《Tales of the Legendary Magus》


 Chapter 1: How Unlucky Can One Get

    "Villin Collin, aged twenty, died by¡­..wait up, this can''t be right!"


    The corpse of Villin laid on a bed made of clouds as a beautiful lady stood next to his bed holding a thin pamphlet.


    "When returning home from a disastrous date he witnessed a thief stealing an old lady''s bag. He chased the thief for twenty meters before catching up at which point the robber stabbed him with a knife she had been hiding. When Villin fell to the ground wondering if this was how his life was going to end a truck driver lost control of his vehicle driving right into him and so truck-kun took his life."


    The lady stared at the pamphlet in bewilderment. The fact that Villin died because of a truck wasn''t a surprise. After all, if he didn''t he wouldn''t be able to reincarnate but the situation in its entirety was certainly a first.


    Just as she was doing a double-take, the boy on the bed made of clouds opened his eyes. Looking around him he saw he was laying in an endless sea of white clouds. When he saw the lady standing beside him he didn''t hesitate to speak.


    "Damn, well that was a shitty way to die, what now?"


    He stood up stretching his arms casually taking a better look around.


    The lady froze for a second seeing his uncaring attitude before putting on her signature smile.


    "I am sorry to inform you that you died. Due to the manner of your death and your achievements in life you will be given a say in the matter of your rebirth."


    The woman smiled softly still expecting the recently deceased Villin to fall to his knees and cry after realizing he truly died.


    "Oh that seems kinda cool. So I could go to some sorta magical planet or something?"


    As he said this he took a closer look at the lady that was speaking to him. She truly was beautiful, a typical beauty with blond hair, blue eyes, and a dazzling smile. Despite this, he didn''t really care too much. So what if reincarnation was real, tomorrow he wouldn''t remember any of it anyway, best to just get this thing over with.


    "Well, yes, most planets are actually magical in nature. Earth is one of the few non-magical planets since your planet''s core died a few million years ago. If you wish you may pick a world to be reborn in."


    Villin simply sighed before deciding.


    "Alright then, let''s go with the Harry Potter world I suppose."


    He chose somewhat randomly, it would be pretty cool to do magic and the Harry Potter world was relatively safe overall as long as he didn''t come in at the wrong time period. And if he didn''t become a mage, perhaps he''d have better luck next time.


    "Sir, I am sorry to inform you Harry Potter is purely fictional. It''s a book, something written by a normal person for enjoyment."


    The lady talked in a soothing voice but Villin found a hint of ridicule in her words.


    "Well don''t you have any worlds that are similar then? You know, magical school, easily distinguishable bad guys, that kind of stuff?"


    In an instant, the lady had taken a tablet out of thin air and tapped it a few times. Something Villin found quite humorous. They were in the afterlife and yet she used technology.


    "Let''s see so a world with mages living in secret and mortals in the open, those are quite rare. Let''s add some pureblood supremacy in there...oh that didn''t actually delete any. A number of large magic schools with lacking management. Alright, we''re almost getting there, only a few results left. Let''s add a random guy getting extremely lucky...ah, there we go!"


    The lady looked at Villin with a brilliant smile.


    "And there you go!"


    She said as she pushed a button on her tablet. When she saw Villin was still standing there she had a confused expression before she looked down at her tablet again. Then over the course of a few seconds, she seemed to have aged a dozen years.


    Just as Villin was going to ask her what was going on, she spoke up again.


    "Villin, one of the high gods seemed to have taken pity on you due to the way you died. Please come here and choose the perks you shall gain upon your rebirth."


    Seeing the shock on the lady''s face he didn''t waste any words as he walked up to her to look at the tablet.


    On the left half of the tablet were a large number of small squares. When you clicked on one the description would pop up on the right side. Other than this the right side also held 6 small empty squares. Above the top three was a line stating ''High-grade perks'' and above the bottom three ''Low-grade perks''.


    When looking on the left side he could also see a fine line separating the high and low grade perks.


    When he properly looked through a few of the high tier perks his previous indifference quickly disappeared. The very first perk was called ''Second Life'' this allowed him to remember everything he had done in his previous life, hence when he was reborn it would still be him.


    After selecting this one Villin immediately regained his vigor properly checking out all other perks. The second major perk he chose was called ''Supreme Magus'' this would give him a great connection to the ''web''. Even though Villin didn''t know what this web was, he chose it because of the title. He hoped this perk would assure he would reincarnate as a mage and not just some random mortal.


    The third perk was a very hard one to pick. There were a few that interested him such as ''system interface'' and ''special bloodline'' but in the end, he chose ''Great comprehension'' since the description showed that this would allow for one to grasp the nature of magic quicker and more thoroughly alongside other things. Its benefit was clear unlike the other two.


    As for the minor perks, he didn''t hesitate as much. The first perk he chose was ''Good looking'' for obvious reasons. The second perk he chose was ''Photographic memory'' he hoped this one would go well with his increased comprehension. The final one was ''athletic'', making it easier for him to become physically strong compared to most others.


    When Villin looked at the lady next to him once more his eyes seemed to be burning with vigor. Now that he knew his memories would be kept he subconsciously acted differently.


    "So when do I get to go?"


    Even though this question could be seen as impolite the lady didn''t seem to mind at all as she still seemed to be in a slight state of shock. After taking another deep breath she replied.


    "That will be now, have a fun trip!"


    Immediately after this sentence she looked at her tablet and pressed a button, after which he felt his consciousness traveling through worlds. It was as if all the knowledge in the world was just in front of him, but after a few seconds of this he fainted, when he woke up he would be in an entirely new world.

 Chapter 2: A New Body, A Sad Beginning

    When Villin finally regained consciousness he was assaulted by a wave of nausea. In just a single moment seven years of memories assaulted his consciousness at once causing a massive headache to form.


    Villin groaned as he slightly managed to open his eyes. He saw an old wooden roof that seemed to be rotting. When he looked to the left his eyes suddenly widened as he saw a lady about forty years of age laying on the floor with a pool of blood around her. Her chest looked as if it had been slashed by a sword for a hundred times.


    Villin subconsciously crawled backward towards the other way before he felt something sticky below his hands. When he slowly turned his head he was greeted with yet another corpse. A male in his fifties was sitting against the wall, his face in ruins. Villin started hyperventilating as he jumped up. Still being assaulted by a wave of nausea and memories that were impossible to make sense of.


    When he tried to run toward the doorway he saw not far away he fell, his coordination was way off, his legs were shorter then they were before and since he wasn''t used to it he simply wasn''t able to run.


    Just after he fell the nausea receded and memories suddenly made sense.


    His name was Villin Grey son of Adam Grey and Violette Grey. He was about to turn nine and had recently been contacted by a young woman named Silver. She talked to him and his parents for over an hour, after showing proof multiple times she also managed to convince his parents that magic was real and he had it. Apparently they had sensed it on him just about a month ago and so she was sent over to make sure he could join the academy when he turned nine.


    Tears fell down his face without him knowing it as he saw the parents of this body''s last owner. Villin felt weird and confused, having no idea on what to do. He must''ve sat there for hours, completely lost, trying to figure out what was going on and slowly putting all the memories into place.


    After this unknown period of time, footsteps came from behind him. Still lost in his head, Villin didn''t realize as even now tears were flowing out of his eyes. The lady standing behind him gulped as she saw the situation. She had already found two other corpses in the living room, the two younger sisters of Villin, and now the parents were also found.


    "Mashio."


    She said calmly as she tapped her wand onto Villin''s head, causing him to fall asleep.


    When Villin woke up he felt extremely calm. He could recall the events that happened before yet he couldn''t form any emotions of them. He quickly noticed he was laying in a proper bed, in a proper room, and just as he woke up someone came out of a door to his left.


    When he looked at the doorway he saw a twenty-year-old lady with beautiful silver hair and nearly sparkling blue eyes. This was without a doubt Silver, the mage that had told him he was a magus. Before he could say anything she looked at him with a sad expression.


    "Hey Villin, I am very sorry about what happened to your family, the academy has taken it upon themselves to find out who did it, they will surely catch the killer."


    She paused and she almost looked as if she would tear up herself.


    "The bed you are laying on is enchanted, as long as you stay in bed you won''t feel extreme emotions, I suggest you stay in bed for a day to make processing the situation easier."


    Villin looked slightly confused as he started asking Silver some questions. It appeared she had taken him in for the time being because she didn''t want him to go to the orphanage.


    Surprisingly the conversation didn''t stay at the subject of last night''s matters for long. Since Villin didn''t feel right now he simply decided not to ask about things that Silver wouldn''t be able to answer.


    "Why did I only get notified about magic a few months before I''m supposed to go to a school?"


    Hearing this question Silver seemed a bit more confident as she simply explained.


    "Since you were born of two mortals, finding you can only be done out of luck. One of our mages happened to sense your energy a short while back. If we had found you earlier we would''ve informed you of everything earlier. We would''ve asked if we could have a mage live with you for a while to properly explain all you need to know."


    Villin nodded, before laying down again. He wasn''t stupid and knew he had to take some time to process what happened last night. If he could properly realize what happened now, potential grieving wouldn''t be as hard.


    Luckily it seemed that he worried about nothing. He left the bed after only an hour of thinking and when he did he felt a clear change in himself, allowing his emotions to flow again. Even though he felt somewhat scared when he thought back to what happened last night. He didn''t feel any kinship with his parents. At this point, the memories no longer overwhelmed him. It felt more like a movie than anything else.


    Silver lived alone in a rather big home. Despite its size it still felt very cozy, the living room had a nice fireplace and a few couches, and a number of trinkets could be seen which he couldn''t recognize. Other than this he also spotted a radio, meaning technology probably didn''t have an effect on magic.


    Silver stayed close to him for the entire day while neither of them spoke too much. It was clear that she was giving him time to think and he was having a look at everything. When he got tired of looking he sat on the couch in front of the lit fireplace.


    "Hey Silver, thank you for taking me in for a bit."


    He sounded slightly gloomy which wasn''t a surprise, Silver decided to respond with a smile.


    "I heard it''s your birthday today so I got you a present, I hope you like it."


    She didn''t respond to his thanks as it didn''t seem necessary at the time, instead, she grabbed a square wrapped up box and gave it to him.


    She smiled at him wildly so Villin looked at her thankfully as he opened the package. When it was fully opened he could see what looked like a small mouse made out of metal.


    "Try touching it."


    As she advised Villin gently touched the metal mouse and it immediately came to life. The mouse seemed to be fully made out of metal without leaving any gaps yet the snout, legs, and tail easily moved.


    "This is an enchanted pet. It doesn''t hold much intelligence and only lives for a few years but if you want to learn enchantments later on it could be a good object to try to learn from and perhaps even experiment on."


    While she was saying all that Villin looked at the little mouse with a somewhat shocked look.


    Even though he knew this was probably nothing compared to what mages could truly do, it made him realize magic was now really a thing.


    "Thank you miss Silver, I love it!"


    He said as he held his hand out to the little mouse letting it climb on. With an invigorated expression he turned to Silver.


    "Please miss Silver can you teach me magic?"


    Seeing his excited expression Silver couldn''t help but smile, she was glad he didn????t seem to have a trauma because of what happened. Even though how quickly he seemed to have gotten passed it nearly seemed worrying, she could tell he certainly wasn''t some psychopath.


    "Since I''m only a first-grade mage, I''m not allowed to teach any future mages, if you want I can give you some books on magic and magic society though. In fact, I was already planning to do so, after all, school starts in a month.


    Saying this she walked over to the one room that was locked before. When she opened it Villin saw a study. The walls seemed to be made out of bookshelves filled with books as at least a few hundred books were here.


    Without any hesitation, she walked forward and grabbed a few books out of various shelves. All of these books were relatively thin and they sported titles such as ''A guide to Magus society'', ''The world from a Magus'' standpoint'', ''How to transform from a mortal with magic to a magus'' and ''Basic rules in the Magus world''. It was clear these books were made for people such as himself who was born with mortal parents.


    After giving these books to Villin, Silver spoke once more.


    "Tomorrow I won''t be home since I have to go to a teachers'' meeting in the academy. I will make sure there will be plenty for you to eat, when you open the cabinet on the top left of the kitchen a warm meal will appear. I will be back in the evening to properly talk to you alright?"


    Villin nodded as he looked at the woman before him. It was hard to say how he would classify her. She was the same age as he was so he really didn''t see her as a mother figure. And well, she was more caring than a sister. Letting the matter rest, he went to go sleep. He was still quite exhausted mentally and even if he tried he probably wouldn''t be able to read properly.


    And so, while laying in the bed which suppressed all emotions he looked over everything that happened once more before falling into a deep slumber.

 Chapter 3: Long Live Books!

    When Villin woke up he was well-rested. This was quite surprising since the clock showed he had only slept for six hours and the sun had yet to rise.


    He hesitated for a minute or so before leaving the bed, letting his emotions return. This hesitation made him realize a problem. The bed was very much addicting. Even though he didn''t know the dead parents very well, the bloody scene he saw that night was embedded deep into his mind. Sometimes his mind would wander and he would rewatch that terrible scene causing him to feel terrible for a while.


    And so, he decided not to sleep in that enchanted bed again, even though the sleep was peaceful he didn''t want to risk growing truly addicted.


    With this thought in mind, he looked around the house to see if he could find Silver. Yet even after checking every room twice, she was nowhere to be seen. It seemed she had to leave extremely early and so he would have the house to himself.


    Villin had no hesitation in his steps as he quickly made his way toward the study, he sat on the rather large chair and put the books he had been given the previous day on the table.


    Before he opened it, however, he closed his eyes and thought back to what happened in the sea of clouds and the advantages he held.


    The first thing he had wanted to check was his supposedly good looks but yesterday he didn''t see any mirrors in the house so he''d put that on pause for now. The only other perk he could properly check was photographic memory, and so he opened one of the books before him at a random point, looked at the page for a few seconds, and closed it again.


    When he closed his eyes and thought back to it he could see the page in its entirety as if he was looking at it. He could even read the page he had been looking at in his mind.


    Villin let out a sigh of relief. He wanted to make sure everything worked properly and it would seem that it had!


    The first book he opened was ''Basic rules in the Magus World'' and he soon started reading. The book was obviously meant for kids as it was written in extremely basic language and many things having to do with crime and the like seemed to be sugarcoated. In this way, it was said that if you showed magic to a mortal without permission you would have to take a little trip to the Palace. The Palace was the top magic authority on the central continent.


    The world he was in currently had three different continents, each of these had their own mortal rulers and hidden magical societies. He was residing in the central continent, close to what was said to be the number one school for aspiring Magus.


    Villin managed to get through ''Basic rules in the Magus World'' really quickly. The book didn''t have many pages to begin with and the language used was extremely simple and so by the time he finished the eighty-page book only an half an hour had passed.


    Once he finished reading it he sat back in contemplation, a serious look on his face. Even though this was a basic book intended to explain basic rules and etiquette to kids, it was full of oddities. The book went against itself a multitude of times. One page they would state that all magus should be treated with the respect you yourself wish to be treated with while another one would say that if someone from a noble family were to seek trouble with you you should follow their commands.


    There were many other oddities within the book but Villin decided to let it be for the time being, he''d see how things were actually like when he got to the Academy.


    The second book he read was ''A guide to Magus Society'' he picked this one since he figured this might bring a more realistic image of any potential class divide, and it delivered.


    The book was written by a mage who hadn''t had a mortal in the family for centuries and so they were very proud. He didn''t at all try to hide their disdain for mortals and those with mortal families either when it was brought up in the book. But overall the book truly was quite useful. It gave him some information on bloodlines and types of magic, giving him a great deal of information.


    A bloodline was something often held in noble families. It is originally gotten when a powerful Magus succeeds in merging a beasts bloodline in their own or when they have offspring with a powerful beast that has succeeded in morphing into human form, something that was a clear display of power.


    Villin felt a bit weirded out by this but the noble author seemed to really take pride in the fact that he had a bit of bloodline coming from an ''Adarna''. Some sort of magical bird that held healing powers among other things. Thanks to the bit of healing power he had, his wounds would automatically start healing.


    As for types of magic, there were a few things that were explained. Firstly there were wands, these were the main tool to help use magic within the academy. It allowed a spell''s effect to be concentrated in a single point and the better wands could also store a few spells allowing you to use them instantly. Other then this there were also the staffs that were often used in the east and the hand gestures that were used in the west but there wasn''t much info on either of these.


    What was mentioned however was that every magus would have to learn bare-handed magic. You couldn''t be called a Magus if all your powers disappeared as soon as you were disarmed.


    Then there were also the crafting disciplines. The main ones in the central continent were pill-making, magic arrays, and enchantments.


    Finishing the book Villin once more was in deep contemplation, this time it had still taken him no more than an hour despite the more difficult language. He suspected this might have to do with the ''Great Comprehension'' perk he had chosen.


    A few more hours passed as Villin read the rest of the books Silver had given him. Even though there was some useful information in there, most of it was already mentioned in one of the previous two books he read.


    Once he finished these books he wasn''t sure what he should do next. There were plenty of books in this room but he wasn''t entirely sure if it was morally right to start reading Silver''s books without asking.


    After a bit, he couldn''t hold himself back anymore as he started browsing the titles of the books in the study. He was happy to see they were properly categorized. There were five main sections in the study. The first section held everything history related. The second section was full of political books, the third was considerably smaller and held everything mortal-related. The fourth section was the biggest containing a bunch on books about the magic, it was when he got to the fifth section, which was also considerably smaller, that he didn''t really know what he was looking at.


    The books here were extremely thick and seemed to be made out of some sort of metal. A single book was easily fifty centimeters thick, furthermore, every book was exactly equal in size. Villin curiously took one of the books before putting it on the table on the study. The book was in a sleek black and the title was put on the cover in large red letters. It read ''Spell blueprint: Vanishing object''. Having his curiosity fully peaked by the metal cover and odd title Villin opened the book only to find out it only had a single page, each of the sides of this page was over twenty centimeters thick, made fully out of the unidentified metal.


    With a frown on his face, Villin fully opened the book, wanting to read what is inside of it. Yet just as he opened it a light blue object seemed to appear before him. Villin jumped back instantly, falling off the chair before realizing what happened.


    It wasn''t that an object had appeared out of mid-air, it was that an image had jumped out of the book. When he stood up and approached the desk again he could see the floating patters. There were about a hundred dots with varying brightnesses and distances between each other in a 3D circle. A dozen of these were connected by a thin line while about a fifth of them had a small name below them such as ''fa'' or hu'', some of these even came up on multiple of the different dots.


    Bewildered Villin studied the dots as well as the line that connected some of them but he simply couldn''t see any proper pattern. After spending some time on this he simply closed the book and put it back into the shelve.


    Without the ability to use magic, looking at some random circle with a line in it didn''t seem like a good way to spend time, even if he knew it was a spell blueprint, it wasn''t really useful to him at the moment.


    And so he started from the very left and grabbed some history-related books. Specifically those of the last hundred years. It wasn''t long before he was lost in the books.

 Chapter 4: Weighing Possibilities

    The day passed by quickly, so quickly even that Villin totally forgot to grab food. He had been reading book after book, finishing them all relatively quickly and well, he simply didn''t forget the things he read. Even though the details weren''t clear everything of importance was easily remembered.


    It was only when he heard a voice that he looked up from the desk.


    "Well Villin, what do you think you''re doing exactly."


    Villin froze before looking up. Silver had walked through the door and all the way up to the desk he was simply to immersed in his reading to notice her. Just as he was somewhat expecting to get scolded Silver spoke again.


    "If you grab a book and don''t like it then put it back, don''t leave them all on the table!"


    Hearing this Villin looked around him in somewhat of a daze and it was only then that he realized what he had been doing. There were at least twenty books laying on and around the desk, some of these had been finished while others had caught his attention and he was planning to read. He then replied with a wry smile.


    "Sorry miss Silver, I''ll clean up immediately!"


    He didn''t hesitate to apologize since he was in the wrong in this situation, in fact, he was already quite happy she didn''t seem to mind he had been grabbing books to read other then the ones she gave him.


    Once he got up he felt a tad of nausea, without realizing he had been sitting down for ten hours straight going through book after book. It was then that his stomach made an extremely loud growling sound.


    Silver frowned as she questioned, "Don''t tell me you haven''t eaten yet Villin, it''s already nearing nine!"


    After saying this she resolutely walked toward the kitchen, opening the cupboard on the top left. When she did a box of cereal could be seen there together with some milk and a bowl.


    "Breakfast? Villin, did you not eat anything the entire day?"


    After the initial confusion, she immediately got worried as she told him.


    "I know what happened is terrible and you are hurting but you have to eat. I haven''t eaten yet myself so let''s eat together alright?"


    She inquired looking incredibly worried. Seeing her like this Villin didn''t quite know what to say, the reason he hadn''t eaten was that he was too immersed in the books, not because of his pseudo-parents'' death. That being said he could hardly contest her now as that would make him seem rather heartless and so he simply nodded before following her to the table.


    The meal was absolutely delicious, they ate a simple bowl of ravioli yet it tasted like heaven. He wasn''t quite sure if this was because of how hungry he was or because of some sort of magic.


    When they were almost finished eating Villin told Silver that he felt like he feared he would become dependant on the bed and if he could sleep on the couch. Hearing this Silver looked at him in surprise. In fact, she knew that the kid would probably get somewhat addicted to the bed for a while but that didn''t have to be such a bad thing. There were magus'' who enchant their clothes to have a similar effect even if it wasn''t that strong. And even though she didn''t wish this for Villin, letting him sleep there for a week wouldn''t cause a big problem.


    "Let''s just switch beds instead, after all that bed you are talking about is normally mine." She said with a smile.


    Villin nodded rather relieved he could settle this matter so easily. He wondered for a while if he should ask her questions about the things he read about that he didn''t understand due to a lack of information but ended up not doing this. After all, it was extremely probable that he would find the answers tomorrow or the day after that.


    "Miss Silver, do you mind if I continue reading the books in your study?" Villin asked hopefully.


    "Sure, you can read them as long as you clean up right away once you are done with a certain book. I''d also rather have it if you didn''t look at the Spell Blueprints. They are the metal books on the very right side of the study."


    Hearing her consent Villin''s face instantly brightened up. He nodded happily as he recalled the number of books in the library. If he were to do other things it was unlikely he could finish them all before school started.


    His new bed was quite a bit smaller than the previous one. The room was also a bit shabbier but Villin didn''t complain, after all, he had been sleeping in Silver''s room for the last few nights.


    Before sleeping he decided to do a regular workout routine. Right now his body is only nine years old so he didn''t overdo it but he also knew it was good to start training young.


    The next few days went by in a blur. He woke up, had breakfast, read books, had dinner, read more books, had supper, spent some time talking to Silver, do a workout routine, and go to bed.


    That being said the number of things he earned was rather massive. Even though there weren''t any books explaining how to cast magic, there were a bunch holding tips on how to increase the size of your ''web'', how to keep it active, and how to know when a connection was safe. Even though most of these tips didn''t make sense to him now, he still committed them to memory for when he would awaken magic himself.


    Silver was shocked to see the speed at which Villin had been reading, when she asked him a question about a book he had read he always knew the answers as well. Every now and then a small mistake would be made where she would correct him. Yet even this was often because the book was very unclear on the matter.


    Seeing how some of the info he got was interpreted wrongly, Villin kindly asked Silver if she would like to quiz him more often. She hesitated for a little bit trying to figure out if it would be considered teaching or not before agreeing.


    When two weeks had passed Villin had a decision to make. If he went on reading as he had been for the following two weeks he might just be able to finish all the books in time; this was the original plan. The problem was he had just been reading some books on the subjects of enchantments, magic arrays, and pill-making. Just reading these books gave him some info on the subject but without actually practicing, he wouldn''t be able to do any of them.


    That being said even if he chose the latter he would only be able to try and make some progress with one of the disciplines. All three of the subjects needed magic to work, but there were ways to practice it even before you awakened your ''web''.


    Pill making was certainly not an option as practicing this would cost a great amount of money, and even if Silver had been truly kind to him feeding him for the last weeks, asking her to buy him ingredients was most certainly out of the question.


    Practicing magic arrays and enchantments didn''t cost nearly as much, especially if it wasn''t actually for making one. In the end, he decided to finish some of the more important books he still had his eyes on and then move on to practice enchanting!

 Chapter 5: Practicing enchantments!

    Fourteen days. This was the amount of time he had before he had to go to the academy. Villin had read a multitude of books ranging from history to mortals to magic. Sadly it seemed that the books about mortals were rather old and most of the things written in the books about magic he didn''t understand as he was. Something that would surely change once he got his magic.


    When he read books of enchanting all of them agreed on the two core principled behind them. The first part behind enchantments were the runes. You had to memorize all the required runes and their variations. Then depending on the object and effect, you have to use specific runes or even their specific variations. The second core principle of enchanting was ''intent''. According to the intent of the caster, the same runes on the same objects could have a different effect.


    Without either of these core principles, enchanting would become impossible. Now, for the time being, Villin wouldn''t be able to practice intent. After all, that consisted out of magic. He could, however, learn the runes and how to apply them.


    The first step would usually be memorizing the different runes but obviously this wasn''t much of a problem for Villin. The second step would be drawing each of these runes in their most basic form.


    At first, Villin thought this would also be done in an instant but sadly, in this case, he was wrong. He never really cared much about his handwriting so it had always been rather sloppy. It seemed that now that might come back to bite him.


    Four days had already passed and he had only been able to consistently replicate a third of the required runes. It was now that he found a way to speed things up.


    He figured out this method on accident when copying one of the more difficult runes. He had a blank sheet of paper before him and the book showing the rune just above it. This way he didn''t have to look through his memories to properly find the required rune and comparing it was also easier.


    It was at a point where he stared at the rune he had to draw for about ten seconds truly trying to understand every tiny bend on the rune. Thanks to this he entered a state of hyper concentration, which made it so that other then the two papers before him he didn''t sense anything else. It was now that something peculiar happened. When he looked down to the blank sheet he could vaguely see the rune imprinted in it perfectly. Even though this was only in his mind, he simply followed the lines to draw on the paper and a near-perfect rune appeared onto the paper.


    At first, Villin thought this would probably only be a one-time thing as reaching such a state wasn''t easy. But he soon found that if he truly focused on an image first and then tried to mentally move it onto a blank piece of paper it would still work.


    And so within five days, he had managed to get the basic runes down. Next came variations. If it was simply drawing the variations and getting familiar with them, he would be able to use the exact same technique, but alas, it wasn''t quite so simple.


    The difficulty in variations didn''t lie in remembering the runes, after all, they only had small differences compared to the basic ones. The difficulty lays in knowing when to use what variation. For example, if you were enchanting a cup and one of your runes lays on a curve, you would probably have to use a variation to make sure everything would work properly.


    This was one of the most obvious examples too. The material of the to-be-enchanted item, the specific enchantment, the variations on other runes. These were just some of the things that could influence the runes.


    Checking if he did things right wasn''t simple either since he couldn''t properly do the full enchantment and so he had to ask Silver for help.


    She didn''t hesitate to agree. Whenever he finished with an object he would have to put it on the kitchen table and then she would look it over when she had time.


    As for how he would put the runes on the objects, he used a special pen for that, one of the ones that would be able to write on nearly anything.


    With only ten days until classes, Villin was extremely pressed for time. He wanted to make sure he had at least some skill in one of the classes already. This would make him look less like an easy target, a label he desperately wanted to avoid getting.


    The first three days went horribly. He spent over ten hours a day making practice enchantments and yet he hadn''t gotten even a single proper enchantment done.


    If he truly wanted to get one he knew he would be able to. After all, he could take his sweet time and think back on all the books he had in his head, identifying potential problems. This wasn''t something that could help him though. If he needed an hour to make a simple enchantment he would be laughed at even more than those who failed.


    Instead of doing this, he picked up random non-magical items in the house. Then he would use his own skill and do his best to create an enchantment within ten minutes. This way he had rather realistic practice as enchantments might be required on any object.


    The fourth day Silver finally looked at one of the objects he fake-enchanted with a nod of satisfaction.


    "Even though this would be a low-quality item, it might just be sellable if it were a proper enchantment, please do keep practicing your enchantments properly!"

 Chapter 6: The Magic Academy

    Nine more days passed in no-time. Practicing enchantments for half a day while spending the other half reading through some new books on enchanting and pill-making silver had bought. The enchanting ones had been bought for him to increase his skill level, most of them were even simple, cheap, journals containing the day-to-day progress others made in enchanting. This could be a great help in case you had problems in the same way the writer did and they managed to find a way to fix it.


    After the nine-day period, Villin was able to do most basic enchantments on items that weren''t too complicated. The best one he had done so far was a hardening enchantment within a coffee cup. The steep curve on both halves of the runes complicated things quite a bit as nearly all of the runes had multiple required deviations to them.


    "Alright Villin, there''s only a single day left before you have to go to the academy, it''s time you learned of the place as a whole."


    At this point Silver truly seemed like a teacher to him. He had also learned that she was also in what she hoped to be her last year as she stated.


    "Alright so as I''ve previously told you the academy is divided into twelve years and six grades. If you aren''t able to pass the first grade of the academy in two years you get expelled, you have four years to pass the second grade, and so on. I actually managed to get past the second grade in a single year and so I have three years to finish my sixth one. I am currently in my eleventh year."


    She explained while almost getting confused in her own words. Nonetheless, Villin nodded as he waited for her to continue.


    "Most kids from noble families get trained from the age of four years old and they get enough training to normally be able to pass the first grade in a single year, the talented ones are already at the third grade in their third year even."


    This was also something that made sense. Even if they weren''t able to do magic before coming to the academy they already knew a lot of the principles behind enchanting, pill-making, and magic-arrays. Similarly to how he had done, they would practice these three arts and they would even have talented artists guide them when they made mistakes. Their general skills in these arts already gave them an advantage, additionally, they get taught about history and rune magic before ever going to the academy.


    Even though their knowledge on each of these things was rather basic due to how spread out it was, it helped them enough to have them pass the first grade in a year.


    "What I have yet to tell you is that when you first awaken your magic you will be asked to show it to everyone as clearly as possible. Normal people do this by just trying to expel the magic outwards forming a faint glow around their body, this will be many times clearer with people that have a bloodline. Those with a glow greater than most will be put in class A that has quite a few more resources that class B that most people go to."


    The implications of this weren''t hard to follow. The academy actively favored nobles even to go so far to give them classes separately from normal kids saying it is simply because ''they have more talent''. Hearing about this Villin couldn''t help but sigh, he truly didn''t know a way around this. Casting a spell instantly after awakening was impossible. Even though he got a ''greater connection to the web'' and ''great comprehension'' he knew he wasn''t omnipotent in the least. All of the advantages he got were things people could be born with.


    Silver also explained all of the classes in the academy. They were ''basic spell casting'', ''rune magic'', ''wandless magic'', ''studies of the web'', ''magic history'', and ''combat classes''. Other then these there were also the optional classes of ''enchanting'', ''pill-making'', ''magic arrays'', and ''mortal history''.


    Silver heavily advised him to follow enchanting and pill-making. His great comprehension and photographic memory should help him greatly in pill-making for sure. She also told him the optional classes weren''t free but she was willing to pay for his first month in each as long as he paid her back later.


    She was currently in the sixth year optional class ''teaching'' and also needed as much money as possible so lending him this was already quite kind of her.


    After all, money was magic. In magic society, things got bought using magic crystals, the more magic in a crystal the more money it was seen as. Mages can use these crystals to greatly lessen the resting times between sessions of training magic. Meanwhile, mages beyond a certain level can create these crystals themselves by using a large amount of magic power, even though the amount lost in the creation process was great.


    Silver was sure that after this year she would be able to pass the sixth year if she wanted to, the problem is that in order to pass with the ''teacher'' application she needed to solidify her core as a mage, something that was very hard to do and needed a great number of magic crystals.


    Sadly Silver wasn''t allowed to show things such as a map of the academy to him. Everything to do with the academy had to be kept under lock and key, everything that she was allowed to say she already had.


    And so he spent his final day at Silver''s house. He was incredibly grateful to her as she didn''t have to take him in at all. She even bought some books and journals to do with enchanting even though she dropped enchanting in the third grade.


    When he woke up from his sleep he was immediately alarmed, above him was an unfamiliar white ceiling that looked as if it had been made out of marble. He immediately stood up as he looked around him. He was standing in a massive room made out of the white stone, every twenty meters a large marble column connected the roof and the floor. The room was at least a kilometer in length and five-hundred meters in width. He couldn''t see a door or anything of the like, what he did see however were about five-hundred other kids.


    A few dozen other kids had stood up at the same time as him and were also looking around. Some others were laying on the floor with their eyes open, looking from the left to the right while others were still soundly sleeping.


    Everyone was wearing a fully black robe, when he looked down he noticed he was too, something else he noticed was that there was a contraption on his right arm, he checked it out and noticed it was holding a wooden wand within, he simply had to reach down with his middle finger on his right hand to unlock the mechanism and the wand would fall into his hand right away.


    He also felt something in the left pocket of the robe he was wearing, when he took it out he saw there were a few small crystal shards about the size of a fingernail and he understood that this must be the magic crystals Silver said she would give him so he could follow the electives he wanted to.


    When he looked around now, most people were awake and in the process of standing up and he noticed that they didn''t seem to have the wand-sheath he had. Instead, some of them reached into their black boots and took the wand out of that studying it with great curiosity.


    He had finally arrived at the academy, a month after entering this world!

 Chapter 7: Attaining Magic!

    Villin felt extremely excited as he realized where he was. At the same time, he also felt thankful, it was clear Silver had given him the wand sheath that was attached to his arm.


    Just as most others were doing at the moment, he grabbed his wand and inspected it. It was a black smooth piece of wood, there wasn''t a handle or anything of the like making it look rather slippery. When you touched it however you could feel how rough the wood actually was reassuring him that accidentally dropping your wand probably didn''t happen very often.


    This was the first grade''s basic level wand given automatically to new students. When he looked at the wands of other people he actually noticed a person about twenty meters away from him that was holding a different one. He saw the girl''s wand was dark red and there were two small barriers on one side of the wand creating a very simple handle.


    As if she felt that someone was looking at her the girl immediately turned toward him. She had bright red hair and a rather small nose, her lips were thin and skin fair. She could be considered a typical beauty. Before she looked at him she seemed rather arrogant watching the people around her with a faint amount of disdain but when she looked into his eyes she immediately became stunned. A moment after that he noticed a blush spreading on her cheeks as she hurriedly closed her mouth and turned away in embarrassment.


    Villin felt extremely weird when he noticed her reaction. He checked his robe to make sure nothing weird was on him, seeing there was nothing abnormal he could only shrug and wait for something to happen. And just as he thought that a loud voice boomed through the hall.


    "WELCOME CHILDREN, TO THE ACADEMY!"


    Villin hurriedly used his hands to cover his ears before looking up towards where the sound came from. When he looked up he was the one to feel stunned. A large face appeared in the sky above them. It was about twenty meters wide and a multitude of them had appeared at the same time so that everyone could see at least one of them. The face was in black and white and no color could be seen on it, it almost seemed like it was made out of mist.


    The man depicted had a sharp nose and curly hair. Even though he couldn''t see color he could tell the man had a ghastly complexion too. Just as he thought that the man started speaking again.


    "IN A MOMENT SOME CONTRACTED WILL COME AND EXPLAIN THE RULES TO ALL OF YOU, LISTEN CAREFULLY AND BE PREPARED FOR THAT ONLY A TENTH OF THE PEOPLE HERE ARE EXPECTED TO GRADUATE!"


    Villin felt that his eardrums would shatter if the man kept talking but luckily he stopped as the mist which the faces were made of dissipated.


    A massive door appeared on one end of the halls as hundreds of people entered each of them making their way to a different kid.


    Contracted. These were mortals who found out about, or were exposed to magical society on accident and were then allowed to join it as long as they signed a contract. In fact, it was more accurate to call them slaves with the conditions they were given.


    A bit of time passed as a forty-year-old man made his way toward Villin before just standing opposite of him and not speaking a word. The other contracted around did the same time as they didn''t reply if the kids were to ask them something.


    When the final contracted got into place something...magical happened. First Villin thought the floor had just switched color as brown appeared on the ground in squares and rectangles but soon he was proven wrong. Out of the ground everywhere came small rectangular tables and wooden chairs. The small table was set between himself and the contracted while he actually had to move to get off the chair as it was growing upward.


    About ten seconds had passed until the items were fully out of the floor and many of the students seemed to be just as surprised as he was. Before he thought his surprise was probably childish and most kids here would find it normal but he was proven wrong, it seemed like making chairs and tables rise out of the ground was an impressive feat.


    Villin soon went ahead and sat in his chair and it was then that the contracted who sat before him started speaking in a monotone voice.


    "Alright so welcome to the academy, if you have any items that you had permission to bring they were either put on your person or put beneath your bed. If you wish to follow any of the optional classes the payment is at the start of each month beginning now, so please let me know if there are any classes you wish to sign up for. And then here are the rules so please read them over and sign at the bottom."


    When the monotone man finished his words he retrieved a few pages of paper out of his white robe putting them onto the table.


    "I''d like to sign up for ''enchanting'', ''pill-making'', and ''magic arrays'', please."


    After saying this he took the fingernail-sized pieces of crystal out of his robe and put them on the table, there were ten of them. The man took seven of them and put them away allowing Villin to retrieve the other three.


    After this he read the rules, there weren''t too many of them and things were quite simple. Firstly divulging information about the school was forbidden with a few exceptions such as saying which classes there were. Alongside killing other students these were the only rules who were absolute and where there wasn''t any leeway. Other rules such as not casting offensive spells outside of both class and the dueling grounds all had a fine on them. If you paid the fine you''ll be allowed to go after spending some time in ''the chamber of horrors''. Other than being a place with a rather scary name there was no other info on this place.


    The rules seemed rather fair overall and there was nothing that stood out. He was just about to ask for a pen when he saw a student next to him use his wand to stab his own hand causing a bloody wound to appear. The student couldn''t help but let out a yell before tapping the bloody top of the wand onto the paper.


    Soon more yells came from other places in the hall as they used the same method to sign. A few others used their teeth to bite their thumb before wiping the blood onto the top of the wand to sign. Villin himself also decided to use this technique as he bit into the skin of his thumb while moving his hand away with full force.


    He barely managed to stop himself from yelling out as the thumb hurt like a bitch. He then got some of his blood onto his wand and tapped it onto the contract. After this the contracted simply retrieved them before getting out of the chair.


    "Now please make your way out of the room through the large gate to have your web activated."


    After saying these words the man hurriedly made his way toward one of the sides of this massive wall. As soon as he got there a small door appeared, once he went through, it went away once more.


    And so Villin stood up and started making his way toward the massive door the contracted had come out of, he had to be careful not to bump into anyone as there wasn''t a lot of space left now that all the tables and chairs had appeared.


    It was only when he truly stood in front of the door that he realized how massive it was, however. It stood there with a height of over fifty meters, reaching all the way to the ceiling, it was opened slightly allowing those that finished signing to go through. Villin was sure that if the door was as heavy as it looked it would be nearly impossible for the people here to open even if they worked together.


    Through the gap of the door, he only saw a blinding white light hiding where the people that went in went toward.


    With little hesitation he also went in, being forced to close his eyes. After just walked a few meters he suddenly felt sick to his stomach as he was able to open his eyes again. He immediately leaned onto a nearby wall as he did his best not to puke.


    The man standing in the middle of the room smiled at this sight.


    "No worries if you have to puke, it''s pretty easy to clean up Villin, just a spell away you know!"


    At this point, Villin finally managed to stop gagging and he could have a proper look around the room.


    The room wasn''t big, only about ten meters by ten meters. He was standing in a corner while in the middle of the room was a kind-looking man holding a crystal ball. The man seemed to be about fifty and his hair was starting to become grey. He looked healthy and full of vigor as well unlike the contracted he saw. Additionally, he was wearing a Silver robe showing he was a teacher of class B.


    Villin didn''t ask how he had gotten his name because it was probably just using magic so he simply replied.


    "Thank you for your concern professor but I am fine now."


    Villin bowed slightly as he read that this was a sign of respect and when he looked up he heard the man laugh.


    "Well, would you look at that. If you are so sophisticated and smart even before learning magic I can''t help but fear how you will be once you awaken the web."


    Even though Villin didn''t understand what he could only see as this teacher''s banter but he nonetheless smiled a bit and nodded so he wouldn''t look dumb.


    "Well then mister Grey, come on over here and awaken your web, I assume you have been looking forward to this day, haven''t you"


    "Yes, very much so professor!"


    Villin didn''t lie as he had been eagerly awaiting this day, the day he would get his magic. When he did it wouldn''t be long before he could cast magic and make true enchantments. After saying his words he walked up to the professor waiting for something to happen.


    "Alright then Villin, go ahead and touch the crystal ball. When you do you might feel a force trying to enter your consciousness, don''t try to impede it and allow it to enter even if it might feel a tad weird."


    Villin nodded nervously as he tried to clear his mind, what if his excitement would cause him to accidentally resist the web? That would be the worst scenario possible.


    With his mind now somewhat cleared he reached out and touched the crystal ball.


    If one were to ask how this experience was he truly wouldn''t know how to reply. He felt as if something was trying to make its way into his thoughts and become a part of them. His instinct would''ve been to try and fight it if the kind teacher hadn''t told him to do the opposite. The force went in further and further until it made its way into an unfamiliar part of his mind, one that was empty as if it were missing something. Then this force expanded and filled this space up.


    Villin gasped as he stumbled back, nearly falling to the ground. ''I can feel the air.'' this was his first thought. He felt something all around him, pushing against his skin as if asking him to let it in. Inside of his body has this very same ''air'' filling it up entirely. Other then this he could also feel his mind quickened even further, if he previously needed an hour to read a book then now he would only need thirty minutes.


    "Alright Villin, so what just happened is that you have gotten a ''web''. Once you go out of this room you should try to connect with it, this should take about an hour, once this happens simply observe the web do not try to make any connections, it is extremely dangerous and may prove fatal if you pick the wrong one!"


    Villin nodded slightly overwhelmed as he tried to understand what had just happened.


    "Now try to expel the weird force you feel within your body, it''s called magic power."


    Villin tried to use his mind to expel the new force he felt and surprisingly it was rather easy to go so and soon he could see his body glowing, he could even feel the force around him getting slightly thicker.


    "Well done Villin, seems like you got the hang of it rather quickly, welcome to class B. I must say I truly do look forward to teaching a bright young man such as yourself."


    Villin nodded as he got his mind back in order. "Thank you, professor!"

 Chapter 8: Awakening the ‘web’

    As Villin walked out of the room he was grinning stupidly. He had been slightly scared all this time, what if the previous owner has magic but as an earthling he didn''t? Even though this worry was small as the chances were tiny he still felt relieved at this time.


    Somewhere he had hoped he would get to class A but he wasn''t too disappointed, he always knew the possibility was very small and even if he did get in nobles were bound to act superior around him, trying to make him do things.


    When he used the door he saw to get out of the room he got into a hallway the hallway was practically filled with doors, he noticed a few 13-year-olds walk out of some of the other doors before looking around seemingly confused at what to do.


    Villin was rather surprised to see estimated fourth years do this until he spotted a certain someone. The door across from him just opened as a beauty walked out. She had bright red hair and a small nose, in a good-looking sheath on her arm was a wand with a basic handle. When she walked out she noticed him and froze in her steps, a faint blush appeared on her cheeks as she gasped just loud enough to be heard by him.


    After this she kept her head down and moved to the left immediately, nearly sprinting down the hallway.


    "This-" Villin felt stumped for a moment as he realized what happened. It seemed like awakening their magic the first years had physically aged three to four years at least.


    Sadly there was no mirror in sight so he still had no idea what he looked like. After a moment he noticed most people were going to his right, the same direction the girl went, and so he followed.


    He had to walk about twenty meters before the hallway turned to the left, soon after it reached what seemed to be a waiting room. Twenty-five chairs were standing there, most of which already had someone sitting in them. The red-haired girl was sitting somewhere on the right while the remaining seats were all to the left.


    He simply went ahead and took a seat next to a rather burly boy wearing glasses. As soon as he sat down the boy seemed to implode as he immediately yelled out. "YOU, HOW DARE YOU SIT NEXT TO ME WITHOUT PERMISSION?!! I AM PIERSON SON OF AMEN, HEIR OF THE HOUSE SKULL!!!"


    At first, Villin was shocked at the volume the kid could make using his mouth after which there was a bit of disbelief on his face. This was simply because this noble was acting too stupidly. Silver had assured them nobles were taught well and generally smart, usually not going after someone on their own and always getting a feel of someone''s abilities beforehand.


    Villin had taken this to heart and didn''t expect someone like this to come along. Not only himself but some of the people sitting on the other side of him also showed a bit of annoyance on their faces, they didn''t seem pleased with the youth''s action.


    Actually now that he looked at them, nearly all of the other kids sitting here seemed to have a wand sheath on their arm. Furthermore, the wands stored there wasn''t the basic kind as each of them had some sort of handle at the least.


    Villin felt this was odd since he was put in class B, how was it that he was here with a large number of nobles. The burly Pierson saw that Villin didn''t seem to care about him and was about to yell again when an old woman came into the room, noticing the woman with her golden robe come in Pierson immediately stopped himself from saying anything more and sat down quietly. The woman soon started speaking.


    "Hello children, my name is Crystal and I am one of the Class A pill-making teachers. The twenty-five of you will be taking your electives together for the following month since you all chose pill-making, magic arrays and enchanting. This is the first month so most of those that chose all of these electives are students of class A. There are a few exceptions but the headmaster graciously allowed them to go with class A for the first month so as to not have a class of four people."


    As soon as Crystal spoke Villing felt weird. She looked very much like a nice person but he had a bad feeling when he looked at her, he wasn''t sure why but he decided not to get too close with this teacher.


    "For now please reach into your mind and attempt to connect with the web. I will be back in one hour. I will remind you once more not to try to connect any of the nodes with each other since every year there is at least one idiot who gets himself killed before the classes even begin."


    After saying this she simply turned around and walked away, leaving the kids on their own. Pierson no longer tried to cause trouble as he closed his eyes just like the other kids in the room. Naturally, Villin followed as he tried to delve into his mind, into the region he previously didn''t know existed.


    This actually went surprisingly easy. When he first got into this region mentally only a few minutes had passed. After this he actively tried to explore the area at first, finding little success. After this, he attempted to instead widen the area he was looking at. This bore immediate results. It seemed like he was simply exploring a tiny area as the area he was ''looking'' at was only a thousandth of the whole thing. It wasn''t long before he saw the web. A collection of dots also known as nodes.


    First, when he was still zooming out, he thought there would be a few hundred at most but he was soon shown to be incredibly wrong. The ''web'' was actually a globe made and filled with these nodes. There were a total of about ten thousand of them, seemingly put there randomly as the distance between nodes and the size of each node was different.


    When he looked closer he noticed a key difference though. There were about a hundred nodes in the center area that were a very light gray. Then a large area around it making for about a thousand nodes were a dark grey, the other nine-thousand were nearly black.


    When he could see the web fully he opened his eyes as this was what they talked about as awakening your web in the books he read.


    When he opened his eyes though he noticed everyone else was still sitting down with their eyes closed while only a dozen minutes had passed, so he figured he must''ve done something wrong.


    He closed his eyes again and focused on the hundred nodes that were in a light gray color. Then he thought that maybe instead of just awakening the web, he was supposed to awaken the nodes too. Awakening a node was rather simple. You pour in some magic power and try to manipulate the magic to form a needle or drill so it can pierce and seep into a node for the first time, allowing you to cycle magic through it later.


    The first node he began with was the centermost one as he started to pour some of the magic power he felt inside him into it. At first, it looked like it was succeeding as he barely managed to form a magical drill to start drilling through the wall protecting a node''s core. He got about halfway through this wall before he suddenly felt empty as he no longer had any magic power left, then the wall soon regenerated making it seem as if he had done nothing.


    ''This must be another way to make nobles seem more important, after all with a beast bloodline they can hold more magic power giving them an advantage early on, furthermore, he had used all of his magic power earlier when touching the crystal and only about a third of it had come back thus far.''


    Villin felt a little dejected as he opened his eyes, he looked around and noticed only the red-haired girl had her eyes open as she was currently inspecting her wand.


    Only twenty minutes had passed at this point so he could do nothing but follow the girl''s example and keep himself busy by playing around with his wand, grabbing it in different ways, and trying to unsheath and resheath it quicker.


    About twenty more minutes passed before another person opened his eyes and then in the remaining twenty minutes all of the other people had also opened their eyes. The only guy that surprised Villin was a guy sitting on the utmost right. He didn''t have a sheath and only had a basic wand such as himself. It looked like he was in a similar situation as himself and was actually a Class B student. Villin couldn''t help but wonder how he had enough magic power to awaken a node. He had only started wondering this before the older woman came back. She looked over everyone shortly before speaking.


    "Good, it seems like everyone has awakened their web. If you reach into your consciousness you should now be able to see a large globe made out of nodes. These nodes should hold three colors. Light gray nodes are those you should be able to awaken when you refill your magic power, the dark grey ones are those that you will probably be awakened if your lifetime while those that nearly reach black are those you are highly unlikely to ever awaken. Those with a bloodline generally had between one and two thousand dark grey nodes while those that do not have a bloodline generally have around five hundred dark grey nodes."


    She spoke with a clear tone as her words made Villin let out a breath of relief. Not only had he been able to do the task required the fastest but the number of nodes he would be able to activate was higher than most others that didn''t have a bloodline, even rivaling some that did! This was obviously an extremely good thing as it would make his future path easier.

 Chapter 9: Introduction To The Classes

    After this, all was done the old lady in the gold robe led them further into the school. They had to walk at least twenty minutes in the hallways that had nothing in them but doors. When he noticed this he actually wondered where the light came from as there didn''t seem to be a source but in the end, he couldn''t locate it and could only speculate that all the stones here were glowing ever so slightly.


    After this time had passed they had to go down a stairway and enter the door at the bottom of it. Unlike the other rather basic doors, this door was decorated with gold, it was about five meters high and was surrounded by runes he couldn''t read.


    When he went inside he suddenly felt like puking again as he leaned against the wall and tried to keep it in. When he looked at the others he noticed there were only a few others that reacted like him while most others seemed to be used to this. When he looked at where they came from there was only a wall making it rather clear that the feeling came from teleportation.


    Villin quickly steadied himself so as to not look too wimpy but nobody seemed to care at this time as the teacher kept walking. She stopped a few meters further as she stopped to look at the students.


    "This is the wing for the first graders. Usually, the spacial doors will be locked, if you ever wish to use them you must ask for permission from either a teacher or the ''grade holder''. The grade holder is at the end of the hall to the right." She said as she pointed into a hallway.


    "The dorms are straight ahead down the stairs. Class A dorms are on the left side while class B dorms are on the right side. For the rest of the day, I suggest you get to know your fellow students. I should also let you all know you are not allowed into the enchanting, pill-making, and magic array class as long as you haven''t memorized their respective books until pages seven, nineteen and twenty-six respectively. Your schedule and books will be found in the chest underneath your beds. Class A will also find basic resources every week in order to assist you in your progress. Welcome to the academy!"


    As she finished her speech she took out her wand "Vahishimo!"


    Once she said this line while moving her wand in seemingly random lines she suddenly disappeared from everyone''s view.


    This time Villin immediately broke free from the group as he headed toward the dormitories, he had no interest in talking with his classmates at this time, he only wanted to check the new books he had gotten!


    As expected at the end of the hall was a spiral staircase going down. When he got down, he noticed there was one door on either side. One of them had a big letter A engraved while the other had B on it. He walked into the class B door without any hesitation.


    Now he was in another hallway. On the right side, there was a door every two meters with a name engraved into a metal plate next to it. He had the thirteenth door which probably meant he was quite lucky since there were hundreds of doors in this hallway.


    When he got in he couldn''t help but smile a little. Even though the room wasn''t big, it wasn''t as if he had a roommate either. There was a bed, a desk, and a closet. Furthermore, there was a radio and, of course, the chest underneath his bed.


    The room wasn''t big and the walls were mostly dark green which didn''t make it feel too spacious but he really didn''t mind it too much.


    When he grabbed the large chest under his bed and opened it, he had a stupid grin on his face. Inside the chest were a myriad of things. The right half was filled with over a dozen different books spanning over all of the subjects. On the left half were some items. There were two small cauldrons. When he first heard about pill-refining he somewhat expected the cauldrons to be big, maybe like those in harry potter. Instead, these cauldrons could barely fit his hands.


    Other than the cauldrons there was, what looked like a pack of crayons. Villin knew these would be used for magic arrays and a special pen that was to be used for enchanting.


    It was hard to explain how happy he was when he saw these items, especially the pen. He was somewhat afraid the items would be shared and so he would have to leave it in the classroom, this would mean he wouldn''t be able to enchant anything he wanted before he got enough magic crystals to buy a pen like this one.


    He also saw a paper showing what classes he would have when and where.


    The classes he had chosen had the ''optional'' tag beneath them. What surprised him however was that the ''optional'' tag was also used somewhere else.


    Near the end of the first month, there was an optional ''class'' named ''Mashry tryouts''. Villin looked at this for a few seconds thinking back. He didn''t remember reading anything about this back in Silver''s library. There was a good chance he''d hear more of it in the following month though so he decided not to think about it yet.


    He first grabbed the book for enchanting as he was somewhat familiar with it already and it was the first of the three optional classes that would take place, three days from now.


    He remembered the teacher say he had to remember everything until page seven so he decided to start with that before moving onto the next book.


    As soon as he started reading Villin felt stumped. Even though he only read a few words his mood shifted as he realized this wouldn''t be as easy as he had hoped. Every single word in this book had intent behind it. Emotions seemed to be bursting from them making him overwhelmed after just a few sentences.


    Since his head started hurting he quickly closed the book and set on his bed slightly dejected.


    Every word had intent behind it and he could feel it wasn''t random. Even though purely memorizing the text on the seven pages shouldn''t be a huge problem, the intent was another thing on its own. Yet he could feel it had a purpose and the emotions weren''t random. There was certainly a second reason behind every word making it so that he would have to understand all of it to truly get it. These three days might very well not be enough, certainly with the other normal classes he had to attend.

 Chapter 10: Visiting The Library

    After spending a bit of time trying to get used to reading the enchanting book Villin put it down dejectedly and decided to have a quick look at the other books of the optional classes since he had to remember those too.


    The second book he decided to check out was the one about pill-refining, he had to remember this book up to the nineteenth page. When he quickly looked over it Villin was positively surprised. Compared to the hidden meanings in the enchanting book, this one was surprisingly easy. The first fifteen pages had pictures in them of certain ingredients with the properties of each ingredient underneath. The sixteenth to the nineteenth page was filled with information about pill refining itself and how to take care of your cauldron. Overall it was pretty basic since remembering things such as ingredients'' properties was the easiest for him to do.


    The final book he had to check was the one about magic arrays. The writing style of this book was very, very different from the other books as it soon became clear.


    "Welcome to this humble Magus'' book about the art of creating magic arrays. Personally, I must admit I was against letting this be a course before the third year but alas, I still bring you this book.


    Similar to enchanting at its core creating magic arrays is simply arranging runes and symbols in very specific locations to get the desired effects. The very school you should be sitting in has a massive magic array around it so powerful no one has been able to determine the school''s true location thus far.


    I hope I shall be able to enlighten you all and allow a few of you to properly walk the path of a magic array creator.


    Best Regards,


    Piercevald


    Magic Array Grandmaster"


    This intro immediately captured Villin''s interest. Some of the books he had read thus far mentioned grandmasters. They existed for all three of the middle continent''s specialties. Enchanting, pill-making, and magic arrays and they held statuses above nearly all others.


    When he flipped the first page he still felt rather calm. When he flipped the tenth page he was reading frantically and when he arrived at the twenty-sixth page his mouth was agape as he was staring at the book in wonder.


    This book truly showed what a masterpiece was. It didn''t just explain what runes and order was required to make a magic array. Instead, it directly explained the theory between every line that had to be drawn. Whether it was to be used to gather magic, disperse it, bind the runes together, or anything else. When he was done with the required pages only two runes had been made while a basic magic array consisted of about a hundred runes and a few symbols.


    This didn''t just help with creating a magic array. If one understood everything within this book it would give them a massive advantage if they wanted to create their own magic arrays. Hell, it even helped in a major way with rune magic and enchanting.


    The book was also clearly the biggest, being twice as big as the second-largest book which was the ''magic history'' one and sported over a thousand pages in total.


    After thinking about the contents of the book he had just read for a while he noticed a lot of time had already passed. Usually reading thirty or so pages would be done in no-time but now he noticed he had already been reading it for three hours, trying to comprehend everything he read at once.


    He truly felt as if he had heavily underestimated this school. The enchanting book had secret meanings behind each word while the magic array book explained every stroke and the reason for each of them.


    It was now that he realized it truly wasn''t normal. Either the group truly wasn''t supposed to finish the pages that had been stated in the two books properly or they weren''t supposed to come to the first few lessons. After all, he still remembered he got great comprehension and even the kind teacher earlier called him bright. There was no way that the other kids would be able to understand every of the mentioned strokes within five days or get the hidden meaning behind all the words on the enchanting book.


    Right now it was about four o''clock and so he decided to go out and explore the school a bit. He went ahead and grabbed the map that was laying in his chest and looked at it. Other than the dormitories the entire first-grade wing was on the same floor. It was absolutely massive, and when he looked at the part showing the dormitories he realized how truly lucky he was. In total there were about eight-hundred people in class B. These would obviously be split up into groups to learn but the dormitories were all in the same hallway. He got lucky and got the thirteenth room but there were others that were in room eight-hundred. That meant they would have to walk three kilometers in the boring hallway in order to leave the dormitories.


    He couldn''t help but feel bad for those people as he left the dormitories. There were a few locations he had to visit. After all, this was the place he would spend the following year, it was best if he knew the place at least a little.


    His first location was the library, on the map there was a small blue shard next to its name but Villin wasn''t clear what that meant so he simply decided to go ahead and give it a visit.


    The library was truly grand. From the entrance, Villin could see massive bookcases over twenty meters tall with moveable ladders so one could reach the books they wanted. From where he stood he could tell there were at least a dozen of these bookcases. As soon as he walked in he got approached by a contracted with a grey robe, showing the person was at least of some importance and weren''t treated as slaves.


    "Hello sir, I haven''t seen you before. If you are new I should let you know that each hour in the library costs ten units of magic crystals. If you are unsure of the value of a certain magic crystal I can inform you."


    The man spoke politely and steadily as he looked Villin in the eye. His voice was clear and nice to listen to so Villin responded by taking out one of the fingernail-sized crystals and asked for its value.


    "This magic crystal consists of ten point five units." The man said simply with a smile.


    Villin simply thanked him and went back to the hall. At least now he knew he had about thirty magic crystals on him. He also knew that its value wasn''t very high as he would only be able to go to the library for three hours using that.

 Chapter 11: A Certain Magical Sport

    When Villin looked at the map once more, there were a few other things he wanted to check out. Firstly he wanted to go to the club board. In reality, when he got to that location he was a little disappointed. It really was just a simple wooden board with papers nailed onto it.


    Any student could decide to start a club. These could be studying clubs, sports clubs, clubs for your specific hobby,...


    The problem was that the person making the club had to spend magic crystals to rent a room. And so joining a club generally wasn''t free as you would have to pay a weekly fee to be a member.


    He didn''t dally around for long before heading to the third location he held interest in. There was a location on the map called ''Cut and crease training grounds''.


    The location of these training grounds was actually quite far away, bordering the dueling ring. In order to get to the ''cut and crease training grounds'' he had to pass the dueling ring. When he got through the door to get there he was slightly stunned. Unlike the clean straight corridors in the rest of the school, this place looked very rough. Rather then a room it was more of a cave.


    The cave was round-ish in form and when he got closer to the center he noticed there were three dueling circles. The circles were about thirty meters in diameter each and it was quite easy to spot them. After all, they were each surrounded by a magic array, currently looking like circles drawn with crayon on the ground consisting of hundreds of runes.


    In actuality, these magic arrays were made by a student a few years back and he takes five percent of any bet made in the dueling rings.


    He moved to the back of the cave before opening the cave towards the cut crease training grounds. As soon as he entered he heard some people talking. The place he was in now also looked like a cave and it was of similar size to the previous one. There were no magic arrays in this room as the only things in the room were a few dozen chairs that got moved around as people needed them. On the right side of the room stood five people in a circle, they didn''t seem to notice him even as he joined them.


    In the middle of the circle were two other people, they were clearly the center of attention. On the left side was a girl with brown hair and blue eyes. She was wearing glasses and beads of sweat were coming off of her face. Before her were half a dozen sheets of paper floating around. Two of them seemed to be folded into spikes while the others were floating before her opened as if to fend off attacks. Each of these ''defensive'' papers had tears in them as they had been ripped before.


    On the right side was a boy with purple hair and eyes. His hair was rather messy and he looked absolutely exhausted as five pieces of paper floated before him. Three of them were made into spikes, one simply seemed to be crumpled into a ball while the last one seemed to be in charge of defense. Even though at this point the final one was nearly cut in half.


    As soon as he arrived Villin knew the goal of the game should be either to draw blood or destroy the enemy''s paper, the former ended up being right.


    The boy was the first one to make a move this time. Two of his spikes shot over to the left and right side respectively before floating on different positions behind his enemy forming a triangle with his attacking papers. Villin heard some gasps from the people around him as apparently, it was an impressive thing to do.


    The girl kept two papers before her while having the other two fold twice almost instantly and move behind her, then, as expected, the boy attacked. The three spikes moved toward the girl at fast speed each going through an arc. This was a hard attack for the girl to defend against as she couldn''t see the spikes behind her and so she had to turn around to defend against those two while guessing where the other spike would go.


    She ended up guessing correctly as all three spiked went into the set defenses tearing them apart even further. Yet the boy hadn''t had time to retract them when she counterattacked sending one of her spikes over at a speed way faster then his own had moved at. He managed to fold his defensive paper once before the attack hit but it wasn''t quite enough as the spike tore through it after about a second. Just as it looked like it would stab him on his cheek the crumpled piece of paper arrived, it didn''t only manage to block it but as soon as the spike hit it, the crumpled piece of paper opened up and started engulfing the spike.


    Because of this one of the guys watching cheered for about half a second before he stopped, looking at the competing boy with sadness. A small paper cut had appeared on his cheek, apparently, the girl had sneakily moved her second spike behind him before slashing at his cheek and the match ended in her victory.


    "Well Aiden, looks like you owe me some crystals don''t you."


    The girl with her glasses tried to look as if she had won easily but was clearly extremely exhausted, both of them would probably go sleep right after this.


    "Just know that I''ll win against you as soon as I can manipulate six pieces at once, just you wait Amelia!"


    The boy replied before throwing over a small bag. She opened it to check the amount before retorting.


    "Feel free to challenge me again, I do have a few more books I''d like to read in the library."


    She said this with a bit of a cocky smile on her face, it was clear she was rather proud of her comeback.


    After this, both of them walked toward their friends who were watching the battle. Amelia to the girls and Aiden to the boys. Amelia ended up being the first person to notice he wasn''t part of either group. She looked at him, took a step back, looked away, looked at him once more, and then came over to introduce herself.


    "I see a first-year has come to look at our battle." She said with a wondrous smile. Even though she wasn''t the prettiest girl she looked extremely smart, something that was also rather attractive. "The name is Amelia Blackwood, and you are?"


    "Villin Grey, it''s a pleasure to meet you, you seem to be extremely skilled at cut and crease!"


    Even though he had never seen or heard of cut and crease before today, he was still extremely impressed. This sort of sparring probably wasn''t too dangerous while he guessed it still required a high amount of precision and control over your magic.


    Amelia smiled "Well thank you, Villin Grey. I am about to retire to the dormitories, do you wish to walk together?"


    Villin only waited for a moment before agreeing. He was also planning to go back to the dormitories just about now since he noticed his magic power had been full for quite some time already. It was just that during his reading he had totally forgotten about awakening his nodes.

 Chapter 12: Awakening Magic Nodes!

    "Well, Amelia it truly was a pleasure meeting you. And if I decide to play cut or crease later in the year I''ll be sure to come ask you for some tips." Villin smiled as he looked at Amilia. Ha had to admit she was rather likeable, she was smart yet approachable, a rather rare combination.


    Amelia sighed loudly as she looked at the door to his room, "You truly don''t know how lucky you got with your room, mine is in the four-hundreds. I used to be even higher before changing rooms with someone else thanks to a bet. Oh well, if we are lucky we might meet in one of the classes, until next time!"


    After saying this she started walking down the hallway with a smile on her face, something that made Villin rather content as well.


    Now back in his room, he took a moment to put his thoughts back in order before sitting on his bed with his eyes closed. He once more pulled his consciousness deep into his mind until he reached the web. He reached towards the middlemost node, the very same one he had attempted to awaken back when he had just awakened his web.


    Villin once more reached out and was about to form his magic power into a drill again before he changed his mind and instead turned it into a spike, thinking of the object they had made in cut and crease.


    Surprisingly the usage of magic power was considerably lower while the power remained the same. Instead of turning it as he had with the drill, the spike went back and forth continuously piercing a but further into the node''s ''shield'' every hit. Only a few minutes had passed when Villin felt his magic power go into the node uninterrupted.


    When checking he noticed he had only used about a fourth of his magic power and so he decided to go ahead and awaken another magic node. He decided to pick one that was close to the one he had just unlocked. After all, in order to connect nodes they had to be somewhat closeby. Now naturally Villin didn''t try to make a connection recklessly. If he did, even after a multitude of people had told him it might kill him, he could truly be called an idiot.


    This node wasn''t as bright as the one he picked first, yet it was a lot harder to awaken. At first, things were going as expected. He managed to get deeper into the shield every time he stabbed it with the magical spike. This was until he was about halfway. It was then that the node started to retaliate. When the magical spike stabbed downward, the node would release magic to fight his own, causing his magic to be used more rapidly.


    Luckily Villin still had most of his magic power left and so he could simply power through it. Truth was that he didn''t know what to do against the magic the node released and so he could only overwhelm it with his own in order to make it disappear. Hence he decided to wait until the next day after the first class was done, after all the class was ''studies of the web''.


    He hoped the professor would then explain how to combat a node''s retaliation and so he decided to sleep early so as to walk up refreshed.


    When Villin woke up, he started with some physical training before grabbing the books he would need today. Every day had two basic classes and so since there were six different basic classes in total the students would get every class twice in a week. And then on Sundays, they would be free.


    When he walked out of his room he noticed there was already some traffic in the corridor and so he decided to head over to the class. Except for magic history, Villin was truly interested in all the classes. In reality, he was rather surprised there weren''t basic classes such as math but then again ''rune magic'' was probably more useful.


    After about ten minutes of walking through various corridors, Villin found the classroom he was supposed to go to. When he opened the door he was immediately surprised. There seemed to be windows in this classroom and the light was shining in vibrantly. There was a large chandelier in the middle of the large room and about thirty chairs. Yet these weren''t regular school chairs as he had seen when exploring the school the previous day, they were proper armchairs that looked extremely comfortable.


    On the small podium at the very front of the classroom was a teacher in a silver robe, organizing his papers. Villin recognized him as the kind teacher that had held the crystal ball when he awakened his magic.


    "Ah, well hello there Villin, seems you are the first one here! Feel free to take a seat."


    The teacher said with a wink as he noticed he had entered.


    Villin was happy to see this teacher was the one teaching ''studies of the web'' as this class together with ''rune magic'' were generally considered the most important ones.


    Villin hesitated a bit when he looked through the windows. He could see a blue sky and the sun. It made him feel it was rather odd that the hallways didn''t have any windows in them.


    "The school is actually located deep underground. The windows are enchanted. This, similarly to many other things within the school, has been made by a student at some point, so the school paid him for his services. I am pretty sure this student has now grown to become a class A teacher in the third year."


    The teacher said with a smile as he noticed his gaze.


    Villin nodded before choosing a seat near the middle of the classroom. Usually, he sat in the back so he had oversight over everything but he didn''t want to miss anything and so he picked the seat in the middle.


    A few minutes later a small group of five others came into the classroom. They seemed a little nervous when they entered and soon got surprised by how nice this classroom looked compared to the halls of the school.


    The teacher greeted them using their names and told them to sit down. All of these people had regular wands and none of them had a wand sheath such as himself. The difference between the wealth of class A and class B was very big.


    Some more time passed and more students arrived, usually in groups of three or four. This somewhat worried Villin as everyone already seemed to have built their friend groups. Just as the time for the class to start was about to arrive the final student came in. When they saw her not only Villin but all the other students also seemed surprised.


    "Ah, welcome Kayley, feel free to go ahead and take a seat."


    The professor greeted the girl with her red hair, good-looking wand and sheath.


    Villin was stunned for a moment as he recognized her, he was almost certain she was in class A before this.

 Chapter 13: Casting His First Spell

    When the red-haired girl arrived the only chair left was the one to the left of Villin so she swiftly went ahead and sat down.


    "Hello everyone and welcome, my name is Edgard Messen and I am one of the ''studies of the web'' teachers for grade one class B. If you look around you''ll notice everyone here is in their first year. This is a temporary class that will remain for a month, after this month you all will be assigned new classes and will be taught alongside second years.


    In ''studies of the web'' we will analyze everything going on within that deepest area within our heads. I will teach you how to attack and awaken nodes and how to defend against their retaliation. Furthermore, I will show you how to read spell blueprints."


    He said all of this before opening a thick metal book that was laying on the table. Instantly a massive amount of bright white dots appeared in the sky, there seemed to be about a thousand.


    "Nodes in spell models are always shown in a pure white. Now what you see before me are the thousand centermost nodes. If you compare this to your own web you will see some differences, this is what makes finding the right nodes rather hard. There are some rules the nodes follow and by deciphering those we managed to find a way to share spell blueprints with one another!"


    After this Professor Messen explained exactly how you could find the right nodes to follow a spell model. As an example, he showed everyone the spell modes for an illumination spell. He called this ''one of the easiest spells in existence who still had a use''. The way they could find where the correct nodes were located was by identifying the ''signature glow'' of the first and last node in the spell line and trying to find them in your web. Once you did you should look if the other nodes within the spell were in similar locations compared to the spell blueprint and if they were you found the right location.


    It didn''t take long for Villin to find the location in his web as he decided to awaken those nodes first. Once nearly everyone had found the spell location within their web professor Messen continued.


    "The reason I picked this spell was because none of the nodes retaliate. Hence you will be absolutely safe when trying to breach the node. You all should practice manipulating your magic internally, if you want to breach any spell nodes you need to at least somewhat decrease the surface area you are attacking. Ideally, you wish to made the attacking magic as thin and possible and then move right in to penetrate the nodes. As for defending against retaliation, I''ll explain that next lesson."


    For the last ten minutes of the class, they were told to practice manipulating their magic internally. Villin, who was already able to create spikes out of his magic power decided to start attacking the nodes required for the illumination type spell. Surprisingly the shield around these was multiple times thinner than the ones of the previous nodes he had attacked. He managed to awaken all seven of the required nodes.


    When the two-hour class had fully ended a few of the students walked up to the teacher to ask questions. Villin was amongst them and was the last to ask his question when everyone had already left.


    "Professor, I have already managed to awaken all of the nodes required for the illumination spell, how do I connect them?" he asked sincerely.


    Professor Messen looked him in the eyes a bit before replying casually.


    "Well, connecting a spell for the first time is the hardest part. Since you already got to that point and you have no decent family backing you, you can borrow my node-namer. The first part to easy spellcasting is to give every node you have awakened a short name such as shi or mo and remember them. Multiple nodes can have the same name as long as you can remember them.


    In actuality, the verbal casting doesn''t do anything but help yourself remember where the nodes lay without having to close your eyes and enter your consciousness. To be honest I never use incantations but then again I am one of the few mages on this continent who doesn''t.


    The second step is wand movement. If you move your wand in the same way as the line between the nodes has to it might also help you visualize the connection better. This also happens to be something I don''t do but it happens to help most people cast their spells quicker.


    I cannot say how exactly you should connect the line, just don''t reach out to nodes that aren''t on the spell blueprint I showed you all and you will be fine even if you fail."


    The professor smiled before walking out of the classroom leaving Villin lost in thought. So it turned out the incantations and movements weren''t actually required, it was more of a trick to visualize the process within his head. Now the problem was that his photographic memory was connected to his eyes so this would still help. But he couldn''t help but wonder if his increased comprehension would allow him to cast without any ado similar to this teacher of his.


    His second class was ''Magic History'' and well, it was just as boring as he had expected. The teacher was quite young looking to only be about thirty years old but even though she tried, she couldn''t make the class very interesting. Hence Villin spent most of the class trying to find a way to connect the nodes required to cast the illumination spell.


    For the first half an hour he made no progress at all. In the hour following that he finally managed to find a way to use his magic to connect nodes as he managed to connect the first and the second required nodes. In the final half an hour he managed to increase this number to being able to connect six magic nodes. Or well two times three. After all, during the entire process of casting a spell, you had to have your magic inhibit the first and final magical node, otherwise, you might accidentally cast a different spell.


    When the class ended the teacher cast the vanishing spell he had witnessed earlier as the students left the room but Villin kept sitting still. His wand secretly held in his right hand.


    Kayley the red-haired girl was the person who took the longest to put her books away since she noticed Villin wasn''t moving and was observing her. Just as she was about to ask him what he was doing a bright light came from the tip of his wand illuminating the area.


    "You! You cast the illuminating spell already?"


    The girl looked somewhat stunned as she questioned him.


    After about a second the spell broke and the light disappeared as Villin looked ecstatic, even though it wasn''t the best spell, he had still just cast magic!


    "Yeah! Just managed to finish it, I''ll still need to polish it a bit if I want to be able to cast it within a short period of time though!"


    He didn''t even look at the girl as he just answered the question he had been asked, he was still trying to memorize the feeling he got after casting the spell.


    "You!" The girl was about to get angry due to his lack of manners when she noticed the boy''s face had turned serious again as he looked as if he was concentrating on something.


    The girl stopped herself from speaking anymore as he didn''t want to ruin his concentration as she headed out of the door.

 Chapter 14: Training In Cut And Crease

    Villin came out of his trance after about an hour had passed. He had studied the feeling he got when casting the illumination spell for the first time all this time. Looking at the changes it made in the web and the specific nodes.


    If he wanted to cast the spell now he figured he only needed about thirty seconds time to do so. If he practiced for a while this time would shorten further.


    For the time being though Villin decided to go to his room, he felt pretty damn hungry right about now. Once he arrived in his room and opened the chest underneath his bed to find a new, basic meal he was about to indulge when he noticed a small note had appeared inside of the chest.


    ''If you want to meet up again, I''ll be at the Cut and Crease training grounds after classes. Feel free to come and I''ll show you how to play. We have another first-year who is interested so you two could be a close match.''


    Beneath these sentences was a winky face. This letter obviously came from Amelia, the girl who competed Cut and Crease last time he was there so he quickly ate some food before heading over. He was wondering how she got the note into his room as all rooms were supposedly impossible to break into so he figured he should probably ask her about that later as well.


    This time there were some people hanging around the dueling rings but he simply kept walking until he got to the training grounds.


    When he got in there were two others there already. One was Amelia who he was familiar with already while the other one was Aiden, the boy she had competed against last time around.


    Villin walked up casually while secretly eyeing out Aiden since he wasn''t sure what kind of person he was. Even now the boy''s messy hair was purple hiding his face a bit, yet despite that, he couldn''t really hide the handsome face hidden underneath. He was currently holding a wand and seemed to be writing something in the air with it.


    Villin opted to ignore him for the time being as he sat next to Amelia and greeted her.


    "Well, well, well, look who still decided to show up, coming over an hour late!" Amelia said while looking at him with a teasing smile "You''re lucky you opponent had something to do as well or you''d have kept us all waiting!" She sighed exaggeratedly as she gently shook her head.


    Even though he knew she was mostly joking Villin still felt a little bad about making them wait. "Sorry Amelia, it''s just that I had just cast my first spell and I felt like I had to use the opportunity to increase my comprehension on the spell."


    He awkwardly scratched the back of his head as he waited for her reply, yet she just stared at him with her eyebrows arched up before muttering "Not bad, not bad indeed."


    A slightly awkward silence stayed in the air for a while before Amelia said she should probably begin teaching him as waiting for the other person would just be a waste of time. After she said this Aiden seemed to glare at her for a moment, but he didn''t say anything as he quickly continued writing in the air.


    "Alright so, since you haven''t had a ''wandless magic'' class yet I''ll quickly explain it to you. Remember when you just got your magic and you had to force it out? That was basically the greatest form of wandless magic you could do. In Cut and Crease, you have to use this very same magic but instead of pushing it out of your entire body, you want to use it as you would a limb. You have to let it out of your body without losing control of it, the best way to do so if to always keep a tether between the place you are manipulating and your body." As she said this she manipulated one of the nearby pieces of paper to float into the air in between them.


    "The papers we use have a multitude of special enchantments on them. This makes it that you can''t actually sharpen or destroy them using pure magic, up till a certain level of course. The only ways you can use your magic is to move the papers and have it change shape. Hence you cannot use magic to make the paper tougher or sharper."


    As she took out a piece of paper about the fourth of a full page, she told him what to do. "Try to reach out with your magic towards this piece of paper. If the connection is strong enough, the enchantments will make it so that it will move along with the magic connected with it, as long as the connection is strong enough, the paper will stay in the air."


    Just as she finished her sentence and gave him the small piece of paper, the door behind them opened again as a boy walked through.


    When Villin noticed who it was, his heart sunk a little. It was the class A noble that had bothered him for just sitting next to him. If he recalled correctly his name was Pierson Skull. Pierson only gave him a sidewards glance before walking towards Aiden, it didn''t seem like he recognized him.


    It seemed like the rivalry between Amelia and Aiden was in such a way that they both decided to teach someone and have them compete against one another. Even though Villin thought it was a bit silly, it would at least give him an opponent to go against, and if he lost it really wasn''t the end of the world.


    Villin didn''t find manipulating magic out of his body that hard, even though he did lose some magic power the longer he kept it up.


    The only problem he faced was that when he arrived, half of his magic power had already been used up and so it wasn''t exactly ideal.


    Once Villin felt like he had sufficient control of his magic power. He used it to try and form some sort of third arm on his stomach, reaching out towards the piece of paper with his magic power. It seemed that he was at least good enough to have this fourth of a piece of paper float into the air, he stopped it about half a meter in front of him.


    Yet even now the paper was swaying from the left to the right unsteadily. Very different compared to the fight between Aiden and Amelia where the papers were absolutely still when they didn''t get used.


    "It''s been two hours already, I have to head to the library and I can see you are running low on magic power. If you come back tomorrow an hour after class you may be able to have a little spar with our friend over there." she said as she nodded her head towards Pierson''s direction.


    While walking to the door with him, she whispered in his ear "It would be great if you could practice some more. If you win tomorrow I''ll give you twenty magic crystals."


    With this encouragement in his head, he headed towards the dormitories.

 Chapter 15: Using A Wand

    After waking up and doing some basic fitness, Villin checked his classes for the day. Today it was Tuesday and he had ''Basic Spell Casting'' followed by ''Rune Magic''.


    He still had some time left so he leisurely ate the breakfast that had appeared in his chest before grabbed the paper Amelia had slipped him the previous day. Just as they parted at the doorway of the Cut and Crease training grounds she slipped him half a sheet of paper. It seemed rather obvious she was hiding this from Aiden.


    Since she said she would give him twenty units of magic crystals if he won, he was extremely driven. Even though he had yet to use the thirty magic crystals he still had on him, he knew that every bit was important. The library was a good example, apparently just entering the library at ten crystals an hour got you access to the paper books. On the other hand, if you had enough crystals you could get spell blueprints from there as well.


    When practicing with the paper he tried to morph it into a spike for a bit before noticing how helpless it was. Even though he could turn his magic power into a spike without a problem, this became many times harder when you were controlling an object.


    He did learn to control it better, however, after practicing casually for an hour he noticed the leakage of magic power that always existed when it was out of his body had decreased by half even though the load he was carrying this time around doubled.


    The speed of the paper had also increased making him feel like he was doing a good job at improving himself.


    Seeing how he still had half an hour left while the walk to the first class was only ten minutes Villin still decided to get there early. Once he was there he could practice the illumination spell a bit and perhaps if the teacher saw a fault they would correct them.Well, even if they didn''t, there was nothing wrong with showing some talent.


    And so soon Villin arrived at the classroom. When he got inside there was only one other student there immersed in her books. This classroom was a lot darker than the one where they had the ''studies of the web'' class. The walls were a dark grey and they had to sit in the regular wooden school chairs. There was no enchanted window or chandelier on the ceiling, the whole room felt extremely empty.


    When Villin sat down in a chair around the middle of the class, he was very pleasantly surprised. The seemingly hard wooden chairs actually felt soft and relatively comfortable. Even though it wasn''t quite as nice as the armchairs, it wasn''t too far off.


    When Villin grabbed his wand he hesitated a bit. Wands had three purposes. The first one was to store spells. A first-grade basic wand such as his own was supposed to be able to store a single spell at a time but he had no idea how to do it. The second purpose of a wand was to concentrate a spell into a single point. The final purpose was to make casting spells slightly easier and cheaper.


    So Villin decided to try cast the illumination spell bare-handed this time. It was just that he was wondering how it would look in this form. When he cast it with his wand the tip of it emitted a bright light. So would it cause his entire palm to lit up bit a bit dimmer or something else?


    The difference between casting with and without wand wasn''t as big as Villin had expected so he managed to cast the spell after five minutes. Just as the final nodes connected something weird happened.


    The air around Villin was glowing, emitting a pretty decent amount of light. The few students that had arrived now all looked at him in wonder.


    After a few seconds, his eyes started to hurt slightly by being so close to the source of light so he terminated the spell, yet the light didn''t disappear. Villin felt stunned and after a moment of hesitation, he stood up and walked a few steps away. And as expected, the light didn''t follow. Now that he could see it from the outside it really did look rather nice. The source of light formed something similar to a rectangle being two meters in height and one meter in width.


    It was at this moment the teacher suddenly appeared on the stage at the front of the class. This teacher seemed to be a rather old male dwarf. He was about to put his books down when he noticed the light.


    "Oh an Illuminatus spell cast wandless on the third day of school? Who cast this spell?"


    Villin didn''t try to hide the matter and even if he tried he wouldn''t be able to so he simply raised his hand "It was me professor."


    "Ah, Villin Grey, yes Edgard did tell me you seemed to be somewhat talented." After saying this he threw over a nail-sized magic crystal. "Ten magic crystals for you then, for being the first of your class to cast a spell."


    Even though Villin wasn''t sure who this ''Edgard'' was he smiled as he caught the magic crystal "Thank you, professor!"


    The professor didn''t reply as he got his papers in order and after reaching out with his hand the teacher''s desk shrank to his size.


    A few moments later the light Villin had cast started dimming before disappearing completely. Villin was lost in thought for a moment. The ''Illuminatus spell'' as the teacher called it was quite different when casting with a wand compared to without and both had their own uses. When cast with a wand the light would obviously come with you as you moved your wand, the wandless cast, on the other hand, was stationary but did a better job at illuminating the surroundings


    Something else of note was that when he cast the spell with his wand he couldn''t cast anything else until he terminated the spell, then again the termination would be instant, unlike the wandless version.


    Each version had its pros and cons being useful in different situations. Villin felt quite happy when noticing he really seemed to have gotten two different spells using a single spell model.


    Soon the final students arrived and the class started.


    "Spells are of great importance. A single powerful spell could finish a fight instantly, the weakness of stronger spells however if that they take longer to cast most of the time. This is what wands are for, my wand, for example, can store up to three spells each consisting of thirty nodes."


    After saying this he pointed his wand to the air above the students and instantly a streak of red shot out. When it got just above the students it blew up causing fireworks to appear.


    "Normally I would''ve needed twenty seconds to cast this spell yet I just did it instantly, this is the true strength of a wand!"


    After the short demonstration, he started explaining how to store a spell in your wand. As Villin had a basic wand he could store a single spell with up to ten nodes. This was something that came incredibly easy for him as he managed to store the illumination spell in just a few tries. Sadly he was about one second slower than Kayley, who had a good wand further decreasing the difficulty. Since she was the first the teacher gave her twenty magic crystals.


    It was surprising to see such things. It looked like magic crystals would be given as a reward whenever you truly excelled. Perhaps if he told professor Messen he had managed to awaken all the nodes in his class he would''ve also rewarded him, this thought made him slightly salty over the missed opportunity.


    Once this class finished it was time for the class Villin felt was the most important out of all the classes available ''Rune Magic''.

 Chapter 16: Fixing An Enchantment

    Rune Magic truly was a curious class. When Villin got into the room he was once more surprised. There wasn''t even a single chair in the classroom. He saw some objects laying on the floor and a few small Magic Arrays. The teacher seemed to be working on one of the objects on the floor while the students that had arrived before him were awkwardly standing at the sides of the classroom, unsure of what to do.


    The teacher seemed to be extremely old. He had white hair and was sitting while working on the object. Seeing how none of the students said anything, Villin walked up to introduce himself.


    "Hello there professor, my name is Villin Grey, I look forward to learning from you."


    This was a rather standard greeting bit it got the teacher''s attention. The teacher turned back to look at him before he noticed the students that were standing at the side of the room.


    "Tch, to think the students these days are so spineless they don''t even dare greet their teacher."


    He sneered before looking at the object he was working on earlier.


    "In my class, nobody will be getting magic crystals. If someone does something impressive they will get an opportunity to prove themselves, if they succeed, they shall be rewarded." He said as he looked over all of the students here "Kid, Villin was it, here take this item, it seems to be broken, fix it!"


    The teacher spoke in a commanding tone as he grabbed one of the objects on the floor before throwing it toward Villin.


    After grabbing it out of the air skillfully, Villin had a decent look at the object. It had the appearance of a large magic crystal, it was about ten centimeters high and four centimeters wide and was refined nicely, it looked very visually appealing. Just as he was planning to study it further he heard Kayley who had walked closer, in order to see the object, let out a surprised gasp.


    "A crystal holder, did the professor actually just gift you a crystal holder?"


    As she said this, the red-haired beauty took out something out of her robes, it looked extremely similar to the object he had been given. And a moment later the number two-hundred appeared on it.


    Villin then understood what the object in his hand was since it had been mentioned in one of the books he read before. It was a special kind of enchanted crystal that absorbs the power of regular magic crystals. It was used often, especially for people that were rich or of noble lineage. It made paying for things a bunch easier since if both parties had one of those there was no need to keep a bunch of magic crystals on you.


    When you inserted some of your magic power into it it was supposed to light up and show the number of magic crystals it had, yet when Villin did this nothing happened. He tried feeding it one of his magic crystals but that was also to no avail, it seemed to be broken, just as the teacher had suggested.


    Said teacher turned to him again before saying just a few words "You have until the end of class." then he went ahead and pocketed the rest of the items that were laying around on the floor.


    "Now all of you brats go take a seat and be quiet." with these words said some brown rectangles appeared on the floor, and similar to back in the hall where they arrived, chairs and desks came out of the floor. "There are three sources of magic in this world. The least important one is the web, the second most important one is the natural magic around and within you and the most important one are runes!"


    He said all of this in one breath before explaining the differences. It really was quite simple even though the teacher was extremely biased toward runes. While the teacher was speaking Villin inspected the Crystal Holder. There seemed to be enchantments covering the middle of the object, there were also some scratches in that part, breaking through the runes.


    It usually wasn''t so easy to destroy an enchantment but it seemed like the attack causing the scratches was magical in nature. There were about six runes affected, each of them getting partially destroyed.


    At this point in time, Villin felt extremely lucky that he took everything concerning enchanting and magic arrays with him. He quickly retrieved the enchanting book and pen and started scrolling through the pages. He had a rough idea of how the four unknown runes should look like but with a part of them gone, he couldn''t be sure.


    After some time passed he now knew five of the six runes required to fix the item while the final rune had two possibilities. He couldn''t express how lucky he felt the runes were on a flat part of the item making it so that no variations were required.


    Now he spent some time hovering his hand over each of the destroyed runes to try and feel the intent within them. Even though he could guess it now that he found them in his school book, it would be his first time trying to properly enchant something and he didn''t want to do it wrong. Even if it was just fixing an existing enchantment, it wasn''t anything easy.


    Just like that ninety minutes had passed by and the end of the class was soon approaching. All this time the old professor had been talking about runes, most of the things he said were already known by Villin as he read them either in the ''Rune Magic'' school book or had to utilize it when enchanting.


    When only twenty minutes were left Villin breathed in deeply as he grabbed the pen. Once he started fixing the runes he had to do so all at once, if he didn''t and lost focus he risked ruining the entire enchantment. Villin breathed in and out three times slowly as his enchanting pen was writing the runes in the air.


    Without him knowing the teacher had suddenly grown quiet as he also gestured to the other students not to say a thing. When a student would look into Villin''s eyes at this point in time their head would suddenly start hurting, even though it wasn''t all that bad it still frightened them.


    After he breathed in for the fourth time, Villin''s hand suddenly shot forward as he started writing the runes at a crazy pace. After half a breath passed Villin retracted his pen as he looked at the enchantment. He felt slightly tired but at the same time also exhilarated. He could already tell the intent was there, he just didn''t know if the final rune was correct of if he had picked wrongly.


    With a nervously beating heart, he grabbed the crystal holder before letting some of his magic power enter it. His nervousness was contagious as everyone in the class seemed to gulp nervously, staring at the object in his hands. A moment later a big zero appeared atop the object.


    Villin breathed out in relief as he started smiling. A moment later someone started clapping, something that was soon taken over by most of the class. The first enchanting class hadn''t even been held yet and he had already managed to achieve something such as this. There were some people who looked a bit pissed off at him as their pride kept them from congratulating him but most people here seemed to be good in nature.


    After a few second the old teacher raised his hand. He was extremely strict and so the class nearly instantly fell quiet.


    "Well done boy, since you managed to fix it, naturally the object should be yours. And on that note, class dismissed."


    After saying this the professor cast a spell before disappearing. Meanwhile, Villin was still looking at the crystal holder in his hand with awe. Looking at the enchantments and materials used this object would cost well over a hundred magic crystals to make. In a shop, he estimated it would sell for two-hundred magic crystals.


    Seeing an object of such value simply given to him, Villin didn''t know how to feel.

 Chapter 17: Fighting Pierson

    Once he got over the shock of getting such a valuable item, Villin immediately fed it his crystals. When he pushed them against the holder they dimmed before crumbling, turning into tiny pieces of rock.


    The number forty then appeared on the holder. Seeing how long the number was he briefly considered selling it before changing his mind. Selling such a thing in the first grade wouldn''t be easy and the teacher might even get offended because of it.


    Once he put his thoughts in order again he quickly headed for his room before he started practicing Cut and Crease. He did find it a bit of a shame that he couldn''t practice with a complete piece of paper since he figures he should be able to control that decently.


    At this point, he could fold the piece he had rapidly twice. He also tried turning it into a spike and he had a decent amount of success in that area. Despite this he had already decided not to use that form, it simply wasn''t fast enough to change between a spike and a paper so he dropped it for now. Even with a normal piece of paper, you could deliver a cut.


    He practiced for about half an hour before he had to head toward the Cut and Crease training ground. When he arrived everyone but himself seemed to have arrived. Aiden and Pierson seemed to be casually talking on the left side while Amelia was strolling around the right side.


    When he was noticed Amelia immediately seemed to perk up. "There you are Villin, are you ready to compete against Pierson? Do you think you can beat him?"


    Villin frowned a bit before talking "Good to see you to Amelia. I haven''t seen him use magic before so how would I know?"


    Realizing she was somewhat rude she apologized before asking him "Alright so do you have a plan yet? If not we can formulate one together!"


    "I suppose I do have a plan. But please do remember I''ve only just started and what I can do is extremely limited so it''s not as if I can do anything truly extraordinary." he said shrugging, making it seem like he wasn''t nervous at all.


    Amelia looked at her watch for a moment before speaking loudly, so that Pierson and Aiden could hear her too. "It''s time for the competition, might the best magus win!"


    The duo came toward them, Pierson stood a few meters in front of Villin while Aiden stepped before Amelia.


    "I''m sorry to say Amelia but you don''t stand any chance at winning this time around! I''ve gotten quite the talented seedling I''ll let you know!"


    Amelia simply harrumphed. She didn''t feel like engaging in banter this time around and so she said in a loud voice "May the game begin!"


    And just like that, the competition started. Villin had decided to keep using half a sheet of paper since he didn''t have time to practice with a full one. Aiden, on the other hand, was using a full one, folded in order to form a spike.


    Defense Versus Offense. Villin didn''t use his paper carelessly since he knew Pierson''s spike would be faster and only a single cut was required for the match to be over.


    Both men had their paper floating before them but in the end, it was Pierson who made the first move.


    With a wave of his hand, his spike shot forward! Or hold on¡­ wait what?


    There were only five meters in between the two men so Villin expected the paper to reach him in a second as he instantly folded his paper once, moving it onto location. Yet it took a full five seconds. Villin figured that even if he hadn''t defended or dodged, it was unlikely the paper would''ve even been able to draw blood.


    Seeing the look on Villin''s face Amelia burst into laughter, meanwhile, Aiden looked extremely grim.


    When Villin used his paper to push back Pierson''s spike he had a look at him, there had to be some sort of trick. Pierson''s face looked constipated, as if he was exerting an extreme amount of pressure. This made Villin look behind him in worry, thinking he might have a second spike somewhere.


    Yet there was nothing. Villin had also been completely ignoring the bystanders to the point he didn''t even hear Amelia''s laughter.


    Sensing a possible trap, Villin made a tough decision, and so the paper he was controlling tore into two even smaller pieces. This increased the difficulty of moving them by multiple folds but he didn''t want to leave himself undefended.


    Amelia looked rather impressed now as she already believed the fight to be over. Villin moved one of his papers over to Pierson but just as the paper had passed the halfway point, the situation changed.


    Amelia, who was already thinking of things to say to mock Aiden suddenly had a look of shock and worry on her face, while Aiden, who previously faked looking concerned had a look of confidence on his face.


    Pierson gulped in nervousness. The amount of effort he was putting in was truly extraordinary and if he didn''t have an ''Undine'' bloodline he wouldn''t have been able to exert so much control over his magic power. Yet even now he felt the extreme difficulty of his task.


    He moved the spike before his face before slowly shooting it toward the piece of paper heading for him, hindering it.


    He had done it, he was about to beat the mortalborn Villin.


    Unbeknownst to most, Pierson had actually been controlling two pieces of paper from the get go. One was the spike he had used before while the other was a tiny spike, one that would probably break apart at once if it were to be blocked. As soon as the duel started he had sneakily sent the tiny spike up to the ceiling following Aiden''s advice.


    Then, when he attacked with his large spike, the tiny spike followed, well over three meters above.


    To be able to control the paper from such a distance no matter the amount of magic power and his bloodline increasing his control, was pushing him to his very limits.


    Now, when Villin''s defenses were paper-thin, he let gravity take the little spike downward, giving it a little push so that it headed straight for Villin''s cheek.


    His plan would''ve worked, were it not that he gave himself away. When Villin saw Pierson''s relieved expression, he knew something had happened and so, knowing he might not have enough time to look around, he let go over his control of the paper he was attacking with and expelled magic power over all of his upper body.


    He managed to keep some control of this power up to ten centimeters away from his body, hence he was just in time to noticed a foreign magic power penetrating his expelled magic above his head.


    He immediately jumped backward, his reactions were just quick enough as he saw the spike passing just in front of his eye.


    When Pierson saw his attack failed, he couldn''t keep himself from fainting any longer as he fell to the ground.


    "Pierson no longer has any paper under his control so Villin wins!" Amelia exclaimed with an excited expression.

 Chapter 18: Getting A New Spell Blueprint!

    When Villin saw Pierson fall to the ground, he was extremely relieved. Meanwhile, Amelia was busy boasting to Aiden. Both of them were engaging in banter for a good while before Aiden threw over a small bag toward her.


    Amelia checked it before nodding "Looks like I can finally get that self-combustion spell I had my eye on!"


    Seeing her excited expression Aiden advised her "I truly still think that spell is a waste of crystals. It would be better for you to get a few more utility spells."


    Amelia shrugged before turning to Villin. He was rather surprised by the interaction between the two, it seemed they were actually pretty decent friends as Aiden seemed pretty sincere.


    "Since you performed so admirably, take a bit more." She winked as she threw four nail-sized magic crystals toward him.


    He then took out his crystal holder before feeding the small crystals. Seeing the holder, both Amelia and Aiden looked stunned for a bit, after a moment Amelia spoke: "Don''t tell me you''re actually a noble¡­ are you?"


    Villin felt that this question was a bit odd. After all, Pierson was a noble and he guessed Aiden was too. "No, I''m not, both of my parents are mortals, my rune magic professor gave this to me earlier today."


    Once they heard that Aiden spoke up with an enlightened expression "Ah, you must have professor Crumb. To think someone managed to pass a test of his in their first week."


    "Alright then Villin, I should go get my spell blueprint and start awakening some nodes. I''ll send you a message again if there''s another competition with first years!" she said as she gave him a sheet of paper enchanted to be used for Cut and Crease.


    "Alright then, where do you buy these papers?" his question was straight to the point as he did rather like the sport and wanted to continue practicing it.


    Amelia looked him in the eyes for a bit before saying a riddle. "Every Sunday when the moon stands high, the halls shall open to show you the way. Follow the line and you''ll find the place, where secrets get sold and items go away."


    Villin simply frowned when she said the riddle but before he could ask any further, she was already headed out of the room, and well Villin wasn''t so clueless as to start asking any further.


    He looked at Pierson who was laying on a floor but when he noticed Aiden now standing over him casting a spell, he decided to start heading toward the library.


    He now had a total of around eighty magic crystals and so he hoped he could get a decent spell. He had also decided that if he had spare crystals after choosing a spell he would spend the rest of his crystals reading in the library.


    The library wasn''t all that far away from the training rooms but Villin purposefully decided not to walk too quickly as he reflected on his fight. In total, he had used about two-thirds of his magic power. Yet up to ten seconds before the end of the match, he had only used a third.


    Expelling magic in order to sense incoming object was extremely expensive in terms of magic power, even though he had only used it for a total of three seconds, it was as costly as the rest of the fight.


    He also noticed some places where he could''ve performed better but he didn''t think he did badly whatsoever. The only thing was that he got tunnel-visioned in the start looking at the opponent''s main spike. If he wasn''t and he took everything in, the fight wouldn''t have been so close.


    He had also thought of a new strategy he could use in the future. He knew the rules as they were quite simple and he had noticed something people didn''t seem to do while it could greatly increase one''s strength in the game.


    But at least for now, he wouldn''t worry about that. He wanted to get either an offensive or a defensive spell and master them by the next day. That day he would have the two final regular classes he had yet to do, namely wandless magic and combat classes.


    What he needed most right now were magic crystals, he was still looking for a way to earn them but thus far he hadn''t gotten any truly good ideas. And so, the best way to momentarily earn some was by impressing the professors and showcasing talent.


    Cut and Crease was a great application of wandless magic so he hoped to have a decent chance there but for combat classes, he didn''t have any spells.


    Hell, that very same day in the evening he even had enchanting, something he was also decently skilled in and so he had high hopes and so he wanted to try and earn back at least a part of what he would spend today.


    He soon arrived at the library and when he did the same contracted he met last time walked up to him and asked how long he wanted to stay in the library.


    "I would actually like to buy a spell blueprint if that''s possible."


    The man seemed a little surprised but soon answered. "Alright then, please do note the cheapest spells are fifty magic crystals. If you wish to proceed then may I know your budget and what type of spell you wish to buy?"


    The man spoke quickly and professionally making it so that it was hard to truly dislike him.


    "I''m looking for either an offensive or defensive combat spell with a budget of eighty magic crystals."


    Hearing these words the contracted nodded and gestured him to follow. They passed through a gate that had to be opened with a key at the back of the library before the contracted repeated his criteria to a student who was standing around doing nothing.


    The student nodded before casting a spell with a very long incantation, after a few minutes he finished and gestured them to enter the door behind them. When they went through the door they were greeted by a small room. The room was about ten meters by ten meters but the walls were made out of mostly-empty bookshelves. There were close to a hundred books, each of them seemed to be made of wood.


    "These are limited spell blueprints. If, once you leave this room, more than a single person sees the blueprint within the book, it will self-destroy. Then you''ll have to pay back your book, and let me tell you, they are extremely expensive."


    After saying this he left the room leaving him to pick a book, each of the books were currently locked fo he couldn''t open them. On the books'' sides were the names of the spells while on the bookshelves were the prices. The back of the books, on the other hand, held a short description.


    All of the prices were between fifty and eighty and they had some sort of defensive or offensive use.


    There were many spells that he didn''t look at for longer than a second such as ''needle prick'' and ''bright light''. Spell names couldn''t be too misleading, all of them had to be approved by the government so weak spells couldn''t make themself sound as if they would be able to take out a dragon.


    Whenever he saw a spell that seemed somewhat useful he grabbed the book and checked the back of it.


    After spending half an hour in the room he finally found a spell he truly liked. It was called ''Reverto''. The name itself didn''t say too much but the description explained it properly.


    The spell contained of nine nodes, when cast it could revert back an enemy''s spell. There were some obvious limitations on the kind of spells that could be reverted but it still seemed extremely useful.


    Moreover, this was one of the books with two prices beneath it. First there was a hundred-and-fifty but this got scratched out and replaced by eighty. Later he would learn that spells who were seen as extremely helpful or wide-spread would be given a fifty-percent discount. This spell was of the helpful kind.


    Once he got the spell blueprint he left the room and paid for the item, this was simply done by keeping his crystal holder against the library''s until eighty crystals were deducted.


    When out of the library he immediately headed for his room, he couldn''t wait to have a look at the spell blueprint and he wanted to learn the spell before classes the next day.


    But when he arrived at his room, an unknown guy was bashing on his room''s door.

 Chapter 19: Fighting A Noble!

    When Villin saw a person bashing on his door he frowned as he observed the situation for a bit. There were four guys in total. The guy bashing on the door was rather skinny and seemed frail while the three guys around him were burly and muscular.


    After a moment''s hesitation, Villin walked forward "That''s my door you''re knocking on right now, how can I help you?"


    He decided to be nice just in case he misread the situation. He didn''t.


    "Oh? Look over here boys, this must be the first year who got room thirteen huh."


    The scrawny guy turned toward him. He could now see a purple wand in his wand-holder, something that seemed to be very high quality. He had black hair and a very pale complexion. Yet his blue eyes were vibrant and seemed to be changing constantly allowing one to get lost in them if they let themselves.


    "I''m Roland Heartgrieve, a second year. I have room a hundred. Let''s switch now shall we?"


    Hearing the kid introduce himself caused Villin to frown once more, he had read Heartgrieve somewhere before, he was sure of it. For a moment Villin lamented before realizing where it was.


    One of the twelve councilmembers had the Heartgrieve family names. Furthermore, it was one of the two only councilmembers without a bloodline. Despite that, the Heartgrieve name had a long and glorious past. It was one of the rather few noble families without a bloodline. The central continent''s magical society was governed by the twelve councilmembers and four high-councilmembers and so it was a great position.


    "Thank you for the offer but I rather like my room Roland, I''ll think about it some more though!" Villin faked a casual and happy expression while knowing things were about to go down.


    Roland''s expression instantly changed into one of rage, showing how temperamental he was.


    "You dare ridicule me? You must be tired of living at this school!"


    Roland then grabbed his wand followed by the three brawny kids around him. Villin naturally also grabbed his wand but there wasn''t much he could do with it.


    Roland sneered as he saw through Villin''s bluff "Lashamen!"


    Once he said this word he pointed his wand toward Villin, a red streak of lightning seemed to come out of the wand but luckily since Villin heard Roland''s casting he managed to dodge to the left in time.


    Coincidentally when Villin dodged to the side another student was passing by without paying attention to the group that was arguing and so the spell hit her right in the side.


    When hit by the spell, the student squealed before an electric shock enveloped her entirely, the robe, near the place she was hit, was burnt through and a large burn could be seen on her side, caused by the electricity.


    The fact that he hit someone else on accident caused Roland and his goons to be shocked for a moment, something Villin saw as an opportunity. He immediately sprinted toward the scrawny boy, and he was already about to grab him when the boy finally got out of his stupor.


    Seeing how aggressive and fast Villin had approached him he stumbled back before pointing the wand at him, said wand was now nearly touching Villin''s forehead. Villin was about to move his hand up to disarm the boy but he was too late. In a panic, Roland used the most powerful spell he had stored inside of his wand.


    Time seemed to slow down as the spell came out of the wand. Villin saw the blue for a moment until it hit him in the head. Following this he shot backward well over five meters all the way until the wall where his head smacked against the stones harshly, blood splattered everywhere as Villin crumpled to the ground, seemingly lifeless.


    Villin saw Roland standing in his original location frozen, a look of shock on his face as he dropped his wand. Then both men fainted.


    "GET OUT OF THE WAY, OUT OF THE WAY!"


    A girl with brown hair, blue eyes, and glasses screamed as she ran toward the place where Villin had fallen to the ground. Amelia was just heading back to her room from the library when she saw the first spell get shot off, hitting a female student. Before she could even react to what happened there a body shot toward the wall. Furthermore, this body was one she knew pretty well, it was Villin who she saw less than an hour ago.


    She ran toward the boy before immediately using one of her two stored spells. She felt incredibly lucky that one of her stored spells was a healing one at this point as it took a long time for her to cast normally.


    Both the back and front of Villin''s head was bleeding heavily, she was sure there were even cracks in his skull and there was a very real chance he would die. Tears started falling out of her eyes as she started casting her healing spell for a second time, but that would take time and she didn''t know how much time she had.


    "SOMEONE GET A TEACHER HERE NOW!"


    She screamed but just as her sentence was finished a man appeared behind her. It was the kind professor Messen. He looked at the kid on the ground with a serious expression as he put one of his hands on his head. Amelia was about to yell at him as for why he wasn''t grabbing his wand but then she noticed that the open wounds on Villin''s head had already started closing and a dozen seconds later the pool of blood beneath them was the only proof that the attack had ever happened.


    Professor Messen had nearly finished healing the other wounded girl when a second teacher arrived at the scene, this time it was the dwarf who taught ''rune magic''. He looked around for a moment before pointing his wand toward Roland who had, at this point, stood up again.


    "Two charges of assault against fellow students is a thousand magic stones and two weeks in the ''chamber of horrors''. One attempted murder is five-thousand magic stones and a month in the ''chamber of horrors''. If you do not have enough magic stones you will be expelled and brought to trial after spending your time in the chamber.


    Roland was shaking now as he grabbed his crystal holder. The holder only had a bit over five-thousand magic stones in it. In horror, Roland grabbed the three burly guys around them and convinced them to pool together to get the last thousand, in return he would pay them back in two-fold.


    When Roland turned the magic crystals over to professor Crumb he still didn''t look any better off.


    Professor crumb then grabbed Roland''s leg and they disappeared into thin air.


    After this, professor Messen grabbed the unconscious Villin before they disappeared as well.

 Chapter 20: A Sudden Windfall

    Villin clutched his head as he grimaced in pain. He felt like his brain was taken out of his head, thrown onto the floor, stomped on a few times, and then put back inside of his head.


    A bit of time passed before he remembered what had happened. He had been careless, he didn''t even consider Roland''s saved spells at all! Since he had yet to really use that function himself, he had forgotten it at that point when everything was so chaotic.


    A minute must have passed before the headache subsided enough for Villin to not fear opening his eyes. When he opened his eyes he saw a familiar room. There were windows not far away from him which the moon was shining through and comfortable seats spread around the class.


    Standing next to him was professor Messen, the teacher of ''studies of the web''.


    "Professor, what happened?" even though Villin knew what happened before he fainted he didn''t know if anything happened after that.


    "Welcome back Villin. You were attacked by your fellow student Roland Heartgrieve. He cast a rather powerful spell at you point-blank causing you to nearly die. He has been dealt with for the time being. I know you must be somewhat confused but I wanted to ask you, what did you do when he cast his spell at you? The spell is supposed to have some anti-healing properties yet even the healing spell of a first-grade student managed to help you escape death."


    Villin looked confused for a moment before trying to recall that moment, when he remembered properly he simply replied.


    "When he stood there with his wand aiming at my forehead I could feel an immense amount of danger. Since there was no time I tried to use wandless magic to stop Roland''s spell but I failed. When I expelled my magic power out of my forehead I lost control of it nearly immediately and the spell seemed to go straight through." Villin said trying to get his bearings again.


    The professor suddenly seemed enlightened "Right that must be how you know Amelia Blackwood, she must''ve taught you how to use wandless magic in order to play Cut and Crease." the professor nodded "Then it seemed like she saved your life in more than one way. Even though you are right in that the bit of magic power you could control wasn''t sufficient to weaken the actual spell, it was enough to stop its anti-healing property which was added later."


    Villin didn''t fully understand his words but he still nodded. It was then that he realized his earlier words. "How do you mean Amelia saved my life in more than one way? Did she help me when I was out?"


    "Yes Villin, she was on the scene almost immediately, if she wasn''t there there is a definite possibility I wouldn''t have been on time to save you. Talking about luck, your brain didn''t get damaged in any way so there is no need for further treatment. You will be able to go to class as expected. One could even say that this encounter was somewhat fortunate as it made you quite a bit richer."


    Villin looked confused for a moment and so the professor pointed at his pocket. When Villin took his crystal holder out he was momentarily stunned by the number displayed. It displayed two-thousand seven-hundred and fifty. This astronomical number instantly stumped Villin, hell it even caused his head to hurt more.


    "When a rule is broken half of the fine goes toward the affected person or persons. He had to pay five-thousand and five-hundred magic crystals on his crimes committed against you, this concludes the maximum of two-thousand that parents can give to their children and his savings from the last year. It is unlikely that he will bother you again since he is now penniless."


    Villin''s eyes widened at this revelation. These magic crystals were actually his! Even though he knew it wouldn''t be smart to get ten spell blueprints now and study them all at once, it did give him a lot of room to breathe.


    His headache seemed to have disappeared as he started thinking of all the things he could do with these crystals.


    "Well, now that it is clear you are okay and the situation has been explained, it seems like it''s time for you to go back to your room, isn''t it?"


    The kind professor arched one of his eyebrows as Villin got out of his train of thought somewhat stumped. He nodded before getting off of what he now noticed was the teacher''s desk. Just as he was about to leave he realized something and returned the paper this teacher had given him last time.


    "I have also decided not to use incantations so I have no need for this. Thank you for saving my life and lending this to me!"


    Villin bowed before actually leaving. This time there was nobody in the halls and so he quickly returned to his room, it was then that he realized it was five in the morning.


    Normally he slept until eight but he really didn''t feel tired anymore, his headache had also subsided. For a bit, he didn''t know if he felt happy or terrified. After all, he had almost died!


    He calmed himself down by doing some basic fitness. After he did this he reached into his mind, finding the nodes required for reverto. The nodes required for this one were right in the middle of his web, one of the nodes was just next to the middle, where he had awakened his first node ever.


    He started awakening nodes and by the time he ran out of magic power he had managed to awaken seven out of the nine required magic nodes. Each of the nodes fought back but Villin had grown better at controlling his magic power. Whenever the node attacked, he isolated the magic power it sent out and annihilated it by pressuring it heavily from three sides. Then it would instinctively try to escape the encirclement which allowed Villin to easily whittle it down while it was escaping, losing a minimum amount of magic power himself.


    He knew he would be able to get all the nodes awakened before class so that wasn''t a problem. He did hope he would also be able to cast the spell though as this was rather uncertain.


    Now that he didn''t have enough magic power to spare for practice and it was only six o''clock in the morning, Villin headed toward the library. He asked to read in the library for two hours and after paying twenty magic crystals he started reading.


    He had already decided on the topic of today. It would be on magic arrays. Even though the textbook on magic arrays was without a doubt the most valuable book he had ever read, it didn''t allow him to actually learn magic arrays in a short period of time. The book would probably be more fitting as a rune-magic textbook than anything else.


    It was only now he realized how much his comprehension had improved after becoming a mage. After all his pace in the enchanting and magic arrays textbooks was frighteningly slow. One of them seemed to have a secret message, one he was now sure he didn''t have to know for the classes. The other was extremely detailed and profound explaining everything about each individual line in a magic array, something that you had to understand properly and not just remember.


    In the two hours he spent here he had read over two-dozen books about magic arrays, he also felt that with the more basic knowledge about arrays he had, reading the profound textbook would go a bit quicker.


    After this, he awakened the final two nodes required for the reverto spell, and once this was also done he headed toward the first class of today. ''Wandless Magic''. After this, he would have the final basic class he had yet to have which was ''Combat Classes'' before finishing up with his first optional class ''Enchanting'' in which he would be taught with class A.

 Chapter 21: Surprise Attack

    Wandless magic wasn''t actually about casting spells without a wand, there was no need for there to be a class specifically for such a thing. Instead, it was about controlling your magic power. Villin was already quite skilled at the subject thanks to his practice of Cut and Crease the class was extremely simple and interesting to Villin. He did complete a few assignments within the class itself gaining him thirty magic crystals.


    If it were yesterday, this would''ve made him ecstatic, but it wasn''t of huge importance to him right now. What he cared about more this day was casting Reverto. It was ninety minutes into the class when he finally managed to connect the final nodes, casting the spell.


    A light blue smoke immediately erupted from his wand, it spread out much like a shield would in an instant forming a spherical form of one meter in diameter.


    This was obviously noticed by the teacher and a few students but as the teacher promptly continued teaching the students also looked away. This was actually the best thing he could do. Right now Villin was going through a form of enlightenment similar to the first time he cast Illuminatus.


    He felt the connection between the nodes and treasured it deeply, he was connecting with it so that the next time he would be able to cast it for sure, and more quickly at that.


    After twenty minutes Villin opened his eyes, he was happy the teacher didn''t seem too offended that he was busy doing something else in his class, but this probably also had to do with him being able to use some wandless magic already.


    During this entire time, there was a single person that kept staring at him. And even now the red-haired beauty was staring at him very intensely. During the final ten minutes of class, Villin put the Reverto spell on his wand so that he would be able to cast it instantly once.


    Now it was time for the ''Combat Classes'' class, the final basic class he had yet to have. Thus far he was extremely satisfied with this magic school. Even though he already knew a lot of what the teachers had been saying they still explained things properly. Seeing the high quality of teachers here he could only wonder what the Class A teachers would be like.


    Entering the combat classroom Villin was about to look around when he felt some sort of tingling on his legs, he felt a great amount of magic power was going toward them and in an instinctive reaction he jumped up.


    He had only just done so when a large rope of flame appeared, slashing toward the legs of all the entering students.


    There were a few others like Villin who felt something amiss and jumped up, Kayley being one of them, but most students got hit and fell to the ground.


    Villin immediately grabbed his wand, ready to cast Reverto when needed. And indeed a second attack soon came. Villin felt the air before him contorting and so he jumped back, standing next to Kayley. The other three standing students also grouped together. Just as they had done so ten balls of flames appeared. Every person had a fireball going for their chest and legs. The speed at which they came was also extremely fast making dodging an extremely difficult thing to do.


    Both himself and Kayley jumped up, trying to get over the fireballs, but just then another fireball appeared before each of them, since they were in mid-air it was impossible to dodge and so Kayley reached for the fireball with her left arm trying to minimize damage.


    As for Villin, he didn''t hesitate to use his wand''s saved Reverto spell. A shield made out of blue fog immediately appeared before it got hit by the fireball spell. Immediately he felt a great amount of his magic power being fed to the spell as it tried to contest the fireball.


    To others it would seem as if the fireball had just paused when it reached the shield, staying absolutely still for about a second, after which it turned around and shot back to the position it had appeared from with half its previous force.


    Yet the danger wasn''t averted yet, Villin noticed the spell had been enough to take out Kayley as she fell to the ground, but when he landed onto the ground safely he despaired. Both in front and behind him, three fireballs had appeared cutting off his routes, other than this, two fiery ropes were heading for his legs.


    Now he could only do what Kayley had done, minimizing damage. He jumped forward with his hand outstretched heading straight for one of the fireballs, hoping to take the hit and land safely. Yet as soon as the fireball touched his hand he fainted.


    When he woke up he heard a man laughing jovially. "Looks like this class has even more geniuses than my previous one, how exciting!"


    Villin woke up groggily as he looked around. Laying all around them were the other students, all of them in the process of waking up just like himself.


    Standing a few meters before them was a very burly man with a silver robe. He was looking right at him with a grin on his face.


    When a few seconds had passed and the students were now standing up, the man finally spoke.


    "Welcome students to combat classes, my name is Pompei, and don''t any of you dare to call me professor or anything." The man used his hands a lot while speaking and seemed extremely outgoing. "Last year I was teaching the fifth grade Class A but a few incidents occurred so here I am!"


    Villin had fully woken up at this point and was frowning, their attacker earlier should''ve been this teacher before them yet none of them were hurt at this point. Actually, when he recalled the fight earlier he realized none of those that fell down had any visible wounds. At the very least he should''ve noticed when Kayley fell down.


    "I must say I am quite impressed five of you managed to overcome stage one, one of you even managed to overcome stage two, it seems I underestimated Grade 1. I''ll be sure to go extra hard on you all!"


    As he said that he threw over some crystals. The trio that fell by the first two fireballs got a piece which he estimated to be worth twenty magic crystals. The piece thrown at Kayley was quite big being worth around fifty while he himself got a hundred magic crystals.


    Villin felt stunned now. Even though he had gotten a lot of magic crystals recently he still knew how hard it was to get them normally. To most students getting a hundred magic crystals in a month was considered good.


    He fed the crystals to his crystal holder quickly before looking at the classroom as a whole. It was an extremely large classroom with two large rectangular boxing rings, about a hundred meters in length each. The floor was a magical white and instead of ropes on the sides, there were translucent barriers that they could faintly see.


    For some reason the fact their teacher had tested them in the way he did and the setup of the class made him feel very excited and fearful at the same time.

 Chapter 22: Troublesome Spell Effect

    The combat class was a pleasant surprise. Pompei told them that since they had yet to get any proper offensive or defensive spells they would be working on battle sense for the first month. He had students pair up and fight each other, the students would take turns making three attacks in a row while the defender would have to either dodge or block the attacks keeping one foot on a previously designated position.


    This alone was quite a challenge for most students since overall their condition was rather terrible. Most students were quite slow and got tired after less than a dozen minutes. What made it even harder, however, was that sometimes a student that was attacking or defending would hear the teacher''s voice in their head telling them to keep attacking or move their planted foot to kick the attacker.


    Villin easily topped this bit. He was extremely fit for a boy his age and could easily dodge or block incoming attacks. Meanwhile, he had enough brains to do feints at the exact right moments getting a punch in nearly every cycle.


    Near the end of the class, Villin was up against two students both at opposite sides of him. This made the situation many times harder and occasionally they would be able to hit him in a non-vital position.


    When the class ended everyone was sweating bullets. Some students were forced to take breaks to avoid fainting, something that caused Pompei to frown. But just before the class was dismissed Pompei spoke to everyone.


    "My class has always been the best at combat overall. I teach, advise, and reward those who deserve it. Every Wednesday in our class I will be giving the top student of the week a spell blueprint which I believe fits them best. Furthermore, the spell model will have two uses, in other words, you can show it to a single other person of your choice. After a week I expect to have the spell blueprint returned to myself."


    The burly man paused. Right now he wasn''t smiling, he looked dead-serious, something that, coupled with his physique truly scared many of the students.


    "Without being exceptional at combat you will always be in someone else''s control. Do well and get strong, no matter what your eventual goal is, more strength will only ever aid you. And on that note, class dismissed."


    Saying this word a wooden book appeared in his hand which he tossed toward Villin. Many of the students tried to have a look at the book to see which spell he had gotten but a black cloth was covering it stopping them in their tracks.


    Once he got the spell blueprint Villin thanked Pompei before heading straight for his room. The enchanting class was only in the evening so he had time. He took away the cloth covering the book''s name before having a good look at it.


    ''Drowse''


    The name was unappealing but the effect was not. It was a spell that would cause the people it hit to feel drowsy, if enough magic power is injected it could even cause them to fall asleep immediately.


    The spell consisted of seven nodes. Thinking about it Villin couldn''t help but wonder if the spells the teacher used to attack the students also had this spell mixed into them. Overall the spell seemed quite handy for battles in the school. Nobody would get hurt and so he wouldn''t get punished as severely if ever he did decide to attack someone with this spell.


    He put the spell aside for the moment since it didn''t seem all that difficult to learn. First, he went ahead and once more put the Reverto spell into his wand, and then he put his wand aside as he started attempting a wandless cast of said spell.


    It took him a while but in the end, he succeeded in the wandless cast. First, he saw a bit of faint light-blue mist appearing about ten centimeters before his forehead. Then this bit of faint mist expanded and after twenty seconds a light-blue misty barrier was surrounding his entire body. This expansion caused a massive amount of magic power to disappear for him as it seeped into the barrier allowing it to expand.


    In a way this made sense. When you cast the spell with a wand you had a direct connection with it hence you could simply inject magic power when it was required. In this situation, he only built the barrier he didn''t maintain a connection afterward thus it could only use the magic power already put into the barrier to reverse attacks.


    Despite this, the barrier moved alongside him. This was both negative as well as positive, after all, he wouldn''t be able to cast most spells in this situation as they''d just hit himself. After thinking for a moment Villin decided to cast the wandless version of Illuminatus. Once he finished the cast the spell immediately forced him to close his eyes.


    The light was substantially brighter as it couldn''t go out of the barrier, hence it moved together with him making him a walking flashlight that was exceptionally bright.


    He decided that when he found out where to buy things on Sunday he would try to get his hands on really good sunglasses. Then he could potentially use this method to light up dark places. Not only that but if he walked in the back of his own group of allies he could somewhat blind the enemies and attract their attention while making the fight easier on his allies.


    At least this is what he thought of at the moment. The Illuminatus did require a constant supply of magic power so he stopped giving it and waited for the light to dissipate, something that did take quite a while.


    Yet the Reverto spell didn''t dissipate as quickly. He felt the amount of energy it had kept decreasing but the decrease was simply too slow! It was even less than with the Illuminatus spell while it held vastly more magic power. Even though he knew the mist would become less potent as time went by and magic power dissipated, it was still a great thing to see.


    That being said, at the rate the magic power was dispersing it would take half a day for the magic power to dissipate entire, which would mean he would have to go to the enchanting class with this spell active. Unwilling to do so, Villin walked into the hall and then deeper into the dormitories. On the way, some people looked at him oddly but he ignored it and kept going.


    Eventually, he got to the room he wanted, number three-hundred and twenty-one. This was Amelia''s room number as she had mentioned it before. He knocked on it a few times before waiting. Soon the door opened and a wand was pointed right at him, Amelia looked at him with a serious expression before recognizing him and inviting him in.


    "Sorry Villin, I sensed dense magic around you so I assumed you were here to attack me."


    She said with a faint smile as she sat onto her bed, inviting him to sit next to her. Villin obliged before speaking himself.


    "Yeah, say, Amelia, thank you! Professor Messen told me what you did, if it weren''t for you I might''ve died back then, so thanks!"


    He felt a bit awkward as he wasn''t really sure how to thank her but Amelia simply smiled and nodded.


    "My pleasure, after all saving a student from possible death does give me a nice little reward too I''ll let you know." She winked at him with a big smile on her face "Now that that''s over with what''re you here for? Don''t tell me you walked all this way just to thank me now did you?"


    Villin felt even more awkward now, after all, he did feel somewhat bad that he didn''t go to thank her before this point.


    "Well, about that, I''d appreciate it if you could attack me."

 Chapter 23: Spell Adjustment

    Realizing his words could easily be misunderstood, Villin explained the problem he had with the Reverso spell. In order to get the spell off of him quicker, he figured the best way should be to use spells on it so that it expended its magical energy.


    At the same time, he would also be able to tell how many regular spells the shield would be able to take.


    The duo made their way to the training grounds as that was the only location where students were allowed to use spells on each other. They walked into one of the magic arrays drawn on the floor before starting.


    In order to make the trip a bit more interesting, they agreed to turn it into training. Villin would try to dodge as many attacks as he could while Amelia would steadily increase the speed at which attacks were cast.


    Obviously, the attacks being used would also have pretty mild effects. After all not only would one of the spells get through the shield at one point but the very shield itself would toss the spells back toward Amelia causing her to be in potential danger.


    The spar wasn''t as interesting and helpful as Villin had hoped. It wasn''t that he wasn''t good enough to dodge any of Amelia''s attacks but rather that the shield around him made him a way bigger target.


    That being said, it was very effective at determining how good the Reverso spell was. It managed to hold off twenty of Amelia''s attacks before breaking but more importantly than that. There were multiple cases that Amelia was completely unable to dodge the spells that got tossed back at her. She got hit by her own spells four times.


    The spell she used was practically harmless. All that happened was that a large amount of hair would suddenly appear around the areas that were hit. And so Amelia''s stomach was extremely hairy when they finished. She then used a simple fire spell to burn the hair before extinguishing the fire before it got to her skin. That being said she would still do well to shave when she got back.


    The amount of magic power in that spell wasn''t small and Amelia was almost out of juice when they finished. Something else he noticed was that the spells that got sent back after hitting the shield retained roughly seventy percent of their power.


    After this, Villin tried to discuss spells with Amelia but her knowledge on the matter was many times superior compared to his own. Initially, he wanted to give her ''Drowse'' but he changed his mind when she told him about some of her offensive spells.


    Once they said their goodbyes Villin went back to his room before he practiced Reverto for a few more hours. He was rather happy the initial casting of Reverto barely cost anything when done with a wand, this made it very convenient to practice.


    Thinking about magic cost Villin suddenly remembered his large amount of magic crystals. Magic crystals were a universal means of magical currency because they contained magic, the kind that could easily be absorbed by a mage to increase the time they could practice!


    Villin took out his crystal holder before placing his hand on it. Then he tried to absorb some of the energy within it. He succeeded as he only needed ten minutes to get the same amount of magical power as he would normally get in an hour. This amount was the same as a single magical crystal. Since overall he would need about six hours to get back all of his magic power this would change into only an hour.


    Villin was happy with this as this would aid him in practicing his magic greatly. He used this method to practice using Reverto wandless but after a while, he was wondering something.


    The very first magic node he had awakened was next to one of the nodes required for Reverto. He knew there was danger in trying to cast a new spell but the spell was decided through the first and final node, not those in between. Villin wanted to try and see what would happen is he used the node in the middle instead of the one next to it.


    It didn''t take long for the connection to be made, with his wand in hand he nervously connected the last two nodes.


    He instantly felt something had changed. Red mist leaked out of his wand together with magic power. Hell no, his magic power and mist overlapped, and unlike normally when his magic power got untethered from his body he kept control. He could somewhat control the mist at this point to the expense of some magic power.


    He tried his best and after a short while he managed to create the shield the base spell gave him. Then he thought of something new and tried making a sword out of the mist. Even though he succeeded he couldn''t touch it and it seemed to go right through other objects.


    It took a bit before he realized how much magic power it was consuming. He had only used the spell for five minutes half of his magic power had been used. And that was without even using the shield.


    The mist dispersed immediately as Villin stopped the spell. He spent some time and crystals getting his magic power back before he tried casting it wandless. It took a bit of time but soon he succeeded. As soon as he cast the spell he felt dizzy. A layer of red mist had formed on his body, when Villin moved a bit of magic power out of his body the mist followed and enveloped it. It only took a few seconds before he was forced to quit the spell though.


    Now that he had tested out the spell he had a general idea of the uses of the nodes he had changed. The regular node which he had replaced probably lessened consumption, while the node he had replaced it with should have to do with control.


    Sadly he couldn''t yet cast the spell using both of the nodes as changed the number of nodes a spell had was extraordinarily hard. It went against the nature of the spell itself after all!


    Now that all of that experimenting was done it was time for his first enchanting class alongside Class A students.

 Chapter 24: Enchanting Class

    When thinking about enchanting Villin felt complicated. He knew for certain that the hidden message within the book wasn''t something most were supposed to know about, he actually managed to translate a bit of it.


    At first, he thought each letter just had a feeling or intent attached to them in the same way enchantments do but after a bit, he realized that wasn''t the case.


    Instead, it would be more accurate to say that every letter had an image attached. It took a lot of effort to try and sense each image so he had only gotten a few words worth thus far.


    The first image, for example, seemed to be some sort of lab but it was impossible to see everything clearly, meanwhile there was a clear intent within the image that corresponded to a letter.


    Each image seemed to have such a thing and so he had managed to decode a few words.


    ''Gene Solutions: Secret Manual''


    This came as quite the shock. Gene Solutions were one of the specialties in the western continent similar to enchanting and magic arrays on the central continent in value.


    Anything to do with Gene Therapy was highly illegal on this continent and simply owning a book explaining the matter could be cause for your imprisonment.


    For now, he decided to just wait. There was probably going to be a foreword which should clear things up a bit, once he translated that, things would naturally become clearer.


    When Villin entered a class only a few people had already arrived. These were Kayley and a boy that looked like he was also in class B. The enchanting didn''t have separate seats and tables for everyone. There were two chairs a table.


    After thinking for a bit Villin simply went ahead and sat next to Kayley. Seeing him do so, she raised one of her eyebrows. They hadn''t really talked before even though they were considered the aces of their class.


    "Remember Pompei gave me the spell blueprint. Since you''re the second-best one in our class, it would only be right if you also learned it, no?"


    Kayley squinted as she stared at him "What''s the catch?"


    Villin simply smiled as he stared back at her. He already knew she wasn''t stupid and he wouldn''t insult her intelligence by playing dumb.


    "I''m assuming you''re a noble without a bloodline, this should give you a bit of leeway in the school. I want a book on wand-making. I only need it for a day and then I can return it."


    He wanted the book to see if a certain something was possible. The problem was that there was no way for him to get such a book. After all, wand-making was a third-year elective class. There were no books about it in the first-grade library whatsoever.


    She kept looking at him as she thought about the matter. She had no idea what spell he had gotten but since it is something given by a professor it might not be easy to buy. On the other hand, the spell could also be incredibly basic and only worth a few dozen magic crystals.


    "Okay then, I''ll make the trade but in return, you must enchant a single item of mine free of charge when I ask for it. Within this year of course."


    Villin simply nodded as he opened up his book. It was a bit of an odd request since she also took the enchanting elective class but it didn''t really matter. He started reading the regular text in the enchanting book, ignoring the hidden manual within it.


    After a few more minutes passed the rest of the class entered alongside the teacher. Villin felt it was a bit odd that the gold-robed teacher came to class together with the students and even talking with them as if they were friends, but he opted to ignore it.


    The teacher really wasn''t anything special, the teaching was decent but not better than anything he had gotten thus far. And even though Villin showed his skill in the subject the teacher seemed to ignore him most of the time and didn''t give any sort of reward. Instead, Pierson who was relatively skilled in the subject got a whole hundred magic crystal in the course of the class.


    This did make Villin somewhat pissed off. But he once again didn''t act on it, what he did notice was that Pierson seemed nervous whenever they crossed gazes. Villin was unable to really understand the expression. They were really close in Cut and Crease so it shouldn''t have to do with that but other than that he had no idea what would cause Pierson to look so nervously when facing him.


    For the entire second half of class, Villin practiced Reverto, that being said he never finished the spell entirely, only trying to increase the speed of connecting eight nodes at a time, never truly casting it.


    Once the class was over he was about to leave when he heard an angry voice.


    "Why do you ignore those of class B, do you think you can act this way and get away with it? I will report this behavior to the school''s authorities!" Kayley stood before the teacher furiously somewhat surprising Villin.


    He didn''t think she was that prideful but then again thus far he hadn''t seen her in a situation where she was unfairly judged. If he paid a bit more attention to his surroundings during the class he would''ve noticed that after himself the other poor class B student was the best. Then came Pierson and fourth was herself.


    "Oh? Threatening a teacher? That''ll be fifty magic crystals and a day in the room of horrors." The teacher simply smirked and a moment later both of them were gone. Villin simply shook his head and sighed. She truly should''ve known that challenging a teacher who is prejudiced against you really isn''t the best idea.


    Villin simply went to his room with a bit of a foul mood. He noticed that on the way to the dormitories Pierson seemed like he wanted to walk up and say something to him a couple of times but he remained undecisive and didn''t end up speaking to him. As for Villin, he wouldn''t take the effort to ask a foul-tempered student why he wanted to speak to him, he didn''t feel like being insulted is all.


    Back in his room he wasn''t in the right mindset to properly practice his spells and so he decided to work on his wandless magic, trying to further his control. Still, he constantly got distracted. Oh, well, he nearly had done all classes once thus far. The only classes he had yet to do was pill-making and magic arrays.

 Chapter 25: A Traitor?

    Thursday was bound to be a rather uneventful day. The classes he had were ''Magic History'', where they learned nothing they couldn''t just read from the book, and ''Basic Spell Casting'' wherein he was far beyond his classmates also making the class quite useless.


    The fact that Kayley didn''t come to class today was expected but for some reason, Villin still felt somewhat worried. He had no idea what the Room of Horrors was but as the name suggested, it probably wasn''t anything fun.


    In this time Villin continued practicing Reverto, after all, the spell seemed very useful and he would feel a lot better if he had a way to defend himself on a moment''s notice. After another day (and some magic stones) worth of practice, he was now able to cast the spell within three seconds. He planned to get it down to one second before focusing on the new spell he had gotten.


    And so Friday arrived, the day with two of the classes he had the best feeling about. ''Studies of the Web'' taught by professor Edgard Messen, and ''Combat Classes'' taught by Pompei. Other than these two there was also pill-making. Villin remembered the teacher''s name was Crystal and she was the second teacher he had met. He truly felt something off about her but couldn''t put his finger on it.


    In the ''Studies of the Web'' class, professor Messen allowed and even encouraged people to practice their spells within his class. This way he could correct any potential mistakes the students made. Kayley was also back in this class but she seemed extremely distant. Professor Messen talked to her separately for a bit before she was allowed to leave the class.


    When the class was about to end, the professor spoke.


    "Alright students, this will be the end of class. Villin please stay behind, the others can take their leave."


    Villin walked up to the professor with a questioning look but the professor waited until the final student walked out of the door and the door closed before speaking.


    "Villin, I just wanted to remind you that school books are important. If you pay really close attention to them you might even find something you hadn''t expected in one of them. So how are your studies going?"


    The professor said this extremely casual and if another student had been told that they''d probably only think his words were a bit odd for a moment before moving on. But alas Villin frowned before replying with a cryptic message of his own.


    "I must say the book on enchantments is quite intriguing, even if a bit tough to read."


    The professor looked at him in surprise but Villin could see the vigilance in his eyes. "Yes, enchanting truly is a fascinating subject, how far have you been able to read the book thus far?"


    "Just the title."


    This made things clear enough as the professor dropped the pretense and talked to him with a straight face. "Are you planning to further study that book Villin?"


    After thinking for a moment Villin decided to trust the professor before him and answer honestly. "Probably not, professor. I will read the foreword but I simply don''t see the use in that kind of magic when we have enchantments. According to the little information I gathered here and there, the magic you are talking about simply make the body tougher, I see little use for that as enchantments can make you more durable by enchanting the clothes you wear. Furthermore, it has many other uses, a strong or tough body doesn''t seem all that appealing.


    Even though he didn''t show it Edgard Messen was relieved by this answer. Normally if he were to say no, he would''ve killed the kid but it seemed like this wasn''t necessary. It looked like Villin simply said no since he was focusing on other things, not because he found it wrong in any way.


    Nonetheless, he had to try and change his mind. There weren''t many people that qualified for his ''special courses''. Firstly, they couldn''t have any family that could be used against them. Secondly, they had to be mortal-born so they didn''t have any connection with the magical society on the central continent. Thirdly, they had to be smart enough to understand the situation and not accidentally let other people know. And lastly, they had to have a naturally strong body.


    "You might think it isn''t useful simply because you do not have enough information on the matter. Let me tell you a few possible properties I believe you''ll like. It can''t just increase toughness and strength but also speed. Other than this, if you are a little skilled in the matter you will never have to worry about sleep again.


    These few possible benefits he had chosen were carefully picked by him, he had a few eyes within the school and determined these were things the boy would find most appealing. And right he was.


    Villin thought about those words for a long time. Speed and dodging abilities were often neglected by mages on the central and eastern continent as they had full trust in their magic. Villin had always found this foolish, if you could dodge an attack that was less magic power spent blocking it, he didn''t get why this got ignored so often. Pompei was actually a rare case that didn''t neglect physical prowess.


    Villin stood still for a number of minutes thinking over everything in his head, meanwhile, Edgard Messen stood before him patiently awaiting a reply.


    "The materials used for this can only be found on the Eastern continent as far as I heard, how would I even find them?"


    Professor Messen was now smiling as he knew he had taken the bait. "The group I have been a part of has been active for quite a while, most materials have substitutes on this continent that get used for Pill-making.


    Villin nodded a few times before looking at the professor before him. He had a good impression of this man from the start. Right now it seemed like he might be a traitor of the continent but he couldn''t get himself to see the professor as evil or anything of the like "Alright then, I''ll continue deciphering the words, I''ll decide once I see how they actually get made."


    Professor Messen simply nodded at him before throwing a paper his way, then he disappeared from sight.


    All this time Villin had avoided using the actual words such as Gene Therapy or Gene Solutions. He simply did this since professor Messen didn''t use them and so he figured it might be dangerous to say them aloud. In actuality there wasn''t such a risk as long as they checked for eavesdroppers, it was simply a test of the professor to test his intelligence further.


    The paper in his hand only held a place and a time. The location seemed to be in the mortal world while the time was after the school year. Once he read the text, the paper burnt up into flames.

 Chapter 26: A Premonition

    Putting aside the highly important matter for now, Villin made his way toward the ''Combat Classes''. This time Pompei taught them some theory on offensive magic. How to maximize damage and the like. This did make Villin happy since he wasn''t really in the mood to fight right now.


    And so, without any further ado, he got to go to his room. With only pill-making left to do in the evening. Villin thought about professor Messen''s words for a long time. He knew he couldn''t stretch his skills too thin. Time was extremely important and since he already did enchanting, pill-making, and magic arrays and was planning to learn wand-making atop of that he was already lacking time.


    That being said professor Messen''s words were extremely attractive for him. The speed or agility increase was, of course, good but if it was just that he probably would barely even consider the matter. What he was interested in was the fact that the professor mentioned that if he got skilled at making gene solutions he would never have to sleep again.


    This meant that if he spent some time getting good at it initially he would later have even more time to practice all of his other skills. It was this fact along with the fact that making gene solutions barely required any magic power that made him decide to go for it.


    He would continue translating the book on enchantments and study the hidden manual within.


    For now, though, he had pill-making class. He brought his small cauldron and made his way toward the designated classroom. The old teacher that went by the name Crystal was already there, and even though she had a kind face and acted nicely toward everyone Villin got the creeps as soon as he arrived in the class and saw her.


    He also noticed Pierson, who was just as nervous as last time he saw him, looking at him and the downcast Kayley occasionally and sweating bullets.


    The pill-making class was truly extraordinary. For the first hour, they simply went through the theory. Pills are made of two things, items, and magic. Each table had a small contraption that could hold their cauldrons. When they inserted magic power into the device a flame would appear. Half of the pill-making process was getting the heat just right at the correct moments.


    The problem there was that oftentimes the heat should be constantly shifting to different places of the cauldron and hence the process was very difficult. The second part of pill-making laid within the items, with the vast majority of pills these were herbs, sometimes animal parts were also used. You had to have the amounts just right, they had to be inserted at the right time and in the right place within the cauldron.


    For the second hour, they were allowed to try and make a pill. It was a rather basic pill that had a small amount of healing power. The people from class A got five sets of materials to work with and those of class B got three sets. Both groups could buy more at a price slightly below the market price.


    In the end, Villin managed to make two pills out of the three sets. Kayley got three pills out of the same amount causing her to have the best success rate by far. This was so even though she looked terrible right now, something that should''ve come because of her punishment the previous time. At the end of the class, Villin got fifty magic crystals for a great performance.


    When the class ended Pierson still looked oh-so-nervous and so Villin finally decided to approach him. The last time they met Villin still thought Pierson was simply hesitating because he was looking for trouble. But he no longer thought in that way.


    It was understandable to be nervous when planning to attack someone but Pierson looked more terrified than anything else. And so when Villin walked up to Pierson''s table just as class ended, he asked "Pierson, I''ve noticed you can''t seem to stop staring at me, is something the matter?"


    Pierson looked at him and gulped, sweat dripping down from his forehead. After a few seconds, he started speaking.


    "You should take your friend and leave, the scho-"


    Just as he got that far another voice came from deeper within the classroom. It was Crystal who was busy looking through some of her papers.


    "Pierson come over here and give me a hand. Now!"


    Hearing these words Pierson froze, for a moment he looked frantically, his eyes jumping around and his hand noticeably shaking. But then he turned toward the teacher and a smile came onto his face.


    "Yes miss, it''s a pleasure to be of service."


    Villin felt a terrible premonition as he quickly left the classroom, somewhat afraid Crystal would call upon him.


    He could feel that something was happening. He felt as if he was a part of this thing all along without noticing. It was as if all the clues were there but he just couldn''t put it together.


    In a hurry, Villin made his way toward his room. Closing the door behind him he clutched his head within his hands trying to find out what it was he was missing. He realized that even before Pierson spoke with him he knew something was wrong, he already had a premonition something bad was coming but he simply thought he was paranoid.


    "What is happening and why is Pierson warning me?"


    He just couldn''t understand it. All he knew was that he could not leave the school. The school had a large amount of powerful magus, even the teachers in the first grade were extraordinarily powerful. He hoped that as long as he stayed within the school and swiftly increased his strength, he would be able to survive whatever calamity was coming.

 Chapter 27: A Dream

    With a worried heart, Villin decided to awaken the nodes required for Drowse. This wasn''t too big of a challenge as the spell only consisted of seven nodes and none of them were that big of a challenge. Barely two hours had passed when Villin successfully cast the spell for the first time.


    A blue streak came out of his wand and shot forward, hitting the wall. The spell was relatively fast going at about twenty kilometers an hour (or around fifteen miles an hour).


    He practiced the spell a few more times and this time around there was something new he had to take into account. He had to aim the wand exactly at the place he wanted the spell to go when the spell released.


    Now, with this spell in particular, Villin was extremely interested in what the effect would be if he cast it without a wand. He figured there was a decent possibility the spell would be cast onto himself and he''d fall asleep, so since there wasn''t a big risk he got to work on that.


    Casting the spell wandless was hard, extremely hard even. He thought it would be like the other times but even after four more hours, he hadn''t managed to cast the spell. Thus far he had been able to connect five nodes, so he had two more to go with the final one naturally being the toughest.


    And so decided to go to bed. It was now that he had his first proper dream since he reincarnated. He was standing within the hallways of the school, he even recognized the location, it was a location relatively close to the ''Combat Classes'' classroom. The lights were somewhat dim and the air felt dull. It was as if some of the school''s energy had been sapped and the stones no longer created as much light as they did.


    To his left was Amelia. She had her wand out and was looking at the ceiling nervously. Just as Amelia yelled something and tried to dodge, the ceiling collapsed and they both got crushed underneath tons of stones.


    When Villin woke up he was sweating immensely. His entire bed was wet and he felt extremely dehydrated. He stumbled out and grabbed water out of his chest gulping it all at once. "God"


    Villin felt a shiver going up his back. He didn''t know how to describe his dream. It felt real, yet so fake at the same time. He leaned against one of the walls in his room and calmed his breath. After calming himself he figured the dream was probably a figment of his nervosity.


    He had been so nervous with everything going on, his dreams had even turned to nightmares. Villin did some basic fitness to calm himself down fully and then he continued on with his last day''s experiment. After another hour he managed to connect six of the nodes wandless but then he stopped since he didn''t want to risk falling asleep if the spell backfired.


    And so he simply practiced casting Drowse with a wand for the following hour. Then it was time for class. Today was Saturday and so they had ''Rune Magic'', ''Wandless Magic'', and ''Magic Arrays''.


    Once the ''Wandless Magic'' class was over, Kayley went toward him. She still looked a little out of it but it was better compared to the previous day. "Here you go Villin, I expect to get this back Monday."


    She said in a somewhat icy tone as she gave him a packaged book. It was wrapped in brown wrapping paper so he couldn''t see the title, but of course, he already knew what it was.


    "Same with this one." Villin said casually as he took out a book himself, this was the Drowse spell blueprint, the name of which was also concealed. They both handed each other their packages and headed toward their respective rooms. As soon as Villin arrived at his room he unpacked the book. It was indeed the third-grade''s book on the process of wand-making.


    Similar to things such as Magic Arrays and Enchanting, wand-making was an elective and not a very popular one at that. Villin was extremely happy he got this book, it was rather large but he didn''t worry much about it. He simply started going from page to page without reading, using his photographic memory to its fullest.


    He wouldn''t properly understand the book yet but he could always read it mentally at a later point. Once he had gone through the entire book hhe put it aside and went to the chapter pertaining to the materials and form or wands. What he found there made him ecstatic.


    The materials consisted of a simple list. There were some kinds of magical wood and certain rare metals that could conduct magic well. Which one of these you used had very little importance. The difference between the best and worst material on the list was a loss of ten percent magic power. Even though this amount couldn''t be said to be small they were between the two extremes.


    The form was what was truly important. There were a bunch of guidelines one had to follow when creating the form. The reason why almost every wand looked like a sleek stick with a somewhat pointy edge was simply because it made it so that the spells would be as controlled as possible.


    With this form, the spell practically always came from the tip of the wand. Most spells would shoot out of it guaranteeing speed. The information he got was truly good news for Villin''s plan. Even though he planned to dabble in wand-making, he would still wait with that for a while. Right now it had just been to confirm something. He had already decided that if he got to meet a talented third-grade wand-maker he would commission them. This would probably cost him many magic crystals so he had to be careful so that he would have enough.


    Then it was time for his first ''Magic Array'' class. When he thought about the sort of Magus he wanted to become, being able to make magic arrays was essential. If he ever got a great base somewhere he didn''t want to have to depend on other mages to defend it. He wanted to be able to make the defenses himself.


    And so, he went ahead and entered the classroom in high spirits. Not expecting in the least to meet someone that could be considered an ''absolute freak''.

 Chapter 28: A Skeleton-Like Man

    Villin was still a bit distracted when he entered the room. A lot had happened over the last day and he couldn''t help but think about everything even now.


    When he looked at the class properly, he was rather surprised though. Unlike most other classes there were no chairs here, there wasn''t even a podium for the teacher to stand on and there wasn''t anything such as desks.


    When he looked around a bit closer he noticed the entire classroom was within a magic array. When he paid attention he notices runes on the walls and floor. This was also the first time he had heard of a magic array that wasn''t a circle or oval. Instead, it was a rectangle, encompassing the entirety of the room.


    Since the teacher hadn''t arrived yet, Villin walked up to the wall and started inspecting the runes. At first, he tried looking at each rune individually but since he only recognized a few he quickly started walking around the entire room, trying to look at the entire array, counting on his memory to remember it all.


    Yet even then, he couldn''t possibly remember the intent each individual rune was carved with, he couldn''t even feel it when he stood so close to it.


    After about ten minutes all the students had arrived. Most were talking with their friends as they waited while there were a few such as himself who showed interest in the magic array, Kayley being one of them.


    It was then that the teacher entered. Suddenly, every student within the classroom felt a magical fluctuation in the middle of the classroom. Some of the students closer by jumped to the floor and covered their heads, scared of an attack.


    Villin and a few others felt the magic arrays lit up and waited nervously to see what was going on.


    The air in the middle of the class seemed to be warping for a bit before something appeared and it settled down. Now in the middle of the classroom was a rather terrifying sight.


    A man stood there in ripped-up grey robes. His face was tattered to pieces, open wounds were covering it and one of his eyeballs was hanging out of his skull. In the places where you could see past the tattered robe there was grey rotting skin, at some places you could even see his disgusting bones with blood dripping down from them.


    Just a few seconds after he appeared a small pool of blood and piss had gathered on the floor beneath him. Talking about piss, there were a few other students who also had a small pool of this liquid gathering below them.


    As soon as Villin saw this man appear he stepped forward, he pointed his wand and a blue streak came out of it. The skeleton-like figure that appeared didn''t see the spell but when it should''ve him, the spell went right through it, hitting the wall.


    Villin cursed as he walked forward and stood in front of one of the terrified groups of students close to him.


    He wasn''t sure if he should stay here or make a run for the door but before he could make a decision, the figure spoke in a raspy voice.


    "Welcome students to your magic array class. I am Richard, a talented student who died seventeen years ago."


    The raspy voice rather fit the creature as it caused nearly everyone''s spines to shiver.


    The only person in the class who didn''t seem to be nervous or scared was Kayley, Richard even turned to her and nodded at her as if she was an acquaintance, a gesture she returned.


    After the initial shock had passed Villin relaxed as he realized what exactly was going on. Most people couldn''t get passed their fear but the few that did manage to earn a lot.


    Villin found the magic array book extremely valuable, but this class also couldn''t be missed. In a way, the book went too detailed and so you wouldn''t be able to make Arrays for a long, long time if you only followed that.


    This class was different, the zombie-like Richard couldn''t touch anything but was great at explaining the mistakes students made. Magic Arrays were quite a bit harder than regular enchantments and so in this first class nobody managed to create a full magic array.


    Villin almost managed to create a small camouflage array but in the end, he never fully managed to complete the circle before messing up somewhere.


    And so, with most of the kids shaking while the few that weren''t having learned a great deal, the last class of the week ended.


    When he got to his room again, Villin felt extraordinarily confident. In just a week he had learned such a great deal. Yet, of course, he wouldn''t slack on this day. He still vividly remembered Pierson''s words.


    Talking about Pierson, Villin didn''t actually see him in the previous class. He decided not to worry about this too much as he continued trying to cast Drowse without a wand. After an hour passed, Villin finally succeeded.


    He felt a large amount of magic power getting sucked out of him at first, then the spell activated. First, the spell seemed to hit himself as he had somewhat expected, he felt extremely tired and stumbled around. But this wasn''t all that had happened. Around him a ring shot out, a blue ring went out of him on all sides, dissipating after traveling two meters nearly instantly.


    Villin smiled at his discovery before falling asleep right where he was standing.


