The apprentices were guided into the spire, but to his surprise, they were heading down instead of up. A man in adept robes with a bored face operated the lift to carry them down. Bright LightCrystals, an upgrade to the stones, kept the lift well-lit. The lift made almost no sounds as it lowered, and it felt like they had passed a few floors before the lift finally stopped.

The doors slid up to a tall, bright hallway and two full-plated guards. The guards didn’t utter a single word or even move as the apprentices followed their guide. They exited the lift and continued their way through the hallway which didn't feel like they were underground at all.

The air was cool and fresh as he breathed. Adrin didn’t know if the mages knew anything about CO2 poisoning, but at least, the air was probably regulated somehow. At this point, he suspected the spire had another function instead of the popular mage towers in the old world’s literature.

It also made sense to build down when you had access to [Stone Meld] which could move dirt and stone around and compact them. A bunker was also easily protected compared to a tower. It ensured the safety of the mages and whatever knowledge was kept in here.

After a short walk, they arrived at a large round room with a very large rainbow-colored crystal formation in the middle. A few floors of corridors surrounded the crystal formation, each connected with a set of stone stairs. It was obvious that these crystals had something to do with something big.

There were a few mages who extended their hands toward the crystal formation. Their eyes were closed while talking to one another. Adrin couldn’t hear what they were saying but they reminded him of researchers discussing their findings with one another.

He wanted to continue to watch, but each apprentice was quickly assigned to a small personal room where they were told to sit on a lavish chair. The door was locked by each apprentice's cards before they drifted to sleep and woke up elsewhere. The transfer was so smooth until it felt like he was dreaming a lucid dream.

Adrin didn’t know what to expect, but the academy's Mirage Dungeon was something else entirely. Built by the fabled Archmagi Cronus, the facility was something no one alive could replicate. The time dilation had only made it much more mind-boggling than it already was.

If the magical world had virtual reality, then this was it.

Adrin woke up in the artificial dungeon laying on his back on a blue grassland. He was in a simple training ground with an altar in the middle and a few target dolls further away. Everyone found themselves in close proximity before they grouped up. If he was still the same old village boy, he would have sat there in disbelief for who knew how long.

The two other girls who joined the team hurried toward their bosses as the two ‘friends’ walked towards each other. Unlike him, they didn’t seem to be surprised by the virtual dungeon. It led him to think that they had experienced this before.

The girls quickly discussed among themselves as if he wasn’t even there. The two new members were giving him stinky eyes when they talked, but he didn’t really care what they thought of him. He just wanted this to get over with.

Three days to get the [Mage] class sounded ridiculous but he wasn’t complaining. He could use more free time and he knew exactly what he had to do. The group walked towards him after their girls-only talk was done while still arguing about teaming up with a peasant.

Ana was good, she was a rare kind who used logic in their argument. She didn’t actually tell anyone about the blue flame, but it was enough to reveal that he could scribe spells. It shut down her retainer’s objection. The blondy became speechless when she heard it, and her hazel eyes looked at him differently after that.

Alicia didn’t tell anyone the details in the guise of a trade secret, but he knew that she had something to do with the shop owner, Daniel. Probably it was under the Clan’s influence or something. Her pretty dark hair blue-eyed retainer had given him glares but didn’t say a word about Alicia’s decision.

And because his ‘secret’ was shared between the two, he had become the problem solver of their spellcasting issues. Alicia, especially, had problems dealing significant damage with her [Water] based [Bolt] spells to raise her level.

“Do you have any solution for Ally?” Ana asked him. “The basic [Bolt] spell will do nothing but splash some water on the enemy.”

“I think water is best at melee or mid-ranged spells,” Adrin began, the black-haired girl glared even harder at him. “But of course it will put you at harms’ way,” he added.

“Then there is no way?” Ally pouted.

“I didn’t say that,” Adrin replied and the girl perked up to hear that.

“I’ve told you,” Ana said to her friend.

He had seen this coming, but rather than taking this negatively, it would be smarter to use the girls in his science experiments. A test to see if the physic laws in this world agreed or were any different than the old world. A win-win strategy.

These experiments were a must. The existence of mana could change or would interfere with the laws of physics. There should be a reason why the blue flame was so important other than just a hotter flame, and why the mention of the green flame made the lady’s eye bulge out.

