What was even more unfortunate for Erwin was that he excelled in instant-release spells. He unleashed a barrage of all types of different spells, including fireballs, lightning bolts, and hail storms, which exploded upon Kaiba's magic shield to put on a spectacular show to behold, but the effects were very minimal. Meanwhile, Kaiba was able to stand behind the shield and gradually approach Erwin. However, Erwin was already accustomed to this type of situation, and he unleashed a space split technique to open up some distance between himself and Kaiba, thereby canceling out all of Kaiba's previous efforts. This type of sparring had already been witnessed between the two of them many times in the past, and neither side had been able to defeat the other.

The lecturer was initially rather disdainful toward Erwin's unorthodox style, but most magicians didn't excel in movement, so once they allowed martial artists to close down the distance between them, the battle would be all but decided.

Thus, Kaiba and Erwin's sparring matches were often used as examples to be discussed in class.

...

 As for how Erwin had developed this ability, it had been bestowed upon him by Professor Hawk of the magic division. Professor Hawk was a core mentor in the magic defense class, and the story of how the two of them had come to know each other was also quite an interesting one. At the time, Professor Hawk was teaching a lesson, instructing students on how to conjure up magic shields to ward off attacks from other magicians. After that, he examined all of his students' magic shields. At the time, Erwin had only just emerged from the eastern part of the inner city, so his mind was in a haze, and he wasn't able to focus on the lesson at all. Thus, he could only submit a basic agility technique to Professor Hawk during the examination phase. Generally speaking, this was a technique taught only to students of the martial techniques division, but due to how close he was with Kaiba and Larwood, he was able to learn many tricks from them.

Professor Hawk had never seen a magician use martial techniques in battle against other magicians with such stunning effect. The two combatants should've conjured up their magic shields before attacking each other with spells to examine the resilience of the shields. However, Erwin hadn't even given his opponent a chance to conjure up their magic shield before charging directly toward them, unleashing a barrage of instant-release spells as he did so. Thus, his opponent had no time to conjure up a magic shield, and could only unleash instant-release spells themselves in retaliation. 

Due to the agility technique, Erwin still wasn't as fast and agile as the students from the martial techniques division, but he was far faster than his fellow students from the magic division. An abrupt sidestep allowed Erwin to evade most of his opponent's instant-release spells, following which he unleashed another barrage of instant-release spells of his own. In the face of Erwin's unorthodox style, his opponent was completely suppressed. Most of their instant-release spells were avoided by Erwin, and they didn't dare to take the time to conjure up a magic shield as Erwin's instant-release spells were constantly hurtling toward them from all directions.

Professor Hawk called for the battle to conclude before Erwin was able to hurt his opponent, and at that point, his opponent was already on the brink of making a fatal error forced by the unrelenting pressure that Erwin had exerted upon them. All of the students in the class were completely flabbergasted to see this. What should've been a lesson on the use of magic shields in battles between magicians had been completely ruined by Erwin's unorthodox display!

Professor Hawk was quite displeased by this, but he also saw a lot of potential in Erwin. Thus, he gave Erwin a vicious glare before asking him to visit his office after the lesson. Erwin duly obliged, and he was sweating profusely under Professor Hawk's stern gaze.

He had thought that Professor Hawk would administer some torturous punishment upon him, but to his surprise, Professor Hawk pulled out a dusty copy of "Laws of Time and Space" before tossing it over to Erwin, instructing him to carefully study it, and that he was going to examine Erwin's progress after every lesson.

Erwin was completely dumbfounded by this request.

Among all of the magic students of the same level, Erwin wasn't all that exceptional, but he was extremely street smart and cunning. However, the book was exceedingly difficult to understand, and even after studying it for an extended period of time, Erwin was only able to learn a single technique, which was the space split technique.

After the offense and defense class, everyone discussed where to go next.

"I'm gonna go home and have a good sleep." Larwood was completely exhausted, clearly having just been severely tormented by Gwen.

"You should be careful. Don't forget that Gwen is the governor's only child. If something happens between you two, the governor could raze your family's manor to the ground!" Kaiba chuckled.

"Why would he do that? It's not like I've ever touched her or anything," Larwood replied with a sly expression.

"Oho? So you're thinking about touching her?" Chase and Chanel approached the group together, and the former chuckled, "I think you have a death wish!"

"Governor Jenkins is a prized subordinate to His Majesty. For the past few years, he's always served as the governor of the Fooz province, and he controls all of the mines in Fooz!" Kaiba said with a smile. "If all of Gwen's suitors line up, they'll probably stretch all the way out of the city from the palatial complex!"

"It's alright, the number of noble women that Larwood has wooed can stretch all the way from his house to the province of Fooz," Erwin chuckled, and everyone burst into laughter.

"You know, now that I think about it, I've never heard of Larwood coming out second-best in a relationship," Chase said with a sly smile.

"Piss off! I'm going home. You guys can say whatever you want," Larwood snapped.

"Why are you leaving so soon? Get your family's coach driver to come here. He may not know the way to Governor Jenkin's manor. I'd be happy to give him some instructions."