    He woke up six hours later, extremely refreshed. Since he felt so good mentally and it was still night, Villin grabbed his book on enchanting and started translating the hidden message. This time he succeeded multiple times greater than usual thanks to his mental state.


    Before he had even realized it, four more hours had passed and multiple pages were translated. It was only now that Villin felt slightly exhausted mentally.


    He felt surprised at the discovery, perhaps being hit by Drowse himself wasn''t too bad a thing. After this, he did some basic fitness before getting his thoughts in order. It was Sunday, the only day without classes. He remembered Amelia told him to follow the line when the moon was on its highest point.


    Even though he didn''t know the full meaning yet, he knew it would still be a long time. First, it was time to eat, he opened the chest under his bed, finding some decent looking sandwiches had appeared, as he took them he also noticed a note in the chest.


    On the paper, he recognized Amelia''s handwriting. "Come to class B 149 Monday at eleven o''clock. Make sure you''ve joined the ''Mortals Cut and Crease''."


    Villin felt rather happy when he read the note, when playing Cut and Crease he truly felt good. It was an extremely fun game. Little did he know that the group he was invited to was something very different.

 Chapter 29: The Marketplace

    This Sunday was extremely productive. He had an entire day to work on his skills. He spent most of his time practicing Drowse and Reverto while not totally neglecting Illuminatus either.


    Thanks to this practice he managed to heavily reduce the required casting time for both spells. He was now able to cast both of the spells in half a second. This was great news but also made it so that Villin wanted to get another spell to save within his wand.


    He also spent a few hours practicing drawing runes, something that would help in both enchanting and magic arrays. And lastly, he awakened a few nodes next to the Reverto spell nodes. He actually found a new way to make awakening nodes even cheaper.


    Villin liked comparing the magical energy the nodes sent out to wild beasts. It was extremely aggressive and worked on instinct. Previously he blocked the energy on three sides making it try to escape encirclement by going to the only side available, this would allow his own magical energy to whittle it down without taking too many losses.


    Now he developed this technique further. He would attack two nodes at the same time and funnel them toward each other. Then, in order to try to escape the two forces would attack each other and Villin''s own energy just had to clean up.


    And so, ten more nodes were already unlocked, opening a massive amount of possible combinations.


    And so, after all of that, it was finally nearing midnight. First, Vilin did the obvious thing and he left the dormitories, then he tried looking for any sort of ''line''. When he didn''t find one even after a dozen minutes of looking, Villin closed his eyes instead and tried to see if he could feel any magical energy.


    It seemed like this was the right step as not long after he felt a small line of magical energy, he followed it through the halls for twenty minutes before he saw someone else. In front of him was a girl, also following the line. She looked rather familiar with it as she casually walked along, only checking the energy occasionally.


    A bit later they arrived at a specific hallway, the only thing that stood out about it was that there were no doors on either side, hell it was even a dead-end making it seem like an utterly useless part of the school.


    Villin patiently followed a dozen meters behind the other student, also checking the magical line occasionally, and when the student got to the end of the hallway, she simply walked straight through. Villin paused for a moment, looking stumped before he walked up to the wall.


    Even now that he stood before it he felt nothing strange. He tried to sense magic but other than the line which went straight through the wall. And so with an excited heart, he tried to step through the wall.


    He immediately felt slightly nauseous, a sign of teleportation, but he soon suppressed it and looked around, soon stunned by the sight.


    This place was totally different compared to the barely decorated school classrooms. He was standing in a ginormous room with hundreds of students. There were massive chandeliers on the ceiling fifty meters above them, the walls had all sorts of beautiful drawings on them, some of them glowing, reminding him of graffiti art.


    "God"


    He walked forward, completely ignored by the people around him. All the people here seemed to be students but not all of them were of the first grade. People of all the six grades were here, a quarter of the room was simply an area to talk to each other and hang out while the rest of it had all sorts of stalls, items, and services were being bought all over the place, there was an extremely lively atmosphere.


    After walking about for a bit, Villin properly understood the room. The stalls were first divided into genre (such as enchanting, magic arrays, sports,...) and then into grade. After understanding the rules of this place Villin headed toward the area dedicated to wand-making.


    The cheapest wands for sale were the ones similar to second-grade wands. They cost a thousand magic crystals. Some people might think of this as a scam but it made sense. You didn''t actually get a wand in the school, you were simply lending them. Most people that finished their sixth grade would actually have to downgrade quite a bit wand-wise when they got their own. Additionally, the school wands were tracked and the school would know about any and every bit of magic you cast.


    Villin decided to stick to the third-grade wand-makers as anything higher would be impossible to afford.


    According to a random passerby, he asked the marketplace would be open for another hour for those in the first grade. Within that time they would have to leave. And so, with that in mind, Villin quickly began looking around.


    Most people simply followed the guidebook to make identical wands to one another. It looked extremely basic and Villin immediately left those people. Those that used different materials got a second look from Villin but seeing that those too only had the basic wands he left them be as well.


    After fifteen minutes of browsing, he had only found a single student who sold a wand that looked different, having beautiful carvings and the life. But as this student was able to make wands similar to those of the third grade Villin already knew he wouldn''t be able to pay up and so he looked further.


    Luck seemed to smile at him as he finally found someone that fit his criteria. On one of the tables were all sorts of items. He was a small walking stick, a large needle, a potato knife, and a few other items with a sharp edge. Each of these were actually wands made out of a different material. The only problem was that all of these only had capabilities a tiny bit above regular first-grade wands and so not many people were interested.


    Villin smiled as he had a look at the wand-maker. Standing behind the table was a young man with long hair that was put together in a hairpin. He couldn''t spot a wand on the person''s body but then again, the hairpin was only one of many items that might actually be a wand he made himself.


    "Excuse me, sir, do you do custom commission?"


    Villin asked politely. The wand-maker looked at him for a bit before replying "I do, please note that my cheaper wands are still a thousand magic crystals. They might not be amazing in terms of capabilities but they are easy to hide and can allow you to catch potential enemies off-guard."


    Villin smiled at the boy as he temporarily closed his stall to talk to him. Something that was apparently quite commonplace here. "So, what is it you need?"


    The boy was very to-the-point, something Villin could respect. "I would like for you to make me a pair of gloves. One of them working as a wand and the second one simply being identical."


    Originally Villin actually wanted to make a pair of wand-gloves but he simply didn''t have the required capital. Even though he had a talented student''s savings for half a year, it simply wasn''t enough to get all he truly wanted.


    The wand-maker looked at him with a confused expression for a moment before lowering his hand, thinking about the commission. After a few minutes passed he looked up once more, Villin expected the boy would feel excited at being able to make something new, but his expression hadn''t changed.


    "The design is larger than regular wands increasing the difficulty, I also have never made anything of the like which complicates things. There''s only a few materials with enough flexibility and I''ll have to exactly copy an existing wand so you can wear it as a pair. Normally this would cost about five-thousand magic crystals but I''ll halve the price since you seem to be a rather rich first-grader, let''s say it''s for a good cooperation in the future."


    With these words, one would have been expected to have a flattering expression, yet this man didn''t he simply looked at him and held out his hand which had a crystal holder within. Villin knew of the usual practices of a sale at this point and so he sent over half the money required to the boy. He still felt nervous though, he had expected the price to be two-thousand at most before he got here but then again everything the boy said was true and overall it wasn''t that expensive compared to regular aesthetically pleasing wands.


    After paying half the sum, Villin bought a few pieces of paper that could be used in ''Cut and Crease'' cheaply under the ''Sports'' section before heading back out through the wall he came from. This time next week he would have the wand he longed for.

 Chapter 30: A Derivatory Spell

    At this point, it was already past 4 am but Villin still had something to do. He quickly made his way to the club board he had seen the very first day he got here. Joining a club was very easy, you simply had to put your name and the club you wish to join on a piece of paper and then slip that piece of paper under the door of the ''Grade Holder''.


    The ''Grade Holder'' would then contact the specific club''s president and they would contact you for a potential interview and to pay the required fee. Villin quickly went ahead and wrote ''Mortals Cut and Crease'' on a regular piece of paper. He checked the board and saw it didn''t have a required fee at all, something that was very rare. Probably because there were other, very strict requirements to join.


    With the piece of paper slipped under the grade holder''s door, Villin only had to go to the required classroom when the time came, well after his two classes on the following day.


    Despite the extremely late hour, Villin felt less tired than usual, it seemed like Drowse truly had some benefits to himself. And so in order to fall asleep so he would be good for the next day, he once more cast Drowse wandlessly.


    And so, just a few moments after the spell was cast, Villin once more fell asleep. Morning swiftly came and Villin once more felt energized. Sadly he could only translate the enchanting book for about an hour before he had to head toward his first class.


    Since the first class was ''Studies of the Web'' by Edgard Messen, Villin somewhat expected the man to ask him to stay after class. Surprisingly he didn''t, and so Villin simply left the class twenty magic crystals richer, a rather normal reward for someone of his level.


    After this came ''Magic History'', as usual, the class was pretty useless for Villin and so he trained during the hours. This time around he worked on awakening some nodes near the Illuminatus spell model. He wasn''t sure why but he simply had a good feeling about the utility spell. And even if he didn''t use it for an altered spell, some of the nodes would surely be a part of a future spell blueprint.


    Once the class ended Villin prepared to create some new spells with Reverto as its base. No matter what the spell was extremely useful. He had already been able to derive one other spell for it and if the consumption wasn''t so high it would be incredibly strong. The problem was that the further away you went from the original spell the harder it was.


    Reverto had nine different nodes. He figured the one he had used for his first altered spell had to do with control, something he certainly wanted to keep. This one replaced the seventh node. Because of this changing the sixth or eight node was not an option, this would make the change in the spell too big, not only would casting it would be extremely hard, the spell might even be somewhat unstable, something he didn''t want to see.


    After thinking for a while Villin decided to change up the third node. Connecting to the new seventh node was already a challenge that took a bit, now that the third node would also change, the difficulty would be heightened multiple times.


    Six full hours had already passed before Villin finally managed to connect both the nodes at the same time. A surprisingly tiny amount of magic energy got taken from him as the spell was cast. When he looked forward he noticed the familiar light-blue mist but this time it was simply around his wand. Villin felt stunned for a moment as he looked at it, it seemed like he had gotten a rather useless spell.


    Villin tried controlling the mist, but the only thing he could do was move the amount of mist around the wand. No matter what it was simply a worse kind of the base spell. Villin sighed before looking at the clock. He had to meet up with the new club in four hours.


    He figured he might as well try to cast the spell wandless, who knows it would be more feasible. It took two hours for Villin to manage his first wandless cast. As soon as he did mist shot out of his body, it headed right for the wall and the items around him. There was no mist in the air but every surface within a meter of him was covered in the blue mist which he no longer had to supply with magic power.


    Normally he would just think this was an extremely situational spell as well, to the point it could even be called useless. But there was one thing that held him back from saying that. Even though he had severed himself from the spell, the mist wasn''t losing even a bit of magic power. Even when half an hour passed there wasn''t even a tiny difference.


    This was way different than the case with the regular wandless cast where it would dissipate extremely slowly. After thinking for a while, Villin went into a corner of the room where he had his bed as cover before shooting a spell at a part of the floor that was covered by the new spell.


    As soon as the spell hit the blue mist it shot right back with about three fourth of its speed remaining. Villin quickly dropped behind the bed, letting the spell fly over his head. He knew though that if he wasn''t prepared for it there was a chance he''d get hit. And he had agility beyond most of his peers.


    The fact this derivatory spell could do this opened up a few possibilities. But as soon as the Drowse spell missed Villin rushed back up to the affected floor to check something. He sensed the magic power within and after a moment he could be seen shaking from excitement. When he checked the magic power within the mist, he could tell it was actually taking some from the air around them, getting back to the level it was at before it was hit by the spell.


    Villin vowed that once he had his own protected place he would further research such a spell. If he found a way to make the mist invisible the spell could be a part of a seriously strong defensive measure.


    Let''s say he had a villa, if this spell was all over the outside of the villa sieging it would be so much harder as you also had to worry about defending yourself.


    That being said, right now it didn''t have many uses for him, it was truly a spell for the future, not the present. And so after awakening a few more nodes, it was time for Villin to get to the ''Mortals Cut and Crease'' club room.

 Chapter 31: An Unexpected Group

    Villin felt complicated when he stood before the door, he wasn''t sure why but he felt like once he entered this room his future would change in some way. Nonetheless, since there were only a few minutes left before the time of the meetup, Villin entered the room.


    When he entered he was rather surprised at the number of people in the room, the room itself was large yet barren, with nothing in terms of decoration or seating. Around twenty people had already entered the room.


    Most people didn''t seem to know anyone else as they just stood by themselves, most of them looking around vigilantly and nervously. The only exception was a group of three in the middle of the room. Villin recognized Amelia in this group and she was joined by a stern-looking boy and a girl with a rather...odd look.


    When he entered the room Amelia glanced at the door, when she recognized him, she said a few words to the two people standing with her before walking over.


    "Heya there Villin, happy to see you made it! You don''t seem too worried about being here, do you have such high expectations of our management?" Amelia looked with him with a smile, she changed her usual glasses for bright red ones with a half-circle making her look more professional compared to usual.


    "Maybe I''m not so worried because I don''t know as much about the club compared to the others?" Villin questioned raising an eyebrow at Amelia.


    These words caused Amelia to look at him somewhat stunned "Hold up- did the prez not inform you of the club?"


    Yet before he could ask who the ''prez'' was the girl with the unique looks walked toward them. "Ooh Amelia, you got quite a pretty face here don''t ya~nya"


    When looking at this person Villin felt a bit odd. Standing before him now was a pretty girl with two cat ears. Villin absolutely didn''t know how to think of that as something such as the existence of demi-humans was ridiculous. Ignoring the cat-girl''s words he turned to Amelia with a questioning look "Some sort of pill?"


    Amelia laughed as she heard his question realizing what he meant "Nope, Aria here always liked the look of demi-humans in drawings and the like and found it a shame she wasn''t one so after working for a while she found a ''solution'' for her problem."


    Hearing her emphasis on the word ''solution'' Villin suddenly realized something as he stumbled back a bit staring at Amelia in bewilderment.


    "Ah right, I forgot you didn''t realize the goal of the club yet, whoops," Amelia said with a laugh as she looked at Villin.


    Ignoring Villin''s bewilderment Aria looked at the duo sadly since her words had been ignored "Amelia you shouldn''t hog him for yourself like that~nya".


    Villin shook his head taking in the situation but just as he was about to ask something, the door behind him opened and a man entered. A moment later Villin felt a hand on his shoulder and when he looked back he saw professor Messen standing behind him.


    Villin was about to ask something but before he could say anything the professor spoke: "Don''t worry Villin, other than the trio from last year everyone here is new, I will explain everything to all of you at once."


    Villin frowned for a moment before nodding and taking a step back. The professor walked toward the middle of the room followed by Amelia and Aria.


    Villin waited patiently while staying near the side of the room. He''s rather not get seen by too many people and so he decided to leave the room as soon as he heard what the professor wanted to say.


    The entire room had grown quiet as everyone stared at the professor who then spoke loudly so that everyone could hear him.


    "Twenty people in a single year. I should let you know the previous record of selected students was five." he smiled trying to lift the mood a bit but saying everyone was still on edge he spoke some more.


    "First of all, I should let you know nobody here will betray us. I have my own way to tell when a student is telling the truth and I can say without question that all of the people here intend to study gene solutions. Each of you is exceptionally intelligent and capable, you all are people who would certainly turn out to become great Magus''.


    Some of the students visibly relaxed, since everyone''s words were confirmed to be true there shouldn''t be any problems.


    "Since I was aware there would be a large number of potential students this year I asked the three that were selected last year to remain in the first grade a bit longer. Please meet Amelia, Aria, and Kay." He pointed at the trio before getting to the crux of the meeting.


    "Firstly, I wish you all to study ''Cut and Crease''. Cut and Crease is an extremely popular sport in the higher grades and if you are well-versed in it, you''ll be able to secure benefits and reputation. Secondly, I ensure you, you all will be supported and not just in the matter of making gene solutions. Every two weeks you will be getting a spell model from me when you come to this club.


    I implore you to make friends with other people in the club. That being said not associating with them outside of the club is also a good idea as this way you will be able to make contacts without making your connection obvious. This class has hidden equipment that makes it a fit class to make gene solutions in. As he said that, with a wave of his hand, iron tables full of equipment appeared. There were microscopes as well as a large number of vials and small pots made out of all sorts of materials.


    "The only thing you have to worry about is getting the ingredients here. Except for the ones that are already in the pill-making class, the others will have to join this class next month. This gives you a viable excuse to have ingredients on you. As for where to get the materials, please let Amelia know of your room-number and she will give you a hint leading you to the market, most of you should have no problem finding it. On that note, best of luck to you all."


    After saying this the professor immediately walked toward the door and headed out. Villin no longer wanted to leave immediately as he walked toward the iron tables that had appeared with all the equipment. He had only just gotten there when the boy named Kay spoke up.


    "Today''s spell is called ''Mentallage''. It only has five nodes and we expect everyone to only talk using this spell when you are within this class starting from next week. You all should be able to cast this message silently, it is an extremely useful spell that only gets sold in the fourth grade''s library."


    Kay looked very stern as he took out an iron book opening it, he quickly got crowded as everyone wanted to get a closer look at the spell blueprint. One of the first students that arrived then asked something confusedly. "Why are there five different spell-lines?"


    Kay scoffed and impolitely replied. "We expect you all to have some talent, each of these lines have different effects."


    He started explaining each of the lines and explained the differences, he seemed very thorough despite his impolite reply.


    Villin shook his head as he saw Kay explain one of the lines that had all three of the middle nodes different compared to the original. He seemed to be the only one of the new people who realized how tough that spell would be to cast since the entirety of the pathing was different.


    There were a few useful ones though. The basic spell was used to cast your voice to a single person, there was a version used to speak to a group and one where the receiver wouldn''t be able to tell whose voice it was that was speaking. The one with all three of the middle nodes different was actually used to send someone else''s voice to them. This could be used to frame someone for example.


    Villin felt very good as he realized this should just be a precedence. It was likely that every two weeks he wouldn''t just get a spell blueprint but also some of the derivatory spells that could be used, this would save him a lot of time.


    People were a bit more at ease at this point and Villin decided to ask Amelia something he had already been wondering for a while. How she was able to put notes in his chest.

 Chapter 32: Three More Spells

    When Villin asked the question he expected Amelia to tell him it was some sort of enchantment or secret technique, but he was wrong.


    "Oh, well there is a cafeteria in room A73. Contracted create food and the like there before sending it to the students using the mailroom next to it. In there are a bunch of boxes filled with formations. When the formations are activated the food gets teleported. I''ve been using a stealth spell to go in and send messages, if you got there before three o''clock the chances of anyone being there is nearly none. Of course, you also need to get passed the door but I''m sure you''ll find a way if you look for long enough!"


    Amelia winked at him as she turned to some other people in the room that came to her to ask questions about the given spell modes. After all, Kay looked extremely stern and most would classify Aria as some sort of freak due to her self-caused appearance.


    Villin thought about it for a while. It sounded like the stealth spell wasn''t necessary but more of a precaution, one that Villin also wanted to take if he ever needed to send messages or items that way.


    He walked toward the equipment that had appeared and inspected it, joined by a number of other ''club members''. He overheard a conversation here and there and quickly realized the average intelligence of the people here was quite high. No matter what nobody here acted like a nine-year-old. Even when seeing them as 14-year-old as the appearances suggested, they were still very intelligent.


    He couldn''t help but let his mind wander, he wasn''t sure if people would get smarter as their magic powers increased but if they did then there was a truly good reason for the powerful to be in charge.


    After about ten minutes of observing the equipment, Villin left the room. He headed straight for the library this time. After ignoring the number of crystals he still had to pay the wand-maker Villin only had slightly above four-hundred crystals left.


    He asked the contracted in charge of the library to filter the spells in a few ways. Firstly he only wanted spells discounted due to usefulness. Secondly, he only wanted attack spells with less than seven nodes, stealth spells costing less than a hundred crystals after the discount, and utility spells that are purchased all the time.


    When he walked into the room this time, the number of spell blueprints was extremely little. Most attack spells had more than seven nodes, certainly those marked with a discount due to usefulness. Stealth spells nearly never got marked as useful since they were somewhat frowned upon and overall, most people in the first grade focused on getting some offensive and defensive spells, ignoring utility.


    Seeing the thirty spell blueprints before him Villin fell silent for a while as he inspected all of them. He wanted an offensive spell that could actually properly harm people instead of just causing them to fall asleep, one that he could cast near-instantly, and after a while, he found one that suited his taste.


    ''Icy Pike''


    The spell only had five nodes making it quite easy to cast. The only reason it wasn''t att that popular was that with some people one of the required nodes was dark-grey. If it was, there were few people willing to risk trying to awaken it, leave alone cast the spell. Villin decided to take the gamble since there were no other offensive spells here that fit his requirements.


    As the name suggested your magic would form a pike made of ice above the caster''s head. When the spike hit something, not only would it stab deep into the target but it could cause hypothermia or slow down the enemy. Other than this the spell only cost 160 crystals due to the limited amount of people that could learn it, with the discount this turned into 80 crystals.


    The second spell he chose was a stealth one. Costing exactly a hundred crystals after the discount was ''Chameleon''. Once you cast this spell you had to stand for two seconds as your body would seem to merge with the environment, making it very hard to be distinguished. The spell did have eight nodes but Villin was sure he could master it.


    The third and final spell he bought was ''Cold-Blood''. This utility spell seemed quite useful. The odd thing about it was that it couldn''t be cast with a wand as it wouldn''t do anything in that case. Villin felt surprised the school would actually mark a spell like this as ''useful'' as wandless casting was more popular on the western continent.


    When you cast ''Cold-Blood'' it would last for a day. On this day you would be able to deal with extreme temperatures more easily. Even though you wouldn''t be able to stand next to a volcano and not die, you''d be able to go through a normal desert a lot easier.


    Villin decided on this one as he wondered if it would help defend against spells such as ''Icy Pike''. Even if it couldn''t, perhaps it would be possible once you changed a node or two. This final spell had a total of seven nodes and cost 70 magic crystals after the discount.


    In a single day, he had gotten four new spells, causing his total amount of spells to become seven. Even though it wasn''t much, he hoped these spells would help him built a bit more stable of a foundation.


    And so, he headed back to his room. The first spell blueprint he opened was the one of ''Icy Pike'', he was extremely nervous as he looked for the nodes in his own web, hoping none of the nodes would be dark-grey. Seeing that they weren''t, Villin grinned with excitement. He knew he would be busy with these spells for about two weeks and so he didn''t hesitate to begin working on awakening the nodes required.

 Chapter 33: Passage Of Time

    The second week of school was a lot more normal. Villin continued excelling at classes earning another two-hundred magic crystals. Every evening Villin would case the wandless version of ''Drowse'' causing him to fall asleep. Then when he woke up he took advantage of the spell''s side effect as he translated the enchanting book and comprehended the ''Magic Array'' textbook.


    On Wednesday when the combat classes began, the students once more got attacked as they entered the classroom. Most students still froze when faced with danger but this time there were close to a dozen people that managed to dodge the initial attack.


    This time Villin actually managed to pass the third phase by casting Reverto an additional time but after he dodged the floor beneath him suddenly moved and enveloped him, causing him to fail at the fourth phase.


    It was only at that point Villin realized Pompei didn''t only attack him for them to increase their combat sense but also to make sure they get the right spells to deal with a number of possible situations.


    Villin still quite disliked the enchanting class since the teacher was obviously biased against them and felt extremely happy they had a good ''Rune Magic'' teacher. The old professor Crumb was extremely skilled and even though he looked very stern he let students do anything to do with runes in his class and gave them guidance when they did something wrong.


    In the pill-making class he once more managed to make two of the weak healing pills, anyone with a sixty percent success rate this class was allowed to try and make a ''magic gathering pill'', but nobody managed to create it successfully, even though Kayley got extremely close.


    Saturday was quite the eventful day. After this week of time, Villin finally managed to comprehend enough of the ''gene-solution'' book to be prepared to begin trying to make a gene-solution.


    The fore-word was quite basic, it was very similar to other regular textbooks making Villin suspect it is simply a regular textbook of the western continent. It talked about the uses of gene-solutions, how it could toughen people''s skin, improve your muscles, and even improve your mind.


    When he got to the first proper recipe though it was clear that this manual was specifically made for the central continent. Nearly all of the materials he saw were things he had heard of, not those of the western continent.


    In order to know what to expect, Villin spent a few hours in the library a few days back researching the difference between potions, pills, and gene solutions.


    Sadly, this information was extremely hard to find as anything other then pill-making only got mentioned briefly. But, at last, after four hours Villin managed to get enough info to understand the differences. Potions, which were popular in the east, could do things such as heal and poison similar to pills (even though poisoning is easier with potions as you could mix it in a drink) but other than that many potions could also be thrown. For example, is a certain toxic poison got thrown at an enemy when the glass shatters a toxic gas could come up to choke them.


    The same went for certain potions having to do with healing and the like. Their negative was that, when looking at positive effects, they couldn''t do anything other than enhance what the body could already do.


    Pills, on the other hand, could cause the body to have effects that were previously absolutely impossible. In this way, there were pills that could cause the body to be instantly set aflame without getting hurt.


    As for ''gene solutions'', they generally had permanent effects. Similar to potions they could only enhance what the body could already do. There were some exceptions though, there was a sub-category within gene-solutions that specifically focussed on adding abilities. This way it might very well be possible to create wings using the right solution. He also suspected the ''cat-girl'' Aria also had taken such a solution. He was extremely surprised to see how she hadn''t been found out but then again perhaps there was a spell or pill capable of changing the body in similar ways.


    There was information about all of these he didn''t know of, but he didn''t worry too much. He did look forward to attempting to create his first gene-solution but that had to wait until Monday.


    And so, Sunday arrived. Spending the day working on his spells further, he was surprised to see how much he had gotten done in a week. At first, he thought he could need two weeks to properly learn the new spells he had gotten, but he was wrong, he found it had become easier to learn compared to last week, he wasn''t sure if he was because he had gotten used to casting new spells a bit, but it was likely.


    ''Mentallage'' was extraordinarily easy. Even though the spell had five nodes, it was a lot easier to cast compared to ''Icy Pike''. With that being said ''Cold-Blood'' which had seven nodes was similar in difficulty to ''Icy Pike''. He suspected it was since one of the nodes in Icy Pike was just about on the border between the light-gray and dark-gray nodes.


    Other than ''Chameleon'' he had cast every other spell, he had spent effort in order to make it so that he could cast ''Icy Pike'' in a second as well and couldn''t wait to use it in combat.


    Due to how easy it was ''Mentallage'' could now also be cast within half a second, this made him content knowing he''d be able to easily exchange information with people in the ''Mortals Cut and Crease'' club.


    Once it became midnight, it was time to go toward the market. He had to go get his new gloves and some materials to make a gene-solution.


    The market was as busy as last time, people were talking all over the place and deals were being made every second. As he checked his crystal holder he frowned a little. Once he paid the wand-maker he''d only have slightly over three-hundred magic crystals left. This was because he spent about thirty magic crystals on practice in the last week, even though he was still making quite a bit, Villin didn''t think it was quite enough, he would have to find a way to make money.


    With this thought in mind, he went toward the stall of a familiar wand-maker.

 Chapter 34: A Serious Fight

    As soon as Villin got to the third-grade wand-maker area, he noticed something was going on in front of him.


    "We are proud students of this school! How dare you make some shit like this you treacherous scum!"


    A loud voice of one of the parties involved reached his ears and Villin got a bad feeling about the whole situation. "I make whatever the hell I want to make, who the hell are you to say I can''t make original wands you bastard!"


    The second voice was one Villin recognized, it was the wand-maker he had commissioned the previous week. He quickened his steps so that he could see what was going on. A few other people also seemed to be looking in the same direction but most of these seemed more annoyed than anything else at the commotion they were causing.


    "You! I''ve tolerated you for long enough Raphael! I will not allow you to continue sullying the reputation of our school!"


    Villin now saw the parties involved a dozen meters before him. The wand-maker called Raphael was standing behind the same stall as last time but his face was red and he looked furious. On his table were a multitude of different objects. There were a few simple knives, a walking stick, a nail, and a number of other, miscellaneous objects. But the most noticeable was a pair of gloves in the middle of the table. They were sleek red gloves that would reach up to one''s elbow.


    On the other side of the table was another boy. He had blonde hair and his robe also indicated he was of the third grade but his wand looked extraordinarily simple. The quality seemed to be even worse than a first grade''s wand. Villin immediately knew these two men were opposites. One didn''t care in the least about how a wand looks, only caring about power, while the other one only cared about looks even if the wand''s power suffers.


    Normally, even if the wand the conflict started with was commissioned by himself, Villin wouldn''t care. But this was quite different. The blonde boy wasn''t the only one to be angered. Many of the surrounding students seemed to agree with him even if they didn''t speak up themselves. It looked like his commission was actually seen as a roper problem. Now that he saw this situation it wasn''t all that hard for Villin to figure out why this creation was seen as traitorous.


    It was all about wandless casting. Wandless casting wasn''t forbidden in the central continent and certainly not in The Academy but it was a relatively new practice here. It was still seen as a way of fighting used by fighters of the western continent and the people here that have lost people to them weren''t few at all. Still, wandless casting was still somewhat accepted these days, not using this at all would be too big of a disadvantage.


    It would only become a real problem if you specialized in wandless casting. For someone to commission a wand in the shape of a glove, this was seen as a clear insult to their culture. As for making a wand such as this? This was even worse!


    In some of the other schools on the continent, a student could be put to death for doing such a thing. Seeing the situation began to escalate Villin knew he had to do something this instant. If this fight kept going and more people got involved, he wasn''t confident the wand-maker wouldn''t say he was the one who commissioned it, then he could also be in a grave amount of trouble.


    Yet he was too late to stop the matter from escalating further. After the blonde boy said his line he grabbed his wand and pointed forward.


    "EEK!"


    Villin saw Raphael jump aside in a panic, scared out of his wits, it was clear he wasn''t a fighter.


    But the blonde boy wasn''t aiming his crooked wand at him, instead, the point was aimed at the pair of gloves. Before casting a spell he looked at Raphael one more time "You fool, you should know I''m doing you a favor here!"


    After saying that he started casting his spell "Grashga-"


    Villin inwardly cursed when he saw what was happening, he spent almost all of his money on those gloves, there was no way he could just let them be destroyed.


    And so he jumped forward when he heard the blonde boy begin his incantation, he couldn''t let his gloves be destroyed like this. The blonde boy was just finishing his incantation when Villin reached him, bashing into his right shoulder with full-force.


    The force of the impact caused the entire body of the blonde boy to tilt, and so his wand aimed at one of the spectators. The blonde boy had already finished his incantation and it was too late to cancel his spell. With wide eyes, he watched as a red streak came out of his wand heading straight toward one of the spectators.


    The spectator was a second-grade student who had been talking to some of the third-grade students nearby, asking what was going on. He was still in a fairly good mood when he suddenly saw a bright red streak heading for him. He froze up instantly as he saw death approach, his face instantly got pale and his lips quivered.


    The spell was coming closer and closer and just as people began closing their eyes expecting the boy''s head to pop, an extremely fast white streak came out of nowhere hitting the red spell just an inch in front of the terrified boy''s face.


    Seeing the red streak pause in its tracks, someone managed to pull down the terrified boy, a moment later the effects from the white spell wore off and the red streak headed toward a wooden stall.


    As soon as the wooden stall was hit it melted away, it looked as if the wood was put into a vat of acid as it instantly rotted, within a second close to a square meter of the table was gone as the spell''s effect concluded. If it wasn''t for the sixth grader who was looking at the situation with interest, someone would''ve died here.


    The blonde boy who cast the spell had fallen to the ground after Villin crashed into him. When he saw the route his spell took he also paled considerably realizing that if his spell had hit the boy, death was extremely likely.


    It was only when the spell''s effect had worn off that he realized what all had happened, he had been pushed, that was the very reason this all had happened!


    He felt as if fatigue overtook him at that moment, he just wanted to sleep but he gritted his teeth to look up, he wanted to know why someone had pushed him. Yet when he looked up all he saw was a wand, and then a blue streak as he fell asleep.


    Villin was breathing heavily as well right now. He had just almost caused a death. If the sixth grader wasn''t there, someone might''ve died. Once the spell was cast Villin was shocked for a second before he used Drowse twice onto the blonde boy he had pushed, after the second cast, the boy promptly fell asleep.


    Everyone''s minds were in disarray. Some people were checking up on the second-grader who had fainted due to shock while a few others checked on the boy Villin had put to sleep. The entire area was in chaos and everyone seemed to forget what the original fight was about. Nobody blamed him for knocking the blonde boy out with his spell either as he was the one that cast the first spell and he wasn''t hurt.


    Raphael had already gone up to his table as he was packing his things, he didn''t feel like selling anything else today. When he saw Villin, he left the gloves on the table, he then walked next to him before stopping and looked the other way. Villin was about to ask what he was doing when he noticed a crystal holder in Raphael''s back pocket. He quickly took out his own and paid the second half of the price.


    After this Villin quickly went up, grabbed the gloves, and left the marketplace, right now most of the people around the area had just arrived so they probably wouldn''t think one of the gloves was a wand. The commotion was growing bigger and bigger and if this was in the normal parts of the school a teacher would definitely have gotten involved at this point.


    Once he got to his room, Villin fell onto his bed, he was sweating bullets as he realized what had all happened. "God fucking damnit, someone nearly died!"

 Chapter 35: A Glove

    Villin stayed in his bed for many hours without sleeping, thinking of all that happened this day. Once an unknown period of time passed he finally fell asleep. Six hours passed before he woke up once more, he felt a lot better now. The previous night before he fell asleep he spent some time thinking of the situation and he ended up concluding he wasn''t in the wrong.


    The blonde boy was the one that used a potentially lethal spell and it was only because of his lack of control that he didn''t manage to cancel the spell when he got pushed to the side.


    Even though Villin knew his logic was somewhat twisted, he chose to ignore it. In the future, people would die because of him, even though he wasn''t sure he fully understood what this meant yet, he knew it was true.


    He would be studying ''Gene Solutions'', what would he do if someone found out about that? The very reason he got the ''Icy Pike'' spell was that it was potentially lethal.


    He sighed deeply as he tried to calm down, he could feel himself getting pissed off at himself.


    In order to keep himself busy, he tried on the new gloves he had gotten the previous time. Both of them looked very similar, they were simple smooth black gloves that reached to the elbow. When he felt them, they did feel different though. The left glove felt as expected but the right one didn''t feel as it looked at all.


    When he touched the smooth black surface he felt how hard it was. It was as if the glove was made out of metal even. Villin frowned as he touched the entire thing, there were some ''soft'' areas here and there, most noticeable at the wrist area and the finger joints, yet even here there was at least one line of metal, probably to conduct the magic.


    When he tried the right glove on he was pleasantly surprised. Most of the inside of the glove has some thin padding, this kept the metal off of his hand so it didn''t feel cold. That being said there was an area on the palm of his hand that wasn''t padded, this should be the contact point, similar to how the base of a wand this is where the magic energy would be poured in.


    Now there was only one thing left to do. Villin grabbed his first-grade wand and let his consciousness enter it, gazing upon the spell saved within. Then he pulled every bit of his magical energy within the wand out, making sure not even the tiniest bit was left inside.


    When you saved a spell to a wand, you practically connected a small part of your web to it. If the wand were to be destroyed while you were connected to it, chances were that some of the nodes would receive minor damage, it even had the potential of harming one''s consciousness. In a way it was similar to how you drew lines in between nodes, having your magic power connect them in order to cast a spell. But then instead of that, you connected certain nodes to the wand''s core, a part of the wand made specifically to keep a connection with a certain number of nodes at a time. This connection could be broken forcefully if you went too far away from the wand or tried to save a spell to another wand.


    It was similar to an electric fence, if you had one hand on the fence and you weren''t touching anything else, you would be fine, but as soon as you touched the ground or a piece of metal, the electricity would have a place to go to and you would be electrocuted. Connecting to two wands would be similar as what was previously a path from your web to a wand would now become a path between the two wands, their energy would flow between each other not caring about the damage done to the web, then after a bit one of the wands'' cores would break.


    After triple-checking to make sure he retracted all of his energy, he took the glove and put it on before trying to enter it with his consciousness as well, this took a while since he didn''t know where the ''core'' of the wand was. After looking for a while he found it was pretty par up, close to the elbow area.


    When he looked within he was extremely pleased.


    "It seemed he made a breakthrough of some sort." Villin was smiling wildly as he looked at it. When he came to the stall the previous week Raphael the wand-maker simply made wands able of saving a single spell of a maximum of eleven nodes. Yet the one he held now had double the capabilities able to save two of such spells.


    It was extremely likely Raphael found out how to make wands capable of saving two spells while making this glove. The reason was likely because this wand was so different compared to anything else he''s made. The material was different, the size, and the shape. Any of these might have brought forth a change of perspective allowing him to understand what he previously couldn''t.


    Thinking about this, Villin figured Raphael was probably planning to rediscuss the price they had set. After all, while the commissioned wand was barely better than one of the first grade, the current wand rivaled the third-grade wands. But seeing as he was the reason the wand didn''t end up being destroyed and he didn''t want to stay at the location Raphael quickly sold it for the original price.


    Wearing both of the wands Villin smiled a bit as he thought the gloves made him look kind of edgy, this actually caused another thought to come up inside of him. ''Actually, what do I look like?''.


    Villin thought but he truly had never been able to see his own face. There were no mirrors in Silver''s place, not even in the bathroom. As for in the school, even the water they used for pills was extremely clear not letting him see his own reflection. The only somewhat reflective surface he had seen thus far were a few pots in Silver''s place but even those were extremely warped not letting him see clearly.


    He suddenly got really curious thinking about how he looked. He decided to have a look in the library and see if there''s a reason there aren''t any mirrors even in the bathrooms.


    With this thought in mind, Villin headed to his first class of the day, it was there that professor Messen made an announcement to the class.


    "Students, this year the beginning-of-year tournament will take place a month earlier compared to usual. In exactly two weeks the tournament will take place. The tournament is meant to put everyone in a class with people of similar skill levels, after the tournament, there will no longer be a distinction between first and second year, there will only be the first grade. There are a few categories in the tournament, most of these are optional, please check your chests in the evening for all the necessary information." After saying this the professor had an odd expression on his face, as if he was contemplating if he should say something.


    "As for the day after the tournament, there will be no classes then as the teachers have to attend a meeting."


    Villin couldn''t help but notice the professor didn''t seem to be happy about this in the slightest and he couldn''t help but wonder if something was wrong.


    The two classes of the day went as usual and soon Villin had some free time. He spent some time saving ''Reverto'' to his glove, then he spent the rest of the time on ''Chameleon'', after a while he managed to cast it with a wand. Out of the wooden wand came a haze screen, it spread out and moved and after a few seconds, a hazy screen was spread around him. Villin though a bit before putting aside his regular wand and attempted to cast it with his glove, if the wandless effect was similar then what had just happened it didn''t seem like a bad spell to save.


    Sadly he didn''t manage to cast it in time. It was time to head to the Cut and Crease club. He grabbed some potion materials he bought and made his way to the classroom.

 Chapter 36: The First Gene Solution

    When he made his way into the classroom Villin felt extremely nervous. In reality, nearly everyone there felt nervous, it was just that Villin did so for another reason. He had already gotten past being nervous for doing something illegal, instead, he was nervous because he was going to try and make his first ''Gene Solution''.


    He noticed about a third of the club''s members were already there, as for the three second-years, only Amelia had arrived. He used Mentallage to greet her. Mentallage had the same effect when cast with or without a wand and so he didn''t have to take out his first-grade wand. This was actually one of the most important aspects of the spell since it allowed people to converse with nearly complete privacy.


    The two engaged in some small ''talk'' while waiting for the others. Villin also asked her about the tournament that would take place in two weeks. Apparently last year she was in the top five of her year. The tournament happens every year, it is of massive importance. Not only would it decide the class you would be put into but if you did well you could also get great prices, as a very skilled member of Class B the resources he could get by doing well could put him on equal grounds as Class A for a while.


    First, there was the ''basic tournament'', everyone had to enter this one as it would test your overall comprehension and intelligence, seeing what all you have learned.


    Then there were a few other ones. There were tournaments having to do with pill-making, magic arrays, and enchanting. The winner of each of these would get decent rewards, but the real rewards were gotten in the final tournament that has to do with combat. The combat tournament was very straightforward, all matches were one versus one.


    Once Amelia had finished explained everything using her own ''Mentallage'' spell, all the others had already arrived. It felt weird seeing how nobody spoke a word, yet there were people here and there making gestures, as if they were having a regular conversation. Then there were also some who hadn''t learned ''Mentallage'', they couldn''t initiate conversations since professor Messen told everyone last time this was no longer allowed and they could nod or shake their heads if someone asked them something.


    Luckily these people were few and all of them kept to the rules, not using any words.


    After some time Edgard Messen entered the room, once he did, everyone heard his voice within their minds.


    "Welcome everyone, I am happy to see everyone had made it. As you all may have noticed we only have enough tables for half of you currently." As he said that he waved his hand and a number of metal tables with equipment on them appeared on one side of the room. "So everyone will only be allowed to use the stations for fifty minutes in a period minimum, if there is time to spare the most skilled student will be allowed to use a free station for longer. Since it is the first meeting if anyone managed to successfully synthesize a gene solution they will be getting a station to use for the next three months.


    "If you are part of the top three who get the closest to making a solution today, you will be getting some materials to use the following couple of meetings. As for now, Kay, Aria, and Amelia will be in charge. If you have questions that have to do with the creation of ''gene solutions'' please don''t hesitate to turn to them."


    And after saying these words he once more left, not staying in the room any longer. Even though he said that usually, you could only use a station for fifty minutes, this wasn''t the case as of yet. Most students here weren''t in the potions class yet, hence they couldn''t buy any materials without getting suspicion drawn to them.


    And so when everyone who had materials found a table there were still three left. Villin had bought a large number of materials the previous day, just before he went to retrieve his new gloves. Spending a total of a hundred magic crystals he got ten sets of materials. This was probably enough to keep him busy for an entire two hours and only left him with a hundred-and-fifty magic crystals.


    Even though the cost was severe, Villin knew it would be worth it. He took out his enchanting book and opened it on the third page, where the first recipe was hidden. Similar to casting a spell reading one of the hidden words the first time is a lot harder compared to any time after that and so he didn''t have a lot of trouble reading it a few more times.


    Villin then took out his materials and looked at them skeptically, all of these materials were good enough for pill-making but that didn''t mean they were good enough to make a gene solution. He carefully analyzed each bit, before putting aside a total of two sets of material since he thought he saw an impurity.


    In reality, half of the materials he put aside were good enough but as he simply used his eyes and didn''t have any experience in rating materials he made a few mistakes.


    He looked at the equipment before him. There were a large number of vials, a microscope, a magical device meant to extract all liquids out of materials, and a few other devices that didn''t matter for the time being.


    He started by taking a number of vials, he would be trying to make the ''mage awakening serum''. This was the second recipe in the book and had a permanent effect. Normally it was used to awaken one''s web, but if it gets used on someone that already awakened their web using a different method, it would instead increase their connection to the web.


    The recipe''s description also said it was highly important. It was both one of the most basic, as well as one of the most important recipes. There was a small section under each recipe showing the date and creator of the recipe. Even though the creator''s name was left blank, he did notice the recipe was only made a little over a year ago, furthermore, they had yet to find a way to recreate it in the eastern or western continent.


    It was somewhat ironic that such an important recipe wasn''t only not created in the western continent, but couldn''t even be made there yet as the creator of this recipe was probably a traitor of the central continent.


    After he looked over the recipe once more, it was finally time for Villin to concoct his first gene solution.

 Chapter 37: A Gene Solution

    The gene solution required the processing and mixing of six different herbs. After calming himself down Villin reached for the first herb on the list, ''Grassroot''. Even though it wasn''t required, Villin decided to use the microscope just to see how the tool worked. He put the herb between two small pieces of glass and put it underneath the microscope before having a look.


    As soon as he put his eye on the tool he could see the very DNA of the herb. He could tell the movies of his past life were quite accurate as the DNA looked very¡­ DNA-ish?


    After working the microscope for a little bit to get a better feel for it, he finally began working. For this specific recipe, the processing was rather simple. A few of the herbs needed their stems removed which was simple enough, and then he had to use a device that extracted the liquids within the herbs.


    There were two herbs who needed a different way of processing, an entirely new one which the creator of this solution had invented. First, he had to fill a vial with boiling water, which was simple enough. Then he put this in a stand and held the two herbs in one of his hands. In his other hand, he had a simple lighter.


    It was quite funny seeing the station have all of this advanced equipment and then he had to use a basic lighter for this step. He moved the lighter to the underside of the herbs and used his skills in cut and crease to have a piece of paper float between the vial with boiling water and the two herbs. He moved the lighter up slightly and the herbs caught fire. He held it in his hand as the flames licked his finger, but he didn''t let go until the moment the last bit of the herbs had burned up. After all, if he let a bit of the burning herbs fall upon the paper it might catch it ablaze.


    He ignored his burn wounds as he carefully looked at the ash that had fallen onto the paper, now he had to work extremely accurately. There was a reason he had made a piece of paper float and he didn''t just put a piece of wood down, he was now constantly shaking the paper slightly causing the ashes to fly a centimeter or two into the air.


    Then he had to carefully ''corrupt'' some of the ashes with his magical energy. Pushing out a second strand of magical energy he had it float a bit above the piece of paper, when small dots of ash flew into the area he tried to take control of them in a similar fashion he took control of the paper.


    He only had ten seconds to do both this, as well as the following step, according to the recipe, so after ten seconds he flew the paper a well as the ash not in his control, straight into the bin. In total he had gotten control of about a third of the ashes, if he were to put them together they wouldn''t be far from the size of a ping-pong ball, which was the ideal amount according to the book.


    Villin quickly flew the ashes over to the microscope, taking the vial of boiling water with him. He flew the ashes underneath the lens and looked at them through the device, he checked a few before confirming there were two small pure-white dots, this was his own magical energy. If it wasn''t at least light-grey you wouldn''t be able to concoct the solution and so it was already a bit of a relief to see his magical purity was on par.


    Not wasting any more time, Villin grabbed a pipette and took a bit of the boiled water. He bunched up the ashes he had gotten and released four drops of the boiling water. At this point, four more seconds had already passed. Once the four drops were released Villin was constantly rearranging the ashes. Each of the particles could barely absorb anything, but all together they should be able to absorb the four drops, if a bit of water dropped down the success rate would plummet though.


    After rearranging the ashes for three seconds Villin knew he was running out of time and so he chose to assume the water was absorbed and once more looked through the microscope. In the few bits of ash he checked, he noticed that the two bright white dots were now surrounded and connected by a pathway of still boiling water.


    And so with one second remaining, Villin quickly put the ashes into the vial that contained the liquids extracted from the rest of the herbs. He then split it into two different vials and started moving them around in circles manually, causing the different liquids and the ashes to mix together. After doing this for about a minute, he noticed the vials now each held a single dark green substance. He continued making circles manually with one of the vials while he put the other one in a machine. As soon as he inserted some magic power the machine started spinning at insane speeds.


    After about ten seconds of this Villin took it out and compared the colors. The one that went through the machine was now a lighter green and everything was going as expected. He took two pipettes and checked each of the liquids under the microscope. Everything was as expected as the ashes had spread the dots of magical energy and parts of the plants'' DNA still existed and had even begun fusing.


    Seeing how everything thus far was perfect Villin put the vial with the dark green liquid on a heater and waited, after two minutes the liquid had turned pitch black, he took the vial off and now mixed the two liquids together before quickly making circles with the vial now consisting of both a light green and a pitch-black liquid.


    Villin didn''t dare even look at the liquid as he had his eyes closed fully focussing trying to have as much of his magical energy enter the liquid as possible, when it entered he allowed the energy to dissipate to the liquid would absorb it properly. After ten minutes of this, a small crowd had gathered about a dozen meters away from his station. Two of them knew of the recipe and realized he was at the final step of making a gene solution. They were extremely quiet as they didn''t want to disturb him.


    Then Villin opened his eyes and quickly put the solution in the freezer before closing it. Now Amelia and Kay walked up to his station as both of them were curious as to what the result would be. They had been keeping an eye on him since the moment he managed to take control of a third of the ashes created by the two final herbs and were surprised to see how skillfully he handled every step. Compared to them he was slow when dealing with the microscope but other than that his speed was extremely good.


    Ten seconds passed but to Villin they felt like multiple hours. With a nervous heart, he opened the freezer and took out the solution within. Within the vial now was a bright red solution, the brightest red he had ever seen. He waited for a few seconds nervously, he was just about to put it aside and ask where he went wrong when the liquid within the vial started acting strange. Hundreds of tiny bubbles started forming at the bottom and they floated upwards.


    Villin''s face lit up instantly and he looked around the room with a stunned expression. When he looked as Amelia with a questioning gaze she nodded and so he immediately drank up the entire vial. The longer he let it out the less potent it would be. Now he simply had to hope the gene solution was of a high enough quality.


    He walked away from the station exhausted. He had planned to try to make one a multitude of times but after this first time, he felt completely empty. Even though he still had quite a bit of magic power left, he couldn''t muster up any as he was completely exhausted mentally. He was about to leave the room and head toward the dormitories to rest, when the serious-looking Kay stopped him.


    Villin wanted to ask what was up but couldn''t manage to cast Mentallage and so he only had a questioning look. A moment later he heard a voice within his mind.


    "Well done. Next week you will find resources on your station, you can sell any solutions you don''t need to us. As for today''s spell blueprint, Amelia will find you tomorrow."


    The number of words he ''said'' was surprisingly high for Kay. But most of it went into one ear and out the other as he only felt an incredible exhaustion taking over his mind. When he realized Kay had stopped speaking to him, he tried to focus for one last time as he used his body to sprint, first to the door, and then through the halls. A couple of times along the way he nearly fell to the ground, but he managed to recover and make it to his room. Sadly though he didn''t make it to his bed and so he fell asleep on the floor.

 Chapter 38: Nodes Are Bae?

    For the first time in a long time when Villin woke up, he didn''t feel active and ready to take on the world. When he opened his eyes he just wanted to lay in be- on the floor for five more minutes. In the end, he kept laying on the floor for another half an hour before he got up, groggily wiping his eyes.


    "Did I go out drinking yesterday?"


    Villin couldn''t help but utter these words as he felt as if he had a massive hangover. After another minute of lazily strolling around his room, he heard a noise coming from his door. He focused a bit and after a moment it came again, three distinct knocks.


    With an unfocused mind, he walked up to the door and opened it.


    When he looked out of the door he saw Amelia. The brown-haired girl with glasses was looking at him with a raised eyebrow. He mumbled for her to come in before he went back into his room to sit on his bed.


    Amelia sighed when she saw the state he was in and entered "You should eat something Villin. You overdid yourself yesterday and it obviously has an effect on your mind and body. Generally eating is the best way to get back lost energy."


    As she said that she went ahead and opened his chest, taking out the breakfast that had appeared within. Today they had bacon and eggs, quite a classic. With a wave of her hand, some of the egg floated upward and then toward Villin "Choo choo, the train is coming, open up."


    Villin shot her a dirty look before he grabbed some utensils to eat. Surprisingly he felt slightly better after every bite he took, the effect was nearly instant. Once he finished his meal, he still felt something was slightly off about him. Once he realized what it was he grabbed his crystal holder and started absorbing some of the magical energy within, after a few minutes he felt a lot better.


    "Thanks, Amelia, I feel a lot better now. Was the train bit really necessary though?"


    Villin looked at Amelia with a slightly aggrieved expression, it was clear she knew the state he was in yet she still decided to play with him. Amelia looked at him happily when she saw his expression, it seemed she liked making a fool out of people.


    Now that he was able to think properly again he felt somewhat perplexed, why was it he was totally out of magical energy a bit ago, he remembered very well that he still had plenty left when he finished his first gene solution the previous day.


    As if she was able to read his thoughts Amelia began speaking "When you intake a gene solution you practically change your own DNA. It is completely natural to be exhausted and dried out after intaking one. In some cases it is even possible to sleep for multiple days in a row." her expression had turned more serious as he explained everything to him "I would advise you to call in sick for the first class today so you have some time to explore the changes within your web and get used to them. I''ll come back in the evening with the spell blueprint the rest of the club has already gotten."


    She kept talking in one piece and near the end she got up, he was about to ask her why she was in such a rush when she answered that question for him "I have to get going now so I don''t miss class." she walked up to the door but before leaving she turned toward him again just to say a few words.


    "Well done Villin."


    Even though the words were simple enough her voice broke near the end and Villin felt a great number of emotions within the simple sentence. He looked at her face and wanted to ask what was wrong but before he could do so she had already left closing the door behind her. Villin felt stunned for a moment, he didn''t believe she had any romantical feeling for him, and if she did it wouldn''t cause her words to sound so sad. He decided he would ask her next time they had a serious one-on-one conversation and quickly made his way out of his room.


    He went to the grade-holder''s door and slipped a note underneath it stating he would be absent for the first class of the day. He then went back into his room and carefully entered his web once more. At first, nothing really seemed all that different. None of the nodes'' colors seemed to have changed. As he was thinking this though he figured the once he had activated that turned white did seem a bit whiter than usual. He reached out to one of them with a strand of magical energy and when he reached he felt stunned. The node was supplying the bit he had sent out with more magical energy.


    Normally what happened was quite simple, you breached a node''s defenses and then the magical energy within would go dormant, no longer resisting. Yet what was happening now was vastly different, the node had once more activated but instead of resisting is assisted his magic power.


    Feeling stunned, Villin tried reaching out to another node, and now he was being supplied with energy from two nodes, after about five minutes he noticed the light of one of the node had gotten slightly dimmer and so he retracted the strand of energy he had sent that way. But after about fifteen minutes it was back to its previous luster.


    Even though the amount of energy a single node could supply was little he suspected that if he could get energy from fifteen nodes at once it would be comparable to using magic crystals.


    With a stunned expression, Villin hurriedly took out his enchanting book and started looking at the area which held the description of the gene solution. One of the effects if you took it while already having magic was an ''increased connection to the web'' this apparently meant that nodes would stop growing hostile once more if you didn''t use them for a while.


    This caused a thought to pop up in his head. Naturally, he had no way to verify if this would have happened previously since he was a new Magus but there was something he had to take into account. When he got reborn one of his advantages was an ''increased connection to the web'', hence it was very possible he already had this effect previously.


    Since a ''gene solution'' can only be taken once there was no telling what would happen if you somehow managed to ''stack'' the effects. Now it seemed very possible the cooperation of nodes would be gained. Once he practiced reaching out to nodes for a bit he would be able to get magic power back a lot quicker compared to most other magus''.


    With an already fast-beating heart, Villin decided to try and see if there were any other advantages. He tried casting ''Cold-Blood'' a wandless spell with seven nodes he hadn''t attempted to cast before. After just half an hour Villin managed to cast the spell as he felt as if the temperature in his room got slightly hotter making it perfectly comfortable.


    At this point his heart was beating so fast he feared it would suddenly stop. But there was one more thing he thought might be possible. He sat on his bed with his eyes open and he focused immensely, after some effort he suddenly saw his web appear before him, with a thought it would move similar to when he entered his head. The only drawback was that he could only see the nodes he had already awakened and those closeby them.


    Despite the drawback of also taking quite a bit of mental effort, it was still extremely useful. Now if he wasn''t in a place that was completely safe he would still be able to awaken new nodes and try to cast new spells for the first time without having to close his eyes and leave his regular senses behind to enter the deepest parts of his head.


    In a single day he had gotten so many benefits, even if most ''gene solutions'' weren''t this good, he was certain it was worth spending time to master, even more so than pill-making.

 Chapter 39: An Important Question

    After experimenting with the increased capabilities of the web Villin was extremely happy. He noticed the efficiency of awakening nodes or attempting to cast new spells without leaving behind his senses was about half compared to when he closed his eyes and fully immersed himself within his web.


    Right now the nodes no longer felt like simple dots within his mind, they felt like an actual part of him, like a finger. He also noticed that if he sapped power out of a node and then tried casting a spell that utilized it, it would become harder the emptier the node is, because of this he decided to start trying to gather magic power from the nodes he didn''t use at the moment.


    Once the two hours were fully over, it was time to head to the ''Rune Magic'' class. Even though he could also ask to take this class off, he decided not to since he truly thought professor Crumb was a great teacher.


    He was the first student to enter the class and when he did he noticed the professor was sitting down on his desk studying a few enchanted objects before him. This wasn''t an uncommon sight and so since he was currently the only student in the class he decided to ask the professor something that was probably an idiotic question.


    "Professor, what is the difference between an enchantment and a magic array?"


    This question had bothered Villin for a while, he knew magic arrays generally created something around or within the area it was surrounding while enchantments simply caused an effect to enter the object it is drawn on but he couldn''t tell the real difference between the creation of the two.


    Sure a magic array is drawn with special chalk while enchantments are drawn with a pen but he knew this was only because the materials the ink/chalk were made off were very easy for magic to traverse.


    Generally, runes were simply drawn from left to right or from the top to the bottom depending on what you were enchanting while Magic arrays were in a circle with a circle above and beneath every line of runes.


    But when he asked this potentially stupid question, the teacher didn''t shoo him away or give a short but simple answer. Instead, the old man with a seemingly bad temper looked him in the eyes for a long time. In the dozen seconds he got stared at, Villin didn''t blink as he felt an immense pressure coming from the professor''s gaze.


    "Who told you there was a difference?" the old man said simply staring at him once more.


    Villin gulped and he was about to ask why the effects were so different then when he noticed the professor hadn''t finished speaking.


    The professor put one of his hands in the pocket on his robe and pulled something out. It was a miniature wooden train set that should not fit inside of the pocket but Villin didn''t say anything as he awaited the man''s words.


    I have a little toy here I made myself but I forgot what techniques I used. Come find me and tell me how I did it again before the month is over."


    After handing over the miniature train set which consisted of a total of four carriages he turned back to his work ignoring the boy before him.


    Villin felt stumped for a moment as he went to his seat, there was no way he could store the train set anywhere so he had to carry it with his hands, he got a few odd looks when people saw he had a small train set with him but most people understood what was going on. In the last few classes, there had been a few other students who had gotten a task but, thus far, Villin was the only one who was successful.


    Soon the class started and so Villin began studying the train. After a few minutes he had yet to find the enchantment symbols and so he decided to infuse some magic power into the object so he could spot the symbols easier. As soon as he infused some magic power into the object a loud sound traveled through the classroom.


    "CHOO CHOO!!!!!"


    Villin instinctively moved his hands to his ears as he retracted his magical energy, causing it to be silent once more. At this point the entire class was looking toward him, a few students had even fallen off of their chairs in shock.


    Everyone expected the teacher to berate him as he usually did when a student made noise but instead he pulled out his wand and pointed it toward Villin''s table.


    "Grafy"


    A silver light shot out of the wand and soon it landed upon the table, then the silver light dimmed a lot before it expanded causing a see-through silver circle to encompass the area around Villin''s table.


    When the professor started speaking again Villin realized what he had done, he couldn''t hear the professor at all, it seemed like the silver dome stopped all sound. Villin decided he would get this spell sometime later as it seemed useful for a number of different things, but for now, he had to work on the train.


    This time he very carefully reached out with a tiny strand much smaller than the one he previously connected and when it touched a sound once more came from the device.


    "Choo Choo"


    But this time the volume was very manageable, after the train made that sound it started moving exactly as a train would. He noticed it was very agile though and now if he engaged it with more magic power the train would speed up more. After a few minutes, he knew that most of the runes were around the wheels, there were also some in what would be the driver''s cabinet and on the connections between the carriages, lastly, he spotted some within the pipe on the top of the train.


    When he released his magic power though, something surprising happened. The train was still moving forward and the wooden pipe on top was still emitting white smoke. He waited it out, turning the train when needed and after half a minute it stopped moving entirely.


    Villin thought for a bit and figured the train must have some magic storage runes, this was a rune practically every enchantment needed so it kept hold after being activated. He still felt weird though, what did this device have to do with his question?


    With a patient mind, he started observing the runes on the wheels. Every single wheel had runes all around it, he suspected they were what caused the wheels to spin as they did. When he studied it though, he noticed he didn''t recognize many of the runes, he would have to make a trip to the library to see if he could find them it seemed.


    That being said, while he was there anyway, it was about time to get a few more spells to prepare for the tournament.

 Chapter 40: A Few Useful Spells

    When Villin entered the library he already knew what kind of spell he wanted. First of all, he wanted to see if he could get a decent spell that had eleven nodes since these were the best spells he''d be able to save. Sadly the contracted told him the most the first grade''s library had were spells with ten nodes, spells with eleven nodes were only available in the second grade and above.


    Villin didn''t care too much about it as he probably wouldn''t be able to buy it anyway due to a lack of funds. The other kind of spells he really needed were cheap, useful utility spells. If he saved up for a week or so he might be able to get a decent spell for the tournament, but since he didn''t really know what kind of spell he wanted anyway, he figured that for now, utility spells would do.


    Looking through the utility spells that had a discount due to how often they were purchased and had less than five nodes, Villin felt like it had been a truly good idea to come here.


    There were a few he immediately had to pick up. Such as the basic cleaning and repairing spell, and a spell that would make objects float. These three spells together cost him seventy magic crystals, halving his funds.


    He also wanted to get the hardening spell which made items less breakable but since such effects could be caused by enchanting he let it be, for the time being, after all, he still needed magic crystals to find the runes that he found on the miniature wooden trainset.


    Once he got these spells it was time to start reading books on runes. At first, Villin wanted to spend eight hours here spending all of his magic crystals, reading a large number of books, but since Amelia was still expected to drop by his room he decided to limit himself to four hours.


    To some people, four hours wouldn''t even be enough to finish a single book, yet Villin got annoyed when he only managed to finish five. Runes weren''t as simple as letters, even though he had gotten a lot better at reading them, he had to comprehend the runes somewhat if he wanted to be able to remember them.


    Four hours passed and Villin found about half of the runes he was looking for. If he wanted to he could''ve certainly found all of them but it seemed a waste not to try and comprehend the other runes within the books.


    He walked back to the dormitories somewhat absentminded, when he arrived he was surprised to see Amelia outside of the door knocking with a seemingly mad expression.


    Villin quickly checked the time and noticed it was only six o''clock. He thought the evening would mean seven at the very least. Mentally preparing himself to be berated Villin tapped Amelia on the shoulder.


    He had only just done so when he felt something punch into his stomach, Amelia had elbowed him and only a moment later her wand was about an inch away from his eye, ready to fire.


    Villin stopped breathing for a moment as he stared at the wand with wide-eyes. He could vaguely tell Amelia who usually looked smart and refined now had a fierce and hateful expression on her face. But this was only for a moment, as then, she recognized him and hurriedly lowered her wand.


    "Haha, my bad Villin I thought you were something else, so you gonna let me in?"


    She seemed to immediately try and brush off what had just happened as something small but Villin knew better. He needed a few more seconds to recover as he felt an incredible amount of danger when she pointed her wand at him.


    After a bit of time, he opened the door and let her in, still not saying a word. Amelia kept her happy attitude as he looked at him with an obviously fake-angry expression.


    "Tch, I had to wait for over ten minutes at the door you know, boys these days really are hopeless."


    Villin looked at her for a few more moments before deciding against questioning her earlier behavior. He then plopped down onto his bed before speaking "Say, Amelia, how many solutions have you taken in total?"


    He questioned honestly as he sat straight to look at her. Amelia seemed like an extremely capable Magus so trying to do better than her seemed like a good goal.


    Amelia thought for a moment before responding. Six that I made myself and then I traded with other club members for four more, so that''s ten in total! Kay has taken eleven I believe and Aria eight, one of which she invented herself."


    Villin nodded a few times but since after a bit Amelia realized he didn''t have any follow-up questions, she decided to get to the point,


    "Normally today''s spell was Reverto, but since I told Kay you already knew the spell and you did so well, you''ll be getting the spell blueprint for ''Fireball'' today.


    Amelia took out an iron book and when she opened it Villin felt very surprised, it wasn''t because of the multitude of routes between the two nodes, he had expected it, instead, it was because this spell had exactly eleven nodes.


    "Amelia, you have no idea how-"


    "How perfect it is? I know your glove has eleven slots Villin."


    He looked at her with a stunned expression, he was about to ask her a question but she already responded before he got a chance to talk.


    "Oh please Villin, you really think a regular wand-maker would dare to make a wand in the shape of a glove. There are many ways our group increases influence Villin, sports may be a big one but it''s not the only one. First, we normalize having wands in all shapes or sizes, then we start making gloves like the one you commissioned."


    Villin felt as if his head was about to explode but now that she said it this way it was rather obvious. What kind of wand-maker would dare make a wand in the shape of a glove?


    The only ones that would are those not completely loyal to the central continent, and these were the ones their group targetted.


    Villin felt a headache coming and so he decided to focus on the spell blueprint. Amelia patiently explained the difference between each of the different lines between the nodes. Other than multiple useful ones there was also a node colored in gold. This node couldn''t be replaced since it was what connected the fireball to your magical energy, if you changed that node, the fireball would also burn yourself. Another notable thing was that this golden node was actually slightly away from the ''original'' spell. This would surely somewhat increase casting difficulty.


    Once he understood the entire spell blueprint Amelia took her leave so he could train. He felt like things were going extremely well, he was rapidly becoming a better magus and had plenty of ways to increase his strength. Sadly tonight he would once more have an odd dream taking down his mood a notch.

 Chapter 41: The Second Dream

    As soon as he closed his eyes to sleep, Villin found himself within a massive room. The room was about a kilometer in length and width, red candles were floating above the ground in a multitude of locations, lighting everything up just enough to be able to see.


    The floor was nearly filled with white and red runes, at the very least there would be ten-thousand of them, probably many more. The magical energy within the room was extraordinarily dense, it felt as if the entire room was a massive magic crystal due to how dense the magical energy was here.


    Villin crouched down to look at the runes on the floor, every now and then he would recognize one. There were a few that had to do with stealth, these were probably meant to hide the massive magic array. Other than that he noticed a few long-range runes and some that should be used for detecting or searching for something.


    If the runes he recognized were the only ones there Villin would probably assume it was a teleportation array, but it was many times too large to be something like that.


    In the middle of the massive magic array, was a stand holding a crystal ball, the sight on the ball kept changing a multitude of mountaintops and large caverns appeared, he was completely immersed in the crystal ball which showed location after location that he got immensely surprised when the entire array suddenly activated. The previously dim room was now brightened up by an extremely bright light. Villin instinctively took a few steps when he noticed the light didn''t seem to affect his eyes. Just as he was about to look at the crystal ball once more, a small door on one side of the room opened. An old man in fully black robes entered the room and looked at the magic array that had brightened up with an excited expression.


    The man was bald but had a long gray beard that reached all the way to his feet, his mustache had long curls in them, and overall, his face looked quite comical.


    The stranger ran straight for the crystal ball, running right by Villin "Finally! It''s time, I have to contact the headmaster, this will get me enough resources to allow me to increase my strength once more! He looked at the crystal ball while somewhat trembling from the excitement, yet when Villin looked, all he saw was a flat piece of farmland with some crops growing atop of it.


    Before he could do anything else he felt something tugging on his eyes, a moment later, he woke up. Villin looked around him in a stunned matter, he was laying in his bed.


    Last time he had a weird dream, he didn''t think it was anything else, that wasn''t the case this time around. He could feel the magic density in the air, the energy emitted from the magic array. He held his head as he thought back to the dream. He had no idea who the old man with the massive beard was. The black cloak wasn''t an indicator and even though his looks were extremely distinct, he could hardly go around asking if anyone had seen the man.


    Nonetheless, whatever it was, it was unlikely it had something to do with him, right? If it was some sort of event that caused a Magus'' mind to go to another place, it would probably be relatively random. Following this logic, he decided to leave it be for now.


    For now, he had to focus on increasing his strength as much as possible since the tournament was in twelve days. If he did his best in the combat class today he might still be able to get another spell that suited him so he had already decided to go all out with that.


    Since it was Wednesday, the first class was wandless magic. He was easily the best in this class since he had continued to train cut and crease occasionally and so he got to focus on something else.


    In order to make sure he''d get the spell in the combat class he decided to save Reverto and Drowse on his glove. The latter in particular would be changed soon since the wandless application wasn''t that useful since he''d get him himself as well, he decided he would change it with Fireball as soon as he could.


    This took a bit but once he saved these two there were still ninety minutes remaining. He knew this shouldn''t be enough to learn Fireball, a spell that wasn''t only eleven nodes long but was also technically a derivatory spell since one of the nodes had already changed from the original. Even though he was right in the way that he wasn''t able to cast it yet within the remaining time, he did find out something interesting.


    When he started awakening the nodes required he got an idea. Instead of attacking the nodes with his own magic energy, he simply used a bit of energy to connect with a bunch of nodes he had already awakened. But instead of taking in the energy they gave him, he redirected it to the unawakened nodes.


    After some practice, he could make decent pathways between nodes, and when he sent their energy over to an unawakened node, they would clash. In essence, this meant he no longer had to spend any of his own magical energy on awakening nodes. As long as he didn''t need to sap energy from the nodes and as long as he wasn''t casting spells he could just awaken nodes. This nearly completely removed the problem of node awakening as it surely wouldn''t be long until he would have awakened all Light-Grey nodes using this technique.


    When the class finished he had gotten pretty close to casting the spell, managing to connect nine of the nodes, including the one that wasn''t on the original path.


    Since it was Wednesday they would be attacked once more when they entered the Combat Classes. Villin found Kayley and another highly skilled student and went to walk in with them, he was determined to get just one more spell today!

 Chapter 42: The Colosseum

    When he entered the class, Villin was on high alert. He was awaiting the first stage of the teacher''s usual attacks, the fiery line close to the ground.


    Yet instead of this, the class before him disappeared as he suddenly found himself standing in a large circular arena. To his left was Kayley the red-headed beauty who was about as good as him when looking at battle sense. To his right was a scrawny youth with pitch-black hair. He had shown the greatest improvement in battlesense over the last couple of weeks, he was also the student who got last weeks spell blueprint. He was also a loner in class, similar to Villin.


    The three instantly put their backs to each other. Even though their teamwork wasn''t great they acknowledged each others'' strength and could put some trust into the other parties.


    Now he recognized they weren''t just standing in a regular arena, it looked more like a colosseum. There were twelve gates spread out across the circle, each of which was about a hundred meters away from them. When he tried looking at the stands he felt as if his vision went fuzzy, he was certain there were some spectators in the stands but he couldn''t see where they were or what they looked like.


    "We could fire at the stands and try to get out that way. I do have a decent levitation spell which could help us climb up." the scrawny kid said.


    Villin thought about his suggestion for a bit as he looked at the distance they would have to cover. There was a gap of a full ten meters between the arena floor and the spectator stands. He would probably be able to get himself to float that high if he had learned the levitation spell he picked up earlier. There was no idea he would be able to do it using only his wandless magic though.


    "If anyone has a diversion-type spell we can do that, otherwise we should probably just try to get out without attacking what we can''t see."


    This time Kayley was the one that spoke, but Villin had a similar thought to her so he decided to stay quiet for now and keep paying attention to his surroundings. About a dozen seconds had passed already yet none of the gates had opened, he checked the sky occasionally as well, if one paid close attention they would even be able to see two tiny paper airplanes about five centimeters long flying around the group, just in case something they couldn''t see was approaching.


    "I can see them. There are about twenty people on my side. Most are wearing mortal clothes, two of them have pure red robes instead. I don''t recognize any of the people standing here but it seems very possible they are contracted."


    Villin thought about his suggestion for a bit more. He obviously wouldn''t ask as for why the boy could see them as, at this point, he knew it wasn''t very polite to ask others about their spells or abilities. After a second of silence, Kayley was the one that answered.


    "Let''s go through your side then Rein, I suggest we go slowly until they open one of the cages on your side, after all, we don''t want to be in a close-quarter fight with anyone or anything."


    All three of them approved of the plan. It wouldn''t be easy to enact their plan. It was likely the organizer of this ''event'' either wanted to provide entertainment for the viewers or test their skills. Hence if they moved slowly they would probably only release something they would be able to handle. During the fight, they could try to position themselves close to the wall so they could use Rein''s spell to get over the wall. If they rushed for the wall instead whoever was controlling this place would probably know of their plan, they might even panic and send out more than what the group could handle.


    The group remained back-to-back as they inched toward the gate right in front of Rein. They had only moved about five meters when the gate opened with a loud screeching sound. Villin and Kayley instantly turned around and stood to the left and right of Rein. Kayley had obviously noticed Villin''s tiny airplanes and counted on those to detect enemies behind them.


    The trio looked at the now-open gate intensely, Villin also heard Kayley begin a spell incantation, she didn''t finish the entire spell as she waited with her final connection, it would be idiotic to shoot off a spell into a dark room when the enemy hasn''t appeared yet.


    All three of them had a somewhat nervous expression on their face as they swallowed heavily, not daring to blink.


    And then, something ran out of the darkness. Villin quickly identified it as a wolf. It had light-grey hair and a mean expression, it seemed to be growling as it ran toward them at top speed. It would only take such a wolf a dozen seconds to reach them.


    Kayley and Rein immediately shot out their spells while Villin waited. Kayley pointed her wand to an area about five meters in front of the wolf, the sand in that area immediately began shifting, and within a second, they formed sharp spikes about ten centimeters tall.


    Just when the wolf was about to arrive at the now-spiky sand, Rein''s spell hit. A pitch-black beam had come out of his wand, it looked as if there was something trying to break out of it as it shot toward the wolf. It hit the wolf''s right shoulder, a distinct cracking sound could be heard as the wolf cried out, losing his footing. The wolf''s luck was rather terrible as his head fell forward right onto a spike, the spike wasn''t long enough to instantly end its life but it had hit a critical point.


    The wolf trashed around unable to breathe, blood was gushing out of its neck and it was constantly whimpering. Its cries sounded truly terrible, even though it was seventy meters away it was still quite loud. Villin''s mood instantly plummeted as he saw this event. He pointed his wand forward and a second later a pike shot out of it, going through one of the wolf''s eyes, killing it.


    The trio looked at the wolf''s corpse. Their main emotion was no longer nervousness, instead, a sad atmosphere had taken over. They had even forgotten about their plan for the time being. They had just seen a living, breathing thing die. All of them had helped kill it as well. Kayley probably felt the worst since she was the one that had indirectly caused the suffering but the other two didn''t feel much better themselves.


    Kayley wiped away a tear with her off-hand before looking at the duo beside her. "Let''s escape using our plan, it''s probably all an illusion anyway right? Right?"


    She seemed to be trying to convince herself more than anyone else but they all knew that wasn''t the case. Nonetheless, her words were enough for the boys to get back on task, they were about to move forward further when they heard a series of howles coming from the gate that had opened earlier. Hearing the multitude of wolves they hurriedly walked back a few steps.


    A second later a dozen wolves exited from the gate rushing at the group once more.

 Chapter 43: Magus Versus Beast

    When these dozen wolves appeared the sad atmosphere disappeared as it became one of fear instead. They were still recovering from the shock of killing the first wolf when a dozen others had already appeared.


    Villin and Kayley were the first ones to recover as they pointed their wands toward the pack of wolves. Villin casted Icy pike once more, he aimed for a wolf''s eye but missed as it was moving too fast. As for Kayley, she had a higher amount of spells, she cast silently for a full second before a golden orb appeared in the air slightly in front of the pack of wolves.


    Seeing this a few wolves changed course to go around as they felt a threat coming from the orb. But not all wolves were born equal and there were still three that ran straight underneath. As soon as they did the orb sped downward crashing straight into the torso of one of the wolves. It drilled right into it and just when the orb could no longer be seen, the wolf''s body exploded, heavily wounding the two other wolves in the area.


    In a normal situation, Villin would''ve complimented Kayley on her use of magic, but this was no normal situation. The wolves were only sixty meters away now and approaching fast. Rei joined in with the second round of attacks. Villin felt extremely useless as the best he could do for now was send more icy pikes, with how enraged the wolves were he would have to cast Drowse multiple times to temporarily take out a single enemy.


    His second pike hit a wolf in the breast, barely missing its heart. Even though it fell to the ground at first it quickly got up again following its pack, blood seeping out of his chest.


    Kayley''s spell wasn''t so useful either this time around, a fiery line similar to the one Pompei used in his tests shot toward the wolves. But since even Villin could jump over it in time the first time he saw it, the wolves naturally had no problems with this. The only exception was the wolf Villin had wounded just before, he tried to jump over the line but didn''t quite make it. Its front legs were now only hanging onto the main body by a bit of skin as the wolf fainted, soon to bleed out.


    The person that really made a difference was Rei this time around. The wolves were only forty meters away and if they kept going as they did the group would be lucky if they got one more spell in.


    "Charsi!"


    He pointed his wand at the frontmost wolf. Both the tip of his wand as well as the wolf''s eyes turned a light pink. A moment after the wolf stopped before looking to its side, he then jumped at the wolf in second place using its sharp claws to rip open its belly.


    Nearly all of the wolves got caught up in confusion as the alpha of their pack suddenly attacked one of their own.


    Just as Villin thought they might be able to do this something happened, one of the tiny paper airplanes flying around about twenty meters behind them had hit something.


    He hurriedly turned around before spotting a big black bear.


    "Fuck."


    Villin uttered this word causing Kayley to also notice the threat.


    Suddenly the bear''s charge slowed down, as did the movements of the confused wolves. Or well, rather then the things around him slowing down, Villin''s thoughts had suddenly sped up.


    He felt his mind calm down as his fear disappeared deep into his head. He thought about the current situation. He noticed a drop of blood was leaking out of one of Rei''s eyes, it was unlikely he would be able to keep controlling the alpha wolf for long. All of them still had their saved spells as far as he knew. Himself and Kayley should have two each while Rei still had the basic wand.


    After being able to look at the entire situation calmly for a moment Villin knew what to do. He turned toward, the now terrified, Kayley beside him. He quickly took the time to shake her before speaking clearly. "You take care of the bear, I''ll deal with the wolves."


    She was about to yell at him saying how ridiculous that was but before she could he already sprinted toward the wolves. Rei also lost focus as Villin ran in his line of sight straight for the wolves. If he hadn''t lost focus he would''ve been able to keep the spell up for another twenty seconds. It was now that he heard a roar coming from his right. It was the bear who roared out loud when being his by one of Kayley''s attacks.


    The beast was only ten meters away now so he had to focus on it if he wanted a chance at survival. He could only remember Villin in his heart, swearing he would treasure his sacrifice.


    This left Villin on his own against a pack of wolves. Right now there were still seven of them left. The one attacked by the alpha was dead while the alpha itself was heavily wounded. The alpha was still growling at the other wolves since, in his eyes, they were questioning his leadership, when a human entered within twenty meters of them.


    All of the wolves turned toward Villin at once, who was still running at full speed. Thanks to the earlier commotion, they were all grouped up together, trying to find out while there was a fight among their own.


    The wolves looked at him vigilantly now, wondering why a human would run toward them, it simply didn''t make sense. But when he was ten meters away one of the wolves'' bloodthirst got the better of them as they leaped toward the boy.


    Villin had obviously expected an attack, he had already prepared another Icy Pike spell. Since the wolf leaped high into the sky its entire belly was exposed. The Pike went straight through even breaking its spine, this killed the wolf near instantly.


    Instead of getting enraged by the death of their comrade, the wolves got smarter because of it. They had seen what would happen if they decided to leap and so they lowered their head growling while staying close to the ground. Since the human seemed to be coming toward them they might as well let him. They were even smart enough to leave an opening in the front of the pack, making it so that if he entered he would swiftly get surrounded and killed.


    Normally a human obviously wouldn''t fall for such a clear trap, yet instead of avoiding it, Villin ran straight into it. But a moment had passed before he was in the middle of a group of wolves, all of which were looking at him while growling. They would all attack together with the alpha, that was the general rule, at this point they had already forgotten what happened just before.


    Yet just before the wounded alpha was about to commence his attack. Something happened to the boy before them. He put one of his hands before him and as he flicked his finger a blue circle shot out from within him. Usually, this is all that would happen but Villin poured in as much magic power as possible, something possible with this spell.


    Villin felt like sleeping almost instantly, but knowing that death would await him if he actually did, kept him awake for multiple seconds. Instead of a thin circle like usually the spell this time around just kept coming, all the wolves were engulfed in the blue aura that had now formed around him. The only wolf that could somewhat resist was the heavily wounded alpha, whose wounds kept him from actually falling asleep.


    The two of them were in a similar situation, and they met a similar end as they dropped to the floor at the same time.

 Chapter 44: The Hidden Threat

    A bit after Villin managed to take out the wolves, the bear was also slain. Kayley and Rein then immediately ran over to the pack of wolves, they hadn''t seen what had happened since they had to focus on the bear. Said bear was now lying in a pool of its own blood, half of its face was melted due to one of Kayley''s saved spells.


    When the duo arrived they were relieved to see Villin was still alive. Even though none of them were close to each other, they didn''t want to see their teammate die.


    Kayley soon recognized the fact that Villin must have used some form of Drowsed. She asked Rein to finish off the wolves one-by-one while she would focus on trying to wake up Villin. Even though Rein didn''t like that she told him what to do, it made sense and so he killed the sleeping wolves one-by-one. Since he could walk right up to them and they weren''t moving it was pretty easy to kill them using a single spell.


    Meanwhile, Kayley was thinking of what to do in order to wake up Villin. She had played around a bit with Drowse but never did many tests with it, she preferred to have a large number of spells rather than being specialized in a few.


    After a bit, she decided to use the same spell she had used earlier on the first wolf. She pointed at the ground a bit away from them and the sand moved around forming some spike. If you would move onto spikes like that quickly, you could get quite badly hurt, but if you would lay onto it calmly it would simply hurt like a bitch, even though it could pierce the skin, it shouldn''t do too much damage.


    She then carefully put Villin onto the spikes. Pain was one of the best ways to wake someone up, hence she decided to employ this technique. Yet when Villin had only just been put down and Rein finished off the final wolf, another gate opened.


    As soon as it did, Rein sprinted toward Kayley before standing next to her. Compared to when the first wolf came out they were a lot calmer now. Some would be surprised by this as they were obviously in a situation many times worse right now. Kayley had used both of her saved spells to deal with the bear and Rein was starting to run out of magic power, furthermore, one of their teammates was knocked out.


    But despite that they no longer panicked. In these last dozen minutes, they had seen so much gore and blood they didn''t feel like panicking would do them any good. It just seemed like such a useless action to them right now, so they stood still, waiting for whatever would come out of the gate.


    A full minute after the gate opened a figure appeared. It was a young lady with a light-purple robe. It should be the robe for either the fifth or the sixth grade, the duo wasn''t completely sure. She walked onto the arena casually, looking around with a bit of curiosity.


    She saw the wolves'' corpses and was a little surprised. Most of the wolves were gathered in one spot, furthermore, this spot wasn''t even in the middle of the arena. This meant that either the group rushed toward the wolves and dealt with them close range or they had some sort of area of effect spell that could take them all out in one go.


    Finally, her gaze settled on the duo standing in the middle of the arena. The red-haired girl looked like a noble in her eyes, she had a long scratch mark on her arm but was mostly unharmed. As for the boy next to her, there was no doubt about him being a commoner with his basic wand. Other then the fact that he looked a bit disheveled, he seemed to be unharmed.


    As for Villin, she couldn''t see him since he was laying down behind the duo. So with two enemies before her, she devised a plan to achieve her goal.


    "Shit, if we''re up against someone in the fifth grade we don''t stand a chance." Kayley couldn''t help but let out a curse when she saw what they were up against now.


    Rein gnashed his teeth. He really wanted to refute Kayley''s words but was completely unable to. It would already be a miracle if they would somehow beat someone in the third grade, leave alone someone in the fifth or sixth grade.


    Nonetheless, they prepared themselves. Their original plan was completely impossible at this point, but at the very least the appearance of another student affirmed they were in some sort of test. Since this was the case, the threat of death was mostly gone and they could focus on trying to survive for as long as possible.


    Without exchanging a word Kayley and Rein both ran to a different side of their silver-haired enemy. Even though their enemy was many times stronger than them, they would still have to point their wand at every attack they wished to stop...probably.


    The silver-haired lady just let them do as they wanted, waiting for them to get into position.


    "Your plan would be decent if you were to face a magus slightly stronger then yourself, but against someone such as me, it would''ve been smarter if one of you focused on defense and the other on offense, staying as close to each other as possible."


    As she said this, she pointed her wand in the air, at first nothing seemed to happen, but then it started getting hotter. The temperature in the arena kept rising quickly, if this kept going it would be completely unbearable within ten seconds, so Kayley and Rein both sent out a spell.


    A black and a pink streak of light headed toward the silver-haired beauty, yet all she did was make a tiny circle in the air with her wand before both spells shot back toward their original owner.


    Both of them were somewhat prepared for this and they were about to put up their defenses but then the situation changed. At first, it looked like their spells would simply miss them, but soon they could see what was really happening. Their spells were now rapidly making circles around themselves, always staying about a meter away from their bodies. The duo panicked as they tried to find a way to block the spell but they had nothing. It felt like whenever their opponent wanted they could simply move these spells so it could hit them.


    This caused quite the comical sight as both Rein and Kayley were turning in circles trying to keep up with the spell. The silver-haired beauty laughed for a bit before speaking.


    "Sometimes in order to defend you need to attack, don''t tell me they haven''t taught you that."


    Kayley felt like cursing at the lady when she heard that. Of course she knew that sometimes offense was the best defense, this simply wasn''t one of those situations. If she would stand still to shoot a spell at her enemy she could simply be hit in the back by her own spell.


    Rein, on the other hand, stayed calm and soon realized what the woman meant. Instead of staying where he was, he jumped forward, punching the spell circling around him with his non-dominant hand.


    Immediately lacerations appeared on his hand as he yelled out in pain, two of his fingers were nearly cut off entirely. Kayley saw this and did the same thing, causing her arm to fall to her side, unable to move it.


    But the attack still wasn''t over the temperature had continued to climb. The silver-haired lady walked forward, toward the group of wolves, she also stopped the temperature from rising further as long, as they didn''t come any closer they''d be fine.


    She simply wanted to look at the wolves to see how they were defeated and to get a better idea of the total strength of this duo.


    As the silver-haired woman crouched down to check the wounds on the bodies of the wolves, she used her magical energy to keep track of her two enemies. Little did she expect that when she was crouched down another figure appeared. Villin had woken shortly after he had been laid upon the spikes, even though he still felt drowsy he could cast spells again.


    The first thing he did was cast ''Chameleon'' just as the duo moved to both sides of their enemy the spell had taken full effect, properly hiding him. A bit later when the temperature started to rise he also casted ''Cold-Blood'' making the heat spell essentially ineffective.


    He stayed in hiding, not moving an inch. He didn''t dare even turn his head toward the enemy afraid it would cause his camouflage spell to falter. It was only when he heard the enemy moving something about a dozen meters away from him, he knew he had a chance.


    And so he instantly got up and sprinted toward the enemy, ready to change the tide,

 Chapter 45: Long Time No See!

    Looking at the wolves'' bodies, the silver-haired beauty was turned away from Villin when he charged. He did make quite a bit of sound though as he had no spell in his arsenal capable of silencing his own actions.


    As soon as Villin began his sprint, the silver-haired enemy knew something was wrong. She pointed her wand over her shoulder, shooting off a spell before ever turning around. This was the quickest way to get an attack in after all.


    But Villin saw it coming and barely managed to duck underneath it. The lady was only eight meters away from him by the time she turned around. She then instantly cast another spell without even properly looking at her opponent, she saw Kayley and Rein were also casting spells while she seemed to be distracted.


    Villin however, did see his enemy''s face properly. He seemed to be shocked for a moment causing him to miss the window to dodge the attack. This made it so that he didn''t have a choice but to use his final saved spell. Instead of the basic spell, Villin had actually chosen the derivative spell of Reverto, this caused the blue mist to instantly appear on his body, surrounding him.


    The silver-haired beauty turned to deal with Kayley and Rein''s spells as soon as she shot one in Villin''s direction.


    A dark-blue streak reached the blue mist surrounding Villin''s body, Villin could see lightning seemed to be contained within the spell. He focused all of the mist that surrounded his body to congregate into one point, exactly where the spell hit.


    Villin kept running as the light-blue mist and the purple streak seemed to fight each other. Both parties seemed to be trying to use up the other party''s magical energy and surprisingly the two energies seemed to be about equal, they would soon cancel each other out.


    Still, it would take about three seconds until the battle between the spells would be concluded and so Villin decided to keep charging. He pulled out his wand and aimed it forward. He could see a shine on the opponent''s body and figured a spell right now would be easily deflected by it and so he simply kept moving, without shooting off another spell.


    When the sixth-grader finally understood her previous spell had failed, there were only two meters left between herself and Villin, his wand breaching the one-meter gap.


    In a panic, she swung around her wand-arm extended as was normal when casting a spell. Yet this was the most ideal thing she could''ve done in Villin''s eyes. Now that she had her arm extended towards him, his wand could reach her hand. Normally they would''ve both been able to send a spell at the same time but when the girl looked at Villin''s face she seemed shocked and hesitated.


    This made it so that only a single spell shot out. From the sides, Kayley and Rein could only faintly see a blue glow on Villin''s wand before blood shot out of the girl''s hand as she dropped her wand.


    Villin had just cast Icy Pike, shooting her hand point blank, nearly severing one of her fingers. Her arm shot back as she cried out in pain for a moment, stumbling back a tiny bit, after which she paused. She felt something against her neck.


    Villin had taken the opportunity when she cried out to further close the distance and he was now using his wand to touch her neck.


    "Hey Silver, so can we leave now?"


    Villin felt extremely tense but at the same time, he felt like relaxing now that he saw this friend of his. He wasn''t exactly sure what to say. He had just nearly cut off one of her fingers, but then again her lightning spell probably would''ve hurt him quite badly as well. The difference was that Villin had recognized her earlier causing him to have to use his saved Reverto. Silver on the other hand, only recognized him a few seconds before, when his wand had reacher her hand.


    Silver swallowed once as she tried to push back her adrenaline a bit.


    "Yeah Villin, I''m sure this will be a satisfactory ending." Despite knowing Villin wouldn''t just hurt her right now, Silver still felt extremely tense knowing that a wand was touching her neck, her lives in the hand of a young first-grader.


    Despite being reunited with Villin she felt terrible. No matter what this would have negative consequences for herself. She messed up in a huge manner, not only did she not detect the third enemy in the arena, she even let him come close enough to do actual damage.


    Villin lowered his wand as Kayley and Rein approached, they looked at the two in surprise, it seemed like they knew each other.


    But, even though she was kind and believed in hard work and overcoming all odds, this was still a difficult pill to swallow for Silver. "Villin, how did you manage to block my spell just now? It should''ve had anti-magical properties allowing it to go through practically all defensive spells in the first-grade library."


    Villin didn''t mind the fact she asked about his spell, even though it was normally somewhat impolite, he felt close enough to Silver to tell the truth.


    "It''s reverto, or rather a derivatory version of that spell. It did drain me from practically all my magical energy though, it is extremely expensive to cast."


    Silver nodded at his reply but felt weird when he said it drained him from nearly all of his magical energy. She decided to check his energy with her own to see if he went overboard but was surprised to notice he was rapidly regaining the lost energy.


    This made her think of a bloodline at first but she knew he came from a mortal family. She decided not to pry as it might be a secret of himself. Villin had no idea more powerful magic could try to sense his magical power if they were closeby, otherwise he would''ve never been connected to some nodes right now.


    Right now nobody really knew how to act. Villin figured he''d get to meet Silver again after the school year ended and imagined this meeting to be heartwarming, meeting up and talking about their experiences. Maybe even talk about some abstract magic theories.


    But instead, they stood here, Silver silently healed the wounds on herself and Kayley before also treating Villin, who had a few wounds on his back from Kayley''s spikes.


    Finally, Kayley was the one to speak up. "So, miss Silver, what is going on here?"


    Silver looked at the group and even though she wanted to say ''I don''t really know either.'' she didn''t want to make them worried and gestured for them to follow her as she headed to the middle of the arena. She put her hand onto the sandy floor before inserting a massive amount of magic power. The entire floor seemed to light up before the platform started going down, it seemed like they were on some sort of elevator.


    After moving down for two meters there were now twelve golden doors around them. Even though it was an improvement from the cages earlier, it still worried the trio as they felt tense again, ready to grab their wands if necessary. Silver, on the other hand walked toward one of the doors. She had a professional air around her now and Villin didn''t think it would be right to ask about personal affairs now so he kept quiet.


    They moved through the door and as expected they got teleported away. Rein moved to the wall behind them looking as if he had to puke but Villin and Kayley seemed to be more-or-less okay.


    It was finally time to find out what in the living fuck was going on.

 Chapter 46: The Reveal

    The group was now standing in what seemed to be a regular classroom. About ten meters in front of them was a long black desk with seven teachers sitting behind it, some papers before them. It somewhat made Villin think of talent shows where the judges would sit behind a similar desk.


    There was one spot free but Silver quickly went ahead and sat in the open seat. The seven people beside Silver were all teachers. He recognized professor Messen, professor Crumb, and Pompei alongside some of their other teachers.


    Pompei seemed to be a bit out of place, even more so compared to professor Crumb who had to sit on a chair a lot higher than the others. The muscular Pompei was fidgeting, he really didn''t seem to be comfortable sitting here. The only person other than Silver that didn''t give them classes was a forty-year-old lady with a monocle, she then talked to them in a professional manner.


    "Congratulations mister Villin Grey, Rein Bellua, and Kayley Alius, on passing the advanced tournament. A matter has come up in the main branch of The Academy, we made the decision to hold the advanced tournament earlier this year.


    Usually, there are only a few people in the advanced tournament each year, these are students we believe may mortally harm their dueling partners, hence we choose to put them against beasts to see how far they''ve come. This year a total of eight students have been put in the tournament.


    Sadly miss Silver has failed her own teacher''s examination. Villin, please understand that what you did usually wouldn''t have succeeded, miss Silver wasn''t paying attention to her surroundings properly and got distracted near the end. In an actual combat scenario, you probably would''ve been killed."


    The lady stayed professional the entire time, only readjusting her monocle once as she looked at the paper on her desk.


    "Now, the way you have completed the advanced tournament is rather odd. You managed to take down the wolves before they really got close and didn''t lose anyone in that round. When the instructor came we didn''t manage to catch all of your skills since she was taken out by a member of the group. Mister Bellua, could you please tell us what spell you have saved into your wand? If you wish we can go to a private room so you can tell me in secrecy."


    Rein simply shook his head before he grabbed his wand, pointed it toward himself, and cast the spell. The white in his eyes immediately turned pink as he stared at the woman that asked him.


    "I see, Indeed it makes sense you didn''t use the spell in the scenarios given. Now as you all see we have gathered all of your teachers for the grading. If there are no further questions the teachers that wish to do so will give some commentary on your performance and then the grading will begin."


    The lady was about to turn to one of the teachers when Villin raised his hand. When he saw the woman nod at him he asked his question. "How did we arrive in the arena?"


    This had been bothering him quite badly, they didn''t go into any teleportation array for as far as he saw and there were no runes on the floor. Yet after he asked the question the lady simply smiled a little before turning to the teachers next to her.


    "It seems that Professor Messen, professor Crumb, and professor Pompei have commentary to give. Let''s let them speak."


    Villin frowned when she ignored his question but decided to let it be as he looked at professor Messen, since he was the teacher of ''Studies of the Web'' his commentary was also based on this.


    "First of all Kayley, I was rather stunned by all of the spells you managed to perform. Despite the extremely short time since the beginning of the school year you have managed to learn a large number of spells to deal with a multitude of enemies. But your mastery of said spells isn''t quite there yet. Even if you can cast them quickly, you don''t know how to properly place or control them.


    You managed to take out three wolves with ''Eye of God'' but if you had timed it right you could''ve timed it properly so that the pack wouldn''t have had a chance to go around. As for ''Bed of Spikes'', you have a bit of control over the spikes with this spell. Not only are you not able to move them but you also couldn''t make the tips less sharp when using them to wake up Villin. If you spent a bit more time on both of these spells the fight would''ve been a lot easier."


    The professor paused for a moment looking at Kayley who seemed to be deep in thought, a reaction that pleased him.


    "That being said, the sheer amount of spells you know is somewhat ridiculous for someone that''s only been in the academy for a couple of weeks. It might even come close to a new record. In terms of specializing a tiny bit, you should try to learn a little bit from Villin who has a number of derivatory spells. ''Bed of Spikes'' in particular, is a very safe spell to expand."


    He finished here and then looked at Rein.


    "Rein, you have done a stellar job when it comes to your spells. You have a decent few, each of them made to deal with a different type of threat. The charming spell, in particular, was very impressive. I don''t have much commentary on your spells overall so good job."


    Then finally he looked at Villin.


    "As for Villin, you could be said to be quite lucky. As our dear miss Valentine said earlier there was no way you should''ve been able to deal with Silver. That being said the choice to hide and close distance was a very good one, this probably would''ve worked even against many fourth-graders. Your defensive spell was extraordinarily impressive. To be able to first dodge and then straight up block one of Silver''s spells is extremely impressive.


    This tells me your mastery of spells and pure magic power seems to be very, very high. The derivatory ''Reverto'' and ''Drowse'' spells were extraordinarily impressive. The fact you don''t use incantations can also become a huge advantage later on.


    That being said, if I''m not wrong you should''ve used nearly all of your spells in the arena. If you had to deal with a different sort of enemy you wouldn''t have performed as well as mister Rein or miss Kayley. I advise you to learn a bit from Kayley, she has a large number of spells for a multitude of different occasions. You should try to learn some and decide on which spells to focus for a bit once you have a few more spells.


    I should also advise you to join the ''Spell-Making'' class in the fourth grade, selling derivatory spell modules can become very profitable for someone as talented as yourself."


    Professor Messen looked content when he saw Villin was also deep in thought. Rein, on the other hand, felt it was a shame he had gotten no advice from the professor.


    Professor Crumb was the second speaker, the old man spoke in a clear but stern tone.


    "Villin, you are able to make a multitude of enchantments and should even be able to create a magic array or two at this point. Why is it I see not a single rune anywhere on your clothes or accessories? It is a shame you haven''t used your knowledge in runes to enhance your abilities."


    When Villin heard this he felt extremely stupid. The professor was right, he was able to create enchantments that would make his clothes more durable or magic resistant, it wouldn''t take that long to create the enchantments and frankly, it was a massive oversight on his part.


    Professor Crumb didn''t have anything to say to the other two and so it was time for Pompei to say his piece.


    "Alright kids, I am extremely surprised at how well you all work together. Even though I added you three into the advanced tournament, I didn''t really expect for you all to pass, a death wouldn''t even have been completely unexpected. Professor Messen has already pointed out most of the faults in your personal abilities so I will mainly speak about your teamwork.


    The synergy you three have is extremely high for a first fight together. The plan you made, in the beginning, was decent and it surprised me everyone agreed to it quickly instead of wasting time. You have all shown you trust your teammates to have your back to a good extent.


    Kayley and Rein, the fact you two nearly instantly moved in different directions when Silver appeared was very surprising. Even though she was right that it wasn''t the ideal course of action, the fact you two enacted a plan so quickly without even speaking is very impressive.


    Villin, using the paper airplanes to cover your back was a very good move, it allowed everyone to focus on the fight and caused the bear to be noticed in time, good work. The dodge near the end was also very impressive, good call to dodge at that moment instead of block.


    Rein, you were the one that contributed the most overall in terms of team-strategy, giving up your hand in response to Silver''s counterattack was also smart allowing yourself and Kayley to break free from a dangerous spell. I would suggest you use a blocking spell next time though, moving into the line of your own spell and attempting a block is better than giving up a hand.


    Good work overall, I was impressed by your capabilities and rate of improvement."


    He gave them a big thumbs-up causing them all to smile.


    "That concludes the comments on the combat round. Now for the grading, you will be given a score out of a hundred. Since you successfully completed the trial you have a minimum of fifty points, since none of the members were seriously hurt another fifteen points is guaranteed. Please give us a moment to decide the scores for each of you."


    After saying this she turned toward the other teachers but didn''t say anything. They all kept silent for a while meaning they were probably talking by using ''Mentallage'' or a similar spell.


    The trio looked nervous as they waited, they were still trying to fully understand what was going on but they knew this score mattered greatly. After five full minutes passed, the teachers had finally come to a consensus and miss Valentine turned toward them once more.

 Chapter 47: Scored

    "Mister Rein Bellua, you have shown how dedicated and powerful you are. Your magic prowess is good and you have utilized your talents to the best of their abilities thus far. Sadly you don''t match either of your teammates in pure talent. We decided to give you a score of eighty-six.


    Miss Kayley Alius, the fact that you have managed to learn as many spells as you have is frankly astounding. Your casting times are also short making you a great threat for nearly anyone in the first grade. Sadly you are lacking in the control of your spells, work on this and you will have the potential to become a truly powerful magus. You have been given a score of eighty-eight.


    Lastly, we have mister Villin Grey, you have shown you are willing to make personal sacrifice to allow your team to win. Your magic power is great and extremely vast, you managed to detect the bear''s sneak attack and took down your instructor at the end. We advise you to take some time to get a larger library of spells, you should also work on integrating the skills you have in your fighting. We decided to give you a score of ninety-one."


    Lady Valentine paused for a moment allowing them all to process her words before she continued on.


    "Since you passed you will all naturally receive a healing spell, this gets given at the top three in the regular tournament so naturally you would receive one as well. Other than this there are rewards for every ten points you go above the passing score. So there are additional prices for getting sixty, seventy, eighty, ninety, and a hundred points. The rewards of the combat round will be given soon."


    After readjusting her monocle, she continued on.


    "Next up come the rounds for enchanting, pill-making, and magic arrays."


    Three more teachers came out of a door behind the teachers'' desk. Villin recognized two of them as his teachers for enchanting, and pill-making. The third teacher was also wearing a golden robe but he didn''t recognize her, he guessed she was here instead of the undead Richard who could only exist in his classroom because of the arrays.


    With a wave of their wands, the desk extended and more chairs appeared, allowing them to sit down. Another wave of the wand later inscribing pens and a couple of ceramic bowls appeared on the ground before Villin and Kayley. Rein took a few steps aside as he didn''t have this class.


    Their enchanting teacher stood up and gave them their challenge "In ten minutes I''m going to be destroying these bowls, try and make me fail."


    Villin vaguely noticed professor Crumb frown at the challenge but he ignored this as he got to work. He knew their enchanting professor seemed to heavily dislike them but he ignored it, after all, it would be hard to show bias in front of this many teachers.


    If a regular person asked him to stop them from breaking the bowl he would probably try to increase the punishment it could take since the person would probably pick the bowl up and then throw it against the floor. But he was up against a magus and it was more likely he would try to use spells instead.


    With ten minutes on the clock, Villin began writing down enchantments within the bowl. There were a few that increased its endurance against physical things but most of the runes had the effect of storing or enhancing magic. The latter was a rune he had found in the wand-maker''s schoolbook he managed to lend a while back.


    Professor Crumb looked at this with a somewhat confused expression, he was wondering why the boy wasn''t putting down enchantments that would increase the object''s magic resistance. If someone were to throw at the spell now, the enchantments on the bowl would just strengthen the spell.


    After nine minutes, half of the bowl was filled with runes, he kept doing the same thing as earlier but added some more physical protection as time passed. Then in the final minute, he aimed his wand at the bowl and focused before sending out a certain derivatory spell. A faint blue mist instantly covered the top of the bowl and the ground around it. With half of his magic power now gone Villin turned the bowl upside down and cast the spell again, Making it so that the entire bowl was covered by a faint blue mist, a spell further enhanced by the enchantments drawn upon the object.


    A bit later time was up. The enchanting teacher looked at the bowl in front of Villin with a frown before saying something.


    "This is a test on enchantments yet the students used a spell to cheat, it''s a fai-"


    "HOLD UP A MINUTE YOU OVERSIZED PIMPLE."


    Professor Crumb looked as if he was about to blow up because of his anger, he got out of his chair and headed toward the enchanting teacher, he looked as if he wanted to fight despite his old age.


    "YOU FOOLISH BRAT, TELL ME, WHAT''S THE GODDAMN PURPOSE OF ENCHANTING"


    The professor said with a face that was starting to look like a tomato.


    The enchanting teacher started sweating a bit, back when he was in the Academy he had also gotten classes from professor Crumb.


    "WELL TELL ME NOW YA DAMN FOOL!"


    The teacher finally managed to get a grip on himself and confidently told him the answer he had been taught.


    "Enchantments are made to create a magus'' power in all ways shapes or form."


    Such a simple sentence held the entire purpose of enchanting. If you enchanted a cup to become harder to break you increase your power as a mage because instead of having to go get a new cup when one breaks you would be able to spend that time on increasing your magic power, at least that was the theory.


    After he said that the enchanting teacher got what professor Crumb was trying to do and thought of a way to refute him. What professor Crumb meant was that using enchantments to enhance magic was totally allowed, Villin hadn''t broken any rules and should be applauded for his practical use of enchanting instead. The other students stayed silent in this exchange, most of them never had enchanting, the only exception was the magic array instructor but since he didn''t give any class to these kids he didn''t feel like he was in a position to involve himself.


    The duo started having a heated competition but it was clear to anyone that listened who was in the right. Most of the time professor Crumb only had to repeat the earlier sentence to refute a point.


    After a few minutes of this, lady Valentine interfered.


    "Gentlemen, let''s start with miss Alius then shall we, the scoring there might be a bit easier."


    The enchanting teacher scoffed and looked at the bowl, Kayley had put it upside-down hiding the enchantment she had written within, a good move.


    He pointed his wand at the bowl and a spell shot out after a short incantation. It was a blue streak that moved relatively slowly, when it got to the bowl, the bowl got shot up and to the back. A few barely noticeable cracks were seen where the spell had landed but no damage had been done when it landed harshly on the floor.


    "Sixty-five"


    Lady Valentine looked at him and then at professor Crumb "Professor Crumb, do you agree with this assessment?"


    The professor seemed a lit calmer now as his face looked normal again "I would give seventy-five but the score is understandable."


    The professor clearly showed his professionalism here, even though he didn''t completely agree he acknowledges different teachers valued different things. It was only because of how outrageous the scoring of Villin was that he interfered.


    "Alright, miss Alius shall have a score of seventy. Now gentlemen please try to score Villin in a calm and professional manner."


    The enchanting teacher immediately replied with a "Zero", but this time instead of getting angry professor crumb looked at the bowl, he grabbed his wand and pointed at it.


    A short incantation later he shot out the same spell that was used on the other bowl, but instead of causing the bowl to shoot backward, the spell itself reversed direction, heading for professor Crumb. After using a simple defensive spell to keep himself from harm the professor looked at Villin with a surprised expression.


    He pointed at the bowl again "Gashfi!" a purple streak shot out but when it got halfway to the bowl it split into five different streaks, hitting the bowl in different places.


    Once more professor Crumb had to defend himself against his own spell. He noticed the density of the mist had halved by now but it seemed to be thickening as time passed. So he went to the third phase of the test, he pointed his wand high above the bowl "Shietac!"


    A distortion seemed to be made within the space itself before an anvil fell down. When it hit the bowl it shattered.


    "Ninety" professor Crumb stated as he turned toward lady Valentine. She was quite unsure of how to continue now. She couldn''t ignore a teacher but at the same time, she could hardly fail a student given a score of ninety by professor crumb, a teacher known for being able to find and cultivate talents.


    After a bit, she turned toward the magic array professor they had called in "Professor Stem, what is your assessment."


    This professor sighed deeply as he was pulled into this trouble, he wouldn''t lie though and told her of his honest assessment. "I would have to agree with professor Crumb and rate it as ninety."


    Lady Valentine nodded as the situation was back under control "Alright so that makes an average of sixty points. Villin passes."

 Chapter 48: The Other Categories

    Next up three boxes of chalks rose up out of the floor, these were obviously those needed for magic arrays. Rein rejoined the group, apparently, he also followed the magic array class, just not with Villin and Kayley.


    This time it was professor Stem that walked forward. Villin and Kayley didn''t know him but Rein did as he greeted him.


    "The Magic Array test is simple, make a fully functional Magic Array. You have one try, if you mess up anywhere you may not restart."


    Even though he said the exam was a simple one, it certainly wasn''t. Making a Magic Array was extremely, extremely difficult. Every rune had to be in exactly the right place, you couldn''t mess up in even the slightest bit.


    Villin thought for a bit on what Magic Array to make. Thus far he had only been successful in a single one. During the magic Array class, he managed to make the ''Preservement'' Magic Array. He had attempted the ''Simplified Teleportation Array'' twice before but it wasn''t easy, he messed up at the final bit both times.


    The ''Simplified Teleportation Array'' Is able to teleport small objects within a hundred meters between two such arrays. The problem was that if he wanted to try and take the test with this magic array he would have to create it twice to show its effect. He had some confidence he would be able to create the magic array but creating it twice would increase the risk by quite a bit. Nonetheless, he decided to go for it. If he succeeded he''d probably get great rewards and if he failed then so be it.


    Of the three, Kayley was the only one that decided to go for the ''Preservement'' Magic Array. After half an hour she managed to complete it successfully, showing off a magic array that was a little over one meter in diameter.


    Kayley spent another ten minutes on making some small improvements here and there before allowing professor Stem to grade her.


    The professor walked up to the Magic Array before injecting some magic power into it, causing it to start glowing. Then he cast a basic spell to make a tiny cut in the Magic Array before activating it again. He made a total of seven cuts in the magic array before it refused to activate.


    "Well-made ''Preservement Array''. Has an approximate lifespan of five years if maintained correctly, able to take some punishment. I''ll give you sixty points for that."


    Kayley frowned but didn''t say anything else, professor Crumb also nodded at the assessment making her wonder why it was rated so lowly.


    Villin and Rein still had a bunch of work to do. Ninety minutes later Villin, finally finished his magic arrays. The two ''Simplified Teleportations Array''s'' were about ten meters away from each other and the inner portion was about half a meter in diameter.


    Professor Stem walked up and asked him to activate it this time around. Villin decided to start with something truly small and put a small coin in the first array, he activated it hoping the arrays wouldn''t fail him, and then the coin disappeared from his eyes, when he looked at the other Array he saw the coin laying there, the Array worked!


    "Alright now put something in you believe will test it to its limits."


    Villin obliged and took off his shoes, putting them into the Magic Array, he believed if these went through properly, he would be able to get a great score, he activated it and the shoes disappeared, when he looked at the other Magic Array though, his head drooped down a little. The shoes had arrived but one of them was half in the stone.


    Villin could audibly hear the sigh of the professor as he walked over to the second Magic Array. After looking for a few seconds he pointed at a part of the Magic Array and explained where he had made a mistake.


    "Sixty-five points for Villin," he stated before going back to his seat to wait for the final boy. He only had to wait for a few minutes as Rein was also about to finish.


    Villin wasn''t quite sure what Magic Array it was. It was very small, the empty inner circle was only ten centimeters in diameter while the outer bit was about the same with the runes being written in very very small writing.


    Finally, the final contestant had finished. Apparently, he had made a trap, the Magic Array was already loaded with magic power and it would be activated when the inner circle got touched.


    The professor inspected it for a bit before conjuring a small rock over it, letting it fall onto the trap. A full five seconds passed before a purple flame came out of the magic array, burning up the rock and the magic array with it.


    Rein sighed sadly, even though the trap worked the timing was completely off, nobody would be hurt by a trap that took five seconds to activate.


    "What a sad result. If the trap worked properly you would''ve gotten ninety points sadly I have to deduct twenty due to what I consider to be a catastrophic failure. Seventy points for Rein."


    Rein nodded and was angry at himself more than anything else, he agreed with the teacher that such a delay in activation time was a catastrophic failure, unlike Villin''s Array that only failed when it got pushed to its very limits.


    "So, that marks two of you in the sixty points range, and one of you at seventy points, well done."


    Lady Valentine nodded before turning to the final teacher, professor Crystal, who taught Villin and Kayley pill-making.


    "Make me some pills within ten minutes."


    Crystal said simply as cauldrons appeared before Villin and Kayley as well as a number of materials.


    The pill-making part was extremely simple. Villin and Kayley both decided to go with basic healing pills and wanted to try and get more marks by making as many pills as possible. Quality may be important but so was quantity.


    At this point, Kayley was skilled enough to try and make three pills at a time, Villin, on the other hand, could only do two. They worked very fast failing every now and then and after ten minutes they both had a small hill of pills before them. Villin had managed to refine eight pills having failed once. Kayley, on the other hand, had twenty-one pills, having failed twice.


    "Villin gets fifty-five points, Kayley gets sixty-five."


    Villin was surprised by the relatively low score Kayley got but then again it might be that the teacher valued quality more, it was also possible there were very strict requirements to get a certain number of points.


    "Alright, congratulations, I do believe this is the first time someone has competed, and passed, all four categories in the advanced tournament ever since its founding thirty years ago." As she said this she looked at both Villin as well as Kayley.


    "Now as for the rewards, please head through the door behind us." lady Valentine said before she watched the trio leave. ''What a curious bunch.''

 Chapter 49: Well-Deserved Rewards

    When the trio walked through the regular wooden door they got to a rather lackluster room. They seemed to be in a regular classroom that had three comfortable-looking armchairs. Next to the armchairs was a contracted who politely asked them to sit down.


    Then another wooden door opened to their right and a long line of more contracted entered. It reminded Villin of when royalty sent over gifts and had a long line of carriages outside of the door. All of the contracted that entered had a platter in their hands covered by some cloth. They soon stood in three long lines before them.


    The first three contracted walked forward and grabbed the cloth covering the first prize "For passing the combat trial you receive a ''Healium Paulatim''. The healing spell can be seen by two different people before the blueprint self-destroys."


    The contracted removed the cloth of the first reward and revealed a wooden book. Villin and the others weren''t sure how to respond to the treatment they were getting and ended up just grabbing the books.


    They were now each holding this spell blueprint but were somewhat unsure where to put it so they put it down next to their chairs.


    The second line of contracted came forward as the first took their leave. "For reaching a score of sixty in the combat trials you receive one of the academy''s treasured combat spells. You shall receive ''Vinea Tenura''. This spell is now your property and you may teach it as you wish."


    This time an iron book was given to each of them, they looked at it with an eager expression before putting it atop the wooden book to their side.


    "For being able to get seventy points in the combat trial you will receive one of the academy''s treasured defensive spells. You receive ''Sheldium''. This spell is now your property and you may teach it as you wish." as such, they got another iron book.


    When the fourth row stepped forward they could tell that whatever was underneath the cloth wasn''t another book, it seemed to be quite a bit bigger.


    "For being able to get eighty points in the combat trial you will receive one of the academy''s secret enchanted objects. This object will be bound to you by blood. If your heart stops beating or you move far enough away from it, it will self destruct. Please use this item carefully and don''t allow other people to know you have this item."


    The three contracted pulled away the cloth hiding the objects and showed off a normal-looking backpack. The contracted pointed at two distinct points "Please inject magic power at this point to have the bag shrink in size, and at this point to have the bag grow in size."


    The trio looked a little confused at their reward at first but when they checked inside of the bag they were surprised, they couldn''t reach the bottom even when they put their entire arms in. Villin used his wandless magic to feel deeper inside of the magic bag and noticed it went down another meter, he could also feel there was already an item inside of it but decided to inspect it when he was on his own.


    The group tried shrinking the bag and noticed it could become as small as a coin pouch, when they expanded it, it couldn''t become bigger than a mountain backpack. The surprising thing about this was that the form changed. The appearance would automatically change depending on the size, as previously stated it would look like a coin pouch in its smallest form and like a mountaineering backpack in its largest one.


    They excitedly put their spell blueprints inside of their new ''toy''. And then had to make a small cut into their fingers and push it against the bags while the contracted watched. Each of the bags glowed red for a moment showing they had been bound.


    As soon as this was done one contracted walked before Villin, the others didn''t get anything this time "For reaching ninety points in the combat test the academy gifts you a lifesaving spell of the highest value. We hope this will allow you to survive for as long as possible."


    The contracted didn???t say the spell name and the outside of the wooden book he got also didn''t state it. He simply nodded and put the wooden book in his bag. Rein and Kayley looked somewhat curious but didn''t say anything, after all, they would also get something the others wouldn''t.


    That being said, right now Rein was left out a little as the scoring continued, after all, he didn''t follow enchanting or pill-making.


    The enchanting rewards were pretty standard. For passing the exam they got the second grade''s book on enchanting. For getting sixty they got their own higher quality enchanting pens, they could take this home if they wanted as it was no longer school property. And for getting seventy points Kayley got a number of rare materials.


    The magic array rewards were similar in nature. For passing they got the second grade''s book on magic arrays and for getting sixty points they got a box of magic array chalks, they were high quality and owned by themselves. For reaching seventy points Rein got a booklet though, the booklet belonged to a magic array master. In his school years he wrote down his insights and experiences, Rein got a part of it.


    Lastly came the rewards for pill-making. Villin only got the reward for passing which was once more the second''s grade book. Kayley also got a cauldron of a higher quality than the one they were using right now.


    Everyone thought this was where the rewards would end and they were extremely happy. Even though the rewards for the ''lifestyle'' tests weren''t as great as the ones for the combat tests they were all extremely happy, even Rein who only competed in the magic array bit, he could hardly wait to study the new textbook he got.


    Yet just then two more contracted walked into the room and took their positions. One in front of Kayley and one in front of Villin. They both looked at the contracted in surprise when they walked up.


    "For being the first to succeed in all four categories, you will be getting an additional reward. You must choose between the following things. The first option is to receive a large number of magic crystals. The second option is to learn a rare and valuable magic array blueprint and the final option is to have an opportunity to learn the dark arts."


    When the trio heard the options Villin and Kayley got presented they felt very shaken. All of them had at least heard of the dark arts, but most of the time it only got mentioned shortly. From what he knew practicing the dark arts meant that when they killed a magus they could walk up to them and steal a part of their web, strengthening themselves. The problem is that you would become reliant on it, if you didn''t kill anyone for multiple years your powers will slowly start to wane. The duo thought deeply before making their choice.

 Chapter 50: The Decision

    If an outsider got given this choice they would probably think the choice was easy. Magic crystals are temporary and so is a magic array blueprint. But they would be wrong. Getting a bunch of magic crystals would mean they would be able to get better equipment, they would be able to constantly use them increasing the speed at which they grow stronger and even hire some higher grade students for lessons.


    Magic crystals were used for almost everything, they could get dozens of spell blueprints and Villin even thought it might be possible to hire a different magus to test out derivatory spells that might be dangerous.


    As for the magic array blueprint, it was a massive blind card. Both of their knowledge on magic arrays were still pretty limited, all that they knew was that magic arrays were essential. The school was surrounded by many magic arrays hiding its location and strengthening its defenses. Hell, one of their teachers, Richard, could only teach them thanks to a certain magic array.


    A magic array could be great or insignificant but it really depended. The only reason Villin believed the number of magic crystals would be insane and the magic array blueprint would be very rare was because they were laid out against the dark arts.


    Villin had read things about this form of magic here and there. When someone with the dark arts kills another magus they would go over and retrieve a part of the victim''s web. This would directly enhance their magic and it was even possible for those that know the dark arts to dual cast. But the negative was immense. Not only would the webs you picked up begin to rot, your original web will too. You will have to keep killing and stealing other people''s webs for the rest of your life.


    An accomplished magus with this technique would have to kill at least one person every year, hence most people who had this secret technique had a job that required them to kill others.


    In the end, Villin made his choice first. He was very happy with the fact he was now able to connect with his web, allowing it to help him recover magical energy, he didn''t want to risk ruining it so he decided not to go with the Dark Arts.


    "I would like the valuable magic array blueprint."


    Villin said these words through gritted teeth, it was very hard to decide on something that might be useless to him but he found it necessary, he didn''t want to risk everything.


    "Very well," the contracted said as he reached into his jacket and pulled out a scroll, the scroll kept coming out until it was over three meters tall, this contracted also seemed to have gotten a spacial item similar to their bags in order to transport the valuable items. The scroll barely fit into the bag so Villin put it away swiftly, he would look at it later.


    "The scroll has been specifically selected for yourself. The academy asked both professor Crumb and professor Richard what type of magic array blueprint you should be given."


    Next up it was Kayley''s turn to decide, she also hesitated for a while but she ended up deciding on the magic crystals. She was more interested in pill-making than magic arrays and the dark arts were simply too risky. She was a student at the Academy, she had absolutely no intention to kill anyone.


    The contracted took out a crystal holder and gave it to her, she then quickly stored the object.


    "The academy is very proud of you all, let me be the first to properly congratulate you on your achievements," the contracted said which made the trio frown a little, they felt something odd about the contracted''s words but they didn''t push as the contracted pointed back to the door they came from.


    The trio grabbed their new bags, put their old bags inside of it, and went toward the door. When they arrived, the desk with the teachers seemed to have been turned around as all the teachers were staring at them. They seemed to be looking for something and when they saw the bags they were carrying a few of them seemed to be disappointed they didn''t get to see what they got.


    Villin felt slightly surprised as this reaction meant these people weren''t the ones that decided the rewards but didn''t care too much about it. After a moment professor Crumb stood up, he had a slightly worried expression as he began speaking.


    "Kids, the situation has changed a bit. You three are invited to join the second grade this instant if you wish to, there will be more knowledge to gain there, and other than the headmaster himself you would be the first magus'' ever to skip a grade in The Academy."


    The teachers'' curiosity vanished as they now all carried slightly grim expressions, they all stared at Villin first awaiting his reply. He was seen as the most skilled student here the most skilled in both combat and enchanting.


    Villin ignored the teachers'' expressions as he thought about the offer sincerely, then after about a minute, just when the teachers were getting a little impatient, he answered.


    "I am sorry professor Crumb, professors, but I do not feel it is the right time for me to move on. There are still many things I have to learn here. My pill-making, enchanting, and magic arrays are not yet where I want them to be when I enter the second grade. I value some of the professors I have here greatly and there are still many spells in the first-grade library I want to learn before moving on. I apologize if my reply angers you, I do not mean any disrespect."


    He told no lies as he clearly stated why he still wanted to stay, the only part he didn''t mention was that he wanted to continue learning ''Gene Solutions'' something he probably wouldn''t have the equipment for if he moved to the second grade.


    Nonetheless, his main reasons were the professors and the spells he had yet to learn. He greatly valued Professor Crumb and Pompei in particular and as for the spells, the second-grade library would have a number of spells with eleven or twelve nodes but a lot less of the more basic spells that were quick to cast.


    "A pity, miss Alius?" professor Crumb asked, looking at Kayley."


    Kayley didn''t hesitate in the least right now as she quickly replied "My apologies professor but I do not yet feel ready to move on to the second grade. I have only been here for a couple of weeks and would not be able to keep up with the second-grade''s classes. But I must thank you for the offer."


    Professor Crumb sighed and before he could ask the final boy he already saw Rein shake his head. "If those stronger and smarter than me say they are not ready to move on to the second grade, then how can I say different. But I must thank you for the offer professor."


    Now that all of them had declined the teachers'' expressions were even grimmer than before, with the exception of the enchanting teacher that is, Villin could swear he saw a hint of a smile on his lips.


    Pompei looked like he wanted to tell them something really badly but professor Messen who sat next to him stopped him and shook his head gently.


    Professor Crumb knew he should let it go with this and so he spoke a few last sentences to them.


    "I wish you all good luck children. There will be no classes tomorrow as we have somewhere to be but I have heard a rumor that the magic array classroom is a good one to visit these days around. Now you may all take your leave."


    When the professor said the bit about the magic array classroom Crystal and professor Messen looked at him sternly for a moment, all three of them picked up on this and quickly left through the door professor Crumb guided them. It was a simple hallway with a golden door at the end. They all knew what this was and quickly went into the teleportation array hidden behind the door.

 Chapter 51: Prelude to a Calamity

    When the trio went through the door they had once more appeared in the school. They recognized the hallways again and couldn''t help but wonder what is going on. They all saw the odd expressions of the teachers just a bit earlier and even though they had gotten a massive number of rewards, the trio all felt worried.


    "Where do you two get your magic array classes?" Rein asked seriously.


    They all put a lot of importance on professor Crumb''s final words, Kayley and Villin told him the classroom number before everybody headed to their own rooms. They had all already decided to spend the next day in that classroom.


    There was one thing Villin did find quite off though. When he got closer to the dormitories he saw a bunch of Class A students discussing certain matters. Going further there were even some putting enchantments on the walls and floors. And even though he wanted to ask what was going on, when they got close the class A students suddenly turned completely silent. Villin could clearly see some of them had fearful expressions. Looking at the class B dormitories things were normal though, not different compared to normal.


    As he looked at class A with a worried expression, he saw a few teachers coming out of the class A dormitories. They all seemed quite worried but remained silent upon seeing Villin''s confused expression. And so, Villin just kept going toward his room.


    When Villin arrived back in his dormitory he decided to check out his rewards properly. First, he took out all of the spell books and checked them all out.


    ''Healium Paulatim'' was a relatively basic healing spell¡­ which meant it was still quite rare. When you used this spell the wounds of whomever you were casting it on would gradually disappear. It was also one of the spells people got when they became a teacher or reached the top three in the regular tournament.


    Even though Villin didn''t know this, when he was wounded and nearly killed by the arrogant Roland, Amelia had run up to him and used this spell. She had the spell since she was second place in the tournament the previous year. The spell had eleven nodes and was quite hard to cast.


    Next, he took out an iron book. This was a book with unlimited ''uses'' and it was his property. This made it a very valuable asset. If he wanted he could let other people learn it for a price netting him a large number of magic crystals.


    The book''s cover showed the spell name ''Vinea Tenura''. The spell had ten nodes but had quite a powerful ability. It would make magical vines come out the ground, this would hold their enemies and sap their magical powers. The spell seemed to be one focused on apprehending and controlling, something he truly lacked right now.


    He then grabbed the second iron book, this one had the name ''Sheldium'' and consisted of seven nodes. This was actually a spell you were supposed to cast on yourself as it would cause a thin shield to form. Villin recalled seeing a faint barrier on Siver when they fought and suspected it might''ve been this spell or a derivatory version of it.


    Finally, there was one wooden book left, the one he had been given for getting ninety points in the combat trial.


    There was a small strip hiding the spell''s name but he took it off now, the spell was called ''Lanuae Magicae''. Villin frowned as he had no idea what that was supposed to mean before he turned the book around and took away the strip hiding the description. Surprisingly the description was only three words long. It just said ''short-range teleportation''.


    As soon as he read this Villin''s eyes went wide. He quickly opened the book and memorized every node and line within it. Of the thirteen nodes, eleven were red, signifying they could not be changed without heavily risking death, moreover, the spell actually seemed to be a derivatory spell with three nodes changed. The original nodes were marked with the dark red meaning they could not be used.


    Villin memorized the entire spell blueprint and as soon as he did the book went up in flames. It would take a good while before he would be able to cast the spell but he was already looking forward to it. Even though he had seen teachers disappear after casting a spell but that should be a spell limited to the school and it shouldn''t be a part of their actual abilities. He even suspected that they were transported into the ''arena'' using a similar spell exclusive to the school grounds.


    Villin then grabbed his interspacial bag and reached in with his magical energy to grab what he noticed was already in there.


    It seemed to be a vial with a liquid inside, on it was a small white strip with some text on it. ''A reward for your efforts from the club that looks for solutions.''


    This caused Villin to feel surprised again, he thought the teachers didn''t know what rewards they would get yet professor Messen still seemed to have been able to put this gene solution in.


    With little hesitation, Villin opened the flask and drank it all in one go. Even after a dozen minutes, he didn''t feel anything special, so he decided to just start learning more spells. If it was possible he would try to work through the night. Then, in the early morning, he would head toward the magic array classroom.


    The gene solution didn''t seem to induce any tiredness as Villin successfully worked through the night. Even though he felt a little tired when it became early morning he knew that tiredness would be gone again in a few hours, as long as he didn''t skip two nights in a row things would be quite alright.


    Villin made the interspacial bag shrink to its smallest size, causing it to turn into a coin pouch, and put it inside of his pants for safekeeping. Then he grabbed his regular schoolbag that was now only keeping some common pill-making materials and grabbed it. When he did, he immediately felt surprised, it was as if the bag was weightless, he checked his school bag again but when he picked it up, he barely felt any weight in his hand.


    Villin quickly understood as he thought of the gene solution he had taken the previous night. It would seem it was a solution that enhanced strength it would look like. They were pretty tough to make so Villin was glad to have the opportunity to make one.


    That being said the professor probably didn''t know he would be getting an interspacial bag, since this bag barely weighed anything even when filled, the usefulness of increased strength was immediately decreased a fair bit. Still, Villin was happy with it as increased strength could help with a lot of things.


    Now that the basic things were dealt with, Villin first headed toward Amelia''s room. When he arrived he knocked on the door loudly three times. He waited for a bit and after about twenty seconds Amelia opened the door. Her hair was clearly a mess and she was wearing her glasses crookedly.


    "Hmm? Villin? Whattcha need?" She said groggily as she looked at him.


    "Hey Amelia, there''s somewhere we need to be soon. Should I come back in thirty minutes?"


    Amelia shook her head and opened the door a bit wider to let him in. Her room was somewhat messy but neither of them really cared. Amelia didn''t ask anything either as she simply combed her hair and brushed her teeth. Then she suddenly reached for her pajamas causing Villin to instantly turn around with a bit of a red face.


    Even though he wasn''t shy around girls or anything it was a little awkward to see one randomly undressing before you. Amelia simply let out a chuckle as she changed into her regular school robes.


    "Alright, I''m ready, where are we going?"


    "I''ll explain on the way, I''m just taking a precaution really."


    Villin simply said after which they both headed out of the dormitories. They only saw two other students in total since it was only eight in the morning and nobody had classes today for some reason.


    They walked through the halls for a bit and he was just about to start speaking about his experiences the previous day when the duo heard something. There seemed to be a rumbling sound far away from them, it sounded like thunder. They kept walking as they tried to place the sound but they couldn''t. Then a crackling sound appeared from above them and the stones along the walls started to dim. They both came to a stop, something was about to happen.

 Chapter 52: A Terrifying Attack

    The two stood there in the dim hallway, looking at the ceiling. The stones that the walls and ceiling consisted of seemed to be flickering as if whatever was powering them was malfunctioning. The ground was slightly shaking but they both knew it wouldn''t be from an earthquake.


    Then suddenly, Villin had a deja vu as he remembered his first dream. Dread overcame his heart as he suddenly grabbed Amelia and jumped backward.


    At practically the same time the shaking intensified and a part of the ceiling fell down, exactly where they had just been. Yet even now some of the smaller rocks and a large amount of dust had fallen onto them.


    Amelia quickly got up with her wand in hand, she was pointing it at the part of the ceiling that had now opened up, Villin saw she was planning to climb onto the mountain of rocks and see what had caused this but he grabbed her arm and said "Run" before dragging her along.


    Amelia didn''t resist and started running alongside him, her curiosity now replaced with a certain amount of fear as she realized what had just happened. A part of The Academy, known to be the school with the best defenses on the entire central continent, had collapsed.


    Villin ran until there they got to a crossroad, then he went to the left. The collapsed roof was in between the duo and the magic array classroom, which was still his goal for now. Even though he had no idea what was happening, the professors probably did and since professor Crumb told him the magic array classroom was a ''good place to be in these days'' he would make it his priority to reach it.


    They ran through multiple corridors, Villin knew the layout of the school by heart and so it wasn''t hard for him to figure out an alternate route toward the classroom. The shaking intensified somewhat, and after running for five minutes Villin only saw two other students, they looked terrified and headed for the dormitories where the rest of the students were.


    The walls continued fluctuating when Villin suddenly heard a rumbling behind him. He turned around and saw that thirty meters further a part f the ceiling had collapsed again, he was starting tho fear this would continue until the entire school collapsed when the situation changed.


    Two figures jumped out of the hole in the wall, they were both kids that looked slightly older compared to himself and Amelia, they wore dark green robes that were full of dust. Amelia had also noticed the situation and without hesitation, she fired off a spell without incantation.


    The two green-robed enemies had only just noticed them when Amelia''s spell hit one of them. The boy that got hit instantly puked out blood before falling off of the pile of rocks.


    The girl that had jumped down next to him looked at them with surprise before sending a green streak toward them. Villin promptly stood in front of Amilia while casting ''Reverto''.


    About a sixth of his magic power was consumed as the spell got sent back toward the caster, and nearly the same time Amelia aimed her wand over his shoulder and sent out a dark purple streak of light. The green-robed girl managed to block the first attack with another spell but she hadn''t noticed the dark purple streak of light in time with the limited lighting. The spell hit her in the abdomen, said abdomen immediately got pierced as if she got stabbed with a spear and she fell down in astonishment.


    Villin''s breathing quickened, they were fighting other people, other magus. He felt like puking himself for some reason he didn''t understand. He hadn''t felt nervous thus far and even took death lightly when he stood in the arena with Kayley and Rein, so why did he feel so sick right now.


    This time it was Amelia who grabbed his hand before running away, he followed as he forced his confusing feelings back, they quickly turned a corner before Amelia pushed him against a wall and hurriedly spoke.


    "Those green robes mean they are students of Decorus, the second-best school in the central continent. Looking at the tint of the robes they could be anywhere between the first and third grade. They will likely move their main forces toward the dormitories meaning we are mostly safe. As for the reason you wanted to take me away from the dormitories, is it because you knew about the attack?" Villin wasn''t sure what to think of the way Amelia was looking at him, it was extremely intense and uncomfortable, nonetheless, it allowed him to get back to his wits and reply in a steady manner.


    "The teachers knew, we have to make our way to the magic array classroom, it''s only a few minutes away!"


    Even though Villin didn''t mind telling her the exact situation there was no time for all of that right now. If the school was truly being attacked they only had three possible courses of action.


    The first possible course of action was to team up with all of the students in the dormitories and try to defeat the invaders. The second possible course of action was to head toward the grade holder''s office. The grade holder wasn''t actually a teacher as far as they knew but students did have to go to him if they wanted to get permission to use the teleporters or something of the like. It was possible the grade holder themselves had a way to open the doors that led to the teleporters but it was still rather unlikely.


    Villin figured that if The Academy was truly smart they would probably have the teleporters immediately disable when the defenses get breached, otherwise the enemies might be able to get to the other sections of the school and attack the higher grades.


    The third course of action was to follow professor Crumb''s hint and get to the magic array classroom. There must be a reason he sent the trio there, maybe it was safe from attacks or it would open a secret teleporter to evacuate, or perhaps its where the reinforcements would come from.


    Amelia decided to follow Villin''s lead simply because she herself also had no idea what to do, they had no clue how many attackers there were, there might even be teachers among them. As for their own teachers, she had no idea when they might come back but she didn''t hold much hope toward a rescue.


    And so the duo headed started moving again, ready to fight against any enemies that might appear.

 Chapter 53: Two Versus Six

    Villin and Amelia first properly prepared for combat. Villin cast the wandless version of ''Reverto'' which caused a layer of see-through blue mist to appear around him, then he also cast his newly learned ''Sheldium'' spell causing a very faint translucent barrier to appear on his body.


    Both of these spells remained on his body and didn''t need to be supplied with any additional magic energy. As for Amelia, after casting a spell of which the purpose was unknown, Villin also saw her grabbing two pills and swallowing them.


    They nodded at each other and started sprinting through the hallway, now that the danger was clearer Amelia became more serious and Villin noticed she didn''t seem to run out of breath whatsoever. Villin assumed this was because of a gene solution and had to ask her to pause when they had about a hundred meters left to go.


    If there was anyone within the final hallway they had to pass or even within the classroom, Villin wanted to make sure he was in a good condition to fight them.


    After the two minutes of rest, the ground has stopped shaking, this warned Villin and Amelia that the main bulk of the enemy force had probably already entered.


    Villin and Amelia made their final dash of a hundred meters, but halfway through they saw a person come out of a corridor further down the hallway, both of them immediately raised their wands and prepared to fire but Villin recognized the figure.


    "Pierson?"


    He recognized the cocky boy from class A and was about to lower his wand when more figures came into sight. Pierson was first followed by a few other students from class A, this wasn''t a problem until two other people followed them, both of them in green robes.


    Amelia was the first one to cast a spell, sending a red streak toward Pierson who was the first to appear, but the boy managed to block in time.


    Villin cursed inwardly, it seemed they had some traitors amongst them, he ignored he was half a traitor himself as he cursed these people. They were up against six others right now, the three class A students apart from Pierson should all be in their second year, and as for the two students of ''Decorus'' they might be of the second or even third grade in their respective school.


    The duo knew there was no path of retreat, the doors next to them were locked and even for Amelia it would take a while to break through and as for heading into another corridor, to do that they would have to run back fifty meters.


    The enemies were a hundred meters away making it so that they were both the exact same distance away from the magic array classroom.


    After Amelia''s first spell had failed there seemed to be an extended moment of silence. Both parties just looked at each other for a moment before all hell broke loose.


    Villin took a step forward and Amelia took a step back as they prepared to receive the incoming fire. In the first instance, four attacks got sent their way, this was enough for Villin to determine these people were quick at casting but not combat.


    Two of the spells were relatively fast but completely missed the mark, hitting the walls beside them, as for the two other ones, they were simply too slow. It took over two seconds for the spells to arrive which was plenty of time to dodge. The only two enemies who hadn''t cast a spell yet were those from ''Decorus''. For two full seconds, they incantated a spell before casting it fully.


    This time no streak came out of the wands as they pointed them at the walls behind Villin and Amelia. The wall crackled and the stones moved as they, at first, seemed to fall to the ground leaving two big piles of bricks. But just a moment later the bricks moved again as they formed a two-meter tall humanoid shape.


    Amelia immediately turned to deal with them doubling the pressure on Villin, luckily he saw the two green-robed individuals turned the corner again, it seemed like the spell took nearly all of their magical energy at least.


    This left Villin against four other students from there school, he would have to defeat them and hope Amelia didn''t fall before he did so.


    He immediately took a few steps forward giving Amelia a bit more space to move before he began casting spells. He could no longer dodge any of the enemies'' spells because they might hit Amelia, this meant he had to try and stay on the offensive.


    For the first two dozen seconds spells simply flew back and forwards, Villin decided to allow some of the spells to hit his ''Reverto'' shield, which would increase the pressure on the enemy team but the problem was that it wasn''t enough. Even though he was clearly more skilled, the enemy had four people who could use a blocking spell at any time, letting the other three continue their attack.


    Villin also couldn''t ignore the panting of Amelia behind him, she was most certainly hurt and probably wouldn''t be able to keep going for much longer.


    With this in mind, he used one of his saved spells.


    It was done in the middle of a somewhat beautiful combo. Villin allowed one of the spells to hit his Reverto shield while sending out a Drowse spell at the same time, causing the two spells to go out at the same time, then when these two started moving side-by-side toward the middlemost enemy he pointed his glove forward and used his saved fireball spell.


    The temperature in the corridor immediately increased by several degrees as a ball of fire appeared within Villin''s glove. Villin had expected the ball to be shot forward since he hadn''t tested the wandless version of the spell yet but quickly recovered as he was forced to change his plan, there was no way he would be able to throw the fireball all the way to their enemies so he swiftly turned around and threw the fireball right into the torso of one of the golems that were attacking Amelia.

 Chapter 54: Hopeless Situation

    When Villin turned around to throw the fireball he could clearly see the two golems. Both of them were shining brightly with white light. Just when he turned around he saw Amelia cast a spell toward the left Golem, it was a dark purple streak, the same spell she had used to pierce a girl''s abdomen earlier.


    It hit one of the stones on the golem''s head and as it did Villin could see a formation on the stone brighten up. The spell that should''ve been able to pierce through half of the brick only managed to pierce through two centimeters, and the light simply brightened further.


    It looked like the bricks the school was made from had a partial magic absorption magic array, which then changed that absorbed energy into light.


    Nonetheless, Villin threw his fireball at the head or the right golem, he already knew the stones couldn''t absorb all sorts of magic otherwise the creation of this golem would''ve been impossible.


    The fireball in Villin''s hand was a perfect size to throw short distances and so his throw was powerful and arrived very fast. The golem couldn''t react in time and his head was engulfed in flames for a few seconds.


    When the flames went out it was clear no damage was done, this wasn''t a surprise since using flames to attack a golem wasn''t the smartest move, he only did it because he had already cast the spell anyway.


    Behind them, Villin''s two other spells had been blocked and the students were prepared to retaliate, so Villin quickly decided to change plans.


    "Amelia, you take care of the students, I got these stoney bastards."


    There was no time to discuss anything and so Amelia simply nodded before turning around and taking a few steps forward, she was limping but since she couldn''t block anyway with Villin behind her, this didn''t make much of a difference.


    Villin looked at the two stoney bastards in front of him, there were three big reasons he decided to switch positions with Amelia. The first was her hurt leg, even though it wouldn''t matter all that much in a magic fight, fighting golems was something entirely different, you would be forced to dodge in that situation.


    The second reason he wanted to switch was because of gene solutions, he knew Amelia should''ve already taken a fair few and one of them was an endurance gene solution which, in truth, would help a lot when fighting golems. But Villin had taken a strength solution that seemed to be made by professor Messen himself. It wasn''t a solution someone like Amelia could make yet and he believed it would give him a better way to fight the magic resistant golems.


    The third and final reason was spells. Villin didn''t have any spells that could disturb or split up a group but this didn''t mean Amelia didn''t. She had a lot more spells compared to him and might have a way to ignore four people''s defenses. Villin on the other hand, had a spell he believed might be effective against the golems. The rooting spell ''Vinea Tenura'', he just had to find a way to buy himself three seconds so he could cast the newly learned spell. He had practiced it a bit the previous night but there were too many new spells to practice making it so that he hadn''t mastered any of them.


    Villin looked at the two two-meter tall golems before him ignoring the sound of spells hitting behind him. The left golem was the first to attack. Even though they looked slow they most certainly weren''t, the golem punched forward at the same speed a human would, immediately letting him know it wasn''t an easy fight.


    Villin sidestepped and punched toward the now extended arm that was nearly half a meter thick. He expected that with his increased strength he would be able to break a large part of the golem''s arm but he was very much wrong. When his fist hit the stone arm two things happened. A small bit of stone broke off and fell down and his fist hurt like hell.


    With the result being so different then what he had expected, he got slightly dazed, it was then that the golem who he had just punched decided to use its arm to sweep instead of pulling it back. The arm landed hard against his side knocking him to the floor right in front of the other golem.


    "Shit"


    Villin cursed as he had to roll away in order to avoid the second golem''s stomp, causing him to get closer to the position where Amelia was doing her best fighting, but when he glanced in that direction, he saw something worrying, two more new green-robed students had appeared. Both of them reached into there robes and pulled out little metal pixie statues. They used their wands to point at them and six metal pixies started making their way toward Amelia.


    "Villin I''m not sure how you''re doing but I''m not going to be able to hang on much longer."


    Amelia was slightly pale as she said this, Villin barely dodged another strike from one of the golems before responding.


    "I''m also not doing all that great, you have any decent saved spells left?"


    He asked as he moved forward sending an icy pike into one of the golems'' heads, something that didn''t do all that much.


    "Just one, but it''d only be enough to disrupt this group for a few seconds."


    Villin cursed again as he ducked under one of the golems'' arms before kicking it in the kneecap, again this didn''t have the desired effect.


    "Alright Amelia, I have an incredibly stupid and dangerous plan but it might just work if we''re lucky."


    He heard Amelia gasp for air as one of the spells that got sent out got through her defenses after which she responded: "To be honest, at this point I''ll go with any plan even if the chances are minimum."


    "Alright, we''ll ignore the golems and run toward the other enemies until we get to the magic array classroom, if we can get in there then at the very least we''ll have an easily defendable room. Cast your spell on three. One, two, three!"


    When the countdown ended Amelia cast two spells, the first was the dark purple piercing spell again that would normally easily be blocked but for her saved spell she pointed at the ground below the group of enemies, then the ground beneath their feet suddenly started to shake and most of the enemies lost their footing or stumbled about. This allowed Amelia''s piercing spell to hit one of the green-robed students in the shoulder, directly piercing it.


    The duo started sprinting toward them, they were fifty meters away from the door. The two golems behind them were about as fast as them but since they were also running they couldn''t attack with their arms.


    Villin was a little concerned about Amelia though, she was still limping at this time, so he pointed his want toward it and used his second saved spell ''Healium Paulatim''. Within a few seconds, Amelia felt a lot less pain in her leg. But as the enemies were recovering by now Villin pointed his wand forward, it was a lot harder to cast spells while running but there was a spell Villin was familiar enough with to use it in such a situation.


    The blue ''Drowse'' spell shot out causing the enemy to become wary and block it properly. In the three seconds that had passed, they had managed to get halfway, making it so that the doorway was only twenty-five meters away and their enemies seventy-five meters. But it was then that everything properly went to shit.


    The enemies had now fully recovered and all shot out their own spells, even though Villin could dodge most, there were still two spells that managed to hit him right in the chest. The first one was actually still blocked and sent back by reverto but the second one broke through. When it hit him on the chest part of the spell''s power was absorbed by Sheldium but it was still more than enough to stop him in his tracks and take his breath away.


    Next to him, Amelia was even worse off, she had a large laceration on her arm, this also caused her wand to fall out of her hand, unarming her.


    This had only just happened when the metal pixies arrived, even though they were small their teeth looked incredibly sharp, the first two headed for Amelia''s legs, successfully biting into them, it was only now that Amelia understood the true purpose of these things, the small pixies that the green-robes students had thrown out casually now felt like extremely heavy shackles, she would barely even be able to walk with these things on her legs.


    Villin saw this but was powerless to do anything. The golems behind them had caught up and he was about to get punched while nearly all of the spells of their human enemies were now headed for him.


    Finally, there were two more pixies that seemed ready to lunge toward his wand-arm. It really seemed like all hope was lost.

 Chapter 55: Black Smoke

    The pixies were the first to arrive. Even though Villin tried to dodge them, they were fast and agile soon managing to bite into his wand-arm.


    The bites weren''t deep at all and could only be seen as a minor wound but it was the weight that was the problem.


    They both bit into his upper arm, a bit above his wand-glove. And even though Villin had increased strength, this made the dodging that he now had to do a lot harder.


    There were three spells heading for him he couldn''t dodge from. The first had a similar effect of the previous spell that had been cast at him. A large part of the spell''s power was absorbed by Sheldium but Villin still got knocked back a meter causing his back to be right against one of the golems.


    The second spell that reached him actually wasn''t an offensive one, it hit his chest and let out a magical shockwave, disrupting Sheldium, causing the spell to lose effect. The final spell that reached him was the real deal. All he could do to try and save himself was to cover his weak stomach with his left arm, hoping he would be okay.


    The spell was indeed heading for the stomach, and his Villin right on the arm. He felt a searing pain on his entire body when the purple spell hit him, he could feel electricity moving through his veins. While he was convulsing the golem behind him picked him up and threw him against the wall hard.


    Villin could only barely retain his consciousness as he watched the enemies come closer. Amelia had also been thrown to the ground and he could see her foaming from the mouth. But well, it didn''t matter much, Villin wasn''t capable of casting a spell right now and neither was Amelia.


    One of the green-robed students had walked up to him and was looking at him in disdain, then he looked behind him before looking at Pierson.


    "Pierson, was it? Since I heard you have managed to study the dark arts it is about time for you to get your first couple of additional webs, go ahead and finish them off."


    Despite his age which was only a couple of years older than Villin and his classmates, this green-robed student seemed extremely vicious as he made way for Pierson to walk up.


    Pierson looked scared and nervous but still pointed his wand toward Villin''s neck. All Villin could do was look Pierson in the eyes with a look of disdain, no hatred, simply disdain.


    Villin saw the boy''s lip quiver, he looked away but kept pointing his wand "Kra-"


    Midway through his cast, one of his classmates next to him pointed his wand toward Pierson before shooting off a spell. Pierson felt shocked as he got thrown to the floor, but his shock soon made place for fear as he saw what he was landing on.


    Face first, Pierson landed on a bed of spikes, one of his eyes directly got punctured as his terrible scream echoed through the hallway.


    Villin saw the eyes of the boy who had attacked Pierson were pink but the other traitors around them didn''t pay attention to that. After about half a second of shock, half a dozen spells hit the boy who had only just regained his consciousness. He got shot toward the wall with cuts all over his body, one of the spells had directly punctured his heart.


    It was now that one of the enemies finally noticed their actual opponents. Two people were standing just outside of the magic array classroom. Rein and Kayley both stood there their wands aimed toward their enemies.


    Seeing a strand of hope, Villin managed to reach his money pouch, he used his unstable magical energy to take out a pill and put it in his mouth. Everyone was now preoccupied with the newly appeared opponents so nobody had noticed Villin had taken a low-grade healing pill that they had made in class.


    Both sides shot off some spells but it was clear that Rein and Kayley were at a pretty big disadvantage. It was then that Rein shot off his saved spell. The area around Villin and the group intending to kill him was suddenly covered in a pitch-black smoke.


    A few of the people within it tried casting spells to do with wind to try and drive away the ''smoke'' but none were successful. A moment later, Villin felt someone pulling him away by the leg. Villin already felt slightly better and since he guessed whoever was pulling was his ally, he took his wand into his left hand and pointed at one of the metal pixies on his right biceps. After shooting three icy pikes at the little creature its head crumbled and it fell off.


    Now, Villin was dragged a lot faster and when he finally got out of the smoke he noticed they were actually in the magic array classroom, the smoke had filled the entire hallway, an extremely impressive feat. He saw Rein had been dragging him but he was panting heavily, dragging around a person with a metal pixie on their arm wasn''t an easy feat.


    Villin tried to get up but immediately faltered, the low-grade healing pill could only do so much. Even though it managed to get him well enough to cast spells again, he shouldn''t expect his strength to come back just like that.


    A few seconds later Kayley came through the doorway dragging the badly hurt Amelia with her. The pixies that were around her legs were gone, probably destroyed by Kayley, but the girl was still frothing from the mouth.


    When they saw her condition Kayley and Rein immediately turned to the final person in the room, the zombie-like Richard.


    Even though a lot of this man''s face was gone Villin could still tell he was worried about the current situation, but when he diagnosed Amelia, Villin felt slightly better.


    "She''ll be okay, there shouldn''t actually be any internal damage, most healing spells will be able to alleviate her current condition."


