The Red Dragon Lord is OP, but Insists on a Pop Culture Invasion!

Furin’s classes weren’t going well.

As an Ancient Golden Dragon, her talent for Magic was so immense it was as if the heavens themselves had pried open her mouth and poured it in. With an abundance of time, she’d achieved mastery in almost every School.

Except for the Prophetic School.

’That stuff really isn’t something a normal mind can comprehend.’

According to Zog, if they were to fight to the death in an open field, he could eke out a win, though he’d be severely injured. But if they were to compete in an enclosed space, Furin would dominate him completely.

However, part of the reason was that Furin’s greatest love and expertise was Illusion Technique, and breaking illusions often came at a great cost to the one doing the breaking. Zog was just too durable.

While she was devoted to the Illusion School, Furin also genuinely loved teaching. The sense of accomplishment she got from spreading knowledge was second only to collecting art.

So she became the most diligent instructor at Repin Spellcaster Academy. Besides mentoring the handful of students specializing as Illusionists, she also offered numerous electives, determined to promote Illusion Technique.

But in recent years, the situation had gotten worse and worse.

In the past, her electives, while never popular, had a steady stream of students, since most Adventurers needed to learn how to see through illusions.

But now, the research institute had developed a lamp that could detect Illusion Techniques, eliminating what little demand was left. Fewer and fewer students signed up, to the point where she was about to fall short of the minimum enrollment needed to even offer the class.

To make matters worse, attendance for those who did enroll was abysmal. She didn’t dare take roll call; if she got any stricter, no one would come at all.

Furin patted her cheeks in front of the full-length mirror. ’As long as there’s a single student left in my classroom, I will give them my best lecture. That’s the responsibility of a Golden Dragon.’

She chose a simple yet exquisitely tailored, slim-fitting black robe. She had always maintained that one shouldn’t dress too ostentatiously at the academy.

She got on her bicycle and leisurely rode towards the school.

She loved trying new things, and bicycles were the latest craze, second only to the Shadow of Evil. Ever since they’d been updated with chains and rubber tires, riding them was incredibly convenient.

She didn’t teleport to the academy for two reasons. First, her Magic Resistance was so high that teleporting, while possible, was exhausting. Second, she genuinely found it interesting to observe the lives of other creatures on the street.

However, she tried not to form deep bonds with people. Their lives were simply too fleeting, and a Dragon’s memory was far too long.

But she admired the passion, the madness, the boundless creativity of the short-lived races. These were all things that her own long eons had slowly eroded away. ’If the world is ever to change,’ she mused, ’it will be because of them.’

’Oh, right. There’s also that annoying red pest who’s nothing like a real Dragon.’

Soon she arrived at her destination. Repin Academy did not have an enclosed campus; different Schools and departments were evenly distributed throughout Twin Tower City.

In a sense, Twin Tower City was surrounded by Repin Academy.

Kosais Building was the academic building shared by the Prophetic School and the Illusion School, though most of it was used by the prophecy buffs.

She reached the fifth floor, wondering why the administration had moved her class to the top-floor lecture hall—a room that could hold four hundred people, when she couldn’t even fill forty seats.

To her surprise, the hallway was packed with people.

’What’s going on?’

’Does that old fatso who loves prophesying people’s romantic fortunes have a class today?’

Right before his class ended, he would often randomly prophesize the romantic destiny of a student in attendance—even picking on those who were already in relationships.

Therefore, his class was wildly popular. Getting picked was a huge score, and even if you weren’t, you got to enjoy the show when someone else was.

She squeezed through the massive crowd of students with great difficulty. Of course, the difficulty came from having to constantly restrain her strength so she didn’t accidentally crush one of the poor kids.

When she pushed open the classroom door, she was met with a solid wall of people.

The four-hundred-person lecture hall was stuffed to the brim. Not only were all the seats taken, but there was no room to stand below the podium or in the aisles. There were even a few students from the Spellcasting School who had used the Floating Disc Technique to create their own second floor.

"Sorry, wrong classroom," was Furin’s first reaction. ’Impossible. Absolutely impossible. How could my class have this many students?’

"Professor, this is the right place," a faint voice piped up from beside the lecturer’s podium.