Erwin's teasing brought on another round of laughter from everyone.

Only right as he was about to leave the academy did Erwin recall that he still had to go and see Professor Hawk. Thus, he parted ways with everyone before setting off for Professor Hawk's office, and everyone knew that he was most likely going to see Professor Hawk for his usual supplementary lessons.

In less than a month, the triennial Pillow Sword Tournament was going to be held in Sarus. Teedus Academy, Pucil Academy, and Seaford Academy of Sarus, as well as Tisdale Academy of Burmen, and Einz Academy of Fooz were all going to be sending students to participate in the competition. The quota of students permitted to participate in the tournament for each advanced academy was determined by their results during the last edition of the tournament. In total, there were going to be 128 contestants who had to go through rounds upon rounds of showdowns before the winner of the final Pillow Sword Award was decided. The Royal Guard, the Royal Cavalry Brigade, the Court Magician Council, and the True Light Church were all going to be present to scout for contestants, and those who performed exceptionally well during the tournament wouldn’t even have to graduate before being picked up by one of those organizations.

Thus, every student with any ambition in their heart hoped to be able to participate in the Pillow Sword Tournament, and all of the academy's lecturers had the right to recommend candidates to the principal. For a core professor like Professor Hawk, his recommendations would naturally be prioritized by Teedus Academy.

Unfortunately for Erwin, he was only an intermediate magic student, and theoretically speaking, students of his level wouldn't be recommended to attend the tournament. However, Professor Hawk had clearly taken a liking to him and was forcing Erwin to attend supplementary lessons every day of late. Whenever Erwin came to the academy, he would always have to go to Professor Hawk for supplementary lessons after his normal scheduled lessons.

Under the illumination of the magic division's Nightglow Stones lamps, Erwin passed by a series of classrooms on the first floor, then made his way directly to the mentors' offices on the second floor. Professor Hawk's office was the one at the very end of the floor, and Erwin hadn't even knocked on the door yet before he was asked to enter the room. For a magician of Professor Hawk's caliber, he was able to sense Erwin as soon as he arrived on this floor. All veteran magicians were extremely sensitive and alert to everything around them.

Erwin opened the door and entered the room. There was a pair of round, gold-rimmed glasses sitting on Professor Hawk's hooked nose, and with the natural curls in his hair, he looked much like a judge reading through some files. Alternatively, one could also liken him to a giant hawk that was staring intently at a book, ready to eat it at any moment. Professor Hawk's eyesight was actually quite exceptional, and he was only beginning to suffer from presbyopia from old age. Erwin swept his gaze across the lit candles in the room, then took a deep breath before pulling that copy of "Laws of Time and Space" out of his sheepskin satchel.

Professor Hawk set down the book in his hand before raising his head to look at Erwin.

"Let's review the basic laws of magic first for today." Professor Hawk removed his glasses before massaging his own glabella.

"Yes, Professor Hawk." Erwin sat down at a small desk beside the bookshelf.

"What is magic, and what is the essence of magic?" Professor Hawk asked.

"The essence of magic is the occupation and modification of existing matter in the world," Erwin replied in a well-rehearsed manner.

This was something that all students who had taken magic lessons knew, and he was unsure of why he was being asked such a basic question.

"Can you explain what you mean by occupation and modification?" Professor Hawk asked.

Erwin thought about this for a moment before replying, "To put it in simple terms, I'll use instant-release spells as an example. Instant-release spells occupy the matter within a set surrounding space. The greater the capacity of occupation, the more destructive the spell will be, and the more difficult it'll be to unleash. Hence, there is usually a limit on the destructive power of instant-release spells as there are only limited elements of all types in the surrounding area."

Professor Hawk nodded in response, encouraging Erwin to continue.

"However, when it comes to spells that are cast, their essence involves altering the matter within a set space to form magic, and that requires the use of chants or magic scrolls. Hence, casting-type spells require time to prepare, but they possess superior destructive power, and as a magician's skills improve, they'll be able to shorten the amount of time required for casting," Erwin continued.

"Then what about martial techniques? What are the differences between martial techniques and magic?" Professor Hawk asked.

"Er... The difference between martial techniques and magic is that the former requires one to close down the distance between one and their opponent, thereby allowing them to inflict damage from close quarters." Erwin wasn't very well-versed in martial techniques, so his answer was a little lackluster.

"That's too superficial an answer. You need to think about martial techniques on a more in-depth level," Professor Hawk said with a displeased expression.

The impression that Erwin had of martial technique students was that all of them had to close down the distance between themselves and their opponents before their skills could be put to effective use. What was the biggest difference between martial techniques and magic?

"Let me give you a hint: do you still recall the agility technique that you used?"

The memory of that battle was naturally still clear in Erwin's mind. After all, it was the reason why he had to attend these supplementary lessons every day. Erwin thought carefully about this. The agility technique was very easy to use. It involved using the body to sense and capture the matter in the surrounding space that was beneficial for one's movement, thereby allowing one to alter the speed of their movement within a certain space. With that in mind, it seemed that martial techniques and magic shared some similarities. At the very least, both required one to use their body to sense the matter in the space around them.