    Kayley and Rein then went ahead and began casting their newly learned healing spell on her. And as professor Richard had said, the frothing stopped and Amelia began regaining her consciousness.


    Even though Kayley and Rein didn''t know Amelia they were still happy to see she looked a lot better already. Then they turned to Villin and both cast a healing spell on him after taking care of the remaining Pixie.


    Villin still felt like absolute shit but he managed to get up. Amelia was the same, after all both of them had been wounded heavily in the arm, not the legs. Villin had lost control earlier because of the electricity spell, and as for Amelia, it was the frothing spell that did it.


    They both looked at their arms and noticed they couldn''t really move the ones that were hurt. For Villin this had minimal implications but Amelia would have to temporarily change her wand-arm.


    Villin looked at the door worriedly but soon Rein alleviated his worries "The smoke will be staying for a full hour, it also covers quite a large area as I injected nearly all of my magical power into it."


    It was finally time to figure out why the hell Crumb wanted them to be in this classroom when the attack happened.

 Chapter 56: Richard’s Assistance

    Villin, Kayley, Rein, and Amelia were now all standing in the classroom, somewhat unsure of how to continue. After about a minute Richard, who was in the middle of the classroom, spoke up.


    "Alright kids, it''s time to say exactly what is going on in the hallways, who is attacking the school?"


    Now that their teacher asked them a question Villin and Amelia naturally responded. They explained to the rest of the group everything they had seen on the way. With a wave of his hand, Richard caused a map of the school to appear on the ground allowing the two to properly show where they noticed collapsed ceilings.


    The two didn''t really have all that much information, the most valuable bit they had was the color of robes the enemy students had, this allowed Richard to give them some information.


    "According to what you said, the enemies should be of the second or third grade of Decorus indeed. Decorus is a school that heavily focuses on bloodlines. It even has captured multiple creatures strong enough to turn into a human form then they use these to conduct experiments, trying to add bloodlines into as many of their students as possible.


    Decorus is a school that pretty much only cares about increasing combat prowess as quickly as possible. Therefore the art of ''Vitalising'' is very popular with them. The golems and pixies are some examples of Vitalisation.


    Decorus'' graduates have the highest chance of becoming a noble, those of the school who go to any sort of military occupation also have the highest survival rate. If it wasn''t that ''The Academy'' has thaught all of the three strongest Magus of this era, including the current Decorus headmaster, the school''s number one status might''ve been in jeopardy."


    Villin nodded as did the others, they were waiting for Richard to continue speaking.


    "Since the school is under attack by them there is little chance we will be able to fend them off. You all are lucky you found me, as a teacher who used to be the top student I happen to know a secret exit.


    It''s through the ''Room of Horrors'', Kayley knows the way. My only request is that you take my core with you, you should also take the spell models I have in my class, it''s better you all take them than those from Decorus."


    Without delay a closet started raising out of the ground on one side of the classroom, meanwhile, in the center of the room, in the very middle of the magic arrays, the floor was opening. It revealed a small secret compartment with a pitch-black crystal. As soon as Villin touched it Richard disappeared, he stored it in his interspacial bag before everyone headed toward the closet.


    Inside were about half a dozen iron spell models, they grabbed them before deciding to head out of the door. Right now wasn''t the time to look at what they had gained, this was the time to try and survive.


    Before going through the door Rein took out a few pills handing them around "This will help you see through the smoke."


    These words were enough to convince everyone to quickly take the pills. Villin immediately felt a second ''kind'' of vision. He couldn''t just see the things before him but he could also ''feel'' them it was an intoxicating feeling, but not one he had the time to enjoy.


    Everyone quickly followed Kayley out of the door, Amelia also knew the was but decided to hang at the back, in case they got attacked from behind. As for Villin, he was just behind Kayley, once more having cast Sheldium and the wandless Reverto. He did notice his magic power was getting rather low though. He probably wouldn''t be able to recast the spells after another fight.


    Even though Rein had told them the black smoke went far, none of them thought it would go as far as it did. They had to run for two-hundred full meters before being able to escape the smoke, and they entered safely, there could''ve been a dozen ways for them to exit the smoke so they would''ve been really unlucky if their enemies guarded this exit.


    Kayley ran further and further away from the dormitories, at first they still saw a collapsed ceiling here and there, probably other entry-points. And even though Villin considered going up through those, he decided to trust their magic array teacher and follow his plan.


    After a bit there were no longer any signs of enemies, the walls around here also still healthily illuminated the hallways, if anyone was here when everything was happening they might not even realize the school was under attack.


    After a bit longer they arrived at their destination, what else could it be but a pitch-black door with an eerie look. Even though it looked scary it was still a really well-made door. There were realistic-looking skulls inlaid at the sides of the door while the main part looked as if it had some faces in various shades of black engraved on it.


    The door opened with a simple push, and everyone entered, Kayley had warned them not to pull out their wands, saying it would only make things worse. When they entered through the door they felt as if they had walked into an endless black void. And as soon as the final person, Amelia, in this case, entered, the door behind them closed and disappeared.


    Now they could only see the endless black void around them. Villin saw Kayley shiver a bit after they entered, it looked like she had some bad memories from this place, and soon they all found out why.


    Far in front of them, floating in the endless darkness, was a mirror, currently turned away from them. Kayley tried to steady her breath before walking toward it. Along the way he could hear howls coming from the depths of the abyss, they sounded weird and incredibly uncomfortable.


    When Villin finally arrived in front of the mirror, he was shocked by the face he saw staring back at him.

 Chapter 57: A Reflection

    When Villin looked into the mirror he felt somewhat shocked. Looking back at him was the most beautiful girl he had ever seen. She had hazel brown hair and vibrant blue eyes. She had a healthy complexion and was smiling at him.


    In the back of his mind, he could vaguely tell Kayley was saying something but he ignored it, mesmerized by the beauty in the mirror.


    Villin smiled back at the beauty but then he saw something began changing. He frowned as he saw the beauty look fearfully to her left, Villin had no idea what she was afraid of but he wanted to help her with all his heart. Then an expression of pain and suffering covered her face, tears streaming down from her eyes.


    Without any further hesitation Villin put his hand on the mirror, wanting to go in to help her, and in he went. He once again found himself in the endless void but now he was alone and falling down.


    After ten seconds he reached the ''ground''. When he fell onto it he didn''t feel even the slightest bit of pain where normally he should''ve died, yet he didn''t question it as he was looking for something.


    Then he saw her, twenty meters to his left was a girl sitting in the darkness. He recognized the back of her head despite never having seen it, it was the girl from the mirror. She was wearing a white gown and seemed to be crying.


    Every second he heard her cries Villin felt more and more terrible, he ran up to the sitting girl in a rush, placing a hand on her shoulder. He wanted to say things were going to be okay but noticed he could no longer speak, instead, he could transmit his feelings to her.


    He tried to do so, let her know he would protect her, be her sole simp, when she stopped crying and turned toward her.


    Her beautiful face was rotten, a part of her skull was visible and one of her eyes was gone but he didn''t care. Villin held her rotting face and was about to press his lips on whatever was left of hers when he saw the girl''s expression turn fearful again as she pointed toward the left.


    Villin stood in front of her within moments, flying toward him were hundreds of others, they all looked disgusting with their rotting faces and savage expressions.


    Standing before the girl he couldn''t imagine his life without, Villin yelled out with all his might. This yell wasn''t vocal, nor was it one of pain or suffering, instead it was one of determination. He would stand here and stop all of these undead freaks, protecting¡­ Well, he didn''t exactly know her name yet but whatever it was, it was sure to be beautiful.


    On one side stood a courageous boy standing as tall as a mountain, while on the other side hundreds and thousands of souls rushed toward them, their savage cries seemed to cover both the land and the sky overshadowing everything.


    Villin stood there, not moving an inch as all of the undead rushed toward him, or rather the ''beauty'' behind him. But when they got too close their feeling, their being, clashed with Villin''s and they were forced to the side.


    A thousand clashes happened, and a thousand were won. Villin still stood still in the location he started at, but then, when all enemies were defeated, he faltered and fell backward.


    His head landed right into the lap of his princess, as he looked up at her vibrant blue eye, he smiled, trying to let her know there was nothing to worry about.


    Her boney fingers stroked his hair as he lay on her oh-so-hard lap. But just as he did he heard cries once more, the disgusting undead had returned. Villin quickly got up and stood a few meters in front of his queen again. A thousand more clashes happened, and a thousand more were won before Villin fell backward, yet this time he was slightly worse of compared too before, he felt slightly worse, but nonetheless, as long as he could see ''her'' face he felt like he would be okay, as long as she would never disappear.


    Once more a thousand undead came, and nine-hundred and ninety-nine were defeated. Villin looked in front of him with a frown, there was still an undead here, one that hadn''t come at him.


    But the feeling of this undead was different, it was one that he recognized. On one hand, he just wanted to walk forward and destroy it before resting on the holy lap again, but on the other hand, he felt curious, he felt like he knew this undead.


    His curiosity won as he properly looked at the man before him, allowing him to converse.


    "Well Villin, I didn''t expect you to have taken ''her'' liking, but it''s time to go now. Let''s go boy."


    First Villin felt enraged that this filthy undead dared to refer to his savior as ''her'' but then he realized something, this man was his teacher. Yes. Richard was his name. Then he looked back toward the girl and he felt like something was wrong, she started crying again and he wanted to go and halt her sadness with all his heart, but something within his head stopped him as he took a step backward instead, toward Richard.


    He felt somewhat fearful suddenly as he seemed to realize the situation he was in, he rushed toward Richard, allowing him to grab his hand.


    As soon as he did, the environment changed. Villin saw Kayley, Amelia, and Rein standing before him, looking in his direction with a tad of worry. It wasn''t hard to imagine why, he felt cold sweat on his back and his face was sure to be very pale.


    "He grabbed the interest of Belle, a Delphi. Really lucky he only had to be in there for an hour that boy." Richard said making absolutely nothing clearer.


    "Alright, let''s just go." the pale-faced Villin said as he tried to grab his bearing, he already felt horrible for leaving the girl even though he could tell she was actually an undead now, whatever sort of magic she used on him, it was very effective.


    Even though they were still standing in the void, there was a door in front of them now, one made entirely from silver. It was time for them to get out of here.

 Chapter 58: Treasure Room

    When Villin asked the others he found out he was especially entranced by the ''Room of Horrors''. Kayley even put her hands in front of his eyes and tried to stop him from touching the mirror but was unable to due to his strength. The others only had to wait for another minute before Richard appeared in the mirror, he then took them all straight here where they had been waiting for Richard to find Villin for the last hour.


    An hour was a long time and Villin could only hope the enemies didn''t get ''through'' the ''Room of Horrors''. Then again it was unlikely since either you would need to have an insane amount of mental strength or the assistance of one of the souls trapped in here.


    Just before the four of them went for the silver door, Richard said one last thing.


    "In order to reveal the secret path put the eyes back into the statue. Also, be careful, do not take anything protected by a magic array if you want to live."


    They all nodded at him with serious expressions before watching him dissipate into thin air. Then Kayley walked on ahead and pushed open the silver door.


    As soon as she did, the ''void'' they were in became a room made out of silver. But nobody paid any attention to it as they were more focused on what was on the other side of the door.


    When the four of them walked in they were stunned by the room before them. The room was made almost entirely out of gold with some rubies and emeralds to make it look a bit better. On both sides of the door was a massive statue, both of them were holding scythes.


    About a hundred meters in front of them was another statue. Sitting on a throne made out of dirt was a cracked, stone statue that was missing his eyes.


    But what really caught their attention weren''t these statues, they were the pedestals. The room was massive and there were well over a thousand pedestals spread out, all of them holding treasures of massive value.


    The four of them didn''t recognize most of the treasures but there were a few exceptions. There were all sorts of spell blueprints, also some scrolls that could only be magic array blueprints.


    Nearly all spell blueprints here were iron books, the names hidden behind a piece of cloth. There were also a number of wands, some of them looked extremely ordinary while others were inlaid with gems.


    Other then these there were, what Villin assumed to be interspacial bags like the ones they had gotten, there were swords and spears, something that seemed rather odd, and even what seemed to be extremely normal enchanted objects.


    But when Villin looked around he noticed that all of these objects were protected by some sort of insanely complicated magic arrays. There was no way they would let their greed overwhelm them and ignore Richard''s warning.


    But just then the entire area shook. They got thrown to the side, Villin almost touched one of the protected items but just barely managed to pull back his hand.


    The shaking continued and they were unable to get back to their feet. Villin noticed the magic arrays were also flickering and small bits of the ceiling started falling down. He immediately realized the room was going to collapse, they had to get out of here.


    All four of them had the same thought as they crawled toward cracked the statue that sat down on the dirt throne with difficulty, being thrown around a couple of times while they were at it, but they didn''t know where the eyes were.


    The shaking lessened a bit allowing them to stand but they didn''t ease up in the least, the ceiling was still crumbling. After looking through the room without seeing any eyes Villin was about to share his grim thought that perhaps they had to sacrifice their own eyes when Rein pointed toward where they had come from.


    "The other statues, we can take theirs."


    The others didn''t respond to this as they all started running toward it, even if it might be wrong, it was a possibility, and none of them wanted to be buried alive so they grabbed onto it.


    Even though the shaking lessened further the crumbling intensified. Villin saw a rock land onto a magic array protecting an interspacial bag about twenty meters to their left. When it landed a blinding shock came out, the rock and interspacial bag had both disintegrated. When this room collapsed all of the treasures would be gone as well.


    Villin felt another one of these shocks to his right, and it came to about two centimeters of his side. He knew that if it touched him he would be dead no matter what.


    The quartet arrived at the two statues and without hesitation, they tried to grab the eyes. Surprisingly they came loose with just a slight pull, giving each of them an eye.


    But just as they were about to return to the statue on the dirt chair. The ones they had taken the eyes off became alive, slashing at the four of them horizontally with their scythes.


    Villin and Kayley both jumped over the blades, similar to how they jumped over the string of fire in Pompei''s class. Rein fell to the ground, letting the scythes just barely pass over his body. And Amelia cast a spell, allowing her to fly for a bit.


    Then the four of them dashed for the final statue. The ceiling was now collapsing heavily as explosions and flashes appeared all around them. The two other statues looked as if they were about to catch up but the flying Amelia cast a spell causing the statues to instantly move a lot slower.


    The trio on the floor was only fifteen meters away from the final statue when they noticed something. Some of the magic arrays protecting the treasures had been disrupted, allowing a couple of items to be taken without triggering a magic array.


    Villin had his eyes on one item to the left. One of the only wooden spell blueprints here and one item to the right, a regular looking wand. When he looked behind him, he saw the two statues were now slightly slower than them, he would only be able to get one of the items if he made a decision and sprinted for the wooden spell blueprint.


    Kayley and Rein also noticed some treasures were now unguarded and they both ran toward one they had noticed.


    As for Amelia, she was doing her absolute best to keep slowing the two statues, if the other three knew how much difficulty she had doing this they certainly wouldn''t have taken the risk.


    Nonetheless, she prevailed, allowing the others to survive.


    Yet just as Villin turned around to head for the cracked statue he did notice something that caused him to feel fearful.


    Above the wand he had considered grabbing a massive piece of the ceiling collapsed falling onto everything in the area. If he had gone for the wand he would probably be dead now.


    The other three also began feeling fear as now, massive parts of the ceiling were starting to fall down. If they were at the wrong place at the wrong time, they would have absolutely no chance of dodging.


    They no longer hesitated as they ran forward and put two eyes into the statue''s eye sockets. Closely followed by the two other statues. But they were lucky as the third statue immediately stood up revealing a hole just beneath where he had been sitting. Villin, Kayley, and Rein jumped in, closely followed by Amelia who had run out of magic power.


    "SHIIIIIT!!!"


    All of them cursed as they felt as if they were on a slide going at absolutely insane speeds. Amelia tried casting a spell that would temporarily strengthen her organs but was unable to due to a lack of magic power. They all felt fearful, if their momentum would be suddenly stopped they would surely die.

 Chapter 59: The Shack

    Everyone screamed as the speed kept increasing, Villin felt as if he was about to lose consciousness due to the pressure and Rein already had. After a bit, the direction started changing gradually as they were slowly turning back upward. As for what they saw, absolutely nothing.


    They must''ve been in some sort of tube but they were moving too fast to be able to see around them, they had to close their eyes if they didn''t want to risk losing their sight because of the wind.


    As they started heading more upward everyone had already lost their voices. Everyone except for Rein that is, who had just woken up again. Their speed started declining a bit allowing them to open their eyes as they continued moving up. Villin noticed they were in an earthen tube moving forward at extremely fast speed. It was only now that he realized he had put his hand beneath his body but when he looked at it he saw no burn wounds at all.


    They continued on for another five minutes and at this point, Villin felt somewhat bored. Even though they were still moving at approximately a hundred kilometers an hour, compared to earlier it really didn''t feel like much. Amelia also started to care a bit less about the mode of transportation while Kayley and Rein were still gritting their teeth trying to keep themselves from yelling out at every tiny bend.


    But just as Villin and Amelia started to relax, everyone saw a light in the distance they were going.


    Kayley and Rein looked happy knowing they''d be out of this place in a bit, but as for Villin and Amelia, they suddenly started screaming again, trying to stop their momentum.


    They were still moving upward at a very fast pace if they got shot out of the end of this speed they probably wouldn''t be able to survive the landing. Villin didn''t have a spell to soften the landing and Amelia didn''t have enough magical energy to use hers. As for Kayley and Rein, they hadn''t realized this fact yet.


    When all four of them got shot out of the tube, into the sky, Rein finally seemed to understand.


    "Eh?"


    He made a confused sound as he went up for another fifty meters, before he became completely pale when he started dropping down.


    The others weren''t much better off. At the very least they did notice they were above an ocean though but a drop of well over fifty meters wasn''t something to laugh at. Villin tried his best to put himself in a diving pose but hit the water with his legs first.


    He immediately felt intense pain in his feet and legs but affirmed he could still use them as he sunk a couple of meters deeper underwater before swimming upward.


    Shortly after he got up, gasping for breath, Kayley and Amelia did as well. They waited for a few more moments but Rein didn''t come up. As such, Villin and Amelia who were both decent swimmers swam down.


    Villin now noticed he could swim a lot faster with his increased strength and so soon he found Rein. Rein was trashing his arms around and Villin saw bubbles coming out of his mouth as he panicked. He quickly went to grab him underneath before using his feet to swim up, when they got halfway Amelia helped them as well.


    Rein coughed when he got above water, still supported by Villin and Amelia. As for Kayley even though she had some difficulty swimming she still managed to stay up without too much trouble.


    The four of them looked around, behind them they saw a pretty big rock formation, that was the place they had been shout out from. As for in front of them, they saw a tiny island with a small house on it. It wasn''t big and seemed to be made out of wood. But it would be big enough for the four of them to sleep in at the very least.


    The four of them climbed onto shore before falling onto the sand. They all felt mentally and physically exhausted. So much so, that they fell asleep right then and there.


    ---------


    After seven full hours, Villin was the first to wake up. He looked up at the sun and saw it was starting to become evening.


    He decided to let the others sleep for a bit more as he made his way into the one-story house. As soon as he entered, he cast the wandless version of Illuminatus, instantly brightening the whole place up. He walked out of his own spell before looking at it properly. The house seemed to have some basic things. There were some closets and shelves on the walls. There was also a fireplace and a couple of comfortable-looking chairs, it was a bit dirty but he only had to cast the cleaning spell a couple of times to fix that.


    Just above the fireplace, Villin spotted a painting of a young man. Just then he heard a familiar voice behind him.


    "That should be Lord Roland. The first-ever headmaster of the academy and inventor of magic as we know it. Villin turned around to see Amelia, she had woken up shortly after him and walked up while he was cleaning.


    "Let''s see if there''s anything here we can use."


    Amelia nodded and they both started looking around. The closets were completely empty but Villin did find a small pouch on one of the shelves. He grabbed it and reached into it before looking at Amelia with surprise. She then quickly walked u and asked what was wrong.


    "Looks like you got yourself an interspacial pouch."


    As Villin said that, he once more reached into the pouch, with his entire arm this time, before using his magic to pull up the items that were at the bottom. First of all he found a crystal holder. Furthermore, it held ten-thousand crystals, way more then what they needed. Just as he grabbed that Kayley and Rein also joined them.


    The second thing he found was a wand, no, actually there were half a dozen wands in there. They were all the same, being able to hold two spells of eleven nodes. Amelia, himself, and Kayley already had a wand as good as these but Rein happily accepted one of them.


    After this Villin took out book after book. First were a bunch of school books, but all of them seemed to be old versions from years long passed. The schoolbooks were for the first two grades. Finally came half a dozen of iron spell blueprints. Rein was the one who first shared his theory.


    "I think this might be something the founder set up in case The Academy ever got destroyed. Some wands, funds, theoretical books, and some spell blueprints. Back then this was probably enough to try and make a new school."


    The others nodded as it made sense. If the academy ever got destroyed but a teacher managed to escape to here, they might be able to reestablish the academy again. But now these things were simply taken by a couple of students, meant to increase their strength.

 Chapter 60: The Deal

    Once the group took everything, Rein walked up to the fireplace and bend down. The others were somewhat confused at his action until they heard a creak.


    When Villin looked in his direction he saw Rein open a circular hatch, then he looked in, his face paled, and he closed it again.


    This reaction confused Villin a bit, what would make him pale like that just by looking at it? Corpses?


    He walked over and looked at the floor but he didn''t say anything, he reached down to look for the handle and did find it then, it seemed to be hidden by some sort of illusion yet Rein still spotted it somehow. It made Villin think back to the arena where Rein could see the spectators while they couldn''t.


    When he pulled the hatch open, Villin immediately realized why Rein had gotten so pale. There was another tube that went straight down. Kayley who walked up with him also immediately paled, Amelia, on the other hand, gave them some information.


    "These things should be called hyperloops. They were the best mode of transportation before long-distance teleportation was a thing. They are simply enchanted tunnels which makes their magical signature tiny. Should be safe though, they are said to be able to last a thousand years."


    With that bit of extra information, Villin decided to speak up himself "This place isn''t safe, we don''t know what happened at The Academy but it is very possible that Decorus took over the first grade. We should go through and find a way to contact The Academy again." he was mainly trying to convince Kayley and Rein since he was pretty sure Amelia also intended to go through.


    Surprisingly the no pale-faced Rein walked up to the hole in the floor. He looked at the people around him and jumped in while screaming.


    Amelia and Villin were surprised, they thought he would need the most convincing but he went in almost immediately. They then both looked at Kayley "I am really NOT okay with this."


    With those words, she also jumped in before starting her screams. Villin and Amelia looked at each other for a moment with a smile before they both jumped in as well. This time around Villin found it a lot nicer. Rather than constantly falling, potentially to your death, he tried thinking of it as a rollercoaster.


    This time they were in the hyperloop for about ten minutes. In these ten minutes, they had changed directions many times, this time the exit was at the end of a flat bit. The four of them prepared to fall off a cliff as they once more took positions that would help them hit water without breaking too many bones.


    Surprisingly they didn''t get thrown off a cliff, instead, they got thrown flat across water like a skipping stone. All of them bounced multiple times off of the water, something that gave them pretty bad burn wounds, before they went under.


    Since they weren''t thrown downward into the water Rein managed to stay above the water for a bit by splashing his arms around randomly. Villin and Amelia then quickly went up to help him stay afloat.


    When they looked around they were surprised. They once again came from a rock formation that came over the water, even though they couldn''t see a hole in it, it was probably hidden by an illusion. Then about a hundred meters further toward the side they were thrown at there was a beach. It was getting pretty late but they all noticed there still seemed to be people walking around the beach. Villin even saw a couple of dogs being walked.


    And so, they made their way toward the beach. Kayley was having some trouble swimming the final part but just about managed. When they walked onto the beach they immediately got some strange looks. This was to be expected, they were all wearing robes, and these robes also had tears in them.


    Just past the beach, they all saw big buildings of up to twelve stories. Even though Villin and Amelia didn''t react much to it, Kayley and Rein were stunned. They had never been to the mortal world and all the houses of magus'' were either underground or inconspicuous, not like these massive buildings before them.


    Villin was about to say they should go get some mortal clothes and get changed in a hotel when he realized something, they didn''t have any money. Or well, nothing in the currency of people here.


    "Alright, let''s get off of the beach and into the city, we''re going to have to rob a couple of mortals. Villin you have a spell that causes people to fall asleep right? If you just use that one there shouldn''t be too much trouble.


    Everyone nodded at that plan. Kayley and Rein didn''t care much about mortals and Villin saw the necessity. And so the group quickly made their way into the city while receiving a whole bunch of weird looks. There were some cars driving around on the city road, another thing that made Rein and Kayley look really surprised.


    After a while, they arrived in an abandoned alleyway, just the kind where you would expect getting robbed, and they decided to just wait there for a bit, if anyone came into an alleyway like this they could only blame themselves if they got robbed so Villin''s last bit of guilt he felt since he was going to rob someone disappeared with this thought.


    Surprisingly, they didn''t have to wait long. Everyone in the group except for Rein had a hiding spell of some sort, luckily Amelia had a spell that could hide multiple people so when they grouped up they were ready. They did have to make sure the mortal wouldn''t see them use any magic so they would have to wait until they passed them before casting a spell at them.


    Yet, just before he went past all of them, the young man who seemed to be around thirty stopped. He was holding a briefcase and seemed to be waiting for something.


    From the other end of the alleyway someone that looked like a businesswoman entered. She had blonde hair and was also holding a briefcase, she looked rather nervous.


    Villin now expected a drug deal to take place, perhaps some bribery, but what the group saw next shocked all of them.


    When they stood about three meters away from each other they looked around once more to make sure nobody saw them. Then they both put their briefcases in front of their feet and opened them, revealing the contents to the other party.


    In the businesswoman''s briefcase were a bunch of bills in what Villin assumed was this country''s currency. In the man''s briefcase, on the other hand, was only a single vial with something purple in it. The woman looked at it and looked around again to make sure nobody was listening.


    "So, if I take this, my daughter will be a- a-"


    "A magus, indeed. Thus far we have sold two-dozen vials and eighty percent of the kids were soon after approached by who we assume work for the magical society."


    The woman nodded and closed her briefcase again, the man followed suit. Then they each walked towards the other''s briefcase. Grabbed it. And kept walking to the other side.


    As soon as they both passed them, Villin and Kayley both stepped up. Villin cast Drowse at the man while Kayley did the same to the woman and they both dropped.


    They seemed to have stumbled onto something extraordinary, and, to Villin, it seemed a little too much of a coincidence.

 Chapter 61: Not A Coincidence?

    Villin looked at his companions and then at the two bodies on the ground. He saw Rein and Kayley heading toward the woman that held the briefcase with the ''drug'' but he stopped them.


    "This is too much of a coincidence, we should assume we''ve been found out, we have to move."


    Amelia nodded but neither Rein nor Kayley were convinced, Kayley was the one that spoke up with a frown "Come on Villin, they''re only a couple of mortals. There''s not even an ounce of magic energy on these people. But that drug, if it''s really able to awaken someone''s web, it''s invaluable, the council would pay great prices for such a find."


    Even though Villin found everything really sketchy, he planned to let Kayley and Rein grab the objects, after all, he wasn''t their boss and it wasn''t like he could tell them what to do.


    But just as he gave in and Kayley went back over to grab the briefcase, Rein looked at the briefcase with an odd look. Then, just as Kayley was about to reach it, he pointed his wand toward it and cast a spell.


    None of the others had expected this at all, after all, Rein was one of the people who also wanted to get the contents of the case. And just like that, the spell hit the briefcase straight on. The briefcase shot twenty meters further back and a purple gas came out of the hole Rein''s spell had created.


    Kayley was just about to get angry at Rein for not discussing anything when the latter spoke. "That''s no special potion, it''s a sort of knock-out gas. A whiff of that and you''ll drop like a rock. We shouldn''t overestimate our luck. It seems like Villin and Amelia were right, this is too much of a coincidence. For us to stumble upon such an important event within our first hour here, and for the event to be shown and explained to us like this, it seems it is too coincidental.


    Rein spoke in a calm and composed manner causing Kayley to listen without getting enraged further. She huffed before turning around, causing Villin to frown.


    When he thought about it, he really didn''t know any of his companions that well. He didn''t know their ideologies, beliefs, or even their true personalities.


    Kayley still stood where she was before pointing at the second briefcase, the one holding money "Then that one should have that gas too right?"


    Rein didn''t respond but simple pointed his wand and once more the familiar streak of red light shot out of it. The briefcase got shot back and once more gas seemed to be coming out of it. Kayley was immediately taken aback "Shit, you''re right."


    Rein nodded as he looked at Villin and Amelia with a somewhat odd look. "Let''s go then."


    Villin really wanted to get out of here now, and he wanted to get out quickly. Since Rein''s words were proven true it meant there were people that knew they were magus. The existence of Magus was supposed to be a complete mystery for mortals. And well, everyone in this group had simply assumed this was a decision made by the magus, hell, even Villin agreed magus were a superior species overall.


    But they were wrong, and soon they found out just how wrong they were.


    With everyone now knowing they were being hunted in some capacity, nobody wanted to be the reason for delay. Villin was the first to run to one end of the alleyway but the others weren''t far behind.


    As for Rein knowing about the gas, nobody questioned it, this wasn''t the time or place to discuss some things.


    Villin was already making a plan inside of his head. They would go immediately and find a mode of transportation, get to another city, wait until night, and then find a hotel. Instead of paying for the place, they could use magic to sneak into one of the empty rooms.


    But all of that was bound to never happen. Just when the group got out of the alleyway they were greeted by ten men in combat gear, all of them having rifles pointed at their faces. Villin knew this and that from the mortal world since he was able to access some of this body''s previous owner''s memories. Guns were rare, and extremely expensive to make. Rifles were only used by elite squads of the military and the bodyguards of the most important people in the world. It wasn''t something just anyone could get their hands on.


    All four of them swallowed as they looked at all of the barrels pointed at their faces. Villin didn''t have any spells that could protect him from physical harm at all. Reverto and Sheldium were both made to defend against magical attacks.


    As for Amelia, she was about to try and cast a defensive spell on the group when she saw a glint on one of the rooftops. There was a man laying there with a sniper rifle. Now that she saw this person it didn''t take long for her to spot three more.


    No matter what there was no way her defenses could defend against a weapon such as that.


    All of the people pointing their guns were wearing black clothes and a mask covering the upper half of their faces.


    They all put their hands up and just as they did so, they felt a prick against the back of their necks, less than a second after this prick, they had all fallen to the ground.


    "Targets neutralized, bring them over to the temporary research facility for questioning."


    The leader was one of the men holding a sniper rifle and soon his orders were followed as the quartet got tied up and put into a black van that pulled into the small street.


    The civilians walking just a few streets away had absolutely no clue what had just transpired. And so, the four of them were sent to a warehouse just outside of the city, two hours away. The four of them had their wands taken and were now each tied up to a chair.


    ''Out of the frying pan but into the fire.'' was a good idiom about how they each felt as they woke up.

 Chapter 62: Technology in a Nutshell

    Villin was the first to wake up. He was sitting in a hard wooden chair, there was a thick rope that tied him to the chair, this rope also made sure his hands were tied properly and lastly, it connected to a metal beam behind him.


    Other than this Villin was also in handcuffs. To his right, he noticed Rein and Kayley had received a similar treatment, but Amelia was nowhere to be seen.


    Before anything else, Villin closed his eyes again and tried to recall the memories of this body''s previous owner. Thus far he hadn''t really been interested in anything non-magical so he hadn''t paid much attention to it.


    He recalled this world had taken a few different paths when looking at scientific development. For one, the people here never went into the sky. Airplanes weren''t invented as people simply kept working on better cars to drive around farther. As for boats, even though they were there they were very behind the times. The three continents were very far away from each other if you wanted to traverse the sea and the current boats weren''t able to go so far.


    Other than transportation mainly staying on the ground, there were two other big technologies that were lacking behind compared to earth. The first was communication, there was no way to communicate from long distances. Radios were invented but they were more like record players compared to anything else. You would have to go to the store every week to get ''last week''s broadcasts''.


    The second piece of technology that was far behind was mass-production. Compared to earth''s modern society creating something here was a very long process. Metal objects still got made by smiths instead of machines which slowed things down a lot, if it wasn''t for plastic being a thing the society here would probably be very different compared to earth.


    Plastic replaced a lot of things. Showerheads, pipes, machines, most things generally made out of metal were actually made from plastic here. Most of the factories also took plastic as a base for the products they would produce.


    Metal was expensive and high-class. For example, the metal radio at Silver''s house would cost over fifty times more compared to a regular one.


    There were also a number of smaller things that weren''t invented. The biggest one of these was the lack of gunpowder. They didn''t have the materials here for gunpowder but they had found something with somewhat similar effects, called blaston. This was used for the creation of fireworks and guns.


    Guns were very, very quick to improve compared to earth. As a regular person, the previous Villin didn''t know much. But the fact was that blaston wasn''t a commonly known thing to make. It was a tightly guarded secret of Vermina, one of the three nations in the central continent and the one he lived in.


    He had seen a gun three times thus far. The first time was in a museum. It was a museum showing some of the specialties Vermina was known for and blaston was in one of the exhibitions together with the first-ever gun.


    This was a very new invention. Blaston was invented fifty years ago and the first gun, which was an old-looking rifle without a magazine or anything of the like, was only forty years old.


    The second time he saw a gun was when he was listening to a speech of the governor on tv. Tensions were somewhat high at the moment so there were a couple of guards that had guns. With the knowledge he had now he recognized them to be modern pistols.


    The third time he saw a gun was just before he got put to sleep. They looked like modern rifles and the soldiers seemed to be highly trained. There also seemed to be proper sniper rifles. Compared to earth guns were made a lot better a lot faster.


    Of Course, Villin knew they should be in very limited supply. Making a metal contraption as complicated as a modern gun wouldn''t be an easy thing, especially since it was such a new invention.


    Most other technologies were very similar compared to earth though. Even though there weren''t any true skyscrapers the buildings were still mostly tall and sturdy, made very well.


    Cars, even though made mostly of plastic, weren''t much worse compared to the modern-day ones. The only place they were somewhat lacking were safety precautions, and as for education, it seemed to be even better compared to earth. About twenty percent of the jobs were teaching ones, good education was extremely valued.


    Now that he recalled all of this information Villin fell into deep thought again. The people that took them had proper rifles and currently the rope he was bound with connected to a metal pipe properly attached to the wall. This meant this should be some sort of government base.


    Even though Villin wanted to wake up Rein and Kayley, he didn''t want to raise his voice, after all, he didn''t know if there might be some of those soldiers trying to listen in through the door a few meters in front of them.


    Just then he realized something and if he could''ve he would''ve slapped his forehead right there. Why was he trying to find a way to contact them properly when he had magic. Mentallage was very easy to cast and it worked with or without a wand. You didn''t even need eye contact to cast it so why was he stressing.


    After casting the spell he connected himself to Kayley and Rein. "WAKE UP!"


    He screamed into their minds causing both of them to instantly wake up, They looked around in bewilderment for a few seconds before properly realizing what had happened.


    "Alright guys, I think it''s best if you stay quiet for now, we don''t know if someone might be listening in. These people looked like professionals there might be someone trying to listen in beneath the floorboards or something of the like."


    Rein and Kayley felt weird when he heard Villin''s voice in his head but they nodded nonetheless.


    "They seemed to have taken away our wands but luckily they didn''t seem to have searched us too thoroughly. They didn''t take my coin pouch so there are some spare wands in there. As for getting out of this situation, they didn''t seem to have cared about my gloves all too much."


    The two others looked at him with an odd expression, why would he bring up his gloves?


    Villin caught this and smiled slightly "Wands can come in all shapes and sizes you know."

 Chapter 63: Escaping Their Bindings

    Before doing anything else Villin looked around the room carefully. He checked the cracks between the floorboards and scanned the walls for any holes. After looking around for five minutes he decided there shouldn''t be anyone peeking in at them.


    Villin focused. The rope was thick, similar to those used in a boat, so even with his enhanced strength, there was no way he could break through those in a short amount of time.


    And so, he focused, connecting to the web. With his glove on casting a spell wasn''t much of a challenge, it was just that he wasn''t sure which one to use. ''Icy Pike'' doesn''t have a wandless version he knew off so that handy spell wasn''t one he could use at the moment.


    Drowse wasn''t a spell that would do anything against things that weren''t alive and Vinea Tenura was used for entangling others, not getting out of being entangled.


    This only left him with a few options. The first one was to use his strength to try and break the chair by bashing it against the metal pipe the rope was attached to. With the chair broken the rope would loosen up and breaking out wouldn''t be much of a problem anymore.


    The problem was that this would be very loud, it would also take an unknown amount of time, he wasn''t sure how sturdy the chair was after all.


    This made him decide to go with the other option. Cast fireball.


    Now, he had used his saved spells earlier so Villin decided to save two new spells first. If something went wrong during the escape this would give him a few more options.


    Now that Kayley and Rein also knew one of his gloves was a wand he decided to tell them of his plan. They nodded in agreement with his decision to save some spells first even if it may take a bit of time.


    The first spell Villin saved was ''Vinea Tenura''. He had only cast this spell once in his room thus far but it seemed to be a capable binding spell. He had no idea how good the gear of their enemies really was, there was a possibility his other spells would be completely ineffective so he wanted to make sure he would be able to do something for sure. If he could he would''ve saved this spell twice but sadly that just wasn''t possible.


    As for the second spell, he hesitated a little between ''Fireball'', ''Healium Paulatim'', and ''Chameleon'' but in the end, he decided to go for the healing spell. Fireball might not be able to do a lot of damage and well, Villin didn''t know enough about military equipment. It was possible the masks the soldiers wore that covered the top half of their face had heat sensors or things of the like and he doubted ''Chameleon'' would be able to hide from those.


    In short, he chose the two spells that would be effective with complete certainty.


    When he was done with that nearly two more hours had passed, both of the spells he saved were quite hard, and he had only cast ''Vinea Tenura'' once before.


    But during these two hours, nobody came for them and things stayed quiet. Kayley and Rein didn''t do anything idiotic and simply pretended they were still asleep. The only thing Villin was currently worried about was Amelia, she was still nowhere to be seen.


    Nonetheless, their own survival came first. If the three of them managed to escape maybe they could contact ''The Academy'' somehow and receive reinforcements. And so, after these two hours, Villin finally cast ''Fireball''.


    Similar to previously a ball of fire formed within Villin''s right hand. Even though Villin couldn''t feel the heat coming from it, he knew it existed. He moved his hand up a bit so that the fireball reached the rope he was bound with and succeeded.


    As he had hoped for the fireball set some of the rope aflame. Surprisingly though, as the fire spread wider across the rope the ball in his hand became smaller. It seemed that the amount of fire was stable and it was impossible for the fire to truly spread, an unexpected finding but not one that Villin disliked.


    After less than a minute, the rope around his hands was thin enough for Villin to power through them. And as he did so, the iron chain between his handcuffs also broke releasing him.


    From there getting out of the chair was easy. He grabbed one of the wands out of his interspacial pouch and pointed at the rope keeping his feet attached to the chair. A few casts of ''Icy Pike'' later he was completely free from the chair.


    He then got up and did the same to the two others, using a few casts of the spell to free them. Both of them actually tried to replicate his move of simply breaking through the handcuffs with pure strength but were somewhat surprised to find this action to be impossible.


    Still, it is not like they suspected anything, after all, Villin was quite a bit fitter than both of them, so he went up and broke the chains of both of their handcuffs before handing them each a wand.


    As for the ''clasps'' of he handcuffs, they would have to walk with them. Villin had no way to break those and the others also didn''t seem to have a spell capable enough.


    The three of them then came close to each other and began talking in whispers. Breaking out had still made a decent bit of noise even with this method so there shouldn''t be a problem with silently talking.


    They eventually agreed Rein and Kayley would spend some time saving their own spells before attempting their escape. It wasn''t an easy decision to make but they all decided on this together, everyone would feel a lot better if they had some capable spells that could change the situation instantly.


    While they were doing this Villin would keep guard, if anyone opened the door he would take them down, and then they could all make a break for it even if they weren''t fully prepared.


    ----------------------------


    At the same time on the other side of the warehouse.


    Amelia was also sitting on a chair, but she wasn''t bound up like the others. When she woke up she noticed she was sitting on a chair, the only odd thing was a metal device that encased both of her hands. As soon as she noticed her hands were stuck together in this full-metal device, she tried casting a spell, but as soon as she did, the magical energy she tried to control to enter into her web got sucked toward the machine making her completely incapable of casting anything.


    Suddenly a happy voice spoke to her "So I see you''re awake. Since you broke the agreement don''t blame us for not being civil. We''ve long since run out of test material from the previous war, I''m happy I''ll be able to test some of the new theories I''ve come up with."


    Amelia looked up and saw a woman about a dozen meters away from her. She was wearing a lab coat and glasses, her hair was also very noticeable as it was a pure crimson color.


    A few meters behind her were two of the armed soldiers she had met earlier standing on either side of the door.


    But that wasn''t what Amelia really focused on. More important than all that was the plastic table next to the woman. On that table laid a multitude of different things. There were a number of different sorts of knives and also some weird materials that were enveloped in clear liquid in some glass jars. An eye and an ear were the only things Amelia recognized.


    "Well then, let''s start our work now shall we, we have a busy day ahead of us!" The scientist woman said happily as she approached Amelia with a scalpel and some vials.

 Chapter 64: Surprise Attack

    {Content warning: this chapter contains a fair bit of gore, if you aren''t comfortable with that please feel free to skip it.}


    "Now hasn''t this been fun. Let''s work together again in a few days, the equipment here is rather lacking."


    A woman with red hair and a bloodied lab coat said to the crying girl that was covering her eyes with the contraption keeping her hands together.


    She tried to resist, she really did. She thought that maybe she would be able to escape since she wasn''t tied to anything but she was wrong. The red-haired scientist only had to press a button on a receiver she had in her coat for all the energy to suddenly leave Amelia''s body. Making her incapable of moving on her own volition.


    When Amelia finally regained control of her body she had already lost her will to resist. She was huddled up in the corner shaking, hiding her face. Only an hour had passed yet she was afraid, very, very afraid.


    When she moved the contraption away from her eyes it became clear what might''ve happened in this short hour to make her react in this way. A large, bloodied hole was now where her left eye once was. Blood seeping from it into the ground. It looked terrifying, as it had bloodied half of her face as well.


    Other than this, her left arm also looked terrible. Pieces of skin were cut off of her arms causing massive open wounds to be seen. Yet all of this was done in a way skillful enough so that she wouldn''t die. Even though she bled, the amount was very little compared to the wounds they came from.


    Amelia kept shaking, she thought the other three must''ve been subjected to the same fate as her. There was no hope in her remaining eye, all she saw was fear and despair.


    ------------------


    At this time, Rein and Kayley had finally finished their preparations as they had both saved their spells.


    The group was ready to go at last. All of them were somewhat afraid but they also felt determined to get out of here.


    Just as they nodded at each other and prepared to open the door, they heard a muffled voice from the other side of the door.


    "Get her in the truck and to the main facility to the west. A spot should be opening up there soon. As for the three others, their powers don''t seem to have focused yet, the seeker barely even detects them. It is likely they are newly awakened, sent them to the facility to the east, it is best if we let them grow for a bit before working on them. Go administer some gas to make sure they stay under."


    "Yes ma''am."


    The three of them all heard the voices. The first speaker seemed to be female while the second one was male. They heard clear footsteps going away from their direction for a bit before the footsteps of a different person walked to the door.


    The trio immediately went to stand in front of the door, prepared to send whoever came through the door back out of it with their spells.


    And just like that, the door opened. As soon as it did the trio fired off their spells. The soldier that was still wearing his full gear was shocked and wasn''t able to respond in time.


    Rein''s spell arrived first, it was the same one he sent at the briefcases the previous time, and this time it headed straight for the soldier''s chest. Yet when it hit the black armor the streak seemed to simply bounce off of it as it now headed for one of the walls.


    Luckily Kayley and Villin were also casting. Kayley pointed at the floor just behind the soldier, the wooden boards immediately changed into spikes. This in itself didn''t seem to do anything but then Kayley suddenly moved her wand downward and the spikes followed, they hit the back of the soldier''s feet causing him to fall backward.


    But he had only just started falling when Villin''s spell arrived. A blue streak hit the bottom half of the soldier''s face. The now drowsy soldier wasn''t able to stop himself from falling at all. And as soon as he landed onto the ground, Rein had already prepared and cast another spell. He didn''t have a large number of different spells so he opted to use the same spell again the red streak went right for the unexposed neck of the now fallen soldier.


    Immediately a hold appeared in the front part of the soldier''s neck. But he still wasn''t dead. He tried to gasp for air as he grabbed the rifle that was hanging on his chest. His first hand had just reacher there when another Drowse spell hit the struggling soldier. The soldier who was already struggling to retain his consciousness promptly fell asleep when the spell hit him, and a few seconds later his breathing stopped.


    The trio stared at the body before them frozen for a moment. This was real life, these were real people. None of them had truly realized the situation they were in previously but now that they could stare death in the face they realized.


    Kayley was the first to get out of her stupor, she crouched down and started searching the soldier. Rein looked as if he was going to puke and Villin didn''t really know what to feel. He was afraid, but right now he wasn''t afraid because of the situation, he was afraid because he didn''t care that they just killed someone.


    He didn''t feel regret at all, nor did he feel sorry for the man. After a few seconds, Kayley got up with a small key. The key was promptly used to fully unlock all of their handcuffs. Villin also figured out his emotions and decided to see his disregard for life currently as a good thing. He quickly thought of what to do. They hadn''t made much sound in the interaction at all, the soldier hadn''t screamed and none of their spells were super loud. It did make some sound when Kayley transformed some of the floor into spikes but it was limited, they should be somewhat okay for the moment.


    Villin quickly grabbed the soldier''s arms and dragged him into the room they were in. Then he pointed at the puddle of blood and cast the cleaning spell he knew, causing it to seep into the floorboards and then the earth underneath. The only damage that could be seen was that some of the floorboards were broken but there was nothing they could do about that.


    Kayley and Rein both looked at Villin now, he seemed to at least somewhat know what he was doing so they decided to listen to him.

 Chapter 65: Abandoning Amelia

    Seeing the other two looking at him Villin nodded. It would be a lot easier to move if they were united. He saw two paths they could take. The first was to break through the wall perhaps directly make their way out. But they didn''t know where they were and it might get them directly killed if they were in a military compound. Also, it would mean leaving behind Amelia.


    The other option was to blindly make their way through the ''facility'', look for Amelia, and restrategize since she surely had more spells compared to them.


    Villin decided to take the second option and started making his way forward through the corridor. Nobody took the gun since they weren''t familiar with it. They surely wouldn''t be able to compare with the actual soldiers if they used it, and it was surely very loud.


    The corridor didn''t look all that modern, the floor and walls were all made out of wooden planks. There were no decorations, the only thing they saw was that there was a door at the end of the corridor.


    Instead of opening the door, Villin stayed quiet and tried looking through the small cracks in between the wooden boards used to make the door.


    When he looked through he saw a warehouse. There were wooden boxes all over stacked atop of each other.


    Villin notified the others of what he saw using ''Mentallage'' before they prepared to burst through the door.


    The decision to burst through instead of entering silently was Villin''s. The area they came from was obviously a containment area, where they kept their ''prisoners''. Since this was so it seemed likely there would be guards posted just outside of this area of the building. If they went quietly and opened the door slowly the potential guards would have time to react so he decided to go for a quick breach.


    They all breathed in a few times to properly calm down before Villin took a few steps back. Then, he sprinted toward the door with full speed putting his shoulder forward.


    With his increased strength, there was no way Villin would fail at breaching open a door of this quality. A loud crack could be heard as the door came off of its plastic hinges and flew forward another meter.


    Villin heard a surprised yelp from both his left and right and immediately decided to turn to the left.


    There he saw another one of the soldiers. He had stumbled back a few steps and seemed to be in a state of shock as he didn''t immediately reach for his gun. His hesitation didn''t last long though, as soon as he noticed Villin was focusing on him he reached for the rifle that was strapped on his chest.


    Sadly for the soldier, Villin wouldn''t give him the chance. The soldier was only a meter away from Villin so this distance wasn''t enough for the soldier to get his bearing and grab his gun.


    Villin jumped forward, bashing his shoulder against the soldier. And a second later they both fell to the ground atop of each other.


    The soldier immediately reached for the knife that was strapped on his own soldier, in a normal situation he would be able to do so and probably successfully kill the person atop of him who didn''t have a lot of actual combat experience but sadly he was up against someone who had strength far beyond him.


    All Villin really did when they fell to the ground was punch the soldier in the chest repeatedly but it was enough. The first punch already broke a few ribs and the third punch caused one of these ribs to puncture the heart, killing the soldier.


    Just when he finished off the soldier on his side, Villin heard a loud bang from behind him. Afraid one of his companions got shot Villin quickly turned around, only to see the soldier slump down with a hole in his neck. As for the gun, it was in the soldier''s hand but pointing toward the ceiling, both Rein and Kayley looked pale, but not hurt.


    That being said, the situation was now a lot worse compared to earlier. The gunshot was loud, very loud. There was no doubt the other people in this building would''ve heard it.


    "Shit, quickly head that way!"


    Villin pointed toward the area they came from. At the very least they knew there would be no soldiers coming from there and they would only hand to defend a single corridor.


    The trio rushed in and kept running all the way until they got back to the ''cell'' they came from. "Kayley, use your spell to change the floor so it blocks the door somewhat, making it harder for people to enter."


    Kayley looked confused for a second before understanding what Villin meant. She pointed at the floor in front of the door with her wand and some spikes were made that would stop the door from opening.


    After this Villin looked at the room they were in. Other than the corpse of the soldier who they had killed there were only the ropes and metal pipes that were connected to the walls.


    "We''re breaching the wall. If you have any spell capable of tearing through wood please use them." Villin said in a determined voice, he could hear some people yelling behind them, some of the other soldiers had arrived at the two corpses they had left in the warehouse.


    "What about your friend?" Kayley asked as she thought about Amelia.


    "We can only save her if we''re alive, we''re not strong enough to fight prepared soldiers."


    His reply sounded cold but was realistic enough for the other two to listen to him. They both started using spells to try and make a hole big enough for all of them in the wall. Meanwhile, Villin pointed at the door with his glove, he could now hear footsteps, the soldiers had arrived at the door.


    Then Villin used his saved spell ''Vinea Tenura'' and vines burst through the floorboards within the second, Villin felt he had some control over them and so the thick vines kept the door closed, making it a lot harder to breach through.


    Soon after this, the hold in the wall was big enough for them all to go through and so they jumped through the hole before running.

 Chapter 66: So Stupid It Might Just Work

    When Villin jumped out of the hole in the wall, he immediately started sprinting together with Rein and Kayley. Luckily they didn''t seem to be in some sort of military base, instead, they could see a city only about ten kilometers to the west.


    The problem was that there wasn''t anything between the city and the warehouse, the city was surrounded by flat grasslands with extremely little vegetation. There was no place to hide.


    Rein and Kayley looked as if they were close to panicking but Villin didn''t feel this way at all. He felt calm and was able to think about the situation realistically.


    In at most three minutes the soldiers would have smashed open either the door or a part of the wall. Another ten seconds later they would have made their way to where they were standing now. Even though Villin wasn''t sure how accurate the rifles of these soldiers were he still recalled they also had weapons that looked like sniper rifles.


    Villin looked toward the left and right of them. With the city on the left side, the right side was just empty for as far as they could see. Other than a bush here and there there was nothing else.


    Rein and Kayley were looking at Villin nervously. They had been thinking of possible ways to survive. Thus far the only option seemed to be trying to use stealth spells but they had no idea how effective these would be, they somewhat wished they tried on the mask of the first soldier they killed now. Then at least they would be able to know if Villin''s guess was right and they could track heat.


    "We''re going to attack them," Villin said calmly after about ten seconds.


    "Huh?"


    Both Rein and Kayley reacted in the same way. They remembered when they were taken there were at least fourteen soldiers in total. There was no way they could defeat so many, hell thus far they had only been able to take care of some soldiers because they weren''t prepared. If they were holding their guns and were alert and ready to fire even just the first soldier they killed would''ve had a decent chance at killing one of them.


    But before they could voice their concerns, Villin laid out the plan.


    "Right now we broke through the back wall of the warehouse but our enemies probably still believe we are fortified inside. Pretty much all of them should be heading to the door we blocked off right now, ready to take us out. This means the front of the warehouse should be largely unprotected. On our own, we stand almost no chance against these soldiers.


    Kayley, you may have a large variety of spells but they mostly lack power. Rein each of your spells may be incredibly useful but you don''t have enough of them. As for myself, I am also lacking in both of these parts.


    But Amelia is different. She only stayed within the first grade because a teacher told her to. She even has a healing spell meaning she should''ve been in the top three in one of last year''s tournaments. She has a bunch of spells and knows how to utilize them better.


    So the plan is to go in through the front as quietly as possible, find Amelia, and then let her think of a way to escape utilizing her spells."


    Rein and Kayley looked at Villin with surprise, they didn''t think he would be able to properly plan under this kind of pressure, they certainly couldn''t.


    Before they could ask Villin about the plan some more though, he already started taking off. In about two-and-a-half minutes the enemies would probably realize they had escaped the room. Even though there was almost no way they would then suspect them to have infiltrated again, they might have people capable of tracking their footprints and the soldiers would probably spread out a little again, increasing security over the entire facility.


    Villin sprinted, he decided to move past the western side, just in case they had someone that came from the city. The trio sprinted quickly, soon arriving at the corner that would connect them to the front of the facility.


    Villin slowed down as he prepared to peek out to see if there was any security. When he slowly peaked out he was pleasantly supplied. There were some pallets with supplies and even a couple of forklifts in front of the big open gate that was used to enter the warehouse. It looked like some supplies were recently delivered and they were still busy bringing everything inside;


    Villin noticed one of the forklifts was in a raised position with a pallet attached, it was clear the worker had suddenly left.


    As for guards, Villin didn''t see any, Rein also peeked and confirmed this. It was likely the ''workers'' were supposed to be the guards and were actually also soldiers. After all, there was no way soldiers with some of the best weapons out there could just stand in front of the warehouse without attracting attention. There was still a road nearby so there were people that could notice such a thing.


    Villin and the others quietly snuck up to the open gate and prepared to enter. If there were guards waiting it was highly likely there would be one standing on either side again. Villin would once again take care of the potential enemy on the right with his overwhelming strength while the other two would cooperate to take care of the other soldier quietly using their magic.


    After Villin used ''Mentallage'' to count down from three the trio stormed into the warehouse, immediately focusing on where they suspected the enemies to be, but there were none.


    It looked like all the people defending the main entrance had indeed gone to the back. When Villin looked inside he once more noticed most of the area was like a warehouse. Surprise surprise.


    It looked like the plastic constructs holding the pallets went all the way from one side of the warehouse to the other, up until the containment area that was.


    To the right of them was another separate area though. This was quite normal, after all there were still people who had to do paperwork and the likes, normally Villin would''ve just assumed it was a place where the workers did this.


    But now this wasn''t the case. If Amelia was within this compound she had to be there. The only other option would be that she would be stashed in a random crate but if this was really the case, there was no way they would find her.


    From where they were the trio could hear voices coming from further inside of the warehouse. Around the area where they had killed two soldiers earlier. This made it so that Villin had to open the door they had to go through quietly. If they did like earlier and just barged through, the soldiers they heard now would be alarmed. Then it wouldn''t be long until they got blocked from the exit, and somehow Villin doubted the trick where they made a hole in the wall would work twice.

 Chapter 67: A Wonderful Machine

    Having to open the door at normal speed was nerve-wracking. If a guard was guarding it they would have enough time to grab their rifle and aim before they could even see each other. Luckily it looked like all the guards had really gone to the southern part of the warehouse.


    They were in a small hallway with two doors, both leading to the left. The group closed the door they came through behind them and prepared to open the next one. They started with the one closest to them.


    When they opened the door, ready to fight, they were surprised by what they saw.


    There were a number of typewriters sat on a table, with about a dozen chairs, one for each.


    When Villin looked at some of the documents laying next to the typewriters they seemed pretty normal. They showed proof of delivery, shipment information, and things of the like. It seemed that this warehouse mainly stored iron and copper, with some other metals thrown in there.


    But this barely even caught the groups'' attention. The most notable object in the room was at the very end. There was a full metal, mechanical device that took up the entire wall.


    When they got closer they saw hundreds upon hundreds of electrical wires in between full-metal plates. In the very middle, a box was popping out. It seemed to be a computer screen, just underneath it was a keyboard as well.


    Villin didn''t know what it was but the whole thing screamed groundbreaking technology. Kayley and Rein didn''t know where to look since they had never seen a computer but Villin did. He walked up to the computer screen and looked at it. The screen was very dark but Villin was still able to read what was on it. It looked like some sort of chat room.


    ---------------------


    HQ: Singular magus detected at point-of-interest fifty-seven. Eastern control squad 12, take care of the situation immediately.


    ES 12: Moving in immediately. Target will be detained and sent to the temporary facility at coordinates xxx-xx-xxx


    HQ: Acknowledged


    ES 12: Four targets detained. One target checks out as a magus, low threat. Three other targets seem to be newly-awakened, non-existing threat. The magus will be sent to the research facility at xxx-xx-xxx. Requesting permission to harvest the three newly-awakened.


    HQ: Permission denied. Sent them to us, we will use them in our talks with the council.


    ES 12: Understood.


    ----------------


    "Holy shit!"


    Villin''s unexpected exclamations attracted the attention of Rein and Kayley, who then also looked at the screen and squinted trying to read the words.


    Both Rein and Kayley then looked at Villin, they weren''t sure what was so weird. But this was only because they didn''t really know anything about the mortal words.


    "The fact these people seem to somehow have access to long-distance communication is horrible news. When we escape they will immediately send more people after us. At the very least there will be twelve times as many soldiers as we dealt with now. Furthermore, this is only in the east, who knows how many more people they''d have in the other regions and in headquarters."


    Villin was breathing slightly heavier now as he felt the pressure increase. "We have to destroy this machine before leaving, even if it will expose our location. If we can we should also destroy the tires of all their transportation. As long as they get to a different base it will probably still have this kind of machine, we need to delay them as much as possible.


    Villin felt himself calming down again as he thought about ways to improve their chances, then, he looked straight at Kayley.


    "Kayley, you have the perfect spell to get rid of their vehicles, go back out, and make sure they no longer have anything they can drive. If it''s safe and you finished it would be best if you can open the hood and destroy the engine as well, but only if it''s safe and quiet. Meanwhile, Rein and I will check the final room, we will destroy this machine in two minutes if possible so make sure you''re quick."


    In response to this Kayley nodded as she headed for the exit. Things were getting a lot more dangerous. Their enemies should realize they weren''t in that room any second now.


    "Let''s go," Villin said as Rein walked together with him toward the last unchecked door.


    Villin opened the door and ran in ready to pounce on whatever soldier he found, but there were none. What he did see however was a table with a number of metal tools on them, some of them bloodied. Then he heard something, a barely noticeable sobbing. He walked a few steps forward and noticed a girl sitting in the corner. Villin saw a patch of skin was missing from the girl''s arm and her hands were inside of some sort of metal box but this didn''t deter him.


    "Amelia!" Villin felt happy knowing she was alive and inside of the facility even if she had gotten hurt.


    Hearing a familiar voice, Amelia looked up. And when she did, she immediately saw Villin and Rein take a step back. Rein looked terrified, a normal expression to have when you see someone with a blood-covered face and a missing eye. But Villin didn''t look at her the same way, taking a step back he looked at her with a worried expression. Then he took multiple steps forward.


    "I''m sorry we didn''t get here sooner."


    Amelia felt like crying again, but this time it wasn''t because of fear and uncertainty. It was because she was happy, happy that he hadn''t looked at her in terror even now.


    Villin then put his glove on her arm and used his saved healing spell. Following that the pieces of skin that were missing were largely regrown but as for the eye, it was completely gone.


    "Let''s talk later alright Amelia? We have to get out of here." Even though Villin wanted to comfort his friend they didn''t have the time to, they could do so later. But before he turned around Amelia spoke to him.


    "The box around my hands, it sucks up all magic power it comes into contact with, I can''t cast anything right now." Amelia looked at him with a worried expression, this didn''t improve when she noticed he also looked worried.


    "Well, let''s try to get you out of them then. But no matter what we have to leave within two minutes, with or without magic."

 Chapter 68: A New Ally

    Villin tried his best to help Amelia get the ''cuffs'' off but no matter what they couldn''t. The box seemed to be made out of full metal making it extraordinarily hard to break.


    Villin felt slightly stupid for not taking the rifles from the guards they had taken out with them. If they did they might have a way to break it open after they left this place.


    After two minutes of tugging and bashing the box against the floor they had still gotten nowhere and it was time to go.


    Villin, Amelia, and Rein first made their way to the ''computer'' they had seen. Amelia looked at it in wonder but there was no time to linger. Villin told the two of them to be careful and pointed his hand upward. Two seconds later a red ball of fire appeared in Villin''s hand. Even though it surely wouldn''t be capable of melting metal, it should be able to seriously mess up all the wiring.


    He promptly threw the fireball toward the screen where the chatroom was displayed and as soon as it hit sparks came out of the machine. Two more seconds passed and a second fireball was thrown, this time Villin chose a place near the bottom left of the wall that seemed to have a lot of unprotected wiring.


    As soon as the fireball hit electric bolts came out of the machine, one of them hit one of the typewriters which then got thrown back a meter. The sound the electricity made when it hit the floor was nearly as loud as a gunshot. By this point, the soldiers should have already found out the back room was empty but before just now they probably assumed they were headed for the city or the forest. Sadly this instantly changed when the gunshot-like sound sounded out a couple of times from inside of the warehouse.


    "Shit!"


    Even though Villin didn''t expect the destruction of the machine to be silent, this certainly was a bit much. Himself, Rein, and Amelia quickly headed toward the door that headed toward the main warehouse, but they were all out of luck.


    Before they even got there they heard a voice from behind the door.


    "Johnson, kick the door down, Geralt, be prepared to fire alongside me. Let''s go people!"


    The trio hurriedly ran back, hoping to take refuge in the room where Amelia had been imprisoned, but just before they got to that door two things happened. Firstly, the sound of wood breaking came from behind them as Johnson kicked the door down. Just behind him were two other soldiers both aiming their rifles right at the group.


    Just a few milliseconds later after this, a second situation occurred. A massive explosion took place blowing up the wall in front of Villin, Rein, and Amelia. Villin suddenly felt a great pressure arriving at the front of his entire body, it almost felt strange. But just as he thought that he got shot back a meter and the pain arrived. All three of them got knocked to the ground because of the explosion.


    As for the soldiers a couple of meters away from them, even though they each took back a step they would soon recover.


    Villin spat out a mouthful of blood before looking through the massive hole, it seemed it was all really done now. The enemy even blew up their own walls to get to them, there was no way they could defend against such an explosion.


    But then the unimaginable happened, no soldier came out of the hole that was now filled with both regular dust and sawdust. Then, three dark orbs shot out of this dust. They were fast, incredibly fast and before Villin even realized it they had shot over them and hit the soldiers on their armor.


    ''Magic?!''


    Villin was alarmed when he saw this, but he figured it would be useless, their spells just bounced off the soldiers'' armor there was no wa-


    When the three dark orbs hit the armor it stopped for a moment, but then it suddenly grew, within three seconds the black orbs encompassed each of the soldiers'' upper bodies.


    Then, another second later, the orbs became smaller in size again before disappearing completely. Three pairs of legs, three helmets, and three pieces of what seemed to be some sort of bulletproof vests all fell to the ground.


    The upper bodies of the soldiers had completely disappeared, all that remained were the bits of armor and the legs that were spurting out blood occasionally.


    Villin, Rein, and Amelia looked at this scene with bulging eyes. The spell arrived so fast it was impossible to counter, then it rapidly grew before instantly killing three people with ease.


    All three of them stared at the hole in the wall, hoping to see a silver or golden robe signifying a teacher.


    "Well get up then you three, time to get out of here."


    Out of the mist came a man with messy brown hair and regular blue eyes. He looked about twenty and was wearing casual jeans and a denim jacket. He was also wearing a red hat with a brand symbol on it.


    The man casually pointed what looked like a regular branch at each of them and they instantly felt a bunch better, the bits of internal damage caused by the explosion was mostly gone after just a second or so. The only wounds they still had were some splinters since they hadn''t taken them out yet.


    As if in sync, the three of them quickly jumped up. Villin was the one who answered the man. "Sure! Let''s get out of here."


    He had let down his guard. If this man wanted to kill them he could do so easily and time was tight. Villin didn''t know how much magic power the black orbs consumed but it was probably quite a bit and Villin didn''t know if he would be able to take out all of the soldiers present.


    "There''s a girl outside as well, she was messing with the vehi-" Just as he started to say this a second figure came from behind the first, it was Kayley.


    "Guys, you''re alright!" Kayley said this when she saw both Villin and Rein were alive but when she noticed Amelia she instantly got quite a bit paler, the bloodied face and missing eye were still quite terrifying.


    "My dad came to get us, let''s get out of here." Kayley turned a bit more serious as she told them of the identity of this man who looked no older than twenty.


    Hope blossomed in everyone''s eyes. Amelia also looked a bunch better as she felt a bunch safer instantly.

 Chapter 69: The True Enemy?

    Villin, Rein. and Amelia were quick to get up and run toward the man. All they knew right now was that this man was a proper Magus and surely he had a bunch more spells compared to them.


    When they stood next to the casually dressed man he raised his wand toward the doorway that had three pairs of legs laying next to it and a solid stone wall grew out of the ground blocking it entirely.


    "Take ''em to the truck will ya." The man''s voice was quite deep and just after he said this Kayley pushed them further away from the warehouse.


    "The truck is nearby, we''ll be safe in a bit but we still have to hurry now!" Kayley looked quite nervous as she started running toward the city that was still a decent distance away.


    When Villin turned his head he saw a peculiar sight. Kayley''s dad was floating in mid-air just above the warehouse with his wand in its holster. He was simply holding his hand out in the direction of the warehouse and three seconds later Villin was flabbergasted.


    A massive purple fireball was forming in front of the man. First, it was the size of a regular fireball but after these three seconds, the purple fireball was already four times as large as a person.


    Then the fireball headed toward the warehouse at a relatively slow pace, it looked like it would take about ten seconds for the fireball to hit the roof of the building.


    At this point, he once more drew his wand and pointed it toward the purple fireball. A black streak came out of the wand and the fireball seemed to implode. Within a second it became tiny, but then it suddenly exploded, it exploded into a sea of purple flames, now rapidly falling toward the warehouse, encompassing all of it.


    Half a second later hundreds of tiny explosions happened, every time a tiny whist of purple fire hit something it exploded causing whatever it hit to be destroyed.


    Within five seconds there was no more warehouse, instead, there was a massive crater on the ground.


    And then something moved. At the bottom of the crater stood two figures. Both of them were wearing a regular guard uniform and seemed absolutely unscathed, but now they took off their masks.


    "Oh, hey Gerry, it''s been a while!" one of the soldiers looked at the floating mage and said in a happy voice. He had red eyes and long blonde hair, he looked rather handsome.


    The other soldier looked a lot more serious, he had the same red eyes but had messy black hair instead. "He didn''t even leave any corpses," he stated in a slightly annoyed tone.


    Kayley''s dad, who he now knew was called Gerry spoke up. "Cut the shit will ya, I don''t feel like waiting till there''s more of you about."


    He had only just said this when he pointed his wand down toward them and four black orbs headed toward the guard duo, the same kind he used to save Villin and his group earlier.


    The two people standing at the bottom of the crater didn''t change their expressions, they did, however, use a tiny blade attached to their thumb to cut into their fingers, causing them to bleed.


    The black orbs were already halfway there but the duo wasn''t nervous at all. The blond guard still seemed happy and the dark-haired guard still looked somewhat annoyed.


    At the exact same time, they moved their right arms and blood came out of the wound on their fingers, this blood then formed a shield in front of them. The black orbs hit these shields of blood but before they could expand the blood engulfed the black orbs, disconnecting it from Gerry''s control.


    "Mages?" Villin felt stunned as he stopped running to look at the fight, he had no idea what was going on.


    "No." Kayley heard his exclamation and pulled him by the hand causing him to follow again "They''re not mages, they''re vampires."


    Villin''s eyes widened when he heard this. He knew from the books he read magical beasts existed, hell, without them, bloodlines wouldn''t exist. But he never heard about vampires or anything of the like, neither had he heard of magic beasts staying in the mortal world.


    While he thought this the fight continued. As soon as the dark orbs were engulfed by the blood the vampires began sprinting out of the craters, still holding their previous expressions. They were fast, extremely fast.


    While they sprinted out of the deep crater at over thirty miles an hour, Gerry was firing off spell after spell. From spears made out of ice to stone barriers to block the path. Meanwhile, with each spell he cast he flew higher, it was clear he wanted to try and stay out of their range and continue bombarding them with spells.


    As for the vampires, they simply cut through everything that was thrown at them. They controlled the blood with insane accuracy. One time hundreds of tiny needles made of ice came out of Gerry''s wand and they all headed for the two. Villin thought this would work better since blocking all of those would be impossible but he was wrong. The blood thinned near-instantly and covered their entire front, the icy needles disappeared as soon as they made contact with the blood.


    "Come on down now Gerry! Let''s have a fight again! Last time was so much fun!" The blond-haired vampire licked his lips as he looked at the magus that was now directly above them, but well, there was well over thirty meters separating them.


    Gerry didn''t entertain him and kept shooting spell after spell, the two vampires just stood beneath them and kept blocking, they seemed to have no interest in trying to attack Gerry from this distance.


    Villin quickly understood what they were doing. Right now it was a battle of endurance. Gerry was consuming magic power constantly from both flying and attacking, meanwhile, the vampires were using their blood to block the attacks. Whoever ran out of their respective resource first would lose.


    Just when Villin understood this, the blond-haired vampire spoke up again. "Ohhh, he won''t come down! Why don''t you go get the kids, deal with those guys first." The black-haired vampire simply nodded when he heard his companion''s suggestion.


    Then the black-haired man started sprinting right toward them at an insane speed.

 Chapter 70: At Last Safe

    The group was still a bit off from the forest so Villin turned toward the vampire that was set to arrive in less than ten seconds.


    He stood his ground and started preparing his spell. He decided to go with ''Vinea Tenura'' since it was the only spell that might have a tiny chance of success of stalling the vampire for a bit.


    Meanwhile, Gerry was still attacking the vampire constantly. He didn''t seem to have any intention to help them out. Villin cursed, it seemed like despite everything that happened death was still coming for them. And then he felt someone tug the back of his shirt. He turned his head and saw Kayley "Villin, we have to go!"


    Villin was just about to say ''What use is that at this point'' when he noticed something. Rein and Amelia were gone. Somewhat surprised with this finding Villin nodded and ran a few more meters back together with Kayley. Then, suddenly, Villin felt himself pass some sort of magical veil. And the sight before him changed. He was standing less than a meter away from what looked to be an iron car. It looked a lot like a 4x4 and was entirely black.


    Both the front and the back doors were open. Villin saw Amelia and Kayley already sitting in the back and knowing they had a vampire behind them that would probably catch up in about five seconds he didn''t hesitate to jump through the open door, Kayley, on the other hand, went to sit in the front of the car.


    As soon as they were both in the car started moving. The vampire increased his efforts when he saw the group disappearing into thin air but, in the end, it could only move forty miles an hour.


    The car got to this speed after about two seconds, leaving the vampire in the dust.


    "Don''t worry we''re pretty much safe now. Dad will keep them busy for a while."


    Kayley''s voice broke the tension a bit. As they all relaxed a bit. Villin kept looking through the back window until he could no longer see the vampire. The car drove over the flatlands for a bit until it got to the road where it really started picking up speed.


    The fact that the car was made out of metal shouldn''t really be a surprise for Villin, but the speed certainly was. Kayley''s driving was extremely good, she kept going at a hundred kilometers an hour even in turns, the first time Villin thought he''d be thrown to the side at least but they barely even felt the turn when inside of the car.


    After driving for another ten minutes Kayley stopped the car at the side of the road. She turned to face the others and had a complicated expression on her face. "My dad is a¡­ strange man. We used to be one of the few noble families without a bloodline until just before my birth. My dad, who was a member of the council back then, became an exiled mage by coming to the mortal world, breaking the treaty. That''s really all I know of him, I''ve only seen him a couple of times, he taught me a couple of things such as how to drive certain vehicles."


    "What now?" Villin asked, "And how did he find us?"


    Kayley looked at them for a bit "Now we wait, he should come here in a couple of minutes, he might be able to remove the shackles and hide Amelia''s magic power, then we can hopefully head back to the academy."


    Villin simply nodded. He didn''t like this feeling. He didn''t feel in control of the situation at all, hell, he could even tell Kayley was uncertain about what was going on. Nonetheless, they could only wait.


    Villin spent this bit of time getting back some of his magic power, luckily he wouldn''t need it. After twenty more minutes had passed Amelia noticed a figure in the sky behind them.


    It was Gerry, and he was flying toward them. The group all got out of the car and waited, after a bit the man arrived.


    He looked the same as earlier, a youth that was twenty years old wearing casual mortal clothes. He landed onto the ground and without saying a word he pointed his wand toward the box holding Amelia''s hands together. A small azure orb came out of the tip of his wand and hit the shackles, then the orb seemed to melt into the shackles and a moment later they simply fell off of Amelia''s hands. "The only thing that can take those things off easily are spells with anti-magical properties. I suggest you learn some even if you aren''t planning to stay."


    Amelia simply nodded as she cast a simple cleaning spell on her hands. The blood on her face was also gone at this point, she cleaned that when they stepped out of the car, but there was still a clear bloody hole where her eye was. Villin was extremely impressed by how normal she behaved. Other than when they just saved her, she stayed alert and never showed signs of pain, if one didn''t know this had just happened they would probably think she was stable mentally.


    After the shackles fell off, Gerry grabbed a ring out of his trouser''s pocket and handed it to her. Amelia didn''t ask anything as she just grabbed it and put it on. "That ring will hide you from them, they won''t be able to track you so simply anymore. As long as you stayed a little bit inland and out of the capital you''ll be fine."


    He then grabbed three more rings out of his pocket and Rein, Kayley, and Villin all took one.


    "If you four want to get back into The Academy you''ll have to wait for three months. Every four months The Academy showcases their best students from each grade, meet me here again in eighty days and I''ll bring you there." The twenty-year-old man turned and looked like he was about to leave before he remembered something "Ah right, here take this."


    He gave Kayley a stack of bills "This should be more than enough to stay in a hotel for a while.

 Chapter 71: A Hellish Task

    Three days passed since they had escaped the military squad. Now the group was finally calming down and relaxing just a bit. Gerry had told them they should be safe as long as they wore the rings and they didn''t use magic in public. Apparently, they couldn''t go with him because his magic power is too vast and impossible to hide for an extended period. With four youngsters to protect his situation would become a lot more difficult.


    They planned to finally go and get a hotel room. For the last three days, they had been on the road for most of the time. They slept in the car and only went to the nearby towns for fuel, which they would bring in a jerry can, and food.


    But now they were far enough away from the coast it was time to properly set up. The last couple of days the group had been talking about the situation and everything that had happened since the school got attacked and they came to a couple of conclusions.


    The first had to do with the attack on the school. Decorus was the second most powerful school on the central continent, and it had the third most students overall, a little less than The Academy.


    Decorus had two main beliefs that differed from The Academy. The first was that the main purpose of magic is combat. Even in the first couple of grades, Decorus''s students were quite skilled in combat. A good example were the golems they used to attack them. The Decorus students themselves were in no danger but could still present a large threat.


    The second belief of Decorus was that magus and bloodlines were one. Those with bloodlines were superior compared to those without. Because of this ideal Decorus was known for doing an absurd amount of experiments to get bloodlines into their students. Even though this failed most of the time, sometimes resulting in death, this was still a huge reason why they were so popular, they had the highest percentage of students who would end up nobles.


    Of course, there were also negatives in both these points. Decorus barely has any students that know non-combat arts such as enchanting and magic arrays, the fundamentals of magic also don''t really get explained properly.


    When they looked back on it now, it was clear the teachers knew of it, they even offered them to the second grade. But Villin just couldn''t figure out why the students weren''t evacuated, and neither were the treasures.


    Once they got past everything that happened after they escaped the school they also realized a couple of things. The computer chat logs suggested they had a way of finding out when a mage enters the populated world, but since they only had the reading of a single magus, this was probably just Amelia, the other were too newly awakened.


    Villin also recalled hearing someone say the three first years could barely be sensed by the Seeker, whatever that was.


    Then came the situation with the vampires, after some guessing and with the bits of information Kayley had on her dad they came to a proper conclusion. Mages didn''t choose to live on their own, they were forced to. Magus weren''t the superior species, nor were men, it was vampires. It was likely they were actually in control of the mortal world and the true forces of men, at least in the central continent.


    They also recalled hearing a ''treaty'' being mentioned twice. This should refer to the separation of forces, mortals and magus staying away from each other. That being said, there should be some exceptions, after all, children of mortals still got invited to the magic schools regularly.


    They got through everything and had a number of different conjectures about what actually happened in the past. Mortals didn''t seem to know about vampires which made it likely that, if there ever was a war, it was long ago.


    They had several other theories and conjectures but these were the main parts they decided to see as fact.


    And now, the group entered a different city. They bought a map in a town a bit ago and used that to find a decent place to stay. They saw Shaiko city was a city that was very well connected. There were a bunch of roads going there and millions upon millions of people lived there. Apparently, it was the third most populated city in the country. They decided on it because it would be easy to blend in, the rings should hide their magic ''pulse'' so they believed it was best to be somewhere it would be hard to find someone.


    The city was quite nice and very big. The buildings weren''t quite skyscrapers but were still about ten stories tall in most places. There were shops everywhere and it was surprisingly earth-like. The main difference was material, nearly every bit of furniture seemed to be made out of plastic, but it wasn''t something that was hard to get used to at all.


    He was selected to go and buy them clothes as well. Rein and Kayley had never been in the mortal world and Amelia had a missing eye. Villin selected two pairs of basic clothes for all of them. This included jeans, casual shirts, and sneakers. He also decided to get hats and sunglasses for all of them, just in case.


    The problem came when he went to the underwear section. He looked at the wall and saw a sea of bras. All of them were in different sizes, ranging from A to F and 10 to 90. Villin started stressing out after a bit, how the hell was he supposed to know which ones were good. Kayley and Amelie were still quite young but they already started developing quite decently, why couldn''t they just be flat!


    He felt himself calm down again as a genius thought popped into his head. He could wait and see what woman took what bra and see how similar the woman that was buying was compared to Amelia and Kayley.


    Twenty minutes later Villin finally got out of the store, the other three were getting quite worried cause he took so long. But when he got closer they got on alert again, he had a black eye and a bulge on his forehead.


    Villin didn''t look them in the eye "I don''t want to talk about it." then he threw the bag with clothes into the car before taking a seat within. He had been wronged.


    He managed to find one that he figured would fit Kayley pretty easily since she was still quite flat but Amelia was more of a challenge. After fifteen minutes a woman of her size finally went up and grabbed one, but Villin hadn''t focused properly and had to go up to ask her what size she had. The lady seemed to believe he was a perv and mercilessly beat him with her bag until someone that worked at the establishment stopped her.


    Villin sighed, why did he have such bad luck. The other three looked at him with an odd expression wondering what happened, but seeing as he wouldn''t talk Kayley started driving looking for a decent hotel to stay at.

 Chapter 72: An Unfamiliar Face

    Finding a hotel to stay at was actually harder than they had expected it to be. Most hotels wouldn''t let them get a room because of their young age.


    It took multiple hours and a dozen hotels before they finally found a hotel that didn''t seem to care. They paid for a full month with the plan of extending it near the end of the month.


    The group''s room was on the second floor, they went on up and were pleasantly surprised by the size of the place. The room was obviously meant for a couple as there was only one double bed. Overall the room looked pretty nice, practically everything was made out of plastic but nobody really cared too much.


    The room was a bit small for four people to stay in but it was better than sleeping in the car by a long bit. They actually had gotten enough money to be able to easily afford a single room for each of them but chose to stick together, this way it would be harder for them to get surprised by an enemy.


    As for the bed, the occupants would switch between Amelia and Kayley, and Rein and Villin.


    All of this was quite normal but something did happen when Villin entered the bathroom.


    When he came in he saw a bath on the left side and a sink on the right, above the sink hung a mirror. Villin suddenly recalled something and swallowed heavily, he still had yet to see his face. Amelia and Kayley were standing just behind him and were also looking at the mirror from the doorway, they were thinking the exact same thing as Villin, they had no idea how they looked like now, Kayley had never even seen her face before as she grew up in a magus house.


    As for Amelia, it had been a few years for her, she hadn''t seen herself since she awakened her magic which increased her age.


    Villin was the first to walk up, and when he looked in the mirror he felt shocked.


    The first thing he looked at was his eyes, they were blue and seemed to have some sort of shine in them. They seemed to be everchanging, Villin almost got lost in them himself.


    Looking up from his eyes he saw his messy brown hair, of course, he knew the color before but it was only now he saw it properly. He brushed his hand through it with a satisfied smile. His cheekbones were strong and his eyebrows fine.


    Villin felt extremely good now that he saw his own face, he might be one of the best-looking people he had ever seen.


    Then, he saw something else in the mirror. Just to the right of his own face he saw another one. He saw the long curly brown hair going down the sides of her face, her lips were a soft pink covering one of her eyes. The other eye was a beautiful blue, somewhat similar to his own, the glasses resting on her nose didn''t make her look less charming at all. The girl looked smart and her eye showed a great amount of courage. Furthermore, after looking at herself, she looked at him as well, through the mirror.


    The girl next to him was, of course, Amelia. Villin looked at her attractive lips once more before looking to the right, he looked at her face straight on and she did the same.


    Villin could see a fire in her eyes and he took a step forward, moving one of his hands onto her cheek, he could hear her breaths quickened and he just started moving his head toward her when they heard Kayley''s shout.


    "CAREFUL! THE MIRROR!"


    The two of them instantly took a step back and looked at the mirror drawing their wands. Something seemed to be churning within the mirror, a black dot was zooming across, quickly increasing in size. After a few seconds, they could tell it was actually a person that seemed to be heading straight for them.


    They all waited nervously with their wands drawn but after another dozen seconds, they recognized the person. It was the zombie-like teacher, Richard. After a bit longer he arrived and he flew forward until his face nearly covered the entirety of the mirror. The group then heard a raspy voice come from him.


    "Cover the mirror, or the dead will come."


    That was all that needed to be said, Villin quickly grabbed a towel from the rack in the room and properly covered the mirror.


    Other than this there were no other incidents. The group settled down and finally truly allowed themselves to react. They listened to some music on the radio in the room and slumped down into the couch.


    After relaxing for a bit Amelia and Kayley retreated to the bet while Villin and Rein slept on the couch.


    After a good night''s rest, the group looked a lot more lively and happy. "Alright people, let''s see what we got out of The Academy now shall we!"


    Villin felt excited on this day as he thought of everything they had gotten. There were the spellbooks from Richard''s classroom, the spell books from Lord Roland''s house, the wands, magic stones, and what all they had gotten from the school''s treasury.


    They had yet to look at most of these things as they hadn''t had the time, everything had been extremely chaotic up until now.


    First, they laid out the spell models they got from Richard. There were half a dozen of them and all of these were made out of iron, meaning they could all learn them.


    The group looked over them and found they all had to do with magic power and intent. Both things needed to properly make magic arrays.


    There were two books, in particular, Villin immediately gravitated toward. One of these was ''Mental Technique: Extend. But surprisingly when he opened this spell blueprint, the spell wasn''t there. Instead, there was a bunch of text. Once he started reading the pages he understood why. This book didn''t hold an actual spell but instead a technique of how to properly control your magic outside of your body using your mental strength.


    In short, what the book explained was the following: Normally when you reach outside of your body it becomes harder to control and the pure magic power will continue dissipating. The book explained how to connect one end of the magic power to the mind as a whole as a way to connect it to the magus in a proper manner. The magic power will still feel a great connection to the magus similar to when the magic power was within the magus'' body.


    This made it so that the magic power would no longer dissipate and you could properly control it. Of Course. there were limits, if you truly started going far with your magic power the connection would still weaken.


    The second book he was truly interested in was the only other one that wasn''t a spell, it was called ''Mental Technique: Search''.


    This book seemed to be a continuation of the previous one he read and explained how to envelop yourself in your own magic power without losing magic power. If used properly a Magus could always have an area around them of two meters where they could sense everything.

 Chapter 73: Treasures

    As for the other books they got from Richard''s classroom. They were all iron spellbooks that had between three and five nodes. But the fact the spells used few nodes didn''t mean they weren''t valuable. Each of them would be of great help when enchanting or making magic arrays and they were still iron spellbooks. Every iron spellbook was of great value as the creator not only needed to be powerful and well-versed in spell creation, they also needed to make a great sacrifice.


    None of them really knew what kind of sacrifice it was but what they did know was that every iron spellbook was a treasure.


    After having looked at these, Villin took out the spells they found in the cottage they escaped into. The six spells were very diverse, each of them being used for a different thing.


    The regular offensive spell was called ''Magic Arrow'', to Villin it simply seemed to be a less effective version of ''Icy Pike'' but, of course, learning more spells was never a bad thing. The basic defensive spell was called ''Magic Shield''. This spell made a magical barrier around the caster, it was similar to the wandless version of ''Reverto'' but it needed constant maintenance and didn''t send the spells back to the attacked. On the plus side, it was a lot cheaper to cast.


    The third spell was called ''Invaecus'', this was also the one Villin found the most useful of the bunch. This was an invisibility spell and unlike ''Chameleon'' it wouldn''t cancel if you moved. The spell consisted of eight nodes but was quite hard to cast. When they really paid attention they did notice a veil where the caster was standing but it wasn''t obvious and it was unlikely anyone would notice when they were just going about their things.


    The fourth spell was one most of them had already learned, the basic cleaning spell. The fifth spell was one of an extremely rare category, when they saw it they knew that if they were to sell this iron spell blueprint they would all become very rich. The spell was called "Healium Curativo" and it had a similar effect to ''Healium Paulatim'', a spell they all had. Amelia got hers from the previous year''s tournament and the other three got it after completing the advanced combat test.


    Despite this, the sixth spellbook was the one that caused the most ruckus. The title said ''Reanimation Series 1: Created Trouble''


    The four of them all felt a mixture of confusion and excitement when they read the title, and so, Villin opened the book.


    When he did a spell blueprint appeared above the book as it should, but all four of them just looked at it in confusion.


    "What is this?" Kayley wondered as she looked at the ''spell'' before her, but the others could do nothing but shake their heads as nobody knew.


    The spell blueprint looked very weird. As far as they knew a spell would always just be a line in the web, there was an initial node and a final node that decided the spell you would cast.


    But what they saw before them wasn''t such a line, it was a circle. They were all looking at an outline of a circle, the outline changed colors three times consisting of purple, red, and orange.


    After looking at it for a bit Villin closed the book, he had no idea what the spellbook was but whatever it was, they couldn''t use it. The quartet tried discussing it for a while but got nowhere, they decided to just keep it safe and do some research on it when they got back to the academy.


    Now it was time to have a proper look at the things they had taken from the school treasury. Rein was the first one to take out what he had gotten, it was an iron spell blueprint, this was something they could all benefit from.


    They all had a look at the spell name ''Vococito''. The spell consisted of a total of ten nodes, it allowed the caster to pull something toward them from a distance. For example, if they were fighting an enemy that was standing ten meters away they could try using this spell to take away their wand, or maybe cast it toward the enemy''s feet causing them to lose their footing.


    The spell had a large number of uses and all of them were very happy there was no visible queue for when someone used this spell. They all knew how useful spells were that didn''t need to travel, the fight they were in within the school made sure of that. Spells that affected the environment were overall more useful compared to those that had to be sent over. The problem was that these often lacked power and were hard to cast, this spell was a prime example.


    This was another spell everyone was very happy with as it could increase their options in a fight. Next up was Kayley who took out her treasure. She took out what looked like a hard leather bracer. It was completely black and could be fitted using some leather straps that were on it.


    "Villin, you know enchantments right? Can you tell if this thing is dangerous?" Kayley quickly handed the bracer to Villin who began inspecting it. There were plenty of tales about cursed magic equipment feeding on one''s magic power before ultimately killing them.


    "I barely recognize any of these runes, you''ll have to show this to a proper master." Villin couldn''t help but shrug after looking at it for ten minutes.


    After Kayley put away her bracelet there was only one treasure left. Villin reached into his interspatial bag and took out a wooden spell blueprint. When the others saw it they decided to turn around. It was possible the blueprint had less than four uses and they didn''t want to risk destroying it while having nobody that learned it.


    Villin looked at the spellbook before removing the little plate hiding the name. When he saw the name, his eyes instantly widened in surprise.

 Chapter 74: A Technique Like No Other

    ''Supreme Dark Arts Technique: Embed''


    Villin''s breathing quickened when he read the title. He had gotten the opportunity to learn dark arts but a few days prior but decided against it. A decision he didn''t regret. But this didn''t mean it wasn''t tempting.


    Villin held the book in his hand and kept staring at the title. He wasn''t sure if there was a regular dark arts technique or if the ''supreme'' was the norm. He also didn''t know how many sorts of techniques there were.


    He thought about it for a moment and decided to read the book. Even if he didn''t intend to use dark arts due to their downside, knowing how they worked might be a good idea. Perhaps there was a weakness in it that would allow him to fight users of the technique with more ease, or it would help him in his studies of magic.


    With a fast-beating heart, Villin opened the wooden book. Once opened it looked more like a textbook compared to anything else, there were fifty pages of text explaining the technique. Once Villin told everyone they decided he should study it first and then give a short explanation, then they could decide on another person to teach it.


    Yet, to be honest, Villin was a little confused about something. He wasn''t sure what was stopping him from simply copying down the text and teaching it to everyone. This wasn''t possible with spells and so it made sense silver spell blueprints were extremely highly valued, it was near impossible to properly teach it to another magus without a spell blueprint, but what about these techniques?


    Techniques were simply the comprehension of a certain something. It seemed similar to information given in textbooks. Villin decided to try and teach someone one of the techniques they had gotten once they got back to the academy, obviously he wouldn''t try it with the dark arts though.


    -----------


    Amelia POV


    Five days had passed since they had settled down in the hotel and things had been rather calm. Villin spent most of his time in the bathroom, privately reading and comprehending the book he had taken. As for the others, they had all worked on their magic.


    "I''m going to go get food, Kayley, you coming with?" Amelia asked looking at the girl with crimson hair.


    "Sure!" After replying Kayley reached into her interspacial bag and took out two things. First, she took out a hairnet and properly put it on. Then she took out a wig with long brown hair and put it on. Red hair was unseen of in the mortal world naturally, and those coloring their hair red were very few.


    The group had decided never to go outside on their own, if someone wanted to go outside there had to be two of them at the very least.


    "I''ll tail you guys just in case." Rein chimed in. The two girls nodded, this was the second time they went outside and the previous time Rein had done the same thing. Tailing them from a distance making sure nobody else was following them.


    Amelia made sure her hair was covering her missing eye before they all left the hotel. Amelia didn''t feel comfortable at all when they were outside. Turns out this is what happens when you realize you might get hunted down if people realize what you are.


    Nonetheless, she didn''t let it show as she walked toward a nearby shopping street with Kayley. They had a few things they wanted to buy today. First of all, Amelia needed a pair of sunglasses that could somewhat hide her current condition. Other than this they also needed food and a map.


    Knowing that Rein wasn''t far behind them Amelia allowed herself to relax a little and talk to Kayley about the mortal world. There were many things Kayley found weird and Amelia found it quite fun to talk about these things. The fact that mortals managed to make something like a car was extremely shocking for the girl.


    About an hour later they had everything they needed. The sunglasses hid her would somewhat decently, but it was quite annoying to wear it over her regular glasses, she decided to look for lenses sometime soon.


    They ended up deciding to buy an atlas instead of a map. The atlas held a multitude of maps of all of the countries on each of the continents. There were twelve in total and there were three countries on the central continent.


    Currently, they were in Vermina, the middlemost country on the central continent.


    Kayley looked rather surprised when she saw the world map. She, of course, knew there were three continents but she thought the mortal world would simply have three nations just like the magus.


    She was also surprised to see there were actually connections between the three continents.


    To the very north, all of the continents were connected by ''The Icelands''. Amelia explained to Kayley the map of that area was considered wildly inaccurate as anyone who ventures in there was known to die. There were rumors of terrible beasts residing there, and the temperature was so cold nobody could survive even when in the thickest of clothes.


    The second connection was at the opposite end of the planet, there was ''The Great Desert''. This massive patch of land that connected the three continents had no water or vegetation whatsoever, if you ventured in you would be boiled alive in no time.


    Both of these areas were completely untraversable. After thinking for a bit Kayley actually recognized these areas, it was just that they had different names in magus society and she had never seen a map depicting them. These were the areas where magical beasts lived, most magus'' who ventured in never came out again, even if they were extremely powerful.


    But every now and then a Magus would come out accompanied by a magical beast in human form. And soon after, their family would gain a bloodline, sometimes even noble status.


    Seeing how Kayley had never seen a map of their world before Amelia felt a bit weird. She hadn''t really thought of it before but Magus really seemed to be lacking some basic knowledge. Even though Amelia agreed magic was more important than things like geography and math, she still felt the lack of knowledge was a bit much.


    Perhaps it was something that got taught at the later grades of The Academy, but even then, Amelia found it a bit of a shame that generally Magus didn''t try to find a way to enhance magic with technology and vice versa. She even guessed it might be frowned upon or forbidden like gene solutions were. To her, the fact things such as gene solutions were forbidden was idiotic. Increased strength and speed could help mages of any kind, the fact that this practice was forbidden seemed extremely weird to her.


    But well, if the enhancing of technology with magic was forbidden she still decided she would work on it in secret once she got a bit stronger. She didn''t see a reason why she had to listen to the idiotic rules of this continent, as long as she didn''t get caught she''d be fine.


    She even considered trying to visit the eastern continent to see how their specializations worked but ended up deciding not to do this. There were simply too many things she had to study and improve in.


    Thinking of this she sighed and thought of the boy that was studying in the hotel. She couldn''t study everything on her own but there were like-minded people out there. She decided to have a serious talk with him when they were alone, ask him why he studied gene solutions. If he was the same as her perhaps they could help each other out, and then help others in learning all useful skills instead of only those they were allowed to learn.

 Chapter 75: The Enlightenment

    For the last week, Villin had spent most of his time studying the supreme dark arts technique book, and he soon found out it was very different compared to the mental techniques in difficulty. If anything the supreme dark arts technique book resembled the hidden gene solution book he studied.


    Some sentences would make no sense when you read them casually but when you ''felt'' them you would understand. In this way it made sense why this book was wooden signifying its limited uses while the others were iron, he suspected it would be impossible to find a limited version of the mental techniques since reading it didn''t do anything to the book, they were just words with no intent or magic power behind them.


    After studying ''Supreme Dark Arts Technique: Embed'' for a week, Villin got a decent grasp of what exactly it was, and it was stunning.


    This wasn''t just the dark arts he expected, the one most had at least heard of, it was something entirely different.


    But nonetheless, it was a very dark technique. The technique didn''t show any way for a magus to become stronger. If you used it, it wouldn''t alter your web or magic power.


    Yet it seemed to follow the same formula compared to the regular dark arts he knew of. Shortly after a Magus'' death, you have to go ahead and rip out a part of their web. But then, instead of adding it to your own, you would insert this web into an item.


    The book only showed a few examples but they were enough. For one, you could trap a part of the killed magus'' web into a wand. Even though directly casting using the nodes of the dead mage wouldn''t be possible since the connection wasn''t clear enough, it would be very possible to spend some time to save a spell into the wand, using the dead magus'' nodes.


    This didn''t sound like a big deal but it was. Let''s say you killed 2 magus in the last couple of months and connected their webs to a wand each. Each of these wands has two saved spells, and then there''s your own wand as well.


    You would have a total of six saved spells you could fire off in quick succession, some of which you might not even know. You would be able to dual wield wands, even if you can only use saved spells on one of them.


    One might say this was just weaker than the regular dark art but Villin disagreed. He knew it was possible those who are proficient at the dark arts can cast two spells at the same time but Villin still saw that as weaker.


    For one, items can be sold or traded. If one were to sell a wand that held two powerful defensive spells that could be used whenever they wanted, the wand would be nearly priceless. Also, this technique didn''t hold a negative side effect. Even though the webs of the dead magus'' would still degrade, it wasn''t connected to his own web so he wouldn''t be affected in any way.


    Other than wands you could also put these webs in certain enchanted items. The book was a bit vague but Villin got the general gist of it. For one, the webs would only be able to go into items enchanted specifically to house them. Villin looked at the runes that should be used that were depicted in the book and ruled they were relatively simple, they were simply derivatory versions of runes meant to hold magic power. Other than this you could also put on preserving enchantments so the web holds on for a longer period of time.


    As for why you would want to put a web into an item, it was quite simple. Let''s say Villin were to make an iron shield to take care of physical damage, he would obviously be worried about magical attacks that would easily destroy the item. So then he could insert a dead magus'' web. And now if that magus were to have the nodes required for Reverto or Sheldium and Villin found them. The shield would continuously have a shield around it to send back magical attacks.


    The only downside was the magic power required. Villin would surely also have to insert a magic crystal holder into the shield with a sufficient number of crystals.


    Overall it was an extremely interesting technique, even if Villin didn''t have a use for it currently. Once he finished everything Villin felt the intent radiating from the book''s pages was nearly entirely gone. It would probably self-destruct if someone else tried to read it at this point so he put it away safely.


    The technique was very hard to pull off and Villin doubted he''d be able to properly do it at this point so he let it rest for the time being. He didn''t see why he would be around dead magus'' anytime soon. As long as things didn''t go horribly wrong that is.


    When Villin saw the others seemed to be training their magic, he decided to do the same. He had a number of spells he still had to learn, and a number of books to read.


    He decided to start by focusing on ''Lanuae Magicae'' the supremely difficult teleportation spell he had gotten as the ultimate reward in the advanced tournament.


    Casting a spell with thirteen nodes was already something that would be insanely difficult. When you added to it that there were three nodes within the spell that were derivatory the difficulty would increase by multiple folds.


    After trying this for a while Villin gave up. The spell was simply too difficult for him right now, he decided to try it again later.


    To put his mind off of the failure Villin actually took out a trainset from his interspacial bag. This was the one professor Crumb gave him. He started off by taking out the second-grade enchanting book they had gotten and he looked over the runes within it. Looking for the ones he didn''t know yet that were used on the model.


    Before he ever realized it Villin jolted down pages full of notes of the workings of the train model, as he began to properly figure out how it worked.


    And what he found was an answer to his question.


    He recalled he got given this train model when he asked the professor what exactly the difference was between enchanting and magic arrays.


    The answer was within this train model enchantments and tiny magic arrays were used all over the place. They worked together as a single thing. After spending a good about of time decyphering everything Villin looked over his notes once more. The notes that now showcased how the train moved and made sound. What runes did what and everything. Even the runes he didn''t know had notes beside them stating what they might be doing.


    And when he really looked at the notes he noticed something. All the notes were there, as were their positions on the train. But he had forgotten to make a distinction between which ones were in a magic array and which one in an enchantment. Yet, it still made sense. All the runes came together to give the effect.


    It was then that he realized there was no real power within enchantments, as there was no real power within magic arrays, everything came from the runes.


    This might sound logical as enchantments and magic arrays wouldn''t be a thing without runes but Villin still felt incredibly enlightened when he truly realized this.


    He quickly took out his enchanting pen and started drawing all sorts of runes on the floor, inspired by his findings.

 Chapter 76: A Month Passes

    The following month was calm. Everyone in the group was busy increasing their skills at a lightning speed. Amelia and Kayley were sitting on the couch with their eyes closed, either they were awakening new nodes or practicing some of their spells.


    Rein was sitting on the floor reading the schoolbooks they got from the cottage. Even though they were first-grade books and probably extremely outdated, the previous day Rein decided to go through them anyway, it was always possible there was something interesting in them.


    Suddenly, Villin who was sitting five meters away from him working on a new project of his yelled out ecstatic "YES!"


    Rein looked over closely followed by Amelia and Kayley who opened their eyes. Villin had been working hard the previous month, spending a crazy amount of time every day working on enchantments and magic arrays yet his projects always ended in failure.


    It really wasn''t much of a surprise when you looked at what he was working on. Villin hadn''t been drawing enchantments or magic arrays he had learned. Instead, he had been trying to make his own. This on its own would already be extraordinarily difficult but that wasn''t everything. A little less than a month ago he had visited a store to get a wooden humanoid toy. It stood at about one-and-a-half feet tall and had moving arms and legs. It was a somewhat badly built action figure.


    Then he tried to form the enchantments and magic arrays onto this object. Not just one or two but over a dozen, moreover, many of them seemed to be connected in one way or another. Oftentimes Villin wouldn''t fully close the magic arrays but instead, the runes would flow over into an enchantment. Soon most would be completely unable to distinguish what runes were connected and which ones weren''t without carefully studying them as more and more of the surface of the figurine got covered in them.


    Even though there had been no successes this month, nobody looked down on his work. The task was very, very far above their grade to the point where attempting something like this at their age would usually be seen as insane.


    Villin felt ecstatic, for the last month he had worked extremely hard, directing most of his effort toward drawing runes. He used both pen and chalk but ended up deciding to complete the entire thing with the pen. Each of the methods had their own positives and negatives, overall the pen was better to keep the magic within the runes and the objects they are connected to while chalk was more effective to expel magic and cause effects away from the runes. This must also be the reason why one was used for enchanting and the other magic arrays.


    During this period of time, there were a few things that helped him immensely in achieving what most would call near-impossible for someone of his age. For one, the spellbooks they found in Richard''s classroom. Some of the spells were very helpful in using less magic power to empower a rune while another spell helped with putting intent into the runes with less effort.


    But his biggest help was something he had all along, the first-grade magic array book.


    This book explained every stroke of every rune and their purpose was the real reason he managed to do this. It helped him massively in properly understanding the logic between each rune and how to adapt them to fit the situation best. Compared to this the second-grade magic array book was useless. The second-grade book would''ve actually been more useful to most, it explained how to make a number of the more common magic arrays. It explained the spacing, intent, and magic power. But it was nowhere near as detailed as the first-grade book.


    Once he calmed down a bit again Villin looked at the action figure standing on the ground. He has used ''Mental Technique: Extend'' to connect a few magical wires to the action figure, these were connected to what Villin decided to name the acupoints, just like a human had those.


    Villin carefully sent some magic power into one of the wires that were connected to the figure''s lower back and sure enough, it started walking forward. In the next few seconds Amelia, Kayley, and Rein felt flabbergasted. Even though the figure fell a few times at first, soon it was able to run around the room effortlessly. It was even able to climb, jump, and punch.


    They all looked at Villin with complicated expressions. How were they supposed to show off if their companion could do something like this? But even this wasn''t everything. Villin still had two acupoints he had yet to touch. Both of these were quite volatile and if a mistake happened it would probably be there.


    While the puppet was still running around under his command Villin extended his hand to the floor. A bit later he cast a derivatory wandless cast of Reverto and a light-blue barrier appeared on the ground around the little puppet. This was done to make sure there would be no damage to the area.


    "Amelia, could you silence the area please?" Villin asked as he was sweating a little, controlling the puppet wasn''t that easy for him yet, leave alone doing so while casting a derivatory wandless version of one of his spells. Amelia promptly nodded and Villin could feel a faint magic power engulf the area, he allowed it as he looked back toward the action figure, the others were also looking on with anticipation, wondering what this little thing could do.


    Villin sent some magic power into the acupoint connected with the top of the figure''s head. Instantly fire started coming out of the figure''s mouth, it shot out of its mouth with a very widespread, if the magical shield wasn''t protecting the area the room would soon be set ablaze.


    The sheer amount of flames shocked the three spectators, such an effect would be great even for a decently sized magic array, leave alone such a small figure that had a number of other enchantments. The flame was even more powerful than the one Rein''s array made in the advanced tournament.


    The flames stopped after about three seconds. Villin looked at the area around the puppet a bit worriedly. He loosened his control over the puppet causing it to fall to the ground before extending his hand and casting the derivatory reverto spell again. He was afraid the final effect of the puppet would cause damage in a wider area, the flames were about twice as powerful compared to what he had expected so he didn''t want any mishaps.


    The others waited patiently for an entire hour until the room was almost completely protected by the spell. Villin felt exhausted, as he cast the regular wandless Reverto once, covering him in the light-blue mist. Amelia, who saw this, also cast the wandless reverto causing a barrier to form around herself. Villin tiredly asked Kayley and Rein to push up to him so they were also protected by the barrier.


    Then he extended his last bit of magic toward the puppet having it stand up once more. He was happy the puppet took such a tiny amount of magic power to control, otherwise, he would have to take a rest even with his nodes regenerating his magic power.


    This time Villin sent magic power into the thread connected to the figure''s neck. He had to wait for about five seconds and then¡­


    "BOOOOM!!!"


    Even though they couldn''t actually hear the sound it was easy to imagine what it would sound like when the dol exploded, fire engulfed half of the room for a moment before receding and eventually disappearing. Villin looked at the area of the explosion with his eyes wide open and mouth agape. The puppet''s explosion had made its way through the derivatory reverto spell and caused a burn to appear on the floor.


    The effectiveness of the self-destruct move was a lot higher than expected. The others thought something went wrong at first but soon realized it didn''t, Villin had created a small magical bomb, capable of moving, dodging, and breathing fire.


    It took a bit before everyone really came too as they realized what just happened. This puppet was most certainly capable of killing. If Villin could make another one and sneak it close to an unsuspecting enemy, they would probably be killed in, or shortly after, the explosion.


    Most of the pieces of the figure were completely gone, but here and there there was still a little piece. When the three spectators looked at each of these pieces they realized something. There was no free place on the puppet whatsoever, there were runes absolutely everywhere, they must''ve been covering it from head to toe.


    And they were right, the entire puppet was covered with runes, and even though it would look really messy to a random person, as the creator he understood every part of it.


    But now it was gone, a month of effort blown to bits¡­ well not really. The puppet was certainly gone but the effects had given Villin a number of insights. No matter what this puppet was always just supposed to be a prototype, a proof of concept. Now he knew it was possible and effective. He was already thinking of how to improve the minor errors he spotted in movement and everything. But he decided to hold off until they got back to The Academy. He would try to make it with a magical metal then, and until they got back to The Academy, he could practice some other things.


    Little did he know was that far in the future, this date would be seen as one that was extremely important. For this day two things were born. A terrifying genius, and a totally new combat style utilizing runes.

 Chapter 77: Time To Go

    The following months were spend mostly in silence. Everyone kept working hard on their magic. Kayley was somewhat unhappy since she couldn''t practice pill-making but it wasn''t something they could do anything about currently.


    Villin and Amelia started practicing ''Cut and Crease'' a good while ago as well, even though Villin stood no chance against her normally they soon decided on a few handicaps to make things fairer. After a bit of time Rein began practicing ''Cut and Crease'' as well, showing a good amount of talent.


    With all three others doing it Kayley naturally also joined in and so every day the room would have pieces of paper flying all over for an hour.


    Everyone got more skilled at their spells and learned the ones they had the books for. The only exception was Villin, he just couldn''t cast ''Lanuae Magicae''. The spell was very hard and Villin just couldn''t get past connecting ten of its nodes. Even though he looked forward to being able to teleport, he had to put it aside for now.


    Instead of focusing further on that, he spent his time making a number of derivatory spells. The only spells he stayed away from were ''Fireball'', ''Icy Pike'', ''Vococito'', and the healing spells.


    As for why? Villin was afraid he could get seriously hurt if he changed the wrong nodes with these ones.


    But for the other ones, he had made over a dozen new derivatory spell models. Most of them were mostly useless, changing the properties of a spell slightly. But there was one that he found particularly useful.


    Changing one of the nodes from ''Reverto'' he found a way to change the spell''s color. After experimenting for a good while, the spell became invisible when the right node was used. Hence, if he put in the effort, he could cast the spell in secret without letting anyone else know visually.


    ''Vinea Tenura'', and ''Illuminatus'' had also profited a fair bit from their derivatory spells. The former got a large number of small differences, at this point Villin could decide what angle the vines would attack in and what area would have the most vines, alongside an overall increase of effectiveness.


    As for ''Illuminatus'', he found a way to control the light output and even the shape of the light. Hence both of these spells became more useful overall.


    Today he was working on derivatory spells for Sheldium but thus far most of the ones he tried made the spell weaker. After casting another derivatory spell, this time making the shield around him clearly visible, he once more crouched down and began writing his findings in a book.


    The big notebook already had many pages filled with information. Now that there was little else he could do, Villin had completely thrown himself into studying his web. Kayley had actually done a similar thing since she recalled the advice she had been given by the teachers at the advanced tournament. The two of them could often be seen discussing the web and its functions.


    Even though Kayley wasn''t quite as good as Villin in the matter discussing things aided both of them. A good example came up a few weeks earlier. Villin got a bit confused when working on ''Reverto'', for the life of him he couldn''t figure out the use of certain nodes, he changed them but nothing happened, the spell still looked and did the same.


    Now Kayley had faced similar nodes in her own studies but had actually found out some of the purposes some of these nodes had. Hence, she suggested Villin tried to send some magic through it from the inside.


    Villin did and noticed the spells disappeared upon contact, feeding the shield''s power, while on the outside it stayed the same and repelled spells sent at it.


    Most of the time they were wrong about the proper usage of nodes but as they kept trying to use certain nodes in different spells they started understanding some of the runes to a certain degree. What they really needed were more spells, with more spells in the areas of nodes they were testing they would have a clearer idea, nonetheless, they were still happy with their findings.


    But well, it looked like soon they would be able to learn more spells. The four of them left the hotel taking all of their stuff with them and took the car. Then, they headed to the meeting point where they were supposed to meet Gerry.


    Two days later they arrived at the approximate location as they parked the car alongside the road. The four of them actually looked rather relaxed. They were no longer scared of this world as they were so long ago. But they were also very thankful, without the rings Gerry gave them, it was unlikely they would''ve been able to act so carefreely.


    They didn''t have to wait for all that long as two hours later they saw a figure flying toward them from a distance. When he got closer they all recognized the man that seemed to be twenty.


    "Good to see you kids are alright. Give me back the rings for now, no use wearing those now." the man said with little emotion in his voice.


    The quartet obliged and gave him the rings with little hesitation, then they saw Gerry enter the car by its driver seat "Well, get in then. Time to get you kids back to The Academy."


    A few minutes later they were headed north in the car. The ride felt slightly uncomfortable as nobody talked but soon the four kids were in the process of awakening nodes once again. This had become the habit when Kayley was driving, they really hadn''t been wasting any time while they were here.


    A few days of driving later, only stopping to get food, the group was nearing their destination. They all saw they were getting pretty close to a mountain, the closer they got, the worse the road got. At this point, the dirt road was full of potholes.


    Once they passed the last village about five kilometers away from the foot of the mountain, there was no longer a road to speak off. The car really was amazing, usually, someone would get shaken up terribly when going offroad like this, cars of this world generally wouldn''t even be able to handle it. But this truck was absolutely fine, and the shaking wasn''t nearly as bad compared to how Villin expected it to be.


    When the car arrived at the foot of the mountain Gerry got out of the car and spoke up. "Let''s get up the mountain now shall we?"

 Chapter 78: The Coliseum

    Noticing the weird looks he was getting Gerry had a slight smile on his face. But instead of starting to fly and climb up the mountain, the group saw him reaching out to, what looked like a normal rock resting on the ground in front of the mountain.


    A few seconds after Gerry touched the rock, Villin could feel magic fluctuating around him. He was looking around trying to find out what was being influenced by this magic when he felt something. Using the ''Mental Technique: Search'' he always had active, he felt a change in the ground below him. Or well, ten centimeters below his feet there no longer was any ground.


    Villin tried to jump away before the ground caved in but he was too late. Together with his three companions that were standing close to him, they all fell through the ground.


    They all screamed for a moment before they suddenly changed directions, being shot upward.


    Rein almost had to puke as everyone realized they were in one of those hyperloops again, but this time it was a lot larger, being over ten meters in diameter.


    Below them, Villin saw Gerry was following closely behind them, but before he could ask anything they were already at the exit of the hyperloop.


    Above them, the group could see a light-green slime-like veil covering the exit. When they hit it at whatever the insane speed they were traveling at was, they suddenly slowed down before stopping mid-air. Even though stopping so quickly would usually cause someone to die, the group didn''t get hurt at all.


    A second after they passed through the slime-like veil and stopped in mid-air they fell down again.


    Villin was about to curse the magus that built this for his bad design when they fell on the green veil without passing through.


    The group quickly got up properly and walked off of the slime before taking in their surroundings. They were in a small square room about five meters wide. The hyperloop seemed to have tightened near the end since the green veil was only about two meters in diameter.


    Overall the room didn''t look all that impressive. The walls were rigid, almost causing the room to look like a cavern. The room was barely lit enough to see by a single ball of light floating above their heads.


    When Villin looked at Gerry he saw the man was looking extremely sober. He was looking as if someone had died, it seemed that he didn''t exactly like this place.


    "So, mister Alius, is the academy here, in the mountain?" the boy asked trying to get some information.


    Even though the man had kindly helped them, Villin would much rather be under the protection of the academy, even after what had transpired a few months ago.


    Gerry was pulled away from his thoughts by the question. "Yeah, The Academy is here, all of the ten best schools of the central continent are here. Let''s go, better get this over with quickly."


    He seemed to be talking more to himself than anyone else at the end but Villin did feel a bit stressed now as well. If all of the top ten schools were here, logically, Decorus would be here as well.


    After a brief moment, Gerry began walking toward the sole exit of this room, an old wooden door.


    The quartet followed closely not knowing what to expect, but whatever that was, it certainly wasn''t this.


    When they stepped through the door an explosion of sound suddenly assaulted them. They suddenly found themselves in the stands of a ginormous coliseum. Villin felt someone bump into his back as someone else came out of the shabby door. It was an old kind-looking man with a hunched back "Best to move aside a bit kids, you''re standing in front of a door."


    After saying this the man passed them quickly moving deeper into the stands to the left of them, soon disappearing between the hundreds of magus that were standing there.


    The Coliseum was over two kilometers in diameter and the stands went up extremely far. Villin estimated they were about a hundred meters above where any action would happen. The stands themselves were divided into thirteen sections. Thanks to Rein everyone soon knew how exactly this worked.


    "I''ve been here a couple of times but never took the visitor''s entrance. The eleven sections in front of us are all schools of the central continent. The highest-ranked one, The Academy, is the one on the very left. Every spot further to the right we go down a rank. As for the boxes hiding part of each of these stands, those are reserved for the top brass of the schools."


    Villin squinted trying to find the boxes Rein mentioned but were unable to spot them due to the distance, or perhaps because he was looking in the wrong place.


    Then Rein pointed at the eleventh section of the stands. Other than the top ten schools there is also always a challenger. This is a school that has done some sort of impressive deed in the previous four months. If the challenger beats one of the top ten schools overall they get invited a second time, if they beat them in three of these tournaments, they take the place of the school they have been defeating." Rein squinted his eyes toward the stands "It seems to be Gualin this time around. They don''t really stand a chance in a tournament that is mostly about fighting but they are very skilled in various sports such as ''Cut and Crease'' and ''Mashry''. They are also quite skilled in magic arrays I heard and are very well respected by the top ten schools, having been commissioned by them multiple times."


    Hearing Rein''s explanations Villin felt a little odd. He couldn''t see the people standing there at all, the distance was just too vast, he could only faintly see the green robes they were wearing but this didn''t help much as three of the schools in the top ten also seemed to be mostly donning this color.


    Then Rein pointed to the rightmost section of the stands "Then over there you have the government''s section. Generally, a few of the councilmembers watch the events but if the last four months have been eventful, as they have been, a high councilmember usually appears as well." Rein then gestured wildly to the section they were sitting in that occupied half of the total space of the stands "And then there is the audience of course. Whether you are of noble blood or mortalborn is of no difference here." Rein smiled wildly as he looked at the schools on the other side of the arena.


    Villin felt a little odd. They had walked a few steps away from the doors and he could tell most of the people around him seemed to be extremely happy.


    "Say, you know how Decorus has given a big blow to The Academy a few months back, you think they''re gonna win this time around? It''s been over a year since Decorus managed to win once." A young female magus said to her friend in a half-whisper.


    "I mean, I bet they''ll take down the first three grades like usually but you know how strong The Academy''s later grades have been lately. There is something else you have to think about though." Another lady said trying to bait her friend into asking more.


    "Something else? I mean there''s been the attacks but I''m not sure what else you mean."


    The second lady looked content her friend had taken the bait as she pointed at the eleventh section of the stand. "The challenger this year is Gualin. They might not be that good at other things but they are the best at sports." She paused as she waited for her friend to connect the dots.


    "Oh right, if The Academy wins the final three grades but doesn''t win in any of the sports, it''s going to be a lot closer."


    Her friend nodded as she finished it off "Yup, Magic Arrays and Enchanting should be in the hands of Magnicus or Graesa so we should have a really close match this year!"


    As Villin overheard the conversation he got a better idea of what was going on. This seemed to be a lot like the Olympics in a way. Except, of course, that it was held every four months instead of every four years.


    Just as Villin finished eavesdropping he heard Gerry''s voice to his right. "Once the cross-school tournament finishes find someone from The Academy and explain your situation. I have to take my leave now, I''m not welcome here. Try to have some fun"


    Villin looked at Gerry''s grave face and could do nothing but nod. Then the man turned around and started walking back toward the door. Villin faintly heard Kayley whisper "Bye dad." in a somewhat sad tone as she watched him walk away.

 Chapter 79: The Magicae Tournament

    Now that Gerry was gone Villin really didn''t know how to feel. He came here for a serious reason, he also wanted to ask The Academy about the attack, why the students weren''t evacuated, but now they were in such a positive atmosphere, it was hard not to be affected by it.


    Rein was the quickest to adapt though, apparently, he had already been a spectator at this event once and it was a very fun occasion. Kayley also revealed she had heard of it but she didn''t take an interest in the event.


    When Villin looked around he really saw people of all ages. From elders with their walking sticks to toddlers sitting on their parent''s shoulders. The mood was extremely positive all over the place.


    Before they could make their way deeper into the stands they heard a loud voice from behind them "Glasses of Control! Get your glasses of control here! Two hundred magic crystals a pair, ninety percent refundable! Get your glasses here!"


    Looking at the entrance a man had just come out in bright green clothes, his entire green jacket was filled with green glasses sticking onto it. After a moment he heard Rein address them.


    "You guys should all get one to see what''s going on, without it, you won''t be able to see a thing."


    Since they were mostly refundable anyways Villin simply nodded and bought three for himself, Amelia, and Kayley. Over time he realized Rein''s sight certainly wasn''t normal. There were a large number of events showing this. For one when they did the advanced tournament in The Academy he could see through the spell hiding the spectators, there were also a number of other odd situations such as just a few moments earlier when he could see the crest of the eleventh school even from the very far distance.


    Rein didn''t ask why Villin didn''t get him one, he never tried hiding his ability anyways, even if he wouldn''t actively talk about it either. Naturally, the other three were also tactful enough not to ask about him.


    After buying three pairs of green glasses Villin also realized he still had to divide the magic crystals between the four of them, he decided to do this as soon as The Academy took them back.


    "Right now the glasses won''t do a thing yet but as soon as the event starts your sight will be controlled by the mages tasked to find the best angle and distance to watch from. You''ll get to see the fights from the clearest angles. You can also turn this function off and then the glasses will simply zoom in, allowing you to watch the fights properly from your seats."


    The others nodded at his explanation as Villin started looking for the runes powering these abilities. After all, both of the abilities of these glasses could have a number of uses.


    The salesman who was only standing about a meter away from the group saw Villin''s action and laughed "Nice try kid but you won''t be finding the enchantments on that thing. The creators use a special technique hiding the enchantment within the metal itself, the best way to limit pirates from making these kinds of things."


    Villin felt slightly downcast as he heard this but still thanked the salesman politely, who then began shouting again, trying to sell more of the glasses.


    After a few moments, the group decided to go find a place to stand. While they were making their way to some spots Villin did notice some people were looking at them with odd expressions though. At first, Villin was surprised as to why this was, but soon he realized they were all wearing typical mortal clothes.


    Even the mortalborn in the audience would be seen wearing robes, their clothing really was quite weird. But well, there was nothing much they could do about it as their school robes were mostly destroyed.


    Ignoring these few looks, Villin''s mood started improving, as were the moods of his companions. They quickly found a place to stand and put on their glasses. With the glasses on, they could look a lot further. Looking at the opposite side of the stands they could see the faces of the people sitting in the stands of the different schools.


    Villin looked at The Academy''s section and started looking to see if he knew anyone there. There were only about a hundred people seated in the section but surprisingly he saw someone he recognized. He tapped Amelia''s shoulder to grab her attention. "Look on the third row from the top in The Academy''s section, isn''t that the boy you had a rivalry with? Aiden Skull was it?"


    Amelia also looked surprised to see the boy with messy purple hair and purple eyes "Yeah that''s him. I thought he would''ve died in the attack but since he''s a survivor it makes sense he''s here. He should be one of the strongest first years the academy has, both in fighting strength and in ''Cut and Crease''."


    Villin nodded at her words, he never thought all of the people of Class A were traitors and he didn''t really have a negative expression of the boy. But he did recall he taught Pierson who was a traitor and so decided to try and stay away from him in the future.


    Just as Villin wanted to ask Rein some more questions about the event he sensed something. Just below the ground, foreign magical energy was rising upward. Just as Villin was about to grab his wand Rein spoke up "It''s the chairs Villin, no need to get worried."


    The other three were all looking at Villin, they seemed like they were barely able to hold back their laughs.


    Villin felt a bit awkward as a moment later chairs indeed started rising out of the ground, giving everyone a place to sit. Villin realized that even though ''Mental Technique: Search'' allowed him to sense hostile magic before it reached him, it did the same with the friendly kind. Let''s say he was in the middle of a fight and he suddenly felt magic coming from behind him, this might be an enemy''s spell but could just as well be a healing spell. Hell, it could even be an enchanted piece of paper used to play ''Cut and Crease''.


    Everyone sat down as the chairs had fully risen out of the ground. And as they did so the sight that could be seen through the glasses changed. It looked as if they were standing just a few meters in front of a gate in the center of the coliseum. Villin, who found this too disorienting turned this off and instead used the zoom function to look at the gate directly.


    A couple of seconds later when almost everyone in the audience was seated, the iron gate opened as a magus came out of it. The magus was wearing a purple robe with the crest of the academy. The magus also had a big green jester''s hat on that held the crest of Decorus.


    His wand that was over a foot long was held comfortably in his hand with the tip of it reaching his lips. When the man started speaking the sound resounded across the entire area.


    "Welcome everyone to the Magicae Tournament! Last year I got a few threats because I was wearing an outfit presenting The Academy without presenting Decorus so I bought this hat for the occasion." The magus pointed at the green jester''s hat with a smile.


    The presenter seemed to be pretty well known in the magus community as nobody seemed to be angry at his joke, even the people in the Decorus stands looked slightly amused.


    "Today we have Gualin as our challenger. As a reminder to those that don''t recall them. Gualin is a school that has been considered to be in the top twenty for over fifty years. This old dog is very well known for their excellent skills in a multitude of sports. They are the current world champions of both ''Cut and Crease'', and ''Mashry''. They are sure to give others a run for their money in these categories! In the last dozen years, they have also cultivated a couple of great Magic Array makers, they certainly are a great school!"


    The presenter paused for a moment as a number of people in the audience clapped before continuing on.


    "As is usual, the challenger will be asked to put on a performance for the audience to enjoy, and open up the tournament! Please give it up for Gualin!" Once more applause rang out, this time the presenter retreated through the iron gate, but just a moment after, Villin saw something come out of the gate. It was a piece of paper, flying toward the middle of the coliseum.


    A few seconds later, another paper came out of the gate, then another, then suddenly a tsunami of paper exited the gate.


    The cluster made out of thousands of pieces of paper flew up a few dozen meters before splitting into three. With more paper constantly coming out of the gates, the three clusters of paper grew, just a few moments passed when a large number of the papers fell to the floor, revealing what had been made underneath. Three massive dog heads, each over twenty meters tall, were revealed. A neck began forming, and then a body. Less than a minute after the head was revealed the three-headed dog had gotten a complete body.


    Then the paper suddenly stopped moving. The audience was looking at what looked like a statue of the three-headed dog Cerberus. The papers were folded so perfectly you couldn''t see the difference between different pieces of paper, it all looked like one whole. Just a couple of moments later, the dog suddenly started moving. The heads looked to the left and the right with its paper teeth exposed.


    The dog seemed to be getting agitated as it moved its heads a bit lower, then suddenly it opened its three mouths and paper flew out, covering the sight of the audience. When the paper had fallen down enough the dog''s mouths were still open but within them stood three Magus, each wearing robes of Gualin. They each bowed, after which the three-headed dog lost its form and tens of thousands of pieces of paper fell to the ground, the three individuals floated down slowly before exiting back through the iron gate, soon followed by waves of paper.


    "Those are the current world champions! Sadly they graduated over ten years ago so they can''t take place in the tournament." Rein said, filling the others in while the audience was applauding.


    Once all the paper had left the arena, the presenter appeared again. He seemed disheveled and as he entered a few small pieces of paper could be seen sticking to his robe and hat.


    "What a great performance by three of the ''Cut and Crease'' teachers of Gualin! Now, I am guessing everyone must be wondering what the extras will be this time around! As everyone should know, other than the six grades, magic arrays, enchanting, Cut and Crease, and Mashry, every year there are two other categories that differ every tournament!" A few meters above the presenter the categories appeared written in fire, two question marks represented the extras.


    "Last year the extras were Pill-Making, and Chess. This year the extras are quite different." The presenter paused for a moment to keep the tension "The extras this year are Summoning and Transfiguration!"


    A lot of people in the audience began talking to their friends about the extras and how they would influence the tournament but according to what Villin heard, it wasn''t good news for The Academy. Neither The Academy nor Decorus were expected to win summoning but as for Transfiguration, the overall consensus was that The Academy didn''t stand a chance there. Decorus taught Transfiguration from the first grade, it was the primary combat choice of many of the Decorus students.


    "So, let me give you all a quick recap of the rules once again!" the presenter said after letting the audience discuss for a bit "The Magicae Tournament works in a point system. If a school gets first place in a certain category you get one point, all other places don''t matter." The Presentor paused for a moment before continuing on "The only exception is the challenger. If the challenger places above another school in half of the categories they get invited again, if they place above a certain school three times in a row, they take their rightful place in the top ten!"


    These were well-known rules so it didn''t get a lot of a reaction out of the audience but it was quite useful for Villin and Amelia who had never heard of the tournament. Especially the fact that second place got nothing was quite surprising. Villin wasn''t sure how the difference between second and tenth place got decided though since over half of the schools weren''t expected to get any points, but soon Rein clarified that for him.


    Currently second up to seventh had been a tournament winner at some point. The seventh was the longest ago, then the sixth, and so on. As for eighth to tenth, they had yet to get first since they entered the top ten.


    "Now that that''s all settled, let''s begin the tournament! Per usual we will begin with the first grade!"


    Above the presenter''s head was a bracket showing the eleven schools. It was obviously made to offer the most entertainment value as the better schools were set to meet near the end. The Academy got a free pass for the first round.


    And so, the Magicae Tournament began.

 Chapter 80: Viewing A Tournament (1)

    Once the presenter left the arena, thick pillars started rising out of the ground all over the arena, Rein quickly filled them in. "Before a fight, both parties can request a certain type of terrain, it looks like both fighters requested the same kind of terrain this time around."


    Half a minute later when the pillars had properly risen out of the ground, a gate opened up on both sides of the arena, and out came two students. On the left side was a student clad in black while on the right side stood a student in a dark blue robe. The two couldn''t see each other since there was a large pillar in the middle of the arena, keeping them out of each other''s sight.


    The two both began running toward the middle. Villin was surprised to see the student in the dark blue robes stayed behind a pillar, he seemed to be drawing a magic array on the ground.


    On the opposite side, the student in black had put a number of items on the ground, he seemed to be casting a spell toward them. "The student on the left is from Mafoli, they are best known for their summoning rituals." Rein filled the group in quickly.


    And indeed, half a minute later, just as the student in blue finished his magic array, the student in black also finished his cast. The materials on the ground came together and formed a portal in the air, a few moments later a small creature exited this portal. It was an icy white creature that was no bigger than a hand. After a moment of looking around, it spotted the student who summoned him. After talking to the creature for a few seconds, the little creature began flying into the air, looking for the opponent.


    Said opponent was now making their way toward them, moving from pillar to pillar.


    The student in black breathed in deeply for a moment before coming out of cover. Both of the students quickly began sending off their respective spells. But to Villin, they seemed incredibly weak. They weren''t moving about at all. Every spell was blocked by another spell, neither of the students dodged even once.


    The student on the right was pushed back more and more, but to the audience, it was clear he was trying to lead his opponent to the magic array he set up. It was of no use though. The student in dark blue suddenly got bitten in the back of the neck by a small white creature, even though it wasn''t that painful, it was enough to get him to yelp.


    Because of the yelp, he stopped his incantation midway and was unable to react to the other student''s cast. He was promptly thrown back, a few spells later, he was knocked down and a bell rang, letting everyone know the winner had been decided.


    Villin found the fight painful to watch. The time needed to cast was too long, the spells were too weak. The lack of dodges or using the environment was horrible. If Villin had to choose an MVP of the fight it would be the little white creature. It was the only one who somewhat used the environment, hiding from his opponent, and then striking at the right time, in the middle of a defensive cast.


    Sadly, this trend was one that continued. Other schools didn''t do much better at all. Overall there were a couple of times students dodged but not even close to enough, when he looked to the side Villin saw his companions also had pained looks on their faces. Rein who looked quite excited earlier looked constipated now.


    After a little bit, it was time for Decorus to fight, at least the group believed they should be somewhat skilled. The arena was the same as the very first fight, with a multitude of pillars risen up. The Decorus student in green pointed his wand toward a pillar, part of the pillar began moving until finally two small humanoids about two foot tall squirmed themselves loose from the pillar.


    The Decorus student looked exhausted and slumped down next to the pillar after making sure he had correctly cast his spell. The two small humanoids waited alongside this student for a while. The enemy student slowly made his way forward checking pillar after pillar for enemies, he looked very stressed.


    But just as he was about to check behind another pillar, two little creatures jumped at him from behind it. One jumped onto his leg causing him to lose his balance and fall to the ground, then the other one bit the student''s arm causing him to drop his wand. At the same moment, the wand dropped to the floor the bell rang out.


    If someone looked at the quartet now they would see them all doing the exact same thing. They were all covering their eyes with pained expression. These were all supposed to be students who have studied magic for sixteen months, yet they were so incredibly weak.


    This included the Decorus student, any one of them could''ve taken care of the golems. Even if, in some miracle, the first golem managed to jump onto their leg causing them to lose balance, they would certainly be able to shoot the second golem out of the air, there was no way they would be beaten by this kid.


    The four of them were thinking this year''s batch must just have been horrible for Decorus but the excited conversations of people around them proved otherwise. They heard multiple mentions of this year''s batch from Decorus being quite skilled.


    Rein also looked very awkward now, he didn''t recall the first grade students being this weak at all. But then again, when he came here last time he wasn''t a Magus and he was quite a bit younger, he probably didn''t quite understand these kinds of things yet.


    Soon The Academy had its first match but, this too was quite anticlimactic. The student from The Academy dodged every now and then but other than that he was no bitter compared to the other student in the competition.


    In reality, it wasn''t that these people were weak, it was just that the quartet didn''t quite realize their strength. Even back in The Academy, Villin needed to have a multitude of students attack him at the same time in the combat classes. He thought this was a somewhat normal occasion but he was wrong. Overall, the combat skills of the people in the first grade were all extremely similar, there weren''t many people here that were a lot stronger than their peers yet since everyone was still learning the basics.


    The first-grade competition lasted for a good while, and in the end, it was as people expected. The Academy ended up losing against Decorus, who managed to get a small golem to sneak attack them from behind while they were engaged in combat.


    After the first grade, it was time for the second-grade tournament, this time around the competition was a lot more watchable. First of all, it had to be said the competition was no longer a single student against a single other students, instead, it was two versus two. A couple of the competitors seemed to be quite strong and Villin felt that fighting them would be quite fun. The people of this grade had some fighting instinct, they dodged more and used an environmental spell every now and then instead of just sending out streaks of light that would be blocked. Villin and Amelia were also surprised to find that Aiden fought in the second-grade team.


    Where in the first grade it was quite close, the Decorus students of the second grade managed to easily defeat all opposition. They had a few very familiar golems with them when she entered the arena. The golems flew over and managed to bite into the opponents'' arms, causing them to be unable to raise them.


    When a student tried to take care of the golems first, they just left themselves open for attacks and so they were still defeated.


    After the first two grades finished their tournaments it was time for the sporting bits. Cut and Crease went as everyone expected. Gualin was simply unrivaled in this bit. They defeated their opponents with ease. The competition was still very fun to watch though, everyone competing was in the fifth or sixth grade and the format was six versus six. Paper flew all over and the matches were very tense, being commentated by the presenter.


    Next up was Mashry. If anything, Villin compared Mashry to robot fighting. Every school had a team of three that would compete. They had a core that had to be protected and a number of metal and wooden components they could attach to the core to make a ''robot'', they would then use their magical energy to move some of the parts mid-fight to attack and defend their own core. The fights usually lasted for quite a bit and Villin didn''t find it all that entertaining, the ''robots'' all moved very slow, and even the attacks would be easy to dodge, it seemed to have no appliance in actual combat.

 Chapter 81: Viewing A Tournament (2)

    Once Gualin won the Mashry portion, it was time for the next portion of the combat section. Soon the third grade tournament began. The difference between the second and third grade was extremely high. The third grade students knew multiple environmental spells, Villin noticed the real competition changed at this point.


    It was a three versus three at this point but the students no longer seemed to be trying to take each other out with regular spells. Most of the time they did try to get an advantage here though so that they would have the time to use an environmental spell.


    Still, from a spectators perspective, Villin saw a number of flaws. When the fights happened in the arena with the pillars, the students would only use these pillars to get the opportunity to complete a summon, transfiguration, or magic array. They never really used them in a fight.


    Another thing he noticed was how grouped up the teams were. Every one of the teams stayed close to each other at almost every bit of the fight. Of course, this did have a number of benefits. They could have a student capable of attacking constantly while the others focused on defenses, but there were also negatives.


    As soon as a student managed to cast a proper environmental spell, knocking the students to the ground or just causing them to lose their footing, the fight could be considered to be finished.


    In a tournament here the meta is so reliant on environmental spells, Villin believed splitting up was a better technique. Hide behind certain columns and wait, then attack from three different angles.


    Villin was also surprised that nobody used an invisibility spell or something of the like, even though this wasn''t against the rules.


    After thinking for a bit, Villin thought of a probable reason. The teams fighting here were probably specially taught by someone that previously did well in this tournament, they were taught according to their feedback not allowing new strategies to properly grow. The tournament had grown stagnant as nobody tried new techniques anymore, even though it was surely still enjoyable for the audience when a new spell was used or a nice combo was cast, Villin was sure a new strategy should be extremely well received.


    After having decided to try to change the meta a bit in four months if he would be allowed to compete, for now, he observed the teams closely.


    In the third grade, all teams got a lot stronger, but Decorus was the most noticeable. Their team could transfigure golems even bigger than the ones that had attacked Villin''s group in the academy and then still continue fighting.


    Using this technique, when someone fought Decorus it wasn''t really a three versus three but a three versus six instead. Using the same technique as in the second grade, anyone that tried to deal with the golems would get overwhelmed by spells.


    Another school that did really well was Mafoli, the school that focused on summoning. Their third grade students could summon creatures that looked like completely white goblins. The ground under the goblins'' feet would turn white and the creatures had limited magical energy, being able to slightly slow down nearby enemies before stabbing them with their sharp sticks.


    They managed to get third place just below The Academy. Their summons stood no chance against the golems and students from The Academy often managed to defeat them before the ice goblins even got close.


    Still, Villin decided to read up on summoning a bit, even if he didn''t plan to try and learn the technique, he at least wanted to know its strengths and weaknesses.


    The fourth grade fights didn''t change much. The only real difference was that the speed at which students were able to cast magic was a lot faster, this was most notable with students from The Academy. When others sent out two spells they already sent out three, completely overwhelming their enemies. As for Decorus, the difference between third and fourth grade wasn''t very big, the golems didn''t change much and even though it was still close, The Academy managed to win.


    With another third of the combat portion finished, it was time for the extras. In this edition, they were Transfiguration and summoning. When it came to transfiguration, each school sent out their best student, they would have five minutes to complete their best transfiguration and then a jury would score them all. This was because transfiguration could be used in non-combative ways as well, not just in the manner Decorus often used it.


    As expected Decorus won this section as the student managed to make a golem that was over ten meters tall. The behemoth was extremely impressive and the audience couldn''t wait to see the student in the sixth grade''s battle. As for The Academy, they only taught the course in the fifth grade and even then it wasn''t taught by anyone famous. They finished eighth.


    As for summoning, the tests were combative. Each school would send out one student and they would compete tournament-style. The students wouldn''t battle themselves, of course, but they would have five minutes to summon a beast, then the two beasts would fight to the death. There were a few bans though, for one, you wouldn''t be allowed to summon a flying beast or a beast capable of burrowing underground.


    The tournament was easily won by Mafoli, their student managed to summon an Ice Giant that stood seven meters tall. Even though it wasn''t as tall as the golem they saw in the previous category, Villin actually believed the Ice Giant would win in a fight, it was more burly and most certainly capable of punching through stone.


    And then it was part for the final two grades of the tournament. The five versus five tournament consisting of those from the fifth grade was won by The Academy with ease. Decorus fell behind even more at this level as the summoning school ''Mafoli'' managed to beat them.


    Yet at this point, the winner was already decided to be Decorus, even if The Academy also won the sixth grade as usual. But in this final tournament, something extremely surprising happened. The Academy lost against Mafoli in the first round, the black-robes students managed to summon a type of massive ground snake capable of burrowing underground. This beast had never before been summoned in the tournament and The Academy''s students were all defeated. First, the ground snake got beneath them and while they were gaining the advantage in the fight, the ground beneath them gave way.


    Even though four of The Academy''s students managed to react in time and cast a flying spell, two students still fell down, causing them to be taken out of the game. While the other four were still disoriented, another one was taken out by a sneaky spell causing the situation to change into a three versus six...or well seven.


    Yet even then The Academy''s top students managed to fend off Mafoli''s attacks with their superior casting speed and spells. They were only fully taken care of when they had to land because they were losing massive amounts of magic power. Working together with their summon, the Mafoli students defeated The Academy.


    The entire venue went into an uproar. It had been a very, very long time since The Academy had lost in a sixth grade tournament. A few rounds later Mafoli even managed to defeat the Decorus students becoming the round''s winner.


    At this moment Villin was sweating bullets. He couldn''t help but pretend he was standing against the summons they used here. From the giant ground snake to the partially magic-resistant giant birds they used to defeat Decorus, he had no way to combat any of them.


    Villin smiled wrily at even thinking about that, just the very fact he thought he might be comparable to some of the third graders should already be extremely exciting, yet here he was stressing out.


    After letting the audience discuss and calm down for a bit, the presenter came out once more, his robe was now green with the Decorus crest and even though he still had a jester''s hat on, it was purple now, holding the crest of The Academy.


    "Well, well, well, what an exciting day this was! First things first, this year''s challenger actually managed to come in ninth place overall, allowing them to be invited again next time!" The section of the stands containing Gualin seemed to light up, their headmasters, a couple of young men were standing there smiling, they seemed to be extremely content. Even though they were expected to win the sporting bits, they did better than expected in the fights, allowing them to become tenth.


    "But of course, the most exciting bit is the victory of Decorus! Coming in two whole points above The Academy. If Decorus can come in first twice more this means they would take over into first place, please give it up for our winner!" the Decorus stands were lit up as deafening applause came from the stands, the audience seemed very satisfied with the results.


    "Now, it appears the headmaster of The Academy has something to say!" the presenter said as the light focused on said man. The old man pointed his own wand toward his mouth and began speaking "First of all, I wish to congratulate Decorus on their victory today, it was well deserved. Secondly, I have an announcement to make."


    "As you all know I have a son and daughter who have both just turned nine years old. After using The Academy''s awakening method I intend to have them study somewhere else. My daughter, Elise, Will be sent to study at Mafoli, who have shown they are extremely capable of teaching proper summoners, an area my school isn''t that skilled in. My son, Ares, will be sent over to Decorus, as they have clearly shown they are extremely capable of teaching talented magus." after finishing his words the old man simply sat down again and the light faded.


    "I heard there used to be a tradition where headmasters would send their offspring to other schools but this tradition hasn''t been followed for dozens of years." Rein said in surprise, but before anyone else could comment a light appeared, now illuminating Decorus''s headmaster. A beautiful woman in green robes.


    "My daughter Elinoire has shown great talents in courses not often taught in Decorus, I have decided to transfer her over to The Academy so she may be taught at the current top school." the Decorus headmaster dropped another bomb.


    The spectators were all shocked and started discussing, even the presenter seemed to be slackjawed.

 Chapter 82: Explanation Behind The Attack

    About twenty minutes later the presenter left the arena leaving behind an audience that was still stunned. As he left, a few dozen wooden stands started rising out of the ground in the arena, as did multiple stairways allowing the spectators to enter said arena. Villin was surprised to see all the basic wooden stands had a signboard with names on them. Each stand was soon occupied by an individual or group that competed in the tournament. They would give signatures and if asked you would even be allowed to take equipment capable of recording pictures.


    Villin had mixed feeling about this. On one hand, the situation seemed weird to him but he couldn''t exactly say why. When he thought about it, it made sense. Strong magus were idolized, giving these top students the celebrity treatment was somewhat natural.


    Villin and his group calmly headed down, letting those that really seemed to be in a rush go first. Villin was surprised to see everyone that had a stand had magus and children lining up, even those that didn''t perform that well.


    Villin wasn''t sure what stand to head toward until Amelia pointed one out to him. It seemed Aiden and his teammate had a stand themselves, Aiden stood at the side letting his teammate give most of the signatures. The group went toward the stand, and just as Villin hesitated between standing in line or just going ahead and walk up to him, Aiden spotted Amelia.


    Villin could see a stunned expression on his face, he pinched his nose to make sure he wasn''t imagining things before quickly walking over. He looked at the four of them with a somewhat stunned expression. Then he looked at Amelia "You aren''t dead? You were in the list of casualties."


    Faced with Aiden who didn''t seem sure what emotion to feel, Amelia replied calmly "We managed to escape the academy in the chaos, Decorus did get me good though." she moved aside her hair showing him her missing eye, causing him to take a step back in shock.


    "I''ll go get the teachers." With the same stunned expression as earlier, Aiden began running back up to The Academy''s section of the stands. His teammate looked at the situation from a distance in confusion, he didn''t hear what was said.


    As for the other three, they didn''t ask Amelia why she lied. If she claimed she lost her eye in a fight against Decorus, they wouldn''t go against that, at least they had so much tact.


    Only five seconds after Aiden entered the box hiding the important members of The Academy, two people exited hurriedly making their way down, Villin recognized both of them.


    To the left was the bulky Pompei who taught them combat classes, to the right was a forty-or-so-year-old teacher Villin had seen once before. It was miss Valentina he had seen once before, she conducted the advanced tournament before the Decorus attacks.


    The professor still had a monocle and she seemed quite nervous, soon she spotted them.


    "My God, you all are still alive! After the attackers were pushed back we looked everywhere but couldn''t find all of you, we thought you were killed or captured!" the professor''s shouts caused some of the people nearby to look over it seemed something was going on here.


    Before she could continue Pompei laughed loudly before commenting "I knew my top students wouldn''t die so easily, I''m the one that taught them after all!" he was grinning as he looked at Villin and Kayley.


    "Yes, Yes, anyways since you have all been found now, go up to the box quickly, there is a lot to talk about." miss Valentine said, rushing them to head up the stairs toward The Academy''s section.


    As they were moving up Villin couldn''t help but let out a sigh of relief, at least they seemed happy they survived. He couldn''t help but have been worried The Academy would''ve rather had them dead so there would be no witnesses to confirm they seemingly left the students to die.


    Once the group entered the spectator''s box, there was nobody else there, the headmaster had already left. Miss Valentine quickly began speaking.


    "Please sit, I am willing to answer any questions you may have about the situation right now." Pompei also grunted in agreement, he would make sure things were explained properly.


    Of course, the group asked about the attacks first, why the teachers were evacuated but they weren''t. They learned the First Grade wasn''t the only section to get attacked. There was a weakness in one of their teleportation formations, this allowed Decorus to find the location of the first grade, third grade, and fifth grade. All teachers were immediately called to go to defend the fifth grade first as Decorus''s main force was also supposed to be there. After they dealt with the situation there they made their way toward the third grade and then the first grade.


    When Amelia asked why the students weren''t just all gathered in the fifth or third grade, miss Valentine and Pompei both looked a bit nervous.


    "There are certain things you should know before I can properly respond to your question." miss Valentine said hesitating a little. "The most important thing you should know is how schools generally rise above others, the method is the same with most of the top ten schools. The Academy itself also used this method allowing it to retake first place a long time ago." Valentine calmed down as she composed her thoughts properly.


    "When it comes to the schools, war is the main source of new strength. Every school had a large number of treasures, secret techniques, iron spell books, magic array blueprints, magic equipment, and much, much more. Things used to be simple like this, one school would find the coordinates of another school and attack. If the defending school really wanted to protect the treasures, at most they could take some and escape through a hyperloop." she paused allowing the group to process this first bit of information.


    "When someone escaped through a hyperloop, they would naturally get chased, fights would happen and the winner would keep the treasures, if the attackers caught up and got the treasures their school would probably rise quickly."


    "The problem is that now, long-distance teleportation arrays exist. Furthermore, they can be made in a way where they would self-destruct whenever the school''s defenses would be properly breached. When a school is being attacked, some people could just take the treasures and teleport away using the array, this would make attacking a school practically useless and not worth the trouble at all."


    "And so, an agreement was reached between the top twenty schools. In order to be able to continue gaining strength through warfare, they agreed to keep the treasures within the school grounds, they could protect the treasures with magic arrays and guardians but they can not be taken away. The Academy was one of the main contributors to this clause back when it was made."


    As for why the students weren''t evacuated, there are two reasons. Firstly, it would be a sign of surrender to have everyone retreat, The Academy would be acknowledging Decorus students were more powerful than their own. Secondly, with the students resisting, the focus of Decorus would be on them instead of finding the treasures, this was the treasures might not have been found by the time the teachers arrived to push back the invaders."


    Saying all of this the teacher didn''t look good, and when he looked at his companions Villin saw they also seemed very angry, Villin was the only one that didn''t seem to have a big problem with the way this was handled.


    "I suspected The Academy would have somewhat lacking management. Even though non-mortalborn have to pay for tuition, it would normally not be nearly enough compared to what they are getting. We can only really contribute to The Academy when we get to the fifth or sixth grade, it''s normal they see us as disposable, since we have some value being used to delay the invaders, it is natural The Academy wishes to make use of us and get back some of their investment. As for those talented enough to the point where The Academy already expects them to be capable of graduation, looking at our situation and the fact Aiden is in the second grade, they should have been invited to skip a grade."


    The others looked at him with shock, they seemed to strongly disagree with his opinion but Villin didn''t mind. The Academy gave them a massive amount of resources, spells to learn, knowledge to gain, he always knew he would have to pay them back in some way, at least when they would ask him to contribute he might be able to point at this attack, claiming his contribution was already made.


    "How many students were killed?" Villin asked looking miss Valentine in the eyes, she was surprised to see no anger or confusion whatsoever, just clarity.


    "The first grade is split into two sections, section A and section B. Section B was attacked, only thirty percent of the students survived," she said in a somewhat sad tone.


    Villin nodded with a sigh, he wondered if more of his classmates survived. He had to admit that his opinion of The Academy had fallen drastically, if he was that disposable, then he wasn''t really safe there.  Still, he had a lot he needed to learn and he wanted to learn it quickly. He doubted The Academy would take this attack lightly and suspected they were looking for Decorus'' school feverously.


    "Oh right!" Amelia said, looking at the two teachers in front of them "We managed to take professor Richard with us, we also got the spell, and technique books from his classroom.


    Hearing this, miss Valentine looked at them with surprise "Any treasures you managed to save during the attack are now considered yours, this is to thank you for keeping said treasures out of Decorus'' hands. As for professor Richard, although he could also be considered as a treasure since he is no longer a living being, I am sure The Academy would be very willing to buy him back at a high price. This goes for all treasures you might have gotten, by the way, The Academy is willing to buy everything back at a fair price if you wish for it."


    Amelia nodded as she looked at her companions, without saying a word they all came to a consensus. "At this point, we would like to sell professor Richard back to The Academy, we believe he is more useful as a teacher compared to a crystal," Villin said this time as he reached into his jacket taking out the crystal their professor was trapped in.


    "I''ll take care of this one!" Pompei said as he took the crystal out of his hands "Richy and I always got along well and I ain''t letting my stars get scammed!" after yelling out these words he made his way outside.


    Even though the others had mixed feelings due to the knowledge dropped, Villin felt rather good. At the end of the day, they profited from the attack on the school. Iron spell models were worth a lot, the creation process was extraordinarily hard, and the creator had to make certain sacrifices to create them. If they chose to sell them they would surely get another massive windfall.


    But well, for now, it was time to head back to The Academy.

 Chapter 83: Back In The Academy

    Two days passed. In these two days, the quartet had been asked about what all had happened a multitude of times. The group kept quiet about the soldiers only stating Kayley''s dad found them and gave them some sort of special rings, telling them to stay away from the coast. They found a hotel in a city and practiced their magic only going outside occasionally. They made it very clear nobody used magic outside of their room and no mortal had seen any signs of magic.