He hated to admit it, but normal physics might not be the same here. Something made from mana couldn’t have acted the same way as the real thing. It just made sense. Bread or noodles made from different ingredients would never taste the same.

“Don’t get her hopes up, please,” said the glary-girl dash retainer.

“Please, June, give the man a chance,” Ally begged the dark-haired girl.

“Wait, I also didn’t say I wanted to help either,” Adrin said to their surprise. “I won’t just help a girl because she is pretty.”

“But this is the class’s group project!” Alicia stressed, before looking at June with a scowl on her lovely face. She must be blaming the girl retainer for this.

“Don’t flatter yourself, peasant, both Missus hands already taken,” it was Ana retainer’s, the blonde, turn to speak her mind. “Don’t even dream about courting them.”

“I have no idea how it comes to that, but that’s great news!” Adrin answered with huge honest relief. “You should have said that earlier.”

Of course, the girls already had prearranged marriages. He was just being thoughtless again and just assumed this world was similar to the old world’s stories about another world.

Who in their right minds wouldn’t want to snatch these gorgeous girls and tie the knot as early as humanly possible? It wasn’t like they were lined up just waiting for the isekai hero to arrive.

He didn’t think the girls would easily fall for him, but conventional wisdom had stated, it was better to be safe than sorry. There was a reason why people had crushes on the firemen who had saved them. The chances of gaining interest in their benefactors increased exponentially with the severity of their problem. It was just human nature.

These girls were rich kids, and if all the money the family could’ve offered wasn’t able to solve their problem, it meant their issues were a really huge stinky pickle. These problems could even be very personal to them.

[Water] based mages must have a really hard time trying to dish out damage while staying safe. It was understandable if all they only had was instinct to guide them.

And thanks to the engagement reveal, now he had no problem showing off a little. It would be safe enough as long as their duty as esteemed heiresses came first before anything else.

He was just a peasant after all. Maybe he would be able to make them ‘demonstrate’ their skills for profit. He still had two more aspiration points to use.

Adrin waited until the glares softened a little before he spoke again.

“Anyway, have any of you considered what will happen if I solve your problems?” He looked around and waited for any brilliant answer. “No? I guess not.”

“Then what do you want?” asked Mary of all the other people.

“Simple, your word of honor that what is discussed in the group, stays in the group. Make your own excuse, a dream, enlightenment, or whatever about it. Do we have an agreement?”

The girls looked at each other and nodded with a collective agreement. He would be a fool to believe them but this was just another test. Let’s see who’s mouth would blabber out first. What he was going to reveal was very basic anyway.

“Good, and have any of you heard of water pressure?” Adrin asked around, and everyone shook their heads, what a great start.

“Let me just show you,” he said and the blue-haired girl nodded. “First you need to make a big ball of water, can you do that?”

“That’s easy,” Alicia said and she conjured a ball of water with no effort at all.

Now he was jealous of the female natural attune to magic. He wasn’t even sure how she accomplished that, Adrin sighed inside.

“Good, now I need you to reduce the size of the ball, make it much smaller without reducing the amount of water.”

“Is that what you mean by water pressure?” Ana asked from the other side as Ally tried her best to do what he said.

“Yes, sort of, reducing the size will increase the pressure significantly because, unlike the air, water is denser and harder to compress,” he explained. “Try a smaller quantity if it's too hard, Ally,” he told the other girl and she nodded as the ball slowly shrunk.

“What compressed water will even do?” said the blond-haired girl, skeptical like anyone would if they hadn’t any knowledge in science.

“Have you ever seen what water does after it falls from a tall waterfall?” The girls nodded. “This is similar to that, just better.”

“What’s next?” cheered Ally.

She was very excited probably because she could feel the sheer pressure from the tennis ball of water in her palm. She couldn’t hide the disbelief and awe on her face while she was staring at the much smaller, denser ball of water.

No machine in the old world could have done what she had. He didn’t know the actual number but it could be several tons of pressure held in her dainty hand. The more he tried to put logic into what he was witnessing, the more it didn’t make any sense.

“Next you open a tiny hole towards the target, the smaller the better.”

“Alright!” The girl almost jumped on her feet as she turned towards the target doll.

A finger-sized water jet shot towards the rock. The massively pressurized, spinning water drilled right through the stone target, creating a clean see-through hole.

