mana coursing through my body.

“Alright, since you can feel the flow, next up is spell chanting. And listen carefully—this is the freshest intel I got straight from Miss Al, so don’t miss a single word.”

“Yes, Sir Lune.”

According to Lune, chanting was essentially the process of generating a magic circle.

By pouring mana into that circle, people could trigger the strange phenomenon we called “magic.”

For beginner-level spells, the required mana was so small that sometimes the circle activated unconsciously, causing the spell to fire automatically.

Up until now, I’d been chanting more or less out of habit.

To think there was an actual reason behind it.

Come to think of it, I knew how to use magic but never really understood the mechanics.

Like knowing how to drive a car without having a clue how the engine worked.

This was… surprisingly enlightening.

One thing still bugged me.

Even without consciously pouring mana into it, I’d managed to cast not just low-tier spells, but even high-tier ones.

Normally, anything above beginner-level magic fizzles out if you don’t channel mana deliberately.

But for me, they just worked.

My guess? It’s because of that whole “infinite mana” thing.
Just like with beginner spells, the exact amount of power needed gets supplied automatically—whether I’m paying attention or not.
Really drives home how absurd Diabel’s mana truly is.

But there’s still something I don’t get.

When I repaired the half-destroyed royal capital, I used time manipulation magic.

That spell hadn’t involved chanting or a magic circle at all—it was purely image-based.

Now that I actually knew how magic was supposed to work, I had no clue how I’d even pulled it off.

And since I’m the type who prefers asking when he doesn’t understand, I just asked Lune directly.

His face instantly twisted like he’d bitten into a lemon.

“Wait… Prince, don’t tell me you can use Original Magic?”

“Original Magic?”

“Yeah, like—primitive stuff where you skip chanting and circles entirely, and just force it through with raw mana and imagination. Where the heck did you learn something like that?”

“I just copied what was written in an old grimoire from the castle’s underground library.”

“…That grimoire wasn’t, like, some ridiculously priceless ancient relic or anything, right?”

Apparently, the time-manipulation spell I’d used earlier was some completely unknown magic—its principles a total mystery.

But hey, even if I don’t get how it works, if I can use it, then it counts as magic.

That’s how I decided to look at it.

“Well, anyway, if you wanna boost a spell’s power, just pump more mana into the magic circle when you chant. That’s why mana control is an absolute must. You better master it.”

“…I see. Then what if I wanted to weaken a spell instead?”

“Hah? Uh… I guess you’d just feed the circle the bare minimum of mana? Not that I see the point. Who the heck wants weaker magic?”

“I see, I see…”

It made sense. Less mana poured in meant weaker results.

So I decided to test it right then and there.

I recited the spell for the beginner-level torchlight, Torch, but this time I throttled the flow of mana down to the absolute minimum—just enough to keep the spell alive.

“—Torch.”

Pew!!

A cheerful little pew rang out—like I’d just fired a toy laser gun—

And the classroom wall now had a hole about the size of a balance ball.

Still packed a serious punch, of course. Guess that’s what happens when Diabel’s infinite mana and my control overlap.
But compared to my usual Torch spells, the power was way, way lower.

“Huh? Eh? Wha—what the hell was that just now…? That was supposed to be a beginner spell!?”

“Yes, it was the basic Torch. I managed to cut its power down to about one-tenth. All thanks to you, Lune.”

“O-One-tenth!? That was already only a tenth!? That’s not the beginner magic I know!!”

Lune froze mid-shout, eyes suddenly going wide like something clicked.

“W-wait a sec. No way, right? But… that massive magic circle that popped up in the sky yesterday and then vanished—”

“Ah, that? Yeah, that was me. I was about to cast the supreme-tier spell Core Flame, but I canceled it halfway.”

“……From now on, let me call you Sir.”

“…Huh?”

And just like that, I somehow ended up with a classmate who was my junior, my senior, and my peer—all at once.

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[Afterword]

A Random Tidbit

Lune

An unbelievably cute femboy (boy who looks like a girl), recognized by everyone—but with a seriously nasty personality.

The reason? When he was little, he was too cute—so much that both men and women tried to prey on him. That twisted his trust in people, leaving him with a sharp mean streak.

Deep down though, he’s actually caring and has a soft spot for others.

…That said, he still sucks up to anyone with power, money, or overwhelming strength, so yeah—his personality is still trash.

He messes with people way too much, which has accidentally earned him sixteen stalkers. But since he’s super sloppy in daily life, he hasn’t noticed a single one of them.

Also—fun fact—his sweet spot is the little area just above his lower back.

If your thought was, “A dark past for a rotten femboy? Love it,” then drop those ★s!

And if you found yourself thinking, “Wait, he’s a femboy…!!” “The way he immediately bows down is hilarious,” or “The afterword killed me,” —then don’t forget to leave a comment, bookmark, ★rating, or review!