    As for how they escaped The Academy, they spoke the truth, only lying about the fact Amelia''s eye was hit with a spell when she and Villin were fighting a number of other students. Miss Valentine and the other magus that came to ask them questions all nodded and thanked them for their time, nobody questioned their words at all.


    There was a magus that came to see if he could heal Amelia''s eye but he shook his head saying the magic energy from the attack had completely dissipated and there was no way to reverse it for the time being.


    The group was also asked whether they wanted to go back to the first grade or immediately head for the second grade. "Is professor Crumb still teaching in the first grade?" Villin asked, he valued the professor very much and had much he wanted to discuss with him.


    Miss Valentine shook her head "Some of the fifth grade teachers were sadly killed so a large number of teachers have moved up a grade, professor Crumb was one of them.


    Hearing that professor Crumb was in the second grade now, Villin didn''t hesitate to move up. Even if he wasn''t in his classes he might still be able to fin the professor after class.


    The others also readily agreed, even though Rein and Kayley weren''t willing to move up three months ago, the situation had changed quite a bit, all of them finished the first grade''s books and they were eager to learn more.


    And so now there they were, standing in the halls of the second grade. The aesthetic of the school didn''t change in any big ways but there were still a couple of differences. For one, the walls were no longer illuminating the hallways, instead, there were torches hanging on the wall, Villin found it didn''t look as good as the first grade halls but didn''t really mind much, as for the torches, they didn''t radiate any heat whatsoever, you could touch the flames without getting hurt.


    As they were heading toward the dormitories, the four of them were worried, they joined four months into the year, it was likely they would have the rooms multiple kilometers away from the dormitory entrance.


    But when they arrived, this worry was largely alleviated. Once they went through the grade B door, they found there was a stairway going down far. There were ten floors, each of them with a hallway holding fifty rooms, that being said, looking from outside the rooms seemed to be a lot wider. Looking closer they noticed something odd, every door had five names on them instead of one, were rooms shared in this grade?


    Passing by a few other students who were heading toward their own rooms, the group noticed something else that was odd. On the robes of these other students, below the school''s crest, was another unfamiliar one.


    This wasn''t something they had on their own robes and it wasn''t the crest of another school. After some time passed they finally got to the fourth floor, on the third door they found the following text.


    -----------


    This room belongs to the following individuals:


    Elinoire Decorus (transfer month five) white


    Villin Grey (transfer month five) white


    Amelia Blackwood (transfer month five) white


    Rein Bellua (transfer month five) white


    Kayley Allius (transfer month five) white


    ---------------------


    There were a few surprising bits of information Villin got from this. They would all be roommates and they would be together with the daughter of the headmaster of a rival school. As for the ''white'', Villin doubted it had to do with skin color, he would have to inquire about that later.


    Villin walked up opening the door, no key was required as the door would recognize its owners. In front of them was a relatively large room. The room had a lot of free space in the middle. On both sides of the room in the middle of the walls were a couple of desks with chairs underneath and a couch to relax on. In two of the corners were blue bunk beds made out of metal, it didn''t look all that comfortable.


    Meanwhile, straight ahead, was a large king-sized bed, sitting on that bed was a girl that was by no means beautiful. She had a crooked nose, thin white hair, and a lot of acne. She was too skinny and her complexion looked unhealthy as well. The only positive thing about her appearance were her eyes. She had green eyes that looked incredibly intelligent and she was staring at the people who just entered the room.


    "Who are you four?" she asked. Her voice was raspy, as if she had been a chain smoker for a long time.


    Villin was surprised by her appearance but didn''t show it on his face "We''re your roommates, Elinoire I presume?" he asked.


    "That''s me." The girl said, the two of them were clearly sizing each other up. Villin wasn''t smiling like he usually did when he met a person. It wasn''t because of her looks, but her name instead. She was the daughter of Decorus''s headmaster, and well¡­ he didn''t exactly have the best impression of them.


    After a few moments, Villin finally spoke up "Alright then, let''s get this over with. Don''t touch my things and I won''t touch yours. If you do touch my things we''re going to have some serious problems."


    Elinoire looked him in the eyes "Even though I generally don''t run away from problems, I agree, don''t touch my stuff and I won''t touch yours."


    Both of them became quiet once more as they stared at each other in the eyes. Both of them didn''t feel this way but the other three who came in felt the silence was uncomfortable.


    "I''m Kayley, nice to meet you," Kayley said, trying to make the hostile feeling go away.


    But Elinoire didn''t seem interested in that. She and Villin both looked away at the same time after which the girl laid down in the bed again. Villin spoke to the others as if she wasn''t there.


    "Alright, so, first things first, let''s split the spoils we got from The Academy. The payment for professor Richard should come in a little while so we can have a look at that when the time comes."


    As he was speaking the others all took out their own crystal holder and Villin transferred 2500 crystals to each of them. This was a fair split.


    "As for the spell books, we can test the market first and decide what to do with it then. For now, let''s just keep it in the room as it is our collectual property," he said as he took out the spell models. Even though Elenoire wasn''t looking, Villin still made sure it looked natural when he took them out of his backpack, he didn''t want her to know they had spacial storage.


    He put about half of the spell models on one of the desks and drew a magic array around them while he continued speaking "Other than the classes we can continue doing things as we did them in the hotel. At least we have proper resources now to do things like pill-making and playing ''Cut And Crease''. As for the wands, each of you can take a spare, sell it, or keep it, all up to you." Villin said as he took out the remaining wands they had.


    Each of them also received a second grade wands that had the same properties as the ones they currently had so the value went down quite a bit.


    "What classes are you all planning to take?" Amelia asked as she inspected the wand.


    "I''ll be taking the magic array class and the ''magus etiquette'' one." Rein said.


    Magus etiquette was a second grade optional class explaining things such as how to receive guests, how to dress when being invited, how to dance, etcetera


    "I''ll be taking enchanting, magic arrays, and pill-making." Kayley took the same classes as the last grade.


    "I''ll also be taking the same classes as last year, I am planning to also join the ''Cut and Crease'' team though. I''ll also be having a look at the clubs to see if there''s anything interesting now that I have the funds." Villin''s words were clear and the others nodded as it is largely what they expected "What about you Amelia?"


    When asked herself Amelia didn''t look like she was all that sure "I''ll have to see, Pill-making is a must and I''m also going to be going for the ''Cut and Crease'' team, but other than that, I''m not sure yet."


    Villin nodded, he knew she focused quite a bit on gene solutions usually but it probably wouldn''t be an option this time around.


    "Say, Villin." Kayley began as she thought about something "You know how we always spent time studying the nodes within out webs, I think there''s some real potential there, we should consider making a club."


    Villin thought for a bit. It was clear Kayley wanted to go through with it but he wasn''t sure yet "Let''s see what this year''s ''studies of the web'' is like. If the book doesn''t explain the kind of things we were discovering we can think about it again.


    Kayley nodded as she was content with the arrangement.


    The four of them just stood there for a bit then, unsure of what to do, after a while Villin broke the silence "Right, let''s check our chests and retrieve our books¡­ Where are our chests?"


    They all looked around the room for chests similar to those they had in the first grade but they couldn''t spot any.


    "You have to earn them." Elinoire suddenly said as she sat up from the bed. "I only arrived yesterday but I heard from the second grade onward you have to earn most things. Right now your schoolbooks and meals will remain in the mailing room until you retrieve them."


    Villin looked at her and then frowned before speaking to his friends "Let''s have a look at how this grade works first, so we don''t run around like headless chickens."

 Chapter 84: Second Grade Rules

    Exiting the dormitories the group didn''t really know where to go since they didn''t have a map yet, hence, Villin decided to ask a few passing students the direction toward the mailroom.


    The students looked at them weirdly and upon seeing they only had the school''s crest on their robes they pointed them in the general direction.


    Sadly, the mailroom was at the complete opposite side of the grade from the dormitories. It took the group about an hour before they finally reached there "Seems like we really will be needing a chest, walking all this way for every meal would take up way too much time."


    Everyone agreed with Villin as they arrived at the wooden door that had a sign on it that read ''Mail Room''.


    Without any further ado, Villin opened the door and walked in. They were now standing in a massive hall, the ceiling was over five meters high and the room itself was about a hundred meters long and ten meters wide. Spread across the room were approximately five-hundred wooden crates with the contents for all to see. Many of the crates had meals in them, other than this Villin could see notes laying in some of the crates.


    Villin felt odd as he could easily read many of the notes as he walked past the crates. Villin crouched down inspecting the ground around one of the crates to see if there were any magic arrays stopping thieves but couldn''t find anything. After about ten seconds of inspecting the ground, he heard a voice addressing them.


    "HEY! What are you doing down there! Not trying to steal I hope!" A young magus with a second grade''s robe walked toward them with his wand in hand. On his robe, just below The Academy''s crest was another crest depicting a shield and a lion.


    "We were just looking around." Villin reassured, "We just joined today so I was wondering how to identify which crate belongs to which student."


    The guarding student looked at them in surprise before seemingly realizing something and tightening the grip on his wand, something that didn''t go unnoticed by the group.


    "Joined today eh. The only person I heard was allowed to transfer in the fifth month is the Decorus princess, that must be one of you two then I presume." he said as he looked at Amelia and Kayley, "Didn''t know you were allowed to bring a bunch of goons with you, but then again, nobody was really expecting our little princess to play fair anyway."


    Villin detected quite a bit of contempt in his voice, his tone also wasn''t low and a few other students came closer, Villin saw most of them had the same crest as the person that confronted them and they seemed ready to grab his wand at any time.


    The right course of action wasn''t immediately clear to Villin. On one side the person before them was clearly hostile toward them but on the other hand, the reason was also quite understandable. People didn''t know of their arrival and the fact that the daughter of Decorus''s headmaster joined the school as a transfer student wasn''t a secret.


    As for their dislike of Decorus, Villin completely understood it, after all, Decorus had attacked half the school just a few months ago and a large number of students had died.


    "We aren''t from Decorus, we''re survivors of the first grade. Broke through the attackers and managed to escape to the mortal world, a wandering magus found us and brought us to the tournament where we reconnected with The Academy." Villin said honestly as he raised his hands, clearly not looking for a fight.


    This wasn''t the time or place, and Villin didn''t see these people as opponents either, they were all students at the same school.


    The student that seemed to be looking for trouble hesitated for a bit. Villin said his words with confidence and he was prone to believe him.


    But just as he began lowering his wand another student that had approached spoke up "Escaped from the first grade? Really now? You know what I heard, I heard there were traitors in the first grade, they stabbed their fellow students in the back and were allowed to leave safely. I''m guessing these people just didn''t have talent in transfiguration and after accomplishing little in three months they wanted back into The Academy!"


    The student who said this had blonde hair and blue eyes, he looked arrogant and was wearing a crest depicting an eagle soaring into the sky.


    To Villin it was obvious this student was just trying to stir up trouble, and even though a few others also got this impression, most of them were already on edge and distrustful of the group.


    Villin cursed inwardly as he saw some of the people with the crest depicting a shield and a lion reach for their wands. Even though the initial person who confronted them still seemed a little conflicted, some of his teammates weren''t anymore. They all heard of the traitors and had formed a deep resentment against them.


    The student that wanted to stir up trouble used a very effective trick to do so. Instead of pushing on claiming they were with the Decorus princess, he gave them another, equally bad identity. This was enough to have a few of the students get enraged enough to want to attack, and from there, things could only go downhill.


    Villin swallowed once when he saw the number of students in the room, even though they were originally spread out, the students that belonged to the first faction as the guy that was the first to question them, had now all approached within ten meters of them. There were a total of ten of them. As for other spectators, including the troublemaker, there were five looking at the scene.


    Villin already saw the troublemaker preparing to retreat and he instantly understood his character, they would run away as soon as he achieved his goal. As for why he wanted to initiate a fight, Villin wasn''t sure but he didn''t have much time to think about it.


    Half a second after a few of the students were reaching for their wands, Villin and his group moved as if one. Amelia and Kayley jumped to the right at the same time, grabbing their wands in the process. Meanwhile, Villin and Rein jumped toward the left also grabbing their wands.


    The other students with the shield and lion crest, lost their hesitation as they also grabbed their wands. But still, the first to fire off their spells were the two students who were baited in by the troublemaker. Both of them used a saved spell that looked like a green streak. One of them was aiming for Amelia previously but was caught off-guard by the group''s sudden movement, causing the spell to miss and hit the wall, a small explosion happened as the brick that was hit exploded into pieces.


    The second student that was baited by the troublemaker took a little longer to send out his spell, he managed to react to the movement and sent the green streak right at Villin.


    Not pressured that much by a single spell, Villin simply cast Reverto, extending his wand. The green streak hit the shield and paused for a moment, Villin was very surprised by the amount of magical energy required to halt the spell but still managed to send it back.


    Seeing his own spell come back toward them the brown-haired boy didn''t panic as he cast his own defensive spell "Mogth" no visible effect happened but when the spell got within half a meter from the boy it disappeared.


    Now, the reason the group split up became apparent. The enemies were grouped up quite closely and as they tried to aim toward their respective targets they got in each other''s way. Even though this only bought the group a few seconds it was enough to properly position themselves how they wanted. Villin halted as Rein kept running and on the opposite side the same thing happened with Amelia and Kayley. After a few seconds, they surrounded the group four times their own numbers.


    Luckily most of the spectators didn''t pull their wands as they held their hands up, not wanting to be caught in the crossfire, only two of the spectators joined the fight. As for the troublemaker, he was already standing away from the group when he spoke and started running away as soon as Villin and his group moved, he got out of the room in no time.


    After these two seconds of relative calm, both groups quickly began casting their spells. Villin noticed his enemies were quite well-coordinated, he hoped they would just each go for their own opponent, leaving their allies'' backs exposed but this wasn''t the case. The ten students with the same crest quickly moved together, forming a small circle facing outward, after a moment they also pulled the two spectators that decided to join in with them and the twelve people were all watching each other''s backs, they weren''t underestimating their enemies.


    Villin cursed once again when he saw this, the pressure was high as he was facing three opponents at once but he could still manage, he was more worried about Rein at this time.


    Rein, standing quite far to his left, was indeed in trouble. Compared to the other three he wasn''t a genius at all when it came to combat, he could only learn spells at a regular pace which was way slower compared to the rest of the group, As for the good abilities he did have, they weren''t of much use right now.


    Seeing two more spells head for him, Villin barely managed to dodge to the left, he didn''t have enough confidence in his defensive spells to take a spell head-on like the others. At least the bit of sparring he did with the others improved his battle sense.


    After twenty seconds passed, Rein felt completely exhausted. Both groups still had all of their members. Villin and Amelia had both managed to wound one of their enemies but didn''t manage to take any out of the fight. Meanwhile, he had been dodging, only able to send a spell back every now and then. His enemies could tell his defensive spells were only barely able to take a hit and started attacking at a higher frequency.


    Rein had to do something to stop it now, and suddenly he had an idea as he thought of his saved spells. One of the spells he ha- ARGH!


    Rein got sent back a meter as a spell managed to hit his shoulder straight on causing a bloody hole to appear. He barely managed to hold on to his wand as he quickly grabbed it with his other hand, this would further decrease the speed of casting.


    Without allowing himself to think much more, he yelled out "VINEA!"


    His enemies thought it was just the verbal cast for the spell he cast at that time but his allies knew better. Vinea Tenura was one of the spells they all knew and one they all decided to use as one of the saved spells due to its versatility.


    It could generally be used as a last resort to block the enemy''s path or try to ensnare them, this would at least buy some time.


    Hearing Rein yell out this word the others realized he was in trouble, and as if one, four people used one of their saved spells at the same time.


    Suddenly, the ground underneath the feet of their enemies started to tremble wildly.

 Chapter 85: Guilds

    At this time at another part of the grade.


    "How interesting, it seems that the Shielding Lions are in a rather intense fight." A girl with golden eyes commented as she was looking at the rather peculiar wall before her. Behind her stood four other people, one of them, a boy with silver hair responded: "Yes, the assailants aren''t in our database though, new transfers?"


    Next to him stood a girl with pink pigtails, she replied "It seems like it. And that just a day after the Decorus princess arrived, do we know if she was allowed to bring other students with her?"


    The other four people in the room stayed silent, they didn''t seem to have any intel on these people. After a moment the girl with golden eyes and silver hair spoke as she turned toward her four confidants. "Their strength is high, it''s been ten seconds and nobody had been taken out." She looked at the girl with pink ponytails "Sara, be careful with assumptions, we pride ourselves in always having the right information, we don''t want to mess up so soon after our founding." she then turned toward the boy with silver hair, they had the same hair color but the boy had red eyes, making him look quite intense.


    "Hawk, approach them after the fight is finished, get a judge of their character, and if the situation allows it, ask about the reason for their transfer. Don''t offend them even if they are from Decorus." she turned toward all four of the people standing in the room "We remain impartial no matter what, even if these people are from Decorus and they killed some of our people, we aren''t those who pick sides."


    The four nodded, they knew exactly what she meant, she had been very clear about this before letting them join.


    The girl with golden eyes and long silver hair turned around again looking at the wall. The wall had runes faintly visible in many places, enchantments could be seen that were extraordinarily complex. Thanks to these runes the wall seemed to be showing not only the map of the entire grade, but there were even dots depicting the location of everyone in this grade.


    Her gaze was fixed on the leftmost area of the wall, she saw twelve figures forming a circle, small lines appeared often going in between these twelve figures and four other ones surrounding them. This made it clear a high number of spells were being sent off continuously. As for the figures specifically, they all had their own colors, ten of the twelve who were covering each other were slightly different shades of dark blue. Surrounding them were four figures that were barely visible, they were a faint gray.


    As she was looking at this, one of the faint gray figures got shot back a meter and the figure flickered a bit. Just as she thought the Shielding Lions were about to win something happened that caused her to raise an eyebrow. A faint red hue could be seen all around the blue figures, a spell seemed to have cast encompassing that entire area.


    ----------------------


    "VINEA"


    A second after Rein''s yell the ground underneath the group of twelve began shaking. As the ground cracked underneath them four people lost their footing, breaking the formation. Two of these got hit by a spell when they hit the floor, wounding them.


    Just as a few people managed to jump away from most of the group, the ground cracked further and vines sprouted out of it, quickly rising up, ensnaring those above it. Rein and Amelia focused on controlling the vines that quickly tied their enemies up tightly, barely allowing them to even breathe. The effect was better than imagined. Eight people got ensnared, four of which being forced to drop their wand by the vines tightening around their arms.


    A few bones got broken and the four that managed to jump out of the way dropped their wands when they realized what happened.


    Villin grinned, with all four of them working together the result was incredible, the vines ruse up to five meters, those ensnared were also no longer on ground level as they were stuck three meters up into the air. Even if they managed to get loose from the vines, they would have to be careful with the fall.


    Villin didn''t hesitate and sent a Vococito spell to all those still holding their hands while ensnared, with the force of the pull they were forced to let go of their wands as they were pulled all the way to Villin.


    Just as Villin was unsure of what to do, a figure appeared in front of him. The figure was wearing a gold robe, and was completely bald only having a long mustache.


    "This bout is finished!" The teacher said as he looked around the room. Now that Villin also paid attention he gulped a few times, the amount of destruction their fight had caused was rather shocking. All over the room crates were broken, sometimes their contents were shattered as well, causing food to be spilled on the ground. The walls were full of cracks where destructive spells hit them, not to mention the massive amount of cracks that were caused when the vines came out of the ground. And then there were those that didn''t enter the fight. Two of the four spectators that decided not to join the fight were also harmed, even if just lightly.


    They couldn''t walk out of the encirclement since then they would be a serious threat to Villin''s group so they all decided to lay on the floor and hope for the best, just casting some defensive spells on them. Some of the deflected or missed spells got close to two of them causing some scratches to appear.


    "Gaefromaselo" the teacher cast a spell and a red hue appeared on one of the members of the Shielding Lions "The first offensive spell was cast by the Shielding Lions, that will be fifty magic crystals." the teacher said matter of factly as he approached what seemed to be the leader of the group, said leader didn''t hesitate to take out the required magic crystals.


    After this, the teacher looked at the involved participants once more "The fight seems to have been ten against four, a hundred-and-fifty percent more members compared to those being attacked, that is a second-grade dishonorability bonus. The teacher pointed his wand toward the leader of the group before putting his wand away again. But Villin clearly saw the student looked a lot paler now.


    "What was the source of conflict?" The teacher asked as he looked toward the student again.


    "A private disagreement." the student said as he looked at the teacher with a wry smile. The teacher then looked toward Villin "Can you confirm this?"


    Villin looked very unsure of what was going on, he expected a massive number of different fines to be given but wasn''t sure of what was going on "Yeah, the source of conflict was a private disagreement." Villin said, somewhat confused.


    The teacher looked troubled for a moment before looking toward the leader of the Shielding Lions "Your reputation had gotten dangerously low, I''ll say it was a faction war instead, the mail room will be from-" The teacher looked at Villin''s robe and looked at him in the face "Was your crest destroyed in battle?"


    Villin shook his head "I just joined the school, don''t know anything about these crests."


    The teacher looked conflicted again, after thinking for a moment he looked at the leader of the Shielding Lions again. "Alright then, I''ll let you off but you''ll be responsible for cleaning the place up, you have two hours."


    The student looked relieved and said, "Thank you, professor!" Then, he quickly retrieved his wand and began freeing some of his fellow students from the tough vines.


    The professor with the mustache then looked at Villin and his companions who had joined him by now and frowned slightly. "Hmm, new students is it? I didn''t hear of your arrival. Well then, I suppose I should tour you around and explain the rules then shouldn''t I?"


    "Then I will thank you, professor may I ask where we can retrieve our books?"


    The professor seemed satisfied with his response and began walking to the other end of the room, when they got to the very back, he pointed at the four boxes that were full of books and other school supplies, Villin felt rather lucky their stuff wasn''t close to the center of the fight.


    "Your name is imprinted in the inside of the boxes on the side. These ones should be yours."


    The group didn''t waste any time and quickly put the books inside of their bags after identifying their boxes.


    "Alright then, let me explain the basic rules to you four, did you come from the first grade of The Academy or from another place?" the professor asked as he looked at them.


    After confirming they were from the first grade the professor began explaining the rules as he began walking toward the exit of the room.


    "If you already got into a fight when you thought there were fines on it I''m sure you''ll like it here. Usually from the third grade onward the school gets divided into different guilds, these guilds each have their own goals and allow students to find like-minded people. Now due to the attacks that happened three months ago, The Academy went in war-mode for the first time in a very long time and the guild system also applies in the second grade."


    The teacher paused for a moment as they exited the room, Villin noticed a boy with red eyes and silver hair look at him as they passed by but didn''t think much of it.


    "The guild system is simple. Students, generally those of the fifth or sixth grade have something they are very skilled at. This could be a skill such as combat or enchanting, but it could also be something more obscure such as chess or tailoring. These students from a higher grade have something they believe in and something to offer to those that decide to follow their ideal." The teacher paused for a moment as he let the group take the information in.


    "As such, the Shielding Lions you fought before are dedicated to protection. When they get to a higher grade they might get hired as guards to protect students going on dangerous missions. This guild, for example, has existed for dozens of years, students that join it might have a chance to join the Shielding Lion company that exists outside of The Academy. Just a few months ago we hired them to help defend the fifth grade."


    "But in essence, at this grade, guilds are put into two groups. Contenders and non-contenders. Contender guilds are those that fight, they spar with other guilds for resources and reputation, both things that are quite important. Non-contenders are either guilds that only exist to do what you like doing with like-minded people or guilds that just sell things to either fellow students or The Academy itself."


    As he processed this information, Villin frowned a little, the implications of this run very far. Guilds seemed to just be like companies, higher grade students want to be able to get some sort of power so they make a guild, give some benefits and when they leave The Academy and turn this guild into a company, they might be able to have a steady supply of new graduates joining. It was very likely they formed some sort of contract with The Academy benefitting both sides.


    Villin saw two other uses The Academy might have for these guilds. Firstly, it gave valuable combat experience for those who seek it, Villin was still sure deaths would be rewarded with expulsion though as losing students wouldn''t be worth it, but having students spar with each other could improve their skills quite a bit.


    Another thing it did was allow The Academy to have a proper sight of the ideals their students have. Let''s say a guild popped up that believed magus should rule over mortals. If this guild were to gain traction The Academy would be able to properly spot the problem before it got out of control.


    Of course, there was also a clear negative, different guilds might hate each other, this would cause the overall strength of The Academy to become lower. Then again, maybe The Academy depended on this hate between each other to motivate their students in times of peace. Villin still felt like he was missing some information there but he got the gist of it.


    As the professor was talking Villin checked the map he had retrieved from the box and looked where they were, they were just about to arrive at a place called ''The Guild Hall''.

 Chapter 86: The Black Swans

    The guild hall was an impressive room. It was even bigger than the mailroom and had a number of wooden stalls. The wooden stalls reminded Villin of the ones he had seen after the cross-school tournament, the only difference was that not all stalls were the same size.


    Some only had enough space for one person to stand inside while others had enough place for dozens, sometimes even having some sorts of equipment.


    Villin was surprised to notice many of the people within the stalls were working on one thing or another. Many were sitting down working on their web while others were playing games with each other such as chess.


    Not all stalls were made out of wood though, Villin noticed there were a few made out of smooth stone as well.


    There were about fifty stalls in total of various sizes. Above each stall was a wooden sigh depicting a name and a crest. Villin happened to spot the stall of ''The Shielding Lions'' who they had fought before. It was a middle-sized stall that could fit about five people, there were currently two people outside.


    "This is the guild hall. Every guild that has qualifications to exist in this grade has a stall here. During class hours you''ll see most of these stalls deserted with only a few guards moving about." The bald professor pointed toward a few stalls as he explained.


    "As I explained before every guild has their own thing they do. For example, the stall to our left, over there, focuses mainly on enchantments, more specifically the enchanting of clothes. There are guilds for all sorts of things. Most have their own companies outside of The Academy but, of course, there are also newer ones." As he was talking they were passing by a rather large stone stall with a dozen people inside, most of which in the middle of enchanting.


    "You will be expected to join a guild within two weeks, this is mandatory. There are multiple guilds that just leave their members be doing nothing but exchange information occasionally. If you don''t join a guild within two weeks you will be put into one of the guilds led by The Academy itself." after speaking of this the professor pointed at a few points on Villin''s map and stated.


    "I suggest you go to these locations next. The mission board will only be applicable after you join a guild but I still suggest you have a look at. The training grounds are over there, challenges can be freely made there and no fines will have to be paid. Of course, deathmatches are not allowed, anyone who kills a fellow student can expect to be expulsed. I also suggest you go to the grade holder''s office to decide on your classes." The professor looked thoughtful as he was thinking of what else to say "The full extent of the rules were in your crates so you already have those, everything else is pretty self-explanatory, you''ll figure it out in a bit."


    After saying his piece the professor disappeared again after a short cast.


    And so Villin and company were left alone in the room, left to explore on their own. After looking around for a while the group got a better feel for the room, they also walked up to a few stalls asking what the guild focused on and what they offered.


    After spending a bit of time here, they decided to go to the mission board the professor had pointed out on the map but just before they did someone approached them.


    Villin recognized the boy coming toward him with his silver hair and red pupils. It was the same boy they passed then they entered the mailroom. The crest on his robe depicted a black swan. When the boy got close enough he looked at Villin, who seemed to be the leader of the group, and spoke "Hello there! Welcome to the second grade of The Academy." The boy spoke in a very business-like manner.


    "My name is Hawk, I am one of the members of The Black Swans. Who might you all be?"


    Villin found his tone of voice to be pleasant, he didn''t act disrespectfully so Villin released a smile and replied. "My name is Villin Gray and they are Kayley Alius, Amelia Blackwood, and Rein Bellua. We were transferred over from the first grade."


    Villin noticed a glint in Hawk''s eyes as he finished his sentence but decided to ignore it. "Since you all are new, allow me to introduce The Black Swans'' services. We are a newly founded guild who focus on information gathering. There are two other guilds with the same purpose here but both are less reliable, their methods are outdated and members crooked. If you need any piece of information we always make sure our information is accurate." the boy flashed them a smile.


    Villin eyed him with interest, information was indeed always useful "In that case mister Hawk, would you have any information on Elinoire Decorus? We can pay with crystals or other information you wish to ask."


    Hawk''s eyes flashed once more as he looked Villin over again. "In that case, please follow me to our headquarters, we conduct all business there to avoid people listening in."


    Villin nodded and the group followed Hawk as he left the room. After a good five minutes of walking, he stopped in front of one of the classrooms.


    Without hesitation, Villin walked up and opened the door. The classroom wasn''t large, Villin expected about fifteen students could be seated if sufficient chairs and tables were brought up. Currently, there were three people in the room. Close to him sat a girl with silver hair and golden eyes that were looking right at him, they looked very intense. She was sitting at a table with five chairs across from here in a half-circle, clearly, they were supposed to sit there.


    The other two people in the room were sitting together and were busy with some pieces of paper with text on, Villin decided to ignore it. Looking at the room overall Villin didn''t see anything special and so he quickly went to sit down.


    "Hello my name is Ruby, I am the founder of The Black Swans, it is a pleasure to meet you Villin." Ruby gave a business-like smile as she spoke her words.


    Villin didn''t mind the fact she already knew her name, since they were an information network they probably had a way to instantly transfer information, that wasn''t much of a surprise "Founder you say? I thought only fifth and sixth graders made guilds but I supposed I might''ve been told incorrectly."


    Hearing his words Ruby smiled a bit more as she explained: "Usually you would be right but I have special qualifications allowing me to be allowed the privilege that is creating a guild."


    "Is the information as for what this qualification is for sale?"


    Villin''s question pleased Ruby as not everyone realized the value of information but she had to decline "I apologize but any information about members of our guild is not for sale."


    Villin nodded, it was a good rule to make "Alright then, I wish to ask about Elinoire Decorus, any information you have about her and her character. I can pay with crystals or information about us."


    Villin''s words were clear and to the point, something that made Ruby appreciate him more.


    "Very well then, payment always comes first. I have two questions I would like to ask in exchange. Firstly, what chain of events brought you to join the second grade at the beginning of the fifth month, and secondly, what is the spell one of you used earlier to restrain the people from The Shielding Lions.


    Villin thought for a moment and decided to share the information she asked for. Obviously Ruby would be getting more out of the exchange but that was natural since the information she asked for might not have any value to them if nobody else asked.


    "As for the first question. When The Academy was under attack three months ago, we managed to escape. We were stuck in the mortal world for three months and only managed to get back to The Academy when the cross-school tournament happened. There a teacher recognized us and two days later, today, we were allowed to enter the second grade."


    Ruby''s eyes widened as she nodded, this information was obviously more valuable than what she expected even if she could feel some things were omitted.


    "As for your second question, the spell was Vinea Tenura, but at that time we all used it at the same time causing a greater effect. We had a decent bit of time to practice our spells lately." Villin smiled as he finished his answer.


    Ruby nodded once more as she got her head back into the game "Very well then, let me tell you what is known about miss Decorus." After saying this Ruby paused for a moment as she thought about the information. "Elinoire Decorus was a top student in Decorus, performing well in all classes, from what I heard she holds interest toward enchanting but Decorus''s enchanting classes aren''t exactly up to par. This is one of the events that led to the decision of letting her transfer."


    "Only one day of class has passed but the students'' attitude toward her is very clear, she is hated within the school, her looks are often a source of ridicule and insults. But of course, the main reason is her heritage."


    "One thing that confuses us still is her bloodline, she should have a bloodline since she is the daughter from the Decorus headmaster but the test put her into class B, even though this information isn''t confirmed and probably won''t be, we have suspicions she might not be the actual daughter from said headmaster."


    "As for her character, so far she''s taken the insults without a problem, she seems to be minding her own business but we haven''t had enough time to properly test this."


    Villin nodded as Ruby finished her words. "Thank you for your time, I should be leaving now.", he said after which he left the room. The information they got about Elinoire wasn''t what they were after but still worth the information they gave up. Villin sighed. Rein and Kayley decided to go have another look at some of the other things the school had to offer while Villin and Amelia decided to go apply for their classes and then just go toward the room.


    Little did they know of the situation that would play out in said room.

 Chapter 87: A Confrontation

    Villin and Amelia looked content once they finished picking their classes. The process was pretty straightforward as the grade-holder simply asked them which classes they wanted to attend and then for the first month''s payment.


    Villin opted to go for Enchanting, Magic Arrays, Pill-making, and Tactics of War. The final of which he had never heard of. Apparently, it was a new class only taught when the school was in their war-state.


    Villin and Amelia chatted casually while they made their way back toward the dormitories. They decided to start preparing for their first day of classes. They were behind four months since they only just got the second grade books. Except for the subjects of Magic Arrays, Enchanting, and Pill-making that is. They already had those books prior to today.


    They also decided to wait for a week before having a proper look at what guild to join, for now simply observing the situation seemed more beneficial to both of them.


    When they entered their room, Elinoire was sitting on her bed with her eyes closed, likely busy trying to cast a new spell or awakening nodes. Villin and Amelia simply ignored her as they continued chatting.


    Of course, they first walked over to the less-valuable iron spell books Villin had placed in the room. When they got to the desk, Villin gave a quick look at the magic array around the small pile of iron books. It was an extremely basic magic array that would be broken if anyone grabbed what was within the array. At first sign, it looked complete.


    But of course, Villin wasn''t an idiot. He knew there were many people capable of remaking such a basic magic array, so his gaze wandered to the leftmost side of the array, he added a unique rune there using his vast knowledge, it would burn away as soon as the magic array was broken and it was extremely unlikely anyone would notice.


    When he looked here, his eyes widened for a moment, "VOCOCITO!"


    Before anyone realized what was going on Villin cast the spell having pointed his wand toward Elinoire who was still sitting with her eyes close atop the bed. The spell that shot out was a derivatory version of ''vococito'', pushing instead of pulling.


    When Elinoire opened his eyes in response to his shout, the spell was already upon her, she had no time to grab her wand at all.


    The spell hit her hard in the chest and she shot back against the wall, falling down next to the bed.


    Villin didn''t hesitate before casting another had derivatory spell "VINEA!" he wasn''t sure why he shouted out but he didn''t care, he felt a coldness entering his mind. He wasn''t angry, but at the same time, he couldn''t let this go.


    Two seconds later, just as Elinoire managed to grab her wand, vines shot out of the ground. First, they wrapped around her arms tightening rapidly causing her to scream out and drop her wand. Then with a flick of his wand Villin controlled the vines, more rose out of the ground as they tightened around her neck and her scream was cut short, the vines barely allowed her to breathe.


    Villin closed the distance with a few sturdy steps "What the hell were you thinking princess. You really thought I wouldn''t have a way to make sure you can''t take our possessions like that?" he sounded calm, but at the same time even Amelia felt chills on her back. Elinoire was pulled against the wall by the vines and her face started turning red as she tried to take in air.


    Villin flicked his wand to the side and with a regular ''Vococito'' cast, Elinoire''s bag shot toward him. "Now princess, you can''t go around borrowing our things without paying now can you?"


    Ignoring Elinoire''s pained expression and struggles to breathe, Villin entered her bag with his magic power, unsurprisingly, it was also a spatial bag.


    A few moments later everything that was inside of it shot out, thanks to another couple of ''Vococito'' casts.


    "Amelia, check our books." Villin sounded even colder as he looked at some of the things that came out of Elinoire''s bag. They were the spell books that were supposed to be laying on the desk. Amelia also looked at them with shock on her face before quickly turning to the desk. Atop of it she saw the seemingly fine iron spell books. She then opened one of them but the contents were completely empty. "They''re fake," Amelia said with a complicated expression.


    Villin''s wand was pointing at Elinoire again, the vines thickened and the ones around her neck rose upward, all the way up to where they forced her to extend her feet and stand on her toes to barely get bits of air as her face started turning blue and her struggles started to lessen.


    "An illusion spell, you really think something that simple was going to work? What was your plan? Were you planning to find someone to make a wooden blueprint out of them, replace it by that?" Villin''s face was inches away from the choking face of Elinoire as he spoke his words. "No that would''ve taken too long. Whatever you were trying to pull here, if you really thought it was going to work then your mind must be as rotten as your face."


    His tone had changed from cold to incredibly vicious as he said his last line. His face sneering at her, no matter what this face filled with contempt would be sure to cause her many nightmares.


    It was at this time Villin felt a hand on his shoulder, this was Amelia of course. "Villin, I think that''s enough."


    Villin scoffed as the vines around Elinoire loosened and she fell to the ground, gasping for breath, her arms were blue in a multitude of places as the vines wrapped around incredibly thought and her neck was turning black as well. The iron spellbooks Elinoire had stolen flew back inside of his back and finally, Villin looked at her crystal holder depicting a clear five-thousand. A few seconds later as Villin connected it to his own it only showed a meager ten. "That''s the fine for trying to take our shit."


    Villin turned around and burst out of the door of their room. Then he leaned against the wall next to it as his breathing began to quicken. His hands were shaking and his cold expression turned into one of fear.


    When Amelia came out shortly after him he didn''t even realize as he was looking at his shaking hands until she touched his shoulder again.


    "Villin, are you okay?" Amelia''s soft gaze looked at him but Villin felt unworthy to look at her in the eyes.


    "I don''t know, I don''t know, I-" he started shaking his head profusely as tears shot into his eyes. His mind was in total disarray and he covered his face with his hand as he sat down against the wall.


    He was terrified, when he was there, standing in front of Elinoire, he was almost devoid of feelings. He just wanted to hurt her to minimize future losses, he was even considering killing her until Amelia touched his shoulder.


    As he was sitting there, Amelia sat down beside him, telling him things were okay. After a dozen minutes or so his mind calmed and so did his breath. He justified his actions in his head. She stole from them and he overreacted that was all it was. He took a few deep breaths before getting up "I''m going to the training grounds, I need to distract myself."


    Hearing Villin''s words Amelia smiled at him as she replied with a soft tone "Alright Villin, have fun!" but inside, she too was a little scared. When he controlled the vines and spoke in such a cold tone even Amelia got scared of him. She felt bad for feeling that way toward a friend but managed to compose herself. Now she needed some time to process everything as well and when Villin walked out of sights some tears started to gather underneath her eyes as well.

 Chapter 88: A Number Of Spells

    When Villin was halfway to the practice grounds he stopped in his tracks. After thinking about it again, he didn''t think it was a smart idea to go. Even though he didn''t know how the school politics worked exactly he was sure it would be intense with the guilds in place and it might be best if he kept his fighting style and spells to himself.


    If anyone wanted to know they would surely be able to find out he often used Reverto and Mentallage, also knowing Vinea Tenura. This could already be said to be too much, it was best if he didn''t reveal anything else.


    With his mind that had now calmed down further, Villin ended up deciding to head toward the library. He hadn''t had access to the library for three months and the second grade library was sure to be better compared to the one from the first grade.


    After walking for another ten minutes, Villin arrived. The library looked extremely similar to the one he was used to, the only real difference was a gate shielding a restricted section of the library. When Villin asked a contracted how someone could enter the answer was simple, reputation. Every guild had a certain amount of reputation, as did every person. The higher your reputation was the more access you had to obscure topics.


    That being said, the contracted made it very clear most books of importance were in the regular library, the restricted sections only really contained information that wasn''t of a lot of importance to the students'' skill. The real benefit of having a high reputation came to play when it came to spells. Having a higher reputation meant you would have a discount, the more reputation you and your guild had, the bigger the discount. Some people could buy spells with a seventy percent discount, the only catch is that they had to read the spellbooks within the room and they couldn''t take it out to sell at a higher price.


    Once he had a feel for the library system, Villin immediately paid for a couple of hours in the regular library. At first, he had the intention of looking up things about vampires but he quickly dismissed the idea. Information about vampires was probably restricted, if he asked about it, he might be seen as a liability and silenced. Even if the chance wasn''t that big, Villin wasn''t willing to take it.


    And so, he started looking at books about golems, or well, rune-based puppets. For multiple hours he asked the contracted for book after book talking about runes and golems but he couldn''t find anything.


    Villin frowned after spending three hours on dozens of books without finding anything. At most one of the books explained how, if you had enough time, enchanting a wall could be beneficial if you wanted to use transfiguration to turn that area into a golem. Something Villin already realized recalling the golems he fought three months back.


    At this point, Villin was holding his hair as he thoughts of other ways the runic puppets could be called. This library was massive and the runic puppets seemed powerful and easy to control after some practice. In many ways being better than transfiguration, he just couldn''t understand why he couldn''t find anything about it.


    When Villin made his was to the contracted once again to ask him to lead him to other books with similar titles the contracted finally spoke up "Esteemed magus, my apologies but I believe the subject you are searching for isn''t in the library, be it in the regular or restricted section. It might be restricted to higher grades, or if the matter is urgent some teachers may be able to help you."


    The contracted usually didn''t speak much so Villin properly listened to his words after which he sighed. The contracted was probably correct, Villin nodded toward the contracted and then asked to go buy some spells.


    There were a number of spells Villin wanted to buy. First, he wanted a spell capable of avoiding physical damage. He didn''t doubt The Academy was planning to retaliate against Decorus once they found them and he wanted to be prepared in the case he was asked to join the fight. He also wanted the spell to be usable in the case he went back into the mortal world, he didn''t want to be helpless in front of a gun.


    He was surprised to find that almost all of the spells in this category were currently half of their original price. The contracted explained that due to the recent tension with Decorus, certain spells that are known to counter their fighting style were made cheaper.


    He ended up deciding on a spell called ''Obiectus Prohibere''. There were a few reasons he picked this one. For one, the spell was specified to be more effective wandless. Secondly, the actual effect. The spell would create an invisible barrier closely around the caster, this barrier would only stop non-magical objects moving at a fast speed.


    This meant people could still approach them and even interact as long as they didn''t move at a threatening speed. As for magical items, Reverto was capable of stopping those so he didn''t have to worry about it. Overall he felt good about it. The spell was made out of eleven nodes meaning it was probably quite powerful and it was completely invisible so if he wanted he could have it active whenever he wanted.


    The second spell he looked for was one with anti-magical properties. These spells were pretty rare and most of the ones he did see were defensive in nature, stopping spells by simply ridding them of their magic. With a limited number of options, Villin ended up picking ''Void Arrow''. The spell could shoot out a black arrow that could move through some sorts of magical defense. It inflicted physical damage when it hit someone in addition to ridding them of some magic power.


    The overall power of the spell wasn''t great, but as an anti-magical spell, it was very hard to learn. Even though it only had ten nodes he was warned the difficulty of casting it would be a lot harder compared to other spells with ten nodes.


    With these two spells, Villin already felt a bit better but he still needed two more. The third spell he asked for was an environmental one. Vinea Tenura had shown itself extremely useful and Villin wouldn''t mind having another couple of those for different situations.


    The number of environmental spells they had was quite large and Villin had to specify it quite a bit before he found a number of spells similar to those he was looking for.


    In the end, he thinned it down to two. The first one was called ''Syrtim Celer'' this was a spell containing twelve nodes, the maximum of this grade, and it turned an area of the ground into quicksand. Causing people to get stuck quickly.


    The second one he hesitated between was called ''Calidum Calor''. This spell also held twelve nodes and Villin recognized its effects. He recalled the advanced tournament where Silver turned the heat higher for everyone but herself, standing closeby it would be unbearable. ''Calidum Calor'' had a similar effect but it was more condensed.


    As he was hesitating he suddenly questioned his reasoning for doing so and simply bought both, he didn???t lack funds right now.


    As for the final spell he was looking for, it was an explosive one. He knew he had few peers his age but people could easily group up against him to take him out. If they went in proper formations he would stand little chance against them. An explosive spell would help to disrupt a formation if it hit. He ended up deciding on "Bombardo" a spell with eleven nodes capable of causing explosions. Exactly what he was looking for.


    Villin was about to leave after getting these spells when he recalled something. Kayley and himself had made a lot of progress studying their webs but they lacked data, they simply needed more spells to test out the similarities and give nodes more accurate properties.


    And so he ended up buying a bunch of the cheapest, most useless spells there were. Some of these spells only cost a handful of magic crystals as they were seen as practically useless only having minor effects, with dozens of other spells capable of doing the same thing better. He made sure to buy the wooden spell books of these ones with two uses so that he could share them with Kayley.

 Chapter 89: The First Evening

    When Villin excited the library he felt content. Spending half a day reading and picking spells was something he found extremely entertaining.


    The altercation he had with Elinoire had escaped to the back of his mind and he felt good again. He couldn''t help but think of what he could do with his new spells. He would surely spend a bunch of time making new derivatory spell variants of a number of them. Except for ''Bombarda'' and ''Void Arrow'' all of the spells he got seemed relatively safe to alter.


    As he was thinking about everything he decided to make a small detour and pass by the guild hall before going toward the dormitories. Talking to the black swans earlier caused him to realize the guilds here really provided a variety of services. He wanted to have a better feel of what services could be bought. Things like hiring someone else to test out a derivatory spell that might be dangerous sounded like something that might be possible and quite useful even.


    After spending some time in the guild hall looking for such services, Villin''s searches ended up being unfruitful. When he asked other people the answer was always the same "If there''s a guild doing this they''re probably quite small, I doubt they''ll have someone in their stall."


    And so, Villin left the Villin empty-handed, or well he would''ve if he hadn''t found two stalls selling newspapers.


    The newspapers were called ''Todays Oddities'' and ''A Magus'' aid''. Reading through them Villin noticed both newspapers shared most of the same news, something that was to be expected since there was only so much that could happen in the grade.


    Since the papers came out this morning both of the papers'' headings were similar, talking about the arrival of Elinoire Decorus.


    Most of the news was pretty basic overall. It talked about conflicts happening in the grade, the actions of the top students, some spells that the papers deemed useful, why they were useful, and more.


    Even though Villin called it pretty basic, to him it was just what he needed. Both were daily papers and only cost five credits so there was no doubt that he would be buying them every day. On the third page of the ''Todays Oddities'' paper, he found an interesting article.


    "The Black Swans mystery revealed!


    As everyone knows The Black Swan is a guild founded by someone in the second grade! Today, we at ''Todays Oddities'' managed to figure out the reason Ruby Von Hauser was allowed to create her own guild.


    Our sources say that slightly more than two months ago, Ruby was seen accompanying a teacher in the third grade halls. The duo moved through the halls swiftly before disappearing into a teleportation array that none of the students have ever seen used before.


    Now, this bit of information isn''t new, we already put this in our papers when we found out, but there is something else that we recently found out.


    Two days ago after midnight one of our third grade companions was up after midnight trying to verify the rumor of the red ghost. When he was quietly wandering the halls he happened to hear someone else walking nearby. This individual was actually miss Ruby Von Hauser!


    She was seen walking the third grade halls without supervision, even going as far as to enter the same teleportation array she entered with the teacher months ago on her own."


    Despite the misleading title, the newspaper didn''t really seem to have revealed anything, just continuously stating a few odd facts. Still, the article succeeded in making Villin curious about the situation. Nonetheless, with a distinct lack of information guessing was useless. He sighed before heading toward the dormitories.


    Once he neared his room, he felt odd again. He wasn''t sure how to act when he would see Elinoire after what had happened.


    After taking a deep breath Villin put up an indifferent expression and entered the room. Elinoire was laying on her bed but Villin completely ignored her as he made his way toward the three other people sitting to his left.


    "Ah Hey Villin! What''s up!" Kayley smiled as she talked to him and soon the group was in full conversation.


    Amelia had actually told Kayley and Rein about what happened when they asked if she knew why Elinoire had bruises like that but they didn''t really mind. From Amelia''s words what they gathered is that Elinoire stole from them and Villin was a little too hard punishing her, even though neither liked having to hurt people too much, when it came to a thief they had little sympathy, not like any bones were broken anyways.


    When Villin showed the others the papers Rein looked a little awkward as he pulled out the same ones. Rein and Kayley passed by the stands as well when exploring.


    "Looking at what all is in these things we''re probably going to be in tomorrow''s publications." Rein said with a complicated expression.


    Villin nodded, it was indeed likely, they fought sixteen members of The Shielding Lions and won, and even if this didn''t happen, being new students introduced in the middle of the year would probably be enough to get a small bit of text about them.


    After chatting for some time, it was time to go to sleep. Villin and Rein slept on one side of the room while Amelia and Kayley slept on the other half of the room. When it came to changing clothes the situation became slightly awkward but luckily everyone was capable of some sort of invisibility spell at this point of time. That combines with the other party turning away made it doable.


    Soon, everyone was in their beds, sleeping, everyone but Elinoire that was.


    Whenever she closed her eyes she saw Villin''s cold or disdainful gaze staring at her saying the words ''Then your mind is as rotten as your face''. Whenever she managed to doze off, she would wake up a few minutes later in cold sweat. ''It had to be done, this is just temporary.'' even though she kept repeating these words to herself she couldn''t even convince herself really. She knew what all had to be done, she had to follow the path, and even though she always knew it would be hard she never thought it would be hard in this way. Feeling so scared and lonely.


    At this time, the sleeping Villin was having another exceptionally odd dream.

 Chapter 90: The Third Dream

    Today he wasn''t quite as casual as usual, focussing on his magic and students, no he awaiting an important piece of news, good news he suspected.


    A woman in black clothes entered the throne room. There was blood on her clothes, probably her own from before she was healed.


    Her silver hair looked less lustrous compared to the previous day but that was to be expected. She would have had to use a massive amount of magic power to finish her mission. But as she got closer he felt her unease, when she stood just a few meters from the throne she didn''t look him in the eyes either, she felt pressured and looked at his feet instead before speaking nervously.


    "We- we failed in our mission. She escaped, her power was much greater than we anticipate- URGH"


    The woman fell to the ground with blood leaking out of her mouth as the man sitting on the throne before her lost control of his magic power due to his anger. She already had internal injuries when she came here, that combined with the effect this location had caused her to be severely wounded just because of the magic power the man on the throne emitted.


    She barely managed to get on her knees "I am sorry, I will make sure we succeed, we failed you please have mercy!" she said in a panic.


    The man on the throne reeled his magic back in and controlled it, something that became harder and harder as time passed.


    "No." His now cold voice spoke "It is I that must apologize." he gently guided his magic power to help hr stand and heal the wounds he had caused. "I lost control of my magic power, I apologize." His vertical pupils thinned further as he looked at a place beyond the castle "I underestimated the abilities of the red-haired vixen, I shall go deal with her myself."


    The silver-haired woman nodded as she hurriedly stepped aside, even though the man was usually kind to everyone that worked with him he still induced terror, even more so now that he occasionally lost control of his powers.


    The man slowly got up out of the throne, in the corner of his eyes he saw a statue on either side of him walk forward as he did so but he didn''t pay any attention to it as it was a normal occurrence.


    The woman standing by the side suddenly felt the man''s magic power all around the room, the walls almost seemed to be alive, at the same time everyone in the massive castle heard a vice in their minds "Students, this time I will have to personally step in to deal with a dangerous individual who threatens the very existence of this school. In order to help you with your studies, I will take you all with me to witness this fight."


    After giving this announcement the man waved his hand and the entire castle began to move at rapid speeds underground, going toward the location of their enemies.


    ----------------------------


    Villin woke up in a flash, his eyes widened as he came out of the dream. This dream was different compared to the others he had before. It was as if he was the man in the throne. But it was also blurry, it was hard for him to really recall the details such as the face of the woman that he saw.


    He shook his head as he tried to get his bearing better before walking out of bed. The others were still sleeping, it should only be five in the morning now so it did make quite a bit of sense, even so, he wasn''t willing to go to bed again. He was getting seriously tired of this.


    The first dream possibly saved his life, in the second dream he saw a man in an extremely complicated magic array, he still remembered recognizing a few runes used for tracking at the time hence he had suspicions it was either a Decorus magus in a red robe that managed to track down The Academy shortly before the attack or an Academy magus in a red robe managing to track Decorus in the future. Either that or something with absolutely no relationship to him as he thought at first.


    And now he felt like he was the man on the throne, he felt like he recognized the woman as well but just couldn''t recall the face clearly. He only knew a few silver-haired people though so he thought about it. He knew Silver, Elinoire, and Ruby the girl who made her own guild. Then again it might also be that he simply thought he recognized her because the man on the throne knew her, he wasn''t sure.


    No matter what, it was time to get some answers, the library was one of the services that were open at all times and it was also where he was heading. He thought of what the dreams might actually be and so when he arrived he asked about books having to do with prophetic dreams.


    When the contracted said those kinds of books are only available in the fourth grade he changed his approach trying to go less specific. When he asked for books about magical dreams the contracted apparently did know of a book on the topic. Even though it wasn''t written by a famous magus making it slightly unreliable, it was also more formatted to be a fiction book making its contents even more doubtful.


    Because of these things the book was in the restricted section, one needed fifty personal reputation if they wished to read it.


    With a resigned sigh, Villin started heading toward the training grounds. Rein and Kayley mentioned the training grounds had training dummies even though they seemed to be monopolized by the bigger guilds or famous students for training most of the time.


    Since it was still extremely early and almost nobody was awake, he might as well have a look. Even though he didn''t see much use in actually using the training dummy right now, studying the enchantments behind its capabilities might prove useful. After all, he did assume they could take a lot of punishment.


    Little did he know someone had been tailing him from the moment he left his room. And they were preparing to make their move.

 Chapter 91: Damsel In Distress

    As expected, when Villin got to the training area, it was almost completely empty. Just like the training grounds in the first grade, it didn''t look all that impressive. The large room still looked more like a cave compared to anything else but at least the runes on the walls were shining slightly, it seemed to be entirely enchanted.


    Then again in the first grade practically all the walls were enchanted so Villin didn''t find it that impressive, not according to Academy standards at least.


    The massive cave-like room had a number of sparring rings. They were circular rings between twenty and forty meters in diameters. Villin spotted a faint veil surrounding each of them, Villin wasn''t sure if the veils were created by a magic array or anything else but didn''t bother much about it yet. He could study those some other time.


    On the other side of the room were, what looked like training dummies made out of straw. Looking at them from a distance they seemed to be extremely low quality, obviously, Villin wouldn''t underestimate them though.


    There were a total of ten dummies and currently two were in use. These two were also the only people in the entire room at this point in time. They were both boys with blue hair and identical faces, twins. They glanced at him once when he entered the room but didn''t say anything as they got back to practicing. They seemed pretty exhausted so Villin assumed they would leave shortly anyway.


    Villin didn''t say anything either as he stood in front of a training dummy himself, he decided to test the object out first, little use in checking the enchantments if he didn''t know the purposes.


    He started off by shooting an icy pike at the dummy''s head. It quickly shot forward and penetrated the straw for around one centimeter before stopping. The pike was then pushed out of the ''wound'' and two seconds later the dummy looked as if it was never damaged in the first place.


    Villin then walked a bit closer to the dummy before putting away his wand. He cast the fireball spell and threw it to the dummy''s torso.


    This spell did even less, some of the straw was burnt a bit but the wound didn''t seem substantial at all. After a second it was already gone.


    Deep in thought, Villin distanced himself from the dummy again before closing his eyes and concentrating on his web. He wanted to try out his new spell ''Bombardo''.


    Yet, just ten minutes after he began connecting his nodes, he heard a loud yelp disrupting his concentration. He immediately opened his eyes and looked around. The twins were gone from their previous positions, it seems they had left the room.


    Villin could hear sounds coming from the entrance, it sounded like spells were hitting a wall causing small explosions to take place. Without further ado, Villin grabbed his wand and ran toward the room entrance, he still remembered the Decorus attack and his heart was beating rapidly.


    When Villin got closer to the entrance, the sounds from the spells stopped, it seemed that the victor had been decided.


    "You Decorus bitch. I''ll let you feel all the pain our brother felt when you fucks killed him!" an enraged voice sounded out just as Villin made his way to the entrance.


    Just outside the entrance were three individuals. The blue-haired twins stood to the right; they both looked furious and only had a few scratches overall. On the other side was Elinoire. She had been thrown to the ground and her wand was laying a couple of meters away from her, completely out of her reach.


    Upon reaching the entrance Villin was extremely surprised but because of what happened next he had no time to question why Elinoire was there.


    "You bitch, take this! Archinae!" one of the blue-haired boys yelled before a pitch-black streak made its way toward the girl on the ground.


    Even though Villin had an opportunity to block the spell, he didn''t. He already saw Elinoire as a bad person, she tried to steal their belongings and belonged to the school that nearly killed them. Even though Villin usually wouldn''t care much about the latter point, his opinion changed when she stole from them.


    When the black streak hit Elinoire, she yelled loudly, a faint black glow emitted from her entire body as her screams became louder and louder, she began thrashing around on the ground in agony.


    After three seconds of this, Villin couldn''t watch it anymore and spoke up, alerting the boys of his presence "Don''t use such a spell. There''s no need to be so cruel."


    Villin felt the situation had gone too far as the boy showed no intention of halting the spell. He already thought he had gone a bit overboard himself the last time when she stole from them. Now they were just plainly torturing her, for something she probably didn''t do.


    The boy casting the spell continued focussing while the second twin looked at him. "The girl is the Decorus princess, back off friend, no need to stick up for someone like that."


    Even though the boy made a bit of a threat, he didn''t show clear hostility toward Villin. Nonetheless, three more seconds had passed and Elinoire was still thrashing around as wildly as she was in the beginning. Some drool was coming from her mouth and her eyes started losing focus as tears flowed out of them.


    Villin never considered himself as a good person, nor did he care about being one. Despite all that he didn''t really consider himself cruel, seeing a girl being tortured was too much, even if it was someone he considered his enemy.


    In all the books he read some alarming things were stated. Prolonged torture could cause the web to be ruptured, something that was almost impossible to fix. Villin steadied himself as his sense of justice prevailed. This was too far, he couldn''t let the girl be tortured like this while he was there, and trying to discuss the fact with the twins before him would take too long.


    The blue-haired boy couldn''t tell when Villin was casting since he didn''t have his wand in his hand, he just seemed to be in thought.


    When he realized something was wrong, Villin already had a fireball in his hand,


    As soon as he saw the fireball, the boy in front of him realized what was going on as he raised his own wand.


    They both paused at the same time, Villin had his arm arched back and the boy was aiming his wand toward Villin.


    The first twin had also halted his spell as he realized something happened to his left.


    "Let her go, that''s enough," Villin said with the ball of flames still inside of his hand. The boy that was aiming his hand at Villin was also hesitating, Villin''s spell was said completely silently while it looked quite threatening. Even though he had confidence in the ability of himself and his brother they were both tired and his brother was almost out of magical energy after casting his spell for ten seconds.


    It was also this brother that put his wand away first "It''s alright we''ve already taught her a lesson." he said to his brother who then also lowered his wand. Then he looked toward Villin who also let his fireball dissipate.


    "What''s your name?" he looked at Villin squinting his eyes.


    Villin knew leaving his name might cause trouble, but at the same time he didn''t plan to hide in The Academy, furthermore, it wasn''t like there really was bad blood between him and the twins, they were unlikely to cause trouble for such a thing, hell, Villin even thought they might realize they went too far when they left, similar to how he had.


    "My name is Villin, Villin Grey," he replied calmly. The twins looked at him before leaving, allowing Villin to have a look at Elinoire.


    When Villin crouched down to see how she was doing he noted she had fainted. As for her body, it was mostly alright, the worst wound was actually the severe bruise on her neck he had caused. She only had a few other cuts because of the fight that just happened. Normally Villin would''ve found this odd. After all, who would lose without really being wounded but right now he had no such thoughts, he was worried about her current mental health and the health of her web.


    He picked her up and started walking toward the dormitories. If he had been thinking more clearly he would probably have found it extremely odd that she was in the halls so early in the morning, and just a dozen meters away from him at that.


    But alas, everyone had times where they didn''t think clearly. And even though Villin didn''t have any positive thoughts about Elinoire, he didn''t wish for her web to be ruptured. That would be too cruel a fate for any magus.

 Chapter 92: The First Classes

    When Villin entered his room carrying Elinoire, the others were just waking up. They had gotten used to waking up extremely early on the surface and they automatically also followed the habit here.


    The other looked at him oddly as he put Elinoire in her bed but didn''t say anything. When Villin simply left her in the bed and then met up with his companions "You all ready for our first day of class?" he asked casually trying to divert the conversation from leading to Elinoire.


    Amelia was the first to respond "I''m not so sure honestly. We have all improved by leaps and bounds during our time on the surface and if we look back on how we handled sixteen second grade opponents by ourselves earlier, I''m somewhat doubtful of the classes."


    Villin nodded as he understood her point before turning to the others. "I just want to let you all know that I am planning to make my own guild if I manage to get the qualifications in time. You all can choose where you want to go, just wanted to let you all know of my plan."


    The others weren''t surprised to hear this in the slightest, they expected him to say something of the like, even if they expected him to say it sometime later.


    After some more small talk, they all began practicing again. Villin was busy correcting some runes on an iron plate while the others were engrossed in their webs. The reason as for why Villin wasn''t busy practicing his new spells was that he was keeping an eye on Elinoire waiting for her to wake up.


    Yet over two hours passed and the time came they all had to head toward their first class. Unsurprisingly the group was all placed inside of the same class, Villin suspected the still sleeping Elinoire would also be in their class.


    And so, the four of them exited the room together.


    The first class was ''Rune Magic'' and Villin''s hear was pumping in anticipation, hoping he would have professor Crumb as his teacher. Even though he didn''t realize it back in the first grade, but he really treasured this teacher of his. Even though he had a bad temper, the old man was honest and intelligent, if there was anyone he could discuss his findings with it would probably be this professor.


    Yet it seemed he wasn''t quite so lucky. Their teacher was newly minted, he had only been teaching for four months at this point in time.


    Now that he saw four new students in his class he was visibly nervous, he seemed to really care about other people''s opinions of him and his teachings. This could be seen as a merit or demerit.


    Nonetheless, despite the teacher''s nervousity, he still clearly knew what he was talking about. Sadly for Villin, what he was talking about wasn''t really as advanced as he hoped it''d be. When it came to teaching the teacher followed the school book almost word-by-word unless someone asked a question. This meant that to Villin, who could easily comprehend the entire schoolbook in a short amount of time, these classes would probably be useless.


    The other students who had been studying here for four months already looked at the group in curiosity, when they were asked a question by the teacher they would barely even have to think before responding clearly, they couldn''t help but be curious.


    Even Kayley found the class a bit unnecessary and she focused on runes the least. Then again, saying she knew the subject the least among the group wasn''t a clear indication of her skill.


    All four of them were at least up to date with the second grade enchanting and magic array books.


    Rein at first only wanted to study the second grade magic array schoolbook they had but reconsidered after Villin advised him to also study the enchanting book multiple times.


    As for ''Rune Magic'' even though they didn''t have the schoolbook for it until yesterday, it was mostly just basic theories you would have to apply for enchanting and magic arrays.


    After ''Rune Magic'' finished, it was time for ''Studies Of The Web'' Villin and Kayley had both been looking forward to this class as well, they wanted to know if there was anything useful they would be taught that could help them increase their understanding of the nodes.


    Sadly, their teacher was a chatterbox. The class was full of anecdotes and other students who didn''t want to study so badly kept distracting the teacher causing her to talk about certain stories.


    Even though this annoyed both Villin and Kayley, there was little they could do against it.


    Immediately after the class ended Kayley approached Villin.


    "We''re not going to learn anything in this class, if your guild is going to be focused around studying the web I''m in."


    Kayley was clear and to the point when it came to things having to do with these kinds of things, something Villin appreciated.


    "It''ll be one of the things. I''m planning to make my guild a place to evolve magic of all sorts be it with runes or the web. I''d be ecstatic to have you." he hesitated "That being said, I have no idea how to get the qualifications to make my own guild while in the second grade, Ruby wouldn''t tell me, and when I asked the teacher earlier he didn''t tell me either saying he simply didn''t know."


    Kayley nodded once he said his words "I''ll ask around a bit as well later, I''ll let you know as soon as I hear anything."


    After the class, they both split up. His ''Enchanting'' elective class was right after this one so he had to hurry to the classroom. Rein had also opted in for the class once he managed to convince him but he had them at different times compared to him.


    When Villin stood in front of the door to the classroom he could only hope this teacher would be better than the ones he had thus far.


    He would not be disappointed.

 Chapter 93: An Odd Reunion

    After standing outside of the door for a dozen seconds, Villin finally entered. He really didn''t want a bad teacher for this class. Once he entered he noticed most of the students were already seated, he was one of the last ones.


    The chairs looked extremely basic but every table had an object on it, depending on the student the object differed. Some students had a cup, others a bowl, and a few had oddly shaped objects like springs and the like.


    It was easy to assume the object corresponded with the skill level of the students. Students with better skills would be given an object more difficult to enchant.


    Looking at the springs a few students had Villin suddenly felt a bit nervous, in a good way.


    Enchanting a spring would be a challenge even for him. He might be able to do a lot of things with runes but having to work with such objects wasn''t something he had done before. He suspected every rune would be different quite a bit due to the truly odd shape of the enchanted object.


    But his thoughts immediately disappeared when his eyes shifted toward the teacher''s desk. Sitting at the teacher''s desk was an old man working on a piece of equipment in front of him. It was professor Crumb.


    For a moment Villin couldn''t help but smile when he saw the man before he gathered himself.


    The teacher hadn''t seen him yet, Villin didn''t hesitate to walk up to the teacher''s desk. He was extremely eager to speak with the man.


    When he arrived professor Crumb was still looking at the object he was enchanting, Villin didn''t recognize most of the runes and was unable to derive what he was attempting to create.


    "What is it?" professor Crumb''s stern voice sounded out as he hadn''t looked at Villin yet.


    Villin wasn''t sure how to respond for a moment before steadying his mind. "I wanted to thank you for answering my question last time," he said, recalling the professor was the reason he found out how to properly use runes after he asked what the difference between enchantments and magic arrays.


    Hearing his voice, the professor froze while in the middle of drawing a line. He then slowly looked up and met Villin''s gaze, visibly shocked.


    He dropped his enchanting pen right then, ruining the enchantment he was attempting to make, and instantly got up from his chair "You! You are dead."


    The professor looked at him as his breathing quickened.


    Villin smiled seeing the professor truly did seem to care about him as well "Really? Damn that sucks."


    The professor realized the gaze of everyone in the class was rested on him and calmed himself. His hand was still shaking slightly but he managed to get his facial expression under control "How can I help you Villin?"


    Villin smiled before reaching into his bag and taking out a train set, the one professor Crumb had given him. Then he also took out one of his notepads that held some of the findings the set helped him make. "I just wanted to tell you I finished your task professor, sadly I wasn''t able to turn it in in time."


    The professor nodded, still trying to look serious in order to maintain the image he had in class. Then he grabbed the trainset and the notebook. He promptly opened the notebook and began skimming the pages "And boy, what are your findings?"


    Villin thought about the question for a moment before answering "Enchantments and magic arrays are all just runes." he wasn''t sure how to properly vocalize what he had learned.


    But it didn''t matter. Villin noticed the professor had totally frozen up after getting to the seventh page on the notebook, he was looking at the text with wide eyes, reading the same few sentences dozens of times. It was the area where Villin realized the essence of enchanting and magic arrays and began giving examples of what he might now be able to do.


    "Everyone out of the class." the professor said as if he was whispering. The students on the front rows looked at him in confusion, they saw the professor''s bottom lip started quivering "EVERYONE OUT NOW!"


    The professor promptly walked past Villin and tried talking to the students in a slightly calmer tone "Class is over for the day, leave!"


    A few students wanted to protest saying class hadn''t even started yet but they stopped themselves when they saw the professor''s fiery gaze.


    Once everyone left the professor promptly closed the door of the classroom, leaving only himself and Villin inside. Once that was the case the professor began whispering to himself like a mad man "A fourteen-year-old runemaster, heavens what wrongs have I done to have wasted sixty years of my life."


    After listening to the professor''s rambling for a good moments Villin finally tested the waters "Professor?"


    Professor Crumb looked straight at him, instantly stopping his rambling "Boy, follow me!"


    Somewhat confused Villin promptly grabbed his notebook before following the professor out of the classroom. Just outside most of the students were still lingering about confused about what happened. Even though the professor had a bad temper, he never straight up told people to leave the class.


    When the professor exited the class they expected him to invite them back in but instead, all they got was a "Don''t you guys have anything better to do than lingering in the halls! Get a move on!"


    Once they had been walking for a couple of minutes Villin walked next to the professor "Professor, I''m confused. When you told me to study the train wasn''t I supposed to come to the realization everything is just runes?"

 Chapter 94: The White Tower

    "Professor, I''m confused. When you told me to study the train wasn''t I supposed to come to the realization everything is just runes?"


    When professor Crumb heard Villin say these words he felt like puking blood. He found it a ridiculous assumption. But after walking a few more meters he managed to calm down enough to properly respond.


    "No Villin, not at all. By showing you the train I was trying to get you to realize enchantments and magic arrays can be used in tandem to produce a singular greater effect. From there, after experimenting with this principle for a couple of years you might attempt to make enchantments within magic arrays to try and enhance them, after this failed you might try changing the shape of the magic array.


    This would help you come to the realization magic arrays are not confined within a single shape and variations could be made. From there you might at some point make a magic array that looks more like an enchantment than anything else and from there a possibility existed you might make the leap to realize they are both the same in essence." near the end of his speech the professor looked at wit''s end. He then stared Villin straight in the eyes "It took me sixty years to realize this fact and I always specialized in runes, you literally skipped every single step."


    Feeling slightly awkward Villin couldn''t do anything but smile awkwardly as he continued following the professor, after a while, he asked another question. "Professor, where are we going?"


    Professor Crumb kept walking and no longer looked at Villin, he couldn''t help but feel slightly jealous, all the things he could''ve done if he got to the realization so soon in his life. "You''ll see."


    And so Villin waited, after walking for twenty minutes Villin noticed they were going toward a golden door, meaning they would be teleporting somewhere.


    Before opening the door the professor stopped to hand Villin something. He gave Villin a small pin that was supposed to go on his robe. The little metal pin was in the shape of a three, Villin pinned it on without asking any questions.


    "Alright Villin, stay close to me."


    Villin nodded before following the professor through the door, and a moment after he felt the familiar dizziness that came with long-range teleportation.


    He looked around and found himself in an unfamiliar hallway. The walls seemed to be made out of some sort of grey wood and beautiful chandeliers were found on the ceiling with regular intervals. He saw a door a bit further to his left and recognized it as the basic academy doors that led to classrooms.


    Just as he was getting his bearing the professor was on the move again forcing Villin to move along. After walking through hallways for ten more minutes, the professor and Villin passed by someone.


    It was a lady that looked a little older than Villin, her robe was also a bit lighter in shade, Villin recognized the shade as it being a third-grader.


    The third-grader looked at him in confusion for a bit before her cheeks became red, a moment later she sprinted off. As for the professor, he ignored her completely.


    "Professor are we in the third grade?" Villin immediately asked his question as he recalled the article in the papers he had seen of Ruby Von Hauser being spotted in the third grade.


    The professor simply nodded without pausing his steps, his mind was still in turmoil that one of his students managed to get greatly enlightened at such a young age.


    Seeing the professor didn''t intend to say anything, Villin simply followed him closely. After walking for another five minutes and passing by two more third grade students, the duo arrived at another golden door. Villin noticed that three students were standing around the door casually talking.


    At first, Villin thought this was just their hang-out spot but once they got closer and the group turned toward them, Villin recognized the crests two of the students had on their robes. They were exactly the crests of ''Todays Oddities'' and ''A Magus'' Aid''. When professor Crumb and Villin approached they all took out some unfamiliar magic equipment.


    "Sir, what is your name?"


    "What is beyond this door?"


    "Why do you get to enter the third grade?"


    Villin felt overwhelmed when the three students started barraging him with questions. He decided not to stop moving and stay closely behind the professor. Once they properly arrived at the door the journalists backed off, it seemed that they didn''t dare to try and follow them when the door was opened.


    A moment later, Villin and professor Crumb both went through another teleportation array.


    This time, after going through the door, Villin felt somewhat stunned. The two of them were now standing in an absolutely beautiful room. The walls and ceiling were made from smooth marble and the lighting came from a couple of windows on one of the walls.


    On the marble walls was a particular shine, when Villin approached one of the walls to look through the window he could feel the vast magical energy within every bit of the walls. It truly felt boundless.


    When he looked through the window he was once more surprised, he seemed to be in a very tall building as he looked down on vast plains with a forest in the distance, he saw horses graze in the plains. Far to the left, he could see a waterfall, it was gorgeous.


    "This is made beautifully, I can''t see the slightest mistake within this work."


    Hearing Villin''s stunned voice professor Crumb smiled slightly "The windows are real Villin, they might be enchanted but not in the way you think."


    Villin stared at professor Crumb in disbelief. Villin knew one of the most important things was for The Academy to keep the location of their grades a secret, no matter what this would be vastly more difficult on the surface.


    Even so, he didn''t say anything yet, it was best to wait for the professor to explain things. The professor gestured Villin to follow him and after going through a couple of beautiful rooms, some of which holding well-made paintings, they arrived at their destination.


    In front of them was a white door with beautiful engravings on it. In the few seconds Villin managed to study it he found the engravings told a story. He didn''t have enough time to properly study it but it was clear by the engravings depicting pens and runes, it was about a boy learning the arts of enchanting and magic arrays.


    On the top part of the door, a name was engraved "Theodore Crumb".


    When the professor opened the door, he revealed the first properly furnished room Villin had seen. The coloring scheme didn''t change as almost everything was purely white, looking as if it was made of marble.


    There was a white desk in the back of the room with some magical object sitting atop of it idly. On either side of the desk were white bookshelves, on these bookshelves were what looked like spell models. Villin counted around twenty iron spell models and eighty wooden ones.


    Lastly, above the desk in the middle of Villin''s vision was a painting. The painting clearly depicted professor Crumb when he was slightly younger. The professor had only just started greying and was working hard on a piece of equipment in the painting, it was extremely well-made.


    With a wave of the professor''s hand, a chair popped up across from the desk giving Villin a place to sit, it was time to talk.


    "Now, I suppose you are wondering where we are right now." the professor said as he took a seat "allow me to explain."

 Chapter 95: A Runemaster

    The professor looked at Villin for a few moments before sighing. "Right now, we are no longer within the territories of The Academy, currently we are in the white tower.


    "The white tower is a place for people like us, people who have gotten an epiphany and have begun to realize the essence of runology. This tower was made fifty years ago by the person that is currently the only golden robe. Within the tower we all exchange information." he paused for a moment as he was looking for the right words.


    "True runology is an art that is unthinkably huge. It''s as boundless and unexplored as the cosmos above, what we all know of is just a tiny drop in a ginormous bucket."


    Villin looked at the professor with some confusion in his expression "So The White Tower is a place to exchange information?" he asked.


    "No boy, it is much, much more than that. The people within the tower come from everywhere, the government, rivaling companies, criminals, even fallen magus. Yet there has never been even a single conflict within these walls. This very place is proof that when necessary, the central continent can come together."


    Villin frowned as he thought about this "So, am I a member of this tower now?"


    "You will be boy, but first you need to show you how skilled you are in runology, just an example of your skill will do, I will of course trade you with information that is equally valuable."


    Villin looked the professor in the eyes as he fell silent, after a few seconds he had made a decision. "Alright professor." he said as he took out two of his notebooks "How about I explain my experiment to you and in return you help me improve it?"


    After thinking for a moment, the professor nodded, "That shouldn''t be a problem."


    Once this was decided upon Villin began explaining the theory behind the puppet he had made a while ago. The more he talked the more shocked the professor looked, even so, he still gave quite a bit of input on places where space was lost or different runes would be more fitting.


    "And so in these locations, I put small magic arrays, when any of them get a pulse of magical energy it distributes it to the required runes for the required effect, in the middle of each of these magic arrays you can attach a thin string made from magic power, this way you can pulse magic power through it instantly."


    "Hmm, these runes seem to make it extremely sensitive, doesn''t simply keeping the string attached set it off accidentally sometimes?"


    "No, the Mental Technique: Extend allows me to keep it stable without having to insert any more magic power."


    "Impressive, I didn''t realize you already knew this technique."


    Sometime later the two arrived at the runes causing the flame attack. When the professor looked at the notes he instantly looked grim. "Villin, I suggest you don''t build it as is. This rune over here will cause all of the runes to do with the attack to go haywire, it could go terribly wrong."


    "Professor, that is completely intended. I didn''t have enough space to properly put the runes in place for an explosion so instead, I added these runes that are sure to make runes all over the puppet to go haywire in the worst possible way and explode."


    Once more the professor looked at him in astonishment "Causing the runes to go haywire on purpose, that''s as ingenious as it is insane! The value of that knowledge helps me out greatly."


    And so, the professor continued helping him out, the biggest improvement he made had to do with the self-destruct. He managed to speed up the process considerably, the next time he built the puppet he would be able to make it explode within one second instead of three, probably.


    The professor also promised to get him another technique book to help improve the wires used to control the puppet, the reason was that they could easily be accidentally cut when enemies attacked him.


    After the two were finished with their discussion hours had passed. After sighing deeply the professor sighed deeply "To think you are already a silver robe, who would''ve thought."


    Villin looked at the professor''s robe in confusion than almost causing him to laugh.


    "Not The Academy''s robe boy." He then tapped his robe with his wand. Even though the general color of the robe didn''t change how it looked changed immensely, thousands of runes appeared all over it making multiple figures decorating the robe.


    "The tower had multiple different colors of robes. Firstly, there are the grey robes, these are the ones silver robes have taken as a student. After them come the red robes, these are those that are close to the truth but haven''t quite made the final step yet. Then there are the silver robes, I am a silver robe, and you will be one shortly. Silver robes are considered to properly understand runology and are capable of researching it. They are also called Runemasters. Lastly, there is the golden robe, there is only a singly golden robe, she is capable of creating her own runes out of thin air and is a grandmaster of runology."


    The professor paused for a moment before revealing another piece of information.


    In the sixth Grade of The Academy, there is a red robe and a grey robe, this alone would make this year a good one for The Academy. But alongside these in the second grade, there are two silver robes, the two youngest runemasters in recorded history."


    Villin thought for a moment "Me and Ruby Von Hauser."


    After realizing this he thought for another moment.


    "What are the advantages of being a runemaster other than being capable of exchanging information with my peers?"


    His question was straight and to the point surprising the professor somewhat, he thought the boy would have to think of all this for a while.


    "Well, firstly there is status." the professor grabbed a pin from underneath his desk. It was a silver pin depicting a pen. "Most will only see this as an ornament and we also ask our members not to spread the existence of the towers all around. But those of a high enough status are sure to recognize the pin, you will then surely be treated with respect."


    After Villin studied the silver pin for a bit the professor continued, "Secondly, there is freedom." As the professor said this he reached into his desk again and took out a small stack of papers. "Give one of these papers to each of your professors, it allows you to come and go from class as you please. If you want you can enter any class you wish for free but you can also choose not to come to class for months. This is sometimes required since runemasters are known to get caught up in experiments sometimes causing them to be busy for months at a time."


    Villin grabbed the papers each of which had some incomprehensible symbols but before he properly studied it the professor already talked about the third point.


    "Thirdly is an advantage miss Ruby had specifically asked for. You are allowed to make a guild even if you are only in the second or third grade."


    Villin was glad to hear this, it would be a great advantage.


    "And lastly, the contracts you will have to sign with The Academy in the fourth and sixth grade will be less strict giving you more freedom overall."


    Villin stayed quiet as he thought of the advantages he got.


    "Oh and, of course, you can move through the third grade to reach The White Tower, just make sure you have that pinned on," he said as he pointed to the pin depicting a three.


    "Thank you, professor, I suppose I''ll learn the rest by myself then."


    After Villin said that professor Crumb thought of something else "And right, there is one other thing. You may have become a runemaster but in reality, you are still very lacking. Your puppet is an excellent idea but still very weak compared with other runemasters'' creations. There are three reasons for this. The first reason is that you don''t know that many runes yet. The second reason is that you only know enchanting and magic arrays. Most Runemasters only came to a realization when they already had a decent understanding of all of the six basic runic arts while you know only of two. I will request The Academy to send you the books on Warding and Spell Constructs, these two should allow you to expand properly."


    The next ten minutes Villin asked a number of other basic questions that were answered swiftly by the professor. When he got his silver robe he would be able to switch between it and his student robe easily. He would also be responsible for enchanting his own robe. The robe would be made from extremely valuable material.


    The professor also gifted Villin with a new pen. The pen was apparently extremely expensive as it was capable of giving the benefits of both the enchanting pen and the magic array chalks.


    Once another hour had passed, Villin and professor Crumb finally passed by the third grade again to return, once more they were received by journalists, more this time.


    Nonetheless, Villin didn''t have trouble ignoring them since he was still thinking of all the new information he had gotten.

 Chapter 96: The Papers

    When the duo got back to the second grade halls, Villin finally managed to escape his thoughts, and so just before splitting up with the professor, he had one more question to ask.


    "Professor, things such as the puppet we discussed, can I use them in public, or is it best to keep their existence a secret?"


    When Villin said that the professor almost facepalmed "I forgot to give you this. Use the full extent of your skills, if you don''t you won''t be able to progress as fast as you should be able to." with these words the professor made a wooden book appear from thin air. Villin took it in his hand and read the title.


    ''Runic Technique: Hide''


    A few minutes later, once the professor explained the use of the book he said he had to report to the headmaster. He also reminded Villin to give the required papers to each of his teachers so he won''t get in trouble when he skips class to work on his runes.


    As for the technique he was given, it was something that was apparently extremely commonly used by all runemasters. It''s a special technique that can be used while creating runes that will hide them from sight. The more complex the rune combinations the harder it would be to use but generally, it was a helpful technique.


    He recalled the glasses they were wearing at the tournament, he couldn''t see the runes on the object, it seems it was exactly because of this technique.


    Thus he immediately decided to use this technique in all future projects he worked on, it was the most basic of precautions he felt he had to take.


    As for the other technique, he was promised that would allow his magical strings to be sturdier, the professor would give that in their next class the following week. Apparently, he still had to make a trade to get it.


    For now, he simply headed back to the dormitories. He had been gone for quite a while and the classes had been over for a good while as well.


    When he came into his room, his three companions were standing together, Elinoire wasn''t in.


    "Hey guys, missed me?"


    Upon hearing his voice Kayley and Rein walked to the side allowing Villin to see what they were looking at.


    On the desk were two newspapers. Today''s edition from ''Todays Oddities'' and ''A Magus'' Aid''.


    The headlines immediately alarmed him. On ''Todays Oddities'' the headline was ''Elinoire Decorus''s traitorous bodyguard Villin Grey!''


    On ''A Magus'' Aid'' the headline was ''The Green Princess'' New Roommates''.


    "Shit."


    After cursing once Villin quietly read the two articles. The article from ''A Magus'' Aid'' only stated the facts they had gathered. It stated that four students moved in with Elinoire Decorus. It also mentioned their fight against ''The Shielding Lions'' and how strong they were. Lastly, they added a part of the statement Villin gave when ''The Black Swans'' asked him about his connection to Elinoire. They did state he might''ve been lying though.


    Overall, even though this paper might sprout some rumor, Villin didn''t mind it too much, everything said was the truth and the writer was very professional in clearing up what was fact and what wasn''t fact.


    The article from ''Todays Oddities'' wasn''t quite as good. The article started off talking about the fight they had against ''The Shielding Lions'' stating the lions had attacked them because the group were traitors of the school, only coming back as the princess'' bodyguards. Apparently ''The Shielding Lions'' had a good reputation overall and were known for trying to be fair.


    After this, it mentioned how they were all brought into the same room to make sure they can protect her properly, and lastly, it mentioned something more alarming. It was clearly an alinea that was added last-minute but the information it held was important.


    It stated that, in the middle of the night, Villin Grey fought the Cassio brothers to protect the princess'' honor because they said something negative about Decorus.


    Seeing the bullshit this paper was posting Villin was surprisingly calm. "All this tells us is that ''Todays Oddities'' puts out crap that doesn''t get fact-checked. Other students are likely to know this as well. Even if there will be people that will believe the paper we will be able to change this perspective if given a bit of time."


    Hearing Villin''s words the others calmed down a little. Villin was by far the one that would be affected most by this. He was the only one mentioned by name. Villin was also surprised to find Vinea Tenura was the spell of the day in ''A Magus'' Aid'', he had a good guess where they got their information from.


    Nonetheless, he didn''t let this bother him as he told his roommates where he had been. Even though professor Crumb told him he wasn''t supposed to tell everyone about the white tower it was clear that it was supposed to be an open secret, telling his three closest companions shouldn''t be any problem.


    Once he ended his explanation of the place and its uses the others were stumped, Rein was the first to respond, "That''s amazing, must be incredible to be able to go there whenever you want!"


    Villin smiled as he thought of this as well, he wasn''t sure how many runemasters there were but even if there were only a couple available at any given time, interacting with them could help him greatly. The problem he had right now was that he didn''t have much to trade with, there was a rule stating you can''t retrade information traded with you without making some sort of vast improvement on it, hence he wanted to keep the puppets between himself and professor Crumb for the time being.


    He felt that once he knew more runes and techniques, the possibilities would be truly great. It could become his signature skill in a way. No matter what, he still had to experiment a bit, once he could trade a bit with other runemasters he would probably have a better idea of what kind of information got exchanged.


    "I''m going to go talk to Ruby Von Hauser. I think right now the best thing I can do is make news that overshadows what happened yesterday, instead of being seen as Elinoire''s bodyguard perhaps I can change this to being the second second-grade guild founder."

 Chapter 97: Love Spells

    "I heard you were the first second grade guild founder. I''m sure there''s plenty of problems you had to face because of this, I wanted to ask you to share your experiences so that my path might go smoother." Villin had decided to be fully honest when he talked with Ruby Von Hauser. Even though he had no proof whatsoever he had a feeling she had a way to tell when someone was lying. It was just a feeling though, perhaps caused by her particular golden eye-color.


    "Well well, what a surprise. I suppose I could give you some advice but advice is an odd and unpredictable thing. It''s not static like information so the advice you might trade for could be useless to you."


    Villin nodded, it was to be expected. "What''s the price?"


    Ruby Von Hauser squinted her eyes as she looked at Villin. He had been a hot topic earlier this day, she had made a decent profit off of their previous interaction, and there were some people who told her to contact them if she got new information on him. She suspected this could increase greatly tomorrow, when the fact he had passed the third grade would be released in the papers.


    Nonetheless, she had to confirm her suspicion. Even though what she wanted to ask him probably wouldn''t be for sale because of its nature, she might be wrong. These kinds of uncertainties were the things she hated most.


    "How did you get the qualification to establish a guild of your own?"


    Her question didn''t surprise Villin too greatly, he thought for a moment on how to respond.


    "Well, even though I can''t share it using words, there is something I can show you." he decided to be careful. If Ruy wasn''t actually the other runemaster in the second grade the existence of the white tower might be in the papers the next day. He was pretty sure that wasn''t something that would be appreciated.


    "Physical evidence is often more conclusive than statements, show me."


    After Ruby gave her affirmation Villin took out a small silver pin depicting a pen. It was the runemaster insignia.


    "This¡­ they told me I was the youngest runemaster since the creation of the tower," Ruby said somewhat dejectedly.


    "You were, until earlier today." Villin''s reply caused Ruby to smile wryly. Even though she wanted to talk to him more about the matter, business came first. She got her answer it is time she gave Villin his.


    She then went on to explain some of the problems Villin would surely be facing.


    The biggest problem was recruiting members. Ruby already had some problems recruiting capable members and she was of a noble bloodline, furthermore, she also made her guild a lot earlier, at that point, there were still some people without a guild.


    Now the situation was different, everyone had a guild as they were required to have one after the second month and most of them had been in their guilds for close to two months now, over this period of time a sense of attachment and loyalty would often have been created.


    So, in essence, Villin would have to steal the members of different guilds and this would be no easy feat.


    He would have to be very careful of those that wanted to join as well, currently, he was quite infamous already, it was possible people would join just to lower the guild reputation and cause trouble.


    Once Ruby saw he got the message she asked him another question. "Do you currently have a girlfriend?"


    Villin looked at her oddly when she asked that, I didn''t think you''d want trivial information like that."


    Ruby managed to avoid looking embarrassed and held her business-face "I myself might have no interest in these kinds of things but at the moment it is the most asked question about yourself. More magic crystals are always a good thing."


    Villin smiled and nodded, he really didn''t expect this to be the most asked question, then again, most-asked might only mean a handful of people. There were two other intelligence-guilds after all, it was just that Villin had a good feeling about Ruby, she seemed reliable, his instinct was also proven right now that he knew for certain she was also a runemaster.


    "Alright, I currently don''t have a girlfriend."


    After receiving his answer Ruby continued giving advice.


    The other thing she warned him about was spreading too thinly. Once Villin found members he would need to find a way to make everyone a cohesive unit. You couldn''t split them up without allowing them to work together from time-to-time, this would cause a rift to form between the members.


    "Additionally," she continued "you should sell enchanting blueprints and magic array blueprints to The Academy. They don''t force you to give away any truly valuable information while still paying extremely well. It also gets you a lot of reputation. You might even get some contribution points for when you get to the fourth grade."


    Villin nodded, realizing this was something unique to the two of them. Enhancing certain enchantments or magic arrays shouldn''t be too difficult, only costing him some time.


    It also made sense they could still be improved by newly-minted runemasters. After all, what runemaster would waste their time improving extremely basic enchantments and magic arrays.


    He thought about everything she had told him, there were many small things where she had gone in the wrong that he could avoid now, saving him from the trouble.


    "Thank you Miss Ruby, I believe that will be all, even though I would love to discuss runes with you sometime."


    Ruby was about to say her goodbyes before thinking of something.


    "Actually, Villin, I believe I have a piece of information that might be important to you."


    "Oh? Please do tell."


    Ruby smiled slightly "Then first you should pay. What is your type?"


    Villin was about to ask what she meant before he realized. Probably another question asked because of popular demand. Villin couldn''t help but wonder what was wrong with people in this school. One of the papers accused him of being a traitor of the school and yet these questions were the most-asked.


    When he decided to answer the question Villin felt stumped again. He didn''t really know in all honestly. He had been so busy studying magic he didn''t have time for all that, the only thing that ever happened was the moment between himself and Amelia back in the mortal world.


    ''One-eyed girls, yup, his type had to be one-eyed girls''. Villin almost laughed at his own mental joke there before thinking some more.


    He had been rather keen on Kayley lately, even though he didn''t really have feelings for her yet. Thinking of this, he had his answer.


    "I like people that are smart, I spend most of my time studying magic so my type should be people I can discuss magic with."


    Ruby shook her head when she heard that "You must not have a lot of options than with your current status. Also, I can''t help but notice you said people, do you like guys as well."


    Villin simply shrugged "I''m not sure, I suppose I''ll see in the future."


    His answer caused Ruby to smile, "Alright then, as for the information you might want. There have been four concerning questions about you. Two groups and one individual have asked for your weaknesses. Another two individuals asked about love spells after asking about you. Not much you can do about the first groups, just be careful. As for those two individuals, be even more careful. Love spells are very dangerous if the conditions are right."


    Villin thanked her before leaving. He didn''t care if people asked her about his weaknesses, he knew he would probably have some cocky brats wanting to take him on. His problems laid with the love spells, he hadn''t heard of those yet but immediately started heading toward the library to learn about them.

 Chapter 98: A Not-So-Sudden Windfall

    After Villin spent an hour reading about love spells in the library he was glad to find out they were only effective in specific circumstances. As such, the person affected must be both in a good mood and be in a conversation with the person casting the spell. Or have them on their mind at the time.


    Even so, Villin quickly went ahead and bought another spell model that would block this type of spell, he decided to use it whenever he was talking to someone unfamiliar just in case.


    After dealing with this problem that could''ve been disastrous, Villin made his way back to his room, it seemed that he was the only one there at the moment, the others must''ve gone out to do something.


    Seeing how he couldn''t talk to the others to discuss potential future plans together, Villin had to decide between learning some more of the spells he had bought and checking out the facilities he had yet to check out. But before he could decide, he heard someone knock on the door.


    Villin looked at the door and purposefully made his mood foul. He hadn''t learned the spell he just bought yet. He then walked over and opened the door with a frown.


    In front of him stood a boy with brown hair. The crest on his chest depicted a feather in the middle of a road.


    "What do you want," Villin said vigilantly.


    "There''s a professor waiting for you in front of the dormitories he told me to fetch you."


    Villin looked at the boy suspiciously but said boy quickly left the area, he had done what the professor asked of him.


    And so, Villin walked up the stairs until he got to the main floor. Just outside of the door to the dormitories stood a large muscular man in a golden robe. Villin immediately recognized him as Pompei.


    There were a few students chatting with him but when he saw Villin he quit the conversation.


    "Villin! Get over here pretty boy, I got something to give ya!"


    Villin walked over with a smile, sadly he wouldn''t be taught by Pompei this grade because the professor became a class A teacher once more but he was still glad to see him.


    "Good to see you, Pompei! Congratulations on your promotion!"


    Pompei shrugged before reaching into his robe and taking out two things. One of the two things was a crystal holder, the number currently wasn''t being depicted. The other thing the professor handed over was a letter.


    "Hey there boyo. Alright so here''s your payment for selling professor Richard back to the academy. You also get a bunch of contribution points for that but those will only be available when ya get to the fourth grade so that''s still a good three years ahead of ya. And old man Crumb told me to give ya this letter when I was about to head over here so that''s that."


    Pompei scratched his head awkwardly after giving the items, he found it awkward when he had to do things for The Academy.


    "I won''t be having you in my class but you''re still my student alright. If some idiot teacher causes trouble with you give me a call!" Pompei pounded his chest after saying that.


    Seeing there were still students around them looking with curiosity, Villin quickly said his goodbyes and left back to his room. There he checked the crystal holder.


    Villin felt slightly complicated when he checked the amount standing on the crystal holder. Sure it was a great amount for a student, but in all honesty, he had expected more, after all, it was a professor.


    But after thinking a bit more it made sense the price was relatively low. Professor Richard couldn''t help in fights nor could he easily travel the school, his value was a lot lower compared to other professors.


    The crystal holder had fifty thousand magic stones. About ten times the amount he got from being attacked in the first grade. Split between four that meant each of them would get a bit more than twelve-thousand crystals.


    After taking his share he still had close to eighteen-thousand crystals, despite the cost of the spells he had bought recently.


    After dealing with this, he opened up the letter he had been given.


    ------


    To:


    Villin Grey


    Runemaster


    Magus of the first circle


    We would like to invite you to attend the annual runemaster conference located at the Lannister household. This event will take place on the first day of next month. It would be our honor to welcome you to our home. Every year we also organize a little competition between the talented youth of our great continent, this competition entails all skills a young magus might have. Due to your unique position as an extremely young runemaster, you may also join this competition if you wish.


    Please let us know if you are attending said event or not.


    Sincerely Yours.


    Kalob and Sally Lannister.


    ----


    At first, Villin felt surprised by this letter, but it made sense overall.


    Since he was now a runemaster, he would probably be getting quite a few letters like this inviting him to events, nonetheless, this one seemed important, a gathering of runemasters, this might be a good location to get to know some other runemasters, as for the competition, he was confident in his skills and didn''t see much of a reason not to participate.


    He knew some people disliked going to social events with important people but he wasn''t one of those. He looked forward to it, he felt that he would do quite well in such a place. Villin wasn''t afraid to admit he was very calculating at times, in such an event everyone would want benefits, they would surely want to lay the foundation to befriend a talented new runemaster and Villin would try to get as much out of it as possible without leaving a bad taste in other people''s mouths.


    After staring at the letter for another thirty seconds he had a wide smile on his face as he imagined the potential benefits he could get from a bunch of runemasters in a party setting. As for the tournament, the letter didn''t mention the age limit, if it was anything over seventeen Villin didn''t feel he would have much of a chance at winning but he didn''t mind. As long as he could show some of his skills he would be happy. Nonetheless, the event would already happen in twenty-nine days, he made the decision to finish joining all the classes once, give professor Crumb a response letter for the Lannister family, and work on increasing his strength for the rest of the month.


    This wasn''t just learning spells but also making another puppet. Even though he wasn''t willing to share the technique he used to make it, he wasn''t afraid of showing his creation off when dealing with other runemasters, everyone had their own projects, most runemasters wouldn''t have the time to spend trying to recreate someone else''s work. If they wanted to use it, they would trade for the information.


    Moreover, the strength of the puppet probably wouldn''t be much for a proper magus, not yet at least, yet he might be able to get some pointers from other runemasters at the event.


    No matter what, he would gain more than he would lose, what was the point of making something if not to use it to gain standing.


    The only thing currently standing in his way was the guild-situation. He wanted to spend a month working on his creations but he also had to create a guild and get members for it. Well, he didn''t have to, but he wasn''t willing to join an existing guild either.


    He sighed as he thought of the problems being exceptional brought with it.

 Chapter 99: Athena’s Forge

    The following week passed by quickly. He attended all of the classes once but sadly there was only a single one Villin felt was interesting, this was ''Tactics of War'' the new elective class Villin had applied for. This class taught the students leadership, how a team should move in certain situations, and how to respond to changes in the environment.


    Even though it was quite rigid and much of what they had been taught would be useless in practical combat scenarios there were still some tactics that could be used or adapted.


    Whenever Villin was not in class he would be learning spells or working on enchantments, Elinoire had also returned and she seemed fine so Villin ignored her, making sure there would always be a barrier between them when he was practicing runes, he didn''t want his techniques to be stolen.


    After this time had passed Villin was also prepared to create his own guild. He was now standing together with his three companions.


    "I would like to invite you all to Athena?????s forge. This guild will be focused on revolutionizing a multitude of magic fields. Looking around I can see the magical community has gotten somewhat stagnant in its progress, I believe I''ll be able to change that if I can get the right people to help me out."


    He chose Athena''s forge because Athena was the goddess of Wisdom, Handicraft, and Warfare in greek mythology. It was a goddess that perfectly encapsulated what he was trying to do. Wisdom was what was required to advance magic as a whole. Handicraft would include things such as runology and wand-making, and as for warfare, well, that one was pretty obvious.


    Kayley agreed to join without question, she had already intended to do so for a while. She had looked around the guild hall multiple times the last weak and other than the two guilds that focused on pill-making nothing seemed interesting to her in the slightest. Pill-making was too little for her as well. Sure she had a great amount of talent for the craft but she cared about her other research as well.


    Amelia didn''t hesitate much either. She had a lot of fate in Villin and didn''t see a reason to doubt him now, certainly not now that he was a runemaster as well.


    As for Rein, he was clearly doubtful. Seeing him hesitate for so long, Villin took the initiative to speak, "It''s alright Rein, as I told you all before you can join a different guild if you want to, I don''t mind!"


    Hearing this, Rein looked at him with a complicated expression "It''s not that Villin, it''s just that, I don''t think I''ll be of any use. Your guild stands for innovation, this means the members should be intelligent and extremely talented. Even though I take pride in my intelligence, I''m just not as talented as you all. All I''m really good at are magic arrays, and hell now that you''re a runemaster that doesn''t mean much anymore anyway. I simply don''t believe I can contribute."


    Seeing Rein like this, Villin shook his head. "Rein, you''re wrong. Simply because I''m a runemaster you are assuming I''ll just be able to do all sorts of crazy research by myself right? I can''t. Enchantments and magic arrays are often used by runemasters as well, it is done so because they are easier to draw and take less time and effort to create. Even if this wasn''t the case, the sheer number of experimentation I''ll need to do to make good pieces of equipment is extremely large.


    "Remember the puppet I made? It took a month for me to finish that one. And even now it will still probably take me twenty days on my own. I honestly wanted you all to do whatever you wanted, if you have something you want to try out, then do so. But since I have heard your concerns so clearly I must ask, do you want to be my assistant? It would save a lot of time if someone could create a number of the enchantments and magic arrays needed for my projects. And hell, even the puppet has a large number of full enchantments and magic arrays within it, a lot of time could be saved like this." Villin finished his short speech with a complicated expression.


    Villin didn''t like how he spoke to Rein just now, asking one of his companions to be his ''assistant'' almost seemed insulting to himself, but surprisingly, after thinking for a few moments Rein agreed.


    In reality, it was a natural choice no matter what angle you viewed it from. Rein would be able to learn a lot from Villin by working with him, even if he didn''t realize the essence of runes, it would also allow him to practice a lot. Even if this wasn''t the case, once the whole situation was revealed he would also gain status from it. After all, Villin was a runemaster and he would be half a student of his.


    But this all wasn''t what Rein thought about, he just wanted to be able to keep doing things with the three people in front of him without holding them back, Villin just gave him an opportunity to do so.


    Shortly after this little meeting, Villin set out toward the Grade Holder to officially establish the guild ''Athena''s Forge'' he was sure it would be in the papers by the next day. He had already gotten quite a bit of attention from the two newspapers the last week, his trip with professor Crumb through the third grade was revealed, they also heard a teacher from Class A came to get him in the dormitories to give him presents. He was currently a hot topic of discussion, he did notice a lot of people looked at him negatively though, a natural thing considering there were suspicions he was a traitor of the school and Elinoire''s bodyguard.


    After this he went to find professor Crumb, he just finished up a class and so Villin found a moment to hand him the response letter for the Lannister household.


    --------


    To:


    Kalob and Sally Lannister


    Hosts of the annual Runemaster conference


    I would like to gracefully accept your invitation to the annual Runemaster conference. I am extremely content that I''ll be able to meet you both in person. Runemaster Crumb has said a lot of positive things about you.


    Even though I am still lacking in overall skill, I would also like to accept the invitation to compete against other promising Magus. I simply hope I will not be embarrassing myself too badly.


    Once more I wish to thank you for your invitation, I will meet you all the first day of the following month.


    Sincerely Yours,


    Villin Grey


    ---------


    Before asking professor Crumb to deliver the letter he asked if the letter was alright. After all, he didn''t know the Lannister household''s titles, for example, hence he simply put ''Hosts of the annual Runemaster conference'' but professor Crumb assured him it would be fine. He was also quite surprised to see Villin mention himself in the letter. Even though it was a complete lie and professor Crumb had never talked with Villin about the Lannister household, he was quite happy Villin would be putting him in a positive light and the Lannister household would probably be flattered as well.


    In the end, things went alright, but things would only get more difficult. He felt like the days were many times shorter compared to before. He simply had so much to do. He had to properly let the school know of his guild and its purpose, otherwise, they would forever remain at four members. He would also need to work on both spells and another puppet.


    Despite the lack of time, Villin still felt rather content, things were going good, Decorus surely wouldn''t have enough strength to try and attack again so soon and he saw the people that thought he was a traitor as irrelevant.

 Chapter 100: A Guild Tower

    The following day, the creation of his guild was on the first page of both of the newspapers.


    ''A Magus'' Aid'' put the headline as ''Athena''s Forge, A Guild Full Of Mystery''. The article stated some of the known facts about Villin. It also mentioned the rumors but didn''t confirm any of them, focusing more on the facts at hand.


    As for ''Todays Oddities'' their headline was ''The Traiterous Student''s Guild. Athena''s Forge.'' Their article was focusing heavily on his suspected affiliation with Elinoire Decorus, it was clear the paper wanted to rile people up so they would keep buying from them.


    Ignoring this, Villin made his way to the guild hall. The room had slightly expanded to one side and a wooden stall was now standing there. All it said was ''Athena''s Forge'' on a wooden sign above the open window. Villin immediately commissioned the guild ''The Silver Stoneworkers''. It was a small guild that focused on building things. They were the ones generally commissioned to create stone constructs, Villin paid them a thousand magic crystals, a stellar amount, in return they would create a great building according to his conditions.


    Since the ceiling was so high up, Villin decided to go with a tower design. Each floor would house a different team for a total of four teams. In actuality Villin would''ve preferred to expand horizontally as well, making a grand workshop, but in order to expand the guild needed to have a certain amount of reputation, a newly formed guild obviously couldn''t do this.


    Having four floors was already quite good, the building would be visible from large parts of the room. There was plenty of space to make more floors as well but Villin was afraid that any more might affect the stability of the construct.


    The top floor would be Villin''s private workplace, he would probably be spending most of his time there once it was completed. The third floor was for runology. Anything to do with runes would be practiced there. Since Villin was specialized in this field, it was important for him to have it close, after all, he would also be the head of this division, and Rein would be vice-head for when Villin wasn''t available.


    The second floor was for the studies of the web. Anyone working on spells and trying to class nodes would be at work there, Kayley would be the head of this division. Kayley also decided to buy and place two stations used to make pills there. Villin was glad about this because he didn''t have a floor yet to practice other non-runic arts.


    Lastly, the first floor was the combat and sales floor. Once more Villin was forced to put two different arts together for a lack of space. They decided to pretty much just split the floor in two, one side would have a window where members of the guild would place their products, these would then be sold. As for the combat team, they discussed ways to increase overall combat prowess, not just using certain spells but also by combining all the divisions within the guild.


    This would mean that they might say that member 7''s enchanted sword would be extremely useful when combined with the new pill make by pill-maker 2. The division would be led by Amelia, people in this division would probably also belong to different divisions. This way Villin hoped they would be able to create unity while still having different decisions.


    Overall Villin estimated every floor would be able to allow four people to work comfortably, up to six if they didn''t mind being in each other''s way every now and again.


    Of course, everything he had planned was still a pipe-dream right now. After all, they didn''t have any members other than the four of them. But honestly, Villin wasn''t too worried about it. He decided to just focus on doing their own thing, for now, once a month had passed and the rumors had calmed down a bit he would be able to give the guild proper attention. He honestly thought he should be able to make this thing work, even with all the disadvantages they had.


    Villin was also glad the group wouldn''t have to be in a room with Elinoire anymore soon, ever since she tried to steal from them they felt uneasy when she was around.


    The two weeks that followed passed by quickly. The tower was finished and looking good, the only thing that was missing was their crests, but this very same day, the grade-holder handed them their new crests, they were of Kayley''s design.


    The crest was rather complex, In the front were a wand and a pen crossed, behind these two was a cauldron with a pill inside it. And connecting everything and rounding the crest up into a circle was a silver halo.


    Villin thought it looked nice and so they went with it. And now they could finally wear their own crests when walking about.


    Despite this, there wasn''t exactly a lot of walking around. Villin and Rein were working on the new puppet alongside their spells. Villin had to do most of the work on the puppet but there were a number of things Rein could do while he was practicing his spells. Rein actually proved himself to be very capable when it came to magic arrays, he was very fast in making them shortening the time more than expected.


    Villin figured that if he had to make the puppet on his own it would take around twenty days. He had already made it once after all. But with Rein''s help, this number was shortened to two weeks, hell, they would probably be able to make a second puppet if they wanted to.


    Villin actually considered doing so for a bit but decided against it, in the upcoming event he wanted to show the quality of his work, having one or two puppets had little difference.


    And so, the two set out to improve the puppet further. Rein focused on finding ways to improve the magic arrays that stood on their own, some of which worked and others failed, Villin spent time using the technique he had gotten from professor Crumb to hide the runes beneath the surface, this way nobody would be able to easily copy the puppet without properly studying it.


    While they were doing this, the two girls were also extremely busy. Kayley spent a lot of her time working on pill-making, she didn''t have any practical experience in the mortal world and wanted to make up for that, her tests provided great results.


    As for Amelia, she did two things. For one she managed to join the ''Cut and Crease'' team and spent a decent amount of time practicing this. Other than that she also worked on the guild. She used some of her crystals to buy more things the guild tower would need, she also started talking to a number of students, increasing their reputation in the eyes of other students.


    There were only two weeks left until Villin would have to go to the Lannister household to take place in a little competition and meet other runemasters. He was feeling quite confident about this until two days ago when professor Crumb told him something.


    He would be expected to bring along a date.

 Chapter 101: Time To Go

    Even though choosing a date wasn''t that big of a deal, Villin still found it to be of some importance. There were four candidates he could choose between.


    Firstly there was Rein, his ''assistant''. Rein had been helping him in making the puppet and bringing him along might help Rein improve his abilities.


    The second person was Ruby, even though Villin didn''t know her very well, she was the second youngest runemaster alive, going together would also be a great help to both of their statuses.


    But after thinking for a while, Villin decided not to go with either of them. Both of them would be calculated choices, he would rather go with someone he would actually see as a date.


    So he had to pick between Amelia and Kayley. Even though Villin never acted or focused on it. He had some feelings for both of them after spending so much time with them both. And so, Villin walked down the steps of the new guild tower, to the second floor.


    Kayley was standing at one of the pill-making stations finishing up a batch of healing pills. After waiting for a few more minutes, she finished up and pocketed a couple of bright-red pills.


    When she noticed him behind her she smiled "Hey Villin, how are you doing?"


    "Doing great! Say, Kayley, I am expected to take a date with me to the gathering in a couple of weeks, you wanna come?"


    Villin decided not to hide his intention in any way, he wasn''t so awkward that he wouldn''t dare to call it a date. Still, he was somewhat nervous.


    Kayley brightened up when he asked her "Sure! Let''s go together then!"


    Hearing her affirmation Villin could relax a bit and the following couple of hours the two of them were engaged in discussion, once more trying to unravel the mysteries of the web.


    The next two weeks were once more filled with preparation. After spending another week improving the puppet, Villin was occupied making a number of small runic devices, mostly just to see if he could get any more insights.


    During this time, he asked Rein to begin enchanting the outside of the tower, each brick would have to be enchanted individually. Right now, Rein was making two types of enchantments. Enchantments to make the bricks more magic resistant and enchantments allowing the bricks to hold a certain number of magic power.


    After the gathering, Villin entended to connect the enchantments on all bricks and cast the special derivatory spell of Reverto. Hopefully, the enchantments would help the shield be even stronger than before. He hoped this would then bring a bunch of publicity and be proof of the skill of both himself and Rein.


    Nonetheless, this was all for the future as, right now, it was time to go. Villin was in the middle of enchanting something when Amelia ran up, telling him that professor Crumb had arrived at the guild tower.


    Villin immediately put the disk in his hand away and made his way down, Kayley walking just behind him. Once they exited the tower they could see professor Crumb standing in his silver robe looking as stern as ever.


    "Hello, professor! I am sorry, I thought we were only supposed to go tomorrow." Villin apologized immediately since he felt that it was a bit rude that professor Crumb had to come to them.


    "Phuh, don''t think about the little things boy, you are above that." he scoffed "And indeed, the gathering is tomorrow, it is just that there is much to discuss before we go."


    After saying this he turned to Rein, he was busy enchanting the outer wall of the tower when the professor had arrived "Boy, I suggest you change the Sifficus enchantment with the Carilos one. Even though the Sifficus one is indeed better when performed alone. It will not only resist magic power sent at it but also the bits nearby, it will hamper the other enchantment''s ability to gather magical energy."


    After saying his bit, the professor turned around, soon followed by Villin and Kayley.


    Villin and Rein were, of course, happy to get the professor''s advice, neither of them was so fragile they would take the advice negatively and Rein quickly began destroying his previous enchantments to redo them.


    "So, boy, who is the girl you are taking with you?" the professor asked with his usual serious tone.


    "Hey name is Kayley Alius, she is extremely talented in pill-making and the studies of the web, she is also one of my closest friends."


    Hearing his introduction the professor turned his head to look at Kayley, squinting his eyes a bit "Hmm, an Alius is it. Well then, a pleasure to meet you, miss. I do suggest you don''t reveal your last name when we are at the gathering, when your father is mentioned things can get quite¡­ heated."


    With a slight frown, Kayley nodded. She didn''t know all that much about her father. She knew he was a fallen magus and he used to be part of the council but that was all she really knew about it, she knew very little about the events leading to this situation.


    The professor then handed Kayley a small iron pin with a three on it, this would allow her to go to the third grade without problems. At this point they were already nearing the teleportation array leading to the third grade, Villin was surprised to see two people waiting next to the golden door.


    On the left was a woman with silver hair and golden eyes. It was none other than Ruby Von Hauser. Standing next to her was a boy that also had silver hair but had red eyes making him look somewhat mean. Villin recognized him, the few times he talked to Ruby, he was also in the room, his name was Hawk if he recalled correctly.


    "Alright, time to go through."


    When the professor said this, everyone pinned on their iron pins that depicted a three, then they followed the professor through the door.


    While they were walking through the third grade everyone stayed silent. A number of people here recorded their actions with a number of magical devices. This would probably be big news. Not only were Villin and Ruby moving through the third grade together but there were two more people with them.


    Still, the only one who seemed to care about all of this was Hawk. Whenever one of the people of the third grade took out a magical device generally used for recording things, he would stand between them and Ruby while glaring at the student. Villin could tell Ruby felt slightly embarrassed seeing Hawk act this way while walking with one of her peers but didn''t comment on it.


    Once they went through another teleportation array, the group arrived at the white tower. Hawk and Kayley were quickly stunned when they saw the window, the sight was truly beautiful.


    After looking at this sight for a bit, the group made their way toward professor Crumb''s office. There was only one day left until the gathering, and hell, there was a lot they had to go through.

 Chapter 102: Finishing The Robes

    Three hours had passed in wat time, professor Crumb explained a myriad of things. In front of each of the four students was a stack of papers explaining the background and importance of everyone who was supposed to be at the party.


    In total around a hundred guests would be expected. Fifty runemasters, thirty dates, and twenty promising youths.


    Other than these, there were a few other officials of high importance, this included the heads of the red tower, the green tower, and the black tower.


    Professor Crumb had no idea what the towers stood but they always sent one of their heads to join this event. A member of the high-council would also be there.


    But in total there were records of three-hundred people in front of each of the students. This was because the people that would come were different each year, about half of the one-hundred known runemasters would always come but their dates were often different.


    Once more Hawk was the odd one out. The other three realized how important it was to know the names and general backgrounds of the guests. After all, if they made friends with the right people, their situation could change overnight. But as for Hawk, there were too many damn papers to remember. And who cared if he knew these people already, he could just ask their names couldn''t he?


    Nonetheless, he didn''t disrupt the others who were studying. Ruby and Villin had no problem remembering everything. Villin didn''t need to properly integrate what he read into his head so his photographic memory took care of most of the information. Of course, there were some guests he read up on properly, mostly the truly powerful and influential runemasters as well as each of the high-councilmembers.


    Kayley had a bit more trouble than the two of them but diligently studied each of the papers. She didn''t have a photographic memory but was still pretty smart, she would probably get through it all in another three hours.


    "You two come with me for a second, let the two of them study for a bit longer." professor Crumb said as he took Villin and Ruby with him out of the room.


    Once they were standing in the hallway, the professor took two bundled up robes out of his own robe, it seemed to have an interspacial pocket as well.


    He then gave it to both of them. The robes looked identical to the regular school-uniforms they were currently wearing, but both of them grabbed it carefully.


    Villin was the first to take his wand and insert some magical power into the robe, he felt as if he had flipped a switch and the robed turned into a beautiful silver. Unlike the robe the professor was currently wearing, there were no runes on these yet, they would have to enchant the robes themselves.


    "I only managed to get the necessary materials a couple of weeks ago, luckily there were enough materials to make two robes. I suggest you spend today enchanting the robes. Remember, even though the functionality is the most important, visuals are a big thing as well, I suggest you make it look nice and not just put runes all over the robe."


    The two of them nodded when hearing the professor''s advice.


    "Also, when we are outside of The Academy call me Theodore. We are both runemasters and as such we are equals, don''t call me professor or anything of the like."


    Once more the two students agreed, they knew how social games worked and wouldn''t make this kind of mistake.


    After seeing both of them had understood, the professor led them further into the ginormous tower. After walking for twenty meters, he pointed to a spot on the ground to the right. Said spot had runes clearly surrounding it, giving off a magical glow "The entire tower is filled with short-range teleportation arrays to make getting around quicker. I''ll explain how to properly use them some other time, for now, let''s walk."


    And so they continued on, in thirty minutes of walking and going down multiple stairs they didn''t meet anyone, they did see a dozen-or-so door with names on them, most of which they recognized from earlier. As for the short-range teleportation arrays, they really were all over the place.


    After walking for this period of time they arrived at a door ''Basic Runic Experimentation: Test Room 13''. When the two of them walked inside they were in a large white room with all sorts of equipment hanging on the wall. Villin saw all sorts of different pens and chalk of different colors. Other than this there were a bunch of old weapons such as swords, as well as armor. And then there were also items Villin didn''t recognize.


    "For today work on your robes diligently, if you want to chat, there will be time at the gathering, right now it is time to work," Villin responded by putting the robe on the ground and taking out the pen he had gotten from professor Crumb just a short while ago. He also took out a notepad and began writing in it, trying to find how he could best enhance this robe without making it look visually lacking within a day.


    Seeing him beginning his work, Ruby quickly followed, she didn''t take notes though, and immediately began putting runes onto the robe.


    Professor Crumb nodded as he looked at the two of them before leaving and closing the door.


    Villin and Ruby didn''t say a single word to each other as they were working. If it wasn''t for the occasional magic backlash causing a small explosion or a yelp in surprise they would''ve probably forgotten they weren''t alone.


    Both of them had their own technique. Ruby immediately began enchanting, when something went wrong, she simply went a single step back and tried a different rune to make her idea work, if this didn''t go she went back one more step and so on.


    As for Villin, he didn''t immediately begin enchanting, he first thought of the theory and planned out the runes he would use. When one of his runes went wrong, he immediately went back to the notepad and began replanning entire sections.


    Both of the techniques were vastly different but neither could be called superior, they both did their own thing.


    When they had been working for fourteen hours, they both went to sleep at nearly the same time. Enchanting was exhausting, especially if you had to make the enchantments yourself and connect them together.


    When they finished, they both had very different designs as well.


    Villin''s robe, remained mostly unchanged. He had only affected the area slightly below the neck. Dense lines of runes mixed with each other in an odd fashion. It was as if two long lines of runes were turning around each other. This went on until it got to the shoulders where it made two spirals.


    Villin decided to go for quality, it was a very precise piece of work that was very hard to make, the downside was that most of his robe remained empty.


    Ruby took a different path. The runes on her robe were a lot less dense, way more spread out. She managed to enchant from the beginning of her ribs up to her neck. She clearly focused a lot on how it looked, the robe was very aesthetically pleasing. There were a lot of twirls and magic arrays moving to become a string of enchantments.


    Seeing her robe, Villin had to admit he had lost this time around, her robe looked more impressive even if the runes were more spread out compared to his own. Overall her robe still had nearly thirty percent more runes compared to his own.


    Nonetheless, he was somewhat satisfied with his own work. And now, it would truly be time to meet some other runemasters.

 Chapter 103: The Gathering

    One hour before they were supposed to be at the gathering, professor Crumb entered the room to see how the two of them were doing. When he looked at the pair of robes he had an incredulous look on his face. He composed himself before talking "The two of you get your robes on, it''s time to go."


    With a wave of his wand, a black screen blocked the sight between Villin and Ruby and so they switched into their new robes. Both of them were extremely happy not just with their work but also the robe as a whole. Not a single scratch had appeared on the robes even if runes backfired, the material was extremely tough yet flexible. They could easily run without the robes getting in the way.


    Villin couldn''t help but wonder what material it was made of but this really wasn''t the time to ask.


    "Alright professor, what happens next?" Ruby asked with a stoic expression.


    "Since the two of you are the newest and youngest runemasters, I suggest you both arrive early. This way you will be able to greet a number of other figures who will probably be unavailable later in the evening."


    The two nodded after which Ruby asked a question "Alright then, where are our dates?"


    Hearing her question the professor inwardly cursed himself for forgetting to give all the necessary information "The dates will only be allowed to enter two hours after the start of the event. Unless their status is on par with the status of a runemaster that is."


    At the exact same time, Villin and Ruby had a frown on their face but they didn''t respond. A few minutes later professor Crumb led them to a different door made of marble. Once they went through they were nearly blinded from the light the runes on the ground emitted. The room was massive holding about a dozen long-range teleportation arrays.


    Professor Crumb led them to a magic array near the back, "Alright, the two of you go through first, I''ll come in an hour or so." he then looked straight at Ruby "Also, you want to make friends and be cordial with the people in this event. Don''t let yourself get insulted but don''t escalate situations. If you can tell someone is lying don''t call them out, just smile and nod."


    Ruby''s face looked complicated but after a few seconds, she nodded.


    And so, the two of them walked into the magic array on the ground, as soon as they took a step into the magic array they disappeared from the tower appearing in a totally different place.


    When the duo looked around they found themselves in a surprisingly cozy room. They were standing in front of a fireplace. To both sides were some cozy-looking red armchairs and looking below they noticed they were standing on a brown carpet that seemed to be made out of bear pelt.


    Behind them was a long table full of food. Villin recognized some caviar laying in a pot but most of the food was completely foreign to him. In the center, he did see something resembling pixie wings though.


    The room wasn''t fully enclosed either, to the left of the fireplace was an opening leading to the main hall. Before they could walk that way, a young couple walked towards them from said opening. They both seemed to be about thirty years old. The man had a pleasant-looking face and a curly mustache. He struck Villin as a kind man. As for his clothes, he was wearing a red suit with a tie, it was very fashionable.


    The woman next to him looked quite different. She had green hair which her outfit perfectly matched. She had thin lips and beautiful purple eyes.


    The two of them looked very different, yet Villin didn''t feel like they looked bad together either.


    They were Kalob and Sally Lannister, the hosts of this event.


    "Our first guests have arrived, welcome!" Kalob exclaimed as he approached them.


    "Oh, they seem extremely young. There must be the new runemasters Theodore mentioned," Sally responded.


    Hearing them speak about them Villin and Ruby were unsure of how to react to it. Luckily, Kalob quickly greeted them properly, "We have heard so much about you two! Theodore keeps going on and on about how great his students are! He may look like a better old man but I think everyone can tell he''s proud of the two of you!" the man winked at them after saying his part before turning to the main hall, taking the two guests with them.


    Going through the opening they indeed arrived in a much bigger hall. There were a multitude of chairs and tables all over the place with various items atop the tables. Villin recognized a chessboard and an enchanting pen among other things.


    The whole place was naturally lighted, there were windows outside of which you could see the snowy landscape while the room remained nice and warm thanks to both the fireplaces and magic arrays that were spread across the room. All of them were hidden beneath expensive-looking carpet but Villin could feel them doing their magic when he got close to them.


    Once they got to the large hall, Kalob once more talked to them. "So out two new geniuses! I heard all sorts of things about you two from Theodore but he never actually mentioned your names-"


    He looked at Villin expectantly and Villin smiled at him "The name is Villin, Villin Gray. I must say Theodore has said a lot about you as well Mister Lannister."


    Kalob''s face lighted up when he heard this "Oh really, if you don''t mind me asking what rumors has the old man been spreading about me?" the man faked a disgruntled expression that was surprisingly similar to how professor Crumb looked most of the time.


    Villin looked around warily before leaning toward Kalob, pretending he was about to divulge a secret. Kalob played along and leaned toward Villin as well so that he could whisper into his ear.


    "It was one month ago on a snowy evening, that, to my surprise, when I opened your letter and asked him about you, he answered with ''Hmm, those two aren''t too bad.''" Villin stood up again and looked at Kalob with a worried expression, "I have to admit, I was shocked to see him utter such positive words, I was truly worried for his health!"


    Villin looked at Kalob with a worried expression for a few seconds before they both began smiling, Kalob then turned toward his wife "This kid has a good sense of humor, he''s gonna go far I tell you."


    In response Sally raised one of her eyebrows, she was less talkative than her husband but still, she turned toward Ruby "And you kid, what is your name?"


    Ruby was still looking at Villin with an odd expression when Sally asked her question. Ruby quickly composed herself again before responding "My name is Ruby, I am one of the students of Theodore."


    She introduced herself with a simple bow, seeing her attitude Sally nodded in approval.


    After exchanging a few more pleasantries Kalob got to what he really wanted to say, "So the tournament for the young talents of the continent will begin in four hours, there will be two categories. The runic arts, and combat. Please don''t expect to win in either though, the competition has an age limit of twenty, both of you only know a limited amount of runes, just do your best and it''ll be fine, even if you don''t place very well."


    The two of them nodded once more and a few moments later the hosts left to greet some other guests that had just arrived.


    And so Villin and Ruby were left on their own to think about their current situation.

 Chapter 104: A Familiar Man

    "So now we wait," Villin said as he turned to Ruby. Even though coming early was a great thing, they didn''t know how conversations usually went in this sort of event, they needed something to base themselves off of.


    Ruby nodded, apparently she was thinking the same thing. After a moment though, she turned toward Villin.


    "How about we discuss our own rune mastery. I noticed we both used very different techniques when enchanting our robes. There might be some things we can learn from each other."


    As soon as Ruby said her bit Villin nodded. He had been thinking the exact same thing earlier, "What about we begin by showing each other some of our work, this might help in seeing the usefulness of each technique."


    Since Villin''s words also made sense, both of them took out an item of their own. Villin had a series of items in his backpack including his puppet, he decided to take out a disk he had made.


    The disk utilized a combination of enchantments and magic arrays to store magic power in the best capacity possible. In actuality, Villin made this to store a ''web'' to use in the dark art he had gotten, but one wouldn''t think of that when they saw it, they would just think it is an item used to store magic power in a great capacity, the runes were extremely close together as well. It was one of the works that he planned out completely beforehand, it was a classic example of what his technique could do.


    Ruby didn''t have an interspacial bag, and so, she only had items the size of this disk and smaller with her. Seeing what he took out she took out an orb of around ten centimeters in diameter.


    Soon after they both began explaining their works. The orb Ruby showed was capable of recording anything around it when injected with magic power. When one of the runes were shifted the orb would become a projector, showing everything it has recorded thus far, this too could then be navigated using some of the other runes.


    Overall, Villin''s work was like a sword technique that would fluently move around the opponent''s defense before slashing the enemy accurately in the side. Ruby, on the other hand, powered her way through the enchantment finding the shortest possible path to get what she wanted, her enchanting was like using a hammer and just smash down destroying all defenses.


    A regular civilian might say Villin''s technique was better because of this but Villin himself disagreed. Even though the overall enchantments on Ruby''s work looked more sloppy overall compared to the one from Villin, it had a number of advantages. For one, it was a lot quicker to enchant things using this technique, instead of rethinking everything when something failed you would just change small things to find a somewhat stable route.


    Secondly, you might achieve completely unexpected effects when doing this, let''s say you were trying to find a way to make a phone by using enchantments. If Villin noticed something was slightly off he would remake it entirely until he got to a phone. Ruby, instead would try to correct the path, this might allow her to make a radio or walkie-talkie instead.


    Yet still, it also had its negatives. Using this technique you would never be able to make something as precise as the puppet for one. There was also the risk of the enchantments failing after using it a certain number of times.


    They both knew the positives and negatives of their techniques and readily took in what the other person was saying. They weren''t divulging anything they saw as ''secrets'' yet they gained a whole bunch.


    About twenty minutes after they began discussing, people slowly began arriving at the conference but the two of them were too busy to notice, they had both taken out notepads at this point and they were sitting at one of the tables.


    It was only when a middle-aged man with a silver robe full of beautifully formed enchantments approached them that they noticed a number of runemasters had already arrived "How good to see the young talent exchanging viewpoints like this, it is a pleasure to meet you two."


    The two of them took a few seconds to escape their previous exchange but they smiled as they looked over to the man to give him a handshake. But when Villin looked up to his right, his face froze.


    He recognized the man standing next to them, he had seen him before. In his second dream, he still remembered seeing a ginormous magic array consisting of tens of thousands of runes and a crystal ball at the center.


    After a bit, when the array activated, someone entered. A bald man with a beard that reached the floor and a curly mustache, it was the very same man that talked to them right now, only that he was wearing a silver runemaster''s robe instead of the black one in the dream.


    The man apparently didn''t notice Villin''s shock as Ruby had been the first to introduce herself. Meanwhile, Villin was thinking back to the documents on all of the expected guests. He had just skimmed over the majority of them, figuring his photographic memory would help him think of their names when they approached him, but because he did this, he didn''t realize he had seen the person with these odd looks.


    Thinking back to the paper on the man he was Granolf Mafoli. The brother of the headmaster of the Mafoli school. He had been a runemaster for thirty years and had invented a number of magic arrays that helped in finding hidden or lost objects.


    Once Ruby finished her introduction, Villin finally managed to compose himself, his smile turned more natural again "My name is Villin Grey, it is a pleasure to meet you."


    Granolf turned toward him with a smile that caused Villin to begin sweating profusely "Oh but dear boy, we have already met. Haven''t we?"

 Chapter 105: High School Elders

    "Oh but dear boy, we have already met. Haven''t we?"


    Villin wanted to reply but was completely incapable of doing so. His entire body had frozen up as terror overwhelmed him. When he looked into Granolf''s eyes he didn''t see the eyes of a human. No, it felt as if he was looking into an endless abyss capable of engulfing him at any time.


    "You''re lucky this place is considered the territory of the white tower kid." the man said slowly as he continued staring Villin in the eyes.


    Once Granolf turned around Villin slumped down, if he were standing earlier he would''ve surely fallen down but luckily he was sitting. He felt mentally drained as well as terrified of the man who just walked away from him.


    Ruby looked confused, she could see the sweat on Villin''s face and the terrified expression he had a few seconds ago. "What happened?" even though she heard the words that were spoken they didn''t seem enough to get Villin in this kind of state.


    Villin waited a full minute before responding, at which point he had also used a spell to get rid of the sweat "I think he wanted to kill me." he managed to say after this time.


    "Bloodthirst?" Ruby asked as she looked at Granolf who was now talking to another runemaster a dozen meters away.


    Villin hesitated for a moment before nodding "I think so."


    It didn''t need to be said that Villin was no longer in the mood to exchange pointers with Ruby.


    Seeing his situation Ruby looked at him for a few seconds before reaching into her bag and taking out a translucent pill. "A hundred crystals and you can have it." she said bluntly, throwing the small pill toward Villin.


    Villin barely managed to catch the pill before looking at her with a confused expression.


    "It''s a mind-gathering pill. Helps you recover some mental energy. You''ll be worse off tomorrow but I''d say today is more important." Ruby quickly explained.


    Villin nodded before throwing the pill into his mouth, a hundred crystals were nothing compared to what could be gained here.


    Once he took the pill, Villin felt himself getting into a meditative state. Ten minutes later he awakened, he felt refreshed and the exhaustion and fear from earlier were mostly gone.


    At this point, about twenty runemasters had already arrived, and the rest was set to arrive within the next twenty minutes. Ruby had moved from her seat and was exchanging pleasantries with two other runemasters not far away from him.


    Villin got out of his seat and scoured the room for Granolf. He didn''t seem to be anywhere in sight so he should be in one of the side-rooms such as the one they had entered through.


    After properly focusing himself, Villin began looking around the room and thinking back to the documents he had read, figuring out the identities of the guests close to him.


    Five minutes later Villin was once more approached by an elderly man, this man, however, looked quite different. The man had a monocle and long grey hair. What was the most eye-catching though was the man''s robe. Unlike most of the people here, he wasn''t wearing a silver robe filled with enchantments, instead, his robe was a shining green. When the man approached Villin, Villin felt his mind clear up further because of the effect of the green robe the man was wearing.


    "You must be the white tower''s newest find. It is quite impressive for someone of your age to have such shining achievements." the man said in a kindred tone.


    "Achievements gained solely by talent do not qualify as achievements at all. I have yet to prove myself elder Tian." Villin responded gracefully.


    It wasn''t hard to recall the name of this man as it was one of the people Villin paid special attention to the previous day. He was known as Elder Tian, one of the heads of the green tower, he was a man of great importance.


    Hearing Villin''s surprisingly insightful comment, elder Tian nodded approvingly, there were few willing to downplay the importance of talent. "In that case, I shall wait for true accomplishments to form before praising you again." the man paused for a moment before speaking on "Though perhaps, would you have a demonstration for this old man to see your talent first-hand?"


    Villin was surprised by the man''s request but didn''t mind in the slightest "I would be honored to show you my newest combat puppet but I''m afraid I''ll have to wait to showcase it in the competition later." Villin smiled politely at the man, "I do have a few other smaller objects but I''m afraid they are all quite the normal contraptions."


    As Villin said so he took out a couple of small objects, this included the disk he showed Ruby earlier and a number of different small objects.


    Elder Tian smiled awkwardly, "I''m afraid I don''t know much about runologie young man. Even though I look forward to seeing your puppet''s strength in the competition."


    After another minute or so the elder took his leave to go talk to some other people. Villin couldn''t help but feel it was a shame he didn''t have anything to show the man but didn''t linger on it, it was about time for him to begin introducing himself.


    And so he went around, introducing himself to a number of other runemasters. A surprising number of runemasters asked something similar compared to elder Tian but unlike the elder, these runemasters were able to properly understand the objects Villin took out.


    Villin was rather happy with the situation overall, he showed off some of the objects he had made, and the runemasters he talked to generally gave him a pointer or two on how to improve his work.


    But other than this, Villin had accidentally hyped up his combat puppet quite a bit. It was normal that this would happen, it was always the first thing he mentioned when someone asked him about his capabilities and yet he kept them in suspense. Other than this Villin and Ruby were a big conversation topic anyway, after all, they were the two youngest runemasters alive.


    After spending about an hour walking about and talking to a number of runemasters, Villin found out how exactly this gathering worked. This gathering wasn''t exactly for the trading of information, these people would do that all year through. Instead, there was a massive amount of gossip in this gathering.


    It really was quite weird, seeing a bunch of men and women with grey hair gossiping as if they were kids in high-school, but well, Villin couldn''t blame them. Gossiping was fun and apparently being a runemaster was a rather lonely job, working at projects for months on end, and then when you finally see someone it would just be to talk about this very same job again.


    The people here were, of course, extremely passionate about runology but very few runemasters were actually talking about techniques or inventions, it was mostly about the outside world or the private life of certain runemasters.


    Villin actually found the atmosphere quite pleasant, he had almost forgotten that Granolf was there as well. The only thing he found a bit of a shame was the age of the people here, almost everyone was over sixty.


    Nonetheless, time passed quickly and it was just about time for the dates and special guests to arrive.

 Chapter 106: A Runemaster’s Weakness

    Villin just finished having a casual conversation with yet another elder when the dates arrived, a certain red-haired beauty seemed to be approaching him.


    Yet when he looked at her he felt stunned. Kayley was approaching him in a red dress that fit nicely around her waist. Her red hair was curled causing her to look quite different compared to usual. She still wasn''t wearing makeup but looked stunning in her current state.


    Villin approached her with a smile and when he noticed the action of the runemasters around him that were welcoming their own dates he mimicked them, inviting Kayley to a dance.


    At this point, most of the tables consisting of food had already sunk into the floor and classical music began to play from all around them.


    Villin got more-and-more nervous. It had been years since he had danced, he was completely unprepared for this.


    When he put his hands around Kayley''s waist he slowed his breathing and focused himself, he could do this!


    And so he took his first step, and then his second, and then he stumbled nearly falling to the ground.


    ''Well fuck.''


    The following hour could be called disastrous. It wasn''t just Villin, no, almost half of the runemasters stumbled around the dancefloor trying to follow their partners.


    Villin was afraid Kayley would be offended in some way because of this but when he looked at her he saw she was trying to hold in her laughter only barely succeeding.


    After half an hour some of the tables reappeared giving Villin a place to sit with his date.


    And so Villin sat there, his head in his hands, having lost his pride.


    "Don''t feel too bad." Kayley said "The other runemasters must''ve done this dozens of times and most of them don''t even know how to dance." she noted.


    Villin let out a deep breath before sitting up properly, he scanned the dancefloor real quick to see if he could spot either professor Crumb or Ruby.


    He noted beforehand that half of the runemasters were dancing together, this seemed to be the reason there weren''t as many dates as there were runemasters.


    It didn''t take long for him to find Ruby and her date.


    It had to be said that even now that you could go ahead and sit by the side, there were still plenty of bad dancers in the room. But none of them could compare to Hawk. When Hawk stumbled he didn''t just fall by himself, he took everyone around him with him. Just by looking for a minute, Villin saw Hawk was responsible for at least five different people to fall.


    Villin could see that Ruby''s cheeks were bright-red, she seemed to be a little embarrassed by the whole situation.


    It was hard to imagine how someone could be this bad at dancing, after a bit Villin and Kayley weren''t the only ones looking and discussing the duo. A number of other runemasters by the side were also discussing what could''ve caused a dancer this bad to be born.


    Another ten minutes later, the duo also left the dancefloor, they were surprised by applause. "My goodness what a performance that was young man, never have I seen anything quite like that."


    A number of runemasters ''complimented'' Hawk in such a way causing his face to turn red. Villin couldn''t help but laugh when he saw the welcome the duo had gotten.


    A few minutes later the dancefloor was once more filled with tables and chairs and people were chatting and introducing each other''s dates. It was at this point that another group of individuals entered. They were the talented youths that were invited to the competition on this day. Seeing their arrival, Ruby and Hawk joined Villin and Kayley to assess the ''enemies''.


    There were about twenty youths that entered with varying ages. This affirmed that they were really looking at ''talent'', they didn''t look for the strongest youths under twenty years of age.


    The group guessed that about six of the youths would be around their age. Two of these wore grey robes, meaning they were students of runemasters.


    There were another seven that were somewhere around sixteen and the rest was around the age of twenty.


    As they were assessing their enemies Kalob Lannister approached the youths and gestured for Villin and Ruby to come over.


    They did and the attention of the runemasters was quickly on them.


    "Alright so, as you should know, this competition will have two sections. Firstly there will be a competition on runology. You will be given a goal you will have to complete using runes. This goal will differ according to your age. The older you are the tougher your goal will be. Whoever accomplishes their goal to the fullest extent will be properly rewarded.


    "After this will be the combat competition. In this competition, you may only use items you have made. There are a few exceptions, if you do not have a self-made wand, for example, you will be given a basic one by us. This competition will start with the youngest contestants, and we will make our way up as more matches are finished. Once more, the winner will be properly rewarded." Kalob announced.


    Villin thought about the situation for a bit. Obviously, he wouldn''t have a chance in the combat competition, he could only do his best. As for the competition on runologie, he thought he would have a great shot at winning that one. His competition would probably be Ruby and the two youths nearing twenty that had red robes on.


    Once everyone was clear on the rules, the middle of the room was once more made available. A ring rose out of the ground, there were twenty-two dots spread out across the rings, each of them had a name written in the center.


    It was quite clear what everyone was supposed to do and so each of the youths entered and found their spot. Villin noticed himself and Ruby were placed in the center of the ring.


    "Now, let us begin the competition!"

 Chapter 107: The Competition

    Once Kalob announced this, he pointed his wand toward the platform and cast a spell. As soon as he did, runes all over the house and platform began glowing. Villin could feel incomparably thick magic power all around him, radiating everything with its power.


    Then everything began to change. The walls folded themselves up leaving runes to float in the air, behind it, the snowy mountains could be clearly seen.


    Then the platform began to grow bigger and bigger, until each contestant had more than ten square meters for themselves. Once this happened the folded-up walls were transfigured into the design of the floor and the floor first began to expand and then rise. All of the runemasters seemed to know exactly where to stand as they were brought up multiple meters into the air.


    In less than thirty seconds the entire area had changed. The building had disappeared and instead, they were now in what looked like an open-air boxing arena. The runemasters, their dates, and the special guests were now all standing multiple meters higher than the platform, allowing them to see everything clearly.


    After a bit more of the runes stopped emitting light and were once more hidden. The only exception was a string of runes around the platform. These runes flew through the air and circled around each of the contestants. After floating around for a bit they found their place just a few centimeters away from the contestants'' clothing, moving as they did.


    "What the-" Villin looked at the runes in awe, he could feel they were forming some sort of magical barrier around him, probably to avoid injuries.


    The entire situation seemed insane, just a wave of the man''s wand and everything around them changed like that, obviously, the runes were the main perpetrators but it was still incredible, for an entire house to be enchanted like that without any problems and the enchantments to be capable of transfigurating the entire house and then protect certain targets as they were moving.


    Villin barely managed to restrain himself from examining the runes floating alongside him as he focused himself on his task.


    Looking at the situation around him he noticed Kalob''s mouth was moving and yet he couldn''t hear a thing. It seemed that sound was cut off, Villin also guessed this meant the competition had started.


    It was only now that he realized a couple of items had appeared around his section of the platform.


    There were a total of twenty-one items spread across his ten square meters. There were two layers, ten items were on eye-level, ten others had appeared two meters higher. The only exception was a note which was now floating just before his eyes. It seemed like all of the items appeared out of thin air.


    Still somewhat confused, Villin grabbed the paper note that was floating in front of him, as soon as he touched it, it lost its magic properties and so he opened it to read it.


    ------------------------


    ''Dear contestant.


    Around you, you will notice thirty items suspended in their location. Each of the items is protected by a ward. As a contestant, you have two goals.


    Your first goal is to breach as many of the wards as possible.


    Your second goal is to enhance the items you get from the wards.


    Your third goal is to sabotage your opposition.


    You may not use any of your own equipment, this includes your wand and enchanting pen.


    No combative spells may be cast at any time, be it offensive or defensive.


    You may not enter another contestant''s area.


    You have one hour.


    Good Luck.''


    --------------------------


    "What the fuck?"


    Villin looked immensely confused when he read the note for multiple reasons. It was completely different from how he expected it to be, he thought he would just have to enchant a certain piece of equipment as well as possible within a certain time.


    At least, that was what he was led to believe. Now it seemed like that was completely wrong.


    Seeing his task, he had one major problem with it.


    He didn''t know a thing about wards.


    Villin scratched his head trying to find some deeply-hidden knowledge he might have about wards but didn''t find a thing. After sighing deeply once Villin decided to have a look at the items around him first.


    The items on head level all seemed to be things that could be used to aid him. He saw a wand, an enchanting pen, chalks for a magic array, some measuring tools, a mystery backpack, and a couple of other objects Villin didn''t recognize.


    After thinking for a bit Villin moved toward the wand. The reason for picking this first were two of his spells. Firstly there was ''Vococito''. Even though it could be used offensively or defensively in its nature it is simply a utility spell used to bring objects toward the caster, and, of course, using his derivatory format he could also repulse things. He hoped that maybe it would help get other items out.


    The second spell he wanted was ''Mentallage''. With this spell, he may be able to contact Kayley who was outside of the arena, even though she wouldn''t be able to reply, some basic signs could be given to respond to his questions. Since Kayley was able to hear the runemasters discuss she might have crucial information.


    Villin was pretty sure this wouldn''t be considered cheating, after all, runemasters were known to be resourceful, it was in their nature. Since there wasn''t a rule against contacting the outside, he might as well try.


    And so, Villin approached the wand. He looked at it from multiple angles but couldn''t see the ward and so he extended his hand to try and grab it. As expected, the ward appeared as soon as Villin touched it, the ward consisted of a few dozen large runes floating all around the wand, as soon as Villin touched it, his arm was thrown back, he was forced to take a step back as well, it seemed that the wards were repulsive in nature.


    Villin approached it once more but ten seconds later the runes disappeared from sight again. Villin was stuck in thought for a bit.


    No matter what, changing the runes would take time, and a bunch of it at that. He wasn''t familiar with wards and adjusting its runes would at least take ten minutes. This would mean he would only be able to get six items, each of them from the lowest circle, even though Villin didn''t know what the norm here was, it seemed very low for a runemaster.


    He thought of potential other options and after thinking for a bit he found a potential one.


    "If this doesn''t work this is gonna hurt."

 Chapter 108: It Hurt

    Villin calmed his breathing as he stepped back a few meters, staring at the wand in front of him.


    "Here goes nothing."


    As he said that, Villin''s resolve was fully formed. But a moment later he sprinted forward at his top speed, surprising all of the spectating runemasters with his action.


    Villin''s plan was simple. Punch the ward as hard as he could trying to break it. Perhaps his superhuman strength would be enough to break it since it only had a few dozen runes.


    This was his gamble, and just as he was half a meter away from the wand, he punched forward with all his might, not hesitating at all.


    As soon as Villin''s fist hit the ward it flashed with a bright light as it was being assaulted, but Villin''s punch was too heavy. It began to penetrate the ward.


    But as it did wounds began to form. The ward had turned unstable due to Villin''s interference and the magic energy was going wild, attacking the area around the breach, or well, Villin''s arm.


    When Villin grasped the wand his arm was covered with blood as long cuts could be seen all over it, but a moment later Villin jumped backward dislodging his arm.


    The runemasters looking at him from afar were all stunned. The ward wasn''t supposed to be quite strong, after all the objective wasn''t meant to be punched through it was meant to be altered. Even though Villin was in the youngest age group and thus had the weakest types of wards, it was still extremely surprising to see this happen.


    Villin fell onto his butt once he dislodged his arm from the ward after which he grasped the wand with his other harm, after that he began to cast ''Healium Paulatim''. After just a minute his arm looked as good as new again. But this wasn''t something that surprised the runemasters, no, instead what surprised them was how he reacted to the pain caused by the numerous cuts.


    Villin acted calmly and methodically, he barely even grimaced.


    But well, the runemasters didn''t have time to wonder what all had happened in the last minute as at this point the boy stood up again and charged at the ward containing the enchanting pen.


    "This- How did he-" Kalob was absolutely stunned. Each of the wards utilized different runes that had to be altered in various ways. It was supposed to truly test the knowledge these people had over runes, and then they had to decide which ones to take. Between the items that were most useful to them and the wards that were easiest to breach.


    After taking the enchantment pen Villin went for the chalks. Once he got those he went for the mystery backpack.


    The black backpack actually had a number of objects inside. It had a teacup, a few pieces of paper, a plate, an action figure, an e- AN ACTION FIGURE!


    Villin immediately knew what he wanted to do. He had been thinking of how to show his skill, and he had been thinking of how to get decent points at the third mission which was to sabotage the opposition.


    Since he couldn''t move out of his area and he couldn''t use combat spells, it was obvious the runemasters hoped you would make something that would help.


    He had everything he needed but still, Villin was a little apprehensive. He would need at least thirty-five minutes to make a working puppet even if it was only twenty centimeters tall and it wouldn''t have any sort of offensive power.


    Unsure of what to do Villin looked at Kayley and tried to cast mentallage. It was a failure, it seemed that the barrier blocking sound also blocked mental connections.


    Villin looked around before making a decision.


    He didn''t have a flying spell so the ten objects above him would be very hard to get, the objects were even shrouded in mist so it was impossible to determine what he would get.


    That meant there were ten objects left, after all the letter mentioned there were thirty objects around him. After thinking for a bit Villin determined they must be underground. He did have the spell ''Syrtim Celer'' which would allow him to move underground, but since it was quicksand he would be stuck and he didn''t have any ways to get up again.


    Villin couldn''t help but find that the competition wasn''t exactly fair. Even if they made the wards harder for the older contestants at least they would be able to reach all of them. Villin didn''t have that chance at all.


    After sighing once Villin made a decision. Over the following seven minutes seven more wards were destroyed by Villin''s fists. At this point, all of the wards on eye-level were destroyed.


    It wasn''t because he could use the items they released but instead because the first goal was to breach as many wards as possible.


    Once he did this, Villin had a look at the other contestants. Next to him was Ruby, she had an enchanting pen in her hand and was trying to adjust the warding runes with said pen. Villin couldn''t see what she was doing too clearly but since she already got the enchanting pen she shouldn''t be doing too bad.


    As for the others, the most someone got were two wards at this point. This was gotten by the two red robes that seemed to be close to twenty years old. Their wards were vastly more complicated but the two of them were also very skilled at wards.


    About a dozen minutes had passed at this point so Villin was content. Who cared if he ''cheated'', he was simply being resourceful, now he could go ahead and properly try to complete the second and third task.


    Without delaying for too long, Villin went ahead and sat on the platform with the action figure in one of his hands and the enchanting pen in his other. And so he began to enchant his object.


    It was only after another dozen minutes that the second person began to enchant, it was one of the red-robed youths that neared twenty. He opened four wards thus far, two of eye level and two from above.


    Another thirty minutes passed before Villin finally laid down his enchanting pen, he only had six minutes left until the end of the competition.


    In the time he was enchanting he was bothered once by other competitors. A few dozen minutes ago a piece of metal flew over to him but before it could do whatever it was designed to do Villin jumped up and punched it causing it to fall on the floor and one of the vital runes on the metal to break.


    Since then, nobody bothered him.


    But now, as Villin looked at his creation he only thought ''Now it''s my turn.''

 Chapter 109: Sabotaging Others

    When making a puppet, the most important part was adding multiple forms of attack, defensive and versatile movement. With only an hour of time, Villin didn''t have the time to do any of this.


    The small action figure was designed to do only two simple things. Run and turn. Other than this it had no other capabilities.


    Now, one might wonder what help it would be to sabotage others if it couldn''t even grab or attack. The answer was simple. It was meant to be a diversion. Villin guessed that nobody here has seen a puppet like this before, because of this they would likely put a lot of their attention on it if it approached.


    Thus far, only a few of the contestants had really tried to sabotage others, enchanting took time, spending time to make something that would probably be destroyed anyway wasn''t worth it. Even if they got some points in the third mission thanks to it, they would be forfeiting the second one, the one most deemed as the most important.


    The few that did try to sabotage others, all did the same thing. They used some enchantments to allow a certain object to fly, then they would attack another contestant with it. The problem was that the objects weren''t all that sharp and controlling them was extremely difficult, nobody would be able to accurately control it from a distance.


    Now Villin was of another mindset. He put the action figure on the ground and used a couple of strings of his magic power to control it. Obviously, he used the technique he had gotten from professor Crumb to make the link more durable.


    Once he had control of the magic puppet he took out his wand and pointed it at the object before beginning a fake chant. After chanting for a few seconds the puppet began moving forward.


    Now, Villin had to decide on a target. He had four neighbors. These were Ruby, one of the purple robes, someone of his own age wearing a grey robe, and someone that seemed to be around sixteen years old.


    After thinking for a moment, Villin decided to go for the person he saw as the weakest, the person of his own age who was an apprentice of a runemaster. His puppet turned toward the edge of his area, at this point, the student had noticed the action figure that was moving toward his area and thought of what to do, putting down his enchanting pen and taking out the wand he had gotten earlier.


    The student looked at the puppet and Villin vigilantly as he moved closer to the edge of his own area at which point the puppet was barely a meter away from him.


    Suddenly, the puppet sprinted to the side. The student thought it was trying to go around him so he jumped to the side, he didn''t realize he was getting further and further away from his stuff.


    At this point the student was still extremely careful, he didn''t know what the puppet could do, he decided that as soon as it would come through into his own area, he would kick it as hard as he could, it was only a simple action figure, even if it was enchanted to be heavier he still shouldn''t have too many problems kicking it into the air.


    In reality, this plan probably would''ve worked, the problem was that Villin never intended to have his puppet cross the border. As his puppet continued to turn and sprint in one direction for a meter or so, seemingly trying to duke the student so that it could pass and cause whatever damage it wanted to, Villin''s wand was no longer pointing toward the puppet.