No one said anything as the stone doll fell apart, probably signaling that enough damage had been done to it. No one needed to tell them that it would be far deadlier and messier if the target was made from flesh.

‘It looks like water has a similar property here,’ Adrin mused. ‘Add some sand and it will be even scarier than this.’

Adrin looked around when he noticed the silence. Everyone was staring at the broken stone in disbelief. If they didn’t know it before, they should know by now that nature has a lot to teach.

“What the freak is that!!?” Ana shouted out loud.

Alicia looked at her palm in disbelief, “I did that?” she asked herself.

“Yes, mistress, I witnessed it with my own eyes, Master Yang will be delighted,” June reassured her young mistress. “What do you feel when you shoot the water?”

“I feel the water’s immense… desperation,” the girl cocked her head cutely as she muttered. “And now I can use this with the [Bolt] spell!”

The girls celebrated with excited squeals before they turned towards him. They stared at him, and for the first time, they felt the weight of their promise. It was too obvious with their wordless mouths open and closed.

He didn’t know why they used the word mistress but maybe it meant something different in this world. She was too young to be someone’s spare woman, it would be a huge waste. What he was thinking, the girls had already engaged.

It figured as both of them was rare beauties, but unlike others, his old soul just couldn’t appreciate them. They were eye candies but he would pick them over Emi any time.

There were exceptions, but the truth was, peerless beauty could and would usually compromise personality. Why would someone develop an acceptable or good personality when they were readily accepted just because of their beauty?

Why struggle when you don't have to?

These girls were only nice to him because he didn’t say no.

“Hey, Adrin, can you help with my problem?” Ana asked him.

“Same rules,” Adrin shrugged, “but what’s your issue?”

“I can’t hit the target,” she said simply.

“Moving target?”

“No, even stationary ones,” she mumbled under her breath. “I don’t know what’s wrong with me, and I’ve only depended on [Fire]’s area of effect damage,” Ana explained.

A prodigy who couldn’t hit her target. That’s interesting, “how do you feel if your fire burns another living being?”

“Well, if they deserved it, I don’t really care as much.”

“But what if they don’t deserve it? What if they are framed by someone?”

“The family has the best healers for that, of course, I feel bad for them but if it’s between life and death, no action is still a reaction. But why are you asking all this?”

This confirmed it, the future Matriarch was logical and smart. A rare combination in a girl. He almost felt bad for her to be engaged. Almost.

“Because I want to determine if your problem originates from fear,” he explained. “If mana responded to [Willpower] then last-second hesitation can make the spell miss.”

“Yes, you are right,” Ana said, taken aback, “I only had that problem when I was still a child, but not anymore. Not after I understand what is at stake.”

“Then it should be something else, let me try something,” Adrin said while he walked further away and began to carve letters on the stone pillar he had raised. From big to small.

“All of you, compare with each other, can you see these clearly?”

The girls did what he asked but Ana passed with flying colors.

“There is no problem with your eyes too,” he concluded.

‘Could it be the eye and hand coordination?’ Adrin mused.

“Take this rock,” Adrin meld a rock marble and handed it to the girl. “Throw it at the target.”

“Okay,” said the girl unsure.

She threw it and from what he could see was horrifying. He did the finger-to-finger test, the follow-the-ball test and she failed both of them. This time no one even questioned what he was doing. The girl couldn’t hit anything even if it was right in front of her!

“You found what is wrong with me?”

Adrin wondered how he should say this, “yes, your eyes and hands don’t work together well.”

“Can it be fixed?” asked her retainer, Mary, with a desperate tone.

“Yes, but not with magic but training. Only hard work can fix it.”

“How do you know it will work?” Mary demanded.

“Because I had the same problem,” he stated the truth.

Adrin sighed at the end. That’s why he needed the [Aim Assist] badly or he would barely hit anything. Maybe he could devise an illusion to help her, but for now, something basic.

She should start the ball bouncing with the ground then the wall, and lastly, on a wooden stick. These were the most basic exercises to fix her problem.

Anyhow, the girl would have a lot of work ahead of her. Ana had used the altar to ‘summon’ a ball, and for a few hours, they just stayed in the Mirage dungeon to practice.

As for him, he just enjoyed the view of young bouncy girls getting excited about silly reasons.