Furin looked toward the voice and saw her lovely little teaching assistant, Uffie. She thought very highly of Uffie; the girl was young, astonishingly talented, a hard worker, and meticulous in everything she did.

Furin was grooming Uffie as her successor, holding nothing back in her instruction, hoping that Uffie would one day pass that knowledge on to even more people.

"They’re here for the Illusion Technique class?" Furin’s tone was rife with uncertainty. She seriously suspected she was caught in an Illusion Technique. But with her intellect and Perception, who on earth could possibly fool her? The Magic Goddess herself?

’That would not be a good thing.’

"Yes, all of them," Uffie confirmed. "The ones in the middle of the front row are the students who actually enrolled. Everyone else is here to audit."

’If this is an Illusion Technique, I’m perfectly fine with being trapped in it.’ 𝗳𝐫𝚎𝗲𝚠𝚎𝗯𝕟𝐨𝘃𝚎𝗹.𝗰𝗼𝗺

As she walked up to the podium, her legs felt a little weak. For the first time in ages, the veteran professor was nervous.

In all these years, she had never lectured in front of so many people, not even a fraction of this!

Nervousness mingled with exhilaration, creating a thrilling sensation she hadn’t felt in years.

The last time she’d been this thrilled was back when she took advantage of Zog being a late bloomer, stealing his kills and forcing him to polish her scales.

Once he was fully grown, that special treatment ended. Now that he was bigger, she couldn’t beat him in a fight or even catch him if he ran.

She took a deep breath and said, "Originally, today’s lesson was on Illusion Mimicry, but since so many new students are here to audit, I thought I’d demonstrate something more interesting and practical from the world of Illusion Technique—"

"Professor, Professor," Uffie interrupted in a small voice before Furin could elaborate. "Right now, Illusion Mimicry *is* the most interesting and practical content."

"Huh?"

Furin didn’t understand. ’Isn’t Illusion Mimicry just a novelty trick within the Illusion School? It can’t actually deceive anyone. Even theaters won’t use it for set design; they’ll just use a proper Illusion if they can.’

But she looked down and saw the students staring at her with wide, pleading eyes, shaking their heads frantically.

"Then," Furin hesitated, "we’ll stick with Illusion Mimicry for this lesson?"

The students nodded so furiously they looked like a bank of ticker timers.

’Something’s not right, but I have no idea what.’

It was then that she finally noticed something was off about Uffie. She was normally such a tidy girl, so why was her hair so greasy, with dark circles under her eyes?

Uffie loved to study, sure, but she was always one for a regular sleep schedule—early to bed, early to rise.

Now she was even dozing off!

’Since when does she doze off in my class?’

’Don’t tell me she’s dating someone. What rotten punk dares to try and snatch my prized cabbage? Uffie can’t afford any distractions until she has completed her training!’

’Then it must be exhaustion from preparing for a competition. I should probably give her a couple of days off.’

Feeling a pang of guilt toward Uffie, Furin taught the class with renewed diligence. When it ended, the room erupted in applause that lasted for several minutes. She was genuinely moved. ’The revival of Illusion Technique is at hand! Truly, the heavens are about to bestow a great task upon this Dragon!’

"Does anyone have any more questions?"

In an instant, several hundred hands shot up.

Exhausted but happy, she spent the next few hours answering questions before finally getting a moment to rest.

Turning her head, she noticed Uffie was completely absorbed, fiddling with something.

A closer look revealed it to be Illusion Mimicry.

’That’s not right,’ Furin thought. ’Uffie mastered Illusion Mimicry long ago. She doesn’t need to review it after class. What is she mimicking?’

Furin watched closely. A long, purple block slowly descended, slotting perfectly into a gap between stacks of different colored blocks. Four rows of blocks vanished, and points were scored.

’Is this a game?’

’Uffie stayed up all night playing a game!’

’Wait a minute... so all those people came to learn Illusion Mimicry just so they could play a game?!’

Rage boiled within her. And to think she’d believed the great revival of Illusion Technique was at hand.

"Where did you learn this Magic?" A dangerous pressure leaked into Furin’s voice.

"It was... Senior Elsa."

"Senior Elsa? Which Senior Elsa?"

"The one from the toy store."

"The toy store..."

Furin’s mind went blank. It took her a moment to process, and then she let out a furious roar.

"Zog, you’ve ruined my legacy!"