    Instead, his wand was pointed at the bowl the student had been enchanting. As for the student himself, he was too busy keeping up with the action figure''s movements to pay attention to Villin.


    Normally he could''ve since, well, the action figure wasn''t exactly the fastest, it was just that he was quite afraid the puppet would be able to sneak by if he didn''t pay attention. As for Villin himself, earlier he saw that he needed to control the puppet with his wand, there was no need to fear him.


    For the student, the situation remained like this for two full minutes, at this point the student felt stumped. How the hell did Villin still have magical energy to keep controlling this thing, it was as he thought this that he quickly glanced at Villin.


    A second later he looked again, Villin wasn''t pointing his wand at the puppet, he was aiming at the pile of stu-


    He looked at the center of his area where he previously had a number of items, these were an enchanting pen, and a backpack with a number of items. One of these items was the one he had been working on, a bowl. He had been enchanting the bowl trying to make it capable of surviving a decent offensive spell.


    But when he looked at the center of his area, almost nothing remained. The bowl and enchanting pen were both gone as well as the backpack and most of the things inside of it, the only exceptions were a few of the items that had fallen out of the backpack.


    Meanwhile, Villin was sweating, he noticed ''vococito'' worked a lot less well than it should. As soon as it got out of his own ''area'' it weakened by nearly eighty percent, this made it a lot harder to get the items to him. Luckily the student only noticed his intrusion after two whole minutes had passed, at this point he had lost almost everything.


    When the student looked at where his items used to be he felt empty, he had only just been accepted as a disciple by a runemaster and he already messed up in such a way.


    When he looked at the stands he noticed a certain man staring at him with a livid expression, it seemed he wouldn''t be a disciple for much longer.


    Even though Villin didn''t know any of this and didn''t care about the boy, he still didn''t want to take all of the points away. He intended to spend the final few minutes weakening the enchantment on the bowl before giving it back to the boy, that should give him plenty of sabotaging rounds.


    It was only when Villin turned around from his target to look for his own items that he realized he fucked up.

 Chapter 110: Close Match

    For the last couple of minutes, Villin had been entirely focused on sabotaging his neighbor, he didn''t quite expect someone to target him while he was doing this.


    When he turned around Villin saw a few foreign objects atop of his own small pile of stuff.


    Right atop of the backpack that way laying in the middle of his area was a red stone, and just as Villin turned around, he could feel the magic within the object fluctuating.


    He immediately knew what was going on, but it was too late to do anything against it. A moment later the red stone flashed brightly before exploding.


    BOOOOOM!!


    The explosion caused a small crater with a diameter of two meters to appear, since Villin was four meters off, he didn''t really get harmed, but he could still feel hot wind assaulting him from the front, as for the stuff he stole from his neighbor, it was laying next to his feet, and so it was safe.


    He couldn''t help but curse at himself, his whole plan was to take the stuff from a distracted competitor yet he didn''t even keep an eye on his own stuff. When he thought about it, he felt foolish.


    After a moment, he looked around for the perpetrator and was surprised to see Ruby looking back at him. She was sitting in the center of her own area and had one red stone in her hand, the same one his stuff was blown up with.


    Villin closed his eyes for a moment as he composed himself, it made sense that Ruby could make these kinds of objects in this competition. Her entire style was about making things quickly, even though there was a chance the stone would''ve malfunctioned, it was relatively low.


    There was nobody Villin could blame but himself, and well, he honestly didn''t think it mattered too much. The missions didn''t entail keeping the items he released, as long as he had his puppets he didn''t mind, and he had his neighbor''s stuff anyway even if it wasn''t so plentiful.


    Villin continued on with his plan. For the last few minutes, he weakened the enchantments on the bowl he had stonen before putting it back into the guy''s area.


    Yet even despite this, the person looked at him with a livid expression. If Villin knew this was the thanks he was going to get, he would''ve just destroyed the object.


    Nonetheless, the given time was up and a moment later a loud voice could be heard from the spectators'' area. It was Kalo Lannister that was speaking.


    "This marks the end of the first round. Everyone please stop drawing runes or you will be disqualified!" as he said this the few people that were still adding some last-minute runes immediately dropped their equipment.


    "As everyone knows, each of the competitors was given three missions. This first mission was to breach as many of the wards we set up as possible. Depending on the contestant''s age the wards would be more complex." the man paused for a moment as he cast a spell silently, waving his wand "For this mission breaching one ward will give you one point."


    After a moment it became clear what the spell that was cast did as small dots of light moved over each of the contestants'' heads.


    They each formed numbers, over Villin''s head was a ten. The least that someone had was a two and the second place went to one of the purple robes who had a six above his head. Because Villin managed to cheese it he got a huge lead due to these points.


    When he looked toward the spectating runemasters his happiness quickly went away though. Even though a few runemasters looked at him approvingly about half of the spectating runemasters were sneering.


    Just an hour prior Villin had talked with several of these runemasters and they seemed kind at that point in time. Was it so bad to take the quickest path to victory even if it didn''t involve runemastery? When Villin deliberated on forcing his way through he thought he would be praised for it as one of the main skills a runemaster needed to have was being able to look outside of the box, it seems that he had missed something. Or perhaps something else had happened during the competition.


    Villin noticed he was getting more and more nervous and calmed himself, if they had been offended in some way he was sure he would be able to mend the relationship somewhat by clarifying his intentions. At least, this is what he used to calm himself.


    "The second mission was to enhance an item you got from the wards." as Kalob said this the enhanced items from each of the contestants floated toward him. Kalob and another runemaster Villin didn''t recognize looked at them for a while before he continued with the scoring.


    "The items will be graded for usefulness, not the difficulty of creation. The maximum number of points for this round is ten. Once more, age will be taken into account. We will assume the contestants only know the runes within the ''runology'' schoolbook from Magnicus that corresponds to their year."


    Hearing what they were looking for, Villin''s hopes instantly sunk, his puppet really wasn''t all that useful overall, he expected difficulty to be taken into account, but then again, this system wasn''t unfair in any way either.


    The number above Villin''s head turned into a fifteen, a fair number if you took everything into account. When he looked to the left he was surprised to see Ruby''s score. She now had a large thirteen above her head, she had gotten nine points for this round. Her points now equaled the ones of the two purple robes in the competition and were only a few points away from Villin.


    "The third mission was to sabotage your opposition. For disrupting another contestant or destroying their regular gear you can get up to three points per contestant. If you manage to destroy a contestant''s main project this can raise up to five. The maximum amount of points in this round is fifteen."


    Villin was nervous as he thought about all of this. As he nervously looked at the number above his head he saw it turn into a nineteen and he let out a long sigh, he was probably safe with this score.


    Still, he couldn''t relax fully yet, he wasn''t sure what others were doing while he was making the puppet, he only paid attention to things within his own area after all.


    Then, Villin looked behind him to see the scores of Ruby and the two purple robes and his eyes widened with surprise.


    The purple robes had seventeen and eighteen, but as for Ruby, she had nineteen just like him. She had caught up to him despite his early four-point lead.


    When he saw the scores even Kalob looked surprised for a moment "Eh, well, this might be a bit of a problem, we only prepared one prize. Please give me a moment." After saying this he took a few steps back as he began talking to his wife.


    As for Ruby, she noticed Villin''s stunned expression and couldn''t help but smile somewhat cockily. Even if she usually wouldn''t do such a thing, she got rather infuriated when she noticed that Villin had finished with ten wards while she was still on her second one. Even though she didn''t see how he did it, it made her think that he was actually better than her by an insane amount, able to dismantle a ward just by looking at it.


    Yet now she caught up to him even when having way less time to actually enchant than him, obviously, she felt proud of herself.

 Chapter 111: Fighting Competition

    Once the Lannisters deliberated for a few minutes, Kalob finally spoke up again.


    "Since the two people in first-place are only one year apart, the winner of this round will be decided in the fighting competition. According to the brackets that were already decided upon they will meet in the second round. If one or both of them fail to move on to the second round they will have a match after the fighting competition is over." Kalob said all of this fluently as he explained the arrangement.


    The arrangement favored Ruby slightly since she was older than Villin but it was still pretty fair overall.


    At this point, Villin didn''t look so good. He was a realist and he knew how skilled he was. He believed he should be comparable to someone in the third grade even though he had only really been practicing magic for less than half a year.


    As for Ruby, she had been in The Academy for a year longer than him. Her comprehension was also clearly extraordinary. After thinking for a bit Villin came to a conclusion.


    In a one-versus-one fight, he would not be her match. Luckily, he wasn''t planning to face her on his own. He still had his puppet in his backpack, this one wasn''t just better enchanted compared to the one he made in the mortal world. The real change was in the material.


    Back in the mortal world, he was forced to enchant a wooden doll. In The Academy, this wasn''t the case. In the marketplace they would be able to enter every week, a few blacksmiths did exist.


    He bought Arenak ore from one of the blacksmiths. Arenak was a translucent material that was an extremely good conductor of magic. Even though it couldn''t be used in wand-making, the material was still extraordinarily expensive. Its only weakness was its frailty, physical attacks would easily break it, even a regular punch would be enough to make cracks appear.


    Luckily, Villin was a runemaster and he managed to enhance the strength of the material somewhat, making the weakness less fatal.


    After getting the material he found one of the sixth-grade transfiguration students. In The Academy, it was a supremely uncommon class but it still wasn''t all that hard to find someone. They transfigurated the material to take a humanoid shape about a hundred-and-twenty centimeters tall.


    This all cost him nearly five-thousand magic crystals but Villin thought that it was worth it. Even if the puppet was destroyed he could still use the material, as long as he didn''t use the self-destruction function at least.


    The Arenak puppet would be a lot stronger than the first version even if it was made with the exact same enchantments, this was the effect a material could have on an enchanted object.


    And so, the result of the fight would be uncertain, if he used the puppet properly he might win depending on how strong Ruby is.


    While these thoughts were going through his mind, Kalob explained the rules of the fighting competition. It was rather simple.


    The competition would start with the youngest age-group these were the people between fourteen and sixteen years old. They would have a small tournament, the winner would be put together in the next tournament for those between seventeen and eighteen, the winner of this would go on to fight in the competition for those between nineteen and twenty.


    After a moment the first fights were released, the first round would have eight people competing in the youngest age-group.


    Villin''s first opponent would be the very same boy he had sabotaged just a minute ago. The boy wore a grey robe, showing he was the student of a runemaster.


    If Villin were to win he would go to the second round where, if she also won, he would meet Ruby.


    After a moment everyone except for Villin and the boy whose name was Leonardo had left the stage, they would be the opening match.


    Once more the runes all over the platform shifted, now a large ward was formed all around the stage, even though Villin couldn''t see the runes he assumed they formed a defensive ward


    The stage was obviously rather big as earlier each of the twenty-two youths had their own ten square meters.


    The stage was a massive circle that was three-hundred meters in diameter, this was plenty of space to fight from a distance.


    Villin calmed his breathing as he thought of his advantages. In this fight, he would rather not reveal his puppet yet, this way Ruby wouldn''t be able to come up with a countermeasure just yet.


    The person across from him was of the same age as him, but there was one major difference. Firstly, Leonardo didn''t go to The Academy, this meant he had actually lived for fourteen years, he had probably been thought runology since he was six or seven years old even if he couldn''t practice it properly.


    Still, this wasn''t a runology competition. Villin wasn''t sure what items the boy would''ve prepared but he was confident he would be able to deal with it using his spells.


    In reality, he felt quite excited. He hadn''t really used most of his newer spells in any genuine fights, he had only really used them in spars against Kayley and Amelia.


    He thought of the spells that would probably be useful in this match. Reverto was obviously a no brainer, keeping the wandless cast activated was a must.


    The second most useful spell would be ''Voccocito'' or well, the derivative version. If Leonardo tried to throw anything at him he could simply use the derivative spell to knock it back.


    In this place, he put both ''Vinea Tenura'' and ''Syrtim Celer''. When practicing against Amelia and Kayley if he managed to get both of these spells out he would almost always win. First, he would use ''Vinea Tenura'' to tie the opponent up, then ''Syrtim Celer'' would turn the ground into quicksand, causing the vines and the entangled person to be dragged underground.


    It was a very scary combination, you would be done for if you couldn''t escape the vines in time.


    The final two spells he put a lot of focus on were ''Void Arrow'' which was an anti-magical spell that could bypass most defenses sacrificing power and ''Bombardo'' which was an explosion.


    Of Course, there were other spells that would be useful such as ''Drowse'' and ''Icy Pike'' but Villin didn''t expect to win using them.


    Then there was also a certain derivative version of ''Mentallage'' but Villin counted it as a trump card to use against Ruby. He figured she already knew about most of his other spells since he was forced to practice against Amelia and Kayley in the training grounds, but this was the one spell he had only used twice on another person.


    Villin looked at his opponent, eager now. Now that he recounted each of his spells he suddenly felt a lot more confident in himself, he felt winning shouldn''t be a problem.


    "Alright, everyone make sure you are not within the bounds of the arena!" Kalob said as he looked at the other competitors who had just gotten off. "Then now, let us begin!"


    As soon as he said that Villin began casting a spell. But before he even got it out he was blinded. This wasn''t because of Leonardo, it was because of the ward around the platform, Villin felt himself get sick as he fell to the ground disoriented, when he opened his eyes he was facing green grass. Looking up he saw trees and behind him was an ocean.


    "What the actual fuck."

 Chapter 112: The Islands

    Kayley felt a bit nervous when she saw Villin and his opponent disappear but knew the reason. At some point in the first competition when there wasn''t much going on Kalob explained what would be happening in the second round.


    Kaley was surprised to see the other runemasters were also curious, it seemed they hadn''t known beforehand.


    The contestants would be brought to what was called ''The Lesser Islands''. Every two students would be brought to another one of the islands. The one irregularity was the initial distance the students would be from each other, the exact location couldn''t be controlled so each of the contestants would be sent to a random point on their respective islands.


    The islands were quite big, it would take about three hours to jog from one end of the island to the other. They were also extremely close together though. Generally, there was only about a kilometer between each of these islands.


    Kalob estimated the round would take one week and put a limit of two weeks. The runemasters seemed as surprised as she was when they heard of the arrangement but nobody complained. The only person that commented was an elder mage who had to visit a funeral in four days, he would then come back on the fifth day.


    The first two were Villin and some boy named Leonardo who would be facing one another. Once they were in position the runes surrounding the stage flashed and the duo disappeared.


    The other contestants standing around the stage were all blinded, once they managed to open their eyes properly again Villin and Leonardo were gone and Kalob asked for the following two to go onto the stage, Ruby and a girl whose name was Charlotte.


    Once all of the eight contestants in the youngest age-group had entered, the runes had dimmed considerably. With another spell, the entire area shifted again, turning back into a house. Then everyone except the contestants in the older age groups was given a special pair of glasses, the older contestants were also isolated and brought to another room.


    "Runemaster Granolf has made a few great advancements lately in his mastery, these glasses are proof of that! They are capable of receiving both sight and sound from magic eyes from truly great distances, we must thank him for his assistance in preparing this year''s challenges."


    Granolf Mafoli was full of smiles as he accepted praise from some of his peers.


    When Kayley put on the glasses she immediately felt a certain degree of control. She could mentally choose between a huge number of ''magic eyes''. After a while she found a magic eye that showed Villin in the distance, he had just started walking along the shore, trying to get a bearing of his surroundings.


    "The Magic eyes are set up in locations we believe will have interesting events or fighting locations. This includes the shorelines, clearings, and a number of other easily reachable locations."


    As Kalob explained Kayley went through the magic eyes on the island Villin was on, there were indeed a very large amount of them. She guessed about a third of the island was surveilled.


    ---------------


    Villin vigilantly began making his way alongside the shore, he had already guessed what was going on.


    Looking at the curvature of the shore Villin guessed the island would have an oval shape of considerable size. The best way to find his opponent would probably involve his puppet but Villin was still very hesitant since he was assuming the other contestants had some way to watch.


    The island as a whole seemed very typical. The shore was about ten meters long at most points at what point a forest appeared, one that Villin assumed sprawled over the entire island.


    The only other thing he saw was a small mountain in the middle of the island.


    The second inaccurate assumption Villin made was that his opponent was on the complete opposite end of the island. This would mean that if he kept following the beach, he would find his tracks at the very least.


    But after thinking for a while, Villin decided not to. He wanted to keep as much of his abilities a secret, the best way to do that was to set a trap.


    Magus were notoriously bad at setting traps Villin found. In all the books he read all he found were various ambushes where the target gets surprised by the amount of magus.


    As for other traps, as long as you didn''t try to enter powerful magus'' houses you would be fine.


    Villin didn''t intend to follow this principle. He figured he could close up to the mountain and set a proper trap, using not just a magic array but also the environment. Causing a number of rocks to fall shouldn''t be too hard.


    And so, with this in mind, Villin began heading into the woods.


    It wasn''t long before Villin felt troubled, the woods were extremely thick at most points, almost as if nature was forcing him to take certain paths.


    Villin cursed as he thought of a way to go against this. He didn''t want to meet his opponent before he set things up and going along the places that probably used to be paths was a good way to find him prematurely.


    At first, he used Icy Pike and Voccocito to try and get through the various vines and dense shrubbery but after dealing with it for a while Villin found a better way. When it came to vines, Vinea Tenura was a good spell to use. Even though he couldn''t control existing vines he used his own to push them aside making a path. When it came to low shrubbery he used ''Syrtim Celer'' to cause them to drift underground, then a few seconds later he would have a cleared path to walk on.


    Of course, he was still extremely slow as he had to control the vines and wait for the quicksand to take away the shrubbery but it was faster and less tiresome than before.


    Another problem was that it wasn''t very stealthy. Even though he was very quiet, if his opponent followed the beach to find him, it would be very easy to follow him.


    Still, Villin found it the best option, he drew a few magic arrays behind him as well that would alert him when someone passed through.


    And so, he slowly but steadily made his way toward the mountain.

 Chapter 113: In Pursuit

    "Raventi"


    Once Ruby said the incantation a blue streak shot out of her wand aimed at what seemed to be a random point in the sky above her.


    It was but a moment later a small explosion happened where she had shot the spell as some sort of metal ball fell out of the sky.


    Ruby knew the explosion wasn''t caused by her spell, she had fired off a simple magic missile, nothing that would usually cause such an effect, the explosion came from the metal orb.


    And so Ruby walked up and examined the orb that had fallen out of the sky. Yet just like the previous three times, she found nothing.


    It seemed that the enchantments on the object would self-destruct as long as it got interfered with. It was quite annoying to Ruby.


    It had been ten minutes since she had been teleported to this unfamiliar place. She appeared in what seemed to be a forest, she still had no idea she was on an island.


    There was one thing she did know though, she was being watched. As soon as she got teleported onto the island she could feel a gaze upon her, she managed to lock down on the position of the spectator and shot the first metal orb down.


    Since then she had found a total of three others, shooting down all of them. Even though she didn''t have much to hide, she felt extremely uncomfortable when she felt a gaze upon her, it would limit her other senses.


    At this point, Ruby was feeling annoyed more than anything else. No matter what she should still be in some sort of arena, and well, she was making a lot of sound.


    Even though the magic missile was mostly silent, the runes'' self-destruction wasn''t. If she kept going around causing explosions everywhere, she would probably be surprise attacked and even though she could generally tell when she was being watched, it took about a dozen seconds to be able to pin down a proper position.


    She wasn''t so stupid that she would underestimate her opponent, there were all great talents, if she wasn''t careful she might lose before even being able to face Villin.


    And so, she came up with a plan.


    The magic balls seemed to be placed in various crossroads within the forest. Perhaps if she went into the thicker parts of the wilderness the orbs wouldn''t bother her. This way she would be able to move much freer, she wasn''t sure what the time-limit was on the duel but if it was more than a day she was confident she could get a definitive advantage.


    And so, she looked at the thick forest to her left. There was a clear difference between where she had been going and the surrounding area.


    The ''paths'' still very much looked like parts of a forest. There were plants in the way and sometimes a tree in the middle, but you could pass by all of it with a bit of effort, compared to the patch on her left it was nothing.


    The forest to her left was filled with knee-high plants and vines that almost seemed as if they were purposefully holding you back.


    Without magic, going there wouldn''t be much of an option, but well, Ruby had a way to get by, even being capable of doing so without harming the foliage.


    She looked at the part she wanted to pass and aimed her wand in between some of the vines blocking the way "Greatsor Magicolia"


    A few seconds after she finished her incantation, she promptly disappeared.


    -------------


    Two hours had passed since the duels started and Villin felt completely exhausted. He was sitting on the dirt breathing heavily. Even though he cleared the areas too tough to traverse with his magic, traveling was still exhausting.


    The ground was uneven making it so that he had to pay attention every step. And, of course, he couldn''t clear the entire way, sometimes he simply had to wade through some bushes, spending even more effort compared to usual.


    This combines with half a dozen snake attacks he had to defend himself against made the traveling a true pain in the ass.


    So he decided to rest shortly after creating another magic array that would alert him when someone passed by it.


    ---------


    Kayley was feeling more and more nervous. Villin hadn''t shown up in the vision of any of the magic eyes for a long while. It was like this ever since he forced his way through some of the foliage.


    Once this happened, a number of the runemasters began discussing the situation. Apparently, some of these runemasters were closely involved with the competition. One runemaster that went by the name ''Lachlan'' was the one in charge of that island. He was sent there and decreased the amount of foliage in certain paths making the ''paths'' and artificial clearings in parts of the island.


    He had also cleared any dangerous animals close to these paths. The problem was that the further away you would stray, the more ''wild'' nature would be. Apparently, the island had bears inhabiting it.


    Unlike some of the other runemasters, Kayley wasn''t very worried about bears. She was confident Villin would be able to deal with bears, three at a time would be manageable she figured.


    Ever since the advanced competition, everyone in their group had become a lot stronger. Any of them would be able to deal with a bear no problem, even Rein. And Villin, he was the strongest of the group even if Amelia and Kayley weren''t that far off.


    As for why she was worried, she wasn''t sure. According to the runemaster, bears were the only large predators on the island, this should probably comfort her.


    The problem was that he was heading closer and closer to the mountain coming from the south side. Even though there was a path toward the mountain, it came from the north, and it was one of the areas a fight was expected. The area to the south was mostly unexplored, after all, what runemaster would waste their time exploring one of the hundreds of thousands of tiny islands around the central continent. They were all about the same, small islands with a balanced ecosystem, at most, you would find a tiny undeveloped civilization which would grant you minor benefits.


    Soon after, the conversation shifted to Ruby, apparently, she destroyed the magic eyes that were looking at her, this might be a problem for the next round. And then, she stopped appearing on any of the magic eyes that were set up. Seeing what Villin did people also assumed she went into the wilderness. As for the runemaster who took care of that island, he felt a bit awkward as the situation was quite similar to Villin''s.


    But while the runemasters were discussing, someone stumbled onto Villin''s path.


    Leonardo hadn''t actually been teleported that far away from Villin, when he arrived he was in the forest just a hundred-or-so meters a way from the beach. At the time he didn''t quite realize he was less than half-a-mile from Villin.


    As soon as he arrived he opened his backpack taking out a few devices he had made in preparation for this challenge. His teacher, Lachlan actually knew of the contents of the second round since he was involved with it.


    Even though he wasn''t quite allowed to say the contents of the challenge, he did give certain suggestions to the boy in the last couple of months, stating new objects he should try making to ''get new insights''.


    As such he was somewhat prepared for the situation. There were three things he valued the most closely. The first was a pile of blue dust. These were the ashes from ''ghast rats'', he had changed their properties using the art of spell constructs. If he took some of the ashes and rubbed it on himself, he would be extremely hard to detect.


    The second item he had was an enchanted ''Beholder'' eye. The eye itself was very precious but his teacher had gifted him one, he had put a simple enchantment on it enhancing its properties slightly, this allowed him to use it in the competition.


    And lastly, he had a ''Cup of springs'' this was the item he was most proud of creating. His teacher had given him a lot of guidance that allowed him to make the object.


    The cup of springs was capable of producing massive amounts of water. If he used it just to drink it could be used for a year before breaking. Now his was imperfect but it should still work for a month at least.


    And so, with the help of the beholder''s eye, he found the beginning of Villin''s path. It was rather obvious, the grass was gone in the area and so were the bushes, the only thing that remained were some vines he would have to get through.


    Once he found this he rubbed some of the ghast rats'' ashes on himself before slowly making his way through the vines blocking his path.

 Chapter 114: Foood

    At this time, in a cave close to the mountain a terrible voice was speaking. If Villin were here he would have to cover his ears. The voice was terrifying, it was as if a thousand wails were combined, their terrified screams organized in such a way that words could barely be made out.


    "Two more magus came! I saws them, we kill and eat!" one voice sounded out in its terrifying manner.


    "No, no, NO! Think! Think of the maaagus earlier! They are too shtroooong. If we go, then we die!" the second creature responded in an equally terrifying tone.


    "No, NO! These ones is different I tells you! WEAK! This one, this one. He is slow, so slow. He only got a bit away with his magics, couldn''t even get to the nest without resting. We can kills this one!"


    A series of growls and rawrs came from the second creature as it thought "I am hungry." another series of growls followed "We go, but we stay careful! If more come, we run!"


    The wails of hundreds of creatures soon came out of both of their mouths, no longer forming sentences, instead it simply sounded like the voices of the damned, wailing in eternal agony.


    ------------


    Villin was once more moving through the woods slowly, using his spells to make a path where needed. He still had no idea the opponent he was planning to set a trap for wasn''t all that far behind him.


    In this last little while, his speed had increased by a decent amount though. He had a better grasp of how to properly control his own vines to clear the way. He also stopped using his quicksand to have the bushes go down entirely, always keeping a few inches above ground he had to walk over. It made it a little harder to traverse physically but made a substantial difference in the time and magic power required.


    Leonardo had been moving through the path Villin created for a while now. Thus far he hadn''t had any real problems moving forward. He did spot a trap or two but all of them were set to activate when a magus stepped onto it. It was activated by magic instead of weight, as most magic traps were. But well, since he had rubbed ghast rat''s ashes on himself his magic signature was hidden. He was no different than a mortal to traps using the ''modescus'' rune.


    And so he had been moving, mainly focusing on remaining silent. Even when vines blocked his path he stopped using magic, instead he decided to climb over them or move around it, he didn''t want to risk exposing himself now that he had such a good opportunity.


    Soon, he was but a hundred meters away from Villin. Even though the boy still wasn''t in his line of sight, he could faintly feel magic power being attracted to a certain direction.


    Knowing that Villin was moving slowly, Leonardo moved slower as well, if he messed up now, he might lose his teacher and with it, the opportunity to become a runemaster, he did not want such a thing to happen.


    After just a bit, he could finally see his target. Leonardo was crouched behind some of the bushes that weren''t cleared, fifty meters in front of him was a boy of similar age to himself, he was moving his wand about causing vines, thirty centimeters wide, to sprout out of the ground.


    The vines turned and twisted, entangling both natural vines and some of the large twigs that were in the way. Then the magical vines pulled to both sides, pulling its ''prey'' with it.


    Leonardo got a little excited as he pointed his wand toward Villin and slowly got up. He began to slowly cast a spell silently.


    The spell wasn''t particularly powerful, but Leonardo never focused on casting them silently, so it took longer to cast compared to usual.


    He aimed at Villin''s right breast, if he shot him there, he shouldn''t die but be incapacitated nonetheless, it should be sufficient.


    Villin was still oblivious, moving aside the vines in the way when something happened that caused them both to stop their actions.


    A loud scream came from the forest in front of Villin. Villin''s heart stopped for a moment, he recognized that voice it was Amelia.


    Leonardo heard the scream as well. It disrupted his concentration causing him to fail in his spellcasting, but to him, the scream was male in nature. "JACOB!"


    Hearing someone behind him Villin quickly turned around, but neither one of the boys looked at each other in rage or with vigilance, they both had the same expression on their faces, worry.


    Without any more hesitation, Villin jumped forward, forcing his way deeper into the forest. He was afraid, afraid Amelia would get hurt or even die. The previous method he used to keep going was too slow. At the very least the scream came from two-hundred to four-hundred meters away, by the time he got there, who knows what would''ve happened.


    And so Villin moved, he got entangled multiple times, using ''icy pike'' or ''vococito'' to get out whenever he did. Still, cuts began appearing all over himself as branches and thorns cut into him as he forced himself through.


    He could hear wood shattering to his right and he knew that would be Leonardo also forcing his way through.


    The two of them moved forward without caring about their magic power. Destroying anything they saw that would halt their advance and ignoring the wounds caused by the nature around them.


    Generally, Villin would rest when he had half of his magic power remaining but that was no longer the case now, if he stopped moving he would regret it.


    After a bit of time had passed another scream sounded through the forest "AMELIA!"


    Villin yelled out as he corrected his course. It was closer now, a lot closer, he was almost there.


    The forest had long since grown dark due to how dense the leaves were and so, when Villin saw light somewhere in front of him he rushed straight towards it.


    Leaves rustled and branches broke when Villin jumped out of the forest into the light.


    He found himself in a massive clearing with nothing but short grass. He looked around for a sign of Amelia but saw nothing.


    But a moment later a second person rushed into the clearing a few dozen meters to his right.


    At this point, Leonardo and Villin looked very similar. They were both breathing heavily and had blood pouring down their faces. Their shoes were completely ruined and their shirts were torn. Dozens of small branches were entangled in their hair and their arms were pierced in a multitude of places.


    They both looked confused and exhausted yet alert at the same time.


    The clearing was five-hundred meters long at the longest, there was no way the scream was from further away. They both listened, trying to get a grasp of the situation, but this attention would be nothing but harmful.


    "OoOOoh would you look at that! The fishes bit they did!"


    The voice of the creature came from all around them and in but a moment they had both fallen to the ground, clutching their heads. The agony present within the voice influenced them both causing them to scream in agony.


    "HmMmm you were right! Oh so weak...AND TASTY"


    The duo barely managed to hold onto their sanity as they felt as if their minds were being ripped apart by the voices. Villin wanted to move his arm to grab the wand he had dropped but was unable to find the courage, the fear he felt was unlike anything he had felt before. Much, much worse compared to Granolf''s bloodlust.


    "NoW wE EaT!!!"

 Chapter 115: A Squirming Boy

    "OoOooh, loOk at this one! It tries to fight!"


    One of the creatures exclaimed as it came out of the forest, walking toward Villin.


    It was then that Villin could see the creature. It was only one meter tall with grey skin. Its belly reached all the way up, connecting to its chin. The eyes were blood-red and only small patches of brown hair were on its skull.


    Its legs were short and deformed while veins could be seen all over its disgusting body. As for clothing, there was nothing but some dirty rags, perhaps years ago these were proper clothes but now they barely covered a thing.


    The creature approached him with its hunched back and looked Villin in the eye. Seeing the creature from this close, Villin found forming thoughts to be even more difficult. He could do nothing but stare as the creature bend over and grabbed the wand he had dropped, throwing it aside.


    "He looks even better up close! TIME TO EAT!" the male creature said as he hunched forward even further until its face was but a few centimeters from Villin''s.


    "PATIENT! They need spices! We have prepared for this long, so looong, so we do it well!" Another one of these creatures came from the woods, a female one this time.


    In response, the male let out a series of wails again causing the two humans closeby to begin screaming again in full force as they felt their sanity take a hit.


    It was in this way that they fainted, only to wake up in a situation that was even worse.


    ----------


    "So what now? We no longer have vision on them how do we discern when a winner has been decided?"


    "Well, I know for a fact Leonardo wouldn''t kill unnecessarily and Theodore assured us Villin was probably the same, we should wait until they get back in sight."


    "Oh please, how would they know how to even get back in sight. Hell, they might think they are supposed to kill the other one when they don''t get sent back! We need to get someone on that island to supervise!"


    "Oh really? Then who would you send? Is there anyone here who is truly impartial? And don''t say Kalob, you know fully well he has to stay here."


    Kayley got more and more nervous as she heard two runemasters'' argument. She wasn''t sure what was going on but ever since professor Crumb made what seemed like an off-hand comment in the first round in the competition the runemasters seemed to have split into two sides. Those who previously seemed to get along so well suddenly distanced themselves from each other and now they were in a heated discussion.


    One group wanted to go and send someone to the island to supervise, make sure they would know when a winner came out on top.


    The other group, which included both professor Crumb and Granolf seemed to be against this. They reasoned that fights like this cannot be interfered with. If someone dies then that is simply how it is, there was no need to avoid what would happen, whatever that was.


    Kayley was confused at this standpoint but didn''t really know enough to discuss the matter.


    As for the other duels, the only one that came up was Ruby''s competition, but unlike Villin and Leonardo Ruby''s opponent was still in sight, this gave them clear sight on any potential fights.


    After discussing for a couple of hours the two sides had finally come to a compromise, one that neither seemed to be fully satisfied with but accepted nonetheless.


    A few of the runemasters here had magic eyes with them, the runemasters capable of doing so would enhance their range and speed, then the magic eyes would be sent to the island. Thanks to the high-tier enchantments the magic eyes would be capable of arriving in an hour.


    ------------


    At this time in a cave on the aforementioned island:


    Villin finally came to with a searing headache. Before even opening his eyes he noticed multiple things. The weight from his backpack was gone and his shoulders and feet were hurting like hell. He could feel pieces of sharp rock pierced straight through them. He barely managed to stop himself from screaming out loud as the pain finally caught up to him.


    Other than this problem that was pretty severe, Villin felt dizzy, he seemed to be hanging upside down.


    Once he opened his eyes, the situation quickly became clear. He was hanging on an upside-down cross in the middle of a large cave. Nails made out of stone pierced his hands and feet keeping him in place. Additionally roped bound his arms, legs, and neck making sure he couldn''t escape.


    Just a few meters in front of him a large campfire was burning. He could feel the heat of the black fire licking his face, he was a lot too close for comfort.


    Just to the right of him was Leonardo, he was similarly hung up, the only difference being that he was still knocked out.


    Villin shook his head a few times trying to clear his mind as he tried to properly recall what happened earlier "Argh!"


    As soon as he thought of the ''voices'' of the two creatures he got a searing headache again and he couldn''t help but exclaim.


    Immediately after his exclamation footsteps came from outside of the cave "oH! They woke up!"


    "HahahaHA, yes they did!"


    Hearing the voices again Villin only barely managed to stay quiet, trying to force his thoughts into line. Unluckily, Leonardo wasn''t so lucky. The voices had woken him up with a scream and he instantly began squirming causing the wounds in his feet and shoulders to become larger.


    "oH? This one tries to escape!"


    Villin looked through squinted eyes. He saw the male creature walk up to the screaming boy and use the large wooden club in his hand to silence him.


    As soon as the creature hit Leonardo with the club, he became silent. Whether he was alive or not was unknown but a dent could clearly be seen on his forehead.


    Villin''s breathing unwillingly quickened, he was going to die here.

 Chapter 116: The Cauldron

    Without a doubt, this was the scariest moment in Villin''s life.


    Hanging upside down, he felt helpless. The black fire burning just a few meters away from him caused him to feel parched and just barely lit the room up enough for him to see.


    He wanted to do something, anything, but didn''t know what. His gauntlet was pierced by a nail, using a saved spell would be impossible. As for his backpack, he spotted it in the corner of the room, five meters away from him, there was no way he could reach it.


    Once the two creatures left again, Villin tried moving from his constraints, he was confident he would be able to get through the nails with his strength but the rope was a different matter altogether.


    That being said, the upside-down cross he was hanging on seemed to be somewhat rotten, and breaking part of it seemed like an option, the problem was that the sound it would generate was too much, he had no way to resist his captors once they came.


    As he thought of the possibilities Villin began calming down, ignoring Leonardo that was hanging just a few meters away from him, possibly dead.


    Villin could feel himself grow more distant but saw it as a good thing, it allowed him to think. He thought back to just a few minutes ago when the grey-skinned creatures talked, thinking if there was something he could do against it.


    Thinking back to the sensation he managed to identify its purpose. The voices of these creatures were like knives attacking the mind. It passed by the memories striking at the layer where emotions were kept. Luckily it seemed that it was incapable of penetrating as far as the web.


    Villin controlled his magic power, he recalled the technique he had learned where he would connect his puppet, not to the magic power in his body but the ones in his mind.


    He tried to recapture this feeling in a greater amount. He once more used the nodes he didn''t commonly use and stripped them of their current magic power. But instead of using it to resupply his own magic power, he didn???t bring it that far. Instead, it only moved to the second layer of his mind where his emotions were kept. Then, a shield began to form. A layer of magic power shielded the second layer of his mind. It was an extremely simple shield, as rudimentary as could be, but it was something.


    Magic power flowed through his body and mind as a small change was beginning to take place, Villin began feeling more in control of his thoughts and emotions as the shield thickened.


    Yet the shield couldn''t be made as big as he wished for. It was simply too difficult to control.


    And so he tried solidifying it, making it at home, perhaps if he succeeded he wouldn''t have to control it.


    Sadly, he didn''t get to do this as his captors returned.


    "WhiCh OnE do we Eat first?" the male creature asked its counterpart.


    "The dead one! They are best eaten fresh!" she responded.


    Villin once more got a massive headache when they spoke, but this time that was all that it was. He didn''t feel like fainting and yelling wasn''t something he felt like doing either. The only problem was that he momentarily lost control of the mental shield, this caused a part of the gathered magic power to seep into his body, leaving its intended position.


    Luckily, the two captors didn''t continue to speak.


    Coming from the back of the cave they had taken a massive black iron cauldron with them and so they placed it atop of the black flames.


    After the cauldron was placed the female creature pointed at the cauldron "Achtigro!"


    Other than causing another headache for Villin, one other thing happened. Red liquid began rising inside of the cauldron as she continued pointing at it. Once the cauldron was half-filled she stopped.


    These creatures knew magic!


    The male creature walked over to Leonardo, who had part of his head bashed in and it caressed the side of his head. A moment later, it became clear the boy was still alive,


    He raised his head slightly and mumbled incomprehensibly as his eyes continued to lose focus.


    "Good! He''s still alive!" the creature exclaimed happily.


    Then with a flick of its wrist, the ropes on Leonardo''s hands and legs were torn, a second flick, and Leonardo was torn off of the nails that were holding him. Blood seeping down from his hands and legs.


    Just like this, the boy floated behind the creature toward the cauldron.


    When they arrived Leonardo floated down into the pot, still mumbling incomprehensibly.


    It was at this point Villin could hear some sort of hiss that seemed to be coming from the earth itself, and but a moment later, the red liquid inside of the cauldron began to boil. Leonardo who didn''t even flinch when he was ripped off of the nails that held him began screaming as loud as he could and the two creatures on either side of the cauldron began laughing.


    Within just a few moments Leonardo looked as if he had aged a dozen years. And he continued doing so, within just a few seconds, Leonardo had grey hair that started falling out. A few seconds later his skin began to melt off of his face, revealing his deformed skull. His whole face melted off until there was nothing but a skeleton left, and then the skeleton too began sinking into the cauldron.


    "Let us eat!" the male creature said before jumping into the cauldron himself, soon followed by his companion.


    Both of them lowered themselves completely into the boiling red liquid but neither seemed to get hurt. After about a dozen seconds they came out and the changes were incredible.


    The two creatures had strayed away even more from their human form. Their ears seemed to have disappeared instead turning into a long streak of black skin on both sides of their head. Their skin as a whole darkened though, it was still grey but no longer so far from black.


    "Good, GOOD! This one might be enough!" the female creature said as she pointed at Villin who still feigned his fainted status. Yet through his squinted eyes, he could clearly see the eyes of the creature, it was only now that he realized the eyes of the creatures had grown by a large amount and so had its pupils. It was certainly changing into something different entirely.

 Chapter 117: The Cave System

    Ruby looked nervously at the situation before her before swallowing.


    It had been a good while since she began moving into the dense forest and she had moved a decent bit. Currently, she had been looking for a cave, it would be easiest to use her tracking and surveillance enchantments in an enclosed space and so she had been looking.


    And now, she finally found what she had been looking for.


    After moving through the forest for a while using her teleportation spell she found something peculiar. She found a crack in the ground leading downward. She began moving through it and after a while, it began to widen, as expected it was an entrance to a cave system.


    After a while, there was no natural lighting anymore and the air was somewhat stale but this wasn''t much of a problem. Light spells were amongst the easiest to cast and the air was still breathable overall.


    And so she started moving, she intended to move a bit further into the cave system, make sure she couldn''t be found.


    Even though she was already certain nobody would find her here naturally, there was still the possibility her opponent would have an item used for tracking. Additionally, it was possible the runemasters would interfere to make sure fights happened, perhaps put her opponent on the right path.


    Even with the competition making her wary, Ruby found the place gorgeous and exceptional for a good while even though there were no ores here that naturally emitted light, many sparkled beautifully when the light from her spells touched it. Shades of red, blue, and green were all around her, it was beautiful.


    At least, it was until she heard a certain sound. As soon as Ruby heard a noise she became wary and the glowing orb floating in front of her disappeared. At first, she thought it was just some sort of cave-dwelling animal, but as she moved more towards the sound this thought disappeared.


    She could hear a rhythmic bang in the distance, it was too clear and regular to come from nature. She got closer and closer, moving through the cave system, after a bit, she frowned. It sounded like a blacksmith working metal, but that should be completely impossible.


    Ruby swallowed once as she hesitated in her step. With her wand pointed forward and her strongest spell ready to cast she slowly but surely continued approaching. Rounding a corner she spotted light. She was looking at a cave similar to all those she passed earlier. She came from one ''hallway'' and at the end of the fifty-meter long cave was another ''hallway''.


    The problem was that this latter hallway wasn''t completely dark. It looked weird, as if the darkness just lessened. After a bit, she recalled an insert of a book she once read.


    ''What else could it be but the black fire of souls unwillingly sacrificed. Forced to forever serve those that wronged them, feeding the black flames that were used to kill them. For then to forever try to expel the darkness around them, yet only ever capable of causing darkness less blinding than those normally used.??


    Recalling the descriptions in said book that mentioned blood rituals and sacrifices Ruby could see the similarity. ''No, I''m hallucinating, it''s just some mineral emitting a dark light I''m sure!''


    Even though she tried to reassure herself she knew it wasn''t really working. Hell, at this point she could even sense the sadness of the burning souls she heard in the description. Yet despite this, she couldn''t stop.


    The sound had become clearer, there was no longer a doubt that the sound came from two metals being hit together.


    Ruby took a few moments to calm herself while approaching the light, pausing at the bend in the hallway. And then she peaked.


    She looked at what was behind the corner and was shocked. There stood a creature that was between a human and a monster.


    A two-meter tall ''human'' stood there with a hammer in its right hand, hitting a sword-blade that was atop of an anvil.


    The man looked strange, his skin too pale to be called normal and his lips non-existing.


    It was then that someone spoke to this man.


    "Hey Garry, when are you finishing? You''ve been hitting that damn thing for ages!"


    The voice seemed unnaturally cold, once more Ruby was unsure if it came from a human or not.


    At the same time, she could feel her Xiezhi bloodline shoot into action. The voice had caused her mind to become slightly strained, it was nothing serious but she was still happy to have her bloodline taking care of that.


    It was the other use of her bloodline that worried her. When she peeked at the man standing next to the anvil she felt shivers, she got a very bad feeling. This was only the second time ever she had felt this, the person standing there was evil, truly evil.


    Ruby knew how much people disliked the word due to the wars it has caused but there was no doubt in her mind. The man smelled of all that was bad.


    "Just about finished. I heard the two elders found more humans. When are we going to take them out? If we keep letting them be we''re gonna be dead meat."


    Just like before, the smith''s response caused a very faint pressure on Ruby''s mind.


    Ignoring this, Ruby''s gaze shifted to the black campfire in her vision. Just looking at it made her feel terrible, she could feel the unwilling souls of people that didn''t deserve this fate. Ruby clutched her wand tightly. She was almost always calm and collected but even she had a limit, how could she let something like this move.


    Getting back to the surface and in the sight of one of the magic eyes would take too long, after all, they just mentioned the fact that they had gotten more people. What if these were other competitors sneak-attacked by these people. They probably wouldn''t let them live for too long if they were to be used for sacrifices.


    Ruby was no fool and knew she wasn''t all that strong yet when compared to certain other individuals. But, there was something she did know of.


    If one magus manages to sneakily attack another magus without them noticing, the former would almost always win, even if the latter was many times stronger.


    She heard two people in the cave, neither of them noticed her even when she was so close, they clearly hadn''t set any magic arrays to alert them, this alone was enough to prove they had limited strength and numbers.


    She would have to do this.

 Chapter 118: Conspiracy

    Ruby felt nervous, extremely nervous.


    It had been ten minutes since she found the two odd-looking people at the black campfire, and she had moved herself two caves away before beginning to enchant the wall beside her.


    Five minutes ago the banging stopped, Gary the smith finished hitting the sword-blade.


    With focus, Ruby finished the series of magic arrays on the wall. She felt glad she was so fast at enchanting, ten minutes was already too long in her opinion.


    Injecting magic power into the magic arrays on the wall lines and dots began appearing on it. After a while, it stabilized and it became clear the magic arrays were a success.


    On the wall now was a map, the halls she had moved through were shown as were those she had passed by. On the right side of the map were two dots, one was moving while the other remained stationary. Those were living beings, in this case, the two people she saw earlier.


    There were also some dark circles in certain areas on that side of the map, the most notable should be the black campfire but there were a few other dark circles visible.


    Perhaps those were cursed objects, no matter what they contained the darkest of magic, the kind that could not be hidden, anyone who touched them would be able to sense the wickedness within.


    Despite this, the map made Ruby feel more at ease. She was most afraid of going in and killing the two of them only to find there were others around, ready to avenge their fallen brethren.


    Sadly it also meant that the ten minutes she spent here was wasted time.


    "Alright, let''s go."


    Ruby pumped herself up as she headed toward the black fire again. The map she had made on the wall earlier showed that both individuals would be to her left, her right would be clear. One of them was standing still and the other one seemed to be walking about doing something.


    She also knew the area was divided into four areas with thin walls in between each, it seemed these people had worked on the place a bit at least.


    Stepping into the hallway where the black light reached she took out her wand. Currently, she could only see a couple of things. On the right were an anvil and hammer atop of a metal table. Next to those was the black fire that seemed to be crying out to her.


    With her wand in her hand, she stepped closer and closer, stopping just before she stepped into the actual room that should have, just as she was about to make her move she heard the smith talk.


    "Alright then, let''s go take them out and take the people, if the two elders keep getting food we''ll fall behind too far. We make our move now and take their food, hell, we could even see if eating them is an option. I''m pretty sure they''d have quite a bit of energy!"


    His teammate responded with a laugh, the laugh didn''t sound normal at all and gave Ruby an odd feeling but she let it be as she paused in her step.


    "Here''s your weaponry, take it and let''s get moving!"


    Hearing the conversation, Ruby immediately took a few steps back. According to what she heard they were holding weapons now, this would make her surprise attack a lot less effective and so she backed up.


    Luckily, the duo didn''t exit using the path Ruby used to enter, instead, she heard their odd voices heading away from her.


    After a moment''s hesitation she stepped forward again, her ''map'' she made on the wall earlier only extended a little beyond the area the two were just in, if they kept moving away she had no idea what the area looked like, nor if there were others.


    Still, she moved forward, into the living area. When she walked into the room she was surprised. Overall, the room looked quite nice, the walls were relatively straight, clearly handled by the people living here and there was a decent bit of furniture made from wood and metal.


    The metal bits were clearly better constructed with straight lines while the wooden chairs and table were a bit unsteady, not standing all that straight.


    The worrisome part was the amount of furniture. She spotted Four beds on one side of the room. Looking into a shabby wooden closet there were also quite a few clothes even though most seemed to be torn up or tarnished with blood.


    After considering the situation she assumed the two other beds were those of the ''elders'' these two were planning to take out. Even so, she remained very careful.


    Noticing that at this point, she could barely hear the voices of the unsettling duo, Ruby moved after them, always making sure there was plenty of distance between them.


    It seemed that the living area of these people was really just the one cave they came from that was somewhat split into four small areas, any other room was completely unrefined.


    The only other alteration she saw in the environment was a faint green glow coming from the ground. She recognized it came from a dark-green crystal that seemed to be broken.


    Ruby recognized it to be Chryssaleseum. A magic material that was known for emitting a bright light. These people had clearly destroyed the crystal for some reason, as for why, she had a bit of an idea.


    Following the duo through the caves actually wasn''t all that easy, the reason being a distinct lack of light. She had to be extremely careful not to stumble over the uneven floor, carefully testing the areas she wanted to step on with her magical energy.


    She walked for a long, long time. Following the voices and footsteps of the two people in front of her. They had already been walking for ten kilometers when the situation finally changed.

 Chapter 119: A Fight Between The Strong

    After walking for approximately ten kilometers when something finally happened something that caused her to feel nervous, extremely nervous.


    The two voices she had been following turned into four, a minute later there were six, and just when she thought that was all, two more people joined them, yet their voices were different. The voices of these final two no longer sounded human at all, listening to them she got a headache even with her bloodline suppressing the voice that sounded as if it consisted of the screams of tortured souls.


    The first to speak was the smith''s companion.


    "Alright, so as we said we would, we got weapons for everyone. Swords, spears, and stray pieces of armor made from blue mythril. It''ll enhance our magic power quite a bit, should allow us to have a decent shot against the elders."


    One of the unknown voices replied.


    "And we made wands from cretarwood, enough for all of us. The elders might''ve banned the use of wands but that no longer matters now, let''s use them to take the bastards out!" Ruby could hear the excitement in the somewhat unsettling voice.


    Lastly one of the ''people'' with a voice completely unlike humans spoke "Hmmmm, yes! KILL! Today elders die! Kill them all!"


    After this, Ruby could hear the group prepare, some of them were audibly donning their pieces of armor while others tried using the wands.


    After five minutes had passed in this manner, the smith''s friend spoke once more "And now we fight!"


    Following this exclamation came a roar from the other seven people here as they pumped themselves up.


    ---------------------


    Villin cursed inwardly as he thought of a way to escape. He noticed the eyes of the creatures before him were somewhat large, the pupils especially. Perhaps he could use the first spell he ever learned once more, ''Illuminatus''.


    He thought of this as the creatures approached closer and closer, still believing he was unconscious. Yet just as he was connecting the nodes within his web, a sound attracted his attention.


    A roar seemed to be coming from someplace behind him, the female creature perked up and looked past him, into the cave hallway that existed there.


    Before Villin could react, the male creature had sprinted forward, all the way up to the upside-down cross Villin was hanging on.


    He ripped the entire cross out of the ground and put it, and Villin, to the side. Allowing them a full view of the place the sound came from.


    A second roar echoed through the cave as both of the creatures pointed at the hallway warily.


    "We KILL!?" the male creature seemed to ask.


    "YES KILL!" the response came.


    After some time, a few figures appeared at the end of the hallway but the two creatures still didn''t make a move.


    The two figures turned into four, then six, and finally eight. Six of the people that were arriving still seemed like exactly that, people. They had a mutation here or there, and somewhat different skin-tones and voices, but they could still be called human.


    The final two were different though, even though they weren''t quite as bad as the creatures that captured Villin and Leonardo, they could no longer be called human with their grey skin, lack of hair, arched back, and oddly proportioned faces. As for their voices, it was the same as the voices of these two ''elders'' that kidnapped Villin.


    "YOU!! YOU WANT TO REBELLL!" the female elder said pointing toward the eight that had come.


    This time, the two-meter tall smith replied "We just want the two people you got today, we get them, we go about our business."


    A loud hiss came from the male elder that did considerable damage to Villin''s mental wall. "YOU DARE?! YOU DIE!!"


    The creature seemed to be about to cast a spell when the female elder pulled on his arm "OUTSIDE! We don''t want the food to get squished!"


    This seemed to get his attention as he let out another hiss before turning around and going out of the cave they had come from.


    The eight people that had come to kill them silently followed, when they saw Villin in the corner they looked at him full of desire but they let him be for now as they continued following behind the two elders.


    After this room came the elders'' living room. They had no beds, tables, or chairs, only a few items they were in need of, and patches of dirt and grass to sleep on.


    This area was connected to a relatively dark clearing. The mountain on this island was an empty volcano. In the middle of it was a massive hole, reaching all the way down. Hence, even during the day, this area would only be brightly lit at midday for a few hours. Currently, the area was only lightly illuminated.


    The eight people that followed were mostly content with this arrangement, it would be a fair fight uninfluenced by the arena.


    That was until the sudden attack of the two elders.


    The eight ''challengers'' had only just entered the clearing when they were promptly attacked. Yet unlike what they expected they weren''t bombarded by spells.


    Instead, the two creatures jumped at them in their mostly naked state. Even though Villin couldn''t see what was happening outside, he was expecting some great fight to be happening, something that would destroy the entire area, yet he was completely and utterly wrong.


    What happened wasn''t a fight, it was a slaughter.


    The two elders gave in completely to their savage side, they jumped toward their enemies so quickly they didn''t even have time to raise their wands. They jumped onto their chests and ripped their necks out. In the entire duration, only three spells were sent out, all of which missed. The only ones who put up a fight were the other two inhuman creatures but even they got promptly demolished.


    Sadly, Ruby was of a similar thought as Villin, thinking a long and arduous battle would be taking place, and hence once she made sure nobody stayed behind, she quickly entered the cave looking for those that had been captured.


    When she saw Villin nailed onto a cross that was put aside she was visibly shaken, still she quickly went ahead and freed him, earning herself some thanks. When it came to the nails Villin simply used his strength to take them out, even though the wounds worsened somewhat he didn''t want to spend any more time here and put as much distance between himself and the surviving party of cannibals.


    "Villin, are you okay?" Ruby asked once he was freed.


    Villin nodded, he didn''t register his pain currently, and he was happy for it.


    "Get my and Leonardo''s stuff and let''s run, we have to get out of here!"


    Realizing the severeness of the situation Ruby looked around before grabbing the backpacks and wands that were laying in the side of the room.


    Villin nodded when he got his backpack again "Alright, we should have at least ten minutes, let''s ru-"


    Villin''s voice faltered mid-sentence as he looked at the exit the ten enemies had taken. There stood the two creatures that had captured them, they had red and black blood covering parts of their body, their faces especially, yet none of it was theirs.


    "H-how? It has only been two minutes!" Ruby exclaimed. She had heard the eight people practice earlier and even though she couldn''t see them, the frequency of attacks was high, a lot higher than her own, for them to be beaten so quickly¡­ it was hopeless.

 Chapter 120: Resistance

    "OoOooH another fishy has come to be eaten!" a voice consisting of the screams of the suffering said causing both Villin and Ruby to get a headache.


    "The boy doesn''t squirm? Our voices are WEAK?!" the male creature responded clearly enraged.


    The two creatures moved closer slowly yet Villin and Ruby didn''t move, they knew that turning their backs on them was the quickest way to get killed.


    "V-Villin?"


    "Yeah?"


    "You got a plan?"


    Ruby''s voice was shaky, yet even so she stood ready, her bravery was clear for all to see.


    As for Villin, his fearful expression had disappeared. He knew these things were powerful, and he knew he couldn''t beat them in a straight-on fight, but that didn''t matter to him right now.


    The pressure of this situation did more than just calm his mind, he smiled as he looked at the two approaching creatures, he could do this. "I do, just follow my lead."


    Villin''s voice was heard by Ruby but the two creatures could see the confidence he was emitting and the sliver of hope in Ruby''s eyes causing them to become confused and put up their guard a bit more.


    Once they were three meters from Villin and Ruby they paused as one, and the two sides stared at each other.


    Ruby had difficulty breathing and the two creatures seemed confused, one of them emitting weird screeching sounds as it tried to think.


    Yet even then, when they seemed distracted, Villin waited. The only thing he was doing currently was forming his magic power, repairing the mental shield that was constantly being attacked on one hand while sending a few strings of magic power into his backpack at the same time.


    He seemed confident with his wand in hand, confusing everyone in the room, but after waiting for a bit, the two creatures had had enough. The male creature stopped his screeching "KILL!"


    A moment later, as one, they pounced towards Ruby with an insane speed.


    Still, they weren''t fast enough as Villin casted the spell he had prepared ''Illuminatus''


    A bright light came out of his wand at once blinding even himself and Ruby. As for the two creatures they tried covering their eyes mid pounce with a terrible scream more destructive than the ones they had used before.


    Villin barely managed to sidestep the female creature that was still moving toward him but Ruby wasn''t so lucky. The male creature hit her in the chest causing them to tumble to the ground together. The male creature wasn''t ready to follow up with an attack though as blood flowed from his eyes, his hands unable to stop the damage.


    Villin kicked the creature off of Ruby allowing her to get up.


    "NOW MOVE!"


    As one the two of them began running in the direction the fight had happened as they heard that should be the way out, yet they were not yet out of the first cave when the female creature recovered.


    Villin ignored her though, just as the two of them arrived at the living room of the two creatures he had his second spell ready, a wandless Illuminatus this time, the second spell he ever cast. A bright light appeared in an area around Villin, illuminating it, once Villin got through he turned around and pointed at the area connecting the cooking and living room, he needed a second to finish his cast but luckily his earlier spells had gotten him that, the female creature had just taken the step and tried to pounce through the heavily illuminated area when vines sprouted out of the floor entangling her and making a wall the two creatures would have to get through.


    If it was just the vines the female creature wouldn''t have cared much, simply slashing her way through it, the problem was the area of light the vines trapped her in. Before the evolution they went through by taking care of Leonardo, light was already somewhat harmful, making them close to blind in illuminated areas. But with this final evolution, their eyes and pupils had grown, Villin had recognized the symptoms of a nocturnal creature and hence used light to harm them. At this point her eyes were terribly damaged, she was pretty much blind, hence she had no idea where exactly she had to slash to destroy the vines.


    After a loud roar she raised the arm she managed to free "Ractognal!"


    The light all around her instantly disappeared causing darkness to spread across the room once more, still, it was too late, the damage to her eyes had already been done.


    "Wincharte!" blades of wind appeared all around her slashing at the nearby area, destroying the vines in the progress.


    She was now blind and the last evolution made her deaf as well, all she had left was her sense of smell but it was enough.


    At this point the male creature had recovered somewhat as well, even though his eyes were harmed too, he still had the ability to see somewhat and so the two of them quickly chased after Ruby and Villin.


    As for those two, they had hit a dead end. They had gotten to the courtyard littered with the corpses of those that tried to kill their elders, but there was no other exit, the only way out was either to go up which was impossible for them who hadn''t learned flight, or to go back to where they came from and find another cave to go through, both of those were impossible tasks for them right now.


    Villin noticed Ruby seemed to be looking in the air with a pleading look but didn''t have time to waste thinking about that, the screams of the two creatures were too hard to deal with destroying the shield harder then he could build it, if he wanted to stop himself from falling to the ground in anguish again, he couldn''t cast any spells for a little bit at least.


    Even though they had now been forced to fight, the situation wasn''t as hopeless as it was before. They knew their weakness. Hence after Ruby finished her pleading look she used her own illumination spell causing ten bright orbs to illuminate the area properly.


    And well, with the two creatures blind, Villin had an option. Even if these creatures probably had a sense of smell, he had something that could bypass that. At the same time as the two elders came out of the cave, with just twenty meters of ground and corpses between them, Villin''s puppet came out of his backpack.


    In this scenario, it was a weapon of stealth. With the creatures blind and deaf, they would only be able to locate the object by touch, after all the puppet didn''t smell like anything but metal, even though Villin''s scent was on it faintly, it wasn''t large enough to be detected by a beast.

 Chapter 121: A Deadly Fight

    When the two elder creatures came out of the cave, they didn''t look all too good. Blood was constantly flowing out of their eyes and smoke rose from their skin.


    Even so, Villin and Ruby didn''t dare to underestimate them. Both of them could clearly see the corpses laying on the ground, most of which had their necks ripped out of their bodies.


    "KILL!" the male elder didn''t hesitate, as soon as he smelled the duo he rushed forward, right toward their location, with the insane speed he was moving at he would reach them in barely two seconds.


    Villin and Ruby both aimed their wands toward the creature, they had to do as much damage as possible before the creature''s partner made a move as well.


    Half a second before the creature would hit them two streaks came toward it.


    Villin, since he spent a lot of effort maintaining his mental shield, only sent out a magic arrow. It hit the creature in the chest but didn''t even manage to pierce through its skin.


    Ruby''s spell, on the other hand, was more effective.


    Her spell actually sent out two streaks, one white and one black. The black line headed for the sky above the creature while the white line hit it straight on. Before it had time to realize it had been hit by a spell the creature flew straight up into the air.


    The spell actually did nothing but change the direction of the creature''s momentum, since it was so fast it flew into the air, getting at least ten meters above the ground. For a human falling from such a height had the potential of being lethal.


    Yet this wasn''t the reason Ruby used the spell, she simply used it to give herself time to cast a more destructive spell when it landed, as for Villin, he now had time to make a move as well.


    Taking a pretty big gamble, Villin ceased repairing his mental shield and focused on casting one of his new spells.


    The wails of the male creature who was now just beginning its fall were destructive but he could hold on for a bit longer. Just before the creature fell onto the ground, the rocks shifted, turned fluid looking more like sand than anything else.


    When the creature fell atop of it, two things happened. Firstly the fall was dampened somewhat, doing less damage than it might''ve otherwise. This might be seen as a bad thing but in Villin''s opinion, the second effect more than made up for it.


    The speed the creature fell at caused him to immediately fall deep into the quicksand, before it was even capable of doing something it was already inside of the quicksand up to its waist.


    At the very same time, a red line came out of Ruby''s wand. It was aimed at the creature''s mouth yet just as it was about to hit the creature that was still unaware opened its mouth to yell out in anger since it was now in the middle of a bunch of quicksand.


    And so the red streak went straight into the creature''s mouth, just as it was about to yell out, the streak hit the larynx. Even though the creature''s anatomy was quite different compared to humans at this point, its larynx was still in the back of its throat and with its hunched figure and lack of a neck, it was right in the way of Ruby''s attack.


    She was as surprised as anyone when the creature suddenly went silent and spit out a handful of blood, its voice box completely demolished by her laceration spell.


    Villin, who was expecting another mental attack to hit him at this point, quickly adapted to the situation and cast a second spell. Vines sprouted out of the ground nearby the quicksand and began pulling the creature down further.


    Even though the creature was capable of destroying vines with relative ease, quicksand was different, his intelligence wasn''t as high as a human''s and he kept moving around, expecting to get out using sheer force, causing him to go deeper and deeper into the ground, all the way until only its ugly face was visible.


    It was only at this point Villin''s spell ''Syrtim Celer'' wore off and the ground turned into stone once more. Despite its crazy amounts of strength, the creature had no way of leaving such a sturdy prison in such a short period of time.


    The smile that had crept on Villin''s face suddenly froze as he looked around. Where was the second creature?


    Villin already found it weird it didn''t attack together with its companion and now it was nowhere to be seen.


    Ruby looked similarly stressed as they moved to stand back-to-back. Three seconds later Ruby spoke "Wait, where are those monsters'' corpses?"


    Villin looked confused for a moment before looking around. There were still corpses around them but only six, the two that looked the most similar to the creatures that had captured him had disappeared.


    He breathed in sharply as he recalled the words the female creature had said right after they had ''absorbed'' Leonardo or whatever that was.


    "This is bad!"


    As soon as he said so, Villin rushed back toward the entrance of the cave system, he wasn''t an idiot and knew these creatures tried to evolve in some way, their words after taking care of Leonardo made it clear they were about to succeed. Villin was sure they only managed to take care of the male creature using its overconfidence and their own luck, if they evolved further, who knew what would happen.


    Yet he hadn''t even reached the entrance to the cave when he heard a terrible roar causing not only him, but even Ruby who was protected by her bloodline to fall to the ground.


    The scream no longer sounded as it did before, now it sounded surprisingly normal, like it came from a bear, just louder, and extremely destructive.


    The roar lasted for five full seconds in which time Villin felt paralyzed. Yet even when it stopped he had difficulty moving his own body. Sweat kept oozing out of his pores and he had no control over his arms or legs.


    Ruby was only doing slightly better, she managed to aim her wand toward the cave entrance after using all the strength she had left in her body.


    All Villin could do was extend his magic power over to his puppet and move his head just enough to see what was coming out of the cave entrance.

 Chapter 122: A Creature Of Darkness

    If previously the elder looked like an abomination, then now it looked like a being from hell.


    Out of the darkness of the cave came a being completely unlike the elder they had seen but minutes earlier. The creature was two meters tall now and looked slim, appearing humanoid. Its black skin seemed as if it was made out of darkness itself and its eyes were just as dark.


    Her legs and arms were toned and could be considered to be of a regular length once more. Now this creature had only a few differences compared to humans. For one there was the lack of expression on its face and the fact that the eyes consisted purely out of a pupil. Another massive difference compared to a human was the hair. The hair flowing from the creature''s scalp was silver, the odd thing was that it seemed to be made from liquid, giving a mesmerizing feeling to it.


    Compared to its previous self it was a beautiful thing, her boobs which were soggy and almost rotting before were bouncy once more, the lack of nipples didn''t affect it negatively either. As for the nether region, there was absolutely nothing between the creature''s leg, if it wasn''t for the boobs the creature would seem to be genderless.


    But all of this weren''t the more alarming things, for one, Villin could see the creature was gazing at him with its pitch-black eyes. He could feel its gaze even though he was in an area that was still properly lit up by Ruby''s. But this was incomparable to the feeling he got when she opened her mouth. He saw no teeth as he expected, instead, there were tentacles dozens of black tentacles moving in unison.


    As soon as the creature left the cave a white and black streak came out of her wand. Similar to before the white streak went toward the creature itself while the black streak was aimed at the floor beneath the creature. Yet when they were a meter away from the creature, they simply dissipated.


    "Ohhh, how beautiful this new body of mine is, it truly has all been worth it!" unlike before the voice didn''t hurt the two of them mentally, it did however strengthen the effects of the earlier scream as now Ruby too lost complete control over her arms and legs.


    "You know how frustrating it has been? Stuck on these islands for decades, waiting, watching as my intellect began to wane. Oh how terrible it has been, but now, I can feel that it all has been worth it. All of the suffering, the loneliness, being condemned by my peers." the creature breathed in heavily through its nose.


    "Truly I have you two to thank! It had been years since a stray magus last arrived and I fear my lifespan was about to come to an end." the creature approached the paralyzed Villin who at this point wasn''t even capable of using his magical energy properly, thus being incapable of taking control of his puppet.


    It crouched down and put a hand on Villin''s cheek. "For years I had been waiting for my followers my companions to come, to help me become powerful once more. So tell me, why did nobody come. I once had the world in the palm of my hand and yet nobody came for me, why is that boy?"


    The creature with its expressionless face looked Villin in the eyes awaiting an answer as Villin could feel the control on his face lessen allowing him to speak. Even so, Villin felt his thoughts were muddled and he wasn''t able to think of a clever response in a short period of time, and so he spoke honestly "I don''t know who you are. I am mortalborn."


    Hearing his final sentence the creature looked at him with the same expressionless gaze as before, even so, Villin could feel the creature was somewhat surprised.


    "I see, at least my teachings have not completely disappeared." The creature paused for a moment as it stood up completely.


    "It would feel like a waste killing someone like you. Once I have grown in strength, I will grant you an invitation." having said this it walked over to Ruby who was breathing in a panicked version. Unlike Villin her thoughts weren''t bemuddled. "Hmm, a third-generation Xiezhi bloodline with a hint of Sphinx. Could you be the Von Hauser descendant?"


    Ruby who also had her head released from the creature''s grasp nodded fervently "I-I''m Ruby Von Hauser"


    "Hmm, I see. Even though I disagreed with your family on many matters, they are some of the most honorable people I have ever met. I have to admit, your great-grandfather is one of the few people I regret killing. In his name I shall spare you today." the creature walked away from Ruby as well before looking into the sky. He was staring at the magic eye staring down at them.


    "But for now, you two should forget about me, until it is time."


    Both Villin and Ruby suddenly felt a foreign force invading their minds, heading to their memories and sealing away the conversation they just had. As the two fainted the black figure rubbed its hands "Now, it is time for me to leave."


    With these words, the creature disappeared into thin air, stunning all those who were looking through the magic eye. It was only seconds later one of the runemasters arrived. The magic eye had been there ever since Ruby looked up with a pleading expression. As soon as they noticed the teleportation array Villin and Leonardo used was repaired with the cooperation of a number of runemasters, even so, it was only now that they arrived.


    Soon after, all of the matches were canceled and everyone was brought back to the Lannister house.


    Villin and Ruby were sent back to the white tower, for the following week they would be healing from the mental damage they had taken. During this time, magi expeditions were sent to the cluster of lesser islands the talented youth were sent toward, and what they found shocked them.


    Hundreds of cannibals were found and even though most were in the early stages, still being mostly human, there were about a dozen in the late stage, at which point they were already very dangerous.


    As for those that had truly evolved, there was only one case, the one that took Villin and Leonardo. But as for the identity of that ''person'', it was completely unknown.

 Chapter 123: The Calm (Before) After The Storm

    It took five days for Villin to finally wake up. He opened his eyes groggily as he still felt a faint headache. He was on a white bed in a white room. To his left was a windowsill atop of it were a few vases with white flowers.


    Villin sat up and looked out the window, he could see an endless expanse of green, it was quite beautiful.


    "Villin!"


    He was surprised to hear a voice from his right, when he looked he saw Kayley standing there, she seemed tired and before he could do a thing she jumped at him, hugging him tightly.


    Villin felt his mind go blank by the sudden change in the situation but found himself incapable of doing much more than just patting her on the back as she seemed to be trying to choke him out. After what felt like an eternity she let go, looking at him while holding back tears "W-when I saw you fight those creatures I thought you were going to die, I''m so happy you''re still alive!"


    With these words, she stormed out of the room leaving Villin behind.


    Villin didn''t think much of it as he simply let himself fall into the bed again, he could feel life energy coming from this bed, it seemed to be reaching out to his mind, attempting to heal the damage that had been done.


    Three minutes later professor Crumb entered the room, only to be immediately stunned.


    He came here right away once Kayley notified him Villin was awake. He thought the boy would be lying groggily on the bed trying to come to terms with the situation, maybe he would be crying when he realized he survived.


    One could only imagine the professor''s surprise when he saw the boy crouched down next to the bed using his finger to go over the runes used to enchant the bed and mumbling to himself trying to figure out how the whole thing came together.


    "Y-you little brat!"


    Villin looked up in surprise to find professor Crumb standing at the entrance. Villin quickly got up and looked at the professor happily.


    Seeing the expression Villin used to look at him even the grumpy professor Crumb couldn''t get himself to yell at the boy for getting out of bed so soon.


    And so the two men stood there looking at each other, neither wanting to be the first to say something. This standoff was finally interrupted when Ruby entered the room from behind professor Crumb, she seemed to be completely healthy again, no doubt her bloodline helped.


    "Villin! Good to see you''re well again!" the girl didn''t hold back her smile, she had woken up two days ago and still felt extremely happy to be alive.


    Villin smiled back at her "I see my lifesaver has come to greet me!"


    Ruby looked surprised at his words for a few words, unsure of how to reply. Before she realized it Villin had approached and put his hands on her shoulders "I am extremely grateful for what you did back then, you saved my life, thank you!"


    When he said these words Villin couldn''t have been more sincere. He wasn''t stupid, if it wasn''t for Ruby he proba- he would''ve died. On his own he didn''t stand a chance at surviving, it was only because she was there that he had gotten a shot at it.


    Ruby seemed unsure on how to respond, after thinking for a bit she simply nodded. Seeing she had received his thanks, Villin turned to professor Crumb "How long was I out for and when can we go back to The Academy?"


    "It''s been five days, the two of you can go back as soon as you tell us what happened that day, who that creature was and why it let you two go."


    Even though Crumb didn''t like acting like an interrogator, it was necessary for the current situation. The creature that let them go back then was as strong as a teacher, it could do considerable damage if let be.


    Soon the duo began explaining everything they recalled about that day. Neither of them tried to hide a thing and they kept talking about it ending at the point they saw the black figure leave the cave and where Ruby sent a spell at it. After that, they didn''t remember a thing.


    Following this, professor Crumb responded with what they knew about the situation. First, he explained the area everyone was sent to was infested with cannibals. Cannibals used the souls of magi to evolve and strengthen themselves. They were one of the biggest participants of the third central war and ever since then the few survivors had gone into hiding.


    The two ''elders'' that captured Villin and Leonardo should be survivors such as that, as for those that challenged them, the six that still looked mostly human should be newer in nature whereas the two creatures were also probably survivors from the war.


    The first stage of the evolving process went from human to creature of darkness. It was here they were the easiest to defeat. These people would gradually lose their intelligence and weaken their senses, in some cases they forgot they were magi at all and hence stopped using magic. In return, their body would become tougher, stronger, and faster.


    This evolution ended when they become creatures of darkness. When one got to this stage they regain their intelligence and senses. Additionally, they would become much stronger than they were before, and they would no longer need to feast on magi souls.


    The reason this path was used at all was because Creatures of Darkness were always extremely talented, they would be able to gain strength quicker than most humans. The only silver lining was that almost all those who picked this path were very untalented, for them this was the only way they could gain strength and surpass their peers. The number of talented magi who have been known to pick this path was very few.


    With some of their questions answered Ruby and Villin felt a bit more at ease. Even though professor Crumb said Creatures of Darkness are very hard to capture due to their exceptional talent in the element of space, with the white tower looking for this one, there was practically no chance it would escape.


    They were kept for one more day in what time a multitude of people came to wish them well, there were a few people here for more as well though. Kalob and Sally Lannister, for one, came bearing gifts. Villin was clearly rather unhappy to see them, even though they were kind to him and all that, this was their fault. He heard that his island wasn''t even the only one infested with cannibals, there were a bunch of em. As the organizers they didn''t even check things properly, it didn''t even have to be for the cannibals, what if a powerful magical beast was hiding on one of the islands?


    Still, the gifts did placate him somewhat. Both himself and Ruby had gotten an upgraded version of the gift that would''ve been given to the winner of the first round.


    They both got a white disk about half a meter in diameter. It was filled to the brim with runes to the point Villin couldn''t make sense of it. Apparently, this was one of the newest advancements the white tower had made. The disk, when used, would expand in size before utilizing one of five powerful magic arrays.


    There was one that attacked whatever was inside, one that defended anyone inside, one that healed anyone inside, one that regenerated the magic power of anything inside, and one that practically erased the existence of anyone inside. The final one was an extremely advanced version of an invisibility spell, even if someone tested the area with magic power they would be unable to sense anything was wrong.


    According to the couple, the disk could become as wide as twenty meters in diameter and its effects were extremely substantial.


    Another gift was given to him by professor Crumb in the name of the white tower itself. It was a new pair of gloves, one of which was a wand, this time around though it was a decent bit more powerful than his previous one.


    It was capable of casting three spells each being up to sixteen nodes. This was equal to a wand of the fourth grade.


    As for Ruby, she was given something else entirely. Once the school year ended she would be given a medal of bravery by a councilmember in a large ceremony.


    As for the final reward they both got, it was the most substantial.


    Professor Crumb explained that the two of them would be getting all of the riches that were gotten from the cluster of cannibals they were involved with. At first, both shrugged when they heard that but when they finally got the list both of their minds went blank.

 Chapter 124: Rewards

    "My god," Villin exclaimed in disbelief after having a look at the total at the very bottom of the list.


    Crumb had given Villin and Ruby a long list full of items, on the left half were the items themselves while next to them was the price they would get if they gave it to the white tower.


    The first items were already enough to give a good idea of how wealthy they could be now.


    47 low-grade cannibal corpses - 1000 x 47 = 47000 magic crystals


    Forty-seven thousand for just those. And it had to be said that currently, Villin, who could be said to be one of the richest second graders only had thirteen thousand crystals.


    In total about a third of the cannibals that were found after the events that had taken place were seen as those in their cluster. The tunnels connected about a dozen ''families'' each of which had four cannibals on average, the riches of each of these families were considered to be theirs.


    This wasn''t the white tower trying to form connections either, this was the case for anyone who finds cannibals, the finder''s fees include everything gotten from the community you found.


    With the price of the regular cannibal''s corpses being so high, Villin and Ruby obviously knew the price in total would be astronomical. There were three high-grade cannibal corpses on their list, each going for fifty-thousand crystals and one living high-grade cannibal that went for double that. Apparently, cannibals as a whole were extraordinarily valuable, the materials that could be gotten from their bodies were used in some of the high-grade pills.


    Other than these corpses there were three other items that contributed a bunch to the overall value they would get.


    The first of these three items were the fires. There were three soul-fires of the third tier. Seven soul-fires of the fourth tier and two soul-fires of the fifth grade.


    In total, these fires went for another three-hundred thousand crystals. They were extremely useful in certain studies, the energy they emitted was also immense. If the energy could be repurposed and cleansed the value one could get out of it was ginormous.


    The second valuable item that was in there was the equipment made from Blue Mythril. Altogether the equipment was worth fifty-thousand crystals.


    This, however, was incomparable to the value of the Blue Mythril mine that had been found. If the two of them decided to give it to the white tower they would get a hundred thousand crystals and forty percent of the profits.


    Once the two of them got to the bottom the total amount truly was shocking.


    In total, they would be getting one million and one hundred thousand magic crystals and forty percent of the profits the blue mythril mine made.


    Soon after Ruby and Villin were left alone to discuss. For a few hours, they both gave their input where they tried to get a good understanding of what to do. They estimated the white tower would be buying the resources for about ninety percent of their actual value. Something that was completely worth it to them considering it was extremely hard to sell these items and some of them had an expiry date.


    At the end of a long discussion, they had made their decision. They would be selling almost everything on the list except for a few things. For one, all of the Blue Mythril equipment would be taken by them. Additionally, they would take any and all of the enchanted objects that were found as well as the equipment used to do things such as blacksmithing and pill-making.


    The equipment and enchanted objects would be for them both while the lifestyle equipment would go to Villin.


    As for the rest, Ruby would be taking sixty percent of the magic crystals and Villin forty percent. This was what they ended up agreeing on. As for the Blue Mythril mine, the profits would be split in half.


    And so they announced their decision to professor Crumb. A few hours passed before the man returned with a small bag filled with crystal holders. Each crystal holder could only hold about fifty-thousand magic crystals. This meant over twenty crystal holders were required for all the funds.


    Professor Crumb would be delivering the rest of the items to them when they were in The Academy. Villin asked for his items to be brought to the Athena''s Forge guild tower while for Ruby it would be sent to her room.


    It was only after this that they could finally go back to The Academy. Even though they had only been away for a week and half of the time they were unconscious, both of them felt that it had been way too long.


    They were glad to be able to return to The Academy. Kayley and Hawk were already sent back so now it was just the two of them. They were now some of the wealthiest people in the entire school. Probably more wealthy than the brunt of the teachers.


    Villin got a bit of a deja-vu. He recalled the first time he had gotten a bunch of magic crystals at once. It had been because he was unlucky and someone attacked him. This time, once more, it had been caused because of his bad luck and suffering.


    He would have loved to say that it had been worth it, after all the amount of crystals he had gotten were more insane than he could''ve ever expected. But every time he tried thinking this way he thought back to Leonardo, when the boy''s skull was deformed and how the boy''s face seemed to age within seconds, turning into a skeleton and finally to dust.


    He recalled the terrifying creatures that had taken him captive and how lucky he was that Ruby was there to save him, and after this how lucky they both were to be able to take down one of the creatures, something only possible because their spells coincidentally complemented each other. And then how at the end, according to Kayley and professor Crumb, the evolved creature simply let them go.


    Almost all of it was caused by luck, his weakness had never before been so obvious.


    Before stepping into the teleportation array both of them composed themselves and switched their mindsets. This wasn''t the time. They were alive, healthy, and rich. Now they would have to start accepting that and move on.


    When Villin looked over at Ruby he saw her determined expression, and when she looked at Villin she saw the exact same. Then they both walked through the teleportation array.


    A few seconds after they arrived in the third grade, the journalists who had been waiting there noticed their appearance and began asking questions.


    The duo completely ignored them and pretended they weren''t there, taking the shortest path back to the second grade. When they finally got through the teleportation array leading to the second grade they were once more questions, luckily there were only two journalists now, one for each of the major news networks here.


    Villin was about to ignore them once more when he reconsidered and looked at the journalist for ''A Magus'' Aid''. As for ''Today''s Oddities'', Villin completely ignored them since he still recalled their article shortly after he joined.


    "I''m willing to do a short exclusive interview with your paper." Villin said to the boy representing ''A Magus'' Aid''


    The boy was obviously ecstatic and led both him and Ruby, who had decided to join him after hearing his words, to their headquarters in the guild hall.


    It had to be said that their place looked rather nice. Even though it was made out of wood the building was large and spacious being two floors tall. The two of them quickly got led to the second floor before their interviewer came in, in this case, they got to meet the owner of this branch of the paper. A boy by the name of Maximillius with blonde hair came and greeted them politely before sitting down.


    Villin made it clear early on that he would be leading this interview, he ignored most questions Maximillius asked and simply retold what he wanted to be known.


    Villin revealed that both himself and Ruby were taken to compete in a tournament for talented youth. They both won the enchanting and magic array tournaments getting them both a bunch of money. After this, they were both taken to a large island and a battle royale type competition began. In this competition, he got in an extremely dangerous situation being saved by Ruby in the brink of time allowing them to both end up in the top five.


    This was the story he ended up telling. It gave a reason for his sudden increase in money and his disappearance. It would also let people know of their great talent in enchanting and magic arrays as well as their talent in combat. Finally, Ruby would be getting honored as well as his savior.


    Even though Villin was sure Ruby would want to keep the situation as quiet as possible, this wouldn''t be good for Villin. After all, he needed people to join his guild in the future. Still, he compromised keeping most of it secret and praising her multiple times.


    At last, Villin would be able to get back to his guild tower and see how things were going.

 Chapter 125: Causing Rumors

    When Villin got to the guild tower his mood immediately improved. Rein was standing on a stone ladder, he seemed to be working on enchanting the walls of the tower a bit higher up. This wasn''t too much of a surprise, after all, he was the one that asked Rein to work on putting some of the enchantments on the outer walls.


    What was a surprise though were the spectators. There were five second-grade students standing by the side looking at Rein''s work. When Villin got closer he managed to see their guild emblems as well. Three of them came from guilds focused on enchanting. One student was a part of ''Today''s Oddities'' and the final student was part of one of the school-led combat guilds.


    As soon as he began approaching the tower, two people came out of the entrance. There were, of course, Kayley and Amelia.


    As soon as Rein noticed him he carefully fixed the enchantment he was working on before making his way over. He knew Villin would be connecting all of his enchantments together, adding quite a bit to it and he didn''t want to ruin the entire thing by rushing one of the enchantments.


    Soon after, the four of them made their way inside and found a private place to speak.


    Villin spoke freely and honestly to these four people, explaining everything that happened properly. Other than the short conversation with Granolf Mafoli he told them about everything that happened when he was gone.


    Both Rein and Amelia were extremely surprised by the turn of events. It was somewhat terrifying to think that Villin had been captured and almost absorbed by cannibals, but each of them were smart enough not to dwell on that for too long.


    "So in conclusion, we are now over four-hundred thousand magic crystals richer. We will also be expecting a bunch of Blue-Mythril equipment, enough to properly guard three people. Lastly, a few smithing and pill-making stations will be coming out way."


    Amelia was the first to react "How do you mean we? You went through all of that and got the well-deserved rewards, those crystals aren''t ours."


    Before the others had the time to agree Villin responded "Most of that money will be going toward ''Athena''s Forge'', each of you is the head of one of the compartments, and so each of you will be given a part of this money to improve each field we specialize in." Villin finished shutting the others down.


    "Now, Amelia, Rein, what has the situation been in the time we have been gone?" Villin''s question got them back on track and soon they began to update him. The biggest news in this time was of course the disappearance of himself, Ruby, and Elinoire. As for Elinoire, Villin was sure she hadn''t been there, but she was probably fine, after all, if she weren''t, The Academy would surely make a big deal out of it.


    Rein reported he had finished about a third of the required enchantments both in the interior and exterior. Villin would be waiting until he finished completely before working on it himself, he wanted to make sure the basic enchantments were all in their proper place before working on it as a whole.


    It turned out both of the newspapers made quite a big deal out of Athena''s forge though. It was the largest building in the guild hall and cost quite a bit to build initially. Then after this one of the members began enchanting the entirety of the outer wall. Both papers also featured interviews with various well-known enchanters in the grade. Overall, their opinions aligned, the enchantments were extremely proper, there were no mistakes that they could spot.


    In response to this, a few people came to the tower to request joining, all of them were turned down by Amelia. Amelia''s words were the same for all of them. Until the guild leader returns we are closed.


    Apparently, rumors started flying around about the so-called guild leader. ''Today''s Oddities'' came out with an article claiming they had a reliable source that told them the guild leader was Elinoire Decorus. ''A Magus'' Aid'' speculated the guild leader had to be one of four people, Elinoire and Villin were two of those discussed.


    Other than this, all other matters were rather small. The new guild attracted quite a bit of attention and that was no doubt a good thing at this point in time. After thinking for a bit, Villin gave everyone their orders.


    "Amelia, you''ve become the most familiar with the various guilds here thus far. I want you to tell them that we will be hiring talented enchanters to help us in enchanting various objects. They are not obliged to join the guild, it is a job like any other. Instead of individuals, it would be ideal if you asked the guilds as a whole." Villin paused for a moment as he thought out his plan further.


    "Kayley, you should contact those information guilds. The Black Swans that are led by Ruby might always look for proof but I don''t believe the others are the same. Out of all of us, you are the only one that has been mostly low-key. In this period Rein has been working from the outside and Amelia has been appealing to guests. If you take away the guild emblem you probably won''t be recognized. Try to begin a rumor of how the guild leader of ''Athena''s Forge'' won a tournament for talented youth. Exaggerate it as much as possible and make multiple slightly different versions of the story, if only the details are disputed the rumor itself will gain more credibility."


    Soon after Villin finished giving his commands, the two of them left to work on their tasks. Rein also left to continue his work, leaving Villin on his own. It didn''t take long for Villin to begin delving into his own mind. He recalled the situation that happened with the cannibals, his life was saved since he managed to improvise and create a mental shield. He recalled the idea he had at this point.


    Currently, if he wanted to defend his mind he had to use his magic power and create a dense wall all over, controlling it entirely. This was similar to placing troops there. The troops would need food, orders from above and they would need to be switched out regularly. What Villin thought of back when he was captured was to create an area around his mind where his magic power would naturally gravitate toward. He was practically trying to create a castle wall around his mind, if he had this castle wall most of his defenses would passively be there, he would only need to have a few troops to have a defense equally as good as the lines of troops he had before.


    He could also keep developing this area and make it bigger. All he would have to do was connects some of the nodes he didn''t use to the areas he wanted the defenses. These nodes would create magic power by themselves only requiring minimal maintenance from Villin himself. All he had to make sure of was that the ''structures'' were intact and in the right locations.


    And so, he began creating his own little fortress. He decided to begin by simply making defenses around the web itself, then move on to the part where his emotions were, this was where the cannibals attacked, and finally, he would try to protect the outer layer where his memories were.


    Obviously, each of these layers were important but the inner ones were easier to protect and currently, Villin had enough time to work on protecting them one-by-one.

 Chapter 126: A Week

    The following week went by swiftly. During this time Villin was actually the freest member of Athena''s Forge. He had time to work on his mental defenses while the others were working for the guild.


    Kayley was the most successful in her work. She didn''t only spread rumors herself but also paid a few of the weaker guilds to assist in spreading the rumors they wanted to spread.


    In the short span of a week, everyone in the second grade knew what Villin had done. Or well, what exactly happened would be slightly unclear.


    Even though the majority agreed that he won some sort of tournament, what exactly this tournament entailed was a bit fuzzy. There were students claiming he was sent to a warzone to fight those from the western continent, others claimed he was tasked to escape from a dragon''s pursuit.


    At this point in time, ''A Magus'' Aid'' was also forced to bring out a paper concerning the matter. Thus far they had refrained since they had very little evidence of what happened, all they had was the interview with Villin, not exactly the most impartial person in this whole thing.


    And so, they released the interview they had with Villin bringing them a lot of attention.


    All of this made Amelia''s job a lot easier. With Athena''s Forge being so mysterious, everyone wanted to have a better idea of what was going on. Any guild she approached almost immediately agreed when she asked them to help out with enchantments.


    Hell, it was so effective Amelia ended up not having to pay any of them, after visiting a few guilds it turned more into a gathering of talents where everyone would be able to show off in front of their peers.


    On both of those fronts, the situation couldn''t have gone much better, both of the girls in the guild had truly shown what they were capable of.


    As for Rein, he didn''t have much place to excel currently, his enchanting speed went up slightly but overall there weren''t any big changed. Overall, he was now one week away from finishing his part of the enchantments.


    Villin exited the tower and headed toward the ''Combat Classes'' class. It was one of the few he still went to when he could alongside ''Tactics of War'', ''Enchanting'', and ''Pill Making''.


    In reality, he didn''t care too much about pill-making, he felt he would be able to just buy pills he needed, the only reason he followed the class was that he hadn''t totally given up on creating gene solutions yet. And so, if he got the opportunity to create gene solutions again he would have a reason as to why he needed the materials.


    Once he finished the class he went back to the guild tower, surprisingly professor Crumb was standing just outside of the tower, giving some pointers to Rein who had just begun working again.


    And well, professor Crumb didn''t come empty-handed. Once Villin invited the professor inside he began taking all sorts of items out of his interspacial bag.


    All sorts of things came out, anvils, hammers, cauldrons, all sorts of equipment. After a bit, Villin was sure the professor''s interspacial bag was at least twice the size of his, then again this wasn''t too big of a surprise since he was a runemaster and all.


    When the professor took out the final object he had taken with him, Villin got excited, the moment he saw it was a book he knew it could only be one of two things, and as soon as he saw the title he had been proven right.


    ''Wards And How To Create Them''


    A book made by Twen Salamander.


    It was clear that the professor was in a hurry so after he dropped everything off Villin escorted him out.


    When he got back to the pile of items he saw Amelia standing over it with excitement in her eyes. Together, the two of them properly classified everything.


    Armor and weapons were put on the left, crafting stations and equipment in the middle, and unknown objects on the right.


    Looking at the armor it was very satisfactory. All of the armor here was made out of Blue Mythril, also known as fake Mythril.


    It was as light and durable as Mythril, the only differences were in the color and magic conductivity.


    That being said, Blue-Mythril was still much, much better than the majority of other metals, it was just that Mythril itself was one of the most conductive materials on the planet, comparing other things to it was too much.


    There had been many people who owned mines in the past who thought they had struck it rich when they found Blue Mythril. The lack of weight the material had and the white color in unprocessed form had many of such people believe they would be able to live in a mansion made out of gold soon.


    Sadly, they would soon find out it was a Blue-Mythril mine instead and so they could only afford a house made out of gold.


    In total, they had enough armor to fully defend three people with a number of spare pieces of equipment, most of which protected the forearms or shins. The only missing part was a helmet, it seems that those were never made.


    Looking at the weapons, they seemed mostly useless. There were swords and spears made from steel and Blue Mythril. Even though they were good quality, Villin didn''t see much value in using cold weapons, the practice simply wouldn''t be worth it.


    He decided that if they had any smiths good enough then perhaps they could reforge these weapons into helmets or other pieces of equipment.


    The crafting stations overall were decent. There were a few smithing and pill-making stations but nothing all too surprising.


    The unidentified objects were mostly made from wood, Villin wasn''t sure if it was perhaps a crafting station used for some sort of woodworking or weaving but since professor Crumb brought it to them it should be part of the crafting stations.


    The following day it was finally time to entertain some guests. When Villin woke up he was surprised to see there were already a number of guests waiting outside, no doubt part of the enchanters Amelia had invited, they seemed to have come two hours early.


    After waking himself up somewhat, Villin made his way downstairs, it was about time they got some more members into the guild.

 Chapter 127: Athena’s Forge Opens

    One hour after Villin woke up, the doors to Athena''s Forge opened. The guests that were waiting quickly made their way in, quickly becoming stunned at the inside of the guild tower.


    The beauty didn''t lay with the furniture or lay-out, instead, the beauty came from the runes that covered the inner walls. Most that had come knew quite a bit about runes, they had already studied the outer walls while they were waiting.


    It had to be said the enchantments on the outer walls were extremely impressive. The enchantments used were mostly modified versions of relatively popular enchantments. The name Rein had started making rounds in the group, apparently, that was the man who was responsible for the enchantments.


    Now that they saw the inside walls were also covered with runes, many here wanted to study them as well, still, they managed to restrain themselves since they were currently in someone else''s home.


    When inside, the guests were warmly welcomed by Amelia and Kayley. A few minutes later, Rein also joined them.


    As soon as Rein appeared he was surrounded by the guests asking questions about the enchantments he had made on the outer and inner walls of this tower. Luckily, with Amelia''s help, he managed to calm everyone down.


    "Hello everyone, in the name of Athena''s Forge I welcome you all to our humble tower. Villin will come down and explain exactly what is planned when everyone has arrived. In a moment, Kayley will be bringing down some pieces of armor made out of Blue-Mythril. This will be of great importance later so I suggest you familiarize yourself with the material.


    Even though you are allowed to draw runes and enchantments onto the armor, you may not create any enchantments that cannot be erased, additionally, we also ask that you do not break any of the equipment. If anyone here does either of these things we hope to be compensated fairly.


    If you wish there is also something else you may do while waiting. You are allowed to roam the first three floors of the tower freely. If you wish to touch anything, ask for permission first. If you attempt to steal the teachers will be notified.


    Once more I welcome you all to this event, we are honored to have you all here as guests."


    Hearing his speech most of the guests felt rather stumped. Even though many of them were of noble families, very few had been invited to formal settings before. Now with the kind welcome and speech they had received, many of the students became unsure of how to act. Once Rein finished the speech that had been prepared beforehand, the guests surprisingly didn''t crowd around him anymore all trying to ask questions at once.


    It only took a few minutes for the guests to adapt to the situation. Most of them had been taught how to act in proper settings at the very least, and as for the commoners who didn''t have this privilege, they simply tried mimicking the other guests.


    When Kayley headed up to fetch the equipment she couldn''t help but visibly cringe. It had only been a week since she was in an actual proper setting, the difference between the guests was as clear as could be.


    The students were currently all trying to act cool. They nodded thoughtfully every couple of seconds and kept getting rid of any creases in their robe.


    When it came to conversation, they were almost just as awkward. Many tried using the few sophisticated or complicated words they knew as much as possible, making their speech seem extremely awkward.


    Compared to them, Rein and Amelia actually did surprisingly well.


    It wasn''t so much of a surprise when looking at Rein. After all, he was part of a family that had been a noble family for a very long time. Even though his family had declined quite a bit, they still taught him quite well.


    But Amelia was more of a surprise, she was mortal-born after all. It seemed that she just had a special affinity for these kinds of things.


    Luckily, once Kayley brought the equipment down, the guests began to focus on the armor they had been given for now. It was at this point that Rein positioned himself in a way so that he would be able to keep an eye on the pieces of armor as much as possible. It wasn''t as much to look for thieves as it was to look for talent. After all, the entire goal of the event they would be organizing was to find talent. When Villin noticed a small crowd was already gathering outside earlier he decided to let them in and allow them to use the Blue Mythril armor.


    Before this point Rein and Kayley didn''t think too much of these students that had come, even though their guests were older than they were, both of them considered these people children. They just seemed too immature at first sight.


    But this changed when they began working on the equipment. Many of them were excited that they would be allowed to work with Blue Mythril even if the rules brought a few limitations. And so, they quickly began working.


    Rein was especially surprised, these people were actually pretty skilled. Even though they worked slowly as they weren''t familiar with the shape or material, they used a wide variety of enchantments, many of which Rein had never seen.


    Of course, there were always a few annoyances. Rein and Kayley both got complaints that the pieces of armor that were left were too small for them to work with. Rein and Kayley truly had to be commended, both of them managed to keep themselves from saying ''too bad'' and actually explained that working on smaller surfaces was great practice.


    As for Amelia, seeing Kayley and Rein getting bothered pretty regularly, she felt somewhat lucky for missing an eye. Due to this, she looked rather fearsome and few people came to her to complain.


    Once the hour was over, the doors of Athena''s Forge closed. In total sixty people had come. Currently, they were spread across the first three floors of the tower. Rein, Kayley, and Amelia had already kicked out a dozen troublemakers and they had to deal with annoyances constantly.


    It was then that finally, the doors to the fourth floor opened and a man came out, it was time for Villin to make his move.

 Chapter 128: A Successful Day

    Five minutes after Villin had appeared everyone came down to the first floor making the place look very crowded.


    The pieces of Blue Mythril armor had also been returned to Kayley in the previous couple of minutes.


    Standing atop some stairs, Villin took his time looking at all the guests, meanwhile, nobody made a sound. Once he had looked all of the guests in the eyes he smiled.


    Nearly fifty percent of the people in guilds focusing on runology had made their way here. The two newspapers had also sent someone to attend the event.


    "I will keep this short. Firstly, I wish to confirm that everyone who has come will be receiving twenty crystals as a thank you for attending the event.


    Now that being said, I believe it is time to properly explain why I have asked you all to come here, you all have come here to compete.


    As you all may have heard recently I took part in a competition, this competition had both a section regarding runology as well as a combat section. Coming back from the tournament I realized something, competing in the tournament helped me take a huge leap in my skills. I managed to converse with other people that were interested in runes and managed to learn a lot in my time there." he said, maintaining a steady face while mixies lies with truth. In reality what he was describing wasn''t what he went through but instead what he hoped would happen here. If he told them that most of what he learned during the competition were all sorts of gossip about his fellow runemasters it wouldn''t help much. After lying for this bit he changed it back to the truth though.


    "Now, one of the people I learned most from was actually a student of this school! Seeing how much we learned from each other I figured that she probably wasn''t the only person here who had her own ideas, I believe everyone here has their own specialities. I have decided to be the sponsor of the first bi-monthly runic exchange. The winner of this competition will receive five-hundred magic crystals and a shin-guard made from Blue Mythril." he paused for a moment letting everyone take in the words he had spoken.


    "Now, here is how this shall work. Each guild that is currently here will be given a numerical value depending on the number of people they have with them. This value will range between one and three. Those with less than five members will have a value of one, this includes Athena''s Forge. The guilds that have between five and ten members will have a value of two, and those that have more than ten people will have a value of three.


    "Every guild will first send forward a representative, each representative will put on a piece of paper which kind of enchantments they would like the test to be around, there are ten categories including defense, offense, storage, and some more. Whichever category has the most points will be what the competition will focus on. We will be supplying the object that will be enchanted, first, every guild will send one person to pick an object, then everyone will pick a second, and so on.


    "Lastly, the enchanting will begin. After two hours everyone will have to quit enchanting, at this point, the final scoring will commence. This will once more be related to the value of each guild. If a guild with a value of three gives a certain contestant a score of ten out of ten, this score will be counted three separate times. The winner will be decided by looking at the median of scores. If two people have the same median the average will be taken into account."


    Hearing everything Villin had to say, a lot of the guests immediately got lost in thought. No matter what, going with the median instead of the average was the right decision. This will avoid any guilds with a value of three to tamper with the score by giving their own people a ten and all others a zero. Other than the fact that the objects were provided by ''Athena''s Forge'' there didn''t seem to be anything that gave them an edge either. They only had a value of one and there were ten possible categories spanning across all subjects.


    After hearing what was going on only a few people ended up leaving the tower, most were actually getting quite excited hearing they would be able to show off their skill while learning things from others as well.


    "Now, I would like the representatives of all guilds to come to the second floor, everyone else will be asked to either stay here or leave."


    Soon, all the representatives of the guilds here had arrived. This included guilds such as ''A Magus'' Aid'' and ''Today''s Oddities''. They were both invited and would also have a single point of value.


    It took about ten minutes before the leaders and representatives of the attending guilds came back down. The voting truly had gone off without a hitch. Everyone simply submitted what subject they wanted the competition to be on and accepted the results. In the end the competition would focus on enchantments around defense.


    This wasn''t too much of a surprise since, other than utility, it was the most popular type of enchantment. And everyone here wanted to continue working with Blue Mythril for a bit longer.


    Before anything else, a few rules were properly explained. It was mostly just some stuff concerning the safety of both the competitors and the items used.


    As per the rules, each guild send one person forth to pick up a piece of armor they would be enchanting, then another, and so on.


    In the end, only about thirty of the guests ended up deciding to compete. It was a fact that the smaller the equipment the harder enchanting would be and so at some point, everyone stopped sending people forward. All of their best members had already gotten their equipment and those that didn''t step forward thus far were all relatively new to enchanting.


    The rest of the day went exactly as expected. For two hours everyone that competed worked hard on their enchantments, Villin and Rein being in the middle of the first floor, this way they were in full vision of the crowd.


    After two hours passed the enchanting was done and the pieces of enchanted objects were all placed on the first floor. Villin was the first representative to make a remark, he approached one of the pieces of equipment complimenting the complexity of the enchantment. Soon after, the others also came up and submitted their scores.


    In total it took over an hour for the grading to be finished. The results also weren''t all that surprising. Villin was happy to see that everyone was extremely honest, only minor bias could be seen overall.


    When it was time to grade Villin''s piece of equipment, the representatives couldn''t do anything but give him a ten. He had picked one of the smallest pieces of equipment available and yet he managed to enhance it in all sorts of ways, stunning the people around him.


    In total there were three people with a median of ten, Villin and Rein were two of these. But when looking at the average score, Villin scored much higher than the other two, allowing him to win.


    Even though winning at your own tournament would normally be frowned upon, when looking at the piece Villin enchanted nobody raised any complaints. The next hour everyone talked as they were all allowed to inspect all of the pieces of equipment that had entered the competition, this could also allow them to determine if there was any foul play.


    After this hour was over, it was about time for the event to end, and so, Villin spoke to the runologists once more.


    "I wish to thank everyone for attending this event. Looking at the circumstances, I''ve decided to give today''s prize to the third-place winner, John Sterlock. I congratulate you on your amazing performance today. Your enchantments geared toward physical resistance was extremely impressive, I am sure you will become a great runemaster one day." Villin didn''t elaborate on the meaning of ''runemaster'', most guests simply assumed he meant a great enchanter.


    "Now, since John is part of the ''Runic Army'' guild, they will be asked to host the next event in two months. If they wish to forego this privilege it will be given to the guild of the fourth-place candidate.


    "Now, before we round this event up, I wish to make one selfish announcement. Athena''s Forge, is currently looking to annex some of the guilds focused on enchantments. Any guild leaders who wish to consider being annexed by Athena''s Forge may come to look for me at any point in time. Lastly, I wish all of you a good afternoon." with a smile Villin finished his final words before beginning to say goodbye to the guests. In reality, he wanted to say they were recruiting members, but in the end, he decided to say they would be absorbing guilds. To guild leaders, this would seem less offensive than directly asking their members to join. After all, it was a guild leader''s decision to join them, there was nobody pressuring them.


    After saying goodbye to the final guest, all of the members of Athena''s Forge felt tired. Still, it could be called a huge success. The competition was received much better than Villin had hoped for with only a few people leaving when they heard the reason for the gathering. He also got friendlier with some of the guild leaders around.


    Even though Villin didn''t expect to actually annex any guilds, he was sure a number of individuals would wish to join, that had been one of the main reasons behind the event. As for the other main reason, it was currently spread across the room. The enchanted pieces of armor. Each of them held their own enchantments, many of them unknown to both Villin and Rein. Just by studying these pieces they would be able to learn a lot, and afterward, they could erase the enchantments to create their own ones.

 Chapter 129: Aftermath

    The competition Villin made received a ginormous amount of attention. Each of the papers had multiple pages on the event, talking about everything that happened, a number of previously unknown enchanters were also mentioned who had performed extremely well.


    Still, most of the attention fell on Athena''s Forge and its members, Villin and Rein in particular. For the following two weeks they had a section in every edition of each of the papers, talking about this and that.


    As for Villin, he wasn''t impatient. In the week since the tournament, nobody had come to join them yet but he knew there would certainly be some coming to them soon, considering himself and Rein were now proven to be the two best enchanters in the grade.


    Of course, there were some that went against this saying they cheated somehow but even Today''s Oddities didn''t talk with these people. They were there and thus far nobody had given a probable way Villin and Rein could''ve cheated.


    Villin was glad he made the right decision inviting Today''s Oddities to the event. He had been seriously torn on whether to invite them or not but ended up inviting them since, if they weren''t invited, they would surely try to smear them seeing how they previously handled things.


    In the last week, he hadn''t been sitting still though, nobody had been. Villin had been busy analyzing the pieces of enchanted equipment, writing everything he understood about them in various notebooks that were shared with Rein. Still, even though everyone only worked on these pieces for two hours each, Villin was still a few days away from analyzing all of them.


    Rein was about to finish enchanting the tower, after finishing up he would be practicing some new spells. Kayley had, just today, begun visiting the guilds focused on pill-making, inviting them to Athena''s Forge.


    Athena''s Forge would indeed be organizing an event, this time Villin wouldn''t be involved though. Since there were considerably fewer guilds focused on pill-making they only expected around thirty guests. Kayley would be the main organizer this time and Amelia and Rein would be helping on the day of the competition.


    As for Amelia, she was spending a lot of time in the dueling grounds recently. She had been fighting dozens of people rapidly increasing her fame. The plan was to also make a fighting tournament when the time came. Preparing this would be a lot harder though and the school''s support would probably be required. Currently, the desired effect was to show Athena''s Forge wasn''t only focused on creating items, it also focused on strength.


    And so, time continued passing. After finishing analyzing the equipment Villin worked on the tower itself, connecting and enhancing all the enchantments Rein had made. During this time Athena''s Forge held their second tournament, the Pill Exchange. This one, too, was a great success.


    During this time, the first couple of individuals also began approaching the guild, trying to gauge if joining would be possible in case they left their current guilds. In total there were about twenty such individuals, some skilled in enchanting and others in pill-making, surprisingly they were also those scoring quite high overall.


    Just as Villin expected a few of these individuals to take the leap, soon to be followed by the others, something he never expected happened.


    Villin was outside of the guild tower working on the enchantments, loosely surrounded by some individuals with notebooks who were trying to learn by watching him, when he was approached by someone Villin recognized.


    It was a boy with clear blue eyes and brown hair. On his chest below the school''s crest was a crest showing a spear and a pen crossed.


    "Hello sir Villin, could we talk?" the boy asked politely.


    Recognizing him as the guild leader of the Runic Army, Villin didn''t hesitate to invite him inside. The Runic Army had performed the best in the runic exchange, they took the third, fifth, and seventh place, as for the guild leader himself, he was fifth.


    Once they walked into the guild tower, the guild leader quickly made his intentions clear.


    "Ever since the exchange I thought about your proposition. You are a much, much better enchanter than I am and you are much richer as well. I would like to discuss being annexed by Athena''s Forge."


    Hearing his words Villin was clearly surprised, he had assumed he was going to ask some questions about how to set up the next runic exchange, not something like this.


    After talking with the boy for a while, Villin got even more surprised. Since the situation was like this he expected the boy would ask for a bunch of money or a high position but he did nothing of the sort. The conditions he had were very few, mostly simply asking for fair treatment and pay.


    After thinking for a while, Villin obviously didn''t decline, the biggest condition he had been set was that the members would receive thirty percent of the profits if their products were being sold by the guild. Since Villin had already decided to set this on fifty percent before this point, this obviously wasn''t a problem.


    And so, the following day, some huge news was announced. The Runic Army, the currently largest guild that focused mainly on enchanting, was being annexed by Athena''s Forge, a guild that previously had only four members.


    In total, ''The Runic Army'' had thirty members. Most of them split their focus between runes and combat. And then there were some that only focussed on one.


    This immediately brought the third floor of the guild tower near max capacity, together with the dozen individuals that decided to join after hearing the news, Athena''s Forge instantly became a large power in the grade.


    If they only had enchanters this might not be the case, the problem was that ''The Runic Army'' was a guild that ''competed'', this immediately caused all the combat guilds to become a bit wary.


    As soon as the new members joined Athena''s Forge also began accepting missions from the mission board increasing their reputation. Some missions simply required the creation of certain objects of magic arrays while others were competitive. Competitive missions were rather diverse. The simple ones simply asked for a guild to protect a certain room for a period of time. The very first day Villin and his group arrived at the second grade they happened to clash with ''The Shielding Lions'' who were doing such a mission.


    The rooms in need of protection were the mailroom, the dormitory corridors, the storage rooms, and a couple of others. If anyone manages to do anything they''re not supposed to while you are supposed to be defending it, you would be punished and lose reputation.


    On the other hand, you could also take harder missions that go against this. For example, go to the mailing crate 127 and take out the yellow pen inside. The items they were required to steal obviously weren''t other people''s true belongings but they looked no different from them.


    For now, Villin told everyone to focus on the defensive missions, they were much much easier, especially when they had those that could use magic arrays to make going in stealth a lot harder.


    And so, with the sudden increase of members, Villin had to do two things. First, he had to begin giving lessons to everyone, and secondly, he had to make more space.


    It was possible to give the tower one more floor but that would mess up the enchantments he was working on. Luckily, now that he annexed a large guild, he was also allowed more space to work with. Since ''The Runic Army'' had quite a bit of reputation before being annexed, the space he got was substantial.


    And so began the construction of a large two-floor rectangular building that would go around the guild tower.


    The guild tower would be in the very middle but Villin made it very clear the rectangular building and the tower couldn''t be truly connected, there had to be a gap in between them.


    Obviously, Villin commissioned the same guild he used before since they did a great job, due to the size of the project it would take a while but Villin didn''t mind that too much, they had time.

 Chapter 130: A Certain Connection

    With the sudden increase in members and work, Villin was at a bit of an impasse.


    He had a severe lack of time, he had to research spells, create enchantments, stabilize his position in the guild, practice magic, and much more. Hell, he hadn''t even had the time to learn wards yet even though he had the book already.


    That being said, he couldn''t just hand these tasks to other people. At this point, his three companions already did most of the work concerning the guild itself. This included choosing missions, solving conflict, paperwork, and a number of other things.


    After thinking for a bit, Villin only knew of two people that might be able to help free up some more time. These two were professor Messen and Ruby.


    As far as he knew professor Messen still taught in the first grade, this meant he was completely unavailable. And so, he once more found himself in a classroom, sitting across from Ruby.


    When he arrived she hadn''t said a word, simply gesturing him to sit down, now they sat across from each other.


    Hawk and Sara, two of Ruby''s confidants were also sitting in the room some distance from the two, both of them felt uncomfortable, the silence made them nervous.


    Yet Villin and Ruby stayed quiet.


    If someone were to ask Villin what he was trying to do at this point, he wouldn''t be able to answer. He simply looked into Ruby''s golden eyes looking for a certain something, it was as if he was trying to peer into her soul. Without realizing it, some of his magic power formed tendrils, inching toward Ruby.


    At this same time, Ruby was similarly looking into Villin''s blue eyes, at first, she was simply trying to guess his intention for coming here, but at this point, she too felt there was something else she was looking for. Without knowing it, she too formed tendrils out of her magic power that inched toward Villin''s face.


    Hawk and Sara got more and more nervous. It had already been ten minutes since Villin entered the room. At first, things were normal, their boss was looking him in the eyes trying to gauge his intention waiting for him to speak. Yet, it only took a but before her look changed. If she simply looked infatuated into Villin''s eyes, they wouldn''t be all too surprised. After all, Villin was talented and handsome.


    But her look was something else, it was a look they only saw when she was busy with an extremely complicated rune structure, and even then, it seemed to be different. Neither of them could decipher it and both of them had their hands near their wands, somewhat expecting a fight to suddenly break out even though they never had bad interactions with Villin.


    Suddenly, the situation changed. Villin''s magic tendrils reached Ruby''s eyes at the very same time hers reached his own eyes. Neither of them truly realized what was happening, but whatever it was, it wasn''t something they felt needed to stop.


    Villin felt the rhythm of his and Ruby''s magic power began changing, adapting to each other. Where they previously both had a different frequency, now they began growing toward each other, as if it was making some sort of connection.


    On the outside, Hawk and Sara both got up. They felt the magic power of the two in front of them expanding, as if they were about to cast a spell, yet just as they were about to interfere and pull out their wands, a small invisible implosion took place between Villin and Ruby. Before anyone realized what was going on both Villin and Ruby had their heads on the table, they seemed to have suddenly lost consciousness.


    Yet, in Villin''s eyes, this all felt very different. The moment his own and Ruby''s magic power had the same frequency a strong connection was formed through the tendrils of magic. This connection was so significant he didn''t even realize his eyes had closed or that his head had dropped onto the table.


    He could sense, see, Ruby in front and around him. It was a weird feeling but it was as if they were both one and the same. He could feel what she felt and think what she thought. As for Ruby, she felt the exact same. The shield guarding Villin''s consciousness let her pass as if it was never there and for just a few seconds the two of them became one, learning more about each other than what they could''ve ever imagined.


    With a thought, they both appeared in a garden coming from Ruby''s memories.


    "So you come from another world?" Ruby asked unsurprised.


    Since at this point in time they felt like one, she truly felt unsurprised, they were now simply realities. Villin leisurely replied.


    "So you are the true owner of this grade''s ''A Magus'' Aid''." Ruby simply nodded.


    The two of them sat there going through each oth- going through their communal memories.


    After a while, Ruby was the first to ''speak'' once more "I''ll help you, I can see there is much I will be able to learn while doing so."


    Hearing her speak, Villin didn''t need to ask her to elaborate, he knew what she meant. She would help in exchange for resources. As for what resources, information. For one, the still enchanted Blue-Mythril held a lot of information. The enchantments used by all of the top students here would be very valuable.


    And then, of course, there was other information. The kind she traded with The Black Swans or those reported in ''A Magus'' Aid''.


    Despite how it seemed, this connection only lasted for around three seconds in the real world. After this, both of their brains got overloaded with information and they truly fainted.

 Chapter 131: Book of Dreams

    It took two hours for the two of them to wake up. Ruby woke up in a soft bed while Villin was tied up to a chair.


    This was because of the actions Sara and Hawk took after seeing the two of them faint. They could only guess that the two of them had some sort of invisible battle and that they both knocked out.


    Four minutes after Villin woke up, Ruby arrived in the room he was tied up in, and so she quickly released him under the watchful gaze of two of her commanders. Once Villin was free he looked Ruby in the eyes for a moment, thinking back of what happened earlier.


    For a moment, neither spoke, thinking back to what happened a few hours ago they got a headache due to how much information they got. All they really remembered were the big points in each other''s lives.


    Yet, even now, neither of them felt those things were weird. This was especially odd for Ruby who now knew the origin of Villin. She found it odd that she didn''t think of it as a big deal right now. She didn''t doubt that if he would''ve told her the previous day she would be questioning her bloodline, thinking that he was lying, yet now, she had no such misconceptions.


    "Then, I suppose we should get going?" Villin asked once he got back to his regular self.


    Ruby shook her head, "No, I''ll come in two days time. I need to make sure everything goes well while I''m absent."


    Villin nodded before leaving. As for Hawk and Sara, they still had no idea what was going on and even once they asked Ruby she wouldn''t say. This was the very first time Ruby didn''t answer one of their questions. As for why, Ruby simply said she didn''t quite understand the situation herself.


    Nonetheless, the school was once more shocked when two days later, Ruby, one of the more well-known guild leaders in the grade, began coming to Athena''s Forge daily, helping out with enchantments and the occasional mission.


    During this period of time, many made guesses about the relationship between Villin and Ruby, ''Today''s Oddities'' even made a multitude of articles talking about their ''little secret'' as they stated it. ''A Magus'' Aid'' on the other hand only made a few articles talking about Ruby assisting Athena''s Forge. The only rumor they mentioned was that this situation seemed to hint toward a possible merging of Ruby and Villin''s guilds but even that was said to be information from an unreputable source.


    Now that he had some more free time, Villin finally managed to free up time to do two things.


    Firstly, there was a book in the library concerning magical dreams he had wanted to read. At this point in time, he had enough personal and guild reputation to be allowed to retrieve the book.


    The book was surprisingly thorough. It began with explaining the most common types of magical dreams and then went to those that were rarer and rarer. The author also made it clear that not all information in this book may be accurate, especially when looking at the rarer sorts of dreams.


    The first subject talked about curses. Apparently, over ninety percent of magical dreams were caused by various curses. These curses could do things ranging from causing nightmares every night to causing someone to fall asleep at random points in time.


    Over half of the book talked about all sorts of curses and spells but none of them stood out to Villin. It was only when he got to the rarer ones that he found some similar occasions.


    In particular, there were three that seemed very similar to what he was going through. About three-quarters through the book there was a described affliction called ''asbernia'' this was a mental affliction that caused certain people to get an extreme sense of deja-vu. After going through a certain something they would suddenly recall they had dreamt about it a few months prior. It was a very uncommon mental disease.


    Thinking about it though, Villin didn''t think he quite had this. It would be different if all of his dreams had actually happened but this wasn''t the case. After all, the situation with the middle-aged man in the castle probably hadn''t happened yet, and he hadn''t ever seen Granolf before then at the party where the man seemed to be furious at him, the only time he had seen him had been in his dream.


    The second similar dream was near the back of the book. At this point, most of the articles consisted of guesswork stemming from stories of the word of a singular person.


    This time the book described a story about the great lord Roland who founded The Academy and invented magic as magi knew it today. There were mentions that Roland was a prophet, when he closed his eyes it was said that he could see snippets of the future.


    Then again, if you believed all of the stories then Roland was capable of destroying the world with a flick of his fingers and he was the master of all existing arts. Most of the stories talking about this legendary figure were false, they all had to be taken with a swig of salt.


    Looking further there was one more thing that spoke to him. When he got to the end of the book there were a few ''honorable mentions'' these were things that weren''t actually magical dreams but could be perceived as such by some.


    One of these was ''Astral Projection''. It was said that when one''s soul becomes strong enough it would be able to exist outside of the body for a limited period of time. The main technique this was useful for was astral projection. With this technique, you could temporarily send a sliver of your soul to a different location and have a look at what was going on while generally staying invisible.


    The reason it was mentioned here was that in some cases, some with a strong enough soul would find themselves looking at their bodies while sleeping, unknowingly using the technique.


    Even though this seemed somewhat similar to what happened with him and Granolf, there was no way he would accidentally astral project to a man he never saw in a faraway place. This simply wasn''t a possibility and so even after looking through this book he remained mostly clueless about what was going on with his dreams.


    The thing that unnerved Villin was that he couldn''t control it. What if what happened with Granolf happened again but with the headmaster or a teacher, seeing at how serious Granolf reacted, the headmaster or teacher might kill him.


    With this grim thought in mind, Villin made his way back to the tower. It was finally time he spent some time learning how to create wards.

 Chapter 132: Learning Wards

    After spending a bit of time getting in the right mindset, Villin began reading the book on warding he got.


    The first thing the book explained was the difference between true wards and fake wards. Well over ninety percent of the existing wards were in the ''fake'' category. These were pretty much wards created by spells.


    Unlike enchantments and magic arrays, wards weren''t all that affected by their surrounding area. Wards would almost always be created in the air, hence there was no need to worry about things such as the shape of an object or anything of the like.


    The only things that could influence wards were the temperature and the density of magic elements. Still, even so, in this art, it wasn''t as important as an object was in enchanting and a large array of fake wards existed. All you needed to cast fake wards were the right spell blueprints and good control over your magic.


    Even though it was overall still pretty hard, it was substantially easier compared to other arts such as enchanting and magic arrays.


    The book made it very clear it would be talking about the creation of true wards instead of the fake ones.


    Only around two percent of the wards in the world were true ones and the reason given was extremely simple.


    Creating true wards was extraordinarily difficult.


    In essence, when creating a true ward you would be sending out magic power, form it into hundreds to thousands of runes, and lock them into space itself.


    Wards were nearly always hemispherical, and even when the creator left it would remain there, if not interfered with a well-made true ward could exist for hundreds of years.


    There were two steps in the creation of true wards that were extraordinarily difficult.


    The first was creating the runes in a way it would be able to continue to absorb magic power even after the creator leaves. Luckily, this step could be skipped using certain spells.


    Even though this would make it so that the ward would only exist for a few months, the author of the book heavily recommended everyone to learn these half-fake wards first. This would allow you to focus on the second extremely difficult section.


    The second main difficulty was connecting the runes into space itself. At first, many would try to connect it to the first thing they could feel in the air around them, oxygen. But oxygen moves and disperses, if you connect to oxygen your ward will become ineffective within just a few hours.


    The author also said that being skilled in enchanting, magic arrays, and spell constructs was almost a must in order to try and create true wards.


    Sadly though, Villin didn''t know how to create spell constructs yet, he was still waiting for professor Crumb to give him a book related to that runic art.


    While it was on the topic of difficulty, the book mentioned the abysmal passing rate of those in the classes relating to creating true wards.


    In Mafoli and Graesa, the two schools that are most skilled in the art. Only five percent of those who follow the course manage to create a decent true ward by the time they graduate.


    And that wasn''t even talking about the abysmal number of people that joined the course.


    After passing by the first ten pages that all talked about the difficulty of the art and the requirements to try and learn it, the actual book finally began.


    The book was made by the white magic tower itself and the author changed multiple times. Still, it was all extremely clear, after a bit he got to the first ''assignment''.


    One of the authors stated that at this point in time you should stop reading until you were capable of writing runes in mid-air using your magic power, using nothing but your finger.


    Once he got to this point, Villin paused. The information in this book was immense, even though he only got to the first step he knew it would be very hard to complete it.


    After reading the first section of the book a second time, Villin finally put it down and tried creating runes made of magic power in the air.


    In reality, this was probably the easiest step among all of them, yet still, Villin found it extraordinarily hard. Villin was already quite skilled at using magic power outside of his body, but it was always connected to himself. A rune consisted of multiple individual lines. Every time he finished a line, he would have to cut off the line that connected it to himself while keeping the created line intact.


    When it came to creating a single line, it was very doable. The problem was that no rune consisted of one line. Those used for warding used ten lines at the least, this made the task very daunting.


    After noticing that this wasn''t something he would be able to do consistently anytime soon, Villin decided to spend three hours every day on wards, spending the rest of his time on other skills, for one he picked up his passion with studying the web up again. Figuring out more and more of the uses of every node. Additionally, he also began working on more derivatory spells since you would never have enough of those.


    Yet, only a month later professor Crumb came to visit Athena''s Forge. As soon as Villin opened the doors and saw the professor''s serious face he knew why he had come.


    He had known this time would come ever since he got back to The Academy. The professor asked for him, Ruby, and Kayley to follow him and so they did. The group used the halls that were used less frequently as they were led somewhere by the professor. After walking for a few minutes Villin couldn''t help but ask where they were going, just in case he had it wrong.


    He didn''t.


    After he asked the question the professor looked at him with a serious gaze before responding, "We are going to war boy. Prepare yourself."

 Chapter 133: Plan For The Future

    After hearing the professor''s words Villin kept quiet, lost in thought.


    Professor Crumb brought them to a classroom situated in one of the corners of the grade. As far as Villin knew, the classroom was generally abandoned, not being used for any classes.


    A moment later, the group entered. Unlike what was expected, the classroom had a bunch of people inside.


    In the very middle of the room was a large rectangular room with a bunch of people standing around it.


    There were four professors standing on one side of the table, Villin recognized one as his teacher for ''Tactics of War'', one of the few classes he continued to attend. The others were also teachers of the grade but none of them taught Villin.


    Other than the teachers there were a bunch of students around the table as well. In total Villin counted twenty-two, and surprisingly Villin recognized most of them.


    The students were all those that were considered the best fighters in the grade. Villin recognized blue-haired twins that he once fought with as well as a member of ''The Shielding Lions'' that he encountered on his first day. As for the others, he had heard of many of them from Amelia, they were the ones she considered strong.


    Seeing the lineup, Villin couldn''t help but wonder why Amelia wasn''t invited as she was as strong as Kayley but he didn''t linger on it.


    As soon as their group surrounded the table as well, mimicking those around them, one of the teachers Villin didn''t know spoke up.


    "Welcome everyone. I am sure everyone remembers what happened at the beginning of the year. Back then Decorus attacked our Academy killing many of our younger brethren.


    Many of you lost someone in that attack, be it family or a close friend. Today I am glad to tell you that the time for revenge has come."


    The speaker was a man with bronze hair that was put in a ponytail. He waited for a moment to let the students in front of them process the information.


    "You all are some of the students The Academy trusts the most. Each of you has been wronged by Decorus in the past and I know many of you have been itching to find a way to get back to them.


    Everything that will be said in this room is classified information. You may not share what you learn here with anyone. Spies can be disguised as the best of friends, I urge you all to keep this meeting a secret."


    The man waved his hand over the rectangular table and soon a snowy mountain-peak could be seen atop of it.


    "We have found two of the secret locations where Decorus teaches their students. Looking at all the information we have we can tell these are the first grade and the sixth grade.


    It has to be said that Decorus is truly powerful. Attacking their sixth grade will be extraordinarily difficult and since Decorus consists mostly of magi focusing on transfiguration, the chances of a complete victory are relatively small."


    After saying these words the man pointed at the mountain-peak shown on the table.


    "Hence, our true purpose lays there. Within the mountain range lays their first grade. After leaving this room, we will be going to a gathering of all of The Academy''s teachers where we will reveal the plan to attack their sixth grade. We have no doubt Decorus has planted at least one spy within our teachers. They will know of our plan and send nearly all of their teachers to the sixth grade, preparing to defend.


    With nearly all of Decorus''s teachers in the sixth grade, the first grade will be practically undefended. A small inconspicuous task force will be sent out consisting of the students that are currently here, and a few teachers.


    We believe we have a way to secretly infiltrate their building. The students here will don the green first-grade Decorus robes and pretend to be students while moving about. Your goal is to do two things. Firstly, sneak attack as many groups of Decorus students as possible. Considering you all will seem like Decorus students they should be entirely incapable of reacting in time. You will begin moving from the outermost halls and slowly make your way to the dormitories. The teachers will support you when necessary and each of you will be given a spell blueprint that should help you deal with the bodies after taking care of the students"


    The man paused for a moment before explaining the second step.


    "As soon as you get discovered and people begin swarming towards your location, the plan changes. You will then head toward the door connecting to the treasury. With the assistance of the teachers, you will break in and take as much as you can. As for the rest, destroy it before leaving. The treasury should have an emergency exit even with the other teleportation arrays down, find it and get out."


    After explaining the plan the teacher waved his wand and the rectangular table now depicted the blueprint of their target, apparently, they got this from one of their spies.


    Next up, the bronze-haired teacher began explaining the specifics. They would be moving in four groups, each of them would be followed by a teacher. The teachers would remain out of sight so that the students could successfully sneak attack their students. If the fight takes too long or becomes too loud, the teacher would move up and assist the students to take out their enemies.


    One additional teacher would be outside working on disrupting the communications of the grade. If everything went perfectly, they would only be able to sound the alarms verbally as the other systems would be interrupted.


    All in all, it was an extremely risky plan. When asked why there would only be five teachers assisting, the professor''s explanation was simple. If too many of the most loyal professors were missing when they attacked the sixth grade of Decorus, they might figure out something was wrong. They could only send five teachers without making it seem odd.


    They were also informed that other than professor Crumb, the other assisting teachers wouldn''t be from the second grade. The reason these teachers brought them here was because it would attract the least attention and these were the teachers that would be preparing them.


    The attack would happen in no less than ten days. In that time each of the students would need to learn two spells required for the operation and get to know each other somewhat to improve their teamwork.


    All in all, it got Villin a massive headache. This was a lot more risky and complicated than previously thought.

 Chapter 134: Preparing For The Attack

    For the following hour, the students asked question after question concerning the specifics of the operation. It quickly became clear that the students selected weren''t just powerful idiots, a number of them had a great brain as well.


    Yet, even though the right questions were asked, many were left unanswered.


    The reason this happened was simple, they had limited information. Their spies from within helped a bunch getting them a proper map, letting them know of the most popular spells and the most notable students in the grade.


    Still, many things were left unknown. For one, the spies didn''t know the hangout spots of the more powerful groups of students. Alongside some other questions that couldn''t be answered it quickly became clear the information was a bit outdated.


    The information seemed like it came from the end of last year, this also meant that the notable students that only joined this year weren''t known.


    During the meeting, Villin and Kayley remained silent for the most part. They listened trying to get a better feel for, what seemed to be, an extremely dangerous operation.


    After this discussion period, the groups were announced. Villin would be leading one group, they would take care of the most northern corridors. They had the least amount of area to cover meaning Decorus students were very unlikely to accidentally slip by, but their area was also the closest to the more popular classes and the training grounds. They would have to deal with quite a few students. They would be followed by professor Crumb.


    Ruby would be leading a second group, this group would take care of the southernmost corridors. They would probably have it easiest. Kayley was under Ruby for this mission.


    The other two groups were led by one of the leaders of ''The Shielding Lions'' and the blue-haired Cassio brothers respectively.


    For the following nine days, they would be expected to train in their groups every day after class, additionally, they had to master two spells.


    One spell was made to take care of corpses. When you used to spell on a corpse it would begin rotting extremely quickly. First, the skin would disappear, then the blood, and finally the bones. They were warned it was quite a scary spell and they were all heavily advised not to look at the process, they simply had to wait for three minutes, and then all there would be left were the target''s possessions and a pile of dust. Both of which were things that could easily be destroyed.


    The second spell was a special sort of masking spell.


    The spell was extremely simple, only holding three nodes. It would cause a very faint illusion to hide your face somewhat. When someone focused on you they would still be able to see you but it would take a few moments before they would be able to have a proper look at you.


    It was a very subtle spell meaning that people generally wouldn''t realize they are looking at a magical effect. Using this spell would give the groups a few extra seconds before potentially being found out. Even though it was unlikely someone would realize they weren''t from there after seeing their faces, it was best not to take unnecessary risks.


    Going back to the guild tower, Villin felt uneasy. Overall, he was fine with attacking Decorus, they attacked them as well after all. The problem was that they were with a lot fewer people and only a few teachers to aid them.


    Furthermore, if a Decorus teacher actually showed up they would''ve probably already taken out half the group before their own teachers would have the opportunity to protect them.


    All he could do about it now was prepare properly. For the following nine days Villin got into a bit of a rhythm. He would start the day by working out a bit, following this he would spend the following hours practicing spells and working on derivatory variants. When this was finished he and the small team that would move with him would get a special lesson from professor Crumb.


    Professor Crumb taught them certain tactics that may help when dealing with students from Decorus but he mainly focused on getting the team together and making sure everyone learned how to work together properly. Villin was happy to see his team was getting stronger quickly, they had a wide variety of spells and after some practice, they worked really well together.


    After practicing with his seven teammates, he would go back to the guild tower where he would work on improving the enchantments on some pieces of Blue Mythril equipment. The three sets would be donned by Villin, Ruby, and Kayley. Villin would get the best set, then Ruby, and finally Kayley since she didn''t lead a team.


    On the evening of the ninth day, a huge announcement was made. All the students were informed that The Academy would be attacking Decorus the following day and avenge the previously fallen students. Sadly, the students from the second grade were considered too weak, only students from the third grade up would join the fight.


    This immediately caused the mood in the entire grade to change. Even though it was said they wouldn''t fight, they all still prepared for battle. The guild hall became super active and all non-combat killed were constantly working on commissions preparing gear for those preparing to fight. Athena''s Forge was no different as they were busy enchanting a large number of objects.


    It was also this very evening that Villin got another one of his extremely odd dreams.


    ---------------


    The moment Villin cast ''Drowse'' on himself to help him sleep, his vision changed.


    He found himself in a completely different place. His breathing quickened and he felt panicked, he wasn''t sure why but he felt scared and lonely. The room he was in was mostly desolate. Moss was growing on some of the dark-grey stones that most of the room was made of.


    Against the walls were stone statues that seemed to be relatively well-maintained. He also noticed a faint shine in the air in front of him, it felt faintly familiar but he didn''t focus on it too long. This was because he noticed the door in the corner of the room. A heavy-duty stone door without as much as a keyhole. He could even swear the door and wall were merged together.


    When he turned his head he saw there was someone else in the room other than him. There was a girl, completely naked. Scars covered her body and a few of her toes were missing. One of her ears was mangled but no matter how hard he tried, he couldn''t see her face. All he could see were the tears streaming down her face and blood, dripping from her mangled ear.


    When he saw her he didn''t quite feel sorry for her, he didn''t have the energy within him to do so. But still, he felt sadder than he did a moment ago. As he crawled closer he saw long scars covering his arms but he ignored them. He quietly sat next to the girl letting her head rest on his shoulder as tears came out of her eyes.


    "I-I''m not sure how much longer I''ll be able to keep this up." the girl''s voice was unsteady as she had barely said a word in the months that passed.


    Villin just sighed and even though he wanted to respond, trying to cheer her up, he felt incapable of lying to her to try and make her feel better


    "I know."


    These were the final words he said before he woke up.


    -------------


    The morning of the tenth day, the secret task force discreetly gathered in one of the classrooms. There were five teachers there in total, other than professor Crumb, Villin didn''t recognize any of the teachers here, they were supposedly all from different grades. This way, their absence wouldn''t be too suspicious since a few teachers of each grade stayed behind to defend from a potential counterattack.


    Once everyone arrived, they went over the plan one more time. The main attack force would be moving toward the Decorus sixth grade in two hours and they would arrive in four hours. Their task force would head toward their destination in four hours, arriving one hour later.


    At this point, it was too late to back down.


    Villin checked his bag to make sure he had everything with him. He wasn''t allowed to take an interspacial object with him since it could set off an alarm within the school, furthermore, they could only take a certain amount of magical equipment with them. Luckily when the Blue Mythril armor was checked, it didn''t seem to radiate too much energy, and it would be fine, the same went for Villin''s puppet.


    For the final couple of hours, everyone continued to strategize and make sure they had everything they needed with them. Then, finally, it was time to move out.

 Chapter 135: Arriving At Decorus

    When the time came, everyone carefully followed the professors. They went through some abandoned unused corridors before arriving at a certain wall. At this point, professor Crumb used a spell that caused an inconspicuous door to appear on this wall.


    When the group went through they went through the sensation of teleportation and they suddenly found themselves in the snow above ground. A few of the students weren''t used to the sensation of teleportation yet and couldn''t help but puke in the snow, luckily, Villin wasn''t too troubled by this anymore.


    The sun was shining brightly blinding everyone in the group for a few moments before they could properly look around.


    "Alright, everyone wearing pieces of equipment come closer." one of the unknown teachers said gesturing at those who were wearing pieces of distinctive equipment.


    When Villin got closer, this teacher cast a spell on him making the Blue-Mythril equipment invisible. It also properly revealed the green robe he was currently wearing to fit in when he entered the school. Villin was quite interested in the spell since it could allow him to wear his armor anywhere without suspicion and decided to ask the teacher about it once all of this was over.


    Once everyone that was wearing distinct equipment had this spell cast on them it was finally time to keep moving.


    "Alright, this is the closest outpost we have leading to our target. It will only take around one hour for us to fly there with you all. When you feel the flight spell take a hold of you do not resist, instead, try to assist the spell and supply it further with your own magical energy, this way it will further stabilize and your flight will be more pleasant," one of the teachers said.


    Once this was said, everyone was placed into their respective groups. Professor Crumb approached Villin and his group and began preparing the spell he had to cast. It was essentially a derivatory version of the basic flight spell and it had only been invented a dozen years ago, The Academy was the only group that was confirmed to be able to use this spell currently.


    After a few minutes passed, professor Crumb finished his spell and Villin could feel foreign magical energy being controlled around him, attempting to lift him up. He didn''t resist in any way and instead fed the spell with more energy, stabilizing it. And as expected, a few moments later he found himself to be floating a few feet above the snow.


    The flight went pretty much exactly how Villin expected it would go. A few of his teammates puked mid-flight and they were all a bit dizzy. This was to be expected since they didn''t have control over how they moved, professor Crumb was the one controlling their flight path.


    After fifty minutes they floated back to the snow, they were then given a few moments to recuperate.


    A few hundred meters before them was a large mountain peak, one they recognized from the briefing earlier, it was the location of Decorus''s first grade.


    Once they were back in decent shape, professor Crumb cast another spell on them, Villin could feel something changed but couldn''t quite understand what felt different.


    "This will be able to hide you from the vast majority of the perceptive wards and arrays Decorus uses. The ones it can''t hide you from will be interrupted by professor Gratts, in five minutes we will move the rest of the way. Make sure you all are prepared to fight. We won''t be able to see what''s going on inside until we actually enter. We will try to enter through a more desolated area but I can''t guarantee there won''t be enemies as soon as we enter." the way professor Crumb spoke was serious and professional, he wanted to make sure everyone was ready for what was to come.


    "Now before we move, Villin, could we have a word?" the professor asked.


    Villin obviously agreed and they stepped away from the group to speak. When they were far enough so that they wouldn''t have anyone listening in, the professor looked at Villin and put a hand on his shoulder.


    "Boy, I ask you not to underestimate our enemies. Decorus isn''t like us. The students in your team... the students involved in this operation all have a reason that makes them hate Decorus. Yet, even though this is the case, I believe many of them will hesitate when they will need to strike a killing blow, or maybe they will become weak-willed when they see corpses rot, or when one of their friends dies." With a troubled face, the professor looked at the mountain peak.


    "You remind me of someone I followed long ago. You, my boy, may just be the next monarch. No matter what, you need to live. If this means you need to escape while your teammates get killed then so be it. If you need to defect and work for Decorus then that is simply how it is." even though these words shocked Villin as the professor was supposed to be one of those most loyal to The Academy, he kept listening. Still, he clearly saw the expression on the professor''s face, he clearly didn''t want him to defect or anything of the like, he just wanted him to live.


    "This isn''t going to be a pretty sight, my boy. Your teammates may die and so could I. But no matter what you will need to keep fighting, find a way to live." After saying this the professor stayed quiet for a moment as he hesitated whether to tell Villin something or not, looking the sincere boy in the eyes he chose to speak.


    "When we get back to The Academy I will need to show you something. Within the white tower lays a secret, one that is only known to a few. Before the death of the Monarch, she hid this legacy within the tower, and then she left the key to me, she told me that after her death, I would be responsible for finding someone capable of becoming the next Monarch and guide them." The professor paused for a moment before continuing.


    "Boy, even though we didn''t meet all that long ago, I know it is you she wanted me to find. So live, win and then I''ll give you what is rightfully yours." After finishing his words the professor immediately went back to the group leaving behind a very confused Villin.


    He had never heard of this ''Monarch'' before. Even though he had read dozens upon dozens of history books it had never been mentioned. That said, it was very possible certain events had been hidden. He realized this after the competition with the talented youths. At that time, the ''Third Central War'' had been mentioned, an event he had never heard or read of. That being said he had never heard of the first or second central war either.


    After this fight, he was sure the professor would explain everything to him. He just had to make sure he survived. As for the professor talking about betraying The Academy, he decided to ignore it. Above anything, he didn''t want to be separated from his companions and mentor, there was no way he would betray The Academy at this point in time and he also didn''t think the professor wanted him to, he simply wanted him to focus on his own survival first, something Villin very much was going to do.


    In the last nine days, he had made sure not to get close to any of his teammates, he simply talked tactics and nothing else, not even bothering to remember most of their names. He did this because he knew some were going to die for sure and he didn''t want emotions to cause him to falter in his convictions.


    It was now that professor Crumb seemed to have gotten some sort of signal, he approached the group and said it was time to move. Luckily they would only have to walk to the bottom of the mountain, despite the snow it would only take them around ten minutes, the only annoyance was that they couldn''t use any magic until they entered the school.


    Ten minutes later they found themselves at the bottom of the mountain, everyone took out their wands and became visibly nervous. Professor Crumb walked up to a flat stone that was nearby and touched it with his hand, the stone moved revealing an empty black abyss, an obvious illusion hiding the inside. It was clearly a secret entrance that should only be known by the most trusted people in Decorus, Villin felt a bit more at ease knowing they had a high-up spy.


    After revealing the entrance professor Crumb spoke with a steady voice "It''s an illusion. As soon as we jump in we will find ourselves inside of the school, there could be students just below this right now. So be careful"

 Chapter 136: Endless Emptiness

    Since they were now so close to the inside of Decorus, the group was once more free to cast spells. Each of the students pointed their wands at their own faces casting the minor illusion spell they were required to learn. Most of them also cast a second spell, defensive in nature.


    As for Villin, he cast a wandless ''Reverto'' and ''Sheldium''. He also still had the physical defensive spell ''Obiectus Prohibere'' but after some testing, he found it was impossible to maintain it for a long period of time. It was because of this he made it one of his saved spells.


    Professor Crumb also cast two spells on the group, the first was a standard cleaning spell to get rid of the snow on their green robes, as for the second, it was a spell that would allow them to fall down from the ceiling without breaking their legs. They all knew the ceiling was five meters high in this school and they would be entering from the top.


    After this, it was time to strike. As planned, Villin went ahead and took his puppet off of his back, he put the puppet on the ground and prepared to have it jump into the black void, at this point the item could transmit its own vision to Villin, this would make it an ideal scouting tool.


    Once the puppet confirmed it wasn''t a trap and nobody was waiting for them, professor Crumb would go in, then the rest of the group.


    When everyone was inside, the plan would begin regularly, the professor would stay back far enough to make sure he wouldn''t be detected while the students would pretend to be from Decorus and kill any groups of students they came across in their area.


    Before sending in the puppet, Villin thought about everything he had that would help him survive. He had a decent amount of spells, three of which were saved. He had his puppet, something he hadn''t really used in practice since its creation. He had Blue-Mythril armor that should allow him to tank a few hits he normally wouldn''t be able to. Specifically those from elemental attacks such as spells using fire or air.


    Lastly, he had the reward he got for winning the competition set up by the runemasters. This disk was his trump card. If the group encountered a teacher he believed he could get everyone to safety once using the defensive stance of the disk, this should give enough time for professor Crumb to arrive. If they got into any problems with students he believed the offensive stance of the disk should let them clear up enemies, mixed with the healing and magic regeneration stances they would be able to get on top again and recuperate quickly.


    With his mind at ease again, Villin took control of his puppet, without a moment''s hesitation, it jumped into the black void.


    Villin closed his eyes, seeing through the ''eyes'' of the puppet. He could see the puppet was falling slowly, thanks to professor Crumb''s spell. It floated down and after about a dozen seconds it arrived on the floor.


    The hallways of Decorus were all massive. The ceiling was five meters high and the arched hallways were four meters wide. Even through the black-white vision from the puppet Villin could tell the walls were emitting a familiar shine, it should be entirely enchanted.


    Looking around, the hallway it arrived at seemed empty. Just to make sure Villin moved it to look through the closeby corridors but he didn''t see any students nearby, after giving the all-clear professor Crumb entered, and then the students did as well.


    Now that they were within hostile territory, everyone looked visibly nervous. This was the real reason they had to learn the minor illusion spell that would make it harder to read their expression. Their nervousness was anticipated and expected, as long as it didn''t affect their entire posture it should be fine though.


    Everyone here was very familiar with the map of Decorus at this point, and so they quickly oriented themselves.


    Villin had to admit, the halls were extremely intimidating, the sheer size of the hallways made it clear they were facing a behemoth, the visible shine on the wall further confirmed this feeling. They all knew that they would need to use surprise attacks, if their opponents were allowed to create golems out of the enchanted walls around them, the situation could deteriorate quickly.


    As per the plan, the group moved through the hallways in group. Still, occasionally a person would have to split up momentarily to check one of the nearby hallways, making sure they wouldn''t miss any Decorus students that could potentially backstab them when the fighting started.


    Villin had to correct his group multiple times as they naturally gravitated to form a V formation, something that would cause them to stand out too much.


    Still, after walking for ten minutes they had yet to see a soul. Even though they entered in a relatively abandoned area and they still weren''t in any place that could be considered a hotspot, at this point they should''ve at least found a few small groups of stray students.


    In a quiet voice, Villin commented "In five minutes we will be entering an area with higher traffic. Even though classes should be canceled due to our main attack we should still expect students to hang out close to the classrooms."


    Hearing his voice the others nodded, thus far nobody had lowered their guard.


    Yet another five minutes passed and they still hadn''t seen anyone. At this point, they arrived at some of the main classrooms. Most notably was the transfiguration class. Normally they weren''t supposed to enter these classrooms. Since they were expected to be empty with possibly one or two students max, professor Crumb who moved a few minutes behind them would check the classrooms taking care of anyone inside.


    Villin decided to change the plan somewhat, the others who were all very nervous at this point didn''t hesitate to agree, they were also beginning to think something was wrong.


    The doors to the transfiguration classrooms looked more luxurious compared to the basic doors The Academy used. The doors were made of stone and had engravings on them of various animals ranging from snakes to lions to elementals. Each of them was a small artwork, no doubt created using transfiguration.


    Villin pointed his wand at the door, from a few meters away, his puppet was the only thing close to the door. Seeing how empty the halls were he was worried about potential traps and so he took this precaution.


    One of his teammates cast a spell at the door first, creating an invisible dome around it. It was then that Villin sent out his own spell.


    ''Bombardo!''


    A streak of light quickly went to the door before exploding, even so, the noise never came, silenced by his teammate''s spell. Due to the explosion the door instantly burst open letting the puppet jump through just a moment later.


    Villin, who had somewhat expected students to be waiting there in ambush was once more met with more of nothing.


    There was nobody there. The room only had a few closets and there were no tables to be found other than the teacher''s desk. Overall it was quite similar to The Academy, the only exception was the size of the classroom. It was even larger than the hallways with the ceiling being nearly ten meters above ground, it was comparable to the guild hall The Academy had in that regard.


    After seeing there was truly nobody there, Villin and two others cautiously entered, using spells to open the various closets.


    They were stunned to find they still had all of their contents. They saw multiple wooden spell blueprints and various academic books talking about transfiguration.


    After grabbing them, the group left the room.


    "It could be that they were all transported to the Sixth grade when Decorus got wind of our attacks. Perhaps they chose a different tactic than The Academy and they were confident their defenses would at least be able to sense intruders. Either that or the students were all asked to stay in their rooms. Either way, it would mean we have practically free reign over the majority of this school."


    Hearing Villin''s deduction most people agreed. There was simply no other explanation anyone could come up with. They all considered the fact that maybe Decorus knew about their group but in that case, they should''ve already attacked them, easily taking them out.


    After a short discussion, the group decided to wait for professor Crumb to talk to him about the situation. At this point, they were less worried about students randomly walking up to them and seeing professor Crumb, also realizing he wasn''t a teacher of Decorus. It was a risk they could take at this point.


    Three minutes of waiting later, they sighted professor Crumb, seeing the group had stopped and nobody seemed injured the professor approached them.


    "What''s going on? Why has everyone stopped moving?" he asked carefully.


    "Thus far we haven''t seen a single Decorus student yet. The classes also seem to be completely empty. I suspect they are either holed up in their rooms or taken to the sixth grade. What should we do?" Villin explained in short.


    Professor Crumb was surprised to hear this, he simply thought the group took care of enemies quickly and used the spell they learned to get rid of the corpses, the fact they hadn''t met anyone yet was truly strange.


    After pausing for a few moments the professor spoke "I''ll repair the door, then we can make our way toward one of our other teams. If the situation is the same everywhere we can consider going straight for the treasury."

 Chapter 137: A Slaughter

    Soon after, the group began moving again. To get to another team first they would have to walk for about ten minutes to get to the area they were checking, then they guessed they would need to jog for another five minutes to catch up.


    If that team''s situation were the same as their own, they would continue to group up with the rest of the teams before attacking the treasury together. The dormitories and treasury were quite far apart so other than the traps which the teachers could mostly work around, they shouldn''t have any opposition for a while. Then, before the fight in the sixth grade ended and Decorus sent people back to the first grade, they would be gone.


    As they moved Villin became more and more sure the students were either entirely gone or in their respective rooms. This meant the defenses overall were probably at their weakest currently.


    Not just Villin, almost everyone in his team had similar thoughts, as did professor Crumb who was once more walking around four minutes behind them, just in case they coincidentally missed students. Sadly, all of them were wrong.


    They had only been walking for around six minutes when they began hearing sounds up ahead, after a few moments they identified the sound as those of explosions and the breaking of walls.


    Everyone in the team instantly went on high alert and began running toward the sound of battle. They were specifically instructed not to use spells that were too loud to minimize the risk of detection, and Decorus students focused most of their energy on learning transfiguration, they generally wouldn''t have spells like that.


    This meant the team they were heading for was probably in trouble and forced to use their most powerful spells.


    As they ran forward the sounds got louder and louder, they could hear people shouting and screaming up ahead, every second the battle seemed to become fiercer as the intensity of the sounds increased.


    Just when the group suspected they were only about two turns and one minute away from the action, a boy in a green robe stumbled into their hallway. The boy had a large gash on his forehead but it didn''t manage to pierce his skull. His green robe was partially burnt and a large wound could be seen on the student''s soldier, clearly caused by fire.


    Seeing him Villin was about to cast a spell to finish the boy off, but just before he did so, he heard the boy exclaim, "Thank god you guys are here! It was a trap, Decorus isn''t working alone, they have been ambushing the teams one by one and they are working with-"


    Villin''s group luckily realized he was a part of one of their teams in time and so nobody sent out a spell. Yet when he was in the middle of explaining a situation the boy suddenly lost his breath. But a moment the cause became clear as a red ball of fire burnt its way through the boy''s intestines, creating a hole straight through the boy''s stomach.


    When the boy fell down, the reason for his death quickly became clear. A creature had just come from the boy''s direction. The winged creature looked like a large green lizard that was about three meters long. Its neck was very long and also the only part of the dragon that was in a different color as it emitted an orange light.


    The creature wasn''t flying at this point in time. It simply looked at the new group it encountered with its green eyes.


    "Mafoli!"


    Villin was the first to react and he immediately realized what the student tried to tell him. Without hesitation, he pointed his wand toward the creature. As it was observing them, vines suddenly began sprouting out of the ground around it, trying to trap the creature.


    Angered the green drake jumped up before the vines could reach it and it began flying toward the group.


    Seeing the green drake coming towards them the students quickly snapped out of it and began sending spells toward the creature.


    Six different spells hit the creature at the same time, before it could spit out another ball of fire, the creature crashed to the ground, killed by the first wave of spells.


    Even though the first enemy had seemingly been easily dealt with, nobody in the group felt good. Everyone knew that summons were the signature art of Mafoli, one of the top ten schools that had been becoming a lot stronger recently.


    After a few moments passed, Villin finally spoke "Let''s go in, save who we can, and get back to the professor, he should be able to guide us towards an exit."


    Hearing Villin''s words the others nodded, nobody even proposed leaving right now. Everyone involved in this situation was considered to be brave and each of them had at least some battle experience, they quickly began moving forward.


    When the group turned the corner, the situation instantly changed. Creatures and students alike were laying dead on the floor. They saw panthers, ice goblins, and pixies laying alongside students in both green and black robes. The back robes further confirmed Mafoli was involved in this and currently the group didn''t have time to check who was with them and who was actually with Decorus.


    It was only when they were standing there they noticed something was wrong, the sounds of explosions and the breaking of walls had disappeared, other than flames that were ravaging one of the rooms connected to the hallways it was completely empty.


    Villin looked at the people alongside him before sending his puppet forward. The puppet was quite fast and the contraption quickly made its way to one of the nearby hallways, looking for the enemies. When it peeked into one of the hallways, Villin suddenly froze, shocked by what was hiding from them.


    Dozens upon dozens of creatures were waiting for them. There were close to a dozen green drakes attached to the ceiling, they had to do this because the floor was filled with bears, panthers, ice goblins, and various other creatures. Behind them were students in green robes who were working together trying to create a golem that was three meters in size.


    Sadly, the puppet didn''t evade their perception and they also seemed to know it wasn''t theirs. The puppet managed to jump back just before a barrage of spells passed it.


    "RUN!"


    Villin only said this one word before he turned around and ran back the way they came from. This group might be able to take care of two or three drakes, they had no chance in dealing with such a large number of enemies.


    The group didn''t hesitate to follow his command, they had already felt incredibly nervous since they heard the sound of fighting stop, additionally, they saw nearly a dozen spells nearly hit the puppet that had been sent out, this meant at least a dozen humans were waiting for them there, and they didn''t doubt that summons and golems were there as well.


    Still, Villin was hopeful. The professor was only a few minutes behind them, they should be able to reach him quickly. Sadly, before he even spotted the professor the walls in front of them began shifting closing off the road ahead of them.


    They could feel the entire school was shifting, where certain hallways closed others opened, the layout of the entire school began to change. Previously the hallways were absolutely massive allowing all sorts of creatures and golems to reach after them. Yet now all there was were a number of thin hallways on either side. They were each barely two meters high and one meter sideways. This was one of Decorus''s trump cards. It was meant to split up enemy forces while still keeping them controlled, the enemies would still believe they could get out if they escaped through one of the hallways while in reality, it all led back to the same places, there was no way out. The fact that large creatures and golems couldn''t pass wasn''t important either. As they would now be stuck they could simply keep making new golems and wait for students to come to them after which they had a dozen drakes and a few massive golems to finish off the already exhausted students. The new hallways were purposefully smaller in size to make the enemies feel hope, but this also meant they would have nowhere to dodge.


    Villin didn''t know this and as he saw drakes flying behind them, creatures that would surely soon catch up to them and set them aflame, he was forced to make a decision.


    "We split up, go through different hallways, and try to make your way towards the professor, if you can''t find him, we''ll meet back up at the place where we entered. We can try to escape through there."


    Nobody had time to comment on the plan as everyone began running into the different hallways together. Villin did the same, he ran the same way as a boy named Marvin, the weakest member of their group.


    It didn''t take long before they realized something. There were no doors anywhere. Even if they wanted to they couldn''t hide out in any sort of classroom. Secondly, they noticed the layout had become almost maze-like. It didn''t take long for Villin to figure out what had happened, after seeing multiple dead ends he knew there would be no way out other than the way in. Knowing this he tried to find a way to escape anyway. Thinking back to the map he tried to orient himself properly, finding out where exactly they were.

 Chapter 138: The Chase

    For Villin, it wasn''t that hard to find where he was on the mental map, he recalled the steps he took and could get a pretty accurate feel of it.


    As far as he knew a part of the hallways had been transfigurated in one way or another. This meant that as it was the map he had seen when preparing for the attack was mostly useless. That being said, there was still something Villin could do.


    "Marvin, hold back any attackers, I''ll focus on getting us out of here!" Villin said to the boy that had come with him.


    The boy called Marvin nodded. The thin hallway made it easy to defend, he didn''t even have to show his face to attack most of the time. The only problem he would face is that his magic power would continue to be used up, at that point he would generally have to force a push, once he got out he would then be attacked from all sides, easily getting killed.


    Obviously, Villin wouldn''t be doing this though. He instead counted his steps until he stood at a specific spot. He looked at the wall in front of him a few meters to the left, from this distance if he would attack it he wouldn''t get harmed himself.


    Even though the hallways on the map became useless, it didn''t mean the classrooms did too.


    With the hallways transfigurating the vast majority of the enchantments protecting them were destroyed, all that was left was the sturdiness of the material itself.


    The closest classroom was two meters away from the mini-maze they were trapped in, Villin was confident he would be able to get through this if he was given some time.


    Yet when he pointed his wand at the wall, ready to cast ''Bombardo'', he hesitated.


    To get through the wall he would probably need around twenty minutes. At this point, Marvin would probably have no magic power left and most of his team would already be killed or captured.


    Villin had no plan to save his team at this point in time, he had no ability to do so. That being said, they could still keep some of the enemies busy while he tried to escape, if he made his way through the normal way, they would already be mostly dead and nearly all of the enemies would be focused on himself.


    Furthermore, there was no way to do this silently. Villin and Marvin didn''t have any of the spells used to disrupt sound, this meant that the sound of the explosions would most certainly reach their opponents, after a few minutes they would probably realize what was going on.


    With this in mind, Villin lowered his wand and reached into his backpack taking out the disk he had gotten a while ago.


    He placed the disk on the ground next to the wall he wanted to break and began supplying one of the runes on the disk with magic power.


    The disk had five clearly visible runes on it. Each of them were locks stopping the power in different sections of the disk from spilling out. The one he supplied was the one used for offense. When the magic power properly reached it, the rune faded away, a few moments after this happened a deafening explosion sounded out.


    Villin, who was standing thirty meters away from the disk was still thrown back onto the floor and his ears were bleeding, a loud beeping noise overtaking his senses.


    A crater had appeared at the place the disk was set and the walls around it were entirely broken, up to fifteen meters away from the center of the impact, no walls were left standing.


    Once Villin managed to clear his mind he walked through the dust to the center of the small crater, he had to use ''Vococito'' a few times to get rid of some rocks burying the disk before he could retrieve the item. Even after that explosion and the rocks falling atop of it, it was entirely unharmed.


    By the time he retrieved the disk, Marvin had also pulled back to where he was, Villin could see Marvin''s mouth moving but he was still deaf for the time being. He simply pointed at the massive hole in the wall and both of them moved through.


    Once they got through the dusty area they found themselves inside of one of the Decorus classrooms. This one had a large number of desks in it but a number of them were toppled over.


    As soon as they got in Villin turned around and vines began sprouting out of th ground blocking the hole they had come through.


    Villin and Marvin quickly left the room, through the main door that got blasted through using a ''Bombardo''. With the door open they quickly ran through and found themselves in a somewhat familiar corridor. The ceiling was five meters high and the passage was wide as well, the shine of enchantments were clear to see as well. It seemed the transfiguration that trapped them earlier only affected a small area of the school. It probably consumed a massive amount of resources as well.


    Villin didn''t hesitate and immediately turned to the right. At this point, professor Crumb should''ve already reached what was now a dead-end, once he got there Villin had no idea what he would do.


    Because of this Villin opted to head towards the entrance they came through as soon as possible. It was where he might be able to meet up with other survivors and probably also one of the places the professor would look for them at.


    Yet, when they were in the middle of running through one of the wide corridors, Marvin suddenly stopped moving, turned around, and pointed his wand to the area they had just come from.


    Knowing that this probably meant the boy heard people chasing after them, Villin didn''t hesitate to take out the disk once more. This time his magic power eroded the rune that locked the invisibility effect of the disk.


    He pushed Marvin to the very side of the corridor and put the disk on the floor, only putting a small amount of magic power into it, making it so that an invisible dome of only two meters wide appeared.


    Only three seconds passed before the people pursuing them appeared. First came half a dozen hounds that ran through the corridor looking for them. Even though they lost the smell halfway through they continued to run since there was no other place their targets could''ve gone.


    Half a minute after the hounds passed two people appeared. At the end of the hallway, leisurely following the hounds at their own tempo. The ringing in Villin''s ears began to decrease just in time to be able to understand their conversation.


    "That hole was caused by powerful magic. This is no work of a student, it seems that one of their teachers must''ve been in disguise." the speaker was an old woman in a green robe, she seemed slightly upset.


    "No, it was caused by a student and I believe I know which one. The explosion was caused by an artifact, a new invention of the white tower. There are two students holding the artifact, both of which study in The Academy. I believe we have the honor to be chasing one of the two youngest runemasters to ever exist. Either Villin Grey or Ruby Von Hauser." Villin immediately recognized the second figure. The man had no hair but a curly mustache and a long white beard that reached the ground, he was Granolf Mafoli.


    "Ah Villin Grey, is that the boy that spied on you? Oh my, that boy truly is lacking manners now isn''t he!" the woman replied as she passed the hiding spot of Villin and Marvin.


    Granolf laughed coldly pausing in his steps after passing by the area the duo was hiding.


    "We should keep moving professor Mafoli, otherwise they might just get away." the old woman said casually.


    Granolf snorted as he scanned the walls around him "You know I have a peculiar bloodline miss Cassio. Among other things I am able to easily feel a person''s emotions."


    The woman looked confused as she looked as the bearded man next to her "Yes, I realize, why is that of importance?"


    The man smiled brightly as he turned, looking straight at Villin and Marvin''s hiding place. The artifact I mentioned. It is capable of making one invisible, even hiding one''s smell and magic power. But emotions, those can never be hidden, especially fear. An emotion so powerful, it is impossible I''d ever miss it.


    At this point, the woman caught on to what was happening, and so she pointed her wand at the location Granolf was looking at.


    Knowing they had been found out, a red streak came out of Marvin''s wand aimed at the old lady. As soon as the spell went through the dome protecting them, the invisibility ward wore off and the duo was revealed.


    The old lady simply pointed at the red streak and it disappeared turning into nothing.


    Seeing Villin, Granolf let out a wicked smile "My, my, it truly is my lucky day. If it isn''t Villin my dearest boy. How I have looked forward to properly meeting you."

 Chapter 139: The Traitor

    Seeing the two teachers standing barely three meters away from himself, Villin had no idea what to do. He could also feel the bloodlust in Granolf''s voice but unlike at the gathering a while back, it didn''t paralyze him this time.


    All it did was slightly shake his outermost mental defense.


    However, this didn''t hold true for Marvin.


    Attacked by Granolf''s bloodlust, the boy shivered, dropping his wand. A putrid smell also began rising in the area as the boy wet himself.


    "Well, boy? Shouldn''t you show some manners and properly greet your elders?" Granolf asked with an eerie smile as he looked Villin in the eyes.


    Meanwhile, Villin''s brain was working overtime. He kept trying to think of a way out but he didn''t have any spells capable of hurting teachers. All he had that could potentially somewhat harm them was the self-destruct function of his puppet, but with the two teachers looking at him he wouldn''t be able to get the puppet to them, they would blow it up the moment it made a move.


    Just as he was considering surrendering, he thought of something. He did have a spell that might just work on these people, a spell he had only used twice.


    It was a derivatory version of ''Mentallage''. Shortly before the competition amongst the youths, he had been practicing this seemingly harmless spell, trying to find more derivatory versions of it.


    The person he had been practicing it on was Amelia. When it came to mostly harmless offensive spells he would always ask one of his companions to help him test the effects. This time he didn''t even expect it to be an offensive spell, he was simply hoping for some improvement in communication.


    Yet as soon as he cast the spell intending to just send over a simple sentence for testing purposes, Amelia screamed.


    Within a few moments she had fallen to the ground and she was clutching her head.


    It was only after three days she completely recovered. According to her the first section of the spell acted the same, it made its way into her head, seemingly intending to deliver a message. But then, instead of simply delivering a message it began moving around wildly, not caring about the contents of her head.


    A few days after Amelia fully recovered, Villin used the spell for the second time, on himself this time around. He wanted to know the proper effects of the spell. If he were to use it on his enemies, it only felt right he knew the effects.


    He didn''t do much better, only getting better after two full days. Shortly after that time he competed in the competition and met cannibals capable of easily performing mental attacks.


    Back then the spell was useless since the cannibals were clearly focused on mental attacks.


    And he knew that if he were to use the spell on himself at this point in time, it would also be useless due to the defenses he had put into place.


    Without a word, Villin dropped his wand, this was generally something that was considered a sign of surrender.


    Seeing the two people in front of him, Villin knew who to target. Granolf was capable of emitting bloodlust meaning he had probably stood on battlefields and he was mentally very strong. And so he looked at the old lady.


    "I must admit boy I am a little disappointed, I was hoping to teach you a proper lesson when you would try to fight back." Granolf admitted as he looked at Villin "But I''m sure I''ll be able to find some time to do so once the fighting had ended, no need to worry."


    Villin took in a deep breath, Granolf assumed this was to try and keep himself calm but in reality, it was in preparation for the spell.


    ''Mentallage'' was a wandless spell that generally was very easy to cast with a measly five nodes. But when two of the nodes were changed to nodes that could be said to be considerably far from the natural path, Villin had to focus in order to be able to cast it.


    Just as he looked into the old lady''s eyes again, prepared to cast the spell, a massive explosion took place as the wall just a few meters to his right was blown into pieces.


    Dust and rocks flew in all directions as everyone was forced to cast a spell or two to keep themselves from harm.


    Villin cast ''Obiectus Prohibere'' caused the rocks coming at him to slow down to a halt when they got too close. This also protected Marvin who was standing just to the left of him.


    As for Granolf and old lady Cassio, they only had to flick their wands to blow up each of the pieces of rock coming towards them.


    The hole in the wall was massive being three meters by three meters. And behind the dust, a hunched figure could be seen.


    Under the gaze of everyone in the hallway, the man stepped forward showing his face.


    "Theodore!" Granolf said as he recognized professor Crumb walking out of the hole in the wall as the dust settled.


    With professor Crumb arriving the three groups now formed a triangle, each standing no further than four meters from the other.


    Professor Crumb looked at Villin seriously before nodding, affirming the boy was alright. After this, he looked at the old lady standing next to Granolf.


    The old man frowned when looking into the lady''s eyes. "Truly Isabelle, you are the traitor? Have you forgotten these people killed your son?"


    Without missing a beat the old lady responded "I still have two left, don''t I?"


    At first, professor Crumb was shocked the kind-hearted Isabelle Cassio could say something of the like but after a moment his gaze rested on the necklace around her neck and he understood what happened.


    "Hmm, I see. I suppose that necklace restrains your feelings. And here I thought you would never use such useless items."


    Hearing his words Isabelle scoffed "I have learned how useless feelings are. What benefit do they provide? I am no runemaster and I have no need for intent, I have stopped acting irrationally."


    Interrupting their conversation, Granolf turned to the professor "Please old man, we both know you have no way of defeating us, or me for that matter. When it comes to runes you might be slightly more skilled than me but in battle, you do not stand even close to me. I have fought numerous battles while you just sit in your room and study!"


    At the same time, Granolf released his magical powers causing Villin to instantly feel suffocated. The magical elements all around him seemed to be in control of the man to the point even casting the easiest spell would become a chore.


    Yet just a few moments later this state was lifted as a second aura moved in. Professor Crumb first mimicked Granolf as the two auras seemed to stand opposite each other, similar in strength.


    And then professor Crumb''s strength seemed to be growing more and more. His magical strength surged within seconds instantly eclipsing Granolf''s strength.


    Villin felt a metallic taste in his mouth and an odd smell in the air. He didn''t immediately recognize it but Granolf did, it was the smell of blood.


    Instantly, Granolf paled as he felt the intense force coming from a person standing just a few meters before him. "You aren''t Theodore, are you?"


    The professor smiled slightly as he responded "Took you long enough to figure that out."


    "For how long?"


    "Four years."


    Granolf squinted his eyes as he looked professor Crumb in the face "Who are you?"


    At this point the professor had already taken a few steps to the side, standing in front of Villin and Marvin, in a position protecting them would be easiest.


    "The first general of The Monarch. Commander of the greatest army this continent had ever seen. Julius Reptinan Vallia, keeper of secrets. Theodore Crumb voluntarily gave me his body four years ago, after he got heavily wounded in a fight."


    Granolf seemed to shiver for a moment as he heard the words "You died, you were killed in the final battle!" yet, just a few moments later he changed his tone "It doesn''t matter, you are in the middle of one of the most reinforced buildings in the entire magi world. We have dozens of teachers heading to assist us as we speak. Do not think I am a fool. Even though your experience is still there, you must have been heavily wounded that time, probably forced to change your body. After changing once more just four years ago, I do not believe you are at your strongest." Granolf commented as he prepared to cast a spell.


    "True, I am at my weakest now, but do not think the two of you are enough to defeat me!" the professor replied as he got into a battle stance as well.


    Professor Crumb looked totally different now his back was no longer hunched and he stood tall. As for Villin, he didn''t care that the professor Crumb he knew wasn''t actually a person that went by that name. He knew that this was the person that helped and guided him, rewarded him for his efforts when he first came into class, and allowed him to become a runemaster at his age.

 Chapter 140: A Mental Attack

    Currently, of all the people here, professor Crumb was the only one who had a proper feeling of how powerful he was.


    Currently, he looked extremely strong, taking control of most of the magical elements in the air around them. Yet in reality, he didn''t do so good. His control wasn''t like a ball as it should be, it was like a balloon instead. When you touched it, it seemed sturdy, but you only had the pierce the outside for the entire thing to explode. His power was unstable.


    Back in the third central war, Julius Reptinan Vallia was one of the ten most powerful people on the central continent. Near the end of the war, he was in the top five.


    But in the final battle, they lost. The monarch died and Julius got mortally wounded.


    In order to keep living, he had to use a secret technique in which he split off his soul from his body and use it to infiltrate another one. At that time plenty of people were willing to give his life to him and so he found a good body.


    But the price to pay was heavy. No matter what, doing this will destroy a piece of your soul, and your web with it. If he only had to do it once, it would''ve been alright, but this wasn''t the case.


    Any body would try to expulse a foreign soul, over time the body would weaken more and more as it rejects the soul.


    Since the end of the war, a hundred-and-fifty years ago, he had been forced to change in vessel five times already. At this point, his soul was weakened considerably and a large part of his web was destroyed.


    He knew he didn''t have long anymore. Professor Theodore Crumb was always supposed to be the final person to give their life for him. After that, he would rest in peace, taking his secrets with him.


    But then, he found an exceptional boy. One that was intelligent, ambitious, and talented. It was a boy that resembled The Monarch in everything but ideals. And he recalled the task The Monarch had entrusted him with.


    His legacy wasn''t to be given by someone who simply believed in The Monarch''s ideals. It was to be given to one as ambitious and talented as herself. To someone who had his own ideals and dreams.


    At first, Julius figured he was only thinking this way because he was getting old and desperate, but the boy continued to impress him and before he knew it he began caring for him.


    And so now he stood against Granolf Mafoli. A person that should be amongst the hundred strongest people alive today. He couldn''t help but sigh, he already knew the results of this battle before it began. But he would not let the boy he cared for get killed, he simply had to win.


    And so, spirited he stood before the boy, looking at his opponents who were looking back at him. They didn''t make the first move, it was clear they would rather wait for reinforcements than anything else, but he couldn''t let them.


    Yet, just before he made his first move, he felt a soft magical fluctuation in Villin''s body, the kind one would emit when casting a spell. He could only barely feel it while standing so close to the boy which made it clear that the spell was extraordinarily simple confusing him, yet a moment later he got surprised.


    Seeing the two enemies standing opposite professor Crumb, Villin wanted to help, he couldn''t.


    He could feel something in the air, the stench of death yet to happen. He didn''t know why but he recognized it, and it scared him. He could feel that the professor was prepared to die but he would not take that deal, he wanted, more than anything, for professor Crumb to live. Then they could silently think back on this moment and pretend nothing happened, they could study runes and the professor could look at his runework sternly, correcting his mistakes.


    He wouldn''t let him die, and with that, he looked at old lady Cassio. The structure in his web was already formed, and so he cast the derivatory ''Mentallage''. After a moment he could feel a bridge connecting their minds, allowing his magic power to pass through and attack her mind.


    Knowing that she would also be able to attack his mind in return, he didn''t cancel his spell but instead put more and more magic power into it.


    He knew professor Crumb had noticed he cast a spell and it wouldn''t be long before the old lady noticed the connection he had formed, and so he attacked with everything he had.


    He connected the nodes in his web that were generating magic power and he connected them to the passage, then with the first wave, he sent in all his available magic power.


    Through the passage, Villin could now feel the outer parts of the old lady''s mind. Her memories were messy, as they were for all people. Attacking one''s memories wasn''t a straightforward process, you couldn''t just send magic power in and expect the enemy to get hurt, and so Villin''s power quickly began moving through the layer of the mind.


    Yet, at this point, old lady Mafoli noticed his invasion of the mind. She didn''t have time to tell Granolf about it who was looking at professor Crumb and quickly tried focussing herself on her mind.


    Looking into her mind, she could feel foreign magic power moving through the outer layer of her memories, by the time she fully realized what was going on, it had already made it halfway to the second layer.


    This was the first time in her long life she had to deal with an invasion of the mind. She had always been careful and the serious fights she had been in could be counted on a single hand.


    But still, the amount of magic power she had was massive, much, much more than a boy like Villin had.


    Since she used equipment to lock the second layer of her mind that held emotions, her own magic power also had to come from outside, as there was no way from the first layer of the web to the third layer of the memories in her case.


    Without a problem, Villin made it halfway through the memories, he tried to avoid any obstacles in her mind and did so with ease until he made it halfway through the outer layer.


    It was then that the situation became a lot tougher to deal with. From the outer reaches of her mind, a massive wave of magical energy came. It began attacking his own magic power without hesitation, moreover, for this force moving through the mind was natural, it didn''t have to avoid things such as memory fragments as they would automatically more out of the way.


    Like this, it began consuming Villin''s magic power, starting from the tail of the snake. Any bit of magical power caught in this wave would be mercilessly annihilated.


    Facing this massive threat, Villin could do nothing but keep moving, trying to keep a decent force until he reached the second layer and attack then, before his magical power was completely annihilated.


    And he saw hope, he tried to calculate the speed of his own magic power and the magic power of the old lady and even though hers was much faster, it wouldn''t catch up completely until a little bit into the second layer.


    And it seemed that overall about twenty percent of his own magic power would survive until then.


    And so, the mental chase continued. Neither party realized their techniques were so primitive it was laughable in the eyes of someone that actually knew how to attack or defend the mind, they simply continued in their primitive ways.


    Yet then, Villin felt his hopes get crushed. At this point, some of his magical power was close enough to the second layer that he could see it, yet all he saw was a shield. The second layer of the lady''s mind was shielded from the first. The shield was massive yet transparent, completely different from the one he created on his own. In some way, it seemed artificial.


    Villin considered if he should still have his magic power simply rush into some of the memories before them but he knew it wouldn''t help and he refrained from doing so.


    Knowing that he lost, Villin simply let his magic power go ahead, when they crashed into the wall the magic power would surely dissipate, or so he thought.


    When the very first, tiny amount of foreign magic power touched the shield, it suddenly cracked, then the entire shield fell down.


    The shield around the second layer of Isabelle Cassio''s mind wasn''t there to protect it from intruders at all. In fact, it had not the least bit of defensive properties. Instead, it was there to quarantine the second layer of her mind. Stopping it from sending impulses to the brain. All of its power was focused inwardly and so when Villin''s magic power attacked it, it broke.


    Yet, in reality, this also had an effect. Professor Crumb looked utterly stunned when he noticed that the necklace around Isabelle''s neck cracked and then turned to dust. With this, the entire situation changed.

 Chapter 141: The Clash

    When her necklace broke, Isabelle first looked stunned as if she couldn''t think at all. Then she began screaming.


    "AAARGH NO! MY BABY!" her screams also alerted Granolf, who had absolutely no idea what was going on. He was just preparing to defend against any attack professor Crumb would throw at him when his companion suddenly fell to her knees and started crying loudly. The old lady who looked composed earlier had completely changed in temperament.


    Because of this surprise, Granolf was wide-open for an attack momentarily, sadly professor Crumb wasn''t able to take the opportunity.


    The reason was that he was equally stunned, he didn''t connect the attack to Villin at all since he knew very well that the boy shouldn''t have any spells capable of harming teachers.


    It took a few moments for the men''s gazes to land on the small pile of dust that was a necklace but seconds ago. Granolf first thought that professor Crumb somehow managed to sneakily attack the necklace but upon seeing his similarly stupified gaze he realized it wasn''t him, then his gaze landed on Villin. He could see the boy looked pale and he looked rather unsteady on his feet.


    With the breaking of the necklace, the emotions that had been blocked for five full years assaulted her at once. This included all the emotions that came from the death of one of her kids less than a year ago. In this state, it would take days for her to somewhat recover if she didn''t find another necklace with the same property.


    This meant the situation turned into a one-versus-one. At least that was how it seemed.


    "Well done boy, now let your old teacher take care of this one." professor Crumb smiled widely once the situation became clearer.


    With these words he pointed his wand toward Granolf, moments later green fire began spouting out of it engulfing the area in front of it.


    Granolf, who had also somewhat recovered from the surprise at this point, waved his wand forward as well, using a wind spell to push the fire out of his way.


    Still, the spell didn''t pass without casualties. The green fire had been spread across a wide area, even though Granolf easily deflected it, Isabelle didn''t.


    Granolf had never been the true target of the spell, it had always been the crying Isabelle. When the flames came towards him, Isabelle managed to gather the strength to point her wand towards it but no spell came to her. Her mind was in disarray and she was completely incapable of making even the smallest connection in her web.


    As her cries turned to screams neither men sent out a spell. Both of them simply waited, Granolf had no intention to attack, and professor Crumb simply wanted to wait until the screams stopped.


    With his ally burning to death, Granolf didn''t flinch in the slightest. If he wanted to, he could''ve easily saved Isabelle from the green fire but he chose not to. He was still intimidated by professor Crumb''s magical strength and wanted to use each bit of his own strength to protect himself and stall.


    He didn''t realize that at this point in time, Villin had used the regular version of Mentallage on professor Crumb and he spoke about a potential plan he had.


    Villin was nearly completely out of magical energy and even using the regular version of Mentallage took a considerable toll at this point in time. The only true attack he had was his puppet, connecting to it took nearly no magical energy and the puppet itself held enough mana to use its attacks.


    After ten seconds, professor Crumb used his second attack, it was also his first serious attack, and a prelude of the fight to come.


    The attack looked extraordinarily straightforward, a simple blue streak that headed for Granolf, but in actuality, it was the most powerful attack Villin had ever seen.


    If it were to hit a wall, it wouldn''t cause a massive explosion, nor did it emit a bunch of magical energy. It was a spell that was made to pierce through any defenses his opponent set up.


    Yet, at the same time, it showed his weakness. After using an attack like this, he could no longer pretend to be all-powerful and his true strength would become clear.


    Seeing the spell coming towards him, Granolf did not dare to underestimate it. Within mere moments dozens of projectiles came out of his wand heading for the professor''s singular spell, translucent shields appeared before him as well, set to stop the spell. With all of his battle experience, he knew very well what sort of spell this was.


    The dozen projectiles Granolf sent out didn''t cause the professor''s spell to pause for even a moment, it simply pierced through them. Still, Granolf''s spells did their job and a tiny bit of Granolf''s own magic power entered the streak, allowing him to slow it down a tiny bit. Then it arrived at the shields before Granolf, there were four barriers in total. The first managed to pause the spell for an eighth of a second, the second for a quarter of a second, once the third shield paused the spell for half a second and it became clear the barriers wouldn''t be able to completely stop the spell. The floor itself began to rise up and shielded Granolf. When the spell hit the floor that had risen up, the spell was finally stopped.


    Even though it looked like Granolf was on the backfoot, in actuality he dealt with the situation perfectly, using the minimum amount of magical power required to shield him from the spell. This meant that in general, since professor Crumb expended more magical power than him, he would be considered the ''winner'' of this initial exchange.


    He also knew professor Crumb had to actively control the spell to its target and wouldn''t be able to cast a second spell before it dissipated, because of this, he dared to delay the spell using the shields.


    In total the first clash took three seconds, yet when Granolf used transfiguration to lower the floor again, he realized he made a mistake. Even when the floor had risen before him, he made sure to use magic power to keep an eye on professor Crumb, yet when he put it back down, he was about to be attacked, a puppet had made its way to just one meter away from him.


    Villin, who he had completely ignored, had made his move. Even though the wall was only up for about a second, Villin was prepared to make his move. Earlier he talked about the professor stating that if he could blind Granolf for two seconds he would probably be able to wound him to some extent, or have him use up a lot of unnecessary magic power.


    Sadly, Granolf was only ''blinded'' for a second and the puppet hadn''t fully reached its destination. If the puppet self-destructed at this point, professor Crumb would also be forced to deal with the explosion and the advantage gained would be minuscule.


    Instead, Villin did what he thought would help most. As soon as Granolf spotted the puppet it breathed large red flames all in the direction of Granolf.


    Due to the proximity and the fact he had no idea how powerful the flames were as they weren''t the effect of a spell he could recognize, Granolf was forced to use some of his precious magical energy to bend the flames upward, stopping it from touching him.


    While this was still going on, professor Crumb sent a chain of spells Granolf''s way, who once more was forced to waste magical energy, having to get rid of the puppet while taking care of professor Crumb''s attacks.


    With the breaking of the puppet, it was time for the real battle to begin.


    Granolf who had now felt the energy within the professor''s spells was no longer fearful of him as he realized the quality of magical energy they had was similar. This also allowed him to realize that the ''domain'' professor Crumb had created was akin to a balloon and so he easily burst it, once more getting control of the area around him properly.


    Each of them had their own domain around them, this would usually stop environmental spells from working completely, ones such as Villin''s ''Vinea Tenura'' and ''Syrtim Celer''. Sadly, this wasn''t neutral domain. The enchantments on the walls and floors of Decorus didn''t only make them stronger, it also allowed Decorus teachers to properly transfigurate them even if it was within someone''s domain.


    Still, Granolf mostly used transfiguration defensively, transfigurating the floor closest to him since it could be done almost instantaneously.


    Spells like the one professor Crumb opened with no longer got cast. Currently what mattered was speed and precision. Every second over a dozen streaks of light was sent out, some heading for their opponent''s spells and others for the opponent themselves.


    Yet, slowly but surely professor Crumb was on the backfoot. His domain weakened allowing Granolf to use transfiguration on the ground and walls close to him easier and quicker than before.


    Villin could feel the professor''s energy weakening quicker than it should looking at the spells he cast. All of the spells sent were much stronger than the ones he used but he could clearly see the difference between Granolf and professor Crumb right now.


    Granolf had only slowed down slightly, his breathing was still stable and he was capable of dodging properly when the situation required.


    Professor Crumb''s breathing had quickened slightly but noticeably, he also couldn''t dodge as much as Granolf since Villin and Marvin were behind him.


    Yet, after four minutes of constant spellcasting, most of which canceled each other out, professor Crumb made his first mistake, he misjudged one of the spells Granolf sent out and it passed by him, heading straight for Villin.

 Chapter 142: Death

    Villin''s breathing nearly halted when he saw the spell coming towards his torso. It was fast, extremely fast, and the distance between himself and Granolf wasn''t large to begin with.


    Using a spell to counter it was out of the question, even though he did have the wandless ''Reverto'' saved, he didn''t have the magical power required to cast it, and even if he did, there was no way he could stop a spell professor Crumb couldn''t easily stop.


    All Villin could do in time was try and tilt to the right, making it so that the spell would hit his shoulder instead of his torso.


    Using all of his efforts, Villin barely managed to tilt his body enough for his purposes and so the spell hit him right in his shoulder.


    Villin expected one of two things to come from this spell. Death or massive amounts of pain.


    He got neither.


    The spell phased right through his body without doing damage, at first Villin was surprised but then he heard the massive explosion behind him, and with it a shockwave reached him, throwing him to the ground with ease.


    The spell indeed didn''t interfere with living things, the target had always been the wall. The very same one that was currently exploding into pieces.


    The spell that had been used was one of the best spells used to take care of enchanted buildings, and just before it hit, Granolf slightly transfigured the wall, weakening some of the enchantments.


    Rocks flew everywhere, large and small. One of the pebble-sized rocks hit Villin in the back of the head, causing him to become woozy and nearly black out. Various other rocks hit him as well causing over a dozen cuts to appear all over his body. The contents of his backpack spilled all over and, to top it all off, a massive rock fell onto his right leg, crushing it.


    This was the force of a single spell cast in less than half a second.


    Marvin, standing next to him, was luckier. Even though the terrified boy still got hit by various rocks at tremendous speeds and the shockwave threw him onto the ground, only one of his arms got broken.


    Professor Crumb looked grim. Granolf managed to trick him despite his own combat experience. Whenever one of them cast a spell the other would sense the amount of magical energy in an instant, together with its frequency and the exact color of the spell they would be able to tell what spell their opponent was using within a moment. Then they would use one of their own spells capable of countering it.


    Still, there was always some guesswork involved, to aid you in this you could gather information on your opponent, figuring out what spells they all knew, and generally guess what spell they would use in the scenario.


    Granolf used this to his advantage. The spell he used was a sieging spell, not an offensive one, yet it had the same color and a similar frequency to an offensive piercing spell he knew. Seeing the spell, professor Crumb naturally assumed it was the offensive spell, he used a semi-physical spell to counter it, yet sadly it didn''t work, and the spell arrived, seriously harming Villin.


    Knowing the damage that had been dealt to Villin, professor Crumb wanted to increase his attacks and push back Granolf but he found himself unable to. His soul was seriously maimed and with every spell he cast he increased the speed of decay, this also meant less and less nodes in his web were available and his choices when it came to spells became more and more limited.


    After another seven minutes, all the professor could do was defend, he barely attacked anymore. Sweat began pouring down his forehead as, due to the intense amount of spells he had been casting, his soul had reached a breaking point. Even though at this point, Granolf had exhausted about half of his magical energy, and his attacks were significantly slower, it didn''t matter.


    To anyone watching, the ending of the fight became clear. Villin who had stopped himself from screaming due to his leg looked at the fight hoping the professor would be able to turn the situation around somehow.


    But it wasn''t meant to be.


    The battle didn''t end due to a spell, but transfiguration instead. Finding some time in between spells, Granolf managed to transfigure the ground underneath the professor''s feet. They both suddenly move in opposite directions causing the professor to almost fall.


    When he was still busy catching his balance, a blue streak hit him in the abdomen. He flew to the side, arriving about ten meters away from Villin.


    As soon as the professor hit the ground, two more spells were already upon him.


    Large lacerations appeared on both of his arms causing him to drop his wand, then, without giving him time to breathe, Granolf used transfiguration to cause portions of the ground to rise around the professor''s arms, taking away their movements and stopping him from casting the majority of spells, be it with or without wand.


    Seeing the situation, Granold broke into a smile. Despite how it seemed, the fight was extraordinarily difficult. Every second a multitude of spells was shot out, the speed at which you would have to identify spells and create countermeasures was insane. This was no doubt the toughest battle he had ever been in. If he met this opponent ten years ago, he surely would''ve lost.


    Still, there was no use talking about ''ifs'', currently, Granolf felt as if he was in heaven as he approached professor Crumb, still pointing his wand towards his forehead.


    The old man was helpless, his arms were completely trapped and his soul seriously maimed.


    Seeing this, Villin''s eyes widened ''no, nonono, nononono, get up professor, come on!'' he begged mentally, hoping the old man would do something.


    Yet all he saw was a bitter smile on an exhausted face.


    Granolf bent forward bringing his mouth just next to the professor''s ears "Now, let us see what secret this little head of yours holds."


    After saying this, he suddenly clasped the professor''s head between his hands and stared into his eyes, invading the wounded man''s mind.


    As this was going on, Villin could feel a faint string of magic power approaching him, coming from professor Crumb. Looking at the man who''s head was clasped by Granolf, he could see a single tear moving down his cheek.


    The small string of magic power moved besides Villin and then moved underneath some of the rubble. It was the location of the disk he used to hide. He thought that the professor meant he should use the attack function on it to save him but he couldn''t, his leg was crushed and he couldn''t reach the disk, and even if he could, the attack function was already used to aid in their escape.


    Villin felt tears streaming down his face and tried to move despite the fact his leg was crushed, he just wanted to grab the disk, it still had its healing function, who knows if he healed the wounds that had been dealt to professor Crumb and Granolf, the situation might end up different, but really, he knew this wasn''t true.


    After half a minute, Granolf began laughing loudly "So that''s how you find it! To think it had been under my nose all along!" yet, before he experienced the full extent of the happiness that knowing the location of the monarch''s legacy brought him, his face suddenly turned pale and panicked. He tried transfigurating the area around him to bring a wall in between him and professor Crumb but couldn''t do so in time.


    The last time Villin saw professor Crumb was now, he saw the stubborn look on the old man as he looked at Granolf as if he was a dead man. Then two things happened.


    The strong of magic power professor Crumb had sent Villin''s way had arrived at their destination and activated both of the remaining functions of the disk, healing, and shielding. A translucent shield formed around Villin and Marvin while their wounds were being healed.


    At the very same time, professor Crumb''s body exploded in a ginormous blaze. The ground and walls in the entire area were instantly blown up, not just Granolf, but even some of the reinforcements that had been on their way and were still fifty meters away were killed. Classrooms blew up and an unbelievable torrent of fire followed. The explosion seemed to be consciously avoiding the location of Villin and Marvin, yet, even so, the shield still shook immensely, cracking in a multitude of locations. The entire spherical shield was shaking and rocks were flying everywhere.


    Yet Villin didn''t see all of this, all he saw was the moment where professor Crumb''s body exploded into pieces, his previous sobs and screams came to a halt as he looked at the situation before him without any feelings to spare.


    Over the last months, he had begun to see professor Crumb as a father figure, a mentor. The person that would allow him to learn and prosper. Now all that was gone. Unable to take the feelings that came with it, Villin fainted.

 Chapter 143: Almost Alone

    "Hey, professor!"


    Villin smiled as he noticed professor Crumb in front of him. He found himself in a bright location, or a white nothingness rather. All there was, was himself and professor Crumb.


    The professor turned towards him with his usual stern expression "Ah Villin, you better not have been slacking boy."


    "Of course not professor!" after saying so Villin paused for a moment "Professor, I have so many questions."


    Professor Crumb sighed, after which he smiled slightly "Alright then boy, I''ll answer all your questions."


    Villin was about to ask where they were when he noticed something felt wrong


    Something else appeared in the white nothingness, a massive pitch-black door inlaid with skulls appeared not far away from them. At first, Villin decided to ignore it but just as he began asking his questions he heard a soft creaking as the pitch-black door opened slightly.


    Instantly, professor Crumb''s expression changed "No, I don''t want to go, don''t let it take me!"


    He looked panicked and desperate, saying all sorts of weird things, yet, moments later, the door opened fully, and professor Crumb was sucked into the boundless void behind the doors.


    After taking professor Crumb, the pitch-black doors closed before disappearing.


    ---------------------


    When Villin woke up he was covered in sweat.


    He could feel tears creep into his eyes but stopped himself. His lips were quivering as he fought back the tears.


    Noticing he was naked, he managed to keep himself in check, for the time being, he turned to look around properly.


    He was in a dark room make out of dark-grey stones. Green moss covered a large portion of them and the air felt uncomfortable to breathe.


    Looking at the walls, statues were placed in front of it at regular intervals. The room he was in was rather big, it was fully square and each wall was around fifty meters long. The ceiling was three meters up and other than pillars, the room was completely empty.


    At least that was what Villin thought at this point in time.


    Directly in front of him, he saw what seemed to be a heavy-duty stone door, the only problem was that it seemed to be mended to the wall beside it.


    The room was familiar to him as he recalled his last ''prophetic'' dream. At this point it also wasn''t hard to figure out where this was, it was a prison cell in Decorus.


    Even though Villin knew it was generally impossible for ''living'' transfiguration statues to keep their ability to move and react to the situation without direct control of the caster. He had a feeling that if he did something such as trying to escape the statues alongside the walls would come to life and either harm, restrain, or kill him.


    Seeing the situation he was in, Villin felt dispirited, but as he felt his spirit fading, he would vividly see the explosion of professor Crumb even if he didn''t. His thoughts couldn''t help go back to that point as he failed to contain all of his tears. Because of his photographic memory, the scene was as clear as day, even to the point where his mind would pause at the points where professor Crumb was ripped to shreds, just before the explosion blocked the sight.


    "No, no. I have to get out of here."


    In order to try and get these pictures out of his head, Villin quickly got up. He had to make a plan to escape, even if the chances were slim. If he could throw himself into work he might just be able to focus his mind.


    Immediately, he got up and began pacing, trying to find a solution to his current situation, successfully stopping his mind from going back to the traumatic scenes. Yet, as he paced back and forth, he noticed something from the corner of his eye.


    Behind one of the pillars, he saw the shoulder of a girl, noticing a second person, Villin quickly approached, making sure to keep some distance between them.


    After moving to a position where he could see her face, he was shocked to see he recognized the girl.


    She had a crooked nose and her face was filled with acne, it was Elinoire.


    He quickly noticed the wounds all over her naked body. Cuts covered her legs and large incisions were made in her breasts. The wounds looked fresh, less than a day old. It was likely the wounds were treated with a long-duration healing spell to avoid the forming of scars, with one of those the cuts would disappear within another two days.


    Elinoire''s eyes were closed, she had clearly fainted, probably from the pain. Hence, she hadn''t noticed his arrival.


    Upon seeing her naked body, Villin didn''t panic and cover up his private parts looking embarrassed. The situation looked bad and this wasn''t time to think about vanity.


    After thinking for a moment, Villin walked up to the Decorus princess, as she was called, and shook her. He had a bunch of questions. For one, why she was captured by her mother''s school, and he would also ask about the precautions taken when she was taken away.


    The shaking did its part and Elinoire quickly opened his eyes, grabbing his hands as she woke up, holding them tightly.


    A few seconds later she took note of the situation and looked at Villin. She couldn''t help but blush after noticing his goods but wasn''t a dumb person either. Just the fact that Villin was here made everything clear, he got captured and put in this cell.


    In fact, she was surprised he was put in this cell as it was generally only used for highly important targets. As far as she knew Villin was a talented magus, in no way worthy of being put in this cell by Decorus standards.


    Still, she didn''t ask a thing and chose to address Villin after getting up and taking a step to the side, creating some distance between us.


    Elinoire didn''t underestimate Villin. In the five seconds she had woken up she immediately put herself in his shoes, trying to gauge what he would want to do at this point.


    Thinking up to here, Elinoire felt as if she was in danger. She was sure of at least one of the biggest doubts Villin would have, one that probably wouldn''t go away quickly either.


    "Before you ask, I do not work for Decorus and I was not sent here to try and get any kind of information or cooperation out of you." she felt nervous thinking of how to continue.


    Currently, she didn''t have any magic power. The day after an experiment one would still suffer from mana-depravation. This would always happen when one''s magical power was completely emptied.


    And, even though she hadn''t spent much time with him, Elinoire knew what kind of person Villin was. If he thought she was a Decorus accomplice, he would probably kill her.


    "Then why are you here?"


    Villin''s question was simple, he didn''t act like Elinoire''s guess was wrong either. He planned to first ask her the information he wanted to know, it would''ve been best if Elinoire didn''t know of his doubts whether she was truly imprisoned or not.


    "I killed my father."


    Elinoire''s words were shocking. If what she said was true then she killed the husband of the Decorus headmaster.


    "How and why?"


    Once more Villin''s words were very straightforward. Right now, they had to establish the most basic form of trust, to where they wouldn''t expect the other to stab them in their sleep.


    And once more, Elinoire answered clearly.


    "My father had a fake tooth, the second to the back on the left-hand side. I had an identical tooth. They are filled with extremely deadly poison. In case we get captured, we can use our tongues and a bit of magical energy to unlock the poison within the tooth. The poison kills within seconds."


    Elinoire paused for a moment. She acted confident and apathetic but Villin could see she was trying to hide the fact that she was reliving a bad memory.


    "Ever since my mother took control of Decorus my father hasn''t been getting attention like before. At the same time, he can''t have hookers get sent over since the entrances to our house is heavily enchanted, nobody without a significant amount of Decorus blood can enter.


    With no other way to relieve his pent-up stress. The man began trying to use me, forcing me to do things I didn''t want to. Still, with mother constantly being busy making it impossible to contact her, there wasn''t much I could do. After some time, I got a message originating from my mother that I would be attending The Academy to try and ease the tension she had created.


    The message contained a location and a time, saying that a representative of The Academy would be waiting for me there. Knowing that I would be gone in a week, my father got even bolder. On the final day, he tried to rape me. I pretended I would willingly join him and joined into a kiss with him, I used my tongue and magic power to unlock his poisonous tooth, killing him just before leaving for The Academy, a place where my mother would have no authority and would be unable to capture me."


    Her voice quivered slightly when talking about some of the more horrible stuff she went through, but she kept pretending to be apathetic about the situation. Villin couldn''t help but believe her, at least there should be some truth in her words. He then stayed quiet for a few seconds trying to gather his thoughts.

 Chapter 144: A Prisoner’s Life

    The following twenty minutes went about how one would expect. Villin asked Elinoire a number of questions trying to get a better hang of the situation. Elinoire patiently answered each question since she knew she was the one here who had doubts cast into her.


    Apparently, they were in a completely separate, secret research station from Decorus. It wasn''t attached to one of their grades at all. Normally, this would make escaping more of a possibility since the institution would be smaller and have less powerful magi. The problem was that this specific institution held the most valuable prisoners Decorus had and wished to use for experimentation.


    It was clear why Elinoire would be here. She was the daughter of the headmaster and probably had a rare and powerful bloodline.


    As for Villin, he figured it was probably because of his identity as the youngest runemaster. It was also possible they were trying to figure out where the massive explosion that covered a fourth of the grade came from, and he was one of the two people found at the very center of it, mostly unharmed.


    It was most likely a combination of the two as Marvin was nowhere to be seen. Villin also didn''t see Ruby, who was the second youngest runemaster, anywhere. Villin could only hope she and his other companions survived, but he quickly focused his mind on other manners to avoid showing weakness to Elinoire who could still be lying.


    Elinoire didn''t have much information about the layout of the research institution. She had only been taken here a week ago, and she had been taken in for experimentation two times. The research would consist of the scientist taking blood, skin, and other things he needed while you were tied down. Then, they would look at your condition.


    If you were looking pretty bad, they would cast a long-term healing spell and send you back to your cell. If you were still looking relatively healthy, they would use you as a test subject for a new spell or two.


    Even though she hadn''t been blindfolded, there wasn''t much Elinoire could say. They only passed through two small corridors, barely walking for five minutes to get to their destination and she was constantly surrounded by three golems, any time she was moved three magi were also there to make sure she couldn''t escape.


    She hadn''t tried any sort of escape yet since she also figured the statues around the room were probably made with some sort of secret art, she doubted they were just statues.


    As if all that wasn''t enough, when they were called upon to come for a test, they would create two arm-sized holes in the door, You would then need to put your arms into them and they would put a special kind of cuffs onto you. The cuffs would drain you from all magical energy making resistance impossible.


    The day after you would suffer from mana exhaustion for at least half the day.


    After hearing everything Elinoire said, Villin didn''t lose his hopes, there was always a path to escape. Over time wardens would become less nervous and you would get a bit more leeway to work with.


    The cuffs she mentioned made Villin think back to his trip to the mortal world where Amelia had those on. Still, they didn''t have a Geralt to help them now.


    No matter what, he would have to experience it all for himself first. He would have to pay a lot of attention to his surroundings and try to find a way out.


    Still, this wasn''t Belgium or Germany. If they were caught trying to escape they would most certainly be treated harsher, it was unlikely that they had the right to pursue freedom in Decorus''s eyes. If Villin was caught, death was most likely. In that respect, Elinoire didn''t have as big of a risk as even if she was being used for experimentation currently, she was still the headmaster''s daughter.


    Two hours after Villin woke up, their conversation was interrupted by a loud bang coming from the door. "Both of you, arms through the holes, no funny business."


    The voice came from behind the door, Villin and Elinoire quietly went ahead and put their arms through the holes that had been created. Feeling around with his hand, Villin could feel that his arms were in an enclosed tube, once they were fully through, the holes tightened near Villin''s shoulders not giving him any chance to move. Then the end of the tube opened and heavy-duty handcuffs were placed on his hands. He could instantly feel that his magical power was quickly being sucked out of him, soon leaving him dry and incapable of using any spells.


    Next to him, Elinoire went through the exact same process.


    Then they were told to take a few steps back, after which the door dislodged from the walls and opened. Coming into the cell were three stone golems that were made in a lot of detail. They pretty much looked like tall humans, making it clear their creators were probably all very skilled.


    From behind them, a voice sounded out. "Yesterday we took the girl, take the new guy."


    Having heard his command, two of the golems moved behind Villin while the final one walked in front of Villin. It was clear Villin was supposed to follow him.


    He walked through the door following this final golem and was soon face-to-face with the researcher. The man looked to be only around thirty years old, he had brown hair and glasses. His green robe made it clear that he was with Decorus. Behind the man were two others with an identical robe and wands in hand. They were both pointing them at Villin, they were akin to the guards that would keep the researcher safe, their strength wouldn''t be much less than those of teachers, completely out of his league.


    After the researcher looked at him for a bit he finally called out "Alright then, you look healthy enough, now let us hope your blood values aren''t too bad. I''m a simple man mister Grey. If you behave properly during the test and don''t lie to me at any point in time, the only pain you get will be that from the experiments. If you don''t behave properly, we have plenty of enhanced interrogation techniques that could also do with some testing."


    Villin could tell from the researcher''s face that he wasn''t lying, he didn''t seem to put Villin in his eyes. To him, he was a test subject, if he misbehaved, he would be tortured, if not, he will be treated as the test subject he was.


    For Villin, this was much better than him saying he would be set free after a certain period of time. If someone would''ve told him that, he knew he would be killed after the tests are finished. This was much better, they probably intended to keep him for a long period of time if possible.


    After this, they began walking to their destination, the two guards moved to either side of him and kept their wands pointed at him constantly with the golems never being far either. It seemed to be total overkill to him. After all, with the handcuffs, he couldn''t cast any spells, and even if he could, at the very most he stood a chance against someone of the sixth grade. The only exception was his derivative spell of Mentallage but he doubted these people knew about that.


    After five minutes of walking through they arrived at their destination. A white door that was once more merged through the wall beside it. The researcher put his hand on the door, as he did so the door dislodged itself from the wall and swung open, letting the group in.


    The inside of the room was about what Villin expected. The entire room seemed to be made from a quartz-like material. There were a large number of white cabinets on one side of the room, probably holding all sorts of equipment the researcher might need and there were two other doors that you could use to exit the room, both of them were merged to the walls alongside him.


    In the middle of the room were two different types of chairs with bindings that could be closed. Looking at the differences, Villin figured one would be used if he had to lay on his back and the other was to lay on his belly. This would allow the researcher to quickly switch from working on the front to the back without much risk.


    He was asked by the researcher to sit on the first chair casually, something Villin quickly did. If there was one person here he didn''t want to piss off before escaping, it would be this guy.


    When he sat in the chair, one of the guards used the bindings to make sure he couldn''t move. There were four straps in total. One on his forehead, one over his ribcage, one just below his knees, and the last one went from his handcuffs to a bar above his head. It forced his arms up, allowing the researcher to access all of his body.

 Chapter 145: Experimentation

    (Warning: This chapter will have quite a bit of described gore. If you are not comfortable with that, skip this chapter.)


    When Villin sat on the chair and was properly bound the two guards sheathed their wands and went to stand on opposite sides of the room, looking at Villin. The three golems all moved behind Villin, moving out of his sight.


    Just as Villin was about to ask the scientist what was going to happen next, he saw the man had his wand pointed at him "Crashtin".


    Villin could see a transparent bubble appear around his head. It was quite a familiar sight to him. It would make it so that any sound within the bubble would not move outside of the bubble. In other words, it would make it so that Villin''s pleads or screams wouldn''t reach the researcher''s ears.


    "Alright boy, so my name is Candil and I will be the one doing experiments on you for the foreseeable future." saying this, Candil looked Villin in the eyes, it seemed he rather liked talking to his subjects.


    "Today will be pretty simple. I''ll be taking some blood and bone marrow from you and do a couple of tests to see how suitable you are for different sorts of experiments. Afterward, you might be subject to the test of a new spell or pill we have, but we shall think about that when the time comes."


    While talking about today''s plan, Candil closed the remaining distance and inspected Villin''s body from closeby.


    He began casting unknown spells on Villin that didn''t seem to do anything and simply kept looking at his chest and stomach, it seemed that the spells were used to observe the body properly.


    But the situation soon changed for the worse.


    "Alright, your organs seem to be healthy, no sign of raptin or greacell either. So far everything is looking good."


    After speaking to Villin who was incapable of responding, Candil pointed his wand toward Villin''s stomach, after casting one more spell, he put his wand directly onto Villin''s skin, causing him to feel a sting.


    Then, Candil began moving his wand to the side and Villin began screaming. Wherever the wand passed a cut would be made, his stomach was being cut open from side to side.


    After mere seconds, Villin could feel his intestines leaving his body. Grey tubes of flesh fell onto the floor but strangely not much blood accompanied them.


    Villin felt as if his body was being ripped to shreds, he felt incapable of focussing and he could feel his outermost mental defense was trembling. He gritted his teeth but every time Candil touched one of the grey intestines a massive amount of pain assaulted him.


    And he didn''t stop, it got even worse. Soon the researcher used his wand to cut open part of his intestines to see the situation inside, releasing all kinds of unfamiliar fluids.


    It was at this point, Villin began puking blood, after the first bit landed on the researcher''s head, he cast a shielding spell so that the blood could no longer reach him.


    With a flick of the wand, the intestines once more moved into Villin''s body causing him to scream out in pain loudly and nearly faint.


    Before Candil were now three orbs of blood, two were bright red and one was darker, they were samples coming from different parts of the body.


    "I am happy to announce that your blood is in excellent condition!" Candil said in a jovial tone. "So then now, let us proceed with the bone marrow!"


    "No! Stop!" Villin tried pleading but the sounds coming from his mouth never reached Candil who was now using his wand to stitch the cut on his stomach back up after which he used a long-term healing spell.


    Villin''s courage had already disappeared, ten minutes was all it took to break him. The things that had happened were beyond painful and now it was about to get even worse.


    In order to extract bone marrow, the researcher took out a drill from one of the cabinets. It was a magic-powered drill that could easily get through bone.


    Soon, the drilling began. First was the hip, the drill made its way through easily causing Villin heaps of pain, something that became even worse as red bone marrow was being extracted. Then came the legs, three of the bones in the legs were drilled into releasing red and pink bone marrow.


    After this came the worst one, the skull. Villin could feel and hear his skull being pierced and pried open causing pain unlike what he had ever felt before.


    Lastly came the arms as more red and yellow bone marrow was extracted.


    In total Candil had extracted bone marrow from twelve different locations and they were each floating in front of him awaiting inspection. After casting spells and looking at the bone marrow for around ten minutes, Candil addressed Villin again.


    "Oh my, you truly are in prime condition! You will be perfect for the testing of pills!'''' Then he looked at Villin''s pained expression, red and green puke covered the ground in front of him and he looked extremely pale "But let us leave that for the next session! You will be extremely useful to me!"


    Afterward, he was escorted back to his cell. Sadly he wasn''t capable of walking due to the loss of so much blood and bone marrow and one of the golems carried him. The two guards also didn''t see it necessary to take out their wands as they were simply talking to each other about various things.


    Soon, Villin was once more thrown into the cell. His cuffs were taken off and his body was cleaned of blood and puke using a basic spell. He felt exhausted and empty. The pain was still ravaging his mind and for a bit, he felt hopeless, in this weak state of his he couldn''t keep his mind in check and he recalled professor Crumb''s death again and again. He didn''t even notice Elinoire had approached him and put a hand on his shoulder.


    Looking at Villin''s wounds Elinoire felt her heart beat faster. Even though she also got wounded badly, not like this. The first time she went she had bonemarrow taken from two areas, the hip and one of her legs. But on Villin she saw a dozen holes caused by drills, the large cut on his stomach was clearly also so large that his intestines no doubt fell out, just thinking about it gave her the chills. It was only now that she realized that Villin would go through pain much, much worse than hers, it seemed her identity as the headmaster''s daughter still protected her somewhat.


    Like this Villin cried himself to sleep, unaware of his surroundings and barely capable of moving.


    After six hours he woke up again. Day and night were impossible to differentiate so he could only guess the time. Elinoire had fallen asleep a distance away from him a few hours ago.


    Even though his wounds were still pretty severe, Villin was at least capable of thinking clearly again. He pulled his mind away from the memory that terrorized it and began processing all the information he got the previous day. He could recall everything in quite a bit of detail for the most part. The exception being the end of the bone marrow procedure. At that point, he had nearly fainted and he couldn''t recall what happened then exactly.


    Villin was also surprised to notice he had some magical power currently. Usually, he should be suffering from mana exhaustion today but he didn''t have that problem as severely. He quickly found the cause, it was because his web was two grades above those of regular people. The nodes constantly making new magic power stopped the cuffs from ever completely draining his body from magical power, it was just too little for him to use any spells at that time.


    Now, even though his magic power wasn''t regenerating as fast as usual, he was still capable of using certain spells.


    After taking a few deep breaths, Villin used a pillar to try and pull himself up. After unwillingly donating a large amount of bone marrow the previous day standing should be impossible, yet, at this point, the strength gene solution he had taken so long ago, assisted him and he managed to rise onto his two feet.


    He knew his priority was not losing hope. If he lost hope in his survival and escape, he would get depressed, something that could lead to his death in this kind of place.


    After this, he began walking slowly and unsteadily, no matter what he had to be prepared to escape when the opportunity arrived, he couldn''t sit down and let his body degrade.


    While walking he also checked on his mental defenses, the outer layer had taken a bit of damage due to the pain but everything else seemed to be safe, his mind was completely intact as it stood. He quickly began repairing the defenses.


    He recalled a book he once read in The Academy''s library. It stated that severe pain would generally harm the mind, it could go to the point where the web would become crippled. Insanity was the same thing, it could also be caused by pain.


    So, as long as the mind was properly protected the risk of becoming insane was much lower, still, Villin knew it wasn''t all. He knew that when they would come back he would probably shake a little due to fear, these were things he would have to force himself through.


    But now, now it was time to begin working on a plan of escape.

 Chapter 146: The First Plan

    After thinking for a while, Villin managed to think of a potential plan, or well, two of them. Firstly, he would ask Elinoire to teach him the theory behind transfiguration whenever she was in a decent state, hopefully after practicing for a while, he would at least be able to open the doors in this place. This would also probably make Elinoire think he would try to escape himself, throwing her off of his true plan.


    His real plan was different. From the information, he had gathered he would be called upon to experiment once every two to three days. Since Villin had quite the evolved web he would only be unable to cast magic for about ten hours after the procedure. This meant he had two and a half days to work on other things.


    When Elinoire was awake he could practice magic, make sure his skills don''t get rusty, perhaps try a few derivatory versions as well. When Elinoire, was asleep, he could begin his real escape plan. This consisted of going to one of the walls that would be impossible to spot from the door and where Elinoire usually slept and begin drawing runes onto the wall, creating a magical beacon.


    Villin was confident that, if given time, he would be able to create a powerful beacon capable of sending a magical pulse that would help others find this location.


    He estimated that if he worked on it for four hours a day, two days out of three, it should take about a month to create anything decent. The lack of an enchanting pen made the situation a bit harder but he should be able to manage without, imprinting his magical power into the stones himself.


    Then, in the end, he could activate the beacon and try and get someone to come to save him. If The Academy came, he could use his new transfiguration skills to open the doors, escaping while The Academy and Decorus were fighting.


    In reality, Villin knew the plan was unlikely to work, but it was something to do while he thought of a better one. And so, once Elinoire woke up, he asked her about transfiguration, surprising her.


    "I mean, I could try to teach you about transfiguration. I grew up learning about the theoretical part of it. I''m afraid I''m not the best at the art though, I often fail in the practical sections."


    After this, Villin began his first lesson with Elinoire. The first part was the most difficult, finding the right spell connections within the web. Without a spell blueprint, it was very hard to learn from someone else. Luckily Elinoire recalled Villin studied the web often back when they were roommates and after hearing his discussions with Kayley, she also began studying the web properly. And so she began describing properties of the nodes required, it would take quite a while before Villin would be able to find all of the nodes required, but right now, they didn''t have much better to do.


    In total sixteen nodes were required, a total of four spells. With these four spells, you would be able to transfigure and control things. On the first day, Villin found three of the required nodes. The second day, Elinoire was taken by the scientists and he began working on the enchantments on the wall. The night of the third day, he felt something, he heard a voice in his dreams, as if someone was calling out to him. After managing to stabilize the connection, he heard a voice "Villin? Are you alright?"


    Villin recognized it as Ruby, she used the connection they made before the attack and managed to stabilize it, probably using certain enchantments, using it she could send a message to Villin. Piggybacking on this connection, Villin managed to say something back "I''m alive, did you also get captured?"


    After his message went through, the connection severed. From this point onwards, using this technique, they would both be able to exchange one to two messages every other night.


    It would give Villin some comfort in days to come, at least he knew he wouldn''t be forgotten, something he was happy to know. He would also learn that his friends were fine. The professor''s self-detonation caused a massive hole to be made within the mountain, the grade got blown wide-open and some of the surviving students managed to escape in the chaos. Kayley had been badly hurt but she would recover in a few months'' time.


    The following day, Villin was called upon for the second experiment, and it was as painful as the first.


    Other than once more extracting bone marrow from two locations, Candil extracted a large amount of blood, turning it blue with a certain spell and analyzing it. Villin noticed that Candil would regularly take out a notepad and scribble certain things down. Even though Villin was in too much pain to read it when it was being scribbled down, afterward his photographic memory and increased comprehension would help him read the things the scientist was writing down.


    After the blood and bone marrow extraction, Villin was set to test out new pills. The risk was significantly higher compared to the spells being tested on Elinoire but each held its own risks.


    From the talkative scientist, he managed to gather that Decorus was trying to create pills that would help one permanently. Making them as good, if not better, than gene solutions.


    The first pill he tested caused him to feel like his body was being ripped apart, his liver squirmed and continued to rip itself apart, he had to be put under constant healing for over three hours before the pill''s effects subsided. The exact effects were written down and changes would have to be made to the formula.


    Something like this would happen every three days. Bone marrow and some other bodily resource would be extracted and then he would be forced to go through the testing of an extremely painful pill. In the course of a month, he only got lucky once, when one of the pills actually worked, even though the effects stopped after half a day.


    Before he realized it, a month had already passed. Even though he was always treated with long-term healing spells at this point a number of permanent scars already covered his body. The spells weren''t able to keep up with the damage caused and occasionally they failed to heal the damage.


    Villin was still set on his goal even now. It had gotten to the point that, even while in severe pain, he would still choose to learn transfiguration even if it was just after an experiment. Over time, his mental defenses had gone through subtle adjustments, especially the outermost wall.


    Right now, it was extremely strong, the pain he went through attacked the wall every three days, since he repaired it the following day, the mental shield began being tempered through fire, becoming stronger and stronger. The pain also began to become slightly more bearable to him. As for the scientist, he had been surprised Villin was still alive, generally, at this point, people like him would be insane, and so, he even gave him one day off where he would usually be experimented on.


    On this day, under the careful gaze of multiple official magi, he was brought to a training hall about fifteen minutes away from the cell. There, he could attack a puppet for a couple of hours.


    There was a reason for this. It was so that his web wouldn''t get crippled by not being used for too long. The people here obviously didn''t know Villin''s web was higher than the normal ones by two grades. The nodes in a regular web would indeed slowly degrade if they weren''t used, he didn''t have that problem.


    Still, Villin welcomed the practice, he hadn''t been able to use most of his offensive spells for a month and so other than the derivatory ''Mentallage'' he used all of his spells, practicing how to effectively use them. He was also told he would get such a day off every month he survived, giving him an incentive.


    Elinoire, on the other hand, was doing much worse.


    Even though she didn''t get hurt as much as Villin, she was suffering more. She didn''t have Ruby who would make him recall ''home'' every other day and she didn''t hold much hope. Seeing her situation, Villin began teaching her how to create mental defenses but it only eased her trouble a little, since there were only three days between every experiment and she would suffer from mana exhaustion for large parts of the time, she never managed to build a proper foundation that could take the pain.


    Every day, she looked a little worse and Villin was seriously considering to show her his true plan of escape but he refrained, he had to be careful, even now he thought it possible for her to be undercover, he just didn''t want to take the risk yet.

 Chapter 147: Time In Terror

    And so came the second month.


    The second month changed a lot. Elinoire began getting more and more depressed, her mind was unable to take all the experiments and she got regular mental breakdowns. Villin also began learning transfiguration properly.


    Whenever Villin used transfiguration, he made sure the ground he transfigured couldn''t be seen by any of the statues to avoid getting into trouble.


    Transfiguration was a combination of a few spells, the two most necessary ones would be used to shape the objects around you according to your magical power. He found his splendid control of his magical power was of great assistance to him.


    Villin''s enchantments on the wall were nearly finished as well, thanks to this the experiments didn''t have much of an effect on him at this point in time. He felt determined to escape and knew it wasn''t far away at this point.


    At the end of the month, he could tell he was only a week away from completion at most, he made sure not to rush it and knew he probably only had once chance,


    He also managed to minimize the risk of not being discovered, he managed to tell Ruby he would send out a signal in a week''s time and even managed to give her a general frequency to look for. The Academy would be looking for the signal all over the continent, it was unlikely they wouldn''t be able to catch it.


    And then, the worst thing possible happened.


    Since it was the end of the month and Villin once more survived, he could once more let loose on spells and practice his offensive magic a bit. He didn''t think about it too much and welcomed the chance to get familiar with these spells a bit more again.


    This time the scientist hadn''t come to get him for the practice, some guards came to get Villin and Elinoire instead. Both of them were sent a different way to a different training ground.


    This let Villin know that there were ten guards at the very least but fifteen to twenty was a more realistic estimate. It was likely there was some other facility connected to this, perhaps other types of cells, it was most likely there would be magical beasts around that were also of high research value.


    Still, Villin was excited. If everything went well, he would be out of here in a week''s time.


    One hour later, he was returned to the cell. But this time, there were people inside they didn''t expect. In the back of the room stood Candil, talking to two men that seemed to be looking at the wall. When Villin was escorted to Candil, the scientist let out a long sigh.


    "Oh my, I have to admit I really didn''t expect the guards to find something so severe when searching your cell. To think you were planning to contact The Academy!" the scientist sighed once more before looking slightly eager again.


    "Now that the gig is up, why don''t you tell me how long it would''ve been until your enchantment was finished?"


    Villin inwardly cursed, but he knew he couldn''t do anything about it. Dispirited he replied "One week. One week and I would''ve escaped this place."


    Hearing this, the scientist seemed impressed "I have to say, I can admire a good escape attempt. I truly didn''t have the slightest idea you would try something like this, creating enchantments without an enchanting pen is hard stuff I heard!"


    The scientist looked jovial, Villin didn''t say a word, right now he could only hope Candil would let him live despite the escape attempt.


    After waiting for a bit, Candil continued, "Look boy, I won''t kill you, alright? The research value of your blood and bone marrow is much higher than we initially expected. And well, at this point I''ve already spent a whole bunch of effort on you, it would be a shame if large parts of my recent research went to waste."


    Villin let out a breath of relief.


    "But, punishment is naturally in order. Since you wish for an enchantment in your cell, I shall give you one. You mess with it and the experiments will get much, much worse. This is the only warning you''ll get."


    After saying his words, the scientist and guards left the cell, soon after Elinoire was brought back to the cell as well.


    It wasn''t surprising they knew it was him. After all, him being a young runemaster was probably the reason he was put in this cell.


    When Elinoire got back, it became time to tell her what happened. He showed her the enchantment that now got ruined by the two men that came with the scientist and explained the situation.


    He also told her Candil''s words, that the cell would be getting some sort of enchantment.


    The following day, the two men Villin saw in the cell the previous day entered once more. Under the protection of the guards, they seemed to be working on a magic array encompassing the entirety of the cell. Villin didn''t know the key runes of the magic array and so he had no idea what sort of magic array it was.


    The following couple of days, things went mostly as normal. Villin and Elinoire continued going to the experiments. The only exception was that the two people came for about four hours a day, working on the magic array.


    After two full weeks, the magic array was finally finished. The two men left the cell alongside the guards, a few minutes later, the magic array seemed to be getting powered and activated.


    Villin and Elinoire, who were looking at the magic array with some worry, immediately felt a heavy weight pulling them down. Both of them hadn''t expected this and immediately fell to their knees.


    The magic array created a gravity field. Any movement either Villin or Elinoire tried to make became much much harder as their bodies were continuously being pulled down.


    At first, Villin thought that maybe they would activate the array a few hours every day as the punishment, but after turning on, it never turned off again.


    In the beginning, the gravity field was a somewhat painful restriction, but the pain soon became worse and worse.


    Neither of them could sleep, it felt as if the back of their head was being drilled into the ground. As for sleeping while sitting, they were afraid it would cause their necks to break if they moved it the wrong way in their sleep.


    The gravitational pull managed to suck most of the energy out of the two prisoners. If they could walk for an hour in a day they would''ve had a very productive day.


    Their only release was when they headed to the experiments. Villin felt so light then, it truly felt great, and then the experiments would begin.


    As always, the experiments were horrible, it was even worse now that Villin no longer had a potential escape to look out for.


    As for Ruby, due to how much duress he was going under due to the gravitational field, communicating became a lot harder. Villin would only be able to receive a few words from Ruby every couple of days.


    Another week later, while Villin was thinking back to his time in The Academy, he suddenly perked up. He stood up with vigor he didn''t have moments before.


    Villin looked at the statues that were standing against the walls of the cell. Then, he looked at the space within the cell as a whole.


    "Elinoire," he said, causing the currently crying girl to look up at him.


    "I think, I might have an escape plan."


    After this day, Villin became more active again. He forced his body to endure training even under the current circumstances and learned from Elinoire with more vigor.


    When Candil saw Villin was starting to look a bit better, they searched the cell again, this time with the two inhabitants still inside.


    Looking at the two people search the room, Villin felt that his plan might just have a shot of working. For the five hours, the cell got searched, the duo also got some much-needed respite from the gravity field since it had been temporarily turned off.


    During what Villin considered the nights, he got up and focused on the air before him, drawing in the air with his finger. It didn''t do anything, but that was only to be expected. He would do this for hours and hours. The gravity would constantly try to pull his arm down but he persevered, he had to keep doing this.


    As for Elinoire, even though the fact that they had a bit of a plan helped her a little bit, she still looked at the future with a grim sight. She didn''t believe they would survive for long enough.


    In response to this, Villin forced Elinoire to train her body a bit. If there was one thing they weren''t lacking here, it was nutrients. Before every experiment, they would each get a pill that would keep them fed. Generally, the pill worked for a week but since their bodies were under so much duress, they got one every three days.


    Listening to Villin, Elinoire also began getting up a bit more, doing some exercises that were supposed to be easy but became extraordinarily hard in the current climate.

 Chapter 148: The Death of a Prisoner

    Time continued to pass, and it passed oh-so-slowly.


    For months, Villin and Elinoire were forced to endure the high-gravity. The only bit of time they would be able to relax was when the cell got checked for enchantments, something that happened once or twice a month.


    At this point, the two of them had been here for five full months. For almost half a year they had been locked up in a cell, taken to perform experiments every three days. And right now, Elinoire reached her breaking point.


    It came after a series of bad experiments. First, she lost four of her toes due to one of the spells tested on her going wrong. They were unable to be grown back due to the anti-magical properties of the spell. Then, just six days later, she returned with a mangled ear, one that didn''t seem to be healing either.


    "I''m not sure how much longer I''ll be able to keep this up."


    Villin was also feeling empty at this point, after such a long time, it was hard to keep thinking optimistically, it seemed that they could die at any time.


    "I know."


    When Elinoire came back with the mangled ear, all that Villin could really do is sit beside her. The two of them would sleep together every night, for comfort. Obviously, they had no thoughts about sex or anything of the like. They just slept side-by-side, trying to take comfort in the other''s person''s proximity.


    After this day, Elinoire changed, she broke. This day was the last one Villin saw tears coming out of her eyes. If Villin didn''t grab her attention, she would be staring at the wall for hours and hours.


    She also no longer taught Villin transfiguration, she seemed to lack interest, the emotions in her eyes seemed to have dissipated.


    Villin guessed that the second layer of her mind must''ve been crippled, she no longer held emotions, as for memories, those were being affected long ago.


    It wasn''t that she couldn''t recall anything, it was just that her memory was badly affected. She was suffering from dementia, where she would forget things all the time.


    Normally, this would''ve made Villin sad, but right now, Villin was sparse with emotion.


    Even though the mental wall he had built had become extremely sturdy, barely even shaking these days even with the experiments that went wrong, it wasn''t everything.


    He could feel himself begin to change, there was no way he couldn''t. His mental space wasn''t getting damaged like Elinoire''s, but he still got the memories, and he still felt the pain. Not everything within one''s mental space is good. More and more of Villin''s memories became darker ones and due to feeling heavy emotions so often, he had begun to feel less to avoid getting exhausted subconsciously.


    Still, he continued his plan. Every ''night'' he got up and began drawing certain symbols in the air with full concentration. Thus far it was the same as it was in the beginning, nothing happened whatsoever, whatever he was doing, it didn''t seem to be working.


    The sixth month, Villin went through his first truly successful experiment.


    He had to swallow a dark-grey pill. According to the talkative Candil, the pill was supposed to increase one''s vitality permanently. It would harden the skin and increase the number of platelets created when wounded. The intention was that open wounds would close within just a few minutes, decreasing blood loss.


    There had been dozens of such pills tested before. Villin was glad when he got to test one of these since it was one of the less painful ones. Generally, you would feel severe pain on the entire torso, this was considered good for him.


    Surprisingly, this time it didn''t happen. First, Villin thought it was a dud, one of those that didn''t do anything. But soon, he felt an itch. It began with his chest but quickly spread throughout the entire body.


    When Villin didn''t seem to be in severe pain, Candil lifted the spell that stopped sound coming from Villin to reach his ears, and he began asking Villin questioned.


    Just like the other times this happened, Villin answered honestly, describing the sensation.


    Hearing it, Candil got excited. After waiting for a few hours for the itching to stop, he made a cut on Villin''s arm and waited. After two minutes time, a scabbard was beginning to form over the wound, soon, it was closed up entirely.


    Testing the skin, it was also slightly more durable, but not to an extent that was all that noticeable.


    Seeing the success, Candil was ecstatic, constantly writing things down, trying to figure out why this pill worked and if the success could be replicated.


    Of course, he was still careful. The pill''s effects could wear off in a day or two, in which case it would still be somewhat of a failure.


    After this event, Villin was given one day off. Then, Candil told him they would begin on the second round of pills.


    Villin wasn''t sure what he meant but it started to become clear, there was a reason Candil was having him test certain pills. And it didn''t seem to be because he wanted pills to become better than gene solutions, at least not entirely.


    Since, after this point, the scientist began trying out pills that would increase the vitality of his organs, Villin got a few ideas. It was possible he wanted to create some sort of supersoldiers. It was also possible he wanted to increase Villin''s body so much so that he could extract partial organs and bone marrow constantly without worrying he would die.


    No matter what, Villin couldn''t think of it too much. It could be a large number of reasons, fretting about it would do him no good.


    And so, time continued passing.


    Villin never gave up on learning transfiguration. Even though Elinoire was no longer capable of teaching him, he knew enough at this point to self-study. He also found out that the statues wouldn''t move as long as you didn''t transfigure the area too much. When he went too far one time, he could faintly sense a magic aura coming out of one of the statues. He then quickly stopped transfigurating, allowing the aura to disappear.


    In principle, the art was relatively simple. The first spell would help your magic power penetrate into an object. The second spell would cause the object and magic power to become one, allowing you to morph it. And the third spell, in most cases, would let you control this from a distance.


    The spells were the easiest bit though. Controlling the magic power was much, much harder, especially when it was within an object.


    Still, Villin was already skilled previously when it came to controlling magic power. From ''Cut and Crease'' to the way he controlled his puppet. He also had some techniques that helped him out further, the ones he got from Richard so long ago.


    The seventh month, Villin made a breakthrough. As he did so often, he took his battered body, got up despite the gravity, and began drawing in the air with his finger, fully focused.


    One of the runes he drew in the air felt different. Everything looked the same, and generally, nobody would be able to tell something was different, except for Villin that was. He could feel his magic power lingering in the air before him. For the first time in months, he smiled, laughed even. He had been working terribly hard, now finally, he had achieved something.


    In the air before him, was a rune, etched into space itself.


    This was part of Villin''s plan. The creation of a ward. Even though it was only one rune out of thousands, it was a beginning, it meant his plan was possible.


    Yet, soon the rune dissipated. It may have been etched into space but it was unable to attract enough magical energy to sustain itself. Villin counted five minutes before it dissipated. Generally, when making a ward, one would need to use a technique, letting each rune take in magical energy by themselves.


    Sadly, Villin didn''t know how you could do this, so he had to take another path. As a runemaster, he realized runes are runes no matter how they get used. He believed that it should be possible to create enchantments within the ward itself, allowing it to gather magical energy using these.


    He would need to be able to create such an enchantment within five minutes so that all the necessary runes were present, this would once more be a long and arduous task.


    And so he continued, task in mind. He worked even harder, but the longer he stayed, the lonelier he became. Even though she was sitting close, in Villin''s eyes, Elinoire was dead. He was all alone now, any experiment could be his last, and he may never be able to see the outside again.


    The loneliness was extremely severe, but there was nothing that could be done.

 Chapter 149: The True Experiment

    Day after day, week after week, Villin was alone. It was to the point that he would somewhat look forward to when the scientist would come to get him, since, for the five minutes until they reached the experimentation room, Villin and Candil would talk for a bit.


    Their relationship was quite complicated. Villin knew he was his enemy and he never mistook Candil as a friend, on the other hand, Candil also never thought about releasing Villin, he simply enjoyed the chat.


    Still, while they talked, they acted like friends, Candil would tell Villin about some of the things that were happening outside and Villin would talk to him about the events, sharing his thoughts in all honesty.


    Then, when, after five minutes, they reached the experimentation room, Villin''s expression would change, he would get fearful knowing that he would have to go through more experimentations, possibly dying. When he was on the chair, Candil would also always cast the spell so that Villin''s screams wouldn''t reach his ears.


    Other than this odd dynamic, Villin spent his time working on his plan. It was taking more and more shape. Initially, when he first thought of it, the plan was pretty pathetic, very unlikely to work. But with time, it slowly began taking shape. He began splitting his time more, other then transfiguration and attempting to create wards, he would also train physically, and occasionally, he would sit in a corner doing another part of his plan.


    Elinoire became white noise to him. Occasionally he would talk to her when he needed to find a solution to a problem but he might as well be talking to himself, even when she responded she wouldn''t say much, her gaze was almost always empty, only having very occasional bursts of clarity, and even then she wasn''t how she used to be.


    This trend continued until it was the eleventh month. Even though Villin didn''t know it, nobody that came here had ever survived as long as himself and Elinoire. There was a reason for Elinoire''s survival, she was the daughter of the headmaster and got experimented on less severely than others.


    But Villin was a different case. Candil was ecstatic about his survival. He was able to do the work that would usually need multiple high-quality test subjects.


    Eleven full months had passed since Villin entered the cell and if one of his friends were to see him now, they might not even recognize him.


    His body was absolutely covered in scars. A few spots on his head had gone bald due to certain pills and he had a terrifying scar on the right side of his face. This happened a month ago. Candil extracted bone marrow from Villin''s cheekbone.


    It went as normal, the only difference was that an extra strap held Villin''s mouth closed, making sure he wouldn''t move during the procedure.


    After this, Candil called on one of the guards that had a healing spell he had to test. The spell worked on magical beasts but hadn''t been tested on humans yet.


    Unexpectedly, the new healing spell went completely wrong, the wound on his cheek spread, and even with three people trying to heal him while his face was being eaten away, he was left with what looked like a large cut on the right side of his face.


    Villin looked somewhat energetic as he looked around the cell. He quickly got up and checked the wards he had created.


    At this point, the increased gravity didn''t bother him much anymore and he had made a lot of progress towards his escape. In fact, he guessed he only needed another month. The only step that wasn''t fully completed yet were the wards. There were two of them covering the cell, and they hadn''t been entirely finished yet.


    Looking at the ward only he could truly sense, Villin felt both excited and scared. If he succeeded he would be able to leave this place, if he failed he would never get a chance to escape again.


    No matter what, after this escape attempt they would know what he was capable of. If he failed he would be put in a cell with those most powerful prisoners, even though he was just a kid, there would be no way to escape out of that.


    Now, a bit more than a month before he would try to escape, something unexpected happened.


    One of the experiments succeeded. Candil had managed to give him a proper pill that would permanently strengthen the organs.


    "Good, good, just one step to go now!" he said excitedly before sending Villin back to his cell.


    Villin was still at a loss as to what the purpose was of these experiments, over time he realized that Candil''s goal wasn''t to create pills that would work permanently. Even though this was the task Decorus had assigned him, he seemed to be using it to achieve something else, going around Decorus''s back.


    As for the guards, they occasionally got certain benefits from Candil so they didn''t rat him out, letting him work as he pleased.


    The following month, the treatments became a lot more gentle. Only small amounts of blood were drawn and the same went for bone marrow. As for pills, Villin felt that these were all just regular pills, those that were already tested by someone else before. At most he would get a headache or cramp. Something he didn''t care about in the least after regularly feeling like his body got torn apart.


    It was very refreshing, Villin began feeling better, only realizing now he was sick and weakened before. He moved with more ease making him prepared for the escape, further raising his hopes for the plan.


    The time for his escape kept crawling closer as Villin put the finishing touches on his wards.


    After thinking for a bit, Villin decided to escape in two days'' time. Later today he would have another experiment, this meant he would be slightly weakened tomorrow, in two days he would make his move.


    Shortly after deciding this, Candil came to get him for another experiment, he was a bit earlier than expected.


    Candil was also unusually quiet when walking towards the experimentation room, Villin could see him holding back a smile. Once they arrived and Villin was strapped in and muted, Candil spoke.


    "I have good news for you Villin! We found you a donor amongst our prisoners!" he said excitedly "And it''s a powerful one too! A Kitsune! And a seven-tailed one at that!"


    Hearing what Candil said, it wasn''t hard to figure out what was going on. His worries were ascertained when Candil opened one of the drawers and a heart flew out, it was pumping strongly.


    "Shit."


    Villin recalled reading about Kitsunes in some of the books he read in The Academy. They were a sort of magical fox that could have up to nine tails. They could create ultra-realistic illusions in people''s dreams and could also fly and turn invisible.


    They were one of the few creatures that only needed age to get the ability to turn human, once they were one-hundred years old they would have the ability to turn human, they could even choose and switch bodies at will.


    Even though many tried to court or capture them to gain a bloodline, very few succeeded. After all, they could enter your dreams and create super-realistic situations to ascertain your true goals. They were also capable of driving one insane by directly attacking their mind.


    Even if, despite this, you caught one, they were extraordinarily stubborn creatures. They would refuse to morph into a human and make children with humans when caught. Thus far, there was no one that was known to have the Kitsune bloodline.


    And so, he found the Scientist''s true reason. He wanted to create a bloodline using a transplant. Something that Decorus had tried before many times, with extremely limited success.


    If Candil were to succeed in this and tell the headmaster directly, he would surely be rewarded massively, this was why he hadn''t told his direct superior of his plans, to claim credit in the case of success.


    Villin really wanted to leave. A person needed a heart to live, performing a heart transplant with a magical creature was bound to fail. Even if Candil had been using much of the bone marrow and blood of both parties to make sure he knew how far apart they were from being a match. Then, he would use pills, these pills were made to slightly change ones blood and essence, but he made it seem like they were simply failed pills.


    Nearly half of the anguish Villin went through when it came to pills was exactly for this, they were pills that would change his body slightly, still, they hurt him a massive amount.


    As for the other half, they actually were failed pills, he needed to give his superior some results, after all.


    The two successful pills were of vital importance according to his calculations. With strengthened organs, Villin''s body would have a higher chance of taking the powerful Kitsune heart. He even gave him a month of relative rest to have him recover to full health. In this month, the Kitsune was being experimented on even more severely than before, weakening it before this operation.


    As for the pill that increased the platelets in Villin''s body when hurt, this would probably also be necessary. In previous experiments, Decorus often found that the inserted organs would try to break out, wrecking the organs and skin. Alongside constant healing, the pill would also help.


    And so, Candil prepared for the operation.

 Chapter 150: The Transplant

    Seeing Candil approach, Villin first got nervous but then calmed himself.


    He currently had no way to escape, he would have to go through this operation whether he wanted to or not.


    He looked at the beating heart that was flying beside Candil. It was coated in a few layers of blood that seemed to be sticking onto the heart itself. It was slightly smaller than a human heart and was quite a bit darker than its human counterpart.


    There was something else Villin could feel emanating from the heart. There were fear and anger, the emotions were so clear they were almost visible. It reminded Villin of the black fires the cannibals used. There was no mistake, the creature''s soul was taken together with its heart, it was likely its proper body was lying dead in its cell.


    Candil soon got to work. After casting the spell that would lessen blood loss a lot, he began making a large incision in Villin''s chest, big enough so that the heart would fit through. He then used another spell to turn the blood mostly transparent, allowing the scientist to have a clear look at Villin''s heart.


    Villin thought Candil would be taking out his heart without killing him somehow, but this wasn''t what happened.


    "Now live!"


    After saying these words, Candil grabbed the heart, which instantly stopped beating. Without hesitation, Candil pushed the Kitsune''s heart into Villin''s chest. Seemingly with little technique.


    Candil had done what he could in the day that passed, right now, there was nothing more he could do other than help the three nearby guards heal Villin when the time came.


    Once the Kitsune heart was pushed into Villin''s chest, the beast''s survival instinct kicked in and the heart one more began moving.


    Its shape kept changing, becoming bigger and smaller as the Kitsune tried to find a way to live. Villin, at this time, was in extreme pain as his organs were being pushed aside by the rogue heart.


    After a few seconds of this, the heart found what it had been looking for.


    Villin''s heart was still beating firmly in his chest, transporting blood.


    The Kitsune heart reached out for Villin''s heart and began pulling itself closer. Then, it began consuming the human heart, trying to strengthen itself and get access to the veins that would give it enough blood to survive.


    The four people looking at Villin waited. They knew this step was normal, the real fight would begin once the Kitsune heart had really taken its place.


    In a little more than one minute, Villin''s heart had been eaten and the Kitsune heart took its place, greedily taking in blood at first.


    But the Kitsune wasn''t happy. Its survival instincts had forced him to take the actions up to now automatically, but he had no intention of being the puppet of those that captured her.


    First, Villin felt his heart being ripped apart. This feeling brought him excruciating pain but he had gone through similar pains before in other experiments.


    Once the pain began to lessen, Candil and the other guards that prepared healing spells knew what would be coming next.


    First came the eating and replacement of the human heart. Then the beast would once more be able to control itself. Unwilling to be subjugated they would try to rip the body apart, expending as much of its energy as possible.


    This was what Candil had been preparing Villin for, but he didn''t consider one thing.


    Most of the time the test subjects died before they could even get to this step. Their own blood and energies wouldn''t fit that of the beast and they would die because they were incompatible, this would happen even before the heart was completely eaten.


    Now, thanks to his hard work, Candil had prepared Villin to be as compatible as possible, then he prepared him for the second step that had only had a few survivors thus far. He gave Villin certain pills to help his body survive the impending attack.


    But, the data on this second step was too limited. There were about a dozen cases that Candil had heard of and he based his tests on that. But, there was a crucial difference between the Kitsune that Villin was trying to integrate with and the previously tested beasts.


    Unlike most other beasts, a Kitsune would practically never physically attack their opponents. They were mental attackers, their bodies weren''t their weapon, their mind was.


    And so, the men waited, but the heart stayed in place and Villin''s body wasn''t being ripped apart.


    Candil was confused, he soon noticed Villin''s forehead was drenched with sweat, an invisible battle was currently happening.


    About a minute later, in Villin''s mental space, hostile mana had appeared just outside of his outer walls. Villin instantly noticed and focused on his mind.


    Unlike Villin did when he attacked with Mentallage, the hostile mana was calm and waited outside of the walls, then it began to morph. It became denser and it began forming a figure. First, it turned into a fox, then it morphed into a woman, the mana began gaining colors, black armor appeared on the woman''s chest, and a rapier formed in her hand.


    Villin could feel the anger, then the figure moved. Villin didn''t know what to do. The only magical power available to him were those within the mental walls he had made, his ''flowing'' magical power was sucked into the handcuffs he was wearing.


    Within moments the woman arrived at the outer wall, her rapier flashed within his mind, the wall shook immensely, cracks began appearing after just that single hit, Villin felt an immense amount of pressure.


    The woman didn''t relent and the mental wall was hit twice more, cracks were everywhere and it would soon be destroyed.


    Suddenly Villin thought of something. This Kitsune wasn''t his enemy, she just thought he was.


    Just as the Kitsune was about to strike again, she found the wall was splitting in half to let her in.


    The Kitsune didn''t hesitate to move forward. It intended to ignore the outermost layer, she would attack the emotions and web, destroying memories would be useless. Also, she had yet to see her opponent''s magical power. All she saw was the wall, it was strong but without fluid support, it would''ve quickly fallen.


    Yet, when she was making her way through Villin''s memories swiftly, she noticed something was off.


    The mana that created the outer wall was being used again, the wall disappeared and the magical power was grabbing memories and placing them in front of her.


    Kitsune felt confused, it would be understandable if certain memories were being dragged away from her or the mana went to support a mental construct deeper within the mind, but this situation made no sense to her,


    Then she saw the first memory that was placed in front of her. It showed an old face with a single tear on his face, she could feel the emotion in this memory. It was astounding, one of the most vibrant memories in this person''s life. Then, the old man exploded, killing the man that wanted to harm them.


    "Tch, trying to get me to be compassionate after killing my family? As if!" the Kitsune seemed to yell out to Villin who caught her thoughts, then a second memory was dragged in front of her.


    He was in the cell, the situation felt hopeless, he was looking at a new scar he had gained on his arm.


    The next memory was of one of the experiments, something all too familiar to the Kitsune.


    "You- you are also a prisoner?" she stopped in her steps for a moment before continuing "In that case, I''ll end your suffering alongside my own!"


    Yet, she had only moved forward slightly when another memory appeared. It was one where Villin checked on each of his preparations for the escape, making sure everything was in order.


    The kitsune once more stopped, stunned at this memory, "This, you''re planning to escape?"


    Yet before she could say another thing, memory upon memory was being dragged around her. Some were about the escape plan while others were about the times he had with his companions. The time he met professor Crumb, when he became a runemaster, when he created his own guild.


    Memory after memory flew around the Kitsune. She was stunned into silence. After looking at dozens of memories she looked up, Villin could tell she was directing her following words to him as a person "What will you do if you manage to escape?"


    Villin didn''t know how to reply at first. Initially, he was thinking of what the Kitsune would want to hear but he decided to simply speak from his heart.


    "I will change the world. Revolutionize magi society." his magical power formed in front of the Kitsune and formed these words.


    The Kitsune paused for a moment "If you promise to destroy the people that did this to us when you have the strength, then I will help you."


    With these words, the Kitsune''s figure dissipated, Villin could feel she had somehow become a part of him. He could feel their heart beating and he felt that he was able to converse with her at will.

 Chapter 151: Final Preparation

    When Villin opened his eyes, he could see the bright eyes of Candil in front of him, the scientist was shaking, for the previous couple of minutes he had been waiting to see what would happen.


    This was different from what he heard from his colleagues. Villin''s body wasn''t getting ripped apart even though he did seem to be in anguish. He wasn''t sure yet if it was due to the pills Villin had taken or something else.


    "And? What happened? Do you have any abilities now?" the scientist asked, releasing the spell that would keep Villin silent.


    Villin looked exhausted but he soon replied, "It was in my mind, attacking me. There was some sort of beast but I somehow managed to kill it I think. If I would''ve let it, it would''ve taken over my body I''m sure!"


    As this was the first time Villin lied to Candil in nearly a year, the man didn''t expect it and simply continued asking questions.


    Overall, Villin was telling the truth, only leaving out a few important details. To make it more believable he even told the scientist of one of his secrets. Stating that he had created mental walls back in The Academy and he used that mana to attack the beast and kill it.


    After taking a bunch of notes, the scientist seemed to be deep in thought. "Alright, since you have the heart of a Kitsune, at least some of its abilities should be partially available to you. Starting next week we will be training, trying to unlock those abilities from your battle. I must admit it is unfortunate the beast''s soul has died though, it would''ve been able to strengthen your abilities."


    After this, Villin was led back to his cell.


    When the guards left, Villin was finally able to relax again. The kitsune he had become one with let him know it would take some time for her to get used to his body and, especially, his mind.


    This was unfortunate but it wasn''t as if Villin had prepared his plan with a bloodline in mind. He believed he could escape as it was.


    The plan he made earlier was still in effect. If his guesses were right, the two enchanters and a couple of guards should come to search his cell again the following day, this would be the time he would strike.


    Now, it was time to properly set everything up.


    Villin walked over to a corner of the room that was out of sight and he sat on the floor. He put one of his hands on the ground before him. When he used transfiguration to simply feel what was beneath him, he didn''t feel anything, but that was how he had prepared it. Using transfiguration, the ground shifted and a secret compartment was revealed.


    The secret compartment itself was enchanted, this made it much harder for people to sense it existed using transfiguration.


    Inside of the compartment were a bunch of earthen objects. They were circular disks that were about half a meter in diameter. Villin could see the subtle glow of the enchantments as the objects seemed to be waiting to be activated. Villin smiled slightly, they wouldn''t have to take long.


    They were pretty thin and there were a total of fifty of them.


    Villin quickly took them out and began putting them in their places. There were a total of forty statues standing against the walls, Villin put a disk behind the head of each of them. Then he chose three specific statues and put a bunch more on them.


    With the disks in place, Villin sat down again and put his hand on the floor.


    Since Elinoire became demented, he didn''t have a transfiguration teacher, this meant that he was forced to experiment and find his own way to improve in the art.


    One time he was practicing transfiguration, he had an idea. The thing was that to transfigure you first had to bring your magical power into the area you wish to transfigure, you would also be able to tell the surroundings of this affected area.


    At first, Villin thought of using this to get the layout of this research base, this would help with the escape immensely. And so, he tried leading his magical power further and further from the cell.


    This worked for a bit but he soon ran out of magical power, it wasn''t easy to sustain the magical link through matter.


    Then he recalled his mental walls. He once had a similar problem there. He sent his magical power into his mind and tried blocking it off, but it was very hard to control. Then, he made these magical ''creases'' making places where magical power would automatically stay and gravitate towards.


    Villin got the idea of trying to do this in the earth, creating an underground, magical crease, making it bigger bit by bit.


    After working on this for about a month, he succeeded, and slowly but surely his magical power traveled further and further, allowing him to get a better grasp of the facility.


    He got pretty far, he knew the basic layout at this point, but there were limits to where he could go. For one, there was a ward surrounding the facility that would detect any disturbances, this was generally meant to detect intruders but it worked both ways. Another thing that sometimes blocked his senses were magic arrays or enchanted object. If they remained in a certain location for a long time, their magical power would begin to seep into the earth below, Villin always made sure not to get close to it.


    When having magic power underground, he couldn''t properly make out what was happening above his magical energy, but he often had an idea. With living things, he would generally feel a shade above the location. Over time he noticed certain patterns, he had a general idea of the guard routes for one, he also knew the location of other cells. He couldn''t feel if the things within were human or not though.


    Since he had a general idea where he should be, Villin looked at the shade he figured would be the scientist. The scientist was moving out of his living quarters and seemed to be hurriedly heading towards the north. Soon, he moved over an area that had multiple magic arrays above it, causing Villin to lose him, but he had seen enough.


    The movements were unusual for Candil and Villin had a good idea of why he would go somewhere unusual. He should be going to notify the headmaster of his achievements, after all, what he had done was no small feat.


    Villin wasn''t worried the headmaster would come though. He was sure that she was a very busy person that wouldn''t be available too much. It was most likely Candil would simply have to report the situation and then she might give him an order or reward.


    Villin decided to head to the north where Candil had just gone. He already thought previously it was the most likely exit and this was reaffirmed now. He just had to hope it wasn''t just a teleportation array to Decorus.


    After getting up from the ground, Villin walked over to Elinoire who was staring at the door "Hey Elin! So, we''ll be leaving tomorrow. I''ll try to take you with me but you''ll have to follow me, alright? Also, I made a new friend. I now have a Kitsune heart and she is familiarizing herself with the new body. She''s seen a lot of pain just like we have but she seems nice at first sight, I''m sure you two will get along!" Villin talked all excitedly to the numb Elinoire.


    Over time, Villin began talking to Elinoire in a different way, giving her a nickname and always pretending things were all right. He didn''t do this for her but for himself instead. When he talked like that he felt just a little bit lighter, as if, perhaps, things would be okay.


    And today even more so than usual.


    For tomorrow, he would try to finally leave this damn place.


    ''No, we will leave this place.''


    As he thought this, he looked down at his chest, there was a fresh scar there that had only appeared today. No matter what happened, at least he wouldn''t be completely alone again, he would have someone with him even through the toughest of times.


    With this in mind, Villin spent the rest of the day training his body. When escaping, speed would be extremely important. Each of the guards was very powerful, if Villin could defeat one he would already be extremely content, speed would be of major importance in the upcoming escape.


    And so he did, and before he even realized it, the following day had come.


    Then, as planned, a few people began making their way towards his cell. He could feel four in total. Two people were coming from the guards'' living area and two others from a location he couldn''t feel, which made sense considering the people were enchanters.


    It was finally time, he could finally try to properly escape!

 Chapter 152: The Escape

    Villin calmed his breathing as he could feel people coming closer and closer to the cell. After a few minutes, he heard a voice coming from the door "Come here and prepared to get handcuffed."


    At this time, four holes appeared in the door, it was the same as usual. Villin walked up to the door and so did Elinoire, she had gotten used to doing this. Soon, both of them had the cuffs on, sucking the magical power out of them.


    Once the two backed off, the door opened and four people entered.


    "Where''s Candil?" Villin asked, the scientist wasn''t here right now.


    "He had to go report to the headmaster, he''ll be gone until tomorrow." one of the guards casually said. He knew Candil and Villin would often talk while the cell was being searched.


    Villin simply nodded and walked to the middle of the cell, the others didn''t know but he was now standing in the middle of the two wards he had created. He could feel magical power entering his body, for the last two months he had entered most of his magical power into this ward, its purpose was to supply magical power to those standing within, the handcuffs wouldn''t be able to take so much magic power before malfunctioning.


    As this was going on, the people that entered the cell got into position. The two guards would always stand in front of two of the statues that would give them the best line of sight on the cell. These statues were two of those who got extra disks tucked behind them.


    As for the final one, the two enchanters were making there way there currently, they would always move from the left to the right, beginning with the statue closest to the door.


    Villin waited patiently as small lines of his magical power moved toward each of the statues spread across the walls.


    When inspecting the statue, one of the enchanters frowned and bend forward, he had noticed the disk.


    Then, just as he picked it up,


    BOOOOM!!!


    The ground shook as each of the disks blew up at once. The heads of all of the statues blew up as one, destroying their cores. As for the two enchanters and the guards, they were standing next to the statues that were holding extra explosives. Their bodies were engulfed with flames, they didn''t even have the chance to scream as they were killed in the explosion.


    Elinoire looked stunned at the sight before her as Villin showed a bright smile, but he didn''t have a lot of time.


    Thanks to the magical energy supplied by the ward, his handcuffs quickly fell off and his magical power came back. He destroyed Elinoire''s handcuffs too before activating the second ward.


    This ward also utilized the magical power trapped in the former one as a ginormous magical signal was shot into the air. This was somewhat similar to his first escape attempt except that it was much more powerful and less discreet. There was no way The Academy wouldn''t be able to find the signal but at the same time, Decorus would also realize something was off.


    Without hesitation, Villin grabbed Elinoire''s hand and began running towards the door, using transfiguration, it immediately opened, letting them leave the cell, the moss on the walls had been catching fire rapidly.


    Once outside, Villin paused for a moment and tried to feel the situation inside of the facility. He could go north, east, or west. The north was where the escape should be, the east were the living quarters of the guards and to the west were the other cells.


    After confirming guards were coming from the east and enchanters to the north also began moving, Villin promptly headed towards the west with Elinoire in tow. Thus far things were going according to plan.


    As he headed to the left, Villin thought of what needed to happen. Soon, he would have to fight a guard. He planned to set some of the creatures in the facility free, the problem was that a few guards would always linger around the area the magical beasts were captured. Especially around the stronger ones.


    The problem was that Villin didn''t know what cell held what kind of beast. If he opened cells with beasts that weren''t intelligent enough to recognize him as an ally and attack him, he would be in trouble.


    The research facility was large. The guards should number twenty at least with another five enchanters added to that. A force impossible for Villin to stop on his own.


    Villin ran at top speed which was much, much faster compared to a year ago. Even though the torture did take a toll, the heavily increased gravity also tempered his body, his muscles had become much stronger.


    It didn''t take long for him to reach the first destination. He put his hand on a door and it swung open, he could now be considered to be in the western ''wing'' of the facility. This was where the beasts were kept and experimented on.


    The hallways here were wider, at least four meters wide. This was because of the size of some of the beasts.


    Barely three minutes after Villin broke out of his cell, he was about to reach the first cell on his list. His bare feet touched the ground, tapping into the magical network he had created underground, for a moment he paused, reaffirming the location of the first guard. As soon as he would turn the corner he would be in the line of sight of the guard. Taking a stealthy approach wasn''t possible either. Everyone in the facility had no doubt heard the explosion he had caused and they were most wary of the central wing of the facility. Going around wasn''t an option either as it stood.


    That being said, Villin wasn''t about to engage this guard in a hallway where he could easily use transfiguration to block it off entirely using a single golem. Even though Villin had learned the magical art, he was much better at using actual proper spells.


    Villin closed his eyes and visualized the area near him. The guard was less then fifty meters away, luring him would be easy. As for the location Villin wished to fight at, he picked one of the experimentation rooms. They were large enough to comfortably fight in and had some sound-proof qualities. At the very least, the whole facility shouldn''t be alerted to his current location.


    Villin quickly opened the door to the room and entered, then he began casting some spells against the metal objects in the room. Icicles shot all over the place, the sound of metal clashing was loud enough for the guard to notice but not so loud for everyone else to take note. As expected the guards quickly ran closer, he naturally thought the sound was a fight and wanted to assist as soon as possible.


    Yet, when he opened the door to the usually clean experimentation room, he was surprised. He didn''t see anyone around, but the whole room was a mess. Lab equipment was thrown everywhere and the experimentation chairs were twisted and turned.


    Unconsciously, the guard walked in the room completely, somewhat letting down his guard.


    This was enough for Villin to make his move. He was hanging from the ceiling close to the door, he used transfiguration to make footholds, keeping his feet into place. Even though the guard was relatively vigilant, he never expected someone to hide on the ceiling.


    With a thought, the footholds disappeared and Villin fell down, he smashed down with his fist, hitting the guard on the top of the head, knocking him down.


    The two men were sprawled onto the ground, the guard''s vision was somewhat fuzzy, his hand went for the wand he had just dropped but before he could grab it, vines sprouted from the ground, holding him down.


    One of the vines went inside of his mouth when he tried to scream, moving deeper and deeper into his throat, the man struggled violently but without his wand, he wasn''t able to do anything to the threat. He tried transfiguring the ground around him but the vines inhibited his abilities and just like that, he choked.


    The magus that was as strong as Villin at the least, was killed like a pig. A surprise attack was enough to take him out, the knock to the head caused him to drop his wand and made using magic harder, then he tried resisting helplessly against the vines coming for him. This reaffirmed Villin''s decision of learning wandless magic.


    Once the guard stopped breathing, Villin quickly made his way to one of the larger closed cabinets, he opened it letting Elinoire out.


    When Villin looked at the body surrounded by vines, he didn''t feel a thing. He simply walked up and took the wand that was ever-so-slightly out of the guard''s reach.


    He then exited the room with Elinoire and they made their way to the first cell.

 Chapter 153: Angry Beasts

    The beast cells were much more secure than the one Villin and Elinoire were in. The one they were in was intended for those that aren''t quite a proper magus yet, even though it was easily capable of keeping a group of people like that, magical beasts were different.


    The magical beasts captured here are those that either have unknown bloodlines or rare and powerful ones. Either way, they were hard to contain.


    Each beast had three layers of security at the least, so that if the guards that went to grab them got knocked out, there were still multiple doors between them and the rest of the facility. Some of these fought every time they went to get them for experiments, making them very hard to control.


    It would take time to break into one of the cells. Even with transfiguration, it would take Villin about ten minutes to enter one of the cells, this was partially due to his weak foundation in the art.


    Usually, ten minutes wasn''t long, but the problem was that he was in the middle of an escape attempt. By now, most of the guards had already checked his cell and they began looking around the entire facility.


    Luckily, he wasn''t expected to go into the west wing which was once more filled with cells. After all, the only escape was to the north and the west wing didn''t have any connection with them unlike the central area or even the eastern wing.


    This would buy him some time, in order to maximize this time, Villin had vines blocking the door that led here, using transfiguration too to make it even harder to get through.


    It would probably take about five minutes for the first guard to get to the door, another five minutes later they should be through.


    This meant he should be able to open the doors to the first cell in time if he was lucky.


    And so, without delay, he began. The doors were massive being over four meters high and wide, this meant the creature inside would be big as well, his transfiguration abilities also affirmed that. Now he could only hope it was an intelligent beast or one that wasn''t violent. If something like an ogre came through, things would get troublesome.


    And so, with his hands on the door, Villin began inserting his magic power. The door was full of enchantments that hampered him, making the door harder to transfigure or break.


    Villin guessed the doors were probably always opened by the person that made the enchantment, either that or they actually took five minutes to get through them every time.


    Slowly but surely Villin transfigured the door, after three minutes, he got through the first one, and after five minutes, as if on queue, Villin could hear the sound of an explosive spell, an enemy had arrived on the door connecting the central and western wing.


    Villin ignored it as he continued working, and a minute later the second door opened. He didn''t take any time to check on his enemy, it was possible they were about to get through his defenses, if that was the case, he''d be in trouble.


    A minute before Villin finished, the sounds of spells stopped, this meant they probably made it. He could only hope they would be careful, if they ran they could easily get here within twenty seconds.


    Yet they didn''t, they quickly found the guard''s body and put up their guards, not underestimating their enemy. Just as Villin opened the final door, the guards reached them. There were three of them and they weren''t looking like they did normally. Each of them wore a chest piece and vambraces, it seemed to be made out of iron but it was likely some sort of magic material.


    Before they were able of casting a spell, Villin and Elinoire rushed through the door Villin had just opened, he had no time to carefully see what it was first.


    When they entered, they quickly moved to the right, out of the line of sight of the guards. Only then could Villin look into the cell properly, spotting the things now in the same room as him.


    He gulped as he looked at the creatures.


    It wasn''t an ogre as he had dreaded.


    It was three ogres.


    The creatures were each over three meters tall, they had human-like skin and were extremely muscular. Their bellies stuck out immensely and their foreheads were extremely tall. The bald creatures looked at them in surprise at first. Then they showed their teeth, two yellow teeth coming from the bottom were so big they stuck out. Their ears resembled those of elves but were much larger.


    Villin wasn''t sure what to do at first as he stood grounded on the ground stunned.


    The ogres were the same, each of them frowned as they looked at the two intruders who looked much different compare to normal. Their skin was full of scars, these creatures had been here for a while and by now they didn''t attack every time the guards came in anymore.


    But this only lasted for a few seconds as they noticed Villin and Elinoire were naked, lacking the heavy equipment the guards used when dealing with them.


    And so, with a roar, the ogres all ran towards Villin ignoring Elinoire.


    This was because, in an ogre''s tribe, women were seen as the spoils of combat, ogre women didn''t fight generally.


    This did leave Villin in a difficult situation though. Ogre skin was very tough. If he shot something like icy pike, it probably wouldn''t even be able to do any damage.


    Seeing the ogres heading for him, Villin turned around and ran back the way he came.


    When the guards saw him come back in their vision they prepared, two of them crouched down, casting defensive spells as they figured the boy was about to send a spell their way. As for the final guard, he sent a fireball his way to see how he would react.


    Seeing the fireball heading for him, Villin twisted his body, letting it fly right by him. Half a second later, three figures appeared behind Villin, the fireball hitting one of them.


    The ogre that was hit by the fireball was the largest one in the group, he roared, ignoring the wound as it sped up even further, it had changed his target from Villin to the guard who had cast the spell.


    Said guard was stupified when he realized what was going on. Up until now, they had been so focused on capturing the escapee that they had ignored their location, it was only now he realized where they were.


    Another shocking feat was the fact that this escapee was running as fast as the ogres behind him, this was much faster compared to a normal magus.


    If he continued attacking he could probably send another spell or two at Villin before he reached them, his allies who had been focused on defending could probably do the same.


    But at that point, even if they took Villin out, the ogres would be right in front of them. Without the right preparation and gear, they would be massacred, there was no way three of them could defeat an equal number of ogres without a lot of preparation.


    And so, after being stunned for a moment, the three of them turned around and began running as fast as they could, they needed reinforcements to deal with something like this.


    Seeing their reaction, Villin cursed. He had some confidence in being able to take a few spells from the guards using his own spells, he was hoping to let them take care of the ogres that were chasing him, but it seemed he would have to deal with this threat on his own.


    As he ran away, Villin managed to cast a spell backward, a couple of thick vines came out of the ground and the ogre in the front tripped over them, falling down.


    This bought him a couple of seconds, when he got to the T corridor where the guards had been waiting, Villin had to make a decision. He could go to the right where the guards had escaped to, go into the lab where a dead guard was lying, and try to escape through there or he could go the other way into the unknown.


    Surprisingly, he chose the second option. He could tell that one of the ogres had focused on the guard that cast a spell on him. That ogre would probably go to the right and follow the guards, going to the left meant he would have one less ogre to deal with.


    And so he did, and the ogre went to the right as he had hoped. It got even better when Villin noticed he was starting to grow more distance between himself and the remaining ogres. Unlike him, they hadn''t been training in their cells, they hadn''t been forced to live under extreme gravity either. They were only as fast as a regular ogre, normally they were much faster than a human but Villin was different. Training under extreme gravity had improved his body''s condition immensely, he could run as fast as an ogre and could keep the speed up for much longer.


    Just as Villin thought he would simply be able to outrun the ogres, he turned a corner, then his expression changed. He had run into a dead-end, there were no doors on either side and the hallway only continued on for another ten meters.


    Villin ran to the end but didn''t see any way to keep going, he would have to deal with the two remaining ogres.

 Chapter 154: The Ogres

    Villin turned back and looked at the two ogres who came near. They halted, showing their yellow teeth, when they realized he had nowhere to run.


    He looked at them in full seriousness. Thanks to a gene solution he took shortly after beginning his classes in The Academy he had strength similar to an orc, sadly this was still far off compared to an ogre, they would be able to crush him with a single hand.


    Villin''s first thought of using the offensive version of ''Mentallage'' but since an ogre''s mind was constructed differently compared to that of a human, the spell was ineffective.


    Knowing this, Villin prepared to use ''Bombardo'', it was the only spell of which Villin was sure it would do some damage. Then again, it was unlikely to cause more than a burn on an ogre''s skin.


    With a heavy heart, Villin watched as the ogres approached one step at a time.


    When they were barely five meters away from him Villin was about to cast the spell when he heard something in his head.


    ''Your spells and body aren''t the only powers you possess.''


    The voice belonged to the Kitsune who had been taking note of the situation.


    Confused, Villin replied ''I thought you needed time to get used to my body, how could I use your powers?''


    Villin could feel the Kitsune smile ''Even though your body is hard to get used to, your mind is not. These creatures are primitive, their mind is their biggest weakness. Even though humans have difficulty connecting with the minds of other creatures, you are no longer truly human.''


    Villin frowned as he heard her words. He could feel the intent in her words, she was sure of what she had been saying. But to attack with the mind without using spells, he wasn''t sure how to do it.


    Still, Villin was sure the Kitsune wouldn''t help him any further, certain things had to be figured out by oneself.


    Even though the ogres were only a few meters away from him. Villin closed his eyes and entered his mental space. Everything was the same, yet different. He couldn''t quite say what it was, but something in his mind had changed. His control had increased by a lot.


    He recalled how he connected to his puppets generally, he would connect a string of magical power from the puppet all the way to the web, deep in the mind.


    And so, he did something similar now. He made his magic power into lines, connecting to the inner pieces of his mind. When he opened his eyes, one of the ogres had one of his large arms raised, it was about to smash down on him.


    A thin line of magic power shot out from his mind, going right into the ogre''s eye. Villin could feel some sort of connection had been made, he recaptured the feeling he had when attacking with mentallage. The spell created a bridge between two minds he could cross.


    Without properly realizing it, the line of magic power had changed as such, his magic power moved through the line in droves, reaching the ogre.


    Just as the massive arm was coming down, the first wave of magic power reached. An ogre''s mental space only had two areas, memories and feelings. But it was small, extremely small.


    Villin didn''t think about what he was doing, all he did was send his magic power in droves and let it wreak havoc.


    First, the ogre simply stumbled, missing Villin with his arm. He shook his head confused, his mind was in disarray, he didn''t quite know what was going on. Then, he forgot why he was here, or where this was. Within a minute the ogre looked in front of him blankly it had lost its sense of self.


    The second ogre which was standing just behind it frowned deeply. Normally his comrade should move forward and squish the human, then they could eat them together. By the time it truly noticed something was wrong, a thin thread of magic had reached him unknowingly.


    As his memories and feelings were being destroyed, the ogre roared and dropped to his knees, soon, he too was empty.


    Both of them were extremely similar to Elinoire, thinking of this, Villin moved next to them.


    One of the ogres looked at him absentmindedly while the other was still looking in front of him.


    This was exactly what had happened to Elinoire, the first two areas of her mental space had collapsed due to a huge amount of pressure, the ogres were the same. Their minds were already weakened due to the torture, using a basic mental attack was enough to break them apart entirely.


    As he thought this, Villin once more used transfiguration to sense the situation in the facility entirely, when he did, he took a few steps back again.


    A group of people were heading for him, five at least.


    Moments after he noticed them, his connection was suddenly cut off. Apparently, one of them noticed he was spying and had some way to stop him.


    Villin panicked somewhat. He thought of trying to get the two ogres to help him ,but for that, his technique was way too weak. He swallowed as he once more put his back against the wall, if he could take one of the guards with him, he would be fine with it.


    He waited, and exactly thirty seconds after he sensed them, a group of people came into his vision. When they turned the corner, they immediately got distracted by the two ogres who seemed to be the largest threat, yet just before Villin cast a ''Bombardo'' at the group, he heard a voice.


    "Villin?"


    There was one person in the group who didn''t look at the ogres, she had silver hair and was in her early twenties.


    "Silver?"


    At this point the other magi also realized the situation as a whole, unlike the ogre they fought earlier, these two seemed to have suffered from a mental collapse, this was seemingly caused by the boy next to them, the reason they were here.


    "My go boy, what did they do to you?" asked Pompei, the burly man who now also recognized Villin.


    "This, what a terrible fate." said professor Messen who had taught him how to make gene solutions.


    The group of five people consisted entirely of teachers, Silver was the newest of the bunch and Villin recognized the others. He stared at them, he didn''t feel happy or sad, not even surprised really, he didn''t know what to feel.


    The group quickly all lowered their wands after affirming the ogres weren''t a threat "Did anyone else survive?" miss Valentine, one of the members of the group, asked.


    Villin looked at her for a bit before responding absentmindedly "Elinoire is in the open cell, Marvin wasn''t brought here."


    Upon hearing Elinoire''s name, she looked confused but she didn''t ask anything else.


    A few moments later, the group began leading him back the way they came. Students of the fifth and sixth year of The Academy were all over the place, corpses of guards also littered the corridors and even the ogre could be seen lying in a pool of its own blood.


    Villin looked at everything without expression, he simply followed those before him, at some point Silver gave him a cloak to keep warm but he didn''t even truly realize it and it simply fell to the ground.


    The ward he made to contact The Academy seemed to have worked, and much better than expected apparently.


    While walking through the corridors, Villin touched the large scar on the right side of his face, then he looked down, there was barely a spot on his body that wasn''t covered with scars. Other than his genitals, his entire body had been practically destroyed.


    When Villin properly regained control over his thoughts, he realized he was already outside. He was standing in a desert surrounded by people from The Academy, in front of him was Silver and she seemed like she had been trying to talk to him.


    She was terribly worried he had lost his mind, they just heard of Elinoire and Villin was acting similarly, luckily, he wasn''t quite that bad off.


    "Villin, are you okay? Can you still respond?"


    Hearing her words, Villin noticed her voice was shaking slightly, "I''m not sure, but I can still talk and think."


    This was all he said, it felt terribly uncomfortable speaking to these people, he was shocked by the lack of happiness he felt, he was outside after all, he had dreamt of seeing the sun many times. Yet, now that he looked at it, he found it lacked any warmth.


    It wasn''t so special and amazing as he always told himself before going to sleep. He didn''t feel like crying and laughing as he thought he would. For some reason, he almost wanted to go back to his cell. Back to the silent solitude, back to working on his escape plan.


    He was surrounded by these people now, but he didn''t like it as he used to.


    Even though he didn''t like it, Villin responded to a number of the questions they asked. Then, before he knew it, he was lying in an unfamiliar bed. It was soft, so extremely soft.


    After lying there for a bit, Villin stood up and went to sleep on the cold ground instead, it felt more familiar that way.

 Chapter 155: Healing

    When Villin woke up in the morning, he felt a bit better than the day before. He looked around the room and it was only now that he realized where he was. He was in Silver''s house, where he had stayed nearly two years ago.


    He got up and stretched; it felt extremely weird being here. Everything was so light, the lack of pressure on his body made him feel weightless, a very uncomfortable feeling.


    Still, he cleared his mind and looked at the door that led to the main area of the house. Villin wanted to get up and walk there but at the same time, he didn''t dare to. He had no idea what was behind the door or where anyone was. He subconsciously tried to use transfiguration to try and feel the house he was in but he hadn''t built any pathways here so he could only feel the area shortly around him.


    ''Come on Villin, this place is safe, I can just go out without a problem.


    Even though he told himself this, it took a long while for Villin to walk toward the door. Then, when he put his hand on the door handle, he once more hesitated. It was only a full ten minutes later that he mustered up the strength to open the door.


    When the door swung open and the main living area was revealed to him, Villin felt extremely weird. He recognized the couch where Silver would occasionally sit and the table where he had practiced his enchanting when he first got here. He even recognized most of the objects around since he had practiced on them.


    It was then that he felt something on his cheek. On full alert, he quickly jumped back, looking around for enemies. After nobody got into his line of sight after multiple seconds, Villin touched his cheek.


    It was water, he had apparently let out a tear.


    Confused, Villin walked back into the main room. He wasn''t sure what to do now. Usually, he would think about his escape plan, maybe work on the ward or enchanted disks. But now, there was nothing for him to do.


    He just stood there, without purpose, trying to find something he could do.


    After standing like that for ten minutes, he went back into his room and closed the door, he didn''t feel like going out further and would rather train in an enclosed space for a while.


    Back into his room, Villin immediately began doing push-ups. After a bit, he realized they weren''t doing anything to him. The method of training was simply too easy, he didn''t start sweating at all.


    After noticing this, Villin got into a lotus position and focused on the ground beneath him.


    He began forming a crease deep in the ground, a path for his magic power to go. Perhaps, he would feel more comfortable going out if he knew who was out there.


    For two hours, he worked on this. His magic power got further and further. He had moved through the living area and had just gotten to the study when he noticed someone.


    There was something sitting in the study, human-sized.


    When Villin sensed them, he could feel they had also locked onto him. They got up and began walking through the living area and then toward Villin''s room.


    A knocking sound came from the door. Without hesitation, Villin got up and moved towards the door, his arms stretched out against the wood, as if he was expecting holes to form for the handcuffs to be put on his hands.


    "Villin? Are you okay?"


    It took a bit for Villin to realize what he was doing. He paused for a moment before opening the door, it felt easier this time.


    Silver was standing on the other side, worried.


    "I put some clothes on the chair next to your bed, did you see them?" she asked upon seeing the boy was still naked.


    Villin didn''t respond for a bit, then he looked behind him, and indeed, there were clothes lying there.


    "I hadn''t," he replied simply.


    "I see. Did you sleep well?" Silver asked, trying to get Villin to engage in a basic conversation with her.


    "Yeah, sleep was good," he replied simply once more, he had no idea what else to say.


    Seeing he still wasn''t responding properly, Silver decided to give it one more try, "I noticed your magical power was moving underground and it seemed to be locked onto me, how did you do that?"


    This time, Villin didn''t feel too weird replying. He often talked to Elinoire about this even if she didn''t usually respond, he had always been trying to improve his methods while preparing to escape, "Well, it uses transfiguration. I noticed that when you send magic power into the ground, other than simply transfigurating it, you also get an idea of the immediate surroundings. When preparing to escape I thought it would be great if I would be able to sense the location of the guards in the facility so I began making pathways-"


    Like this, he began speaking to SIlver. He went on and on, not used to having the other party capable of responding. Before he realized it, he was already in the main room of the house, sitting on the sofa while explaining some magical theories to Silver.


    At some point along the way, she began responding more as well, slowly but surely it actually began resembling a proper conversation.


    "I see Villin, that does seem very smart. Now, I don''t know much about transfiguration but couldn''t you have taken over the statues yourself?"


    "No. I mean, I did try it at first, but I simply couldn''t figure out what was different with those statues that made them capable of reacting when someone tried to escape! I spent weeks trying to figure it out but couldn''t find a thing. I do have some guesses though. It seems likely it uses certain special spells to imprint specific orders into the stone itself. This might have been achieved by using certain enchantments but even after so much time I couldn''t find any, even if they would be hidden there should''ve been at least something I would be able to sense after so long, but alas, nothing."


    Silver smiled as she saw Villin so engaged, after all this time, she decided to try to get him to take the next step, "Say Villin, why don''t you go ahead and put on some clothes? We don''t want you getting sick now do we?"


    When she asked that, she immediately noticed a change in Villin''s demeanor. He got a bit more distant to her at that moment as he seemed to recall his location properly. But before she could blame herself for asking too early, he responded, "Okay, I''ll put them on."


    He seemed somewhat hesitant but still made his way back to his room and picked up his clothes.


    When he put on his shirt, the lack of exposure freaked him out a little, but he still got it on properly. The pants were pretty loose so he didn''t have much of a problem with it either. He did leave the socks and shoes behind though. Being able to sense his surroundings easily and touch the ground directly gave him comfort, he had no intention of giving that up.


    Still, Silver was happy with the progress. Yet, then came the next difficulty, something she never expected would be a challenge.


    A couple of hours had passed since Villin had put on clothes and Silver occasionally came over to have a short conversation with him, still giving him time for himself as well.


    The most positive thing was that Villin also spent some time in the living room by himself, he wasn''t so fearful of the freedom anymore.


    A bit later, Silver started preparing food. Two plates were filled with chicken, rice, and curry sauce.


    When Silver told Villin it was time to eat, he came with her readily, but when he saw the plates he paused.


    One thing Silver hadn''t realized yet was that Villin hadn''t eaten real food in nearly a year. All he ate were pills, no meat or vegetables.


    When Silver asked what was wrong and heard he generally only ate pills, she felt surprised. She didn''t push Villin, she simply sat down and began eating from her own plate, under his gaze.


    When she was almost finished, Villin went to sit across from her. Silver could see he was sweating. Something that should be so simple became so difficult for the boy. Even just to eat, he had to overcome a serious mental hurdle.


    Still, he was strong. With a bit of encouragement from the Kitsune that shared his mind, he grabbed a fork, and with shaking hands, he got some rice on it.


    When he moved it towards his mouth, most of the rice fell off but there were still some grains that made it into his mouth.

 Chapter 156: Living

    When the rice entered Villin''s mouth, he froze. He felt shocked at the taste that entered his mouth. For the last year all he had eaten were pills, none of which were tasty in any way, shape, or form.


    He soon went in for a second bite, adding some curry to it as well this time. When it entered his mouth he felt an explosion of taste. Without realizing it, tears began streaming down his cheeks as he took bite after bite of the food on the table.


    Saying this was the most delicious food he had ever eaten wouldn''t be wrong. He had forgotten good taste as a whole, this felt entirely new to him, of everything thus far, this was the first thing that truly brought him an emotion. He wasn''t sure if it was happiness or sadness, but tears kept on coming until he finished his plate.


    When everything was done, he promptly stood up and said, "Thank you for the meal.". After saying this, he made his way back to his room.


    Silver, who was still sitting at the table, looked at his back with a sad smile. It was truly heartbreaking, seeing what the boy had become. She wanted to hug him but knew that physical contact probably wasn''t a good idea.


    Normally, she would be assisting one of the teachers with their classes currently, but due to Villin''s situation, she had been allowed to go home two months before the ending of the school year.


    Now, The Academy and white tower hoped she would be able to allow him to feel more comfortable and at home again. So that when the doctor came in two weeks, they would be able to have a decent look at him without resistance.


    For the first week, Silver decided not to go any further. She simply engaged and talked with him regularly and left whenever she felt he began pulling back a little. They also ate two meals together. One in the morning and one in the evening.


    In this week of time, Villin got himself to move all over the house. He washed himself with hot water and ate a snack when he felt like eating.


    After this period of time, Silver brought Villin a wooden spell blueprint. It had been supplied by The Academy and it held a minor illusionary spell. It allowed the caster to change the appearance of their face, because of this, this kind of spell was generally not given to young students, this was to avoid aiding future criminals. This time, an exception was made since Villin would be able to hide his facial scar using the spell.


    When Villin got the spell blueprint, he nearly immediately began working on it. Silver had noted that although he seemed to be a mess socially, when it came to magic, he seemed to be able to think and act clearly. Physical training was also something he continued doing without a problem.


    It took very little time for Villin to learn the spell, after four days he got the hang of the spell and he began using it, regaining his former appearance, when it came to the face, at least.


    After this time, Villin got a little bit more used to the freedom he got. He still always slept on the floor but this wasn''t something he intended to change. It made him feel at ease when waking up. With his hands and feet touching the ground he could immediately sense around the house, make sure he was still safe.


    Socks also stayed off. Even though you could very much transfigure things with socks and shoes on, it still made for a sort of divide making it slightly harder. It would also make it nearly impossible for Villin to properly sense things through the magical pathways he had made.


    Overall, he began feeling a bit better. He somewhat enjoyed most of the conversations he had with Silver and the food was amazing. Still, he couldn''t forget about the things that happened in the cell.


    He often did weird things subconsciously. Every third day he woke up early and approached the door, as if waiting for Candil to come to get him. He was also hesitant of practicing magic in sight of Silver, even if it was harmless.


    After two weeks, something changed. When he woke up, Villin could feel there wasn''t one but two people in the house. He could guess which one Silver was by now but he had no idea who the second person was.


    He got up warily. He grabbed the wand on his desk and aimed towards the door, his hand was shaking, it was as if he was expecting Candil to come out of that very door.


    He could feel the two figures approach the door, then a loud knock could be heard.


    Villin''s eyes widened slightly ''Voccocito'' with this simple spell, the door swung open, revealing the two people standing there.


    Next to Silver was an old man in a bright green robe. The man looked familiar, after thinking for a bit he recognized him as Elder Tian. They had met at the yearly runemaster conference. He was the representative of the green tower, even though Villin didn''t quite know what that meant.


    The old man showed Villin his palms, he clearly wasn''t holding a wand. After about a dozen seconds Villin lowered his wand "What are you doing here?"


    The kindred elder smiled "I''ve come to try and heal you."


    As soon as he did that, he noticed Villin tensed up a little so he quickly continued.


    "I won''t make any incisions or have you take any pills. I will use magic to see how your body and mind are doing. I will make sure it is always weak enough so that you can expel it when you feel uncomfortable."


    Villin hesitated for a while but eventually, he agreed. His only condition was that Elder Tian would always have to be in front of him and not behind, the elder readily agreed to this.


    Soon, Villin was sitting on a couch with Elder Tian standing in front of him. He first took his wand and softly tapped it on a multitude of locations across Villin''s body. Villin could feel very faint bits of magical power enter his body and scan his various organs. He immediately snuffed any bits of magical power that approached his heart but let the rest do its thing.


    Even though Elder Tian noticed Villin didn''t allow him to get close to the heart, he didn''t mention it and simply worked with what he had.


    "Your organs are significantly more powerful compared to those from a regular magus." after saying this, he began scanning Villin''s muscles "Oh my, the muscles in your body are much stronger compared to those of regular magi. This seems to have been caused by the gravity array we found in your cell. Your arms in particular are extremely powerful, it is hard to believe that would''ve been caused by an experimental pill."


    Even though he said this, the man didn''t actually seem to be suspicious of Villin, he simply commented on things he noticed.


    "Your blood seems odd, calling it tainted wouldn''t quite be right but it was certainly changed in some way, this might''ve been caused as a side effect by some of the pills." he frowned slightly as he thought about it "Still, your blood is pumping properly, your organs don''t seem to be rejecting the blood so it shouldn''t be much of a problem."


    After all this, he was able to give a conclusion of the body as a whole "Overall, the body seems healthy, it is overall more powerful than those of a magus. The only part that will not heal with a bit of time is the skin. Most scars are caused by some sort of magical effect, healing the scars will not be possible even for me."


    These words actually reassured Silver quite a bit. The fact Villin''s body was healthy was already very important.


    "Now, it is time to have a look at the mind. I promise I will try to stay away from any memories and head straight towards the second layer of your mind, having a look at your emotional state."


    At this point in time, Villin wasn''t afraid of anyone messing around in his mind, his mental defenses were extremely strong and the Kitsune increased his defenses as well. If Elder Tian were to try something, Villin was confident he would be able to counterattack near immediately.


    And so, after Villin''s nod, Elder Tian put his hand on Villin''s forehead and began inserting magic power.


    Elder Tian was one of the best purely magical healers in the central continent. He had seen thousands and thousands of mental spaces and knew what to expect. A regular magus would have practically no defenses, there would be nothing dividing the different areas of the mind.


    Those that have fought wars had generally instinctively built up mental defenses, often without even realizing it. They would have a layer between each part of the mind as protection.


    Elder Tian expected Villin to be like those that came from long wars, he probably instinctively made mental walls to help him cope with the pain. But when he entered, what he saw was way beyond anything he had ever seen.

 Chapter 157: Mental Situation

    When the Kitsune and Villin became one, Villin''s control of his mental space and the magic power within it increased exponentially. It was also one of the things he never slacked on. Let''s say the Kitsune had actually been an enemy, she was able to easily get through his defenses and destroy his mind, similar to what he did to the ogres.


    Since he didn''t want this, he was often busy increasing his defenses, and with increased control, he managed to do certain things that were previously impossible.


    The rules of the mind weren''t exactly the same as those outside of it. To some extent, one can form their own mind, it can be changed using your imagination and the control you have over magic.


    When Elder Tian entered Villin''s mind, he felt shocked. Using his magic power to sense the surroundings, he could feel the grass beneath him, an occasional bush could also be found. Even though the plain was mostly empty, it wasn''t of much importance. When Elder Tian moved further up, only then did he feel what was truly going on.


    On the edge of these grasslands was a massive black wall. As he watched he could see the wall become more detailed, as if every second it became stronger. He didn''t realize this was actually caused by the Kitsune who shared this mind, she often worked on the mind while Villin was doing other things.


    But even then, the wall wasn''t truly the most impressive thing to Elder Tian currently. After all, he couldn''t feel how far the wall went, even though he could see it reached extremely high into the sky.


    In front of the wall was something else. Legions of stone statues stood there unmovingly. Each of them held an identical spear, they lacked faces but Elder Tian could feel the threat they caused.


    At first, Elder Tian figured he could simply fly over this barricade using his magic power, bt he found it impossible to make his magic power rise.


    This was the purpose of the grasslands, and the visual wall. Within his mind, Villin had created his own world. This world had laws, people entering it, would have to keep them to it.


    One of the laws applicable here was gravity, you couldn''t simply rise as a mind would generally allow you too.


    Then again, these laws went both ways, Villin''s magical power would also have to keep to these laws. Other than preparation, the biggest advantage Villin would have was that it was possible to change these laws, and he could reconstruct his magical power.


    For example, if Elder Tian would be able to change his mental power into the shape of a bird, similar to how the Kitsune had changed her form when attacking Villin, in return, Villin''s walls could shift and swat him down. He could also try and have some of his own troops get wings. An attacker would have to be extremely quick and powerful, try to outrun the actions the owner of the mind could take.


    Even though Elder Tian was skilled in the mind, it was mostly when it came to healing, he was only capable of stretching his magic power out or having it take shape into his own body.


    And so he did, his magic power shifted and reflected himself, then he took a few steps forward.


    When he got a hundred meters away from the wall. All of the troops grabbed their spears and pointed them forward as if they were one and the same. This caused Elder Tian to halt once more. He could feel they would attack him when he got closer.


    Luckily, at that moment, a large number of troops stepped aside forming a path for Elder Tian to move through. Elder Tian went ahead and walked past the statues, he was incredibly intrigued by the defenses of this mind, it was absolutely stunning to see.


    When he got to the wall, that too parted, it moved towards both ways, letting Elder Tian through. He wanted to touch the wall and see what it was made out of but when he got close, he could feel a threat coming from the soldiers and he simply walked through without doing anything.


    ''I have to remember I am here to diagnose this boy and heal him, not to inspect his defenses for my own benefit.'' he reminded himself as he walked past.


    When he got past the first wall, he properly entered the mind. He was capable of freely moving again and flew through the mind. As he had promised Villin he wouldn''t look into his memories. He expected he would have to change his path quite often not to meet any. Yet, instead, the memories made a path for him. They moved aside letting him pass by uninterrupted.


    Even though it was extremely intriguing, he reminded himself of his mission and ignored this anomaly.


    When he got close to the second area of the mind, Elder Tian felt his surroundings change once more.


    He soon found himself in a rather odd location. The stone beneath his feet was black with red lava streaming through the creases. The gravity was much higher than before causing him to fall to his knees for a moment as he hadn''t expected it.


    The lava wasn''t quite as realistic as the other things he had seen thus far. This made him think that Villin probably wasn''t all that familiar with lava making the representation flawed. Despite this, it was still quite hot here and the gravity didn''t help either.


    Looking forwards Elder Tian could see a massive chasm with more of the lava far beneath them. The only way to pass seemed to be the ropebridge leading to the other side.


    On the other side was, once more, a wall. Even from this distance, Elder Tian could still recognize the wall had the familiar shine of an enchanted object. That said, it seemed unfinished, this mental defense was still being worked on.


    Elder Tian didn''t hesitate to get on the ropebridge and begin moving. Even if he fell and this bit of magic power was lost, it wouldn''t really matter, he hadn''t sent much in anyways as they had agreed.


    It was exhausting to cross the 100-meter ropebridge but Elder Tian kept going. The existence of exhaustion and pain were clearly also some of the laws Villin set up in his defenses.


    When he finally got over the ropebridge, Elder Tian saw heaps of stone lying all over the place. It seemed like unformed elements. The elements had already been created but it still had to be formed into the actual product. Likely more stone or metal soldiers.


    Elder Tian couldn''t help but sweat a little more when he thought about how one would breach this place when it was finished.


    As you crossed the bridge it was likely these stone troops would attack you one-by-one. You would get more and more exhausted while the soldiers, since they were made out of stone, wouldn''t have this issue. With gravity and soldiers constantly fighting you, it would be extremely hard to pass through. And even if you did, you would meet with a powerfully enchanted wall that would stop you.


    He also figured that this place would become even more threatening when Villin actually found lava in the real world and experienced its heat and texture by himself. The heat in this place would go up immensely making it so much harder.


    When the wall once more split in two, Elder Tian quickly went ahead and passed, making it into the area of Villin''s brain that took care of emotion.


    ''Thank God'' he couldn''t help but think, it was not pleasant passing the defenses even when they didn''t stop him.


    In Elder Tian''s eyes, the layer of emotions was full of colors. Each color was a different emotion.


    This was the most familiar to him, the colors floated around freely and Elder Tian could spectate them properly.


    Soon, he found the problem with Villin''s mind. Many of his emotions were shackled to other ones. He found happiness and sadness which were represented by yellow and blue, were often linked to the black color that represented ''apathy'', the lack of emotion.


    Black was seen in many places, keeping other emotions within its clutches.


    Luckily, there were some exceptions. Intrigue was the emotion that was seen alone the most and other emotions would also occasionally come up normally, even if it was in a small amount.


    When looking closer, he found that most of the black he found was linked extremely closely to the outer layer that represented memories. Normally all emotions were somewhat linked to memory but not to such an extent.


    This wasn''t the first time Elder Tian had seen this, but it was very tough to deal with. The one thing he might be able to do is destroying the memories that are fueling this continued apathy but the complications this would cause didn''t quite make that worth it.


    The best news was that there seemed to be no real damage, his mind seemed to be completely intact which was extremely good news.


    After affirming it, he retracted his magical power and opened his eyes. He was met with the slightly nervous gaze of Villin and the inquisitive one coming from Silver.

 Chapter 158: Doctor’s Judgement

    Seeing Silver''s inquisitive look, Elder Tian gathered his thoughts for a moment before delivering his judgment.


    "Overall, the mind seems relatively healthy. There are certain¡­ issues that will be tough to handle but there is little a healer will be able to do. We could try to fix the issue by locking some of the memories of the previous year but I''m afraid that may just cause a number of other complications. It will take time, but I think he''ll be alright."


    He then turned to Villin who had also been looking at him.


    "Just take things as they come, try to get out of your comfort zone every once in a while but don''t force yourself either. It would be best if your memories of this time would be happy instead of stressful." even though the elder said this, he knew things weren''t quite so simple.


    No matter what, this experience will have a lasting impact throughout the boy''s life, he only hoped it wouldn''t be what defines him.


    As Silver and Villin were thinking about his words, Elder Tian asked Villin another question, "And say, boy, are you perhaps a member of the midnight tower?"


    Hearing this, Villin hesitated for a bit before responding "I only know the white tower focuses on runes. And now I guess the green tower focuses on healing, I don''t know what the black tower is."


    Hearing the honest reply, Elder Tian felt a little lost. The black tower focused on the power of the mind. Their powers were mysterious and unknown. Elder Tian had heard those of the black tower could create their own little world within their minds but had never been able to see it as, if there was a problem with one of their minds, they would ask their peers to help, not healers.


    It was only now that he realized what they meant by having their own little world within their minds, it seemed Villin was capable of this.


    Thinking of it, he spoke to Villin "When you are feeling better you should try and see if you can contact them. They are a group of magi that focus on the mind. It seems you have already unlocked some of their secrets by yourself, I am sure they would be happy to have you."


    Even though he said this, it was clear he didn''t want Villin to hurry. He reiterated that Villin should rest for a while and try to find himself. When the school year was over, he could try and reconnect with his friends.


    When Elder Tian was just about to leave, Villin asked him an unexpected question.


    "How is Elinoire?"


    Hearing the boy''s question, the old man froze for a bit before sighing. After inhaling deeply, he answered. "Well boy, her mind isn''t in a good condition right now. We are doing our best to try and fix her but things aren''t so easy. If she ever recovers, it will be many years from now."


    Elder Tian gave him a sad smile before eventually walking out the door.


    Villin couldn''t help but let out a deep breath when the man left. He couldn''t help but feel on edge and nervous with the man so close to him. Surprisingly, the time he felt most at ease was when Elder Tian infiltrated his mind. He felt in complete control at that point in time. If he caused trouble, Villin could easily take him down.


    This control over the situation assured him somewhat.


    Now, with the doctor gone, there were no expected visitors for a while. That was, until the end of the school year when Villin''s companions may come to greet him.


    At this time, there was only one person he could talk with other than Silver, Ruby. Ever since the lack of increased gravity, Villin could once more converse with her somewhat in the morning. It didn''t feel as stressful as talking with Silver, it seemed natural. This may also be because each of them only said a couple of sentences, but it was nice.


    A week after the doctor left, Villin began enchanting again. He began enchanting almost anything he could get his hands on, improving the objects he found. This included things such as cups and plates, things that an enchanter generally wouldn''t waste effort on.


    But for Villin, it was ideal for practice. He had to use a wide variety of runes he knew, most of which he hadn''t used for a long time.


    Before he knew it, the school year had ended. Students were going home and various guilds focused on defending entered. And, as expected, soon, visitors came.


    When Villin felt three people approaching the house, he immediately notified Silver. She opened the door allowing the guests to enter.


    Amelia, Kayley, and Rein entered the house with a smile. They heard Villin had been rescued a while ago but hadn''t been allowed to leave the school since they were only in the third grade.


    Seeing these three people Villin felt a little overwhelmed, but he was also happy. At first, an awkward situation did occur when Amelia attempted to hug him while he subconsciously backed off, but that awkwardness was quickly resolved.


    Silver expected Villin to back out after a little while but she was surprised to see this wasn''t the case. In fact, it wasn''t really because of Villin, but the conversation topics instead.


    The amount of time the group talked about personal things were very little. For the entirety of the three hours they were here, the conversation almost always focused around magic and Athena''s Forge. This was the kind of thing, Villin didn''t have difficulty talking about.


    Still, some personal talk was obviously also inserted. Like this, Villin found out that Kayley was apparently harmed quite badly in the attack on Decorus, she healed fully in a couple of months though and she was okay now.


    Even though the group tried to stay away from the overly negative topics, at some point the current situation of The Academy was mentioned.


    In the last year, The Academy had been on a decline. With Mafoli being integrated into the Decorus school, they quickly became the biggest school, bypassing The Academy.


    Over the last year, many of The Academy''s facilities had been attacked, even though the grades hadn''t had any problems, the damage was still substantial.


    Other than this, a couple of the guilds that aided The Academy were also exterminated. This included the famous ''Runic Army''.


    Even though The Academy had attacked some of their facilities too, including the one Villin had been a prisoner in, things weren''t looking so good currently.


    Once they noticed they began talking about such a grim subject, Amelia quickly changed the topic to Athena''s Forge.


    Athena''s Forge was doing quite amazingly. The second grade tower stood out, some enchanted equipment and some relatively expensive wands were also left there to help those of the coming years protect the guild''s interests. Even though you couldn''t easily send equipment back to previous grades, since it was enchanted when they were there, it wasn''t too much of a problem.


    In the third grade, they had also been welcomed. With the disappearance of "The Runic Army'' and some other smaller guilds, a large number of students weren''t sure where to go anymore.


    ''Athena''s Forge'' perfectly fitted their needs. They had great enchanters and also did things such as pill-making. Overall, many of those that fell without a guild joined them, making them one of the top powers of the third grade.


    Now, they weren''t sure whether they would be in the third or fourth grade next year. Amelia and Kayley held some confidence they should''ve still passed the test but Rein was a bit unsure. He had spent a lot of time on the guild and the test was extremely tough. Those that managed to made it to the fourth grade by their fourth year were very, very few and technically it was only Kayley and Rein''s third year since they practically skipped the first grade.


    Ruby had also been very good to them. The Black Swans and Athena''s Forge had been working together very closely where they could. At times, Ruby would even give Rein a hint or two to aid him in enchanting.


    When they were gone, Villin felt a little better once more. He looked at the pile of books next to the fireplace and began reading them. They were the third grade books.


    Technically, they weren''t allowed to give Villin these books to study but Silver decided to turn a blind eye.


    Included in these books was also one of the books Villin had left back when he went to attack Decorus, the one that explained how to create true wards.


    Villin took these books to his room and quickly began reading them, absorbing the information within. There were some spells he was required to learn and so he asked Silver if he could learn them. His crystal holder was currently still in The Academy under the ownership of his guild, as it was to be used for the guild expenses.


    Still, there was plenty to buy any spell he would need, not even including the stake he had of the Blue Mythril mine. This would also bring in vast amounts of magic crystals.


    In his name, Silver put out a request to The Academy for the spell blueprints he needed. Knowing his situation, no problems occurred and the blueprints were quickly sent over. This allowed Villin to properly work on his studies. The time spent talking with Silver became significantly less but since he was busy pursuing magic, this felt natural to Silver.


    Not having to talk, Villin also felt more comfortable, even though he did always come out to eat.

 Chapter 159: Preparation

    In the following period of time, the situation didn''t change. Day after day, the same situation unfolded.


    After waking up in the morning, Villin would train his body and work on transfiguration.


    After this came breakfast with Silver, they would talk a bit during this time but no real progress was made. When the conversation didn''t concern magic, Villin would generally pull back.


    After breakfast came his runic studies. Nearly half of the day was devoted to this art where Villin would practice enchantments, magic arrays, and wards.


    Back in the prison cell, Villin managed to make a semi-true ward. One of the big points of a ward was having each individual rune attract its own magic power from the surroundings. Villin didn''t know how to do this so instead, he incorporated an enchantment to do this into the ward.


    Because of this, the ward was weaker and less stable. Now that he had the book back, he could properly learn how to make a true ward without making these sacrifices.


    This would continue on until dinner. After dinner, he spent some more time going over various school books he had gotten. One of the new main subjects of this year was math, luckily though, Villin knew this subject well enough thanks to his time on earth.


    Together with this, he would also spend time practicing and modifying various spells. He got a better grasp of some of the spells he hadn''t used in a long time again. He also made some derivatory spells but none truly outstanding. The only true progress was with ''Vinea Tenura'' since he was the most familiar with this spell and the nodes it consisted of, Villin managed to boost the strength of the vines somewhat.


    Then finally, Villin would spend time inside of his mental space, working on his mental defenses with the Kitsune.


    The relationship between the Kitsune and Villin was odd. She would tirelessly work on the mind and hardly ever commented on what Villin did outside of it. It didn''t take long for Villin to realize, Kitsunes weren''t truly creatures that belonged in the physical realm. Their consciousness would generally be in their own minds, this was why their bodies slept for nine months a year.


    Now that she was capable of spending the entirety of her existence within the mind without having to care about the body she was in, the Kitsune was actually quite happy. As long as Villin wasn''t in true danger, she didn''t feel the need to interfere. She was content with being a simple spectator in his life.


    Still, she did help him occasionally. When it had been over two months since they escaped the Decorus experimentation base, she finally began getting used to the physical body somewhat. He could feel a change occur to him. Even without transfiguration or any magic at all, he was able to figure out where exactly Silver was within the house.


    A Kitsune had strong control over matters of the mind, they would mess with people''s dreams and could cause them to go insane. The first step to getting these powers generally came with a Kitsune''s third tail. They would be able to sense people''s minds around them. Matter and magic didn''t seem to matter here, Villin could feel Silver''s mind through the walls.


    Even though he couldn''t read thoughts or anything, it was proof the mental abilities of the Kitsune were becoming more potent within himself. And since the Kitsune he merged with was a seven-tailed one, he might be able to do much, much more than simply feel someone''s existence soon.


    It was because of this, Villin kept the existence of the Kitsune a complete secret. As far as he knew The Academy didn''t know about it yet or they should''ve asked. And he would rather keep it a secret as long as possible. Mental abilities could become very powerful, but with the right equipment and spells, you could counter them. It was thanks to this Decorus managed to capture a powerful Kitsune in the first place.


    Even though this was kept a secret, he didn''t feel the need to hide his proper improvements in the field of magic. A couple of visitors came to Silver''s house and even though none of them actually got to see Villin, rumors soon began spreading.


    The rumors stated that Villin was skilled in transfiguration and he was even capable of creating true wards. The only reason Villin knew of these rumors was that Ruby mentioned them to him, that being said he didn''t care about it.


    As for when the guests came, even though Villin told himself there was no need to care about it; he still felt himself go on extreme alert whenever someone other than Silver was inside of the house and didn''t leave his room during these times.


    Despite this, things were pretty decent during this period of time. Villin got into magic more and more and Silver thought he was in a good condition considering things.


    It was thanks to this that she contacted The Academy. They told her to contact them if Silver thought he would be fit to rejoin The Academy the following year. In this case, they would send a small group of examiners. The examiners would test his skill in magic and make sure he was fit to rejoin the school.


    When Silver told Villin about this, he didn''t react much to it. He still wasn''t sure what it was he was supposed to do now. He found a routine here but he recalled the words of Elder Tian who told him to try and move slightly out of his comfort zone without forcing himself too much. He decided to just let things come at him, and so he waited.


    One week before the new school year was supposed to start, they got a knock on the door.


    Since Villin knew the people from The Academy were set to arrive at this time, he didn''t retreat to his room as he would do with other guests.


    Still, he felt nervous, the bad kind of nervous. He could hear Silver talk with the guests at the door, even though Villin would be able to sense them using transfiguration, he chose not to in order to avoid misunderstandings since they were probably strong enough to sense someone spying on them in that manner.


    He was, however, capable of knowing how many there were since he could feel their minds.


    There seemed to be three in total. Villin found this an acceptable amount. If they were to have bad intentions, Villin was confident he would be able to take down two of them using a surprise attack and utilizing one of the half-true wards he created inside of the house. Silver should then be able to take care of the last person.


    "Be careful of your thoughts Villin, your bloodthirst is spilling."


    Hearing the Kitsune''s warning, Villin retracted his mental power. Bloodthirst is nothing more than a weak, pure, mental attack. It was something that could easily be faked but that could also very easily be accidentally created by those with a powerful mental space.


    Villin cleared his mind as he reminded himself that these people weren''t enemies. Soon, Silver finished talking to the group and so, they entered the living room.


    Soon, three gazes were pointed towards Villin. There were two women and one man. Villin recognized one of the women once tested him in the advanced tournament of The Academy. If he recalled right she was called miss Valentine, back then she was very professional.


    Even though the second woman was unknown to him, Villin also recognized the man that came with him. A large man packed with muscles that seemed more like a warrior than he did a magus. It was nobody else but Pompei, a man that once taught Villin ''Combat Classes''. He had learned much from his classes and so he was somewhat grateful towards this teacher.


    With two of the people here familiar to him in a positive way, some of Villin''s stress dissipated slightly. He managed to relax his eyebrows somewhat.


    The trio looked at him properly, they noted his clothes seemed to be very thin. He was wearing a thin black shirt with short sleeves, this revealed many of the scars on his arms. Instead of the oh-so-popular jeans, he was wearing pants made out of a sort of cloth that was most closely compared to a black kind of satin. A soft, thin material.


    The lack of socks was also noted, but this was something that they had been told about. Villin''s face looked fine but with their level of strength they could faintly sense the illusion cast over it, this was also not a surprise to them.


    After both parties looked at each other, miss Valentine took a step forward and addressed Villin, "Villin, we have come today to see whether you are fit to rejoin The Academy. And if so, if you will have to spend another year in the second grade or if you can move on to the third. We will be giving you five different tests, we will spectate how you attempt to pass each of them. If we say you succeed in each of the tests, you will be allowed back to The Academy for this following year."

 Chapter 160: The Five Tests

    After this bit was explained, the tests began.


    Miss Valentine informed Villin of his first test, "Alright, Villin, since you are a runemaster and had amazing grades in the runic arts, we would like to see how much your skill has degraded or improved."


    She handed Villin a small piece of cloth as she continued "We would like you to enchant this as best as you can within thirty minutes. You may choose how you enchant it."


    The first test was as expected as it was simple. Villin went straight ahead and began enchanting. When the examiners noticed he wasn''t using a pen and was simply using his bare hands instead, they seemed visibly shaken.


    Even though they knew Villin created wards to escape his cell and notify them, they hadn''t truly realized what that meant yet. They mostly assumed he created fake wards using certain spells he had somehow gotten ahold of, seeing him enchant with his bare hands was quite the eye-opener.


    After thirty minutes passed, Villin handed the piece of cloth back to Miss Valentine. She didn''t even feel the need to test the piece of cloth that was enchanted, they had all seen the process of enchantment and there was no way Villin wouldn''t have passed.


    Without hesitation, she gave him the second test, "Being in a cell for so long could have adverse effects on the body. Even though I know a doctor has mostly cleared you, we would like to see you do some physical exercises."


    The second test too was as simple as it could be. Villin simply pumped for a while and did some pull-ups on the door. The two tests thus far had a simple goal in mind. They were trying to see if he had degraded mentally and physically, now, it was time for the actual tests.


    Seeing he was capable of basic strength training, the examiners were once more satisfied, now they would be able to see how good he actually was at magic-related subjects.


    "Mister Villin Grey, let us have a discussion about the web." with these words, the blonde lady next to miss Valentine sat herself down preparing to talk with Villin.


    As staff of The Academy, they knew how important theory was, especially the studies of the web. It had many applications when you became stronger and learning the basics properly was important.


    Pompei and Miss Valentine also sat down on the couch as they planned to listen attentively. Even Pompei who seemed like a very rash man, paid utmost attention to the subject.


    The blonde woman looked at Villin for a moment before asking, "Now, Villin, I would like for you to say in your own words, what are nodes?"


    Having someone ask questions to him in this way made Villin feel extremely uncomfortable but he nonetheless replied, "I believe nodes are the gateway between what is magical and what is physical. They change purely magical elements and allow them to affect reality in various ways. I even believe that, to some extent, nodes are alive. Perhaps not like humans, but alive nonetheless."


    Hearing his reply, the blonde woman looked somewhat surprised, Villin had just stated one of the more popular theories on the existence of nodes. After carefully measuring her words, she asked another question: "Alright then, how many nodes have you properly unlocked?"


    Villin thought for a moment and quickly entered his mental space. All of the light grey nodes were obviously opened and about two-thirds of the dark-grey ones.


    "Seven-hundred-eighty-nine" Villin replied in a steadfast manner.


    Hearing the reply, the three adults raised their eyebrows at the same time, he could some disbelief coming from them.


    Thinking of how to prove it, Villin found out he didn''t have a way to do so, he decided to simply let them think as they wanted.


    The blonde examiner quickly recovered and continued asking questions about the web, it quickly became clear the questions asked were too simple. Villin responded to each of them in a heartbeat without the need to think.


    The blonde lady went over all the questions that had been prepared, this ranged all the way to peak-third-grade questions. Yet even then, there seemed to be no hesitation in his words. On the other hand, his explanations were far clearer than the answers required. He went on a tangent about the properties of nodes a multitude of times, explaining the potential reactions certain nodes could have.


    After an hour, this test ended and the examiners looked rather helpless. Even though they knew everything Villin talked about very well, he said things in a way very easy to understand with a lot of clarity. This was something a lot of those teaching ''Studies of the Web'' struggled with due to how complicated the subject was.


    The fourth test was about combat theory. Pompei presented him with multiple combat scenarios and asked him how he would survive or win.


    Villin''s replies were original yet fitting. He often mentioned controlling the tempo by physically moving, he also talked about trying to deplete an enemy''s magical power by using spells that countered theirs. This was something he had seen in the fight between professor Crumb and Granolf, the entire battle was etched into his memory, and whether he wanted to or not, he had seen it so many times he knew the use of almost every one of the spells that had been sent out.


    Hearing Villin talked about countering spells, the examiners were impressed. Generally, students were only taught about this in the fourth grade and they thought Villin came to the realization himself.


    With four tests out of the way, Villin wasn''t too nervous for the fifth one. Yet, when the time came, Miss Valentine rose out of her seat, "For the final test, you will be fighting me."


    Villin tensed up for a moment, before standing up himself.


    Villin thought they would be fighting outside, yet before he even prepared himself he noticed a spell was already heading in his direction.


    Surprised by the appearance of the white streak, Villin narrowly dodged to the left. The streak hit the chair he was sitting on, creating a large hole through it.


    Villin felt shocked as he quickly turned back to Miss Valentine who was looking at him serenely with her wand raised "You cannot always choose the circumstances you fight in. Protecting yourself and protecting your material possessions, can you do both?"


    Despite being confused, Villin still prepared for the fight. He changed his stance and pointed his wand forward. He thought back to a moment before, when Miss Valentine sent a spell towards him. Just before she sent out the spell she put her weight onto her front leg and she blinked twice. Villin kept these facts in mind, one of the most important things to do when fighting an unknown opponent that could silently spell cast was to know when they were casting a spell. Finding a ''tell'' was extremely important.


    Villin didn''t think too much about Miss Valentine''s words, she was most probably trying to get into his head and stop him from dodging. He knew he could probably repair most of the damage done by spells once the duel was over, there was no need to worry about that while fighting.


    Miss Valentine and Villin looked each other in the eyes. The boy noticed she seemed to be waiting for him. This was still a test overall and she wouldn''t use her full strength.


    When she looked into Villin''s eyes she saw he seemed to be struggling, she could tell he was thinking of what spell to send at her, and so she purposefully created an opening, she lowered her off-hand slightly making it easier to attack her left shoulder.


    Seeing how Villin still hadn''t cast anything and his facial expression was a mix of fear and uncertainty, Miss Valentine released a sigh. It seemed that the boy wasn''t mentally prepared to fight yet. It was then that she felt as if something was off, she looked at the boy but he was still standing where he was, unsure.


    When she stopped focusing on the boy and spread her magic power in all directions, her heart momentarily sank.


    Just behind her, a number of changes had unfolded. The floor had morphed, allowing vines to grow out of the ground silently. These vines had been growing more and more. Knowing he was up against a teacher, Villin knew his usual attacks would be useless, he needed to be able to prepare something. While Miss Valentine was focused on him, he worked his transfiguration and environmental spell, the vines coiled around each other becoming thicker and sturdier.


    As soon as Miss Valentine noticed the vines, they attacked.


    Miss Valentine hurriedly turned around and cast multiple spells, barely holding the vines off. Villin was the only thing behind her and she was confident her passive defenses would be able to take an attack from him, by that time she would''ve taken care of the vines already.


    The vines were strong and with the preparation, Miss Valentine was slightly overwhelmed for a moment, and so, she quickly took a step back to make some more space.


    Or, she tried to.


    When Miss Valentine turned his back on him, Villin didn''t use an offensive spell, but transfiguration instead. The ground just behind Miss Valentine rose about ten centimeters. Usually, this would be useless but when she took a step back, she tripped and fell onto the ground.


    Miss Valentine wasn''t a magus specialized in battle and her combat awareness was below average. When she tripped, she subconsciously steadied herself for the fall. In these two seconds, she didn''t cast, the vines caught up and by the time she fell to the floor, she was entirely entangled.

 Chapter 161: An Important Meeting

    Pompei was looking at the sight before him with widened eyes. He had absolutely no words for what he just saw. Villin Grey, a student who had only been taught until the end of his second year, defeated a teacher in a duel.


    No matter what, this couldn''t be considered a surprise attack. Both contestants knew the fight had begun but Villin had still won.


    "My God¡­" Pompei exclaimed, stunned by the result. Once Miss Valentine was properly entangled, the ground beneath her turned the quicksand and the vines were still dragging her down. Even though she still had her wand in hand, her arm was so entangled she couldn''t point at the vines or Villin.


    After a few seconds of this, the ground turned back and the vines began retracting back into the ground, releasing Miss Valentine. The holes that had been opened up using transfiguration also began to close.


    Miss Valentine''s clothes had been torn in multiple places and she had a look of utter disbelief on her face as she looked at Villin. She was well-known for being extremely composed but right now she was looking at this boy with a stunned expression.


    Ignoring the looks he was getting, Villin looked at the couch he was sitting on earlier and now had a hole through the middle. He quickly cast a basic spell to repair it before giving the room a quick one-over making sure nothing was damaged in the fight.


    In order to both avoid damage to the house and sound, Villin had first transfigurated the floor, leaving space for the vines to come through without noisily breaking the floor. Thanks to this, the only consequence was some dirt brought up together with the vines.


    Other than that, the only thing Villin noticed was different compared to before was the floor in the area he had turned it into quicksand for a bit. It wasn''t all that straight anymore but this could easily be fixed by some transfiguration.


    After using a spell to clean up the dirt and transfiguring the ground back to its original shape, Villin looked at the stunned trio that were still looking at him with their mouths open.


    "Well then, since the tests are over I''ll be retiring myself to my room. I hope to get my acceptance letter soon."


    After saying these words, Villin promptly turned around and left the three teachers behind. He felt that he had had enough social interaction for the day and began reading the book on warding again as if nothing had happened.


    ------------


    "My God, we have to tell the headmaster about this!" Pompei exclaimed after seeing Villin leave the room.


    Miss Valentine finally recovered from her stupor and quickly rose, "I simply didn''t expect the boy could do that, I underestimated him is all."


    Even though she tried looking professional, the other two could see her pride was seriously hurt. They couldn''t blame her either, even the goodhearted Pompei would have his pride hurt if a student defeated him.


    That said, she obviously wasn''t lying either, and so, the blonde woman responded diplomatically, "I know Miss Valentine. But the boy still showed us great skill here. Using transfiguration and environmental spells in tandem without moving or saying a word. He managed to keep his composure, pretending he was scared and unsure while doing all of this. No matter what, it is enough for us to go to the headmaster to inform him about the boy."


    Miss Valentine cast a spell that repaired her clothes before regaining her professional demeanor, "Very well then, we shall go inform the headmaster."


    Hearing this, Pompei felt a little relieved. Miss Valentine was the only one out of the three of them that could request a meeting with the headmaster. They simply didn''t have that kind of authority even if they were teachers.


    -------------


    It took five days before Villin once more got news from The Academy, at this point, there were only two days left until the beginning of the school year.


    The news came from Silver, who came back home from one of the teacher meetings she regularly had. When she got home she immediately went over to find Villin who was in his room working on some enchantments. Once Villin opened the door, she quickly told him he would have a meeting with the headmaster the following day.


    Villin wasn''t unfamiliar with the headmaster, he got mentioned in many history books he had read.


    The problem was to know which headmaster these books talked about. This is because the leader of The Academy was always called ''the headmaster''. They forego their previous name, this makes it quite hard to find out which headmaster a book is talking about.


    Thankfully, the current headmaster had ruled The Academy for nearly a hundred years so any recent history concerning the headmaster should be about the current one.


    The Academy was unlike other magical schools that were led by certain families. Decorus was led by the Decorus family, as were Magnicus, Graesa, and most others.


    The Academy was an exception. Long ago, Lord Roland, creator of this school, gave up his status to his student, after some time, this student gave the school to his own student, and so on.


    The inheritor of the headmaster''s position would be decided by skill, not family. This was good in the sense that the headmaster was always one of the most powerful magi, but bad in the sense that in a single year, the whole ideology of The Academy could dramatically shift as a different student took the throne.


    The current headmaster was once a truly great magus. After graduating from The Academy, he traveled all across the continent, he played a great role in the fight against the western continent and Villin figured he probably also played a big part in the third central war.


    Days before the previous headmaster died, he called upon the current one, to make him his successor.


    No matter what, the current headmaster was one of the most powerful and brilliant magi in the world.


    Knowing he would meet such a person, Villin wasn''t sure how to feel about it. So, when Silver told him about this, he simply nodded before going back to work. He would look at tomorrow''s matters tomorrow. For today, he would work on these enchantments.


    And so, the following day came.


    It was early in the morning when Villin woke up, he put on some clothes and walked out of his room, unsurprised at the fact Silver was already fully prepared to go. When she looked at Villin, he noticed how nervous she seemed to be. After a few moments, she spoke "All right, let us get going. Since the time wasn''t specified, let''s make sure we aren''t late."


    Villin simply nodded and walked towards the door. For a moment he noticed Silver seemed hesitant when she looked at his naked feet but she ended up not saying anything as she opened the door.


    The area outside of Silver''s house had a thick layer of white snow. Villin cast a quick ''cold-blood'' on himself before following behind Silver. He could still get a cold despite the spell but Villin doubted it would be difficult to find a pill that could fix a common cold.


    After walking about twenty meters away from Silver''s house, Villin moved through a hardly noticeable veil. Villin recognized it as a ward and when he looked back, Silver''s house was nowhere to be seen.


    The fact that Silver''s house was under an invisibility ward wasn''t a big surprise to Villin as magi seem to have a thing for secrecy.


    Villin noticed that moving through the snow didn''t seem to be so effortless for Silver, this wasn''t a surprise as the snow almost reached her knees in some locations. Thinking of how easy it was for himself to do this very thing while he was still smaller than Silver made him feel weird. He wasn''t sure if he liked it or not even though it was a positive thing.


    He thought of this for a good five minutes until he felt himself moving through a second veil. Looking in front of him, he saw a small wooden shack, it wasn''t hard to figure out this shack would probably allow them to make their way towards The Academy.


    Seeing they had almost arrived at the shack, Villin asked a question, "When we came here, why didn''t you use a spell to make moving through the snow easier?"


    "Because magic is easy to track. The wards in place make sure nobody can sense the magic power being released, allowing us to cast and enchant without worry. Outside of the wards, it is unwise to cast. Of course, most likely nothing will happen, but there is always a chance a certain spell manages to catch on to the magic power you release." Silver responded nicely.


    "The wooden shack in front of us has a hyperloop inside. Hyperloops can''t be sensed, unlike teleportation arrays. You will find the locations holding teleportation arrays are those protected by the best wards there are. Either that or they are within the towers, there is no force in this continent that would ever attack one of the towers."


    Thinking back, Villin realized the only places he knew had teleportation arrays were The Academy, the white tower, and the Lannister family.


    He nodded as he followed closely behind Silver, soon, they both entered the wooden hut.

 Chapter 162: The Headmaster

    In the middle of the basic wooden hut was a hatch. It wasn''t hard to figure out that the hyperloop was beneath it. As expected, Silver quickly walked up and waved her wand, causing the hyperloop to open. Looking inside the hatch was a circular hole, looking down it, it seemed like it would go straight to hell.


    "Well, Villin, I recall you have been in one of these before, right? It is time for us to go."


    Hearing Silver''s words, Villin walked forward silently and jumped into what seemed to be a black abyss. After going down for a while the tunnel began turning in all sorts of direction, even though Villin felt like he was being thrown around like a ragdoll, there was no pain involved as he moved at an incredible spell underground.


    It took a long time to get to the destination, it was only after twenty full minutes through the tunnel that he saw the end in sight.


    Going straight down, Villin saw a gooey veil beneath him. He moved towards it at top speed and couldn''t help but close his eyes. The goo was an extremely thin veil, once he moved through it, he felt like he had slowed down a lot and fell down at a regular speed for the final two meters. He fell on his ass which was a bit painful, but he quickly got up to have a decent look at where he was.


    Looking around, Villin found himself to be in a room most comparable to a hospital''s waiting room. There were newspapers on a table in the middle of the room and chairs all around it. The walls were extremely white and overall, the room was clean.


    He found himself just in front of one of the chairs and Silver had landed directly to his right, seeing how she took a seat, he followed suit.


    "This is the waiting room. If you need to go to The Academy you will have to come here first most of the time. One of the contracted here will come to ask you about the visit, see if you have been cleared to enter, and then activate one of the teleportation arrays. I should let you know not to cast any spells here. As soon as the wards detect something is off, the teleportation arrays will all self-destruct.


    They didn''t have to wait for long as after just a few minutes, a contracted came through the room''s only exit, Villin noticed the contracted was a rather old woman, considered expendable by The Academy. Places like this that were easier to get to were probably often attacked.


    "Please follow me, we are already aware of your situation." the old lady said while holding an unfamiliar round device. It wasn''t hard to guess the item was probably meant to find any hidden magi that could''ve entered the facility with them.


    For a few moments, Silver and Villin followed behind the contracted. It seemed that the entire building looked like a hospital with its white corridors and the doors that came at regular intervals.


    After a couple of turns, they arrived at a hallway that seemed to be more special. The doors looked as if they were made from silver and cryptic symbols covered them. At the end of the hallway was a massive golden door, the golden door didn''t have any pictures on it. It was a simple flat door with no special characteristics other then its size and the material it was made of.


    The contracted showed them all the way to the door before stepping to the side "Please, enter through the door at the same time."


    Doing as she said, Villin and Silver stood next to each other and pushed against the door at the same time. It was surprisingly light and they soon found themselves in yet another location.


    ''Dark''


    This was the first thought that entered Villin''s mind. The area they were in was extremely darkly lit. Looking around, he noticed there was a lit torch about twenty meters away from him. Next to him was a massive pillar that reached into the darkness above. Looking at the torch, it also seemed to be hanging on a pillar. Other than the pillars and the torch, there was absolutely nothing he could see. The darkness around seemed to be magically enforced.


    Villin wanted to ask Silver where they were supposed to go but when he looked around, he couldn''t see her anywhere.


    He hesitated for a good minute as he waited for someone to greet him, he had walked over to the torch and yet there was still nothing that could be heard.


    Thinking of this, Villin found that other than the fire next to him, there truly was nothing. The silence was quite eery.


    Since he still hadn''t been greeted, Villin pointed his wand upwards, ''Illuminatus''


    ''Illuminatus''


    ''ILLUMINATUS!''


    Nothing happened.


    Villin knew the nodes inside of his web connected, but nothing changed, no light was emitted from the tip of his wand. After trying some derivatory versions, there was still nothing.


    Somewhat confused, Villin tried to cast another spell.


    ''Reverto''


    A translucent shield appeared around the tip of Villin''s wand, further confusing him.


    ''This is probably some sort of test. Illuminatus won''t work, yet Reverto did.''


    Thinking for a bit, Villin tried casting ''Fireball'', nothing happened. After some testing, Villin found out what spells did and didn''t work. Environmental spells such as ''Vinea Tenura'' and ''Syrtim Celer'' didn''t have an effect. Neither did ''Vococito'', ''Fireball'', or ''Illuminatus''.


    Yet, spells such as ''Void Arrow'', ''Icy Pike'', ''Drowse'', and ''Reverto'' activated without a problem. As for ''Bombardo'', he didn''t dare test it in case he destroyed something and he was wrong about the testing.


    WIthout knowing what exactly he was supposed to do, Villin took the necessary precautions. He cast ''Reverto'' and ''Obiectus Prohibere''. Even though the latter drained his magic power quite a bit, he wanted to make sure he was safe while figuring out what exactly was going on.


    ''What do you think?'' Villin asked internally, addressed towards the Kitsune who was now also paying attention to his actions.


    ''It does seem to be a test. You should be fine as long as you''re careful.'' came her response.


    Even though it was the most basic response one could give, it still put Villin somewhat at ease. He did not like what was going on right now. He was in an unfamiliar, dark place, and couldn''t use his full strength.


    After thinking for a moment, Villin grabbed the torch off of its holder and began walking forwards. Luckily, there was a pillar every twenty meters, this allowed him to make sure he was walking straight the entire time.


    After walking for ten minutes, Villin stopped using ''Obiectus Prohibere'' in order to save magic power.


    When the ten minutes turned to an hour, Villin began feeling slightly fearful that he would somehow get lost and never get out of here.


    He had barely finished the thought when no more pillars showed up. When Villin noticed this, he turned back, intending to try the other way, but even the pillars he had already passed seemed to be gone.


    And so, he continued walking in his original direction. After three hours, he began worrying that the torch may run out of fuel and he would have to walk in the darkness.


    It was also at this point that the light began flickering. The torch became a lot dimmer and he could barely see the ground one meter before him.


    After this happened, Villin began growing suspicious. He halted for a moment and entered his mental space. Both himself and the Kitsune were looking for anything suggesting he might be in some sort of illusion. He knew the Kitsune could alter dreams and make them feel realistic, perhaps someone had done the same to him.


    Yet, after looking for a while, they were certain, he was in no illusion.


    For eight more hours, Villin walked in the endless darkness before sitting down. Over these hours, he felt that this wasn''t as bad as he had thought. He simply walked, and continued to walk, in the endless abyss. It was peaceful in a way.


    Yet, he still got tired. When he knew it was time for him to sleep, he once more got afraid. He was afraid that he would wake up back in his cell. With a zombie-like Elinoire and without a Kitsune.


    He was afraid that, perhaps, everything that happened since he got out wasn''t real. Maybe, he had been exposed to a Kitsune, and it had shown him all of this. The reason he couldn''t find he was in an illusion was that he was already too deep inside of it. Maybe, the mental techniques he had learned since escaping weren''t actually real and they couldn''t be used to find out you were in an illusion.


    Despite these terrifying thoughts Villin still managed to fall asleep. After all, if he couldn''t sleep because of real-life nightmares, he would''ve died from exhaustion long ago.


    When, six hours later, Villin woke up, he found himself in a familiar location. He was sitting against the wall, to his sides were stone statues that would only move when someone tried to escape. Looking to his left, he could see Elinoire, staring at the wall mindlessly.


    ''No, no, NO!'' Villin entered his mental space, yet he found all he had defending his mind were walls. There were no ''laws'', there was no Kitsune. What he felt now was despair, true despair.

 Chapter 163: Villin’s Story

    "Villin?"


    Silver looked around her. She was in a well-decorated room. In front of her was a massive wooden door that was nearly fifty meters tall. There were hundreds of engravements within the door, depicting many of the past headmasters fighting their opponents. In some cases, they were humans, other times creatures.


    The workmanship truly was astonishing.


    The fifty-meter high room was around twenty meters wide and forty meters long. On both sides of the room were a number of pedestals holding all sorts of curious objects. Oddly enough there were a large number of swords, there were also things such as spears and hammers. Mostly cold weapons that most would call ''outdated''.


    Still, seeing these objects shut Silver up. She had no doubt each of the weapons here was of great historical significance.


    Still, after looking at these objects for a moment, her gaze scoured the room once more. She was sure herself and Villin entered the door at nearly the exact same time. At most there would be half a second between them and half a second shouldn''t be enough to cause any problems.


    Seeing how he was nowhere to be found, Silver wasn''t too worried though. She assumed the headmaster himself sent him somewhere else, perhaps he didn''t want Silver to witness their conversation.


    After nothing happened after a few minutes of waiting. Silver cautiously approached weapons showcased in the room. She found herself gravitating towards a spear in the corner of the room. The spear looked ancient, a simple wooden shaft with a stone blade at the tip.


    Yet, there was something about it. Looking at it closely, the spear seemed to be made out of different kinds of wood. The wood near the tip was a very light brown, looking at the bottom of the spear, it was more of a reddish-brown instead.


    Looking closely it seemed that every twenty centimeters the kind of wood the spear was made of changed. Silver looked at it with intrigue as she tried to figure out the purpose of this phenomenon.


    "The Spear of Lugh. An ancient weapon held by a king that believed himself akin to a God. One of the first magi in this continent''s history." The voice was as quiet as it was loud. It was impossible to say where the voice came from, or what volume it spoke in.


    Hearing this voice, Silver immediately lowered her head and turned towards the closed door leading to the headmaster.


    "My apologies headmaster. I promise you I had no ill intent, I was simply admiring the craftsmanship." Silver sounded ever-so-slightly panicked when she spoke. She had met the headmaster once and she knew he was not one you wanted to offend. She also knew he wasn''t one to forgive.


    "I understand. The boy you came with, Villin, was it? Why did he not come alone?" the voice shifted as it seemed to become corporeal. The voice came from behind the massive doors and it was said loudly, the booming voice went as far as to hurt Silver''s ears.


    "My apologies headmaster. I thought at the time I was supposed to come with him, I didn''t realize tha-"


    "I am not talking about you, Silver. I sensed three souls coming through the portal, not two. The boy''s body seemed to have been holding two souls. Have you been hiding something from me, Silver?"


    As soon as this was said, Silver began sweating. She felt a great amount of pressure being exerted on her mind. "N- no headmaster! I wouldn''t dare lie to you!"


    The pressure eased somewhat, Silver could feel a gaze, being directed at her but she didn''t dare raise her head without being allowed to do so.


    The silence felt as if it lasted for hours while in reality, only a few seconds had passed.


    "Then, tell me. Who is this Villin? I hadn''t really found the time to ask about him before. Why don''t you tell me about his path?"


    Feeling the pressure lessen slightly, Silver had an instinct. Something was telling her to raise her head, and so she did.


    Just a few meters before her was one of the most powerful magi on the continent. The man looked old, ancient even. His face was bony and he looked as if he could die of old age any second.


    Then there were his eyes. No matter how Silver tried she couldn''t look at them, her mind simply refused to register whatever was there.


    Once more she felt an odd kind of compulsion, this time she felt that she needed to sit, and so she did.


    She knew that she wasn''t in full control of her body. If the headmaster willed something her body would follow. Silver half-expected to fall to the ground while trying to sit but she found a chair had appeared beneath her. When she looked back to the headmaster, she found he was sitting in a chair too. He had a cup of tea in his hand that he was leisurely sipping.


    It was then that Silver recalled the headmaster''s question and so she quickly began talking about Villin''s story.


    "Villin is mortalborn. Over two years ago, I was told to go find him and explain magic to him and his parents. They seemed very accepting even though Villin seemed somewhat scared. A month later I came back to check up on the family and make sure they were still alright with sending Villin to The Academy. I found that Villin''s parents had been brutally killed. We suspected either the western continent''s spies or the vampires to be the perpetrators but the killers still haven''t been found."


    When she got to this point, the headmaster asked a question. At this point, his voice seemed completely human again. His tone was kind and the volume was perfectly normal, he seemed like any old man at this point in time, "Why would the western continent or the vampires kill Villin''s parents?"


    Hearing this question, Silver thought for a moment before responding, "Perhaps they wanted to weaken our younger generation?"


    "Tss, if they wanted to weaken us they would''ve killed the boy himself not his parents. If anything, it seems that it would be something that would benefit The Academy, wouldn''t you say?"


    Hearing what the headmaster said, Silver was speechless as she tried to find a response she could give.


    "It wasn''t us though, it was the western continent. The question is, why?" the headmaster seemed to be deep in thought as he took another sip of tea "You may continue."


    Silver nodded as she recentered her thoughts, she couldn''t leave anything out.


    "I took him in for a month, until the beginning of the school year. In this month he read a number of my books and he learned some of the basics when it came to enchanting. After this, he went to the first grade of The Academy, he showed himself to be extraordinarily talented. He performed amazingly in almost all of his classes, especially enchanting.


    "In this period of time, he also met those I believe he considers his friends. These are ''Kayley Alius'' of the once-great Alius family, ''Amelia Blackwood'' who is also mortalborn, and finally, ''Rein Bellua'' of the declining Bellua family. I also believe this is where Villin met professor Crumb."


    Silver paused for a moment and looked at the headmaster. He seemed to be patiently listening to her, something that seemed like weird behavior considering what she knew about him.


    "Then, Villin and his friends competed in the advanced tournament. Villin''s scores were the best The Academy has ever had. Yet, they declined the offer to head towards the second grade and soon, Decorus attacked The Academy''s first grade.


    "The attack was horrifying, killing nearly seventy percent of the students that were here. Luckily, it seems that Villin and his friends managed to escape. They took professor Richard and managed to escape through the hall of horrors, making their way through the hyperloop within the treasury."


    "Do you know what they took?" the headmaster asked as casual as could be.


    Silver shook her head, "No, we were told not to ask about these matters since it went against The Academy''s rules.


    The headmaster nodded as he gestured for her to continue.


    "For a time, they were lost within the mortal world. We don''t know much about what happened. All we know is that they became a lot closer and stronger. The fallen magus Gerry Allius later left them at the interschool tournament. We also know that they lied about what happened. They claimed Amelia had lost her eye in the fight with Decorus, but when looking at the wound, it became clear the eye was taken with medical precision. It is unlikely the loss of an eye came from a spell.


    "Then, Villin and his friends managed to make their way back into the second grade. It was only then that the boy''s true skills were revealed."


    It was then that the headmaster put his hand up for a moment, stopping her from continuing. "Tell me first, girl, how do you know so much about the boy. I doubt he told you about all of this."


    Silver swallowed for a moment before responding, "It was an order from one of the teachers. Professor Edgard Messen told me to keep an eye on the boy''s actions even after he would enter The Academy. I did as he asked since I wasn''t a teacher yet and I am sure he had his reasons."

 Chapter 164: What Changed?

    "nononoNO!" Villin shook his head violently as he stumbled around the cell. His mind was in complete disarray, "This is all fake, I escaped!"


    He told himself this again and again but he didn''t believe it. He was still here, he was still stuck.


    Tears made their way down Villin''s cheeks, he looked around desperately trying to find something wrong. A hole, in reality, proving this all wasn''t real, but there was nothing to find.


    After an hour of stumbling about without being able to have a coherent thought, Villin finally calmed down a little.


    "At the end of the day, it all doesn''t matter. If I escaped, I''ll escape whatever this is too. If I didn''t escape, I''ll escape."


    This thought brought him an immense amount of clarity. His mind calmed down within seconds as his eyes shot around the room.


    ----------------


    "In the second grade, his actions showed how exceptional he was. Shortly after joining he was taken in by the white tower as a proper runemaster. Professor Theodore Crumb became the boy''s mentor as he improved in his runology rapidly."


    Silver paused as she noticed the headmaster stood up and approached her. Even though he seemed like a normal old man without magical powers, Silver didn''t dare breathe as he came closer.


    "Have some tea."


    With these words, a table rose up next to Silver with a cup of crystal clear tea.


    Once it appeared, the headmaster backed off again and sat back into his chair.


    However strange the headmaster''s actions were, Silver didn''t dare to look disrespectful. She grabbed the cup of tea and mimicked the headmaster. First, she raised the cup up to her nose and smelled it. The tea smelled sweet, she could also feel a slight burn in her nostrils, the tea had a lot of magic power within it.


    When she rose the tea up to her mouth and took a sip, she was incredibly frightened even though she tried not to show it. The tea had no taste, when the liquid should''ve touched her tongue, Silver didn''t feel anything. It was as if the tea itself was incorporeal.


    The headmaster looked at her closely when she took her first sip, but when nothing happened he seemed somewhat disappointed, "Continue."


    "It was during this time that Villin met Ruby Von Hauser. The girl that was the youngest runemaster in history before Villin showed up. She also created a guild in the second grade called ''The Black Swans'', and, at the same time, she was the true leader of one of the second-grade news stations, ''A Magus'' Aid''.


    And so, seeing the situation in the second grade, Villin decided to create his own guild, ''Athena''s Forge''."


    "Who is Athena?" The headmaster asked out of the blue.


    Hearing his question, Silver thought for a moment before responding, "I''m not sure, but I have been able to gather that the name stands for wisdom, handicraft, and warfare. The three main tenants the guild cares about the most."


    Hearing this response the headmaster clacked his tongue, he didn''t quite seem to agree. For multiple minutes his finger tapped on the small table beside him as he was thinking, finally, he gestured for SIlver to continue speaking.


    "At first, Athena''s forge wasn''t a big success. They made no real efforts to promote the guild and rumors were spreading that Villin and his group were Decorus spies. These rumors seem to be completely wrong. The only reason this spread was because they shared a room with Elinoire, the Decorus princess."


    Silver regathered her thoughts before continuing, "Villin and his friends commissioned one of the guilds to built them a large tower. Once this was built, they began enchanting it beyond belief. Due to its size and the enchantments, the general public continued paying attention to their actions.


    "Then, they disappeared. All I could gather was that professor Crumb brought Villin, Ruby, Kayley, and a friend or Ruby called Hawk to the white tower. Sometime later, they returned. Villin said they won some sort of enchanting tournament and his funds increased drastically, he eve-"


    "He didn''t truly lie." the headmaster interrupted, "But he didn''t tell the truth either. They went to the annual runemaster convention. I am sure you know of the massive cannibal bust that happened around that time. It was Villin and Ruby that caused this. They nearly died fighting cannibals and even witnessed one transform into a creature of darkness, one that is still on the loose, the first one to appear ever since the third central war. But, continue."


    Hearing his words, Silver felt shocked for a moment. Of course, she heard of the cannibal bust that happened, anyone of the fourth grade or higher did, it was a huge piece of news. Still, she knew very well where she was and who she was facing and so she quickly continued speaking, "After this, Villin and his friends began the first ''Runic Exchange''. They organized a large competition where all enchanters could try and win a large price.


    "This runic exchange proved that ''Athena''s Forge'' held the two greatest enchanters, Villin and Rein. Soon after, ''The Runic Army'' got annexed by them. Or well, the second grade''s section did. The runic exchange has now become a regular tradition in the second and third grades. This is accompanied by a pill-exchange and a combat exchange. When it comes to the former two they had a massive effect on students'' average scores in enchanting and pill-making. Overall the average skill level has risen quite a bit, it seems that having a competition with a leaderboard was a great motivation for a large number of youths."


    "I have heard of this ''exchange'' that began thriving, I didn''t quite realize Villin was the original creator, I must say, it truly is quite interesting." the headmaster frowned as he made a half-handed gesture to Silver to continue.


    "After a period of time, Villin was one of the people selected to join a secret mission attacking Decorus''s first grade while the others attacked the fifth. It was a trap. Decorus and Mafoli worked together and caused The Academy to have a massive defeat. Most people involved in the secret operation died while Decorus and Mafoli barely had any losses at all. All the teachers that went died and it seemed that all the students would too. Luckily a massive explosion blew a hole into the school allowing some to survive. Upon further investigation, it seemed that this explosion came from professor Crumb, some sort of self-detonation spell or technique that we aren''t aware of." At this point, Silver seemed a bit hesitant. Everything that happened around this time was somewhat unclear, the techniques used to gather the information wasn''t absolute and mistakes could''ve been made.


    "And so Villin got captured, I see." the headmaster responded once Silver got to this point.


    Silver nodded and stayed quiet as she saw the headmaster was in deep concentration once more.


    After a while, the headmaster spoke, "In the time he was captured, he managed to keep himself sane, learn transfiguration and create semi-true wards barehanded." his words trailed off as he tried to find the missing piece.


    Hearing his words, Silver hesitantly spoke up, "T-there is one more thing, sir."


    Hearing her words, he looked at her coldly, the mental pressure that had disappeared a good while ago once more appeared, "Speak."


    Silver barely kept herself calm and told the headmaster what she knew, "Ruby Von Hauser, she shares some sort of connection with the boy. She was the reason we knew he was alive. She could even communicate with him, that was until the day before the first escape attempt. After this, Ruby said she could barely convey a few words, the magical interference had increased a bunch."


    The headmaster looked at Silver, frowning, "A mental connection you say? Now how did that happen."


    Once more the headmaster became lost in thought and the mental pressure dissipated. It was only after thirty long seconds he told her what he was looking for, "Now, at what point would a second consciousness have entered the boy''s body? This should be easy, the problem is that he has been through so much. Was it the western continent that messed with his mind after killing his parents? It could''ve been professor Crumb who saw him as his successor. Then you also have the cannibals that had him within their reach, and finally, Decorus, who, I am sure, performed a massive number of experiments on him."


    When Silver thought about this question she suddenly got a bad feeling, "Headmaster, may I be so brash as to ask you a question?"


    The headmaster looked at her with surprise, he knew very well how terrifying he was in the girl''s eyes, "Ask."


    Hearing the affirmation, Silver''s nervosity increased by another level as she raised her head, "Headmaster, if Villin didn''t come here then, where did you send him?"


    A cold laugh came from the headmaster''s mouth. "Now, Silver, let me ask you a question in return. Where does fear come from?"

 Chapter 165: Fear

    The headmaster''s question caught Silver off guard, "Fear? Fear is part of the three big exceptions together with intrigue and ambition, they can''t be found within the second layer of one''s mind. If I have to guess I would say fear is either held within the brain, which holds your current thoughts, or within one''s magical power itself, something we have difficulty researching properly."


    The headmaster smiled as she replied with some difficulty "Those are indeed some of the more popular theories, let me ask you another question. What does the world want?"


    At this point Silver was sweating, the headmaster was asking her weird question after weird question that didn''t seem related at all, what did this have to do with Villin?


    Still, acting impatient and entitled would be a quick way to get yourself killed and so Silver swallowed her worries as she thought about the question. ''What does the world want?'' was a very odd question. After all, nobody knew if the world was sentient or if it was just a big rock. She herself did believe the word to be a somewhat sentient being though, as for the reason, the world itself was the source of magic power and everyone knew that things that created a lot of magic power were generally powerful and intelligent.


    Not knowing the true answer to the question, Silver was forced to make a guess, "Thrive. The world''s purpose is to thrive, have the races atop it reach new heights."


    "Almost!" came the headmaster''s reply, "Even though thriving is likely its secondary purpose, there is one thing it must do no matter what."


    The headmaster looked at Silver but looked disappointed when she didn''t seem to be getting any ideas, "The world''s primary purpose is to survive Silver, survive."


    Hearing how simple and straightforward the answer was, Silver momentarily felt disappointed in herself before focusing again, she still had no idea where this conversation was going.


    The headmaster sat back in his chair relaxed as he looked at the stone ceiling, he seemed to be thinking of something that happened long ago. After being in this state for a few minutes, unnerving Silver, he finally spoke again.


    "I still don''t know where intrigue and ambition come from, I doubt anyone knows. But fear, fear is a countermeasure the world itself created to counter these feelings."


    Hearing his first lines, Silver began thinking about the words the headmaster was saying seriously, there must be something he was trying to explain.


    "In the absence of fear, humans, and beasts would never stop trying to defeat bigger and stronger things. Without fear of death, they would throw themselves towards any enemy they stand a chance of defeating. After some time, they would set their eyes upon the greatest thing they can reach, not being afraid of death or consequences, at some point they would try to kill the world itself, even though they would not succeed, they could harm the planet quite seriously and they would all die themselves as well, stopping the planet''s need to thrive.


    "I believe this may have already happened at some point in the past, possibly with extremely dire consequences. And so, the world itself created two things to keep beasts and humans in line. One was fear, as for the other, it was something to fear." finishing his sentence, the headmaster''s voice slowed down, Silver swallowed deeply as she wondered what it was they were to fear.


    "With the emergence of these two things came two worldly treasures. Places of unimaginable power, those beyond any human''s capability. I am quite sure that you, yourself have been inside one of these locations before without even realizing it."


    Hearing the headmaster''s borderline-deranged words, Silver tried to comprehend the information. Yet no matter how much she thought, she couldn''t think of a place she had been in that held such an insane amount of power.


    The headmaster took a sip of his tea while looking at the struggling Silver, he had long since forgotten how fun it was to play with people''s hearts.


    Still, he thought guiding her towards the solution was mildly entertaining and so he continued to do so, "Tell me now Silver, what do you know about the first central war?"


    When the headmaster asked this question, Silver truly felt flabbergasted. The headmaster asked her question after question, each of which seemed mostly unrelated to each other, she wasn''t manipulative herself and couldn''t keep up with his games at all. If it was someone else making her feel this way she would probably grit her teeth and get annoyed but in front of the headmaster she just felt helpless.


    Silver thought deeply, the first central war happened long, long ago. Information from it was nearly entirely gone and one couldn''t find it anywhere. Information from the central wars got hidden deeply and other than the third one that was relatively recent, it simply wasn''t possible to find reliable information on the other wars.


    Still, she tried to summarize the little bits she knew of, "From the tiny bit of information I gathered it was some sort of uprising. The continent was in chaos during the period and many died. In the end, the clearest consequence is the ban on mirrors and similarly reflective surfaces."


    Seeing what she gathered, the headmaster nodded, at least she seemed curious, otherwise she wouldn''t have been able to gather even that much.


    "Now tell me, Silver, have you ever looked into a mirror?"


    Shocked by his words, Silver hurried to reply, "Of course not headmaster! I wouldn''t dare to do something like that! I''d be killed without as much as a trial!"


    The headmaster smiled as he pointed his finger towards the floor to the right of Silver. A large rectangular object rose with a large tarp covering it. "Do you want to?"


    Silver was about to hurriedly decline when she saw the look on the headmaster''s face. This wasn''t a trap, he was genuinely asking her if she wanted to do one of the most illegal actions on the entire continent.


    Yet, still, she couldn''t bring herself to refuse. What was behind those mirrors that was so terrifying that the entire magical world was still terrified of it so many centuries after the first central war?


    The look on Silver''s face obviously didn''t escape the headmaster''s eyes. He smiled as if he approved of Silver''s curiosity. "The first central war was caused by a headmaster."


    Hearing that bombshell being dropped by the headmaster so casually, Silver took in a deep breath.


    "He found the great Roland''s biggest gift to The Academy and wanted to utilize it, control it."


    Hearing this, Silver began getting an idea of what was going on, "Fear? Did he leave behind the source of fear, one of those worldly treasures you mentioned?"


    A sly smile covered the headmaster''s face as he nodded, "Almost. It wasn''t fear itself but instead, the thing created that people were to fear, and still fear to this very day."


    These words were enough for Silver to finally put the pieces together, "Death! The room of horrors!"


    When the realization hit, it hit hard. She had previously already wondered why the great Roland chose to found The Academy where he did. The room of horrors wasn''t built within The Academy, The Academy had been built around it.


    "They tried to control death itself¡­" Silver''s voice lingered as she imagined what the first central war could''ve looked like but her thoughts were interrupted by the headmaster.


    "But they failed. And so, they settled to control the dead instead. Mirrors are gateways to the afterlife. With the help of certain techniques, restless souls of the dead would come through them and attack the living. The headmaster of the time nearly won, but after some time he could no longer truly control the dead. He got consumed by them and the rest of the world was left to try and clean up his mess. Many died unnecessary deaths and it also caused the creation of certain horrifying creatures."


    Silver barely held herself back from emitting a low whistle. I did sound quite scary, being able to send legions of the dead upon the world. She had been within the room of horrors herself as punishment once or twice when she was in the first grade, she had very bad memories of the place.


    Before she could properly respond, the headmaster made a pulling motion towards the covered mirror and the tarp shot off, revealing a massive glass mirror.


    In shock, Silver''s gaze fell upon it. At first, she simply saw herself, looking back at her. This was the first time she had truly seen herself properly that wasn''t on a portrait. Yet, before she could appreciate the sight, the mirror darkened and unholy creatures seemed to be flying towards the glass from the distance.


    They started as small specks on the mirror but they soon grew as they got closer. Silver could see rotten, boney faces and yellow teeth. She could feel their hunger as they set their hollow eyes on her. These creatures were nothing like Richard. These were savage beasts, no longer sentient.


    As they got closer, Silver glanced at the headmaster, he would cover or break the mirror before they arrived, surely!


    Surely.


    Surely?


    The creatures got closer and closer, in but a few seconds they would reach the glass. Seeing as how the headmaster still made no moves, Silver stood up and reached for her wand.


    Why wasn''t he making a move?


    Silver felt worried as only a few seconds were left before the dead would reach the glass of the mirror. She took a step back and prepared a spell she thought might work.


    The first dead would arrive in 3¡­


    2¡­


    1¡­


    NOW!

 Chapter 166: The Glass Ball

    Silver tensed up as the undead looked as if it was about to come through the mirror. She glanced at the headmaster but he was simply taking a sip of his tea, with seemingly no intention of breaking or covering up the mirror.


    ''Is this a test?'' Silver briefly thought as she pulled up her wand one second before the undead reached the mirror.


    Then¡­


    "BONK!"


    A dull sound came from the mirror as the undead had simply smacked its head against it. It seemed to be trying to get through but nothing happened, it couldn''t get through the thin, glass barrier.


    A few seconds later the other two undead reached as well, but, they too were unable to do anything to the mirror.


    After a couple of seconds, the headmaster spoke again as the tarp once more flew onto the mirror, covering it, "The dead are still bound to the room of horrors. Even though the barrier was weakened all those years ago, in order to utilize the dead you would still need to have access to the room of horrors." a few moments later he added, "And you would also have to be incredibly powerful and stupid."


    Silver nodded as she understood. It seemed that the first central war was truly a massive occasion. Mirrors, in general, had been banned as a whole, just in case someone with the same aspirations as that headmaster so long ago, was to pop up again.


    She had to admit, she was a little surprised. In all honestly, she found the magi population rather stupid. They put their youths and themselves in tremendous danger all the time. Even though a magus should generally at least have a lifespan of two hundred years, there were practically no magi who actually reached this age. They generally died in some stupid conflict or experimentation.


    Even though she agreed that experimenting with magic was a necessity, there were better ways to do it than just hope you don''t blow up when creating something. Silver never understood the lack of proper defensive equipment most magi had. They had the technology to have incredible enchantments that could stop most impacts, and they had the metals as well even if they were a bit pricey.


    She was in the middle of this thought when she suddenly recalled where she was standing and in who''s presence. She quickly sat down again nervously before staring at the headmaster, he didn''t seem to be offended by her actions and just leisurely sat there. Silver couldn''t help but wonder if this was what he did all day normally.


    ''Shit, Villin!''


    Silver opened her mouth as she got an idea of what the headmaster had been hinting at this entire time "Villin, is he in the room of horrors?"


    The headmaster smiled as she looked at Silver properly. It had taken her a bit longer then he had hoped to realize what kind of place Villin had been sent to but it was still within the acceptable limits, "Not quite. He is within the curtain of fear, I''d say it''s about time to check up on him, wouldn''t you?"


    Hearing the headmaster''s words, Silver''s heart sunk. Even though she didn''t know a lot about it, she now knew this ''curtain of fear'' should truly be the source of all fear. To be stuck in the source of such a negative emotion, it couldn''t be anything less than terrible. And so, she hurriedly agreed with the headmaster, hoping he would take Villin out to check how he was doing.


    She guessed wrong.


    At this point in time, Silver noticed a pedestal with a glass, translucent ball atop of it. Silver felt that it hadn''t appeared there just now, it had been there all along, she just hadn''t seen it yet. Probably some sort of enchantment that caused people to avoid acknowledging its presence.


    The glass ball was quite large, being fifty centimeters in diameter. The headmaster waved his hand at it and it suddenly became pitch-black.


    Then, Silver saw a flickering light, the vision she could see through the ball moved and approached this flickering light. It revealed Villin, he was walking with a torch that barely lit up the area close to him, there was nothing he could use to help navigate, there was only the endless darkness.


    "Hmm, I see he is still within the halls of the lost. We should be able to see his true fears soon."


    Hearing this, Silver ripped her eyes away from the crystal ball and stared at the headmaster, "How do you mean ''see his true fears''? Why do you want to see his fears? He has done nothing that would make you think he is unloyal to The Academy!"


    It was only when Silver finished her words that she realized she had yelled out the last sentence...she yelled at the headmaster, one of the strongest individuals in the world that had a reputation for being cruel.


    "You are right." the headmaster responded with a faint, unreadable smile, "He has done nothing treasonous as far as we are aware. And so, we will hope it continues this way. But people change, especially under torture."


    Silver was about to ask what he was looking for but the headmaster was already continuing, "We will see what he fears most. First, we will probably see his cell, or the experimentation room. Then we will look at the rest. If he is a traitor, one of his greatest fears will surely be being found out by myself or a teacher. If he is not, we will be able to see his weaknesses and use these in the future if it would ever be required."


    Hearing the headmaster''s words, Silver felt flabbergasted. Why would the headmaster tell her this? He knew she was a friend of Villin, why would he risk losing her loyalty by saying these things? Even though she knew her strength was incomparable compared to the headmaster, she should still have some value to the man, she had just become a teacher, after all.


    The headmaster had Silver at a loss and he knew it. She didn''t know what to say or how to feel, causing him to be in complete control of the situation.


    Silver was thinking of how she could possibly respond, when the glass ball lit up. For a few seconds, it was purely white before the new scenery appeared.


    They could see Villin, sitting against a wall in his cell. When he opened his eyes, Silver could feel the panic in his eyes, he quickly began yelling and moving around the room, not wanting to believe this is where he truly was, yet not being able to convince himself that he was not.


    "Empathy." the headmaster spoke, studying Silver''s sad expression, "It is, no doubt, a weakness. Even so, I understand why people decide to fuel this weakness. At times, it becomes a weapon, when alongside those you love, when you fight for more than yourself, you can do great things, your feelings can fuel your magic."


    Silver could tell the headmaster''s quote wasn''t literal. Yet, it was still true. When you were with those you cared about, you would become courageous, hardworking, and confident.


    Courage and confidence were both of vital importance in a fight. You would still be able to think clearly and fear wouldn''t be able to hamper your judgment.


    It was when thinking of this, a question popped into Silver''s mind. At first, she didn''t want to ask the headmaster in case he took offense, but, in the end, she couldn''t help but ask it due to her curiosity.


    "Sir headmaster, did you ever have someone like that you loved? Someone that fueled your magic?"


    The headmaster looked at her with a surprised expression, he obviously hadn''t expected her to ask such a ballsy question. Still, he replied simply as he kept an eye on Villin. "Before I became headmaster I had a husband. If it wasn''t for him, I would not have become as strong as I am today. Even though, I have since discarded my empathy, I believe it can be good for those young and full of love."


    Silver swallowed as she noticed a hint of sadness in the old man''s voice. She didn''t like it at all. The headmaster showing weakness like this, it felt wrong.


    When she caught herself in this train of thought, she felt confused. Why did she feel it was wrong for the headmaster to feel sadness? Shouldn''t all people do so sometimes?


    ''No, not the headmaster. He is, and holds, one of the greatest powers in the world. He would be able to single-handedly drag the central continent into disarray. Once you became someone so important, you couldn''t afford to feel.''


    ''What the f*ck?!"


    Once the thought finished, SIlver knew something was wrong. She wasn''t acting like herself. No, she wasn''t thinking like herself.


    She eyed the headmaster uncertainly, she wanted to ask him but didn''t. Was she truly sure she didn''t feel that way?

 Chapter 1: The End of Time

    Hey guys! Author here!


    So, I have been having some medical issues that have made writing hard for the last while. I had some difficulty finding the right mentality to write the complicated character of the headmaster and think of the proper words today so I decided to post the first chapter of the next novel I''ll be releasing today.


    I know you are all here for TLM and I''m sorry I couldn''t get a chapter out today! I''ll find a way to make it up with yall, once I catch up with my patreon chapters I''ll do a mass release!


    Please feel free to give any feedback you have on this chapter!


    ----------------------


    "God, please let this work!"


    Aurus'' breathing quickened as he looked at the magic array beneath his feet. Thousands upon thousands of glowing runes were spread out across the hall forming dozens of circles with himself in the middle of it.


    The hall he was in was as ginormous as it was empty, the only items that could be seen were those integrated into the magic array. Crushed up fairy wings and ''Ghast Rat''s Ashes'' were but a few of the items lying in the middle of smaller magic arrays spread across the room.


    In his hand Aurus held a white strand of hair excluding a holy aura, it was the hair of a God, one that had died by the hands of their enemies. If he would succeed on this day, it would be because of this hair, this item with near-limitless power.


    It was at this point that the massive door at the side of the room began shaking. The door was enchanted beyond belief, but Aurus knew it would not be enough. These things could destroy anything, even the gods. A mere door would not stop them for long.


    Aurus breathed in deeply before doing two things. First, he took the white strand of hair and he put it in his mouth, swallowing it, then he took a blood-red knife out of its scabbard.


    The red knife was beautiful, it would make any person that saw it fall in love with it, its power was great, but dangerous. If you used this knife once it would not only take the life of the person you kill, but it would take your own life as well.


    Ignoring the rattling of the door, Aurus looked at the blood-red knife one last time. It was the knife that was once used by Lucifer, the king of the underworld. And now, he would be the last user this knife would ever have.


    Aurus pointed the knife towards the air and took in a deep breath. A moment later two things happened at once.


    On one hand, the enchantments on the massive door broke, causing it to open with a bang.


    But it was too late, in the middle of the rows of magic arrays stood Aurus, the red knife plunged into his own heart. The holy aura of the hair of Chronos and the demonic aura of the knife of damnation clashed. The amount of energy caused by this clash was unbelievable yet all of it was eagerly absorbed by the magic arrays around Aurus.


    The light coming from the magic array brightened so much anyone in the universe could see it. Any of the final Gods, Devils, Humans, and Demons looked at this light, with but the faintest of hope. Yet after this, everything disappeared into nothingness.


    ------------


    Aurus felt his soul travel through space and time. He could see everything and nothing. He saw the dawn of man and God. The ten-thousand worlds covering the universe, and the destruction of all that ever was.


    His soul traveled through space and time until it got to its destination. His soul arrived on earth in the year 2040. This was the beginning of his true journey.


    Looking at the world below him, he saw a boy, barely fifteen years old. He had messy brown hair and intoxicating green eyes. In most places, he would be called rather pretty, but in this town where martial arts is rather popular, he was called girly instead.


    The boy was crying, he cried a lot. But this time it wasn''t because of his situation or because he was robbed once more. It was because of the deaths of his parents. The plane they were in had crashed but a few hours ago. He was an orphan now.


    Aurus sighed as he looked to the side, he looked through the buildings in his path and saw a group of four boys heading in this direction. They would reach the boy in mere minutes, making his day even worse.


    Aurus moved down, he was a soul, invisible to all. And he would take over the body of his younger self.


    At least, that had been the plan.


    Just as Aurus began moving down a certain pressure engulfed his soul. The world itself had noticed an intrusion from another world, it was trying to suffocate him.


    "No, NO!"


    In this weakened state Aurus had no chance at fighting the will of a world, he rushed down as fast as he could but it was too late, parts of himself began disappearing. He could feel his memories being eaten away and his sense of self dissipating.


    When he finally got down to the boy, his soul was but a tenth of what it once was. The part that saw itself as Aurus was gone, all that was left were its instincts and desires. The biggest desire of this stray soul was entering the body in front of it, and so it did.


    ------------


    Aurus had been crying for over an hour when something happened, something that would change his life forever. He could feel himself change in but a moment, at first he felt shocked but then he got assaulted by a severe headache. He felt like screaming as changes were made to his mind, yet just as he was about to scream out, he realized something. The pain wasn''t actually that bad.


    What he had found a terrible pain but moments before, felt more like an annoying itch to him now. As if he was used to much worse pain than this.


    His emotions dulled a bit as all that had happened seemed oh so insignificant. His parents died, but somehow he was no longer so distraught by the fact. After all, he had lost so many people already.


    Aurus had a moment of clarity ''What? No, I haven''t!'' but it lasted only for a moment.


    He fell into silence as he thought of all that happened to him. He lost his parents, he got bullied, but he didn''t do a thing about it.


    Anger started taking charge of himself, but this anger wasn''t directed toward anyone but himself ''Why the hell haven''t I done anything about it?''


    Then, the anger made way for confusion.


    He could tell something weird happened, his perspective changed, but he didn''t know why, had the grief changed something in his mind? Had the death of his parents caused him to see things clearly.


    Yeah, that had to be what had happened.


    Aurus calmed himself knowing that emotion would get one killed. As for who would kill him, he didn''t know, but it just felt right to be careful.


    For the next couple of minutes, Aurus sat there, he began feeling somewhat afraid. It wasn''t normal to find the death of your parents natural and not care about it. He was supposed to be crying as he had been just minutes before.


    Just as he thought the grief might have broken him emotionally, he could hear people entering the park.


    He had been sitting in a small park on the edge of town, one that was barely ever visited by anyone but himself. Since it was 9pm it was very unusual for people to enter the area.


    When he looked up, he was greeted by four faces, all of them looking straight at him. In the front was the boy called William. He was athletic and smart. He looked handsome, and he did not look like a bully at all, but he had been Aurus'' worst nightmare in the previous couple of years.


    To his left was Fitzgerald. He was an extremely large boy that was extraordinarily aggressive. He was somewhat stupid but enjoyed beating people up, hence he was a part of William''s crew.


    The two boys to William''s left were Kenny and Bowles. Kenny was an arrogant brat with a rich dad. He would never join the others in beating or robbing people but enjoyed watching them. As for Bowles, he was a great martial artist, he was probably the best in the group when it came to actually fighting, he was also William''s best friend.


    When William noticed Aurus saw them he jeered "Oh, look, the princess has been crying." getting closer he continued "Guess what happened guys?"


    Stopping shortly before the bench Aurus was sitting at, William asked his friends.


    Bowles was quick on the draw as he responded in a fake-confused tone "What happened William?"


    Hearing the expected response, William looked at Aurus before responding, "His mommy and daddy were so tired of being with their useless son that they tried leaving the country. But I heard that when his daddy remembered that they would have to videochat with their terrible child when they got to Spain, he got to the cockpit and steered the plane straight down!"


    "Tch, he must''ve truly been a useless piece of shit then!" Kenny said as he looked at Aurus to see how he would react.


    Aurus looked away from them but kept his emotions in check. Usually, he would cower in a situation like this, but he didn''t this time. He felt in control, but he also felt angry. He wanted to punch William in his face, shut him up right here. The problem was that he knew his own strength, he didn''t stand a chance against the boy, for now he simply had to endure, if he wanted to he could break into the boy''s house during the night, smash the boy''s head in while he was sleeping, he wouldn''t be at risk of being beaten in that situation.


    ''Wait, what am I thinking?''


    Aurus once more caught himself thinking things that were way beyond anything he would ever do.


    He wanted to calm himself, try and find out what he was truly thinking, and if something was wrong.


    Yet, there was a little voice blabbering away, keeping him from concentrating on his own thoughts and actions.


    The boy named William had continued taunting him despite the lack of reaction.


    ''Annoying!''


    This time, Aurus completely agreed with his spontaneous thought. He really should just punch the boy in the face.

 Chapter 167: Feelings

    "At the end of the day, it all doesn''t matter. If I escaped, I''ll escape whatever this is too. If I didn''t escape, I''ll escape."


    After telling himself these words, Villin''s entire attitude changed. His eyes became sharp as he scoured the room.


    There was a certain aura radiating from him, looking at him, one would feel empowered in some way. It was almost unthinkable someone''s attitude could change so drastically in but a few seconds.


    Villin thought deeply about what he could do now, and just as he was about to cast a couple of spells to assist him, the environment faded. This space was created out of fear, when the fear connected to it dissipates, so does the environment.


    Villin watched as the room began to fade, he felt incredibly confused. He still had no idea what was going on.


    ------------


    "Hihihi, how have you been doing, little pumpkin?"


    Hearing these words, the Kitsune moved back, only to find a wall was just behind her. She felt terrified. Just a couple of meters before her stood a Kitsune in human form, just this already made clear that they were over a hundred years old.


    The kitsune took the appearance of a middle-aged man with white hair. He had a large scar on his cheek and a wicked smile covered his face.


    "Nononono, this isn''t happening, he died!" the Kitsune mumbled as she tried looking around for a sign this was some sort of illusion.


    The man in front of her was the tribe leader, Alatar. He was extremely powerful and extremely ruthless.


    Just a few years earlier, there were still four tribes within the valley, then came Alastar, who was the sole survivor of a tribe to the east. When he arrived, he was immediately invited by each of the tribes'' leaders. He had eight tales and was capable of shifting into a human. His strength was as great as any of the tribe leaders.


    But, he didn''t wish to go underneath anybody. He established his own tribe with but a few members. The other tribe leaders obviously weren''t happy with yet another contender, and so they foiled him in any way they could. Then, they attacked him together. It looked like the Kitsune from the east would lose despite his vast combat experience, yet, just as his defeat seemed inevitable, he grew his ninth tale.


    His power rose to a tremendous level, and the three tribal leaders were killed. The Kitsune within the valley had no choice but to submit to him.


    Things looked like they would turn out fine. Alastar was powerful, capable of killing any other magical beasts that were threatening the tribe.


    But then, then he began talking to the humans from the south. The tribe was already extremely unhappy when Alastar began selling their prey to the humans. The corpses were apparently quite valuable to him.


    The reason why the Kitsune weren''t happy wasn''t hard to guess. They all knew the history of these lands. Long ago, the Kitsune weren''t limited to the northern continent. There were a total of five continents where magical beasts roamed the lands. Then the humans spread, as far as the Kitsune knew, they now held all of the four other continents, and all magical beasts were forced to live in the north.


    Still, they did nothing, they had nothing they could do.


    Just a month before the moment she was going through now, some of the tribe members that openly disagreed with Alastar began disappearing. The previous day, she followed Alastar, and found out he was selling his own tribe members to the humans, in exchange for magical crystals and other artifacts that could help him go stronger.


    And now, he stood there before her. She knew he had somehow found out that she saw him. She knew that he would knock her out and sell her to the humans as well, despite the fact that she had seven tails, making her one of the strongest Kitsune on the island.


    "What''s wrong Ashera? Feeling scared?"


    She wanted to say no but she knew her tails had tensed up, giving her true feelings away.


    She desperately tried to think of what was going on. This had already happened, she had been taken by the humans, tortured, and finally put inside of Villin, a different human that had also been taken prisoner. He escaped and she became happier, capable of remaining within the mind without having to care about a physical body.


    Yet, now she was back here, in front of Alastar, the only creature that was capable of making her feel helplessly terrified.


    Before she could even say anything, she felt cold tendrils of mana honing in on her mind. It surrounded her mind in fact, giving her no way to resist.


    Ashera felt terrified, more so than ever before. She tried to tell herself that this wasn''t real and that she was still within Villin''s mind, but she couldn''t focus on that thought as the fear enveloped her entire being.


    Alastar looked at his terrified tribemate with glee. The humans had offered truly great rewards for a seven-tailed Kitsune but he hadn''t been able to choose who to give up since they were all rather useful to him and none had shown signs of treachery.


    And then came Ashera, snooping about.


    It was an ideal opportunity, not one he was about to give up.


    ---------------------------------


    "Wh-what''s this?" Silver asked in confusion as she saw the orb shift, showing this new scene.


    The headmaster smiled simply, "I believe this should be the rogue consciousness that was hidden within Villin''s mind. When you go through the curtain of fear, physical things no longer hold importance, since Villin and this thing each have their own fears, they go through their own tribulations."


    "A Kitsune?" Silver wondered in confusion. Why would a Kitsune bind itself with a human, and how would it even do such a thing.


    The headmaster didn''t seem like he knew much more as he squinted while observing the scene. The Kitsune that went by the name of Ashera went limp when her mind got controlled by Alastar. She was no longer capable of moving her body at all as long as Alastar didn''t allow her to.


    Under his control, the Kitsune was forced to follow him silently as they made their way through the tribe. Most Kitsune were sleeping and those that weren''t didn''t see anything odd as Ashera seemed to be following Alastar by her own free will.


    Ashera followed Alastar out of the valley and they began making their way south. On the way, they encountered a couple of magical beasts but all of them were relatively weak, the fights also weren''t exciting since the beasts simply fell down to the ground, mental attacks weren''t all too cinematic.


    After moving for a couple of hours, the two of them approached a small hill that didn''t look special in any way.


    Once he scouted out the area around it properly, Alastar carefully approached the top of the hill. "I''ve got what you wanted, a seven-tailed Kitsune."


    Alastar said these words in a normal tone while looking at what seemed to be thin air. A few moments later the human that was hiding there dispelled her invisibility and appeared. The invisibility spell she used wasn''t to hide from Alastar, it was to hide from the other savage magical beasts that could appear in the area.


    When the human revealed herself, Silver noticed that the headmaster took in a sharp breath. After a couple of seconds, Silver also recognized the female and felt similarly surprised. She had seen the person that revealed herself once, it was the Decorus headmaster, Elsa Decorus. One of the most powerful magi on the continent went to deal with magical beasts herself, it wasn''t hard to imagine how important this piece of news was to The Academy.


    Elsa Decorus looked at Ashera with piercing eyes. She seemed to be content as she waved her hand, and a pile of books appeared in front of her.


    "Here you go, all the mental techniques Decorus was capable of acquiring, it has been a pleasure doing business."


    Alastar took a few steps forward and inspected a couple of the books, they could help him become quite a bit stronger.


    Still, he wasn''t a fool and knew Decorus was most certainly keeping certain techniques for himself, "Tsss, this is a seven-tailed Kitsune you know? One of my own tribemates at that. For you to only give two-dozen techniques in return, it seems rather unfair."


    The Decorus headmaster looked serious as she stared at Alastar, "Don''t push it, you savage beast."


    In return, Alastar smiled wildly, "Push it? Oh, I think I will."


    Saying these words, his magical energy spread around him, Ashera felt terrified when she felt his cold magical energy spread across the entire area.


    Yet, Elsa wasn''t to be outdone. The temperature of the entire area went up substantially, two different kinds of magical power clashed, neither one allowing the other to outdo them.


    And then, it was time to fight.

 Chapter 168: A Wounded Fighter

    Silver and the headmaster looked at the situation inside of the glass ball with their full attention. No matter what, this was a big deal. There wasn''t much known about Kitsune but they knew enough to know that a nine-tailed Kitsune was a fearsome enemy, their mental attacks would be more destructive than that of any human.


    Silver anticipated the fight, expecting for mountains to be moved and craters to be made. Sadly, she was disappointed.


    The fighting styles of a Kitsune and a human were extremely different and it made it something that was extremely weird to watch. One side was attacking openly, as balls of black fires and streaks of various colors shot out of her wand.


    The other side''s attacks were invisible. The only reason the spectators knew Alastar was attacking fiercely was the fact that most of Elsa''s attacks missed and they were much weaker than one would expect from one of the strongest humans on the continent.


    Still, explosion after explosion could be seen on the glass ball. Sadly, they could only see a small part of the battle as Ashera, the Kitsune stuck within the curtain of fear, was being thrown about like a ragdoll.


    She clearly had a lot of mental pressure on her as she was only barely able to dodge the attacks coming towards her general direction. Since the glass ball focused on her, most of what they could see were flashes, with the occasional clear sights.


    After about five minutes of distinct flashes and missing spells, Elsa Decorus seemed to be getting enraged. Even though Alastar wasn''t able to truly harm her mentally, he was a major annoyance. She would constantly lose focus, making her incapable of casting complicated spells or aim properly.


    The ground surrounding them began to shift as the headmaster began using the art she was more skilled at, transfiguration.


    For the following five minutes, the environment was being manipulated, Alastar was forced to dodge a number of earth spikes and golems as he continued his mental attacks.


    Sadly, now he was the one unable to properly focus on his attacks. At one point, when he narrowly dodged a cave-in that happened below his feet, he lost focus for a couple of seconds.


    A couple of seconds were enough for Elsa Decorus to be able to cast a proper spell. All around Alastar, fire appeared in waves, walls of flames headed towards him at rapid speeds, giving him no way to dodge.


    The spell she cast didn''t require Elsa to concentrate once the casting was complete, and so, even though Alastar tried to disrupt her concentration, it didn''t matter.


    A few seconds later, just as the fire was about to reach him, he roared. The sound held a tremendous mental force that directly attacked the Decorus headmaster. She hurriedly tried to defend her mind but was incapable of doing so as it felt like a hammer had been taken to it.


    All Silver and the headmaster could see was blood leaking down from Elsa Decorus''s nose as the roar continued and Alastar burned.


    As for Ashera, she was terrified. She could feel the invisible battle that had been going on, she was capable of seeing the true fight and it terrified her. The strength of the two competitors was so vast she couldn''t compare to them in the slightest.


    Then she blinked, and when she opened her eyes, she found herself within a cell, in a secret research facility of Decorus, deep underground. This was her second-worst memory.


    "She''s been harmed." the headmaster called out toward Silver as he stopped looking at the glass ball, the current scene was of no importance compared to what had just happened.


    The headmaster opened his mouth for a moment before closing it again. This was the first time that Silver felt that the headmaster was truly serious. He wasn''t playing games or testing her, what they had seen was of high importance.


    Mental damages were hard to heal, the fact that Elsa Decorus was bleeding out of her nose after the fight meant she probably took substantial damage. Even though they didn''t know the exact timing of this event, if it was a year ago or less, it was likely she would still be affected by the mental wound.


    It also gave more perspective to her merging with Mafoli and her attacks on The Academy. ''Appear strong when you are weak and weak when you are strong'' was a core belief of the schools. Her attacks on The Academy showed her confidence, because of this the headmaster would never risk attacking Elsa Decorus herself, since it seemed that she would be properly prepared for such an event.


    Because the two spectators were so deeply lost in thought because of this realization, they missed it when the glass ball focused back onto Villin.


    -----------------


    "What is going on?"


    Even though Villin thought this, he was beginning to have a proper idea. First, there was the bit with the dark hallway, when he feared getting lost, the pillars disappeared, when he was afraid the light would go out soon, it began flickering. When he thought back to the cell with fear, he found himself back there, then, when he overcame that fear, he got sent back into darkness.


    Villin no longer thought he was going crazy, this felt too supernatural for that. Just as he thought he would be stuck in this darkness forever, his vision shifted again.


    This confused Villin somewhat since he wasn''t thinking about any fear he might have currently, he was simply existing within the darkness.


    After a bit, the area around Villin had been constructed. He found himself laying inside of a rather soft bed. With his eyes open, he looked towards the ceiling.


    The ceiling was white, and in the middle was a white bulb. It took Villin a few moments to recognize it as a lightbulb.


    With that realization, Villin jumped out of the bed. He was in a small room that had a bunch of items inside of it. There was a desk to his right with a laptop sitting atop of it. To his left was a wardrobe, it was opened slightly letting him see the clothes hanging within.


    On the wall above his bed was a Harry Potter poster he had had for many years and never bothered to change.


    Villin felt stunned as he recognized this room, in order to test how accurate this representation was, and once more, perhaps find a hole in the ''illusion''. Villin stepped over to the nightstand and opened it. Looking inside the shelf were a bunch of regular items including a bouncy ball, some sleeved pokemon cards, and some other small toys he kept.


    Instead of taking any of these, he took the shelf out entirely and lifted it up, looking at the bottom part of the shelf. There, he saw a small ziplock bag taped onto the bottom of the shelf, the bag was filled with some green plants.


    "Damn!" Villin thought, somewhat stunned at the find. He was the only one knowing of this little secret he once had.


    Ever since he came to the magical world, his memory of earth had been fading more and more, but now that he was here, he found it quite easy to recall a number of facts.


    This was his room long ago, before he moved out of his parents'' place. He walked over to the mirror that was connected to the wardrobe and looked at himself. Seeing his old self, Villin took in a deep breath, he had almost forgotten how he used to look like. An average looking boy with blonde hair and blue eyes.


    After seeing his sixteen-year-old self, Villin tried entering his mental space, only to find nothing. He couldn''t cast magic or anything, causing him to feel powerless.


    Still, he didn''t freak out this time, instead, he felt confused. Why was he brought here now? He thought he figured out that his fears would become reality, then why did he come here?


    Sure, losing his magic was scary and despite all the harm he had gone through he wouldn''t want to go back to his life on earth, but he didn''t think it was something he was all that afraid of either.


    Did something happen when he was around the age of sixteen?


    Villin thought of it for a bit but wasn''t sure. He knew his youth had been quite shitty. He also fully realized that he repressed the memories from when he was young. His life only really started when he became an adult and left his parents'' house.


    Still, he would imagine he would be able to recall a fear around this area when he tried to think about it.


    With hesitation, he opened the door of his room, revealing the spiral staircase just a few meters before him.


    "Villin! Come down, it''s time for school!" he heard a feminine voice yell out from downstairs. As soon as he heard this voice a bunch of memories came back to him and he instantly felt a whole bit worse. He recalled what was going to happen.

 Chapter 169: A Gun

    When Villin''s memories of this day came back, he froze. This was a day he had forgotten all about, a day he never wanted to recall.


    Yet it was also an incredibly significant day for the him from back then. It caused him to change somewhat. He was still himself after this day but he became somewhat paranoid. He began overanalyzing people''s behavior and even though most of his friends wouldn''t notice, he knew it still hurt his social life severely back then.


    This only truly ended when he came to another world, found magic and all of its possibilities.


    "I''m coming!" Villin yelled out with a bit of a shake on his voice. Since he had a general idea of why it was he came to this day, he knew he wouldn''t be able to dodge the event that was the source of this fear.


    Villin went back into his room and put on some proper clothes. When he got to the socks he hesitated greatly, still, as it was currently he couldn''t see a reason not to wear them, he couldn''t transfigure anything after all.


    After a bit, he put on his socks and went downstairs.


    He expected that when he got through the door and saw his step-mom he would be overwhelmed by emotions and cry or something like that, sadly that didn''t happen.


    "Hey, mom."


    He said these words as he said all others, with little to no emotion. He ate breakfast and thanked her for the food before heading out. Without as much as a thought, he had taken his backpack and walked out of the door.


    He didn''t really associate any feelings anymore with his parents. This wasn''t his world anymore, and she probably wasn''t real anyway.


    For some reason, Villin felt sad at his lack of feelings towards this place. As he walked through the street passing by buildings he had seen thousands of times, he didn''t really care too much. He was okay with forgetting this place, this world.


    He kept his head down as he walked the streets, he was dreading school, and what would happen this very day.


    When he noticed he had arrived at the school gate, he finally took the time to properly inspect his surroundings. He lived in America, Chicago to be exact. The school he was in was pretty decent, the people here often went to good universities, the only problem he could think of were the bullies.


    Chicago High had a massive bullying problem. Even though Villin wasn''t often directly affected, it wasn''t hard to see how severe the problem was. One-third of the students were being bullied and another third consisted of bullies. He was part of the final third that was neither, even though a bully would occasionally set their sights on them as well.


    Villin sighed as he saw Trevor standing next to the gate, picking on a nerd that was just trying to enter school. It was people like Trevor that Villin blamed for what happened, they were what made the country, the world, sick.


    Still, Villin didn''t act, it was too late to do so.


    The school consisted of three buildings, together they formed a ''U'' directed towards the school gate. In total the school consisted of around six-hundred people, making it quite the large school.


    Villin moved through the courtyard as he silently condemned the actions of his schoolmates.


    He only really had three friends in this school and they had decided to skip school to go to a small party some rich kid was holding, hence, there was nobody here he truly cared about. He did recognize Claudia, one of the prettiest girls in the school with her blonde hair and blue eyes, she had been his crush at this point in time. Yet, after spending time in another world and meeting people that had actual personalities, she couldn''t be more shallow to him now.


    Without making a fuzz, Villin went ahead and entered the furthest school building, making his way to the first floor.


    He sat in the class a good ten minutes before the bell even rang, making him the first one there other than the teacher who was working on something.


    The teacher raised an eyebrow when he saw him but didn''t say anything, he simply figured Villin was seeking sanctuary from some bullies. The faculty knew very well how bad things were.


    After waiting for ten minutes, lost in thought, the bell rang, soon after, students started pouring into the classroom. Trevor, Claudia, and a bunch of other students entered the classroom. As usual, a number of students also didn''t show up. This included those that Villin considered friends at this point in time.


    Villin sat there silently, with a piece of gum in his mouth. The moment was coming closer and closer. And so, the class started. They had math and were talking about the ancient Egyptians. Villin recalled he found the class to be quite enjoyable since he hadn''t known much about this ancient civilization before.


    But now, all he did was look at the clock. The teacher didn''t call on him and soon fifteen minutes had passed.


    Villin closed his eyes as he waited, about twenty seconds later, it finally happened.


    BANG!!!


    Everyone in the class but Villin visibly recoiled in surprise when they heard the gunshot. For a few seconds, everybody was completely silent. Everybody looked around with wide-open eyes as they tried to make sure they didn''t hear wrong.


    BANG!!! BANG!!!


    Two more gunshots rang out, and now some people in the class left their seats and began panicking. At least nobody was so stupid as try to leave the classroom, after a few seconds, the majority of the students had scrambled to the back of the classroom, cowering in fear.


    The teacher panickedly instructed the students to stay quiet and out of sight from the door.


    Villin and a few others remained in their seat. Except for Villin, these other ones froze up when they heard the gunshots.


    BANG


    BANG


    Two more gunshots rang out, even closer this time. They seemed to be coming towards them.


    Finally, Villin opened his eyes as he stared towards the door. After a few seconds, the door opened, which was accompanied by some whimpers of panicking students. And out came Gregory. A boy with acne and glasses. He was holding a rifle and tears were coming down his face as he entered the class.


    He had been bullied, day after day, with nobody daring to interfere, be they students or faculty.


    And so he snapped, now there he stood, a rifle in his hand, pointed at the students in the back.


    Or rather, it pointed at someone in specific, Trevor, the worst bully in the school.


    Gregory took a couple of steps forward as the students in the back cried. "You!" he yelled through the tears, "You are the reason this happens!"


    Villin knew he would shoot, he had seen it before.


    But this time, he somehow didn''t feel afraid, he didn''t know what he felt really, as he looked at Gregory, he thought it was sad that this happened, and what made it so sad was that it could so easily be prevented.


    Letting out a deep breath, Villin stood up, immediately Gregory''s gun pointed towards him.


    "Wh-what are you doing?"


    He questioned nervously as he looked at Villin.


    Villin simply sighed again, the calm on his face surprised everybody, including Villin. Still, he spoke, "Gregory, you don''t have to do this."


    "Like hell I don''t! You don''t know how it is Villin, day after day he comes for me, steals from me, and beats me up. It''s been enough! It''s time this ends."


    Gregory became enraged again and aimed towards Trevor but before he could say anything, Villin moved.


    He didn''t move quickly, he didn''t reach for the gun, he simply took one step to the side, placing himself between Gregory and Trevor.


    "Listen to me, Gregory." Villin said in a calm tone, "Don''t dirty your hands like this." Villin looked back toward Trevor "Just look at him, he''s weak, his pants are wet and his mind is rotten. Something so pathetic isn''t worth dirtying your hands for."


    Gregory flinched. There was something different about Villin, his tone was steady and powerful, he stood straight as can be, he seemed confident, powerful.


    Still, Gregory shook his head, "I-It''s too late Villin, I''ve already been in two other classes, it''s too late."


    As he was shaking his head he was shocked when he noticed some weight had arrived atop of his shoulder, he noticed it was Villin''s hand. His rifle was practically touching Villin''s chest currently but he wasn''t looking at that, he was looking at him instead.


    "Trust me."


    After having said these simple words, Villin''s free hand slowly moved towards the rifle. Surprisingly, Gregory didn''t do anything, he didn''t even try to push him away. He simply let Villin take the gun out of his hands.


    With this done, the whole class but Villin seemed to let out a breath of relief, even Gregory.


    Villin was the only one that still hadn''t decided what to do. He had been through so much lately. He thought back to the scientist that took Amelia''s eye, Candil, who experimented on himself and the Kitsune for so long, and all of the guards in both situations, standing by, and letting everything happen.


    Then he looked at Gregory, was his goal not noble? To get rid of the dirt that stains this planet. People like the scientist, Candil, and Granolf.


    BANG!!!


    Everything felt shocked when they realized what happened. One moment Trevor was just sitting there, then his head exploded. Smoke was coming out of the barrel of the gun Villin was holding. His eyes were incomparably cold.


    BANG!!!


    A second shot rang out and a second body fell. It was the teacher of the class, the one capable of making change, as well as the one that didn''t do a thing.


    Nobody had expected this, nobody could have. Nobody knew how broken Villin was, how much his mind had changed.


    Yet, despite the horrid outcome, the fear of this place, this time, was gone. And so, the classroom faded as Villin''s fear did, and he found himself within a room. Next to a massive, black, moving curtain that was stuck to the wall.

 Chapter 170: Back To The Academy

    Silver and the headmaster were lost in thought for a long time. The headmaster was thinking of what to do with the information he had just gotten, he now knew Elsa Decorus was most likely weakened. Attacking her instead of the Decorus school now became an option.


    Silver was also thinking of all the implications. She rethought the reasoning behind the merging of Decorus and Mafoli. She also thought of the actions The Academy might take. She knew very well that they were in a bad position currently. Over the last year, they had lost most of their fights, they had clearly be dethroned as the number one school and the fighting didn''t show any sign of stopping.


    When they finally thought through the urgent matters, they once more looked at the glass ball. It seemed that the Kitsune''s fear was coming to an end. She was being operated into Villin, showing the source of the second consciousness and she had accepted it, knowing that she would be free to remain within the mind in this new body.


    When the headmaster once more probed the glass ball, intending to see what was going on with Villin, he noted that he had already left the curtain of fear. Still, knowing where the second consciousness came from, he didn''t think the chances of Villin being a traitor were high. Even though there was still some mystery behind him, there was nothing he really cared about. Every talented youth had their own mysterious tale. He had it, as did all the geniuses he had seen in the past.


    Strength in this world was formed by experiences. There were very few true experiences that were simple in nature.


    With the new information he had gotten, The Headmaster was no longer in a playful mood, he spoke some words to Silver before quickly parting ways. Silver also knew she shouldn''t push anything noticing the pressure that the headmaster was once more emitting, and she quickly walked through the small door that had appeared.


    Villin paused when he came through the curtain of fear, he looked at the wall with intrigue, but still felt something was missing. A few minutes later, that which was missing returned, as Ashera had returned to his mind. Villin continued to inspect the ''curtain'' without touching it. He couldn''t feel any magic radiating from it, something that felt odd to him.


    "Villin! Come here!"


    When Villin heard these words he turned around, Silver was on the other side of the large room.


    He quickly approached her but didn''t say a word. He wasn''t sure why, but he felt lighter, a lot lighter. It was like a big weight was taken off of him and he felt more capable of being himself.


    Silver looked at him in hesitation before saying what the headmaster had told her to say.


    "Villin, since you created Athena''s Forge and your knowledge is at the peak level of the third grade, you have been allowed to enroll in the fourth grade immediately. This way you can continue to keep close contact with the upper echelon of the organization you created. Just like what happened on the cannibal island so long ago, you will once more receive a high percentage of the items gained on the raid of the Decorus research facility.


    "The headmaster appreciates your loyalty, and you have most certainly deserved a large number of contribution points as well. You will find the use and number of the contribution points you gained once school starts, tomorrow."


    Silver said all of this with a neutral face as she didn''t want Villin to see her own emotions on the matter. When he nodded, it was time for them to say goodbye.


    A new door had once more appeared and Silver knew that this one led to the fourth grade. She also knew how much more dangerous it was compared to the second grade. The fourth grade was no place for games. Once you reached there you would truly become a part of The Academy''s forces. They would protect and guide you more properly compared to previously, but you would also be in a lot more danger since you would begin accepting proper missions.


    You would no longer be locked up within the grade. You would be able to go outside, to other places within the magi world, and help various groups and individuals with their problems.


    Still, she didn''t say any of this as she said her goodbyes. She simply smiled and wished Villin good luck, before watching the boy enter the door that would bring him to his destination.


    Saying goodbye to Silver, Villin hadn''t been sure how to act. She had helped him out greatly but he didn''t see how he could repay that favor. He decided to see what he could do after the year''s end. Slowly but surely he was becoming a powerful magus. His mental attacks were already extremely powerful, and he would only become stronger. His skill in transfiguration was extremely high for someone who only began using it recently and he had multiple types of magic that he had never heard of before. This included runic puppets and spying using transfiguration.


    And so, Villin walked through the door, and he was once more teleported to a distant location. When Villin arrived in what would be his new grade, he immediately felt stunned.


    He felt grass beneath his feet and there were trees all around him.


    With a frown, Villin began moving, he hadn''t gone into the wrong teleportation array, right?


    When he looked up, he was sure he hadn''t though. Even though he saw a blue sky with clouds above him, he could see through the illusion with some effort, he was most certainly underground.


    Curious about the current situation, Villin began moving.


    He easily moved through the forest, he jumped over roots and bushes, and sometimes vines would pop out of the ground, helping him jump farther.


    One of his strongest spells was used to help him move about instead of tying down and choking enemies. It was a very unique way to use the spell.


    This was what Villin was most skilled in when it came to spells, derivatory versions. The vines that popped out of the ground were too small and weak to properly take down a magus but they were perfect for a situation like this, when he quickly wanted to cast the spell without wasting much magic power.


    Transfiguration was also regularly thrown in as he moved about but he used it sparsely as he didn''t want to make a clear path within the forest.


    It was only after moving for a full ten minutes, that Villin actually got some proof that he was at The Academy.


    The forest promptly ended as a large stone building was revealed. The building was about five meters high and the forest around it was somewhat cleared out. Villin saw a couple of windows, a voice came from one of them.


    "Halt! What business do you have here?"


    A voice sounded from one of the windows on the ground floor. Villin was surprised since he couldn''t see anyone when looking at the space but still promptly replied.


    "Villin Grey, student of The Academy. I believe I may be lost."


    For a few seconds no sound was heard, until finally, the voice came again.


    "Alright, enter. Don''t try anything or I''ll knock you out."


    After these words were said, one of the walls began opening, creating an entrance. Villin''s eyebrows raised as he looked at the effect surprisedly.


    He knew that transfiguration was taught in the fourth grade of The Academy but he also knew it was rarely chosen since it was mostly associated with Decorus.


    When Villin further approached, he made sure to make himself seem harmless. The inside of the building seemed well-furnished, there were a bunch of closets, wardrobes, and workstations. When he completely entered, the person living here was also revealed.


    At this point, the students mostly consisted of adults. The person here was no longer a kid but an actual man. He held a wand in his hand and vigilantly looked as Villin entered the building.


    "My god, what happened to your face?"


    Villin frowned in a confusion for a moment before realizing he forgot to recast the small illusion spell that would hide his scar.


    He offhandedly pointed towards his face and the scar disappeared once more.


    As soon as he had done this, Villin realized it hadn''t been the smartest move showing this stranger he could do wandless magic, and he was capable of changing how his face looked, at least somewhat.


    Before the man could make a comment, Villin spoke his part, "Please, I only just joined the fourth grade and don''t really realize what''s going on. If I could get a map showing me to the main section of The Academy, I''ll be satisfied."


    Hearing his words, the man frowned again, he wasn''t sure what to think of this stranger. He seemed too young to be a student from The Academy and seemed capable of wandless magic.


    After thinking for a moment, he decided that helping him out would do no real harm.


    He lowered his wand slightly while still remaining on full alert.


    "New students are supposed to arrive at the mission board, then again, you did seem to have come a day early. This is the headquarters of ''The Dwarf''s Fortress'' we are in F7 currently. I can spare a map for a hundred crystals."


    Villin nodded when he received the information. He had heard of ''The Dwarf''s Fortress'', it was a guild that focused on transfiguration. Dwarves were long since extinct but it was rumored that the guild leader holds a dwarven bloodline.


    Villin was about to nod and pay when he realized he didn''t have any magic crystals on him. Hell, he didn''t have anything on him other than his clothes.


    After some hesitation he spoke again "Ehh, can I put it on the tab of ''Athena''s Forge''? I don''t have my crystal holder on me."


    Hearing the unexpected answer the brown-haired boy lowered his wand further, "You''re a part of Athena''s Forge?" he asked, with a complicated expression.


    When Villin nodded, he quickly continued, "In that case, please feel free to take a map, I''ll give you a set of iron armor as well to help you remain safe!"


    Villin felt shocked when the boy completely lowered and sheathed his wand again. Why did he react that way when he heard of his guild and why did he not question his identity? Just what kind of reputation did Athena''s Forge have?"

 Chapter 171: The Fourth Grade

    After thinking for a couple of moments, Villin decided to ask, "How do you know about Athena''s Forge? We only just arrived at the fourth grade and the year hasn''t even started yet."


    The brown-haired boy frowned before a look of realization flashed across his face, "Oh right, you guys don''t know. From the fourth grade on we are allowed to have proper contact with the outside world. Some of the higher-ups of nearly all of the guilds here have contacted the students letting us know about your existence.


    Apparently, it''s looking a lot like you guys will be replacing ''The Runic Army'' once your upper echelons graduate or quit The Academy. Hence, we have been told to treat you all kindly now that you are still small and make connections!" Once he said this much, he realized that revealing his intention was somewhat counterintuitive but now it was too late to take back his words.


    Villin nodded as the situation made a bit more sense. Seeing how the boy had positive intentions, he decided to ask another question.


    "So what is going on here? Is the forest a part of The Academy?"


    The boy smiled at Villin''s question before responding, "This forest IS The Academy."


    Then he explained the basics of what was going on. The fourth and fifth grade lived, and took classes, together. Classes and guilds were spread across this massive underground forest. This place was probably the greatest feat any school has ever accomplished.


    The forest was extremely expansive and divided up into grids. Each grid had its own ecosystem with regular, and even magical, creatures living within. The further away you go from A1 the more dangerous nature would be.


    Students were clear to do almost anything. They could fight and rob. Create magic arrays and wards if they knew how. As long as you didn''t intentionally murder you were in the clear.


    Classes were also spread out. The more advanced the class was, the deeper into the forest you would have to go. Here, the main thing The Academy taught was the importance of strength.


    Most classes were optional, safe for a few. These few were ''The Dangers of Magic'' and ''Creation of a Spell Blueprint''.


    Generally, students also had to sign a new magically binding contract when coming here, they wouldn''t be allowed to talk about this place and they would have to create one wooden spell blueprint every five years and one iron spell blueprint before they reached a hundred years of age.


    Mission boards with teleportation arrays were also spread across the forest. The mission boards included a number of missions that corresponded with the difficulty of the location in the forest. These could include things such as helping some company defend a VIP to fighting a group of people from the western continent that intruded on their land.


    The boy, whose name was Theodore, seemed to be full of praise for The Academy since they created this place. Apparently, he was in the fifth grade and this was the third year he had been here. Thus far he had been able to make it to L34, nearly dying when he made it there.


    When Villin heard every ''tile'' was ten kilometers long, he couldn''t help but feel completely stunned. This meant that the forest was at least 340 kilometers by 260 kilometers and most likely way bigger.


    After a bit, Theodore ended up giving Villin a map. The map was rectangular and went up to H20. It seemed to be drawn and was pretty basic overall. Certain squared had red crosses on them, signifying more danger than usual and others had green circles, meaning there were no dangerous animals. Then a few squares were also colored blue since they mainly consisted out of water. Distinctions were also made between proper forests and swamps. Lastly, there were markings on certain tiles showing the existence of teleportation arrays. These were mostly in the tiles without any hostile animals.


    After getting this, Theodore also gave him iron bracers, iron-tipped shoes, and a helmet. This was the bare minimum you generally needed to get by out here.


    Villin ended up declining these since, if he wanted to get to A1 by the following day, he would have to move quickly and these pieces of armor would only slow him down.


    He bid goodbye to Theodore and began getting a move on, using the fake sun in the sky to orient himself.


    Every ''tile'' had a couple of meters of no man''s land. Thanks to this it shouldn''t be too difficult to find your way, getting lost shouldn''t be a problem as long as you didn''t get into any large fights.


    After losing sight of the headquarters of ''A Dwarf''s Fortress'', Villin paused as he thought of the best way to get to A1.


    He would need to move nearly a hundred kilometers in slightly less than a day. If it was on flatlands, Villin would have absolutely no problem doing this. The problem was that he was in a forest, he would even have to move through a couple of swamps, this made traversing much harder, even if he had magic to help him.


    Villin sighed as he realized he probably wouldn''t be able to make it in time, but he still decided to give it a proper shot. Due to the experiments, his body and organs did improve in quality. The most important one was the lungs. Thus far, he hadn''t been able to test how much his organs had been strengthened, but well, there was no time better than now.


    Only ten minutes had passed before Villin met his first bit of wildlife. There was a snake lying atop of a branch. It used illusion magic to hide, if Villin didn''t sense the mental fluctuations he might''ve accidentally gotten close and been attacked.


    Villin made a wide circle around it and kept going, using his vines as support. After a while he figured out how they could properly boost him forward every time he landed, making movement a bit less tiring.


    For a good hour, Villin ran while avoiding any of the creatures he could feel, but after all this time, he was forced to walk for a bit to catch his breath. It was then that Villin was forced to fight for the first time.


    He had been followed for over twenty minutes at this point. He knew, but there wasn''t much that could be done about it. He simply hoped the creature would lose interest or get tired before he did.


    Now that he knew he could no longer keep going without weakening his combat prowess, Villin decided to stop and fight. He turned around, facing whatever it was that had been chasing him.


    The bushes rustled for a bit before everything went completely silent. Villin wasn''t fooled though, he knew exactly where his enemy was even if he didn''t know what it was.


    After a few minutes, the creature seemed to have realized it couldn''t hide from Villin and so it walked out from along the bushes. It was a large wolf, two meters tall and four meters long. Villin could feel a magical pulse coming from it, he also noticed that, at this point, the leaves close to the wolf froze.


    It seemed that this wolf had some extent of ice magic, even if it was most likely instinctual.


    Villin focused completely, he didn''t dare underestimate animals this far into the forest. He carefully pulled his wand and pointing it at the creature. Just as he was about to cast ''Syrtim Celer'' to try and trap it, Villin heard a voice in his head.


    ''I know how we can get to A1 in time.'', Ashera said mysteriously.


    Villin felt confused for a moment, and then the Kitsune explained her plan, causing Villin to grin.


    This wasn''t a fair fight, the wolf before him was a low-intellect creature from the canine family. A Kitsune also came from this family. The only difference was that she was highly evolved and intelligent. Knowing the plan, Villin made a slight cut into the palm of his hand, letting his blood fall on the floor.


    The wolf immediately froze up as he instinctively recognized the smell. He was about to retreat when mental pressure surrounded him, forcing him to submit.


    The wolf layed down onto his side as he shook, fear petrified it as it instinctively recognized the pressure of a higher-tiered species.


    Villin didn''t have any intention to let him go though.


    With a bit of help from the Kitsune and some mental encouragement, the wold got back onto his feet, but this time, there was a boy sitting atop of the shaking beast.


    "Yip Yip!" Villin said, and just like that the wolf started running. If it could, it would most likely cry.


    The Kitsune did warn Villin not to keep it around for too long though. The fear the creature felt was instinctive, but this wasn''t a mortal beast.


    No matter what, it was still a magical beast with some intelligence. After a while, it would probably figure out it shouldn''t fear you and revolt. Still, something like that was unlikely to happen in less than a week as it would take some time for the instinctive fear to dissipate.


    Having this mount helped a whole bunch though. Since the further they went, the weaker the creatures were, there were very few willing to fight the ice wolf. And as for those that did, they weren''t capable of catching up.

 Chapter 172: The Rumor Mill

    Thanks to the speed and agility of his mount, Villin had no doubt he would be able to reach the destination within eight hours, leaving him with some spare time.


    It was because of this that he decided to make a couple of small detours to the tiles holding teleportation arrays. For the most part, these tiles seemed the same as all others. There were insects and small creatures moving about as well as a variety of plants.


    There were only two real differences, the first was the lack of proper predators in the area and the second was the stone platform in the middle of the tile.


    The platform was surrounded by stairs which you had to climb. On top were a number of different objects.


    The most obvious was the mission board. A massive standing stone with magically inscribed text on it. He decided to read the first couple of lines to see what kind of missions there were.


    The mission board was split into several sections. First, it would state the mission type, this included things such as ''guard'', ''create'', ''attack'', and ''converse''.


    Villin could easily guess what guard and attack missions would probably include. Create was also be pretty straightforward. As for converse? That one was a little weirder, it seemed a little odd that people would pay then just to talk with them but Villin didn''t know enough yet.


    The second section mentioned the mission giver. Most of these came from The Academy themselves but there were some others that came from guilds associated with The Academy or influential families.


    The third section was the simplest, a mission either had a skull there or they didn''t. Villin noticed some of the defend and attack missions had skulls while others didn''t. As for ''create'' missions, almost none of them had skulls.


    Villin guessed this corresponded with danger. Even though the missions already should be corresponding to the difficulty of the tile he was on, there were still other things that were in play. It was most likely that guard missions without a skull didn''t actually expect anyone to attack while those with a skull knew there would most likely be danger involved.


    The fourth section showed the rewards for each mission, most of it was just a certain number of magic crystals while a few offered specific items or ingredients.


    Then, the final section showed the requirements the mission-taker had to fulfill. It was also here that he figured out what ''converse'' actually meant as the requirements for those was generally someone older than eighteen-years-old.


    In general, there were around thirty missions on the mission board he was looking at but none of them caught his eye. There were a couple for runemasters but they were too simple for Villin to bother. He felt a little interested seeing those asking for someone that could use transfiguration to guard or attack, but even then, he doubted it''d be much of a challenge.


    Inspecting the runes around the stone, Villin got a general idea of how the mission board should work. You sent magic power into the mission you wanted to follow, then this would send a signal elsewhere, probably to the inactive teleportation array Villin saw on the ground.


    Inspecting the teleportation array, Villin felt a wide variety of magical frequencies moving through it. It seemed that the array would only let people through of which it had the signature.


    And so, Villin sent a bit of his magic power into the teleportation array. The one surprise he noticed was that there was no power supply, it seemed that students had to use their own resources to fuel the teleportation array if they wanted to use it.


    Overall, Villin thought it was pretty fair. The pay on the missions seemed pretty good and it would make sense that The Academy wouldn''t pay for all of their trips.


    And so, Villin continued onwards. He passed by a couple of other teleportation arrays, most of the missions were different from location to location but there were a couple that stayed for a multitude of tiles.


    In total, Villin passed by four teleportation arrays before he began to close in on A1, the destination of his travels.


    The separation between A1 and the other tiles was much wider than any other spanning nearly a hundred meters. The ice wolf that Villin used as a mount was also extremely reluctant to go in.


    After talking with Ashera, they ended up leaving the mount behind. Under their command it shouldn''t leave for a day at least, they could''ve forced him into A1 but then the date of the creature revolting would probably come in just a day or two instead of a week, and Villin found that having a mount was rather handy, and well, he wasn''t sure when he would find such a fast and powerful canine again.


    And so, Villin crossed the hundred meters of no man''s land. Once he passed it, he felt himself going through an illusionary ward as the sight in front of him changed. From the outside, A1 looked like a regular forest, but once you entered, its true nature became clear.


    Various tall buildings were spread across the tile. Every guild had a place here, just like they normally would in a guild hall. Still, for most guilds, this place was just used for making connections. The true headquarters of most guilds were out in the forest, they would hide and oftentimes attack each other for their resources.


    The Academy was serious that almost anything goes as long as you didn''t purposefully kill someone. In a way, it was very similar to the situation between the schools in the proper world. If they could, they would hide from each other but when the opportunity came, they would attack and take the other party''s resources.


    A1 was like the big city. There were opportunities here, but it was also extremely dangerous. Robberies happened constantly and people on the street always looked around carefully before moving forward.


    This immediately became clear to Villin when he entered. Since the new year was about to begin, activity in this area was somewhat high. Nearly all guilds had representatives out but luckily they seemed to have come to a temporary truce.


    Villin swiftly moved across the dirt road as he continued to move towards the center of the tile. A few people did a double-take on him as they noticed he wasn''t wearing any shoes but nobody seemed all that interested in him. He was just another representative going to recruit some new people in their eyes.


    Once he got close enough to the center, Villin noticed a large, square building in the middle of the tile. Representatives were lined up a distance away from the building as they seemed to be waiting for something.


    Villin silently went and moved next to some of the more chatty people here. Even though gossip was often unreliable, he would like to have at least somewhat of an idea of what exactly was going to happen.


    He waited for a dozen more minutes and the start of school was impending. Villin noticed the crowd had become a lot bigger now. Those that were already in the fourth or fifth grade the previous year simply used one of the teleportation arrays that either their guild had, or they used one from a guild that allowed people to hire teleportation arrays. At this point in time, nearly everybody had arrived, except for the newbies that was.


    The gossiper Villin stood close to also began talking less about random things as he checked the position of the sun every couple of seconds.


    Then, finally, the doors opened.


    "Hehe, so they''ll be coming out according to the rank the Academy put them in, those in the front will always be fought for by dozens of guilds, even though I don''t think it''ll go that way this time around!" the blonde gossiper exclaimed as he talked to his female compatriot.


    "Why not?" she questioned as her eyes were glued to the now-open door.


    The gossiping boy didn''t respond as he simply looked at the door, a few seconds later, the first person came out.


    "Here, this is Ruby Von Hauser, a noblewoman of the highest quality. She created her own guild in the second grade and is extraordinarily skilled in runology. Her guild sells information currently but it is almost certain they''ll become spies for The Academy in the future!"


    Hearing the man''s excited tone the girl smiled and nodded, as if appreciating his gossiping prowess.


    When the second person came out, he spoke again, "Oh, here we have ''The Scarlet Vixen'' one of the top members of the mysterious new guild ''Athena''s Forge''. It is said that she once created a pill that turned one of her rude suitors into a frog, I advise you not to mess with her!"


    Hearing his theatrical warning, the female chuckled, "My, my, she truly does seem beautiful!"


    Without pause, the man pointed at the next person that came out, "Oh my, here, the person most opposite to the scarlet vixen. The ''One-Eyed Demoness''! It is said that she once was the most beautiful girl in the world, but then she was cursed by the gods and lost an eye. Now she has become one of the most fearsome warriors in the third grade, she''s also one of the top dogs of ''Athena''s Forge''!"


    The girl covered her mouth with one of her hands "My, my, I can nearly sense the bloodlust from all the way over here! How dangerous must she be!"


    The man didn''t have time to respond as the next person was already in sight, "And then there we have the final top dog of Athena''s Forge, ''Rein The Talentless''.


    "A boy that has forever been underestimated but keeps pushing back against fate with hard work and determination. I even heard he got approached by some of the best enchanters in the world who wanted to take him under their wing but he refused them all!"


    At this point, the girl no longer had to feign her surprise, "My goodness, and they all seem so young too! Just who owns Athena''s Forge?"


    Hearing her ask the question brought the boy into a good mood as he ominously began talking again, "Nobody really knows who they are. But as I''ve heard he''s called ''The Villain'' as for how he got that nickname, nobody knows!"


    The girl first gasped but before she could respond, another person to their right interrupted him "He? Who says it is a he? Why can''t it be a woman? Nobody knows who they are anyways and the upper echelon of the guild are primarily female!"


    The speaker has a blonde beauty that had been staring at Kayley with somewhat lustful eyes.


    The male wasn''t too abashed by the interruption though as he instead agreed, "You are indeed right! It could be a woman, there is simply no way to know until they come back!"


    Villin who was standing on his other side felt extremely conflicted. Just what kind of gossip surrounded them now.

 Chapter 173: The Reunion

    After Ruby and Villin''s companions came out, a number of others got introduced as well. Surprisingly over half of the people in the top twenty were a part of Athena''s Forge. Villin didn''t recognize any of them, which made sense since all of these were in the third grade back when he was still in the second grade.


    The boy that liked gossiping so much was proven right that most of those in the top twenty weren''t up for grabs. ''Athena''s Forge'' seemed to be pretty united and there probably wouldn''t be anyone willing to leave the guild that had such a bright future ahead of it.


    Two more people that went from the second grade to the fourth grade in two years and were also in the top twenty were Hawk and Sara, the upper echelon of ''The Black Swans''. Sadly, one of their upper echelon couldn''t pass the third grade in one year but the fact they had three members that moved from the second grade to the fourth in two years was already rather insane.


    Normally, there would be one person in a year capable of passing the third grade in a single year, this year''s lineup was far beyond simply impressive.


    After the top twenty left, the other students came out in a large stream, the ones in the front were still those with better scores but the attention paid to these was a lot less.


    Villin wanted to go and talk to his companions but found them completely surrounded by a big group of people. Kayley and Rein in particular were extremely popular while Amelia was trying to keep the people surrounding them away.


    Villin clacked his tongue, he crouched down and touched the ground with his hands, making transfiguration somewhat easier and after a couple of seconds, a wall erected around Rein, Kayley, and Amelia, keeping the others away.


    The guild representatives that were trying to make contact with the group looked around for the perpetrator and Villin obviously stood out.


    "What the hell do you think you''re doing?!" A boy called out when he noticed Villin was the cause of the sudden barrier.


    Villin scoffed as he turned towards him, many of the spectators now also looked towards him with frowns on their faces, in this place contacting was extremely important, guilds without allies would be attacked and robbed within days.


    Yet Villin went against them without worries, he looked at the boy that had talked to him a few moments before and was now sweating furiously. Bloodlust was easy to fake and those that never trained their mind or hadn''t gone through many stressful situations couldn''t do a thing to defend against it.


    Just as the surrounding students noticed that something was wrong with the person that accused Villin, he spoke, "My name is Villin Grey, leader of Athena''s Forge. If you have business with the guild you will have to find our headquarters and talk with us there, anyone blocking our way here will be seen as an enemy and we will act accordingly!"


    His voice boomed across the area, attracting stares even from people that hadn''t been anywhere nearby.


    Villin sent out his mental power and everyone around felt some pressure on their minds, a clear warning.


    An explosion sounded out at this moment as the thin wall Villin had created to protect his core members was blown through and Amelia stepped out. Many of the students were already intimidated by Villin so when the ''One-Eyed Demoness'' came out with a snarl on her face, the majority of the people backed off, with the others not closing in on them either.


    Without the mental pressure a number of the people here would''ve surely called Villin out on his ruthless behavior, but when the pressure was added, being safe became a priority to most people here. It was clear that Villin wanted to intimidate his potential enemies and it was most likely he would set an example if someone offered themselves up.


    The people in the fourth and fifth grades weren''t stupid kids. They were all proper magi, and the representatives of the various guilds also knew how to play ''the game'' to some extent.


    Villin turned around and began walking towards the ''city'', soon followed by Amelia, Kayley, Rein, and a number of other members of ''Athena''s Forge''.


    Amelia had an intimidating expression on her face as she stared at everybody head-on. Kayley seemed aloof as she didn''t bother to look at anybody, pretending they were all trash. And Rein seemed down-to-earth as he smiled kindly and waved at people here and there.


    None of them rushed up to Villin to ask how he was as they would''ve done if they alone. When it came to ''the game'' they were some of the best players around. In the third grade, they were one of the biggest guilds around, and this wasn''t just because of their strength, they knew how to appear, how to act, and how to talk.


    Over this year they had purposefully changed their personalities somewhat, becoming three people in no way similar, a mysterious trio with diverse personalities, kept together by an even more mysterious leader, that was how they were seen.


    Amelia the dangerous, Kayley the smart, and Rein the sincere. These were some of the other nicknames they had gotten.


    Something so simple, that seemed so simple, was actually extraordinarily important. It made them extremely well-known as many students would talk about them and stories would form, spreading their names. They would often appear in the various newspapers as everybody wondered how they got together and most people felt somewhat attracted to at least one of them.


    After walking for a couple of minutes, Villin paused his steps a little so that he walked next to Amelia who was just behind him, "Where''s our headquarters?" he asked as he had no idea. They told him that they commissioned a guild to make it during the break when they visited at Silver''s place, but he didn''t know where it was.


    Amelia only barely refrained from smiling as she pointed to the left, looking that way, he immediately knew what their place was. Even from here, a good two-hundred meters away he could see a tower towering over all other buildings in the area.


    Villin knew they were very rich and they had a bunch of members that just came from the third grade so a big initial headquarters was a must, as for making it large vertically, that had simply been the style of the guild. The initial tower Villin had built was made that way and his companions had kept the same style in the third grade.


    As Villin came closer the size of the building stood out more and more. Most buildings around here were two or three floors tall, the bigger guilds simply made it wider. Since attacking was permitted, making tall structures wasn''t done anymore, after all, one decent explosion could have it crumbling down.


    But, first of all, Athena''s Forge didn''t know the fourth grade would permit attacking and things of the like. And even if they did, they had some of the best enchanters around, thanks to the guidance of Rein, the enchanters in their guild were stellar, they would be able to enchant the tower in no-time, keeping it safe from some basic explosions.


    And that wasn''t even counting Villin, who would be able to create a couple of magic arrays alerting them the moment anyone began casting a destructive spell outside.


    The tower was magnificent. It had a total of fifteen floors, nearly reaching all the way up to the artificial ceiling. It seemed slightly wonky and unstable but some enchantments would be able to take care of that quickly. Currently, it had a bunch of support from the outside helping to keep it up, it was exactly how they had requested.


    The four leaders of the guild stood just outside looking at the massive building while the other members were a few meters back appreciating the building as well. The guild that had created this had done a magnificent job for sure, Villin was also confident it would''ve cost a massive amount but he didn''t mind that too much, he would probably be here for three years, maybe even four, and even after he was gone, this building would represent Athena''s Forge.


    Once the building could properly stand on its own and the supports were gone, it would be truly intimidating.


    A bit later, they all entered the building, and the upper echelon went over to the top floors.


    The five top floors were theirs. The eleventh floor was meant for meetings between them. The twelfth floor was for Rein, the thirteenth floor was Kayley''s, the fourteenth Amelia''s, and then the top floor was for Villin.


    Each floor was massive, meant to hold dozens of people including their equipment and bed.


    The building was partially furnished, the workstations, beds, and other essential furnishement were there, decorations hadn''t been added yet though, they had agreed that those would all be created by the members, increasing their belonging to the guild, and they would pay their members for the decorations created.


    Together, the four of them went to the eleventh floor, it was divided into several rooms, one of them had a big table with four chairs, it was here that they sat down.


    Villin had a glint in his eyes as he looked at his companions, he noticed his chair was bigger than the others'' but he didn''t mention it, "Now, let us talk."

 Chapter 174: The Situation Of Athena’s Forge

    "Now, let us talk," Villin said as he looked at the trio sitting around the table, he also dispelled the illusion on his face at this point, showing his scar. "First of all, what''s our monetary situation?"


    Hearing his first question Kayley was the one to stand up. She took out a crystal holder and handed it to Villin, "These are all of our liquid assets, if ever required we also have a decent number of Blue Mythril armor sets we could sell."


    At first, Villin nodded before checking the crystal holder. He expected about half of the funds would be gone, this building no doubt cost a bunch, and to increase their stance and popularity in the third grade a large number of funds were probably used. If there were two-hundred-thousand crystals left, he''d be happy.


    Yet when he looked at the crystal holder one of his eyes rose in surprise, there were nearly five-hundred thousand magic crystals within the crystal holder, eighty-thousand more than when he left.


    "How come our funds increased instead of decreasing?" Villin questioned, looking at the surprising number.


    Once more Kayley spoke up, she seemed to be in charge of the finances, "There were a number of small things giving us money but I''ll leave those aside for now. The first big thing is the share you have in the Blue-Mythril mine. We still got the funds for that after you disappeared and even though we occasionally requested some Blue Mythril instead of crystals, it still paid for a lot of the expenses. But, the biggest things were gifts.


    "In the third grade, and especially in the school break after it, a very large number of guilds came to visit us. Many of them came bearing expensive gifts, wanting to get closer to us before we leave The Academy. We decided to transform the vast majority of those gifts into magic crystals, netting us a total of two-hundred thousand crystals. This is the cause of the increase of funds."


    Villin nodded at the satisfactory response, he would do an inventory check later to see how many stable assets they had as well.


    "Alright then, how are we looking on members?" he now asked, trying to get a feel of how the situation was.


    This time it was Rein that spoke up, "We became an extreme success in the third grade when the disappearance of The Runic Army and some of the smaller pill-making guilds became clear, many of their members gravitated towards us. That together with Amelia''s supreme reputation in the combat circles makes us quite well spread out across the areas we wanted to.


    "With us, in the fourth grade, we have about fifty members, there might be a few dozen people here who will wish to join as well so getting to seventy within a few days won''t be a problem."


    This time, Villin disagreed "No, we will not be taking on new members. Anyone who wishes to join will have to go through a strict exam showing their skill. We need to have a large number of hardworking students who can challenge each other, not weaklings who will slow everyone down and tempt them with their laziness."


    Hearing this, the three commanders were in deep thought for a second before Amelia spoke up, "What about the members that are already here then? Even though most of them are decent, a large number of them are normal students."


    Villin simply shrugged at this point, "That''s fine as long as we actually begin enforcing progression. Students shouldn''t be allowed to just laze around all day and expect to remain within the guild. Give the hard workers a bigger share of the items they create as well, that''ll be a decent incentive."


    Villin paused for a moment as he looked at the three people before him, "For now, let''s have a good look at the fourth grade and get a feel for what''s going on. We''ll have some of our people create the enchantments on the tower and I''ll reinforce it with transfiguration." He then looked at Rein as he commanded, "Create a basic blueprint for the tower and get the students to work on them, it has to be nice and sturdy, also make sure it can hold magic power, I''ll be enforcing it with reverto, that should keep attackers at bay."


    After this he looked over at Amelia, "We need to find out what guilds are for and against us. Even though a large number of guilds want to become friendly with us now, the disappearance of ''The Runic Army'' has created a power vacuum and not everyone will be alright with having us take it. There may also be students here who will try to take us down without authorization from their superiors outside of The Academy."


    Finally, he looked over at Kayley, "We''ll be getting a massive number of guests the following week, if you could take care of that, that''d be great. And as for myself, since I have some decent temporary transportation, I''ll be exploring the surroundings for the following week. After that, I''ll come to fix any enchantments on the tower that are inadequate and create a magic array to help with defending this place."


    With those words, the meeting was adjourned and Amelia and Rein left. Kayley stayed behind though and turned to Villin. When he looked at her questioningly, she took a book out of her bag and handed it to him.


    Somewhat curious, Villin grabbed the book and opened it, finding a bunch of scribbles. Villin flipped through a few more pages and continued seeing the chaotic lines filled with arrows, formulas, and references. After a few minutes, he knew what it was.


    He looked at page after page finding it was completely written in until page five-hundred.


    "It''s your welcome back present," Kayley said with a kind smile as she saw Villin''s face turn from confusion to surprise to eagerness.


    The book had all of the data she had gathered on the web on the previous year. It was a stunning amount of research.


    After seeing Villin seemed happy with the gifts, she took out a bunch of wooden spell blueprints and put it down next to him, "Most of these spells are rather basic but their data is used in the research I gave you, they give a great understanding of some of the nodes involved."


    Hearing her words, Villin nodded, and soon, she left the room as well.


    Villin wasn''t quite happy, but he still felt eager to go through all of this and increase his understanding of the web.


    Just like this, he prepared to go out again, sadly he currently didn''t have a spatial bag, even though he found it likely there would be a spatial bag included in the items he would get from the research facility. Or at least something valuable enough to trade for one with The Academy.


    He didn''t know when he would get those resources though, so he simply wanted to move out now. Having the main base in A1 simply wasn''t right. The further out a base was the harder it was to attack, this much was clear. It would also be a show of position and every guild member would, at the very least, want to make it to the proper base, putting a lot of effort into improving to that point.


    It was because of this that Villin intended to go as far as he could and put the foundtions of a base there. Before this though, he checked out some of the storage spaces in the tower. They really had a bunch of stuff, a mass of materials used for pill-making and over a dozen sets of enchanted Blue Mythril armor.


    He took one set and donned it, leaving behind the boots. Then he silently made his way out. As he moved so casually, none of the guild members even paid any attention to him. To Villin this was a security concern as he might as well have been a saboteur but he dropped it for now. This place wasn''t exactly suitable for defending as visitors would probably come all the time and once a magus is inside of a building there could always be sneaky ways for them to cast a spell or two for surveillance.


    Once he was outside though, he couldn''t escape sight. There was a line of people outside of the tower waiting for someone to invite them in to talk. Since they had their eyes stuck on the door, they naturally saw Villin leave.


    A few of the representatives immediately recognized him but before they could surround Villin and ask him a bunch of questions, the ground underneath his feet suddenly disappeared.


    The representatives were extremely surprised when they suddenly saw Villin drop through the ground as the hole closed up above him but they quickly figured out it should''ve been transfiguration.


    Since one of their side goals was to find out the strength of the core members, this did give them some valuable information. Knowing that the guild leader seemed good at transfiguration was already of quite a bit of importance. His use of the art was useful as well.


    Villin didn''t care if these people knew such a simple thing though. He used transfiguration and began walking underground, he had to walk rather slowly as he constantly had to move the earth in front of him but he soon found himself behind another building, letting him exit the ground and quickly make his way out of A1, back into the wilderness.

 Chapter 175: The Hunters In The Forest

    For the time being, Villin decided to go diagonally. He quickly got to the ice wolf that he had called ''Fang'' for the time being and they were soon on their way.


    Villin had to admit that riding on Fang was rather fun. He expected it to be extremely hard and painful, but he had been pleasantly surprised. The ice wolf didn''t move much vertically even when moving through the forest.


    There were only two real negatives with riding the beast. The first was that he wasn''t touching the ground with his feet, he felt a lot more comfortable when his feet were touching stone or dirt, it helped him feel at ease knowing he could easily change the environment.


    The second negative was that concentrating was harder. Casting spells while riding the wolf was quite difficult, Villin used the time they were moving wisely though, and continuously practiced casting and aiming spells while riding. To make things easier he also transfigured a lightweight saddle that would help him a little in keeping stable when his hands were up.


    Since there was a mission board at D4 and the ice wolf seemed somewhat tired, Villin decided to make camp there. He could''ve of course slept in the tower of ''Athena''s Forge'' before moving, but he decided that getting used to setting up and sleeping in the wilderness was a positive thing.


    Since everyone that came here would most probably head to the middle of the tile to check on the missions or teleport away, Villin decided to set up camp on the edge of the tile.


    He used a basic ''Wind Blade'' spell to gather some wood and transfigured himself a small hut. Getting food was easier than expected as well since even though these mission tiles didn''t hold any creatures that would attack humans it still had a bunch of edible animals such as rabbits and skunks.


    After cooking up some food for himself and giving fang a couple of rabbits to eat as well, Villin closed himself into the stone hut using transfiguration and cast ''Drowse'' on himself, going to sleep.


    He was later woken up by a sound.


    ------------


    "Hey! Max! I found something!"


    When Max heard this, he mentally sighed, but he kept a confident smile on his face as he looked at the boy that was coming his way.


    Max led this branch of ''The Shielding Lions''. This was a small branch over in D4 where the new recruits would be sent to. If they did well they would get sent to the main branch further into the forest.


    Here, Max would be responsible for creating discipline, after all, ''The Shielding Lions'' was a military guild, they were fighters.


    The boy that approached him was one of the scouts that was supposed to patrol the border, making sure no attacking force would come close to them.


    "What did you find Felix?" Max asked, acting professionally.


    "There''s an Ice Wolf near the border! It seems very strong! I think it must''ve followed somebody into the area!"


    Hearing what Felix said, Max became more serious.


    Even though a lot of the information he got from these new recruits was useless, he knew the importance of listening to his subordinates. Something like seeing an ice wolf was unlikely to be a trick on the eyes. At worst it would just be a normal wolf, even though this wasn''t a big threat, it was still sufficient for him to go out and have a look in case there''s a pack of them.


    Soon after, Max gathered a group of five and followed Felix to the place he saw the ice wolf.


    Looking around, they didn''t see anything yet, but Max still decided to investigate properly. Thanks to that, they found a track and so they began following it.


    -------------------------------------------


    "There it is! And you''re right, it does seem to be an ice wolf! If we can kill it without damaging its pelt too much, we''ll be able to make a pretty penny from this!"


    It was to these words that Villin woke up. A group of people had snuck up, they seemed to be using Villin''s artificial hut as cover, they hadn''t seen the airholes and simply assumed it was an oddly shaped hill, possibly created by a student long ago.


    When Villin realized they were going to try and kill Fang, he felt cold. As long as the beast was his mount, he wasn''t letting anyone kill it.


    Villin listened attentively as the magi discussed their plan. It was pretty simple really, one of the boys in the group would act as bait, it would move up and when the ice wolf noticed it and chased him, he would run back here. The other students would be waiting behind the wall and use their strongest spells on the beast, they decided to use those that didn''t cut but smash instead, this way they could keep the pelt intact.


    If things went properly, the beast would be killed right there, but it wouldn''t be surprising if they had to send another volley of spells at it.


    Villin was about to make his move and take these students out when Ashera spoke up, ''Wait, don''t attack them. Just as a mount can revolt quicker if you do things that go against their instincts, you can also increase the time by doing things it appreciates. If you just take these students out now, nothing will change. But, if you save Fang just as he would be getting killed, he would be extremely grateful to you."


    Hearing the Kitsune''s words, Villin was rather surprised. He never thought of her as a schemer, then again, it wasn''t like they talked all that often either.


    The one thing he had noticed though was that when she said something, she was generally correct.


    And so, Villin obviously decided to follow her advice. Underground tendrils of magic power seeped into the ground creating magic tunnels, then it slowly began expanding, letting him ''see'' what was going on around him without making any big movements.


    From what he heard thus far, this group shouldn''t be all that powerful having to resort to a sneak attack to take care of an ice wolf.


    If it was a single person or maybe two, Villin wouldn''t have thought this, but the difference between them and a team was massive. Teams could have different people focus on different things. These five could have two people focusing on keeping the ice wolf back, then another one would focus on defending against any potential ranged or magical attacks while the final two could focus on doing damage. If it turned away and tried to run the roles of the two that were supposed to keep the wolf back would reverse.


    It was like that that a normal team would defeat a basic magical beast such as the ice wolf.


    Since they didn''t Villin knew he had multiple ways he could fight against the group. He even had a decent bit of confidence he could defeat these five by himself. If he couldn''t he should still be able to protect himself and run away with Fang.


    With this in mind, Villin waited as a group of people was talking just a thin wall away from him.


    After a few more minutes had passed they finally made their move. Felix walked away from the cover and walked a few meters closer to the ice wolf. He was sweating seriously, ready to turn around and bail at any moment, but the beast hadn''t woken up yet.


    Felix nervously thought of what to do as he didn''t want to get closer, after a bit he raised his wand and cast a spell toward the beast. As soon as he began casting the spell and magic power was gathered, Fang woke up and looked around.


    His gaze was met with a red streak that was heading for his face but he narrowly managed to avoid it. Then he turned toward his attacker and growled.


    Felix, upon seeing the beast''s furious gaze, immediately turned around and began running back towards the fake hill.


    The wolf was right behind him as they had planned and chased him quickly, it was faster than they had expected and so it almost reached Felix, he only barely made it to the ambush location before he got eaten up.


    When Fang reached the ambush location, it could feel something was wrong, it immediately took in the situation and noticed five spells coming at him from the side. But it was too late, he was mid-sprint and wouldn''t be able to turn in time, at most he could dodge one of the spells.


    If the beast could curse, it would as it could only look at the spells as they closed in on him. Yet, just when the situation seemed hopeless, a stone wall rose out of the ground, protecting its flank, then a hole appeared in the ground and a single man came out of it.


    "BOOOM!!!" the thin stone wall was blown to bits as soon as the spells reached it and shrapnel shot out. Even though some of the shrapnel still hit the ice wolf, it knew how lucky it was that the spells themselves hadn''t, the small cuts he had wasn''t anything in comparison.


    As for Villin, he used ''Obiectus Prohibere'' to stop the stone from reaching him, when the dust cloud finally settled, the six opponents could tell what was going on.


    In front of the ice wolf, stood a single man. He had armor that seemed to be made out of rocks and a stone mask on his face that depicted the visage of a fox.


    All they could see of their opponents were his clear eyes that seemed to be staring straight into their souls.

 Chapter 176: Leaving The Opponents Behind

    This would mark the first appearance of the fox spirit.


    Villin, who was behind the transfiguration mask, was looking at his opponents as they were looking at him. He could feel Fang''s amazed gaze set upon him as the beast fully expected to be hit by the spells.


    After both parties looked at each other for a couple of seconds, Villin raised his hand. The ground to the right of the students shifted slightly, attracting the attention of the students as they were trying to figure out what kind of attack would be sent towards them.


    Yet, as they were looking to the right, vines rose from the ground to the left of them. Since the students were looking at either Villin or the shifting ground to their right, they only noticed the vines when they had grown high into the sky.


    And then, the fight began.


    Multiple students quickly shot spells towards Villin to try and stop his casting, but every time a streak of light approached him, the earth itself rose up to protect him, all that got to him were some stone splinters that didn''t do all that damage.


    The six students had a lot more difficulty defending themselves.


    Twelve thick long vines had risen out of the ground already, if each student had to work against two that''d be doable but the problem was that the vines would suddenly, randomly team up together to get a certain student out of the fight.


    They didn''t try to entangle anybody, instead, they smashed them on the heads, before they knew it three of them were already knocked out.


    From a distance, Villin smiled. He had really only used a couple of spells in this fight. Derivative versions of ''Vinea Tenura'' was the brunt of it mixed up with some ''Obiectus Prohibere'' occasionally. He hadn''t even felt the need to cast ''Reverto'' as his transfiguration was more than enough to defend himself against this unorganized bunch.


    Villin felt it was somewhat sad, he expected the people here to have at least some combat experience but looking at this group, it didn''t seem very promising.


    Even now, the remaining three hadn''t picked a target to focus on as they just mindlessly fired spells at whatever vine got closest to them, occasionally sending a spell Villin''s way as well.


    If he were in the group, he would either have everyone focus on certain specific vines to lessen the combat power they have or altogether attack the caster.


    There was only one somewhat capable fighter in the group, Villin had noticed. He used laceration spells to deal with the vines and smashing ones when firing at Villin. His main redeeming quality was that he was quick on his feet. If a vine came for him, he wouldn''t just cast spells at it, he''d physically dodge instead.


    Still, it was too much for him. Villin noticed he was constantly keeping an eye on his fellow fighters, helping them out when necessary, he didn''t seem all that focused on his complete surroundings.


    If Villin were to cast a couple of spells right now, they wouldn''t even see them coming.


    He decided to keep it simple though and simply pointed towards the earth beneath the students'' feet.


    Since they were too focused on the fight with the vines, nobody sensed the magic power, and everyone soon found themselves stuck in quicksand.


    Seeing what had happened, Max raised his hands and dropped his wand, the two remaining people under him did the same seeing as how he had surrendered.


    He didn''t resist as a vine entangled him and dragged him out of the quicksand, soon, the three ''survivors'' were lined up next to each other, unable to move.


    Even though the vines were quite tight and it hurt a fair bit, Max didn''t complain, he had been here for a year already and he knew that this place had nearly no rules. There was a student in the previous year who got tortured for hours by a masked assailant.


    Seeing as how their own assailant was also masked, this didn''t bode well for them.


    Yet before anything, Villin turned to Fang, the beast seemed confused at first, but then licked Villin a couple of times as he wagged his tail.


    Satisfied, Villin now walked over to the three captives that hadn''t been knocked out. He focused on Max specifically as, in a proper team, the boy would''ve done a lot better.


    Max restrained the fear that he felt was about to show on his face, and looked at Villin straight on. A moment later, a voice entered his mind, "Well hello there. Now, who may you be and why did you attack my dear Fang?"


    Max felt terrified, he had never heard of ''Mentallage'' and so he had no idea how this person could speak into his mind. He focused himself, deciding to think about all of this later, and decided to quickly answer.


    "This- I am Max, I lead a small branch of ''The Shielding Lions''. I got a report that there was an Ice Wolf near our base and so we set out to get rid of it. We had no idea it was somebody''s mount, please excuse our obliviousness."


    As soon as he got to speak, Max used this time to try and make a good impression on this unknown person. He could see the other two conscious members of the guild looking at him in confusion since they couldn''t hear the masked man speaking in their minds but he didn''t bother with them right now.


    Villin thought about what to do for a couple of moments before deciding on something.


    "I''ll just take what you guys have."


    With this, the vines around each of their necks tightened as they all started struggling at the same time, a little bit later, they had all fainted.


    Villin grabbed their wands and crystal holders leaving the rest, he couldn''t take much since he didn''t have a spatial bag but a few thousand magic crystals still made it worth it. The loss of these crystals would probably hurt the development of this small branch quite severely but Villin didn''t feel bad about taking them. He had won them, after all.


    Looking at the sleeping beauties with red marks on their necks, Villin figured that just leaving them there should be fine as this is a tile safe from predators. But the very fact that this could also happen at a different time had him somewhat worried. If someone got beaten down and knocked out in an unsafe tile, and they were just left behind. There would be a decent chance that a beast would come to eat them before they would wake up and since the person that knocked them out didn''t kill them, they wouldn''t get in trouble.


    It was a scary thought but Villin didn''t think of it too much. Even if you could, there probably weren''t so many heartless people around. After all, the students here are all around twenty and they probably hadn''t been in many life-threatening situations. Then again, if you''ve been in this place for a couple of years, that probably changes.


    Leaving these thoughts to be, Villin and Fang left the tile soon after. When Villin asked Ashera how long Fang would be under their control now, she made it clear that she didn''t know. She could figure it out by invading the beast''s mind but that could have severe consequences to it.


    When moving now, Villin decided to go slower compared to previously. Fang only sprinted when it seemed necessary to circumvent a certain creature.


    Since it was looking like Fang would be around for a month-or-so, Villin decided not to overwork him. It would be a shame if he died because Fang collapsed when they were escaping from a certain dangerous creature.


    Just like that, they reached F6, just a single tile away from where he found Fang. It was now that things might get a bit more complicated as they may find creatures faster and stronger than Fang, but, they were also reaching the limits of the map Villin had, he wouldn''t know where the teleportation points or ''forbidden tiles'' were.


    It was the latter that he was especially hesitant about. He was confident he could take on the creatures in this area, but there would be a problem if there was a sudden difficulty spike. The forbidden tiles had either a toxic environment, this could easily be seen and Villin should be able to leave it quickly, a much stronger creature compared to normal, these would be very dangerous as the fight may be very dangerous, but there would be just as much chance that he would never encounter it. But it could also mean there was a massive pack of creatures there, that would be a problem, they would be able to attack in the dozens, leaving him and Fang helpless.


    After some thought, Villin figured he could always create a hole in the ground for him and Fang to hide in and hope the opponents can''t dig.

 Chapter 177: The Nest

    For the following while, combat became more common. Since he was riding on Fang without really trying to hide, Villin had to fight twice in I9, luckily, J10 was a safe zone though, giving them plenty of time to rest.


    During this time, Villin actually found himself growing a bit closer to Fang. Ever since he helped Fang fight against the six humans that ambushed it, the wolf had begun looking at Villin differently. In the last fights, Villin had also shown his strength while Fang mostly stayed back. At this point, Fang was beginning to see Villin as the alpha.


    Villin could feel this change and was rather happy with it. He had to admit that he was surprised by himself while fighting. He didn''t think he would''ve improved a lot in the last year but he was somehow proving himself wrong.


    His control over magic had grown by a lot. Villin guessed that the cause of this was the handcuffs that took away his magic power. He was forced to deal with barely having any magic power quite often. He would try to transfigure and enchant when he barely had enough magic power, it seemed that this helped him in his magic control.


    His mind was also a lot calmer. He could think clearly in fights. Then, lastly, his body had gone through an entire transformation. His lungs and heart were more powerful, his endurance had gone up with leaps and bounds, his strength had risen, and his skin had toughened somewhat.


    Even though this final point rarely came into play, it was nice that thorns wouldn''t generally penetrate his skin, it was a defense against nature if anything.


    At some point, without a map, something was bound to happen though. And it did when he arrived at K11.


    Since he had just rested up at the previous tile, Villin wasn''t too fearful, he even intended to fight a couple of creatures to train his battle sense.


    It didn''t take long before he figured out something was off though. They had gone a quarter into the tile and Villin still hadn''t noticed a single non-insect.


    Not seeing a magical beast would be fine, it wouldn''t be a rarity. But they hadn''t seen any prey either, thus far there had been no rabbits, deer, or anything of the like.


    The only creatures he saw were insects and birds.


    Still, Villin kept going, it could very well be that, in this tile, beasts had been hunted until they were near-extinct. That would mean there should be a guild''s base here. It was also possible there was a teleportation array here, but that seemed unlikely since he just came from one.


    Just a measly ten minutes after Villin thought of this, he finally found his first predator.


    Just a dozen meters before him, walking along the forest, Villin spotted a giant ant. It was two meters long and a meter high. Its mandibles seemed huge but Villin wasn''t too fearful of it, he was simply content that he finally found an animal.


    Before the ant even spotted an enemy, it felt the ground beneath it grow soft as its feet seeped into the ground. It let out a high-pitched screech as it tried to get out, but before it even realized what was happening, a ball of fire hit it in its behind.


    It screeched again but when two more icy pikes penetrated deeply into its body, it fell silent as it died.


    Villin frowned slightly as he killed the beast, he hadn''t eaten ant before but figured he could give it a shot. He used a couple of basic cutting spells to cut the meat loose from the carapace before cooking it.


    He also decided to keep the carapace, he didn''t have to carry it since he could stack it on fang where it would also work a bit as armor.


    The carapace was extremely tough and Villin realized that fighting one of these giant ants up close wouldn''t be so easy.


    Since there were so few animals around, Villin didn''t waste much time and simply made a fire where they were. Once Villin deemed it cooked, he took a first bite of the ant, only to be completely stunned silent.


    Even without any spices whatsoever, this ant meat was some of the best food he had ever eaten. The food was tender and sweet, it was extremely delicious.


    There was no doubt that meat like this would be extremely valuable, that being said it was also hard to get, it would probably be hard to find another one of these giant ants.


    As Villin thought this, he felt something off about the ground. Confused he had his magic power enter the ground and spread out slowly. There was this faint tremble that was hard to distinguish.


    For a few minutes, he sat there, expanding his magic tunnels. Then, his face went pale.


    There was a tunnel a dozen meters below him, and there hundreds of creatures moving in this tunnel, heading straight towards him.


    "F*CK!"


    Villin cursed as he jumped onto Fang''s back, having the wolf sprint immediately. At this point, the shaking became more obvious and even Fang could feel it, causing him to get somewhat agitated.


    They had gotten away from the fire just in time it seemed as just a few seconds later, the ground around that area was completely turned around as dozens of giant ants burrowed out of the ground.


    A few of them noticed the bit of cooked ant meat Villin had left behind and screeched, causing all the other ants to become agitated.


    Fang had taken off in a sprint and seemed like he was going to leave the ants behind but Villin wasn''t at ease. He could feel hundreds of them moving underground earlier and there were likely ants all over the tile. He also knew that Fang wouldn''t be able to sprint all the way until they got out of the tile, so the ants could probably catch up.


    As for digging a hole underground to hide, that would simply be courting death when you were faced with creatures so used to digging.


    While he was riding, Villin thought back to the various books on monsters he had read. Even though the giant ant wasn''t described in any of them there were a couple of similar creatures out there.


    As far as Villin knew, they transported magic into their antennae, this would spread the magic out allowing the creatures to see in a radius around them. And they should also be able to see using eyes, but as far as Villin knew, their vision should be rather poor.


    Overall, it seemed pretty obvious that cutting off the antennae would be the easiest way to incapacitate these creatures. At least, this way they will have more difficulty observing their surroundings and fighting.


    The biggest problem was the sheer number of creatures there were. Even now the ground was still shaking as new tunnels were being constantly made while some old ones collapsed.


    Villin felt that Fang was beginning to breathe more heavily, he had to make a decision fast. He recalled the ants finding them, it seemed that the scream of the ant he killed was what attracted them. And then it was also possible for them to leave behind certain smells that can be tracked as Villin recalled from earth''s ants.


    Overall, as far as he knew, the ants shouldn''t have an easy way to track him as long as they didn''t properly use their numbers to spread out in a search net.


    With this in mind, Villin made a sudden, possibly foolish decision. He made a ninety-degree turn, moving away from the closest exit, which was where they had come from.


    If these creatures had any decent intelligence, they would most likely protect that side the best since it''s the closest and they had seen him move in that direction.


    Because of their size and numbers, Villin figured they should have at least some intelligent creatures amongst their ranks, now it was a game of luck more than anything else.


    If they found him too soon, the entire nest would move towards him again and he would have to change plans. If the ants grouped up in certain places, it was possible that Villin would be able to circumvent them.


    With this in mind, Villin dismounted from Fang. The wolf was already getting tired and it was best to only use him when it was absolutely needed from this point on. It would be easier to sneak when he had to carry less weight and they could both stay close to the ground.


    Villin would also be able to transfigure easier on the ground and he would be able to tell when an ant is approaching from underground. When it came to large groups of ants, it would be obvious but if there were just a couple, a regular person wouldn''t be able to notice the shaking within the ground, even Villin would have difficulty doing so without having his magic power constantly seep into the ground.


    Still, they had a long road ahead of them.

 Chapter 178: The Ants’ Strength

    "Damnit, not here either." Villin lamented as he looked at the clearing in front of him.


    He could see ants standing in a long line, every ant having about five meters in between.


    It had nearly been a full day since Villin entered the tile and he still hadn''t managed to escape.


    The ants were more organized and patient than he had expected, they seemed to be covering the entire outer ring of the tile, not letting anything slip by. At the very least, Villin had learned that destroying an ant''s antennae did have a great effect. On this last day, he had been forced to kill seven ants when they approached him too closely, every time he was chased by hundreds of ants soon after while they still kept control of the outer section of the tile.


    Villin was tired, as was Fang. Even though he hadn''t been carrying Villin, neither of them had slept in the last day.


    "It looks like I have no choice," Villin said to Fang while sighing.


    He hadn''t wanted to use mental attacks to get out of the situation as he didn''t want to become reliant on them, but at this point, the risk was getting too high, he could no longer justify not using his mental power.


    Before leaving though, Villin wanted to test it out on a sole ant, just to make sure it worked properly and he had a basic idea of a giant ant''s mental space.


    Villin snuck around, narrowly passing by two groups of five giant ants before finding one moving on his own. He paused for a bit, making sure no other ants were close before focusing on the ant entirely. He created a bridge of magic power between himself and the giant ant.


    Even though the giant ant could feel the foreign magic power touching it, before it could make a move, Villin had already connected to its mind.


    Villin found himself on the edge of the ant''s mind, he noticed how dark it was here, he noticed a couple of memories floating around but there was almost nothing.


    This confused Villin somewhat as they were clearly capable of organizing themselves, so he penetrated the mind deeper. He didn''t really find anything whatsoever, that was, until he got to the very center.


    At the very center of the idiotic ant''s mind, there was a bridge, quite similar to the one Villin had created to enter the ant''s mind. But it was bigger, much bigger.


    This bridge created from magic power was rather suspicious, but Villin felt forced to check it out. Thus far he hadn''t seen any weakness, even if he destroyed the ant''s few memories, it was most likely that nothing would change.


    And so, Villin entered the mental bridge and he felt his consciousness moving towards the very center of the tile, deep, deep underground.


    When Villin''s consciousness arrived in this new mind, he hurriedly took in his surroundings, only to feel shocked.


    The mind he was in was ginormous, he was nothing but a tiny little point within this massive mind. It was like the mind of ten-thousand people combined. Or perhaps, the mind of millions of ants combined.


    Yet, despite how tiny he was, he was still detected. Foreign magic power moved all around him before taking form, become a massive ant with mandibles made from diamonds, wings of silk, and an unbreakable carapace.


    Villin also took his own form, but he only amounted to a fourth of one of the legs of the creature before him.


    "You killed my kin. Why?"


    A raspy voice entered Villin''s consciousness as he looked at the massive beast before him.


    Villin paused as he thought of what was going on. It seemed that all the individual ants were connected to the queen, she controlled each of their bodies to some extent. And now, the queen accused him of killing her kin, something he most certainly did.


    After thinking for a few moments, Villin responded, "I thought you all were just beasts, I didn''t realize you were a sentient species."


    Villin mentally bowed his head slightly. If the queen destroyed the magic power he was currently using, he would be seriously harmed, killing the ant when he got back to his body would be hard, leave alone escaping.


    Villin could almost hear the queen ant laugh before she spoke, "These morrons aren''t sentient. I am! But I control them, and you killed some of that which was mine, how will you repay me?"


    Hearing the queen''s hiss, Villin formed a plan in his head, it seemed that the queen didn''t actually care for her kin, she simply wanted to get benefits.


    "What is it that you are looking for?" Villin asked, no longer displaying weakness despite how he was right now.


    "Metals!" the queen ant immediately responded "I want metal to eat! Nearly all of the iron in the area has already been eaten, and even though we keep going deeper, the ground is also becoming harder to form. You give me metals, I forgive your crime!"


    To the ant''s confusion, Villin stood there with a wide smile on his face as he looked at her mental image leisurely. He believed he might''ve just found a way to profit immensely.


    "I agree to give you iron for those I have killed. But, if you allow me to ask, can you easily create more of these ants?"


    The queen scoffed as it tried to figure out the human''s angle, but she didn''t know how that species thought, this was the first one she could actually converse with.


    "When I am fed I can easily create hundreds of them, why?"


    Hearing her response again, Villin''s smile got even wider, "Hearing your earlier words, you must not value them each all too much. How about this, I will pay you for those I killed. And then later, I will trade you more iron and in return, you will let me kill some more ants and take their bodies. How does that sound."


    This request was entirely based on the belief that she didn''t care for her offspring, but Villin had a suspicion she didn''t since she called them morrons before, and she was the only sentient one.


    A multitude of cracks came from the queen ant as she thought before finally responding. "Very well, you give me iron ore the size of an ant and you get an ant in return!"


    Hearing this, Villin smiled, "That''s a deal."


    And just like that, he was kicked out of the queen ant''s mind as he was sent back into his body.


    The queen ant thought she was scamming the human in all honesty, she only needed half of the iron she asked for to create an ant, this meant she would be able to create two for everyone one the human bought.


    As for Villin, he was grinning stupidly when he noticed the ant whose mind he had invaded was looking at him without attacking. Even though these ants were large iron ore their size wouldn''t cost all that much. The carapace and meat of the ants would cost a fortune on the other hand.


    When Villin approached the border, he found the ants had burrowed their way back underground. Ants weren''t as scheming as humans so the queen ant had never even considered that Villin wouldn''t come back to pay for the ants that he killed.


    Arriving at K12 without a hitch, Villin was smiling dumbly as he thought about the deal he had made. Trading with sentient magical beasts may be something he had to look into more, after all, he would be able to converse with them more easily, as long as they were sentient, that was.


    Villin could feel that Ashera felt somewhat fearful when Villin thought about making more trades with sentient magical beats, but he wasn''t sure why and since she didn''t say anything, he opted to ignore it.


    Now that he made it to K12 though, Villin knew that this was the place he wanted to settle. The strength of the creatures around was high and it was close to the giant ants. Perhaps he would even be able to make a deal with the queen ant and have the people of his guild go there and fight giant ants without actually being in danger.


    Of course, he would never tell his people that he made a deal with the ants to help them get combat experience. But they would believe they were bringing back valuable resources and they were working towards getting rid of the ants and making the tile safe again.


    If anything, Villin was shocked at The Academy''s selflessness. This massive forest must be full of opportunities like this but The Academy even let students who weren''t completely loyal come here. Then again, it was the ideal tool to increase the loyalty of the students. And most of them would end up working in a guild that mainly worked for The Academy.


    While thinking of this, Villin began transfiguring the ground. He was planning to create his tower right here, to get the basics done it would take at least a week, then he would bring some people over to help.

 Chapter 179: Requirements for a Core Member

    "This is beginning to look like something!"


    Villin nodded contently as he looked at the building before him. Currently, it was three floors high and each floor was even wider than those of the tower in A1.


    Villin paused here because he wanted to increase stability and durability. To do this properly he would have to enchant the entire thing. He didn''t plan to do this work all by himself, Rein and the other enchanters would be able to do the vast majority of it while he only had to focus on the connections between enchantments.


    There was one Special feature he managed to integrate into this tower though. Since he created it by himself using transfiguration, he felt more connected to the building. He ended up creating some small arrays at various core points of the tower.


    He sent over his magic power as tiny strings connected to these arrays and they each lit up.


    Then, the tower began to sink. The ground around him shook slightly as the large tower moved lower and lower, until it finally submerged into the ground completely.


    Looking at it, it seemed rather obvious a large circular object had been there but a minute or two of transfiguration could fix that up quickly.


    Villin nodded contently when he was done. Even though ideally he would have some trees where it had submerged, it was now extremely, extremely unlikely that anybody would figure out that there was an underground building there.


    Now Villin had another decision to make, who would be allowed to enter the tower. After thinking for a bit, Villin came to a decision.


    The tower at A1 was already extremely good. It was large, decently well-protected, and had everything the members would need to craft whatever they could.


    More than anything, this new tower should be a sign of status and strength.


    No, joining this tower should be proof you are a true member of Athena''s Forge. That you have accepted the values and taken up the required skills.


    With little to no hesitation, Villin decided to make the requirements to get in extremely high.


    Firstly there was the crafting side of the guild. Of this members had to be extremely good at either runology or pill-making, reaching the top three in a runic- or pill-exchange was a good requirement.


    Then there was knowledge. In order to join this ''core'' tower, you would have to supply five useful derivatory spells to the guild. Either that or one useful new spell.


    After this came combat. When it came to combat, Villin wasn''t sure how he wanted to lead the guild. But after a while, he made a decision.


    In this kind of place you couldn''t be weak, you also had to take from your competitors to stay ahead, this had been proven many times by the various schools on this continent. Schools that wanted to be peaceful rarely existed for more than a hundred years.


    And so, the combat requirement would be that you would have to take the treasures of a different guild by yourself, without backup.


    They would be allowed to choose what guild they would attack, or which branch of this guild. But there were two big requirements Villin set up.


    Firstly, you had to let one of the upper echelons of the guild know about your plan beforehand, so you couldn''t take credit from someone else. You also had to remain anonymous during the raid, you couldn''t disclose your plan to anyone, and you couldn''t let anyone see your face during the attack.


    As for how you attacked, be it sneaky or head-on, this would be your own choice.


    No matter what, this requirement would cause chaos in the fourth/fifth grade. At first, people would surely blame Athena''s Forge if someone got robbed or attacked sneakily. But after a few raids, other guilds would use that reputation and also attack sneakily, blaming things on Athena''s Forge.


    The smart ones wouldn''t always believe this and constantly be unsure of who was responsible for certain attacks.


    And if chaos created one thing, it was opportunity. The armor created from the giant ants'' shells would sell more quickly than it could be acquired. Their guild would most likely constantly get commissioned for all sorts of jobs from defending a certain guild''s base to attacking a certain opposing guild.


    The discontent around Athena''s Forge would flow away like water once the guilds that got through the chaos realized they were much more powerful than before.


    And then, to become a core member of the guild, there would be one more requirement. One that requires the knowledge of an art not previously associated with the guild.


    You would have to use transfiguration and enchanting in tandem to create a golem that would defend the base over at A1. If you were a pill-maker you would be allowed to ask an enchanter within the guild for help.


    Villin was able to create puppets without using transfiguration at all but he knew that required the mindset of a runemaster. It was different when it came to this though.


    When he was stuck in a cell for a year protected by golems, he didn''t sit still. He inspected the statues and figured out how they were made to a large extent.


    He was confident that the top members of the guild should be able to learn how to create this in a while. First, they would need to learn how to transfigure properly and all that but, as far as he knew, the transfiguration glass isn''t that far away from A1, anybody that wanted to learn it shouldn''t have a problem doing so.


    And well, it would take a long time to clear the other requirements as well. Taking down a branch of a guild all by yourself would be extremely hard. The runic and pill exchanges only happened occasionally as well. Creating five good derivatory spells would also be a very difficult feat.


    As he set up the plan, Villin nodded contently. Those that came here would be some of the best students around. Over time, Villin truly started to believe that to master magic you had to be a runemaster, you had to be a master tranfigurator and you had to be a genius spell-creator.


    As for being a master fighter, (or schemer), this was an absolute must to even survive in this world.


    After finalizing these plans of his, Villin created a hole in the ground and entered his newly-made tower.


    It looked extremely, extremely barebones it wasn''t enchanted or furnished at all. Yet, Villin really thought that this place would be legendary. It would be the starting point for those that would become legends.


    With that thought in mind, he began drawing a complicating magic array on the ground. Two days later, he finished.


    The magic array looked very complicated. It was a teleportation array meant to transport people between two points. It used the same theories the arrays near the mission boards used. You could only use it if your magic power has entered both sides of the array.


    For now, though, Villin would have to go back to A1 on Fang. He had to create a magic array bound to this one over at the tower they had in the central hub.


    The trip back wasn''t too much trouble. Villin couldn''t use any of the teleportation arrays near mission boards since he didn''t have magic crystals on him to power the devices, so he simply continued to ride on Fang.


    Unsurprisingly, things hadn''t changed much when he returned. New students were still getting settled in and some of them had begun exploring nearby tiles, there were also a few that began taking the required classes in A1 to get it over with.


    When Villin got to the tower, he was surprised to sense the magic power radiating from it. About a dozen students were suspended down the walls using ropes as they were enchanting the structure according to Rein''s instructions.


    Villin also noticed that at least two pairs of eyes were looking at him as he approached the tower, they seemed to be setting up very quickly which was good to see. Defenses also seemed rather decent even though he didn''t try to sneak up at all this time around.


    When he approached the doors he was recognized and someone rushed to open them. Villin had to admit he rather enjoyed the perks that came with leading the guild.


    All over the tower, people were working hard. Pills were being made, walls enchanted, basic decorations placed.


    All-in-all they seemed to be quite busy as barely anyone actually paid a lot of attention to Villin after entering.


    Soon after, Villin sat in the conference room again, together with Rein, Amelia, and Kayley. Then, he began talking.


    First, he drew out the tiles he had explored, writing down notes on each of the tiles he passed explaining the strength of the creatures inside, the type of beasts there were, and what kind of resources could be found there.


    Then finally, he got to K11, the locations of the ants.


    "K11 is a mixed bag. It is a forbidden zone inhabited solely by birds, bugs, and giant ants. The giant ants have good coordination and their carapace is near-indestructible. I managed to kill a few, their meat is the best I have ever eaten even with my poor cooking skills, and if we find a way to form the shells we get from these ants we will be able to create some of the best armor in the grades. I haven''t properly tested their magical defense, but physically they are even tougher than Blue Mythril.


    "I have created a new, small tower over at K12. It will only be available to our absolute elite as they will have to fight the extremely dangerous giant ants." Villin said seriously.


    He chose to omit the deal he had made with the queen ant. He wanted to use the ants to train all the elites, this included his ''generals'', if they knew about the agreement the pressure of death would dissipate.

 Chapter 180: The Speech

    After explaining the situation with the ants, Villin asked them to gather the entire guild as he had an announcement to make. Soon after, everyone had gathered on the ground floor, it was rather packed like this, but that wasn''t a problem since everyone had a short break from work currently.


    After seeing everyone that was available had gathered, Villin used transfiguration to raise himself above the others, making him visible to everyone in the guild.


    Even though it quickly became quiet when he became visible, he didn''t say a thing for the longest time.


    He looked at the people before him, taking in each of their faces, after he had looked at everyone in the eyes, he finally spoke.


    "Hello, members of Athena''s Forge. I know most of you don''t truly know me, and that is unlikely to change soon. When I created this guild two years ago, I had one goal in mind. I wanted to create a guild that innovates magic everywhere. Create bigger, better, magic.


    "Now, I see that this dream is becoming more and more of a reality. Some of the people here are fully capable of creating complex enchantments on the tiniest of objects. Some of you here are capable of taking on half a dozen fourth graders all by yourself. Some of you here have managed to create your own derivative spells, enhancing magic in the truest way.


    "I know all of you must be proud, incredibly proud to have reached these heights. But if you will, allow me to tell you all one thing.


    "It is NOT enough.


    "Your great enchanting skills won''t save you when you are faced by a dozen opponents all by yourself.


    "Your combat prowess won''t be of use when you are forced to survive in a frozen tundra.


    "Your knowledge of magic won''t help you in surviving an ambush.


    "Let me repeat. It is NOT enough.


    "You must master all of these skills and more. Earlier today, I created the skeleton of our core tower. In order to enter some extremely tough requirements will have to be met. Requirements none of those here have met quite yet.


    "If you complete the requirements that shall be posted on the wall, I will teach you the most important, most underused branch of magic myself. You will be able to fight for true riches and follow me and my three dearest companions to explore the limits of magic.


    "Survive, Explore, Improve. Do these things and you will reach unseen heights."


    After giving this long speech, Villin lowered himself to the ground again. The entire tower had grown deathly silent, all that could be heard were Villin''s footsteps as he walked back upstairs.


    "Why do I feel so inspired despite having been told off?" the member that recovered the earliest asked, bringing the others out of their stupor.


    Amelia, Rein, and Kayley reacted no different compared to the other members, and soon everyone began speaking again.


    Nearly everyone had conflicted feelings about the speech just now, unsure of what to think about it. Soon after this, this changed into curiosity as everyone wondered what requirements Villin would put to become a core member.


    Most expected that you would have to become slightly skilled at each of the professions he mentioned, reaching the level of a second grader in all seemed somewhat likely while some thought Villin would go even more extreme and put requirements equivalent to becoming as good as a third grader at each of them.


    Around ten minutes later, when everyone was still gathered, lines of text began appearing on the wall. Villin used transfiguration to make these imprints. And the four requirements appeared, once everyone read it, they once more felt shocked.


    Taking most of the treasure from a certain guild''s branch all by yourself? That was an insane request! Creating five useful derivative spells? How long would that even take? Reaching the top three in either a runic or pill exchange? There were literally only three people that could do each every three months. And then transfiguring a puppet with limited intelligence? There was only one person in the guild, other than Villin, that knew transfiguration, and she didn''t even know that was possible!


    Because of the ludicrous requirements, there were two distinct reactions in the guild''s members. On one hand, there were those somewhat angry that Villin seemed to be wanted to keep the core tower only to himself and maybe his friends. On the other hand, there were some that got really excited. They had been constantly looking for challenges, it was the reason they came to Athena''s Forge. And now they had been tasked with the ultimate challenge.


    The following two days, the situation developed further. The small libraries that had been made in the tower suddenly got more books in them.


    One of them seemed to be a journal, and about twenty copies could be found in the library. The research journal talked about the web, or specific nodes to be more exact.


    It was the research Villin and Kayley had done before he was captured. The amount of knowledge it held was rather massive and the vast majority didn''t understand most of it as it wasn''t structured like a schoolbook, it was incredibly chaotic.


    A massive number of wooden spell books appeared as well, free to learn for every member that wanted it. These were the spells required to practice transfiguration. Athena''s Forge was extremely rich currently so this wasn''t much of an expense.


    And finally, fox masks appeared. The masks looked as if they were made out of stone but it was reinforced with Blue Mythril. They were placed all around the tower so that anyone could grab one sneakily if they wanted to. The masks were similar to the one he had made when he fought a guild in the forest himself, just more refined.


    These three things showed the members that Villin was serious. He gave them some of the resources needed to achieve the requirements, the rest was up to them. Of course, they would still be paid for their work and all that, but they would have to choose how to get funds and how to use them themselves.


    As a final thing, Villin had contacted Ruby, commissioning her guild to keep a good eye on his members for decent pay.


    Villin wanted to figure out which students were making moves and when. Even though there was nothing wrong with schemers, it was best to know who is and isn''t one.


    One week passed and Villin was outside, working on one of the wards that would stop anyone from using invisibility spells to get in. It would be a great help overall. It was then that one of the members approached him, a boy called Max.


    "Is anything the matter?" Villin asked after finished the rune he was working on.


    Hearing his questioning words, Max paused for a moment before responding, "No, well, yes. Ehm. I saw that you need to report to one of the upper echelons to let them know when you are planning an attack, so, ehm, I''m going to attack someone soon."


    Seeing how nervous the boy was, Villin couldn''t help but smile. To think that this kind of boy would be the first to try and attack instead of the more typical combat types.


    "Alright then Max, when and who will you be attacking?"


    Subconsciously, Max looked over his shoulder to make sure nobody was watching before he responded, "I''ll try to attack ''Today''s Oddities'', I''ll make my move in seven to nine hours from now, in the middle of the night."


    Villin had to admit he was surprised at the boy''s choice. ''Today''s Oddities'' was a rather large guild. Then again, it wasn''t combat-focused at all and there was almost no reason to attack them, they probably didn''t have many valuable objects.


    "Alright then. Remember, wear your mask and don''t get caught."


    After hearing Villin''s reminder, the boy nodded and turned away.


    Villin paused in his work though as he thought about the boy''s choice. Today''s Oddities should have a decent amount of magical crystals but wouldn''t have any expensive materials or items. Then again, they did have information, a currency in and of itself. It was a decent choice, Villin thought, ''Today''s Oddities'' never got attacked because they were a popular newspaper and would surely slander any attacker, that and they didn''t have many treasures.


    This also meant that their defense would most likely be extremely bad. As far as Villin knew, Max was mainly an enchanter. He also dabbled in fighting but wasn''t even in the top third when looking at the entire guild, it was surprising he made a move first.


    For the next couple of hours, Villin continued working on the ward. Then, six hours later, he stopped and began making his way towards Today''s Oddities.


    The requirement of members having to tell the upper echelon before attacking wasn''t just to stop them from stealing credit, it was also to monitor them. They could have a look at how the student attacked, maybe learn from it, and make sure the student was working alone. Then, if something went wrong, they could jump in and rescue them before their identity was revealed.


    No matter what, the identity couldn''t be made known. It wasn''t to save the guild''s reputation but to save the person themselves. If Max was caught and unmasked by Today''s Oddities, he would be personally slandered. Other victims of fox-masked attackers would also direct their anger on him.


    Then, when someone found him and beat him in the wild, they could decide to leave him in the middle of a dangerous area unconscious.


    No matter what, this was the best way to do things. And soon, it was time for Max to make his move.

 Chapter 181: The Heist

    Villin grinned as he looked down at the base from ''Today''s Oddities''. He had climbed up a nearby three-story building that was used to teach classes. Today''s Oddities'' building in A1 only had two stories total, it was quite massive horizontally though.


    Looking up at the moon, Villin knew it was almost time to make his move. He reached into his bag and took out a pair of black glasses. Then, he put them on.


    When looking through the glasses, Villin''s vision change as it looked like he was standing a small distance away from Today''s Oddities waiting for a certain something to happen.


    Villin grinned as he found that the device he created hadn''t malfunctioned.


    The masks he had left around the tower were all enchanted. He had taken inspiration from the cross-school tournament he had once attended and partially recreated the glasses that were used there.


    The biggest negative was the limited distance these ones had, they would only work within a few kilometers from each other.


    Still, Villin was very happy with this device. Since his own people would use the masks he had made and enchanted when attacking other guilds, he could keep a proper eye on them during the raids.


    Villin sat down comfortably on the rooftop as he waited. It could still take another couple of hours before Max actually made his move.


    Surprisingly, Max made his move just a couple of minutes later. As he was stalking the building in the moonlight, he noticed an individual exiting through the main entrance. It was a woman of about eighteen years old, she had brown hair and looked around cautiously after going out.


    Seeing that she had come, Max took in a deep breath before walking towards her. After a bit, she noticed him, but despite seeing the stone fox mask he was wearing she didn''t back down.


    "I''m assuming you''re ''The Fox'' that contacted me?" the woman asked as she looked at Max in the eyes.


    In response, Max simply nodded, "Yes, I have very important confidential information on ''Athena''s Forge'', something that could ruin the leaders."


    Quickly, the woman gestured at him to keep quiet, "Don''t talk out here, you never know who''s listening. It''d be much, much harder for anyone to follow you inside. Take this and follow me." as she said this, she handed Max a metal pin. Villin figured it was most likely used to get past the wards.


    "Since this is top secret information, I''ll take you into the safe zone, that''s what we call the most secure room in this building." the woman said with a wink, "And say, are you sure you can''t just take your mask off, I promise I won''t divulge your identity but it would make talking much easier."


    Hearing this, Max nervously shook his head, "No, if Athena''s Forge''s leadership figures out I''m doing this, I''ll be ruined."


    "Alright then."


    After this simple conversation, they both silently walked through a couple of hallways. They passed a bunch of doors and every time the woman would have to use the key she always kept on her to get passed.


    After some time, the duo finally arrived at their destination. The woman opened a thick metal door revealing a room that seemed to be glowing. Runes glowed all around the room. There was a large magic array on the floor and a bunch of enchantments on the walls, all to avoid anybody sneaking in or finding out what was said.


    Once they entered the room, Villin began having trouble seeing what was going on. Despite the unorthodox technique he used to spy, it was still having a lot of trouble working in this room.


    Still, he just barely managed to see what all was going on.


    Once the door was closed again, the woman went ahead and sat on one side of the table that was placed in the middle of the room, "Hello Fox. As you know, my name is Sylvie, and I''ll be your contact within ''Today''s Oddities''. I will make sure you get properly compensated for anything you tell me. The reason you can trust me is that I get twenty percent of the money you get, hence the more money you receive, the better it is for me as well."


    Max hesitated for a few moments before speaking, "Are you sure this room is safe?"


    Hearing his concern, Sylvie smiles, "I can assure you that this room is completely safe. No sound gets out of here and spells instantly get detected. If the wards in this room get penetrated, we''ll know immediately!"


    Hearing this, Max seemingly let out a breath of relief before he seemed to realize something. "Oh, you say you can''t cast spells here? But I recorded everything using a spell, I won''t be able to show you any proof without casting anything!"


    Hearing this, Sylvie''s eyebrows arched. It was extremely rare that someone who wasn''t a journalist had a recording spell of any kind, but soon that surprise turned into happiness. This would make things much, much easier.


    "That''s not a problem, I can temporarily disable that was if needed, should I do so now?"


    "If you do I can show you what I recorded, I think that''ll be the best way to explain what is going on."


    Hearing the mysterious way Max was speaking in, Sylvie couldn''t help but feel excited, this was probably going to be good. She didn''t smile physically though and stayed professional as she walked over to the corner of the room and inserted her magic power into a few specific points, disabling one of the wards.


    Once she sat back on her chair she gestured towards Max, "There you go, feel free to cast the spell now.


    Still properly nervous, Max grabbed his wand and pointed it at the table, "Vartneshica!" At the last moment, just as he finished his spell, he tilted his wand towards Sylvie, and a streak of red light headed right for her forehead.


    Sylvie, who hadn''t expected this at all, was unable to react and the red streak hit her on the forehead. Her head jerked back at first before slumping forward, she was unconscious and most probably had a concussion.


    Max was breathing heavily but quickly got himself to stand up and grab anything on Sylvie''s body. He grabbed her key and swapped their metal pins. He wasn''t sure if there was a difference between them but wouldn''t take chances either. He also grabbed a few seemingly random objects off of her body. Anything emitting magic power really, just in case one of them was used to get past some of the wards.


    After doing this, he quickly left the room. Sylvie would be out for an hour at least, so there was no use in tying her up, he simply had to hope the building had no guards inside and that everyone focused on the outside. He also hoped Sylvie didn''t tell anyone about the interview that might get worried.


    The nervous wreck that was Max, quickly but silently ran through the hallways, looking for something that looked like a door to a treasury. He went through a total of three doors before finally finding something somewhat suspicious.


    It was a door with a large ''Keep Out'' sign on it. He used the key he had gotten from Sylvie to get in and saw a stairway going down, into the basement it seemed.


    Once he was down he found himself in a completely spotless, white room. The only things that were in the room were shelves full of pieces of paper on them. It seemed that this was where they kept their records. This included interviews, papers they released, and more. Max looked at some of the papers he could see without touching anything but didn''t do anything else as he silently went deeper into the basement.


    This was good for sure, and valuable, but he didn''t think it was ''IT''. He was looking for another, smaller, room. One that had a few dozen papers at most, keeping only their most important things.


    And soon, he found himself before another door.


    The door was made out of metal and didn''t seem special but Max could feel magic power coming off of it.


    Without touching the door, his hand hovered over it as he tried to discern the runes that had been hidden. It would be practically impossible to get it entirely right, but he was just seeing if he could find a weak point to somehow disable the enchantments.


    Yet, even after twenty minutes, he didn''t find anything. He would have to get in, take what he needed, and get out while the alarm was going off, at least, that was how it seemed.


    Max thought for a moment, before backtracking. He explored the area around and found that he was only really two locked doors away from a window. Even though this window would also cause the alarms to go off, at that point, it wouldn''t matter.


    He grabbed a couple of chairs to keep the two locked doors open, and went back down into the basement.


    He wasn''t the best fighter but he also wouldn''t have taken action now if he wasn''t capable of blowing through a stone wall. Max stood next to the iron door that seemed to be leading to the main treasury and pointed his wand at the wall next to it.


    "BOOM!"


    An explosion rang out as Max cast his spell, soon followed by sirens going off all over the building. He quickly entered through the hole he had made inside of the wall and took in the room.


    This room was extremely small. It only had one decent stack of papers on a shelf that was mounted against the opposite wall. Next to it was a crystal holder followed by a couple of unfamiliar objects.


    There were also boxes of materials but Max ignored this as he quickly grabbed the stack of paper and the crystal holder without checking it.


    He then turned tail and ran as fast as he could, up the stairs.


    When he got through the door leading to the basement and opened it, he saw multiple members of the guild but none of them were turned towards him. When the alarm went off, everyone thought that attackers had appeared and they quickly made their way to the outside of the building, trying to figure out who attacked the building.


    Max used the momentary confusion and sprinted towards the door he had opened, a few people noticed him and tried to follow but since Max kicked the chairs away after he went through the open doors, they had to grab their keys and open them first, making it impossible for them to catch up.


    Max quickly jumped out of the window and ran. There were a few people that had just gotten outside that tried to chase him but they were even less of a fighter compared to Max and were completely unable to catch up. Soon, he was out of their sights.


    Villin nodded contently, it seemed that Max had managed to complete one of the requirements without assistance using his wits and by picking an ideal target.

 Chapter 182: Rewards

    As soon as Villin made sure Max wasn''t being followed, he quickly returned to the tower.


    When Max had run for about twenty minutes and had also made sure he was in the clear, he also made his way back. Outside, he could see Villin working on the wards. The ward lit up a couple of times as Villin worked, showing his progress. At first, Max became silent, admiring the sight. He had never seen a ward lit up at night. It had two kinds of beauty to it.


    The first kind was something that all humans would find. When a ward lit up you could see the pretty lights shining in the darkness.


    But this was nothing compared to how Max looked at the complex symbols weaving in and out of each other. It wasn''t all put in straight lines like how you would write on paper. The ward he could occasionally see was chaotic, but there was some sort of beautiful order within that chaos.


    After admiring Villin''s work for a couple of minutes, Max refocused knowing there were still people after him, and quickly walked up to Villin who paused his work as soon as it was safe to do so.


    "Eh- I did it, I think. I couldn''t take the materials but I think I got into their core room and grabbed the most valuable things." Max said, obviously uncertain if Villin would mark it as a success.


    Max promptly took off his backpack and placed it on the ground before Villin, he had put the papers and various small items inside of the bag as soon as he saw a chance to do so.


    Villin looked at the bag offhandedly but didn''t inspect the contents, "You succeeded, congratulations. Remember why you succeeded as that is where you can gain the most. You succeeded because you moved quickly and decisively, preparing shortly after you heard of the task. You also succeeded because you chose your enemies wisely."


    Villin smiled at him before continuing, "As for the items you gained, they are yours now. I will be honest, "Athena''s Forge'' would love to buy the items you got off of you for a friendly place, but you should feel no obligation to leave them to us. Use them as you see fit."


    Once he finished his words, Villin turned around and walked into the tower, leaving behind a surprised Max. Max took in Villin''s words for a while, he didn''t get it. Why didn''t Villin take at least part of the treasure? After a good while, he lowered his head towards the tower. "He must be trying to teach me another lesson."


    This is what he thought, even though Villin had no such ideas, he simply let them keep it because he provided no real assistance, this was Max''s achievement, and it was his loot.


    -----------------


    After a good night''s sleep, Max felt lively again and it was finally time to check what all he had gotten. He looked around and saw that the three people sleeping in the same section as he was were all out of bed already, they were probably working or taking classes.


    Last night he had snuck in but luckily none of his roommates woke up because of him. He hid his backpack under his bed where it still was now.


    To have a decent overview, Max placed the backpack on his bed and turned it inside out, making it that everything he had gotten fell onto his sheets.


    Around half of everything were papers, the rest were various small items that were next to the crystal holder.


    First, he grabbed the crystal holder and injected some magical energy to see how many crystals it had inside, once the number appeared, Max froze entirely. The largest amount of magic crystals he ever had was a few hundred, yet this holder alone held over twelve-thousand magic crystals inside. That was an unimaginable amount for an individual.


    Max figured that, if he wanted to, he could probably live off of such an amount for his entire life.


    After putting this crystal aside with shaking hands, Max turned to the other items. At first, he wasn''t sure what they were, but then he noticed they could be assembled together.


    He spent a couple of minutes assembling the foreign objects, but when he succeeded he was even more confused.


    On one side was a handle, much like that of a shovel, but the other half of the object was different entirely. There were hidden runes all around it but he couldn''t properly sense them.


    After some time, Max decided to just try it out. He grabbed the handle and began inserting magic power. The device greedily took in magic power and after a bit, Max heard a clang. Something had come out of the object and fallen out. He crouched down to take a look before finally realizing.


    "Holy shit, this thing can create magic crystals!"


    Amazed, Max used some more magic power to create a few more crystals and made sure it worked properly.


    The device he got condensed magic power into a physical form. He could trade magic power for crystals. Even though eighty percent of the energy would be lost, it was still a massive deal.


    Even though Max could only create about a dozen before his magic ran out. This would still mean he could get at least twenty-four magic crystals a day if he lacked any. Even though with the fortune he got from the crystal holder that wouldn''t be much, it was still an extremely valuable device.


    Admittedly, Max thought crystals were created using a spell, or perhaps they were mined, that they were made like this was a surprise to him.


    Max figured he should probably sell it once he got out of school, for now, he also probably shouldn''t use it.


    Other than a few spare parts for the crystal creator, all that was left were the papers that he found.


    He began reading them, and as soon as he began, he couldn''t stop. Every paper was more shocking than the last, the information these contained was insane.


    This included everything. Dirt on various guilds, the skills of important people or students, locations of a number of secret branches of a number of guilds, and more.


    It was this that truly made Max realize how much power ''Today''s Oddities'' had. They had dirt on almost half of the top guilds, and they had proof for it as well, all documented here.


    After calming down, Max split the paper into three piles. One pile included all the dirt they had on guilds. One pile included all the secret branches they were aware of, and the last pile was the rest.


    Max decided to gift the first pile to ''Athena''s Forge'', he had no use for it. He could sell the second pile to various members of Athena''s Forge who were looking for a target to raid.


    As for the third file, he would look at them case-to-case.


    ------------------------


    When Villin saw Max approach him with a pile of papers, Villin wasn''t surprised. But this changed when Max gave these papers to him for free, not asking for anything in return. Villin knew that a number of members would become loyal to him, it was one of the reasons he created the core tower and its requirements, but for someone to act loyally so soon was surprising.


    The only reason Max seemed to be giving the papers to Villin was to help out the guild, that was what loyalty meant.


    Still, Villin gladly accepted the papers and thanked Max sincerely. After going through them though, Villin didn''t find it too useful. These papers could be used as blackmail, but Villin didn''t think that that was the way to go. Blackmail was a double-edged sword, bringing temporary loyalty in return for resentment.


    This resentment would grow and before you know it you would have life-or-death enemies.


    Right now, Villin wasn''t prepared for such things and he didn''t see what he would gain either. He would keep it all though, if he needed to he wouldn''t hesitate to use it.


    A good example would be if one of his members got caught failing a heist. In that case, he wouldn''t hesitate to use blackmail in order to get the member back and keep them quiet about their identity.


    But before that, it was best not to use this double-edged blade.


    Other than deciding to keep an extra eye on Max, not much changed. ''Today''s Oddities'' were surprisingly quiet about the whole event, not mentioning it in their papers at all. The reason was that they still didn''t know who attacked them, they didn''t realize Athena''s Forge was responsible either. They figured that since Max said he was from Athena''s Forge when masked, he probably wasn''t in reality.


    Thus far, Villin was surprised that none of his members had told a news outlet about the requirements to become a core member but he knew it shouldn''t take long for someone to approach ''Today''s Oddities'' in secrecy and share the information in return for magic crystals.


    And just a few days later, someone indeed approached them, but things went somewhat different compared to how Villin expected it would go.

 Chapter 183: Surprising Developments

    "Wait, what did you just say?" Villin questioned as he looked at Amelia with a stunned expression.


    "Well, one of our members raided ''Today''s Oddities'' last night. They approached me beforehand. I kept a good eye on them and gave them one of the custom masks you made since they didn''t want to appear with the same fox mask as the previous attacker."


    Hearing it once more, Villin pinched his nose.


    "So, according to all that you said previously. One of our members executed the exact same plan that Max used, contacting ''Today''s Oddities'' saying they have important information, in this case, the previous attacker''s identity. Then they were once more led inside, they ambushed their contact in the hallway, grabbed their key, entered the treasury through the still unpatched hole in the wall, and then they used a spatial bag to take all of their materials?"


    After listening to him, Amelia nodded, "Yeah, that''s pretty much what happened."


    "And what member of ours executed this insane plan then?"


    Hearing how Villin called it, Amelia paused for a few moments before responding, "Well, ehh, it was Rein that was responsible this time around."


    Hearing the perpetrator''s name, Villin got stunned silent. In response, Amelia continued speaking, "The materials ''Today''s Oddities had was very substantial. There are a lot of valuable and rare materials in there. Just a bit earlier, Rein dropped it all off in the secret storage room to count, he should currently still be sleeping.


    Villin purposefully calmed his breathing before responding, "Thank you Amelia I''ll talk to him once he''s awake."


    When Amelia left, Villin''s mind was still in turmoil, to think that Rein would attack the same target as Max using the exact same strategy and it worked. It was a somewhat crazy feat, but then again who would expect to be raided twice in a week by different people.


    It didn''t take long for the entire grades to know that ''Today''s Oddities'' got raided twice. It was on the front page of ''A Magus'' Aid'', even if ''Today''s Oddities'' kept quiet, they couldn''t do much to stop the news from spreading.


    Overall, the reaction wasn''t too great though. It was a great embarrassment to ''Today''s Oddities'' and they lost a massive amount of resources but most other people didn''t care too much. Every now and then a guild would get raided and if you thought about it, over the years ''Today''s Oddities'' had angered a bunch of people with their articles, it wasn''t that big of a surprise they got raided when you thought about it.


    This would soon change though. The two weeks after the second raid on ''Today''s Oddities'', four more attacks happened, all on various guilds. Two of the guilds got raided successfully while the other two guilds defended themselves, sadly the attackers managed to flee though.


    One thing all the attackers had in common was that they were wearing fox masks, yet they weren''t the same people, this was very obvious since the genders were different for different attackers.


    Since Max also began selling the papers holding information of various branches of different guilds, it became clear that things would only get more and more chaotic.


    Still, even now, nobody knew Athena''s Forge was responsible. This was more than surprising for Villin as he knew the information was extremely valuable and you could gain a lot by selling it.


    Still, he didn''t complain as he was glad to see the members could be somewhat trusted.


    The initial stage of attacks got four people to pass the attacking requirement, this included Max, Rein, and two others. They mostly managed to succeed thanks to the element of surprise and their initiative. Now that guilds knew something was up, it would become harder to succeed in a raid.


    Villin was satisfied seeing what all he had gained already. He got nearly all fo the treasures of ''Today''s Oddities'' which was very valuable. The two other people that succeeded also sold most of their findings to the guild for a very friendly price. Right now, Athena''s Forge had enough materials to create very strong armor for everyone in the guild. They could also make hundreds upon hundreds of wands, that was, if they didn''t seriously lack wand-makers.


    Just as Villin figured they had enough materials, for the time being, Pompei came looking for him.


    The burly professor had come bearing presents, "Hey there Villin, how have you been doing?" he said once Villin exited the tower.


    "I''ve been doing good Pompei, please, follow me to my study."


    Already impressed by the massive enchanted tower, Pompei didn''t hesitate to follow Villin. Once he stepped inside he noticed the text on the wall citing the requirements to become a core member. His eyes widened but he didn''t say anything as he continued following Villin up.


    The higher he went, the more impressed Pompei became. He saw people enchanting valuable materials, and creating precious pills. There was a floor full of people sitting in a lotus position with paper all around them. Occasionally someone would open their eyes and write some scribbles on the paper before diving back into their webs.


    Even though Pompei only managed to glance at one of the papers one of the random students was working on, it was enough to make him go silent, it was clear the studies in the web here have gotten truly far, the bit he managed to see was equivalent to what they taught in the sixth grade.


    The top floors were more like spacious apartments than anything else, once they reached the top floor, Villin led Pompei to the room he used as a study. He cleaned up the papers he had on the desk, he was trying to create a new ward but it was a difficult and long process.


    Once it was cleaned up, Villin and Pompei sat opposite each other. After a bit, it was Pompei who broke the silence.


    "I gotta say that I''m impressed. The path you''re taking is a very unique one. Once Athena''s Forge leaves The Academy I have no doubt it will become a beacon of progress, if it doesn''t get destroyed in the beginning that is."


    Villin looked at Pompei with a raised eyebrow, the professor acted differently to how he remembered him, "Professor, may I ask why you have come?"


    Pompei nodded, not even commenting on the fact that Villin addressed him as ''professor'' something he usually hated.


    "Yes boy, The Academy sent me here bearing rewards, or rather, things that you''ve earned. As according to The Academy''s rules. The person or group that finds a base of their enemies, will gain a big portion of the loot obtained. You managed to alert us of the location of a valuable Decorus research institution. We managed to defeat them without taking any major losses, because of this, most of the loot obtained is rightfully yours.


    After saying this, Pompei reached into his robe and grabbed a piece of paper which he haded to Villin.


    "This is everything you''ll be gaining, if you have any complaints or would like to trade or sell something, you can ask me."


    Before reading the list, Villin already had something he wanted to get, "I want to know how I can reach the white and black tower. I am a member of the former and may be able to become a member of the latter."


    Hearing his request Pompei nodded, "The entrance to the white tower is in the upper left corner of D10. It is hidden beneath a massive rock, you should be able to crawl underneath. As for the black tower, nobody knows how to get there. If you''re ready to join, they''ll find you. You will most likely have to wait until after graduation though."


    Pompei gave the information without asking for anything in return, this was information he already knew and The Academy would lose nothing if Villin knew.


    Hearing the response, Villin nodded before looking at the list of items, seeing the first item he became more serious.


    -----------


    White bone marrow from a young magus 37 barrels


    -----------------


    This first item nearly brought back some negative memories but Villin knew how valuable it was. Bone marrow from a young magus was one of the most magic-conductive resources on the planet. It was ideal to make a magic array with.


    Thirty-seven barrels was a massive amount, and there was another fifty consisting of red bone marrow. It most certainly wasn''t just his own bone marrow but also those from Elinoire and previous, long-dead prisoners. The bone marrow should still be good as the barrels were no doubt enchanted.


    Looking further and further down the list, there was a massive amount of stuff, from materials that came from magical beast to lab equipment.


    After reading through it once, Villin nodded at Pompei saying it all seemed all right. Soon after, Pompei dropped off the first bit of what he had already brought, in an empty room Villin led him to. The first items consisted of one large barrel of blood marrow, some enchanted blood bags, a crystal holder with around ten thousand crystals in it, and a centrifuge.


    When Villin saw the centrifuge and looked at the list looking for a few other specific items, the corners of his mouth raised slightly, he would finally be able to do something he had been wanting to do for a long time.


    He didn''t comment on it though as he simply thanked Pompei, for several hours Pompei walked to and fro, getting all the items Villin had gained. His spatial bag could only hold so much so he had to make many trips.


    To Pompei, it was all worth it though as every time he went up the stairs of Athena''s Forge he could have a glance at the research they were doing on the web.

 Chapter 184: Going On A Mission

    "So, is there anything you''d like me to do with it? A burial maybe?" Villin asked Ashera mentally.


    ''No, I am not the body I live in, my mind was transported and so this body no longer has any meaning for me.'' Ashera replied.


    Villin nodded as his gaze rested on the Kitsune corpse in front of him. The fox-like magical beast was full of scars. There was a large incision in the body where they extracted the heart but the other organs remained fresh and intact. It was extremely valuable but Villin wasn''t at the point where he could use it himself for anything so he simply rechecked the enchantments to be sure it wouldn''t rot and put it in the storage.


    Over the last period of time he finished two wards that would keep Athena''s Forge as secure as possible. Invisibility spells would be completely innefective and magic being used nearby, outside of the tower, would set one of the wards off, creating a barrier around the tower to stop them from further damaging it or getting in.


    The enchantments on the tower itself were also very impressive but Villin hadn''t touched those. Rein had improved a lot and could already do a bunch, even though he wasn''t a runemaster, Villin could tell he wasn''t too far off.


    After checking on the overal progress, Villin intended to work on a third ward that would encompass the higher-up floors when a guest arrived outside of the tower.


    When Villin came out he noticed Ruby was standing her. Ever since he arrived at the fourth/fifth grade he only talked to her once when asking to keep an eye on his members, since then they hadn''t talked.


    "Ruby, it''s good to see you." Villin simply said. He had a very positive impression of the girl.


    In response, Ruby smiled, "I agree. Villin, I''d like your help with something."


    Hearing her get straight to the point, Villin simply nodded and he invited her into the tower.


    Even though Ruby didn''t make it as obvious as Pompei did, she was still quite impressed by the things that were being done here.


    After a bit, Villin sat opposite Ruby in the meeting room, their seats were of equal height.


    "So, miss Ruby, what could I help you with?" Villin asked as he stared her down.


    In response, Ruby smiled as she rolled her eyes, then she focused. "There''s a mission I''d like to do. The mission is a truly great opportunity but it requires there to be three runemasters. There are only three runemasters in the fourth and fifth grades so I need your assistance."


    Hearing her short story, Villin immediately became interested. Three runemasters was a very substantial amount. The mission would most likely be extremely challenging.


    After thinking for a bit, Villin simply decided to ask, "What are the mission details and why is it such a big opportunity?"


    Hearing the expected question, Ruby explained, "The mission is to help a city prepare to fight an army of magical beasts. As runemasters, we will be expected to repair and mass-produce some of the weapons and armor they have there."


    Hearing this Villin''s eyes lit up, "And so it''s a huge opportunity since when we return we''ll know how to create certain war machines!"


    Seeing Villin guess wrong, Ruby couldn''t help but feel slightly satisfied, "Nope. Even though that is most certainly a big bonus it''s not the true reason. The city requesting three runemasters has a peculiar name, it''s called, ''Atlantis''."


    Hearing this being said, Villin''s mind went blank for a moment. There were a few mentions of Atlantis in several books he had read but it was generally seen as a myth. Something that didn''t actually exist.


    "How do you know it''s the real Atlantis?"


    "The mission board says so."


    Hearing the response, Villin couldn''t really refute it. The mission givers were to be trusted, if the mission board said the mission came from Atlantis then there was no doubt that The Academy made sure.


    Villin stayed quiet for a bit as he recalled what he read about the city. The story went that long ago, long before Roland walked this planet, there was an ancient race of fishmen. They were able to build and breathe underwater and so they did so. When a human village asked to live with them, the fishmen obliged them and they created a shield around the city. The shield kept all the water out and let air into the city. This way, the humans and fishmen could live together.


    Since then the fishmen have grown extinct but legend says that the descendants of that human village still live deep underwater, forever protected by the shield around Atlantis.


    It was a very simple tale, but it said a great deal. Villin agreed that going there would be a great opportunity. After all, a shield around the city that kept water out, what else could that be but some sort of advanced ward.


    Being able to research a ward with such an odd effect would indeed be a great opportunity. And, who knows, perhaps Atlantis had some knowledge they couldn''t get in The Academy.


    "I''ll go with you, when?" Villin answered as he stayed to-the-point.


    "I''ll have to contact the final runemaster here, if he agrees we''ll go in a week."


    Shortly after finishing up the conversation, Ruby left to meet the other runemaster in the grade and Villin was left to make preparations. Even though Villin didn''t know who the third runemaster was, if they were sane they would most certainly join the mission even if it was dangerous.


    Villin swiftly made his way to the treasury and began looking for something, after a while, he found three coin pouches, "There we go." Villin said as he grabbed them.


    There were the interspatial bags he got from the research facility. Two of these were probably his own and Elinoire''s that had been kept, even though they had been emptied.


    After thinking for a moment, Villin decided to take two of these with him. He had no idea what to expect but who knew he might be allowed to take some valuable things from Atlantis. He also brought a fortune with him consisting of three-hundred-thousand magic crystals.


    The following week he spent on making a total of three puppets. One of them was one he would call high-grade. It was taller than one meter and it could climb, run, breathe fire, and explode. The other two were much, much smaller, they were only about twenty centimeters tall and forty centimeters wide, the smallest he could make a puppet.


    It had eight legs and resembled a massive spider. It had a spell on it as well that made it camouflage itself.


    This puppet could only do two things. Walk and transmit visual. Villin was sure that if he got more time he''d be able to improve them vastly, but he would have to work on that later.


    The spiders were connected to sunglasses he had in his pocket, if he put them on he would be able to see what both spiders saw. Even though it was a bit inefficient, it would have to do.


    It came to no surprise that the third runemaster had agreed to come on the mission and the precise time got established, it would be at dawn of the following day and they would meet at the corner of A2.


    Villin had let his guild know that he would be gone for a bit due to a mission and encouraged them to do some missions as well since it was a great source of money.


    Then, shortly before dawn, he went to B1. Villin sighed but he knew what had to be done, he had to kill Fang. It had been a long time since he had seen Fang and at this point, the beats must''ve broken through the instinct that kept it below a Kitsune.


    If he didn''t kill it, it would most likely kill students moving through, after all his strength was high above this region.


    When Villin got to the place he left Fang at last time, he saw it had made a layer in a nearby cave. He could tell even while he was still outside since the trees nearby the cave were all frozen, as was the ground.


    And so, Villin approached the cave, ready to kill his once mount, and then he saw the shadow of a wolf, coming out of the cave.


    Knowing that a fight was about to happen, Villin was about to cast a spell when he noticed that the ice wolf''s tail was wagging. When it sprinted towards Villin there wasn''t a bit of malice, Fang simply pounced on him and began licking his face.


    Noticing this, Villin froze as he stared at the ice-wolf''s massive snout. He was confused by this situation and so was Ashera. She claimed that there should be no way that the ice wolf had not broken the instinctual fear of Kitsunes at this point in time.


    Seeing that Fang sincerely seemed happy that he was back though, Villin decided not to think of it too much and he petted the ice wolf for a bit. When he entered the cave, Villin was slightly worried for a moment, he could see a human skeleton inside. He quickly figured that it was too old though and shouldn''t have been created by Fang. Then, he rode Fang over to A2. He wouldn''t complain about having a mount, it was rather nice riding Fang.

 Chapter 185: Arriving In Atlantis

    When the first bits of light began appearing on the horizon, Villin was about to arrive at the meeting point. He slowed down and got off of Fang, walking in front of the beast. He was worried Fang would get attacked as soon as Ruby and the other runemaster saw him, he decided to stop this by standing in front of the beast, this way they would see him first and even if they didn''t he could cast a defensive spell.


    This soon proved to be rather useless though, a bit after he dismounted from Fang, he arrived at the location they agreed to meet at, it was a large clearing near the corner of the tile.


    Villin noticed three figures in the clearing. Closest to him was a boy around eighteen years of age, he had his wand out but lowered it when he saw Villin, then his gaze landed on Fang. He scowled before turning around and walking to the other figures.


    Villin noticed Ruby sitting there, she seemed to be feeding a beast that sat next to her, it resembled a tiger but it was as tall as Fang and fir occasionally came out of the beast''s nose as it breathed.


    When Fang noticed the beast he growled immediately, as for the tiger who had been eating relaxed, it immediately jumped up and hissed at Fang, similar to how a housecat would.


    As things seemed like they could get out of hand, Villin put a hand on Fang''s fur, "Here here boy, it''s just a kitty."


    In response Fang licked Villin''s face before sitting down, keeping a close eye on the tiger.


    After seeing that Ruby had tended to that beast and it had also calmed down, Villin approached, "Impressive, what''s she called?" Villin asked as he looked at the beast that seemed to be about as strong as Fang.


    Ruby looked at the tiger as she replied, "Her name''s Ember. In all honesty I thought I was one of the only ones here with a mount and the only one of the new arrivals for sure." she said looking at Villin slightly impressed.


    In response, he simply nodded, "Same here. I found Fang on the first day I arrived, and well, he still seems to like me pretty well."


    Just as Ruby was about to respond, an annoyed voice spoke up, "Oh, yes please, let us all talk about our magical little mounts instead of going out to do our damn mission ay? I didn''t come here to see you all go on a date or whatever, let''s move it."


    The man who said this looked at them both with an extremely annoyed expression, it was the third runemaster who Villin didn''t know.


    Ruby''s gaze turned colder as she looked at him, "We should at least introduce ourselves, no? And don''t act so superior, both of us have been a runemaster for longer than you have."


    The boy scoffed at her, "Whatever, I''m Cornelius, let''s move it before they retract the damn mission."


    Ruby rolled her eyes but didn''t say anything, after all, without Cornelius they wouldn''t meet the mission requirements.


    "I spotted the mission over at B14, let''s get there quickly," she said as she got on Ember.


    Villin also called over Fang and mounted him, leaving only Cornelius on the ground.


    Ruby sighed, "Get on Ember, we don''t want to waste too much time traveling. Annoyed and embarrassed, Cornelius silently got on Ember''s back, sitting just behind Ruby.


    And just like that, they were on their way.


    On their way, they had to fight a myriad of times but the trio didn''t get into any trouble and the fights were always finished quickly. Cornelius in particular finished most battles quickly. Villin had to admit that he seemed quite strong at first sight.


    And so, after a day of riding, they arrived at B14. Since they were here, they all decided to sleep for a while and five hours later, they were good to go.


    Arriving at the board and teleportation array, they noticed that the mission coming from Atlantis requesting three runemasters was still there, Ruby and Villin both walked to their respective mounts telling them not to fight each other before they stood on the teleportation array.


    Ruby took the initiative to activate the array using the frequency the mission gave and also supplied it with the required power, then, the three of them disappeared.


    When they arrived at the destination none of the three runemasters felt too dizzy, they had all gotten used to using teleportation arrays at this point.


    Looking around, Villin noticed they were in a large circular room with pillars along the outer edge. There were a few really well-made engravings in the walls depicting the tales of various heroes.


    They were standing in the middle of the room, atop of a teleportation array. It was clear that this array was the ''main attraction'' of the room they were in. In front of them was a large door that had artistic engravings on them.


    Overall the pillars and door reminded Villin of a mix between the Corinthian and Composite styles, he rather liked it.


    Seeing as how the door was closed, Cornelius was the first to make himself comfortable, finding a place to sit, "Tch, we''ll probably have to wait for a while since they didn''t know when we''d come."


    Ruby seemed to agree as she began walking towards one of the stories engraved in the walls, trying to get a better idea of this place''s history.


    Villin, on the other hand, leaned against the wall and focused on the ground beneath him. Magic power spread out from his feet and a magical tunnel was being made underground, this may allow Villin to sense what was going on outside of the room.


    As for simply opening the massive door, that would be beyond disrespectful and whoever did that would most likely be kicked out.


    Yet, before Villin had the time to properly create a transfiguration net in the ground underneath him, the massive doors opened, getting everyone''s attention.


    The three quickly grouped up at the teleportation array, no matter what first impressions were important, if the person that commissioned them noticed they didn''t get along very well they may just send them back, nobody was willing to risk that.


    By the time they grouped up, the door had opened fully revealing the people on the other side.


    In the center stood two men, they both had armor on in a golden color. The armor was very round all over and didn''t have a single edge on it. Their skin was somewhat blue and Villin spotted gills on their necks. It seemed that they had some fishmen genes inside of them. Since they were both bald they would look rather similar if it wasn''t for the different designs of the armor or the fact that one of them had pointed ears and the other one didn''t.


    It would seem that these people had some fishmen genes within them.


    But they weren''t the main threat. On either side of them were large groups of soldiers, dozens of blue tridents were pointed towards the three runemasters. Each of these was held by a soldier with shining silver armor, similar to the duo in the center their armor was extremely artistic and rounded, with no edge to be seen. Looking underneath their helmets, Villin spotted some pale skin, it would seem that these people were fully human, or didn''t have as many fishmen genes as the two in the center, at least.


    The man with the pointed ears squinted his eyes before taking a couple of steps towards the runemasters, "And who may you three be?" he asked in an odd accent.


    Ruby was the first to respond, "We are the three runemasters you have requested for, we come from The Academy."


    A look of understanding flashed on the man''s face before he spoke again, "I see. In that case, you all have come at an opportune time."


    He waved his wand and at the same time, all the soldiers pointed their tridents upwards before turning around and going back to their original positions all around the city.


    The man with the rounded ears quickly walked up to the other leader and said something in his ear before leaving as well.


    After he gathered himself, the man with the pointed ears spoke out, "You will find that much needs to be done in a short while. If you walk around the city you will find much that needs repairing, be it the armor of many of the soldiers or defensive devices bolted to the ground.


    "I expect you all to work hard, we will need all that we will get in the following month." He paused for a moment as he looked at the three runemasters, he seemed to be able of looking straight through them and noticed there was some division in between them.


    "In order to motivate you, I will give a special reward to the highest contributor. If you contribute the highest I will give you a private lesson teaching you one of Atlantis'' unique techniques.


    "And, as promised, every one of you will be given some of our basic techniques once you finish your tasks. I suggest you all work hard. Please remember that you are the second group to enter Atlantis in the last hundred years, behave yourself so our people don''t find a reason to say that I was wrong inviting outsiders."

 Chapter 186: The Underwater City

    Once the atlantian finished explaining the general rules, Villin had to admit he was surprised by how lax they were. The runemasters would have free access to the vast majority of the city. If they wished to enter the barracks they had to be accompanied by a general and if they wanted to enter the palace the royal guards would have to stay with them but otherwise it was free play.


    There were a few other rules but all of them were very understandable. For one they may not say negative things about the atlantian leadership or culture while they were here. This was a natural rule since Atlantis was clearly preparing for some sort of war and civil unrest was the least of their concerns.


    They also couldn''t leave Atlantis without permission, but this too was extremely natural in the Magus world since it was best to keep locations mostly a secret.


    As for after they left Atlantis and headed back to The Academy, there were no rules there. They weren''t sworn to secrecy or anything like that, it seemed that Atlantis didn''t care if people knew it existed, it was just a place that accidentally became a rumor.


    "So, with that out of the way. Do you all have any questions before I return to my duties?" the atlantian asked in his odd accent.


    After a moment, Ruby responded, "Yes sir, I have one. The mission reward was said to be some of your ''basic techniques'', I would like to know what is seen as basic."


    Hearing the question, the atlantian nodded before responding, "This includes the techniques we teach our children up to the age of nine."


    Hearing this response, both Villin and Ruby frowned slightly but Cornelius wasn''t so composed, "Children techniques?! You''re giving us some trash techniques in return for repairing your weaponry?! We are damn runemasters and powerful magi, not some damn kids!"


    Seeing how heated Cornelius got, the atlantian immediately became angry, it seemed like he was about to yell but held himself back at the last second before responding. "Atlantian techniques are lost to the rest of the world. The techniques we teach here are unknown to the outside work. Tell me boy, what underwater spells and techniques does The Academy have? Other then some breathing spell I doubt they have anything, even out children know how to quickly move across the sea, it is a valuable technique for magi anywhere."


    The Atlantian paused for a moment and relaxed further before continuing, "Furthermore, the true reward isn''t these techniques. You will be allowed to fix, and thus learn, the runes we use on our armor, weapons, and more. This is as valuable as the techniques we offer. Lastly, The one who performs best will get a lesson from me, and the technique I will be teaching is extraordinarily powerful, I assure you."


    After saying this, he once more turned to Cornelius again, "Now boy, let me warn you. If you raise your voice at me again you will be sent back to The Academy instantly. Even though you are a runemaster, I am one of the three Atlantian leaders, our positions stand equal."


    With that said, the Atlantian turned around and left the room, leaving the three runemasters behind.


    "Damn!" Cornelius cursed, "Anyway, that special technique is mine, got it! Don''t you two try to fight me over it!"


    Hearing his exclamation, Villin felt like laughing, "Oh please. It goes to the highest contributor, are you now asking us not to do our jobs and continue to repair devices and equipment here?"


    Hearing Villin''s rebuttal, Cornelius got slightly red from embarrassment, after thinking for a few moments he spoke again, "Okay then, you two spend some of your time studying the ward around the city then I''ll focus on the task, how''s that?"


    Unwilling to entertain Cornelius, Villin and Ruby left the room at practically the same time, leaving the angered boy behind.


    Once they left the teleportation building, Ruby and Villin were immediately stunned by what was before them. They could see dozens of round buildings all over the city. The architecture was beautiful, there were glowing statues everywhere, illuminating the area.


    The city didn''t have any roads as people simply walked on the ground.


    The vast majority of people seemed to be human with pale skin but it seemed like some of them did have gills on their necks. It also only took a moment for them to realize that everyone here seemed to be a part of the army as people walked around with varying degrees of armor on.


    And even though the armor on these people wasn''t quite as stunning as those of the leaders or royal guards they saw earlier, it was still very pretty, clearly, appearance was an important factor when it came to armor.


    Looking up, Villin saw water all around the city. The city was massive in reality but the fact that it was completely surrounded by water made it look insignificant.


    After looking at the scene for a couple of seconds, Ruby spoke up, "A military state of this size. I think we''ll have plenty of work the following month."


    Hearing her words Villin had to agree, seeing as how Cornelius had also walked out of the building and was spectating the city he commented, "It should be best to split up. If there is a project that needs multiple of us we can work together but I think splitting up will be most effective overall."


    Without saying a thing to Villin, Cornelius scoffed and walked towards one of the large circular buildings in the distance, noting his response Villin turned to Ruby and they both sighed, "I just hope he won''t become a problem." Villin noted and Ruby agreed, soon after they also split up to go look at different areas of the city.


    Villin decided to do some exploring and information gathering on the first day. At this point, he still didn''t know who Atlantis would be fighting against. He had wanted to ask the Atlantian leader but lost his chance when Cornelius angered him.


    Depending on the enemy, Villin would focus on repairing and duplicating different equipment.


    Even though overall his knowledge was limited, he knew some things about the various continents. His knowledge of the central continent was obviously the vastest. They had a lot of people who studied transfiguration, there were pill makers and wands were nearly always used. When faced against these people, increasing the strength of various pieces of weaponry would most likely be the most useful.


    The eastern continent didn''t have magi that were quite as strong but they had numbers, a massive amount of numbers. They still used cold weapons as well, similar to Atlantians, and used magic to enhance their fighting strength. Overall, the individual Atlantian should be stronger than them, focusing on repairing and duplicating armor would probably be best there, to make it harder for the cold weapons to pierce it.


    Lastly, there was the western continent. They were severely lacking in numbers but each magus was generally extremely powerful. It was said that most of the magi on the western continent knew how to teleport. They didn''t use wands and used a bunch of environmental spells. They also enhanced their own bodies using gene solutions and runes.


    Thinking about this bit of information he had, Villin figured that if Atlantians were to fight against the western continent it would probably be best to increase the strength of various wards and magic arrays to restrain the magi and powerful weapons so that the Atlantians could pierce the defenses of these human tanks.


    Figuring that he needed information, Villin asked one of the Atlantians where the most popular bar was only to figure out that these people had no idea what bars were. If they wanted to drink or eat, they would go to one of the shops that sold these essentials and then take it home.


    When Villin straight-up asked one of the residents who they would be fighting, they looked at him suspiciously and refused to answer, a somewhat expected response.


    Villin sighed as he thought of how to get this information, then his gaze fell on the statues scattered around. It was clear that this place was full of culture, every big happening was most likely recorded with sculptures and murals.


    When Villin asked an Atlantian where to find the most recent murals and sculptures, they were quick to answer, proudly leading Villin towards the building where he could find the more recent murals.


    And so, he stood before a massive hemispherical building with patterns all over. He had to admit it was very surprising. Atlantis seemed like a city full of soldiers and with constant war, yet they had such an incredible focus on art. It was rather incredible when he thought of it.


    And so, with curiosity, Villin entered the building. It seemed that this was one of the more popular buildings around as Atlantians wearing varying degrees of armor were looking at, and talking about the murals depicted.


    If there was anything Villin could compare this place to, it would be a library. With bookshelf after bookshelf filling up the entire room. The difference was that, instead of books, murals and engravings were made on the stone walls that littered the building.

 Chapter 187: Atlantian History

    After asking a few Atlantians nearby, Villin made his way to the area depicting the most recent history. Looking at the engravings things quickly became clearer.


    Villin started reading starting from the ''rebellion'' twenty-or-so years ago. This rebellion overthrew the then human leader of the city and the four men with a large amount of Fishmen DNA rose to the Atlantian throne.


    Under their leadership, art, something that had gotten less popular in the last hundred years, rose up again as new sculptures rose all over the city.


    The leaders treated their citizens well. They even personally went out to hunt for food for their people. They worked hard and the people loved them. Then, a catastrophe struck. Amen, one of the four leaders, was killed when he went out for food. It was said that the lord of the sea, a powerful creature, killed him.


    Fifteen years ago, the three other Atlantian leaders took an army and went out for revenge, and so they killed the sea lord''s child. Victorious in their purpose, the Atlantians retreated to the city.


    One month later, Atlantis got attacked by an army of sea-creatures. They assaulted Atlantis unexpectedly and so the casualties were heavy.


    Ever since then, the lord of the sea came with his armies every five years. They fought against the humans, when most of the sea army was destroyed, they would return to the depths of the sea.


    In thirty-two days it would be time again and Atlantis would once more be under siege of the sea creatures. This was two days after the three runemasters would have left.


    Seeing the events depicted on the murals, Villin nodded contently. One odd thing was the fact that the sea lord would never be properly depicted, he was always behind something else. But this would make sense if the people that made these murals simply didn''t know what it looked like.


    After learning of the enemies they would face, Villin fell into deep thought. Even though he knew some of the beasts depicted, he was unfamiliar with most. To the outside world, the sea is a mystery. Nearly no magus would willingly go deep underwater to fight beasts, where their strength would be severely restricted.


    After thinking for a few moments, Villin figured that it didn''t really matter that much. The fact of the matter was that there were dozens upon dozens of different beasts depicted in these murals and each and every one of them would have different abilities. All in all, they would have to be prepared to defend against a myriad of different kinds of enemies.


    Deciding to start working on some things, Villin once more made his way outside, he wanted to have a look at the defenses Atlantis had. According to the murals he looked at earlier concerning the war, it seemed that Atlantis had three lines of defense. One on the very outer border of the city. One halfway through, and a final one around the palace.


    Five years ago the beasts barely managed to breach the second line of defense. This was a problem as the citizens wouldn''t all be able to hide within the palace and it was clear that the defenses got worse every time.


    Not to mention the Atlantians who died, devices of war got destroyed by every attack and they were too complicated for their enchanters to return, they had no runemasters at this point in time, the final Atlantian runemaster died eleven years ago due to old age.


    After a short moment of thought, Villin decided to work on the outer defenses since they were the most important. Once the outer defenses were broken through the city would partially flood quite seriously restraining a section of the Atlantians'' combat forces. Even though the Atlantian magi had zero problems with fighting underwater, seventy percent of Atlantians were still mortal, half of these couldn''t even breathe underwater.


    Every second the outer defenses held, the Atlantians had a serious advantage against the beasts, once this wall was breached, the war would become a mostly even playing field, this wasn''t ideal for the defenders.


    With this in mind, Villin quickly began walking towards the border and two hours later, he arrived. Seeing the water move around the barrier was beautiful, but Villin didn''t spend much time looking at it before properly taking in his surroundings.


    The outer section of the dome was full of buildings much sharper than those inland. It seemed that here, aesthetics weren''t all that important. This was shown the clearest by the tall square towers that were built every fifty meters. Other than this there were also shorter towers all around.


    After noting these facts, Villin decided to have a look at the ward that kept the water away from this magnificent city. He approached the invisible barrier and when he was just half a meter away from the water, he sent strings of magic power forwards, trying to sense the ward.


    Yet, his magic power reached the edge between the water and air and it met no resistance. No matter how much Villin looked for it, he simply couldn''t sense a ward at all, something that seemed impossible considering the size and effect of the ward.


    After a bit of hesitation, Villin had his magic power probe further, actually reaching into the water around the city. As soon as he did this he sensed the magical power of a different person within the water. Not wanting this person to notice his disturbance, Villin''s magic power retracted sneakily until it got back to his body.


    "Why the hell is someone''s magic power within this water?" Villin wondered as he thought about the situation. He simply couldn''t understand how there didn''t seem to be a ward keeping the water out, he checked in multiple other locations but didn''t find even the faintest trace of a ward.


    After deciding to figure out this mystery later in his working period, Villin decided to finally check out the defenses they had here. He approached one of the numerous short towers and entered it, once inside, he saw a massive circular staircase heading up and so he quickly used it to get to the top of the tower.


    Below the rooftop, there were two other small floors. One had a couple of beds and some other basic utilities while the other one seemed to be a breakroom, Villin found a bunch of empty canvasses and paint in the room.


    After this came the rooftop. As soon as he got to the rooftop he noticed two people looking at him.


    Both of them had their entire armor set on save for the helmet and they had been talking until they heard him coming up to the roof.


    One of them had blonde hair and gills while the other one had brown hair and lacked gills.


    "Greetings, I am one of the runemasters invited by your leaders to repair and improve the defenses here, I assume this is a defensive tower?" Villin asked as he looked at the blonde soldier who seemed to be the leader.


    After a few moments of paused this individual replied, "Ah yes, I heard of that. And yes, we could very much use your help here. Each of these towers should have a massive speargun capable of piercing through any creature but many of the weapons have been broken. Even though we repaired those that broke, we aren''t able to do the same with the runes that were broken. Please, feel free to have a look." The blonde man was polite as he explained the situation before taking a step to the side, revealing the weapon in the middle of the tower.


    It was a very interesting device, it was a mix between a medieval ballista and a modern speargun. It was over two meters tall and the spears to the side were around two meters tall as well, "Is the machine intact?"


    "Yes, other than the runes it''s fully functional." after hesitating for a moment the blond Atlantian continued, "Even though I do not claim to know much about runes. If you have to prioritize I suggest you focus on properly getting all the spears enchanted across the towers. Even without enchantments, the spearguns are still quite powerful, with enchanted spears they should be able to pierce the skin of the vast majority of attackers."


    Hearing the man''s advice Villin nodded, "Thank you. I don''t know the enemy all that well so your feedback is quite valuable." yet then as he thought of something he continued speaking, "However, it is best if I know how to repair both properly. In order to do so, the quickest way would be to inspect a fully intact spear and speargun, are there any that are still fully intact?" Villin asked the man.


    "Ah yes, of course. We still have two fully enchanted spears here, they''re in the pile over there. As for an intact speargun, even though there aren''t many left, I believe squad seventy-two have one. They''re seven towers diagonally to the left." the man spoke as he pointed in the direction.


    "Thank you," Villin responded simply before turning to the still-enchanted spears the Atlantian had pointed out. It was time to see just how good the Atlantian runemasters were.

 Chapter 188: Atlantian Runology

    "Now let''s have a look at this." Villin mused as he picked up one of the enchanted spears. The spear looked more like a massive arrow compared to anything else. The metal it was made off had a blue hue to it as well, making it look quite unique.


    Just by looking at the broadhead point, it became clear how sharp this spear was. He supposed it would be able to pierce a layer of rock, and that was not even counting in the enchantments.


    Below the long shaft of the spear was a hole where something could be inserted. Looking around Villin noticed a massive pile of long chains on one side of the tower.


    There were about five of them and each of them had connected chains together to form a line of over a hundred meters long. The weight one of these piles of chains had was insane and Villin had no doubt that an unenchanted speargun would be unable to properly shoot it.


    That being said, its use was also very clear. The chains could be connected to the sharp spears. Then, if the broadhead spear pierced the beast, the ballista would be restricting the beast''s movements using the pull of the chain. A single one of these wouldn''t do much to a beast so powerful they would aim to restrict it instead of aiming for the kill, but looking at the distance between the towers Villin guessed that if all the spearguns were enchanted, the beast would be within the range of six different spearguns using these chains.


    Villin had to admit, he was impressed by the amount of metal these people ''wasted'' in preparations like this that were unlikely to actually be useful in a normal scenario but he saw it as a good thing, it must mean that the Atlantians had plenty of metal to spear if they used it on such metal-expensive ammunition.


    Putting his focus back onto the enchanted spear, Villin began inspecting the runes, many of which were unfamiliar.


    After noticing the unfamiliarity of most of these runes, he turned back to the blonde-haired guard, "Could you please get me some metal and wooden plates of around a square meter?"


    Due to Villin''s position as a runemaster the guard nodded and left the tower after giving the other guard a couple of orders.


    By the time the first guard came back, over an hour had passed. At this point, Villin had written down several pages in one of the notebooks he had with him and he had written down each of the individual runes and enchantments as he tried to find the division that was deeply hidden within the work of a runemaster.


    The wooden and metal plates were lifted up to the tower using a pulley mounted to the side of the building. With Villin and the second guard working together, they managed to lift up the plates Villin required for his work. Villin also knew the guards were most likely told to let the city leaders know of everything the runemasters requested or did, but he ignored this point, for the most part, acting as he always would.


    Just to make sure though, he did tell the initial guard of the purpose he needed these plates, "The spears, or arrows rather, are rather complicated in nature. The runemaster that made this also used runes the majority of which are unknown to me. In order to properly create and improve the enchantments this person made I''ll need to make sure of the use of each of these runes and enchantments first.


    "The best way to do this is to try and create some of these enchantments on a more neutral shape. I''ll also try creating them on wood to see if the materials affect the enchantment. Before enchanting, I generally prepare properly. This means I''m slower in the beginning but once I manage to properly understand what is going on I''ll be able to enchant much, much faster compared to before."


    Hearing Villin''s explanation, the guard seemed extremely interested. "I see, so you''re planning to improve some of the enchantments instead of just copying them?" the guard asked with unhidden curiosity.


    "It depends. I don''t have the time to continue spending days to come up with improvements for each enchantment. If I see areas that can be easily improved I''ll improve them, but I can''t give guarantees since I''m unsure of this runemaster''s abilities."


    The guard nodded contently as he heard Villin''s thought-process before leaving him the space to work and focusing on other things. He still kept an eye on Villin but this might as well be because he was genuinely interested in runemasters.


    ----------


    "Well, that doesn''t seem right." Villin frowned as he looked at the massive arrow in front of him. A strong magical glow came from it, much stronger compared to the ones enchanted by the previous runemaster but there seemed to be a problem as the arrowhead seemed to be constantly on fire, wasting the magic power within the runes.


    The flames were only supposed to appear after the arrow pierced a target, not when it was just lying there like that.


    "Keith, are you sure the holding enchantment was made correctly?"


    "Yes sir, I double-checked. It''s a pretty simple enchantment here, there''s no way I messed it up!" Keith defended himself nervously.


    Villin had been here for four days already and he was nearly done creating the first newly enchanted arrow/spear. Even though this pace seemed horrendous, Keith knew that Villin redesigned the entire string of enchantments, rearranging a bunch of them and using a bunch of enchantments from the outside world as well.


    Keith had blonde hair and gills. Four days ago, shortly after Villin arrived, he made his way towards the tower he guarded.


    He soon began recreating the enchantments that were made on an iron plate, but when Keith noticed how long it would take for Villin to figure out what is the beginning and end of which enchantment and what they did, Keith jumped in to help.


    He used to be one of the students of the runemaster that had passed away and he had just reached twenty-three years of age. He was pretty good at runology and knew a large number of the enchantments his master used back in the day. Thanks to this, Villin managed to figure out the use of each of the enchantments by the end of the second day.


    Apparently, Villin had requested one of the leaders to allow Keith to follow him as it would speed up his work and sure enough, Keith''s commanding officer soon told him that he was to help Villin for the following month.


    Now, as the end of the fourth day was approaching, the prototype of the new spears was almost finished.


    The spears enchanted by Keith''s master weren''t bad at all, it was quite impressive really. But that master severely lacked in his library of runes. The number of runes they knew here was extremely small and that was no less so for the runemaster, he only knew the Atlantian runes which were limited in number.


    Compared to the runes and enchantments Villin knew already, Atlantian runes were about a fifth as expansive. Thanks to this, the number of improvements that could be made was massive. Previously, the enchantments simply increased the spear''s sharpness and durability, but Villin could do much more.


    "Oh right, I forgot to add an incentive to the Merlock rune chain, this should fix it," Villin noted as he facepalmed.


    After tracing his finger over a part of the arrow, the flame at the tip disappeared and the arrow was finally complete.


    "Now, how about a test run?" Villin asked.


    Hearing the question, Keith quickly nodded and used a device to arm the speargun.


    With the speargun ready to shoot, Keith quickly made his way down the tower and towards one of the taller ones that were spaced out. Villin still didn''t know what was up those as he had been too busy working on the spears on the more numerous lower towers but he knew he still had plenty of time to have a look at the taller towers later.


    A few minutes after he entered one of the taller towers, he came back out and headed back up the stairs towards the speargun, then, totally exhausted due to the staircase, he gave Villin a thumbs up. I let the barrier wizard know about the disturbance, we''re clear to fire."


    Not thinking too much about Keith''s words, Villin nodded and put the newly enchanted spear into the armed speargun, then he stood to the side as he gestured Keith to take the shot.


    "I''ve never fired one of these and it wouldn''t be good to test accuracy if I shot," Villin explained, satisfying Keith''s curiosity.


    Keith nodded and pointed towards a large rock that could be seen behind the water barrier, "I''ll aim for that one. The rock is made from black stone, an incredibly hard kind of rock that is about as hard as the scales of a warmens, generally, an enchanted spear would be able to penetrate a couple of inches in." Keith commented.


    Then, with a loud ''THWANG'' the speargun shot.

 Chapter 189: A Magical Art

    ''THWANG!''


    When the spear got shot out, Villin knew Keith hadn''t been lying when he said the spearguns were powerful even unenchanted.


    Villin knew that if he stood where the rock was and he saw the speargun fire, he''d be unable to react in time.


    Within just a few moments, the spear reached the black rock and cut into it. It went a few inches in, about the same distance compared to the old enchanted spears. But then, half a second later:


    BANG!


    An explosion erupted from the tip of the spear and a large section of the rock was blown to bits.


    Villin grinned as he saw the spear falling down the pile of broken stone. At first, Villin indeed considered increasing the spear''s sharpness and speed further compared to the previous design, but he quickly understood that this wasn''t the way to go.


    According to Keith, these spears were enough to pierce the skin of the vast majority of the enemies, the problem was that a bunch of them could take a dozen of these shots.


    Keith himself figured that making the spears sharper would help a bunch since They may be able to reach Vitals and kill them with fewer shots but Villin had a different idea.


    According to the bits of information he had on the sea creatures that would attack and Keith''s occasional input, he thought of these creatures as a type of tank. Now, they weren''t quite so durable but thinking of them as such was easiest when thinking of what kind of enchantments to make.


    Now, one of the better ways to deal with tanks was to use tanks yourself. When you then fire a shell at the opposing tank, you had to make sure of two things. The shell must first be able to penetrate the tank''s armor and it had to explode once it did.


    The previously enchanted spears were already able to penetrate the armor so he simply had to condense this part of the enchantment, then, he added a second part that would cause it to explode after penetration to actually do damage.


    The effect seemed good and after a bit, Keith went out, into the water, and retrieved the spear. Even though Keith swam extremely fast, much, much faster than Villin could, he wasn''t too surprised since they were in an underwater city.


    After having a look at the spear used, Villin nodded before commenting, "It seems like one of these can be used four times without a problem, once more than I had estimated. After this, the metal will have dulled too much to penetrate and the enchantments would nearly run out of magic power. If the point was sharpened, a fifth time may be possible."


    Hearing Villin''s words, Keith seemed extremely happy with the result. Even though the previously enchanted spears were much, much more durable and could be used thirty times without a problem, the damage these new ones caused was so much more destructive it was most certainly worth the sacrifice.


    After inspecting the used spear properly, Villin changed a few notes he had written down and tore out a page for Keith.


    "Here you go Keith, this should keep you busy for a while," Villin said as he gave Keith the page that contained his work. When it came to these spears, Keith was able to do nearly eighty percent of the work, so Villin told him to do so. The spears would be being enchanted while Villin focused on another job such as creating a different type of spear or enchanting the spearguns. Then, when he finished with that, he could finish the enchantments on all of the spears Keith prepared.


    The main reason runemasters oftentimes had students was to do the gruntwork, Villin had been working in such a way with Rein for a long time and now Keith had to take over for a bit. He didn''t complain though as working on a runemasters project was not only considered honorable, but also extremely useful for your skills as an enchanter.


    When Villin came out of the tower, he took in a deep breath. Thus far, he was right on schedule. He was planning to have Keith work on this for around ten days, making plenty of ammo. After this, he would come back and finish work on all of the spears and Atlantis should have a good supply again.


    Villin first turned to the direction Keith told him had a properly enchanted speargun, but he ended up deciding to first have a look at the large towers, they were sparser as there was one every fifty meters, and there only seemed to be a single line of them.


    Curious as to what it would hold, Villin walked to the bottom and entered, as soon as he came through the door, he noticed there were two guards at the bottom of a massive spiraling staircase that seemed to be looking at them.


    "I''m one of the runemasters here to increase defenses, I''m just looking around to see where I''m most needed."


    Saying this was enough for the guards to let him through and he quickly rose up. Villin had instantly noted that the inner walls of this tower were enchanted, it seemed like these were seen as very important.


    There were three floors before Villin got to the top, each floor had two guards to whom he had to repeat his description to be let through, all in all, security was extremely strict here.


    When he finally got to the roof he noticed there was one final person here, they didn''t seem to be a guard though as they were dressed differently. It was actually the first person Villin had seen in this city who didn''t wear any armor, they were only wearing a very loose blue robe.


    In the middle of the tower''s roof, there seemed to be a small room but it had no windows, Villin noticed the enchantments on the walls there were the strongest and the door was made out of iron.


    "Hey there, so, does that room hold a weapon to be used against the beasts?" Villin asked simply as he turned to the robed Atlantian.


    The Atlantian seemed surprised but responded as he knew of Villin''s identity. "No, it holds a barrier wizard, even though we generally prefer to be called ''Benders''. I''m on the next shift and have to start in about an hour." The bender explained.


    Villin looked at him with some surprise before continuing, "Alright, and what do benders do then?"


    "What? Well, we keep the water from flooding us of course! We are the reason this city is able to hold human life inside!" The bender seemed slightly agitated because of Villin''s question but quickly calmed down since he knew there was no way for Villin to have known.


    It was at this point though, he saw Villin''s expression. His eyes seemed to be sparkling as realization dawned on him, "You are the ones creating the dome! It''s not done by a ward at all, it''s all just magi!"


    The bender once more had to take in a deep breath and remind himself of Villin''s ignorance before responding, "We are not ''just magi'', we are benders. The most important magi in this city. We not only keep the water in but we are also the strongest weapons when the monsters attack. We bend the water to attack our opponents, we move them away from sensitive areas and keep the battlefield under control!"


    Villin''s eyes widened further as he mumbled, "Transfiguration"


    After realizing the implications here, he eagerly asked, "Would it be possible for me to learn this art? How do you do it?"


    Hearing his question, the bender seemed confused, "I was told only one of you was to be taught the art of bending, do you think I would go against our leaders'' wishes?"


    Villin facepalmed as he realized what art it was that the best performing runemaster would be taught. They would be taught how to ''bend'' the water, or at least the basics of how to do so.


    "Thank you for your time." Villin simply said before leaving. There was nothing he could do here, the towers were already properly enchanted, if he wanted to improve them he may only be able to finish two before the timelimit.


    Even though he tried to focus on where to go, Villin''s mind couldn''t help but wonder. Being able to transfigure water would be an extremely powerful art. He knew how bad magi generally were underwater, if he managed to learn this art properly, it wouldn''t be long before he was undefeatable underwater, when faced against other magi that was.


    The longer he thought of this bit, the more he realized that that probably wasn''t true at all but the fact remained that it would be a lifesaver to be able to transfigure water if you were fighting in an ocean. At the very least, you''d be able to escape safely.


    No matter what, he had to do the best amongst runemaster, he truly felt like he needed this reward.


    Without any more hesitation, Villin began heading for the next short tower, the one Keith had said had an intact enchanted speargun.

 Chapter 190: The Enchanted Speargun

    "Well, this one looks impressive." Villin admitted as he looked at the speargun that was largely made out of a golden material, "How come its exterior is different to the other ones?"


    The cocky blue-haired Atlantian who led this tower put his head up high before responding, "This one comes from the inner defenses. All of the enchanted spearguns on the barrier front were destroyed but they had a few spare ones."


    Hearing this, Villin nodded, "But the enchantments are the same on this one compared to the less¡­.golden spearguns, right?"


    When the Atlantian nodded, Villin felt assured as he began studying it. Unlike Keith, the Atlantian in charge here didn''t treat Villin too well, speaking to him in a condescending manner. But since Villin was inspecting the speargun instead of talking, he didn''t care about it too much and simply continued his work.


    For a few days, all Villin did was inspect the work that had been done here. Compared to the spears, the enchantments on the speargun were much denser. It made sense since the runemaster that used to live here must''ve had to make tens-of-thousands of spears if not a hundred thousand.


    Compared to the two-thousand spearguns this place had, it was much, much more. The spears also had a limited number of times they could be shot while the spearguns wouldn''t have such a problem as long as they weren''t harmed.


    By the time Villin completely finished his inspection of the speargun and increased his understanding of the Atlantian runes used here, it was already the tenth day. Time had gone by incredibly fast but Villin felt that he was making great progress. He had a special plan in mind when it came to the new version of the spearguns he would be making.


    As far as he knew, even though Atlantis didn''t have any runemasters currently, they did have over a hundred somewhat skilled enchanters. Villin was intending to make a runic blueprint simple enough so that a skilled enchanter would be able to improve the spearguns.


    It wouldn''t be as good as the ones a runemaster would make but they would still be much more powerful and many more would be enchanted by the end of the time limit, even after the time limit ended, once the battle was over, Atlantian enchanters would be able to repair the spearguns themselves, hopefully giving them a good impression of Villin.


    Once he had a decent plan drafted up, Villin first went back to Keith to see how he was doing. The boy was currently working outside, next to some of the towers, there were large piles of spears all around him as he continued to work on his enchantments.


    When Villin approached him, he noticed how exhausted Keith seemed, his eyes had darkened and he looked as if he could fall asleep at any moment. Villin didn''t comment on this yet though as he simply asked, "How many have you finished thus far?"


    Keith looked up at him and quickly gathered his thoughts, momentarily becoming less tired again, "Five-hundred and seventy-six thus far." he noted as he glanced at the notes he made himself.


    Hearing the number, Villin couldn''t help but let out a soft whistle. Considering that Keith had been working for around six days and he had finished so many, that meant he finished one every fifteen minutes on average. This included sleeping, eating, and time spent moving around spears.


    Incredibly impressed by his performance, Villin once more looked at his condition and noted, "That''s enough for now, thank you. Take a rest, if I need your help again I''ll come to get you in the tower we met."


    With a soft smile, Keith nodded, "Thank you, don''t hesitate to get me again." before heading to the tower he generally guarded to sleep.


    Villin shook his head as he looked at all of the spears around him. He didn''t doubt that mistakes were made in a number of them, but even if over twenty percent were faulty, there''d still be more than four hundred.


    And so, Villin began adding in the hardest parts to the enchantments in these spears, finishing them. Without sleeping it took Villin a little over a day to finish but it was fast enough.


    Thinking of the progress thus far he had finished nearly five-hundred rounds of ammunition in eleven days, this wasn''t a very good result if you simply looked at that.


    But Villin knew that it would only really be getting started now. He grabbed two of the enchanted spears and began heading towards the palace. First, he had to pass by one of the barracks so a general had to accompany him if he wanted to be let into the palace, but the general didn''t cause too many problems.


    The palace itself was gorgeous, it was said that the old palace was destroyed twenty years ago but you couldn''t tell that this one was made so quickly. The closest comparison Villin could make was that the palace looked like a massive Muslim mosque with blue accentuations, it truly was a gorgeous building.


    Since he was accompanied by a general he was easily let in and he soon found himself walking through hallways filled with beautiful paintings, each and every one of them seemed like they were made by a master painter, with thousands of them in a single building, Villin wouldn''t be surprised if this was the most artistically valuable place on the planet.


    After sitting in a waiting room for a little while, Villin was allowed to go to the throne room. Still accompanied by the general, he found himself before a golden door that had numerous engravings telling the history of this nation.


    Once he was given the go-ahead by one of the guards that were guarding the throne-room, he opened the massive door and walked in.


    The throne room was as beautiful as the hallways in the palace but in a different way. Compared to the hallways this room was a lot more open, there was an extremely wide catwalk going from the door to the thrones and even beyond that a lot of space was available.


    The walls didn''t hold any paintings but there were some small sculptures spread out, other than that there were also corinthian pillars evenly spaced.


    If there was one thing in the room that screamed art, they were the four thrones at the end of the room. The thrones were made out of what looked like a blue-tinted silver. Unlike most of the sculptures and buildings around, they were as sharp as could be. They seemed to be made out of a hundred different pieces of metal that just barely created a throne. Jagged and sharp edges protruded everywhere making it look very crude.


    Yet despite this, there was a special kind of beauty to the thrones, one that made Villin classify it as art. On Three of the thrones sat the Atlantian leaders, two of which Villin had met before. They were all blue-skinned males. The empty throne was obviously from the Atlantian leader that died twenty years ago.


    "Runemaster, what is it that you seek from us?" one of the leaders said with a calm voice that reached all the way towards Villin.


    "I seek assistance, or rather, I seek to provide more assistance than I currently am!" Villin said clearly as he approached the throne somewhat, stopping when he was a good twenty meters away from the Atlantian leaders.


    "Hmm, explain." the same leaders responded as they were all looking at him with piercing expressions.


    "I have with me here two fully enchanted spears that can be shot from the spearguns. They are much more effective compared to the previous model and can do a lot of damage. With one assistance I managed to make four-hundred of these thus far, an amount that isn''t sufficient at all.


    "I overheard you have over a hundred citizens here capable of enchanting properly. With their assistance, I will be able to finish enough of these to last you through the battle. Additionally, they will be able to assist greatly in enchanting the spearguns themselves as I am working on an enchanting blueprint that will be doable even for those that aren''t a runemaster." Villin finished in a charismatic tone, he was truly hoping to get the support of these enchanters as the change in results would be massive.


    "Give us time to convene with one another." one of the three said, and just like that, Villin was sent out of the room.


    When he got out, Villin let out a deep breath, he just asked for a lot of resources and he wasn''t sure if the leaders realized why he needed them. It was most likely that the Atlantian leaders thought a runemaster had their own projects compared to a regular enchanter and that they don''t generally work together.


    "Those shots, how much better are they?"


    When Villin heard the deep voice, he looked at the source and noticed the general looking at the spears he had been carrying, with a smile Villin responded, "The penetrations force is about the same, but once it does penetrate, it causes a large explosion, it should be able to kill most of the creatures it manages to pierce, if one isn''t sufficient two should do. Much better than the six or so shots you needed from the old versions." Villin ended his short rant.


    He had learned a lot from the cocky Atlantian when he was studying the speargun, even though the guy was a bit annoying, he couldn''t help but keep on bragging about Atlantis, giving away a lot of information while he did so.


    After waiting in the waiting room for a few minutes, one of the guards entered as well, "The leaders have made their decision."

 Chapter 191: The Enchanting Force

    At first, when Villin heard the leaders had made their decision, he thought he had to head back into the throne room but the general stopped him.


    "When the leaders said they made their decision, that is what has happened. Whether they accepted your plea or not will become clear soon enough."


    At first, Villin frowned when he heard this but then he understood the reasoning. It was most likely a security measure since certain people might do stupid things if they heard their wish being denied.


    So, Villin went back to where he had been previously and he spent some time adjusting some of the runes he planned for the spearguns. There would most likely still be some kinks to figure out since it was the first time Villin was enchanting an object with so many moving parts.


    Villin was reworking one of the enchantments along the inner mechanism when he heard Keith''s voice behind him, "Ehm, Sir, there are some people here looking for you."


    When Villin heard the voice he turned around immediately, it seemed that the leaders may have listened to him. Yet all he saw were three people standing next to Keith, looking at him with sparkling eyes.


    One of them was a girl that seemed to be around nineteen years old, "Hello runemaster Villin, I look forward to working with you."


    Her two male companions also followed suit and they all put a finger on their foreheads, an Atlantian custom that was a sign of respect.


    Villin nodded as he looked at them, even though it seemed that the leaders hadn''t given him what he wanted, at least he had three more helpers and that counted for something.


    "Alright then, welcome you three, let''s get started. To begin I think it''s best if we get some more ammunition done, that''s of the highest priority in the current situation. So go ahead and begin carrying some spears down to enchant, then I''ll show you what to do."


    After saying this, Villin intended to go back to his notes but the girl asked in a confused manner, "Sir runemaster, did you say you want us to carry the spears down?"


    When Villin heard the tone she said it in, he felt somewhat confused. She didn''t sound condescending or offended at all despite her response, carefully, he tested out, "Who else should I ask to do it?"


    A flash of realization came on the girl''s voice as she responded, "Oh, right! We were supposed to tell you that the personnel had gathered on the recruitment grounds. I''m sorry, I thought you were aware they were coming."


    Faced with Villin''s piercing gaze, Hazel began sweating. It wasn''t that Villin purposefully was trying to intimidate her but more that his regular face had grown quite a bit scarier over the last year.


    "Alright then, bring me there."


    "Yes, sir runemaster." the sweating Hazel said quickly before turning around, even though she felt his gaze was quite terrifying, now there was a blush creeping onto her cheeks.


    Villin followed Hazel and the other two through the city. In the end, they appeared at a massive tiled clearing close to the palace. The clearing was rectangular and the tiles were well-maintained as no moss could be seen creeping through the space in between tiles.


    The clearing didn''t have any objects on it but when looking at the end, there were a large number of people lined up with their hands behind their back.


    As Hazel kept leading him closer, Villin couldn''t help but curse inwardly, there were about two hundred people here, more people than this place had enchanters.


    Once they got to the group, Hazel and the other two stood in line next to the others. The only person out-of-line was Keith and he didn''t seem like he knew what was going on.


    After taking in the sheer number, Villin turned to Hazel, "Girl, please state your name and the professions of the people sent to assist."


    Hazel took a step out of line and quickly responded, "My name is Hazel and I am an enchanter. In total, you have been assigned two-hundred and twenty troops. One-hundred and twelve are enchanters. Thirty-eight are mechanics, and seventy are guards. Most of the people here hold more professions but those are most likely unsuited for the tasks.


    Hearing the proper response, Villin nodded gladly, he was pretty sure that these were all of the enchanters in the city, save a few. The mechanics were also extremely useful as they''d have to disassemble the spearguns to properly enchant them and the guards would be useful to carry items around.


    Before he could properly digest the numbers and give orders, Hazel spoke again, "Runemaster Villin, you have also been granted access to the previous runemaster''s workshop and the items within, as far as you use this to help Atlantis, that is."


    Villin couldn''t help himself from smiling, it seemed that he was wrong about the leaders, they actually sent him so much help. It was most likely because they had gotten desperate and wanted to find some way to turn the situation around but Villin was happy to accept their assistance.


    "In that case, let us head for the workshop, Hazel, lead the way."


    As Villin followed behind Hazel, the rest of the troops followed behind Villin. People in their path casually detoured around the small army as seeing such drills wasn''t anything special. On the other hand, Villin was extremely surprised by the people following him. They all stayed in a number of lines and nobody seemed to be out of step, this was a surprising achievement for a bunch of enchanters, Villin was sure that this kind of unity was near impossible to find in the outside world. At the very least it would be in the central and eastern continent.


    After walking for half an hour, the group arrived at a massive oddly-shaped warehouse. This was apparently where the previous runemaster worked from. Going inside, Villin felt that it was mostly cleaned out. There was a bunch of equipment such as pens and chalks that could help with enchanting but there were no enchanted objects in the warehouse anymore.


    In reality, it was a good thing that the warehouse was mostly empty, Villin lamented, before asking the ''army to stand into their specific groups.


    First, he pointed to the guards, "Alright, all of you go and get spearguns and their spears. Go from tower to tower so we have a decent mix of the two." with that, the guards were on their way.


    After this, he pointed towards the mechanics, "There are still some materials in this warehouse, use them to make a bunch of tables so that both the enchanters and yourselves have enough space to work." only a portion of the mechanics could work on this but the others grabbed a blueprint of the spearguns to refamiliarize themselves with the work.


    Seeing that they were also busy, Villin turned to the group of enchanters. For a bit, he was at a loss, how was he supposed to explain something to such a large number of people, the papers he wrote the enchantments on were quite small.


    But then he got an idea and he put one of his hands on the wall while he was looking at the papers that depicted the new enchantments that would be on the spearguns.


    Slowly, before the unbelieving eyes of the enchanters and some of the mechanics, the wall began to morph. Lines of texts and runes appeared on the wall as Villin transfigured it and make the text stick out properly. It was just about big enough so that everyone would be able to see it without a problem.


    He started with putting the first enchantments and the notes he put with it and he quickly began explaining it vocally as well so that the enchanters understood the enchantment better. Then, this enchantment and the notes became smaller and moved to another place in the room where it was further away from the workstations, then a second line appeared big enough for everyone to read and Villin explained that one.


    It was like this that Villin decided to explain the required portions to this group of enchanters. It took multiple hours, but eventually, Villin finished explaining the last enchantment that should be on the spearguns.


    Looking around now, Villin noticed that half of the enchanters had notepads in their hands and continued writing things down while the other half looked completely stunned. After a bunch, the enchanters spread out again and began looking at certain enchantments they didn''t understand again. The enchanting notes had been spread all across the warehouse so people didn''t have too many problems looking at the notes and enchantments in detail.


    Meanwhile, more and more spears and spearguns had been carried into the warehouse, a bunch of the spearguns had also been dismantled already while they made sure to properly organize the parts so that nothing got lost.


    And then, finally, some of the enchanters were prepared to begin working.

 Chapter 192: A Problematic Individual

    "Careful with that Fallion enchantment! Make sure the runes are close enough together."


    "What are you doing? This isn''t even close to being the right rune."


    "Come on now, I know you guys like circles around here but at least make an attempt at making the edge of this rune sharp."


    For hours, exclamations like this came from the workshop. Even though it was exhausting to look over so many enchanters, Villin couldn''t be happier.


    ''With so many enchanters working with me, I''ve pretty much secured first place amongst the runemasters, even Ruby should have no way to turn this around.'' he figured as he finished the enchantments on one of the spears.


    When it came to the spearguns, Villin didn''t have to do anything other than managing the enchanters here. They would regularly go to check out some of the sections he transfigured on the wall when they forgot something but soon they found a more effective way to enchant.


    At first, it was just five friends that decided to work together on a speargun. Once it was dismantled by a mechanic, they split the work between the five of them, as each took certain sections of the dismantled weapon.


    Since they each only had to remember the enchantments of a fifth of the weapon, they moved a lot sooner and after a few corrections from Villin, they barely made any mistakes as well.


    Soon, the enchanters all began working in groups of four to six people. This increased the pace by a lot and speargun after speargun was being finished.


    While they were doing this a little more than a dozen other enchanters including Keith and Hazel, worked on the spears. They couldn''t do it all by themselves but after they finished the sections a regular enchanter could do, they passed the spears to Villin giving him plenty of work.


    A week passed and in this time, a massive amount of spears were made. After seeing how well everyone worked this day and that it was getting late, it was about time to finish up. He decided to send the enchanters home for the night and go to sleep himself as well.


    Once everyone left, Villin went to the main gate of the workshop, intending to close it for a while, but he met with an unpleasant surprise.


    Just as Villin was about to close the gate, a man entered through the open gate, standing opposite him.


    "You! You''ve been cheating! I heard what you did, taking all those enchanters for yourself, how is that a fair competition?!"


    The angry man that had entered was, of course, Cornelius.


    When Cornelius entered, Villin sighed deeply. He saw Cornelius as an exhausting brat that was only there to waste his time.


    "Look, Cornelius, I requested for enchanters to help me and they sent me some. That''s all there is to i-"


    The already exhausted Villin was about to finish his sentence when he felt something off, magical elements were gathering around him. Something that would usually only happened if he would be trying to cast a spell or if an environmental spell was being cast there.


    Knowing that it could very well be the latter, Villin paused in his sentence and attempted to jump to the side, attempted being the keyword.


    When Cornelius entered Villin didn''t have his guard up at all. He didn''t see the man as a threat and only found that he had a loud and annoying mouth thus far, he wasn''t prepared to bolt when the environmental spell was cast. Because of his initial hesitation, he was unable to stop the environmental spell from being cast on him.


    When Villin tried to jump to the side, he found out that his feet were already bound. Looking down he saw thick black chains coiling around his feet and to the ground.


    As soon as Villin saw the chains, he took action, he put his feet on the ground and transfigured the ground around the places where the chains bound him to the ground. Thus, even though the chains didn''t disappear, the ground he was linked to were now just pebble-sized, no longer restricting his movement so heavily.


    Yet, while Villin was forced to use transfiguration to get out of the magical bindings, Cornelius didn''t sit still.


    He had been preparing a spell of his and as soon as Villin escaped, Cornelius sent out a blue fireball that moved towards him rapidly.


    It was at this point that Villin realized that Cornelius was here to kill, nothing less.


    The fireball moved quickly so it was too late to block the spell or escape using transfiguration.


    With the blue ball of fire about to hit him, Villin was only able to cast one of the simplest spells he knew, ''Magic Shield''.


    When the blue fireball hit the newly created magic shield, a massive explosion occurred.


    At first, Villin was luckily only sent flying against the wall, even though he broke a couple of bones, he would be fine.


    But, this wasn''t the only thing that happened.


    Even though most of the enchanted spears made were already sent to various towers, there were still around fifty of them left inside of the warehouse. When the blue fireball blew up, the explosion also damaged the enchantments on one of these arrows.


    With the enchantment broken, all of the magic energy within the spear made its way outward causing another explosion.


    This caused for a chain reaction to happen as spear after spear blew up.


    Villin, who was still relatively alright at first, got hit hard by some of the spears'' detonation and got sent through the stone walls that this warehouse was made of.


    His body crashed against the ground numerous times before finally crashing into a statue-head on, stopping him in his tracks.


    After slumping to the ground Villin fainted. He had taken serious internal damage.


    ------------


    "How is he?"


    "He''ll make it miss. He is a lucky man, if he wasn''t wearing Blue-Mythril armor beneath his regular clothes he would''ve died."


    Worried, Ruby looked at Villin who was lying on the bed in front of her, "How did this even happen?"


    The Atlantian doctor looked at her kindly before responding, "As I''ve said before miss, it seems like he made a mistake while enchanting. The product he was working on must''ve blown up and this caused a chain reaction, destroying the entire facility."


    After a moment though, the doctor decided to ask hesitantly, "The only thing I can''t explain is the scar on his face, it seems to have been created by magic but I''m not sure how that would''ve happened."


    Hearing this, Ruby sighed, "No, that one isn''t new, he''s simply been hiding it using magic." she explained before setting her gaze on Villin again, "When will he be better? Can I take him back to The Academy for proper treatment?" she quickly asked.


    Immediately, the doctor shook his head, "If he were to teleport now, it would be the death of him. It will take a while before his internal organs fully heal, before that time he cannot teleport without risking his life."


    As soon as the doctor said that he noticed Ruby turned a lot more worried so he quickly continued, "Don''t worry though, our medicine are very good, he''ll make a full recovery."


    Hearing this sentence, Ruby didn''t calm down at all, "But he won''t make a full recovery before the beast attack will he? How is he supposed to live then if he''ll barely be able to defend himself?"


    Hearing Ruby mention this matter, the doctor also got grimmer, he hadn''t thought of that. After looking at the girl in front of him for a bit, he decided to be honest.


    "I can assure you that he''ll be deep within the city where he''ll be safest. But, no matter what, a number of beasts are bound to reach him and at that time the boy will at most be able to walk." the doctor''s grim expression told Ruby all she needed to know of his chances at that time, she ran out of the door before tears flowed down her eyes.


    -------------------------


    While this was happening, Villin had a dream.


    Villin found himself floating above the ground, looking at a battlefield. He noticed he was in Atlantis, even though the barrier was mostly holding thus far, a layer of water about half a meter deep still existed all over Atlantis. He noticed spears being shot towards the creatures outside and even though they were really effective, occasionally a creature slipped through.


    Villin had an especially bad feeling when he looked at a certain creature in particular. It was a rather small creature, it was green in color and moved extremely quickly through the thin layer of water.


    It helped out his fellow attackers twice when they fought against Atlantian troops holding tridents. The creature was capable of sending water slashes towards people, cutting through skin.


    Overall, the creature wasn''t that special but it managed to group up with some of the other creatures that attacked and after a lot of bloodshed, the little green creature was the only one left.


    Villin''s bad feeling got worse as the little creature went towards one of the hospitals around. Due to its small size and the fact it was the first to get this far into the city, the guard looking over the building didn''t notice it and it managed to get inside. There, it saw two individuals. One was a doctor and another a boy full of scars, then, with a single slash, Villin saw his own head being decapitated.


    Normally this was where he would wake up but he couldn''t, he tried to get out of the dream very hard but it was like he was cut off from the world.

 Chapter 193: Less Human

    After his death happened in the dream, it paused, but Villin still couldn''t get out. He tried to wake up but simply couldn''t even now that he knew how important it was.


    After trying to wake up for what he experienced as a couple of hours, Ashera grabbed his attention from within his mind.


    He closed his eyes and entered his own mind, floating before Ashera who was currently in her Kitsune form.


    Realizing that Ashera as a Kitsune probably knew more about than him, he decided to ask her a question, "Ashera, do you know how to get out of a coma? How do I wake up?"


    Hearing him ask, Ashera nodded, it was the very reason she called him here after all, "Normally, if a human were to enter a come the only way they could really be helped is by other people healing them using spells or medicine. Luckily, you aren''t entirely human."


    "The Kitsune heart! So, how does it help?"


    Faced with this second question, Kitsune got more serious as she began explaining. When I was implanted within you, you got the abilities of a one-tailed Kitsune. You were able to bridge the gap between species to assault the minds of other species." as she explained, the memories about the ogres moved around them.


    "Once I got more comfortable within this body, you should''ve gotten the abilities of a two-tailed Kitsune. This ability is to defend one''s mind. Now, it simply happens to be that you already knew how to do this so it didn''t make much of a difference."


    Hearing her speak, Villin nodded thoughtfully.


    "A three-tailed Kitsune gets an entirely different ability. Mental regeneration. They are capable of healing their own minds from damage. Kitsune generally use it after a fight amongst themselves, despite serious mental damage, the winner would generally be completely healing within a week. This is a massive difference when compared to humans who generally don''t heal from mental wounds at all."


    Hearing the explanation, Villin''s mental eyes shone, "So, how do I advance to a three-tailed Kitsune then?" he asked.


    It was now that Ashera showed a complicated expression. "Even with just a Kitsune''s heart, I managed to help you advance to a two-tailed kitsune with little to no problems. But this isn''t possible anymore. The problem is that, as you stand, you have little more than a Kitsune bloodline. Of course, my existence is an oddity but still, you are considered human in its purest form."


    Villin frowned as he wasn''t sure where this was going. As for being human in its purest form, even though his heart would disagree, he did get where she was coming from.


    "You have to change, you have to stop your mental image of yourself. You aren''t human, you are half-Kitsune. This is something you have to accept and embrace."


    "I see," Villin said as he thought deeply, "How though, I''ve been a human for so long, it''s not like I can just go and change one of the things I have been thinking for years."


    He looked at Ashera for confirmation but when he looked at her, he saw she was smiling faintly, and then he understood.


    "Oh, I suppose it would be possible."


    "Indeed, you need to go within your mind and change something. There is a lot of danger to it but looking at you I think, eventually, you would''ve lost this misconception of yourself anyways, I think you''ll be able to accept the new truth with relative ease if you change it within your mind."


    Even now, Villin didn''t hesitate to agree. He had seen what would happen if he remained asleep, and well, he could believe Ashera''s words when she said that eventually, he would''ve lost these thoughts anyways.


    After taking in a deep mental breath, he looked at her again, "Okay then, how do I do it?"


    Ashera smiled as she saw how quickly he accepted this, she had to admit that she would also prefer it if Villin thought of himself as half-Kitsune, it would be easier to see him as kin.


    "When you try to change something like this, your mind will automatically see it as an attack on itself and try to stop you. The least complicated way would be to attack your own mind from the outside, breach the first two layers of your mental defense and change what needs to be changed."


    Villin frowned as he heard this, "Isn''t there another way? Couldn''t I just go to the required location now and change it before the mind has a way to retaliate?"


    Ashera shook her head, "Then how will you get out? No matter what you will need to take a large part of your magic power and consciousness with you to change such a substantial thing. If you change it and then the mind manages to terminate the threat, you may be even more seriously harmed compared to before. Going through each of the defenses gives you a way out as well, it''s the safest way."


    Grasping at straws, Villin asked, "Can I weaken my defenses first then?"


    Ashera looked at her with a raised eyebrow, "Can you? Even though destroying is easier than creating, it will take a very long time to make holes in the defenses that took months to create."


    Villin couldn''t do anything but nod. Even though he did have a lot of control over his mind, he did create laws within the defenses. Things like gravity, weight, or temperature were things there. Just like that, you wouldn''t be able to just create a hole inside of the wall by thinking it away, you would have to mentally create cannons or something of the like.


    Thinking of all the defenses Ashera and himself had made, Villin clacked his tongue, "Are there any preparations we can make?"


    Now, the Kitsune did nod, "yes, for one I will be able to position the sections you will need to change just behind the second layer of defenses, so once you''re through, you''ll practically immediately be able to change the belief and go back out. Secondly, while you move through the defenses I''ll spend some time making a mock-belief where you see yourself as half-human half-Kitsune. This way you''ll be able to switch the beliefs out quickly. Lastly, you can have a good look at your mental defenses now and look for weak points to go through. You can also practice forming your magic power into the items or tools required to go through the two layers."


    Hearing her suggestions to prepare, Villin nodded seriously as he thought about them. They would indeed increase the chances of success by a bit, "This''ll be hard." he noted.


    "Yes." Ashera agreed, "Previously I thought we had plenty of time for you to get that realization naturally so I never purposefully created weak points within the defenses, you''ll have to fight them head-on."


    After a simple nod, Villin made his way to the two areas he would have to get through and he began inspecting them thoroughly. Even though he already knew what they were, seeing them up close may help when coming up with ways to get through them.


    After spending days inspecting his defenses and practicing forming his magic in the right ways to enact his plans, he finally felt ready.


    He soon found himself standing outside of his outermost defenses in his life-like form. He had gathered all of his magic power and it swirled around him for now. Since he knew that a few steps forward the laws would start to kick in and magic power lacked form, he began forming it in a temporary fashion for now. The magic power turned into a magic carriage full of goods that were in simple shapes.


    He could''ve also used all the magic power on himself and become a giant within the mental world but he knew that the ground was purposefully made unstable, too much weight and you could fall into a sinkhole.


    Pulling along the carriage filled with goods was still tough though, it wasn''t so heavy that it would fall through the ground but it was too heavy for himself to pull. And so, some of the apples in one of the crates morphed and after a bit, two horses were standing in front of the carriage.


    Villin didn''t put too much importance on the horses and they looked quite sickly. The reason was that the magic power was all extremely condensed within the carriage and horses, this made the carriage and horses worse in quality. It was like using concrete instead of wood to make a roof on a wooden cabin. Even though concrete was stronger, the cabin would most certainly collapse as the walls couldn''t hold it.


    Since it was only for a short while though, it''d be fine and soon Villin found himself atop of a carriage moving through what seemed like endless grasslands.


    It wasn''t actually that massive though and after just ten minutes, he could spot the defenses in the distance. He first saw a ginormous wall that reached endlessly into the sky. A bit later, he saw legions of stone statues next to it, standing completely still with spears in hand.


    As Villin looked at the sight he couldn''t help but be impressed by his own mental defenses, it was certainly intimidating. Still, he moved forward as he prepared himself, he would have to attack his own mind, even though it sounded crazy, he was set on doing it now.

 Chapter 194: Overcoming The Mind

    "Let''s do this!" Villin said with a glint in his eyes.


    In front of the walls were a massive amount of stone soldiers, they stood in squares of about five-hundred soldiers per. If they had shields it would be extremely similar to how the Spartans fought. In actuality, giving them shields was the next thing on the list but he didn''t have to think about that right now.


    In order to get to the wall, he would have to go through four layers of formations, this meant he would have to destroy at least two-thousand-five-hundred stone soldiers, and that was if the soldiers in different legions didn''t attack.


    As for now, even though they could detect him from far away, they didn''t make any moves. Thus far Villin hadn''t done anything negative to the mind so he and his magic power were still seen as good.


    This wouldn''t take long though, as Villin''s hand hovered over it, the goods within the carriage began to disappear as new items began being made.


    Firstly, he put on armor made out of Blue-Mythril. Technically he could also make it out of Mythril and it wouldn''t differ much as in how much magic power it requires but he didn''t have any experience with Mythril so the armor wouldn''t be good at all.


    As Villin gazed at the legions he would have to be faced, his magic power began making a hundred different items behind him.


    As he was waiting for his items to finish forming, Villin looked at the carriage and horses. The horses were gone, all the magic power within them had been used on the preparations, the vast majority of goods within the carriage were gone as well with only a few crates remaining.


    After seeing how stable the magic power within the carriage still was, he decided to condense it further and made it into a backpack full of cotton that he could carry. He frowned slightly as he noticed the amount of magic power within it, "I''ll have to be careful, I have to try and conserve the magic power within this backpack so I have enough to defeat the second layer of defenses." he told himself.


    After putting his attention on the forming of objects again for a little while, they were finally getting finished. Looking behind him, Villin saw ninety-nine one-meter-tall puppets. Each of them was blue, made out of one of the materials Villin worked with in Atlantis that was both durable and conductive.


    The puppets didn''t have expressions or anything of the like, they were faceless and emotionless. Each of them had a massive amount of runes on them, they were identical to the puppet he had with him in reality when it came to enchantments.


    Each of the puppets had strands of magic power leading back to Villin, it would be rather hard to control this many but he would have to to get through this.


    As for the final item Villin created, it was a greatsword that was lying on the ground before him. Since one of the laws in this place stopped you from casting magic, he was forced to use cold weapons and runology, the web didn''t function here.


    When he properly mentally prepared himself, he looked at the enemies once more, and then he charged.


    The greatsword in his hands was heavy but he could still easily run with its weight. As he ran towards the legions before him, the puppets rang alongside him.


    Still, the legions did nothing, moments before the two sides were to clash, Villin paused, and at the same time did his troops.


    "Actually, we might be able to take advantage of the fact they don''t see us as a threat yet."


    Villin frowned as he looked at the stone soldiers but a meter away from him. They wouldn''t make a move even if he went right past them, hell, the wall would even open up to let him pass, the only reason he couldn''t pass by like so if because he needed to create himself an escape path.


    "Wait, it can''t be that easy," Villin questioned as he came up with a plan.


    Under his command about forty of the puppets moved forwards, passing some of the soldiers, they were spread out across the four legions he would have to destroy to create a path to both enter and leave through.


    "Wait, could I really?" As Villin further questioned the possibility of this new plan of his, ten more of his puppets moved forwards, passing by the soldiers entirely and standing close-together next to the wall.


    Right now, each of the legions he would have to pass had ten puppets spread out across the five-hundred troops, and ten more were situated at the wall behind him.


    The final forty-nine puppets were standing close to him, in front of all the stone soldiers. "Well, here goes nothing," Villin noted as he sent a signal to each of the puppets mixed within the stone soldiers'' legions and the ones at the wall.


    "BOOM!!!"


    Each of the puppets self-destructed at once causing a massive explosion to take place. Villin covered his eyes as stone fragments flew all over the place, the force of the explosion even caused him and the other puppets to have to take a couple of steps back as they nearly got blown away.


    When the shockwave had passed, Villin took his hand away and looked at the scene before him. It was total devastation. The self-exploding force of these puppets was incredible and they managed to take care of nearly all of the stone soldiers within the four legions they had to pass. There were only a couple on the outskirts of this place that survived, and most of those still lost an arm or two.


    Seeing the charred grass and the holes in the ground, Villin felt somewhat lucky that the ground didn''t sink in and he quickly began running towards the massive wall that had a clear hole inside.


    As soon as the puppets exploded, the legions to the left and right of the ones they took care of began moving towards the place the section they were defending, luckily they weren''t all that fast.


    Villin managed to pass by what used to be the locations of the first three legions before finally encountering enemies, less than a hundred meters before the wall.


    Villin didn''t hesitate to swing his greatsword cleaving through two of the soldiers at once. At the same time, some of the puppets jumped forward and detonated fifty meters before Villin, taking care of most of the reinforcements that actually managed to make their way here in time.


    Thanks to these, Villin managed to get through the hole in the wall after killing just a couple of soldiers himself.


    Once through the wall, the laws lost shape, and the puppets that survived changed back to pure magic power alongside the backpack. Villin smiled as he looked back, the soldiers should go back to their original positions soon, this meant he would have a clear path out, and he still had plenty of magic power for the second layer of defenses.


    He intended to move through the memory layer quickly and breach the defenses of the second layer when he noticed something on the edge of his perception. He saw a memory that seemed isolated from the rest, locked even. He decided to have a look at that at a later date as he quickly made his way to the second layer.


    And so, before he knew it, he found himself standing on volcanic rock. There was a small carriage with a donkey next to him and a ropebridge in front. The ropebridge was long and when looking at the other side, he once more noticed some stone soldiers, but there were only about two-hundred here. Behind the soldiers was a massive enchanted wall, much more sturdy compared to the previous one, and lastly, hanging from the wall at various points were stone wyverns that looked at him as he stood there.


    Even though they had noticed him, Villin knew they wouldn''t attack before he was on the ropebridge, above a chasm filled with lava. Then, the soldiers would line up and fight him, tiring him out, while the wyverns would try to push him over the edge.


    Generally, after seeing the stone soldiers on the previous layer, people would expect these would be the same, it was likely that, since they didn''t instantly attack and there were only two-hundred, the attacked would make some stone soldiers for themselves and sent those over the bridge.


    But, in actuality, the stone soldiers standing there were hollow and weighed almost nothing. This obviously meant they wouldn''t be hard to kill at all and their hits didn''t have much weighed behind it but that didn''t matter.


    This place held the laws of exhaustion, heat, and weight. The bridge was extremely long, and you would get extremely hot, together with the soldiers this would completely exhaust you, and then the wyverns could push you into the lava.


    It was also the case that the bridge could hold little more than a single person, if you put anything too heavy on it, it would break and you would lose the opportunity to reach the other side.

 Chapter 195: Changing One’s Beliefs

    Since Villin knew that nobody was controlling the mind currently and he was only going up against the mind''s natural instinct to protect itself, he decided to take his time. The wall in the previous region of defenses wouldn''t repair itself without himself or Ashera making it so.


    "Now, what to do here¡­"


    Even though Villin had already made a plan before going on this trip, he was getting a bunch of different thoughts and creating different plans while he was actually there trying to attack. He decided that if he got out without a problem, he could attack his mind again in the future to find potential weaknesses.


    The initial plan was to create a blimp. The stone soldiers wouldn''t attack him which only leaves behind the stone wyverns. Since the mind was purely going off of instinct it wouldn''t realize the blimp was the real threat and the wyverns should all go for Villin instead of the balloon.


    But now that he was here, he didn''t like that plan so much anymore. He would be going extremely slow and due to the heat of the lava, it was possible he would lose control at some point. And then there were still the stone soldier and enchanted wall after he landed. Even though the stone soldiers here weren''t so strong, Villin wasn''t confident he could take them all on by his own while trying to blow through the wall.


    After a bit, he found something he could do though.


    "What an oversight." Villin clacked his tongue as he formed a plan, it was only now that he realized a massive weakness in the defense of this section.


    The carriage was gone and the magic power had formed various objects. Standing in a line were ten puppets, each of them had massive enchanted spears in their hands, they loaded it into the large Atlantian spearguns at the same time.


    Since he was very familiar with the enchantments and materials, Villin didn''t have any problem bringing these weapons into his mind.


    "Attach the chains!" Villin bellowed much like a commander as his puppets performed the task. Even though they didn''t have any intelligence and Villin was controlling him, he still felt like doing it.


    Each of the puppets grabbed an extremely large chain and attached it to the loaded spears. The spears currently loaded weren''t the explosive ones, they were simple sharpened spears with quite a lot of durability. Once all the chains were attached Villin once more bellowed, "FIRE!"


    Ten spears flew forward to the other side of the canyon, eight of them hit their targets, each of them hitting one of the wyverns right on while the other two spears fell short.


    Villin grinned as he watched eight wyverns falling down, while the others remained unmoving.


    Since Villin still hadn''t come onto or above the bridge, the wyverns still remained in their locations.


    "Pull back!"


    After these words, the puppets pulled a lever attached to the speargun, and the chains got pulled back, as did the spears. Soon, the ten spears were back onto the spearguns. Since he didn''t lose any spears or anything of the like, this volley cost practically no magic power to shoot.


    The puppets quickly cleaned the top of the spears to make sure there were no rocks hanging on them before loading and shooting them again, and again.


    Volley after volley was shot out as stone wyverns were being slaughtered. Occasionally one of the chains would snap losing them a spear and the magic power it contained but overall, this had been extremely cheap.


    After doing this for a couple of hours, practically all of the visible wyverns and about half of the stone soldiers had been destroyed.


    As Villin raised his hand, each of the puppets loaded the chained spears once more. But, before shooting, they moved their heavy spearguns with Villin''s help, so that they all stood right next to each other.


    Then, they once more pointed to the other side, but this time, they weren''t aiming at any wyvern or stone soldier, but instead a large rock across from them. They all shot at the same time and the spears got deep into the rock before getting stuck.


    "Alright, that''ll do, unhood the chains from the spears and hook them to the metal pins in the ground," Villin commanded, and soon, each of the chains were disconnected from the spears and connected to metal pins that had been hammered into the ground.


    The ten chains now made a path together, one that Villin would be able to cross without too many problems.


    After rearranging the metal pins a little bit, the path became smaller but more stable, this would allow the puppets to cross as well.


    After having some puppets test the bridge, there were no problems and it seemed safe.


    Now the only real threat were the wyverns hidden behind the wall, they were only supposed to come out when enemies have crossed the bridge and reached the other side. When they thought they made it, these wyverns would surprise-attack them.


    "Load the explosives!"


    The puppets who were back at the spearguns at this point in time, each grabbed a spear from the smile pile next to them and loaded it, then they all pointed it at a certain section of the enchanted wall.


    "Fire!"


    Ten spears shot out and ten explosions occurred, when the smoke cleared Villin noticed clear cracks in the wall and its enchantments. Two volleys later, a large hole had been made into the side of the wall."


    Villin smiled as he saw the effectiveness but got slightly worried as well. Even though generally Villin himself or Ashera would be able to defend the mind and the wyverns and soldiers wouldn''t be so inflexible, Villin would still like it if the defenses were passively airtight. He would have to make some adjustments later for sure.


    Since the hole was big enough, Villin had the spearguns and remaining ammo turn into puppets before they started crossing to the other side using the chains. The puppets weren''t affected by heat and didn''t have any problems crossing. Once some did cross though, wyverns came in from behind the walls.


    Still, since they were attacking puppets they weren''t a threat. Puppets would kill a few using their strength or fire-breath before self-destructing taking a bunch with them. After about twenty puppets exploded, the way was clear.


    To Villin, crossing the chasm was quite difficult since he had to deal with the heat and all that. Thankfully, without the added instability of the wooden bridge and the fighting with the stone soldiers and wyverns, he managed to cross without too much trouble.


    Once he got through the hold in the enchanted wall, Villin once more found himself within the mind, the second layer this time. He noticed Ashera not too far away and he also noticed two clusters holding different beliefs.


    Looking into the one on the left he noticed seemingly random points in his life. It included the times he gave a hobo some money and the times he played with his dog. Other than this, it also included the final moment of his previous life when he tried to help an old lady. It surprisingly was even connected to a couple of songs such as ''Savages'' and ''I''m Only Human''.


    The section in the right was different, it was connected to his memories with Ashera, the fact that he knew deep inside he wasn''t truly human anymore, not even half-human. He was part magus, part Kitsune.


    The belief on the right was also founded on reality, using several strong memories and emotions he had and just enhancing them slightly.


    "All you have to do is destroy the belief on the left, and this one will take its place."


    Villin couldn''t help but smirk since Ashera sounded like a typical Disney villain telling him to lose his humanity. But, he knew what had to be done, and he had already accepted it.


    As he willed it, the belief he was human shrank and entered his hand, he then looked away as he crushed it. Even though he was only a mental projection of himself, he swore he could feel a tear rolling down his left cheek. He wasn''t sure why it came, but soon it was gone. He saw the belief he was part magus and part Kitsune grow before his eyes, and even though he felt something different mentally, he didn''t feel as different as he had thought.


    He hadn''t quite realized that he had grown a little colder.


    After nodding at Ashera, he turned around and began returning. He once more crossed the bridge of chains he made earlier, after that he came through the unenchanted wall in the first line of defense. He came out with a couple of puppets and managed to escape before he got enclosed.


    Once he was completely out, his mind saw the threat as averted and when Villin entered again, it let him pass as it usually would. He quickly began repairing some of the essentials he had destroyed and got rid of the chain bridge before meetup up with Ashera again. It was time to reclaim his body.

 Chapter 196: No Time To Leave

    "Good, now feel the energy coming from your heart, the center of your being, and guide it towards the mind. Let the two be connected for all of eternity."


    GASP


    When Villin woke up, he felt confused at first. It took a bit for his breathing to calm down and for him to properly take note of his surroundings.


    He was within an Atlantian building, there was some medical equipment around him and a doctor standing beside him, looking at him with his mouth agape.


    "Argh"


    It was then that Villin felt the pain coming from his body and the tears that had gathered on his cheeks. It seemed that he had been crying shortly before he woke up and because of that the doctor approached, then he suddenly came and woke up.


    His body felt quite weak as well. He turned towards the doctor while sitting as he took in his own condition. After the dizziness receded somewhat, Villin got off of the bed.


    "Wait, no, you should keep lying down!" the doctor quickly said as he got out of his stupor.


    But, instead, Villin stretched, he didn''t fall to the ground as the doctor as his legs were still capable of holding him up and the boy seemed to ignore the pain.


    As he stretched his limbs and got a better idea of what he could and couldn''t do, Villin turned to the doctor, "How much time has passed? When will the attack on Atlantis occur?"


    Noticing, Villin acted entirely different compared to how the doctor expected, he stopped trying to dissuade him and simply replied, "Eh, the beast king''s attack will occur two days from now." he said confusedly.


    Hearing this, Villin let out a sigh of relief, he had expected to wake up in the middle of, or an hour-or-so before the attack, at a point in time where he couldn''t leave the city before the attack anymore.


    "Okay then, I''ve done my job, now it''s time for me to leave, I''ll come back later to learn how to bend." he quickly said as he intended to leave. He wasn''t in his best condition at all right now and never intended to fight alongside Atlantis. He had done his work and it was time to leave before things got too hot.


    "Please, wait! I''ll go inform our leaders about your recovery!" the doctor quickly said before Villin could leave.


    Villin replied with a simple nod as he continued doing simple exercises. He noticed that if he were to get into a fight right now, dodging would be out of the question, he also wouldn''t be able to sprint too well or lift his own weight. But at least he rapidly being cured mentally, within a few minutes he felt on top of his game, he wouldn''t have any problems casting spells.


    After this period of time had passed, a man in golden armor entered the room, it was the same leader he met when he got here.


    "You are lucky to have survived, runemaster Villin," he said in a neutral voice.


    "I did and now it''s time for me to leave, I''ll take the bending lesson after the attack," Villin noted in a serious voice.


    When Villin saw the leader''s equally serious expression, he got a bad feeling.


    "I''m afraid that''s not possible. Even if you are physically better than expected, you still have internal wounds. If you would go through a teleportation array at this point in time, I''m afraid you''ll die."


    As Villin''s bad feeling was confirmed, he silently cursed.


    After a bit, his stern gaze landed on the leader, "So let me guess, I have no choice to help you repel the invaders or we''ll all be doomed? No thanks, I''ll stay within the palace where I''ll be safe." Villin said, somewhat pissed off, he knew where this was going.


    The Academy had done this a multitude of times, sending him on dangerous missions and acting as if he was disposable. Even though he always kept his displeasure deeply hidden, since The Academy was also the best place for him to gain strength, he just nearly died again and was getting tired of being taken advantage of. He was the youngest runemaster ever for f*cks sake, he had plenty of value not to always have to fight another man''s battles.


    The leader clearly hadn''t expected Villin to act this way as it took him a couple of seconds to respond, "I understand." and with that cryptic response, he turned around and left the building leaving behind Villin and the doctor.


    Thinking back to what had happened Villin cursed some more inwardly. He had been attacked by a fellow runemaster, and they had attacked with the intent to kill. He was rather furious for himself for letting his guard down while conversing with someone that clearly disliked him. He had simply thought that Cornelius was a coward that wouldn''t dare make a move and he had paid the price, he wouldn''t make that mistake again.


    Villin did some basic breathing exercises to calm himself down while ignoring the doctor who seemed to be continuously talking to him.


    A few minutes later, Villin stepped out of the building. The city of Atlantis was extremely busy right now. Atlantians were moving around rapidly as most of them were in the middle of carrying things be they weapons, armor, or food.


    As soon as he oriented himself, Villin began walking back towards the place where the enchanting workshop used to stand. There was still crater where it had been since, at this point, landscaping was the least of the Atlantians'' worries.


    Villin approached the center and looked around, there were bits of metal and wood everywhere, some of the pieces went flying extremely far but Villin didn''t care about that. He looked through the rubble looking for a specific something.


    "Hey, what are you doing here?" a guard shouted out as they noticed Villin walking through the rubble. Once they got closer though, they recognized Villin, this guard was one of the ones who had been working under him.


    "Oh, I''m sorry sir, I was told to guard this area." the guard said as he straightened up after recognizing Villin.


    Villin tore his gaze away from the rubble and looked at the guard, "There should''ve been a corpse here, where did you all move it too?" he asked straight-up.


    Taken aback, the guard soon replied, "Sir, I can assure you that no corpse was here. The only person hurt by the explosion is yourself, I''m sure since I was one of the first people that got here!"


    Turning away from the guard again, Villin shook his head, "No, that''s not possible, nobody could survive that kind of explosion." he noted as he continued inspecting the ground.


    When the spears blew up, Cornelius had been in the center of the workshop while Villin was already blown against one of the walls, additionally, Villin had strengthened organs and Blue-Mythril armor on. Even without underestimating Cornelius, it would be completely impossible for him to survive such a thing.


    After searching for a while and indeed finding nothing, Villin''s frown became deeper, "Enchanter Cornelius, did he leave Atlantis already?" he questioned the guard again.


    The guard was quick to respond this time, "Ah, no, he''s been missing for a while. The only one that left was enchanter Ruby this morning. I heard the leaders were somewhat nervous that The Academy would attack them if they thought Atlantis simply stole two of their runemasters." after saying this, the guard understood something, "Wait, since you asked about a corpse, were you working with runemaster Cornelius at the time of the accident?" the guard quickly asked.


    In response, Villin simply nodded, "Yes, and now I truly do wonder where he went."


    No matter how Villin thought about it, Cornelius'' survival seemed impossible, but then, since it was, who took away his body?


    As Villin thought this, thin strands of magic came from him and began moving through the city, after a while, they moved through the earth revealing a very small hidden room underneath the city. Once there, the magic stands connected to the puppets he kept there, just in case.


    He ignored the proper puppet and after a while, two large spider-like puppets came out of the ground, the runes on them camouflaged them as they moved through the city, always remaining in the shadows.


    Villin lamented that the puppets weren''t nearly small enough, if they were actually the size of spiders, they would be able to fit between pieces of wood or beneath a door, but due to their size, they had to be extremely careful not to be discovered.


    After using the spiders to look for Cornelius for a couple of hours, Villin found something else instead. It was in a warehouse half a dozen kilometers away. There were nearly a hundred enchanters gathered together, most of them were working on enchanting spearguns, but some others were working on some spears.


    "Alright, this section has to be right, right? It allows magical energy to be gathered, so we just have to connect it with this flame enchantment, and boom, it''ll explode when it hits." Keith said as he pointed at certain points on one of the spears.


    "Hmm, it won''t be as explosive as runemaster Villin''s but it''ll still be better than the old ones, let''s do it," Hazel responded and many of the surrounding enchanters seemed to agree.

 Chapter 197: Making A Deal

    Sometime after Villin''s spider found the warehouse where the runemasters were still working on enchanting spears and spearguns, a lone figure walked in.


    When Hazel noticed the figure, she gasped as she recognized the figure before getting red, then she quickly bowed, "Runemaster Villin! I didn''t realize you were awake, welcome back!" she said while hiding her face.


    As soon as she said this, all of the enchanters in the building turned towards the new arrival.


    Keith was the second to respond, "Sir runemaster, I have to say the scar suits you. I am glad you recovered quickly."


    Villin simply nodded towards the two he knew best before walking into the warehouse fully. He hadn''t bother casting the illusion that generally hid his facial scar but the enchanters didn''t seem to mind.


    Villin had a good reading for coming here, without exchanging pleasantries, he turned to Keith, "Show me the spears you''ve been working on."


    "Ah, yes sir, we''re still working on them but these two are the new prototypes we made. We tried to simplify your design to the point where we could make it," he explained as he carried two spears towards Villin.


    Without a word, Villin inspected the spears under the gaze of the hundred-or-so enchanters.


    These spears were why he immediately headed here after the spider found the place. The way he heard them discuss the enchantments that should be on the spears made him suspicious of something.


    After inspecting the two spears for a little over a dozen minutes, he finally turned to Keith again, "Who worked on these two spears?"


    Nervously, he responded, "That would be me and Hazel sir. I mostly worked on the one in your left hand and Hazel on the other one. We were deciding on a design to follow when you entered the room."


    Hearing that Keith and Hazel were responsible for these two works, Villin knew his suspicions were correct.


    "I need to go do something first. Continue enchanting using my previous design, I''ll finish them, we only have two days left so let''s hurry it up," he spoke before heading straight back out of the warehouse, he needed to meet with the leaders.


    It didn''t take him long to find one of the generals that could guide him to the palace as they were strategizing in the main barracks and soon he was let into the throne room once more, under the gaze of the three leaders.


    He looked at the leader who had come to him after he woke up and he did know he had somewhat misplaced his anger, hence he decided to apologize, "Sir, I apologize for my impoliteness earlier, after being so close to death I wasn''t quite myself."


    After saying this, he turned to the leaders as a whole, he had a very good reason for being here, "I have changed my mind and decided I will be aiding you in the defense of the city. The spells I know are more powerful than their Atlantian counterpart and I am capable of transfiguration, the art of controlling earth."


    Villin could feel one of the leaders was about to accept his help so he quickly continued, "However, I will not do it for free. As a new runemaster, I am in dire need of assistants, this trip has shown me the usefulness for having those. I will help you to my fullest extent in the defense of the city but in exchange the enchanters Keith and Hazel will come with me as soon as I get permission from The Academy or I graduate, whichever comes first."


    Once they heard the condition, the leaders looked at each other for a moment, Villin thought they were about to convene again as they did the previous time but it seemed there was no need as a few seconds later, one of the leaders spoke, "We agree to your demand, if you defend our city alongside our troops, you will get the two assistants you have requested."


    Villin barely withheld a smirk as he thanked the leaders before leaving the throne room. Once he left the palace, he had an excited grin on his face.


    This deal was more than just worth it, the leaders didn''t realize but they had just sold the future of their independence and their future trump cards. When inspecting the spears the two of them made he noticed how good the quality was. If a runemaster saw it they would probably be unsure if it was made by an enchanter or an inexperienced runemaster.


    They were both only a step away from becoming a runemaster. Villin guessed they were about as skilled as Rein overall, as soon as they got used to using the runes from the outside world they would be on the same level.


    Villin guessed that the previous runemaster probably saw the potential in Keith and that was why he was one of his apprentices, as for Hazel, at the point the runemaster died she was still too young for her potential to be clearly visible.


    But overall it was clear that they both had the potential of becoming extremely young runemasters.


    Taking a risk and entering the fight was nothing compared to the benefits it would bring. Hell, it things went wrong he could always transfigure himself into the ground and hide.


    When Villin got back to the warehouse, he didn''t slack off at all. He immediately began enchanting, barely exchanging any pleasantries at all. He did keep Hazel and Keith very close though, to the point that they were set to perform more complicated tasks than the rest of the enchanters, the kind that was generally done by a runemaster.


    Even though they often failed, they still managed to succeed about a third of the time, and then they would give it to Villin who would do the truly complicated part.


    Villin could do this since all of the important spearguns were enchanted and so he could assign almost all of the enchanters to spearduty, there were too many enchanters so even if only a fourth of the spears got to him he still got overwhelmed.


    Seeing the pace of the regular enchanters here, Villin also found them all to be quite fast and extremely disciplined. If the Atlantians were to use them correctly they would be able to do great things. So after noticing some of the admiration they sent his way, Villin actually changed his attitude and began giving certain hints and engaging in certain small conversations causing the enchanters to feel closer to him.


    Even though he wasn''t planning anything now, if he could get these enchanters to join his organization at some point in the future it would be a ginormous win.


    Since the enchanters were so much faster at completing their part of the spear compared to Villin, a lot of them soon began working on the designs made by Keith or Hazel and so production soon ramped up.


    Even though they only worked for two more days, the pace they worked at was extremely fast and they had an extremely large amount of spears around being transported to several defensive towers.


    Villin also enchanted certain metal chains so they could tie down monsters more effectively. Before she left it seemed that Ruby helped the generals and high-ranked soldiers improve their armors and finally Cornelius enchanted a bunch of soldier''s weapons focusing quantity over all.


    All in all, Atlantis was a lot stronger now compared to a month ago and their chances of success were substantial.


    Soon, only a few hours were left until the attack. The beast king''s army would generally mainly attack from the north side but some beasts would try to go around and attack from different areas.


    Villin had been sent to the eastern front, in the chaotic northern front his talents wouldn''t be able to shine so much while he should be able to make a substantial difference here.


    He sent the enchanters out to do a final check on all of the equipment they made before the group disbanded and they all went back to put on their full suits of armor and participate in the fight.


    After some consideration, Villin decided to go onto the top of one of the tall, enchanted towers that held the benders. During the attack, there would be one bender on the top as usual, within an enchanted, enclosed space so they couldn''t easily be killed, and the backup would be two floors lower, taking over if anything were to happen.


    As far as Villin heard, half of the tall towers could be destroyed before the dome collapsed so that wasn''t too much of a risk, the water would start leaking in much sooner though.


    For the last couple of hours, Villin talked with an experienced bender about the enemies they were to face. There were all kinds of sea creatures that would be coming from magical squids to mermaids to gorgons and a whole bunch of weird-ass fish.


    While he was talking Villin had also spread his underground magical tunnels all over the eastern front, so he had a better idea of what was going on. Finally, he made a small thirty-centimeter wall a few meters to the inside of the dome, this way in the beginning when only a little bit of water leaked, beasts wouldn''t be able to instantly attack the ground troops.


    And then finally, the bells rung, it was time for the battle to begin.

 Chapter 198: Battle Of Atlantis Part 1

    For the first couple of minutes after the bells rang, nothing happened on the eastern front. Villin was remaining on guard as he looked out into the sea but he couldn''t spot anything yet.


    A few more minutes passed and explosions could be heard coming from the front, this was due to Villin''s spears no doubt.


    A full hour had passed since the first enemies were spotted and the bells rang when the explosions to the north became a lot more common and shadows could be seen on the east as well.


    "They''re here," Villin murmured as he tried looking through the veil of water.


    Just as he said that, singing came from the endless seas, he had been warned previously that when the attack began, sirens would begin their song and so he quickly used magic to shield his ears.


    Looking into the ocean Villin occasionally saw a glimpse of a mermaid, they used tridents very similar to Atlantians and they could swim incredibly fast.


    Villin waited patiently as the sirens sang their song, the Atlantian troops weren''t affected since they were all prepared for the song. After a couple of minutes, the song stopped and the water got more chaotic as more creatures could be seen speeding through. Kappas seemed to be the most numerous. They were water spirits that looked a lot like monkeys. They had long noses and green-ish skin. They would be the first major threat as they were capable of using magic.


    Yet, even now the spearguns didn''t make a shot. The creatures visible now were all the small, fast kind. Hitting them would be extremely difficult and they had a very large amount when it came to numbers. These kinds of enemies were for the regular soldiers to take care of, not the magi.


    Then, it only took a few minutes for everything to turn chaotic. Since the Kappas appeared, they soon began shooting balls of water and ice towards the various towers. This didn''t go unpunished though as soldier after soldier took out their bow and began shooting the Kappas. Even though the arrows would only go so far through the water, the Kappas also had to get close to cast their own magic towards the tower.


    After a bit some Jengu also showed up, they looked extremely similar to Atlantians but were actually spirits just like the Kappas. They were gap-toothed and had long wooly hair, they used spiritual attacks on the soldiers, attacking their minds directly.


    Even though there were few of them and the threat level wasn''t too high, Villin decided to step in. He simply connected his magical power to one of the Jengu''s minds and sent his magic power in in a destructive fashion. One-by-one they fell down. Even though their mental space was stronger than humans, it wasn''t well defended at all and Villin could easily take them out without wasting too much power.


    Because of this, they soon backed out and the Kappas were the only ones attacking again.


    Knowing that he just saved a few dozen lives, Villin backed off again and waited for the fight to heat up.


    Even though this was just a skirmish and not many forces of either side were being taken out, this didn''t mean that there was no effect.


    No matter what, the barrier had been pierced hundreds of times by magical attacks from the opposing creatures and the arrows of their own forces. This made it much harder to control and bits of water began to get through the barrier. Villin simply noted it but didn''t do anything about it, this was a normal event, it would be impossible not to have this kind of leakage in the fight.


    The point wasn''t to keep the city water-free, it was to kill as many enemies as possible before a large layer of water was covering the ground in the city.


    As Villin sat atop of one of the towers looking at the relatively tame battlefield, he was thinking of how to deal with the bigger kind when they arrived. Last time there was a Megalodon and the time before that a Leviathan, they were the ones that could destroy a tower in one hit.


    Even though the Atlantians managed to kill them in the end, the number of people they lost because of it was ginormous.


    In reality, Villin wasn''t afraid of these two things, even though they were powerful, they were just beasts. What Villin was truly worried about was if a magical beast of such size and passive power would come to attack. Their skin would be even tougher and their abilities would certainly be extremely lethal, he still hadn''t figured out how to deal with an enemy like that.


    As Villin was thinking of this, the battle slowly began to escalate. More and more different kinds of beasts and creatures began to appear, many of them magical. A few explosive spears were now also getting shot out and magi were also making their moves. Even though Atlantians used magic in tandem with their weapons, it didn''t mean they didn''t have any long-range spells that don''t use a weapon.


    The appearance of the white prowlers caused the spearguns to fire much more often. White prowlers were extremely large sharks capable of elementary water magic. They were generally capable of shooting spikes made of ice out of their mouths but they lacked intelligence and so never attacked together.


    Against these spears were used and they were found to be extremely effective. As soon as a white prowler was hit it would explode into pieces, its bones would act as shrapnel and nearby creatures would also get hurt because of it.


    It didn''t take long for the small barrier Villin made within the circle to overflow and soon water began spreading inwards.


    With how thin it was currently, the only creatures that could pass were vampiric leeches and explosive tadpoles but everyone remained extremely vigilant, making sure they didn''t let any of them pass.


    After a few hours of this, the water slowly spreading but still not rising since the city was ginormous, Villin realized that this fight wouldn''t be over anytime soon.


    He turned to a soldier overseeing the situation nearby before asking, "Any idea how long this fight will go on for?"


    Hearing this the experienced soldier thought for a moment, "They seem to be getting longer and longer, this one should take about a week. The first two days should be like this, the basic forces causing water to spread through the city. Then, the following two days should be the time for the stronger small creatures to enter the city and try to kill as many soldiers as possible. The final three days are unpredictable but the true threats should be appearing then, destroying towers and killing us by the bunches. They''ll be tough to deal with."


    Hearing the soldier''s explanation, Villin felt like an absolute idiot. He thought this would be like a fight between two large groups, done within a day at most. He hadn''t thought of the fact that this was a siege more than anything and sieges could go on for a long while.


    Now that he knew that large and powerful monsters weren''t expected yet, he asked the soldier about the locations of the eastern infirmaries and began going to those. In the current situation, he couldn''t help much with the defense, the soldiers had no real problems holding the enemies back and Villin would barely make a dent. As long as more creatures such as Jengu, who were low in numbers, didn''t show up, there wasn''t much he could do.


    He would have to wait until the larger creatures showed up before he could make a real difference.


    In the meantime though, he kept himself busy. He went to the infirmaries and healed soldiers using ''Healium Paulatim'' while also extending his magic power underground. If he made more magical tunnels now it''d be easier to transfigure when he needed to and he could keep an eye on the situation on the front while he was elsewhere.


    ''Halium Paulatim'' turned out to be quite a bit more effective than the spells they had here as the doctors looked at him in amazement as some soldiers that came in went back out just a few minutes later.


    Seeing how well his spell worked, Villin actually figured he could just stay here and heal the people and he''d have contributed enough to get his two ''assistants'' but in the end, he decided not to take the risk. Two potential runemasters were more than enough to take a bit of a risk for.


    Occasionally, one of the spearguns would get destroyed and then Villin would do some haphazard enchantments on the replacement so it would have a better chance at piercing the skin of large creatures when they appeared.


    One of the towers holding a speargun also nearly collapsed but with some transfiguration, it got fixed again.


    All in all, it was looking like things couldn''t go better and he''d be able to defend without a problem. If only it were so...

 Chapter 199: Battle Of Atlantis: Part 2

    For a day and a half, the situation remained largely the same. Small creatures kept attacking while the larger and stronger ones didn''t appear quite yet. Villin spent most of his time in the various field hospitals as he healed soldiers and increased his magic network allowing him to more easily sense the situation at the front.


    It was at that point that Villin felt a tremor, the earth was shaking underneath his feet making it difficult to remain standing, especially with his injuries.


    As Villin held onto a pole to remain standing, a bunch of the people in the field hospital he was at fell from the tables they were resting on.


    "What the hell is going on?!" Villin exclaimed, hoping one of the Atlantians would respond, but none did, they were all as surprised as he was.


    After five full minutes the earthquake finally stopped, When Villin exited the hospital, he noticed the water which thus far only covered his feet, was rising at a speed visible to the naked eye.


    "Shit!" Villin cursed as he half-sprinted towards the eastern front. Meanwhile, he used his transfiguration to try and figure out what was going on. But when he sent some magic power through his underground tunnels he noticed a bunch of them were suddenly cut off at a certain point.


    It took a dozen minutes for Villin to get to the action, but he was still quite far away from the border itself, at this point there were just soldiers around, fighting various small critters that could swim through the water here, Villin recognized one of the more common species to be the same as the one that killed him in his dream.


    This wasn''t what grasped his attention though, what did was the massive crack that had appeared, splitting apart a section of the eastern front. The crack was several meters wide and nearly a hundred meters long, reaching all the way past the barrier. Villin could see the water gushing out of the massive crack, it was the reason behind the sudden increase.


    As for how this thing appeared, Villin didn''t have time to ask as the water was reaching higher and higher, it wasn''t that far away from reaching the knees and it was already hampering the soldiers quite a bit.


    He talked to a soldier as he moved towards the edge of the crack "Go get two of the benders on standby! We need them to help contain the water coming out of the crack while I fix it!"


    Even though Villin wasn''t an officer or anything of the like, the soldier seemed to realize the gravity of the situation as he nodded and then quickly sprinted towards one of the tall towers.


    Villin didn''t stand by idle either, he put one of his hands next to the edge of the newly-made canyon and focused his magic power.


    Some of the surrounding soldiers were taken by surprise when the dirt on both sides of the canyon began growing together, at least around Villin, until it seemed that there never had been a canyon at that location at all.


    Villin knew it wasn''t quite as effective as it seemed though, he had only moved the upper layers of dirt, even if he did this to the entire length of the canyon, the pressure of the water would cause holes to appear regularly. If people stood on the areas he had transfigurated, there was also a chance it wouldn''t be able to hold their weight and they risked falling into the canyon that was full of currents, while also making a massive hole in the process.


    Yet, despite these massive drawbacks, Villin still went through with it and began closing the crack starting from the furthest away from the front while slowly making his way to the barrier.


    After a bit two benders also appeared, they seemed a little tired so it looked like they had probably switched out with another bender recently. When Villin asked them to try and stop water from coming in while he patched the crack, they had complicated looks on their faces. They said they''d help but they couldn''t keep everything from coming in, certainly not with the risk of being attacked by creatures.


    With Villin and the benders'' efforts, the amount of water flowing in decreased drastically, Villin was also working faster than he had previously expected but he knew it was impossible to patch the entire crack at once, he simply didn''t have enough magic power and even with magic power being generated by his nodes, he was spending a lot more than he was earning.


    After spending the vast majority of his magic power, Villin managed to patch up half of the crack, the water level wasn''t rising nearly as fast anymore and Villin wagered that in a handful of hours he''d be able to close the crack entirely, even though it would need sub-hourly maintenance to make sure no holes would appear due to water pressure.


    It was only now that he had a short pause that he grabbed the shoulder of a soldier that just killed a water sprite, "Soldier, what happened? How did this crack appear?"


    The soldier focused his bloodshot eyes before standing at salute, Villin recognized him as one of the enchanters that worked with him. "Runemaster Villin sir!" after saying this he thought back to the cause of the massive crack as he got a little paler.


    "This, I''m not sure sir but, looking at the size, the attack, and the damage. I think it may be the legendary Ottoia! We could see it in the far distance, like a massive shadow overlooking the battle. Then, out of nowhere, ginormous tentacles with teeth shot towards us, the tentacles were meters thick and insanely fast. They swatted away dozens of our men without the slightest problem, then the tentacles closed their mounts and pierced the ground in a straight line from here to outside of the barrier, and then the earthquake happened.


    The beast singlehandedly created a canyon in just a few minutes, and when the explosive spears hit them, they barely left a mark on them, if just a dozen tentacles are so powerful, how are we supposed to beat that thing?" the soldier''s words quickly changed between explaining the situation to desperation but Villin grabbed his shoulder.


    "What''s an Ottoia and how many of these tentacles does one have?" Villin said sternly while trying to keep the soldier from shaking.


    "The Ottoia is the father of all Kraken. As the legends go there''s only one. It goes to those who are doomed and helps them in their struggle for survival. It''s supposed to be a kind creature but, it attacks its enemies mercilessly. It has been over a thousand years since the Ottoia was spotted but as far as the scriptures read the beast should have somewhere between twenty and a hundred teethed tentacles. Each and every one of them capable of biting through metal."


    Seeing as how talking about the Ottoia was making the solder/enchanter even more nervous, Villin stopped asking questions as he knew what had to be known anyways, "Alright soldier. Go to the northern front and find your leader, tell him about the appearance of the Ottoia." after saying this, Villin let him go on his way.


    On the eastern side, they had one big weakness compared to the other fronts. The three leaders were at the northern, western, and southern front. The head general, the only other person with strength close to the leaders was also sent to the north since they expected the main attack to come from there. This left Villin as the only significant force on this side of the front. And even then, Villin didn''t think he was quite so useful since he didn''t have many spells that worked well in water, once the water rose further, he would be getting seriously weakened if he didn''t get a vantage point.


    When Villin looked around to see the condition of the soldiers, he noticed the situation was very chaotically organized. Soldiers all-over were getting in fights with various swimming creatures everywhere but Villin noticed the squads were properly spaced out making it a strong defensive line.


    Yet despite this, the line wasn''t straight as this would be obvious, it was a squiggly line giving it a messy feel while retaining functionality.


    Occasionally a beast would make it through but the second line of defense was supposed to take care of those.


    A handful of hours later, the canyon had been completely blocked off, until the barrier at least. Villin knew he would have to do regular maintenance on it though if he wanted it to remain functional, this would probably cost him a fourth of his magic power overall, significantly lowering the amount of magic power he would be able to spend on killing sea critters.


    Every now and then, Villin looked outside of the barrier, making sure the Ottoia wouldn''t come back. These checks were all good until two hours later, as Villin took a short rest, he noticed a shadow coming from a massive creature far into the sea.


    It seemed that the Ottoia had returned.

 Chapter 200: Battle Of Atlantis Part 3

    When the creature appeared in the distance, Villin got nervous. As it started swimming closer, Villin had a better idea of its exact size. The Ottoia was shaped like an octopus, its ''head'' was about fifty meters tall and its tentacles a hundred-and-fifty to two-hundred meters in length.


    When the creature was a hundred meters away from the dome, it stopped moving forward, this way it would remain outside of the effective range of most of the spearguns and only a few could attack it while it wouldn''t have any problem attacking.


    When it stood still, it began moving its tentacles and about a dozen of them could be seen moving around, as if the Ottoia was simply creating a show for them to watch.


    Still, the information it gave was helpful as Villin managed to count fifteen massive tentacles in total, it seemed that the myths were slightly exaggerated but it was still a truly fearsome opponent.


    As the beast was doing his little dance, the soldiers weren''t standing stills. The soldiers on the ground spread out further as they continued to deal with the smaller threats, if they grouped up the Ottoia would have a clear target, this may make it a lot harder.


    As for those manning the spearguns, Villin saw they weren''t making too many moves which somewhat annoyed him. Whether they had a good shot on the Ottoia or not, the vast majority pointed their spearguns towards the creature, preparing to fire.


    Just as some of the spearguns were about to fire, some of the Atlantians manning them, heard a voice within their head, the voice seemed to come from everywhere and nowhere, the voice couldn''t be recognized but the message was clear.


    This was of course a derivatory version of ''Mentallage''. No matter what Villin was a large part of the defenses on the eastern front and he wasn''t just about to do nothing and watch his allies make mistakes.


    The people handling the spearguns that could potentially harm the Ottoia from their location got the following message: "Atlantians! This is your leaders speaking. Hold your fire, currently, the beast is occupied with its dance, this allows us time to prepare the reinforcements. Hold your fire until the beast finishes its current non-harmful movements. And rest easy soldiers, help is on the way."


    Villin decided to pretend to be the Atlantian leader, after all being able to talk within one''s mind was a foreign ability to them and if anyone could do such a thing it would be their leaders. It also helped calm the troops as panicked soldiers weren''t the best at aiming. As for using his own name and voice, they probably wouldn''t listen if he did that.


    After he contacted this group, he turned to the soldiers manning the spearguns that probably wouldn''t be able to harm the Ottoia from their location. "Soldiers! This is your commander speaking! Help is on the way, right now all you have to do is minimize damage, do not worry about killing the monster. Instead, aim your spearguns to the battlefield on the ground. When the tentacles come to attack soldiers, give them hell, do not let them create another crack within the ground! Reinforcements will be there soon!"


    As Villin stopped the spell and let out a deep breath, he saw a number of the spearguns aiming their spearguns towards the battlefield, they seemed less downcast as well.


    Finally, Villin turned to the benders atop of the massive towers, even though he didn''t have a line-of-sight with them, he had learned how to cast mentallage through his magic power long ago so this wasn''t too much of a problem.


    "Benders of Atlantis, I know you all are tired and have worked hard but do not give u hope! We will kill this beast and take its head! If you keep the dome up I assure you all that you shall be heavily rewarded!"


    Even though Villin didn''t identify him this time, he was sure the benders would assume it''d come from a leader or the main general, he also noticed the leakage soon lessened as morale improved. Villin knew it was temporary but he wanted them not to lose hope when the Ottoia attacked.


    Lastly, Villin would''ve loved to be able to use mentallage to raise the morale of all the soldiers on the front but that would be too expensive in terms of magic power so he decided not to.


    Still, looking at the spearguns pointing at the main battlefield, Villin nodded in satisfaction, these could create a massive difference when the Ottoia attacked. He was also glad the regular soldiers spread out without even having been told so, it seemed that these people weren''t stupid.


    The Ottoia did its little dance for a full five minutes before stopping, Villin could only assume the dance was used to either intimidate enemies or attract female Octopi, probably the former considering the situation.


    When Villin noticed the Ottoia was finishing its dance, he used mentallage to once more contact the Atlantians that had their spearguns within range to do some damage.


    Moments later, eight enchanted bolts shot towards the creature in the distance who was just finishing its dance. It noticed the spears and used a tentacle to shield his main body. The sound of the eight explosions was clearly audible and when the Ottoia was visible again, it was clear nearly no damage was done. Villin noticed some minor burns on the tentacle that the Ottoia used but there was no real damage.


    Villin flinched when he saw the lack of damage. The water obviously decreased the power of the spear but the damage was even less than he expected. Even if they could potentially deal with the tentacles that attacked, Villin saw no real way for the enchanted spears to be able to harm the main body of the Ottoia from this distance.


    As far as he heard from the Atlantians, the beasts that attacked wouldn''t leave when they were hurt, they would keep going until they died, this made some of them significantly more powerful compared to if you would deal with them in the wild.


    Villin''s current plan was simple. Wait for the beast to attack, tie one of the tentacles up with ''Vinea Tenura'' and transfiguration and let the spearguns and soldiers deal with the rest.


    He was also hoping to get reinforcements from the north as the main threat seemed to be here but he decided not to count on it, it was best to assume he was on his own.


    As expected, it didn''t take long for the Ottoia to attack. Two of its tentacles moved forwards rapidly, they pierced through the water veil uncontested causing it to become somewhat less stable. Then, as one, they swatted onto the ground, squashing a number of soldiers.


    Villin got off of the ground as he sweated, one of the tentacles landed on where he was standing just a few seconds ago, he managed to jump out of the way just in time.


    The tentacle next to him was a throbbing, sticky mess of meat that seemed rather terrifying. It didn''t have suction cups but teeth instead, ripping the people it went through apart.


    Despite his close brush with death, Villin didn''t pause, as soon as he got up, he pointed towards the tentacle, and then, dozens of vines rose out of the ground, attempting to keep the tentacle down.


    Even though more and more vines popped up, when Villin noticed the strength the tentacle was using to try and get away, he knew it would be able to escape within a could of seconds. And so, the tentacle began moving downwards, deeper into the ground.


    The tentacle''s method to escape wasn''t methodical. It would thrash around wildly until it got out of whatever caused it to be stuck.


    Using ''Syrtim Celer'' alongside transfiguration, Villin attempted to make the path down the one with the least resistance and succeeded in doing so as the top twenty meters of the tentacle was being brought underground.


    The second tentacle quickly noticed the other one was in trouble, it got off of the ground where it had killed a handful of soldiers and pointed upwards, preparing to strike at Villin and free its brother.


    Just as it wanted to do so.


    "BOOM!"


    "BOOM!!"


    "BOOM!!!"


    Dozens of explosions rang out now that this tentacle had finally moved off of the ground, greatly decreasing the risk of the spears hitting their own men.


    Villin would''ve smiled but he was too focused on keeping the first tentacle down, he was losing magic power in the heaps and he didn''t have time to pay too much attention to the rest of the battlefield.


    Still, the enchanted spears coming from their enchanted spearguns were extremely effective. From this distance, the piercing power was great and most of them managed to just about make it through the flexible outer layer of the tentacle. Then it would explode revealing a small open wound. This wouldn''t be much but if a second spear hit the same spot, the tentacle would begin bleeding heavily.


    In about a dozen seconds, all of the spearguns that had been prepared had fired their shots at the tentacle that was unable to react during this entire time.


    Several holes had been made allowing people to see through the tentacle entirely, and cheers came from everywhere.


    Yet, just a moment later, long before the spearguns could be reloaded, six massive tentacles pierced through the veil at once, within moments two of the towers holding spearguns had collapsed as two of the tentacles crushed them after twirling around the towers.


    Two of the remaining tentacles turned to Villin as the other two began slaughtering soldiers.


    Being able to kill one of the tentacles didn''t seem like such a big achievement at this point in time.

 Chapter 201: Battle Of Atlantis Part 4

    As Villin continued trying to permanently get one of the tentacles tied down, he felt an ominous presence behind him, or two rather.


    He immediately turned around and spotted two massive teethed tentacles coming right for him.


    The first was to reach within a couple of seconds, just enough time for Villin to transfigure the ground underneath him, letting him fall down a couple of meters before it closed off again.


    This wouldn''t do much though, as the two tentacles refocused and then stabbed down at the area where Villin had disappeared into.


    Knowing the tentacles had enough power within them to create canyons and cause earthquakes, Villin wasn''t confident in escaping while moving underground, rather it would be the swiftest way to get killed.


    He moved a couple of meters to the side underground, causing the stabbing tentacles to miss before rising up again and appearing on the surface.


    Beads of sweat rolled down Villin''s face as he saw the two massive tentacles that stabbed within the ground just next to him. A quick glance onto the battlefield showed how badly things were going, half a dozen of the towers with spearguns had been destroyed and even one of the towers holding benders had been taken down. Because of this, the water had risen up to the waist and it was rising quickly.


    Amongst the attacking forces, some mermaids and other medium-sized creatures could be seen as they could move around more freely at this point.


    Because of the chaos the Ottoia was bringing, the eastern front looked like it was on the edge of collapsing.


    When Villin managed to catch a glance at the tentacle he had been tying down earlier, he noticed it seemed that he had succeeded as the ground above it had hardened sufficiently and the vines were holding strong, it seemed the tentacle exhausted itself before it managed to break free.


    Just as Villin noticed this minor victory, the two tentacles that had been looking for him underground retracted to the surface and they quickly noticed him. It was clear the tentacles had their own sensory organs, most likely they had their own brains as well.


    When the two were ''looking'' at Villin, he tried to find some sort of weakness of these tentacles, he considered throwing a fireball but he doubted it''d be all that effective. The only spells he had that had continuously improved over the period of time he learned them were ''Reverto'', ''Voccocito'', ''Vinea Tenura'', ''Syrtim Celer'', and ''Mentallage'', he hadn''t been able to spend a lot of time improving other spells.


    It was then that Villin figured something out, the reason the Ottoia had backed off the first time when it created the canyon. Looking at the tentacles that were focusing on destroying towers and killing soldiers, they had become noticeably slower compared to when they first arrived.


    Just as Villin was considering going underground again to force the tentacles focused on him to spend a ton of power, they made an unexpected move.


    The two tentacles that had been focused on him turned around and charged at the tentacle Villin had subdued. The dirt and vines around it broke allowing the trapped tentacle to escape, then all the attacking tentacles backed away from the battlefield and the Ottoia also began moving back, one tentacle weaker.


    The damage the Ottoia had done was substantial, the biggest loss was the destruction of a bending tower as well as the loss of morale it caused. The lost spearguns were also valuable but Villin figured they still had enough of those to mount a proper defense.


    About thirty minutes after the Ottoia left, the situation stabilized. Villin used mental attacks on mermaids since they were quite powerful while soldiers teamed up in groups to take care of Gorgons.


    The breach in the dome had also been mostly repaired as backup benders arrived but it became much harder to defend them since they didn''t have a tower.


    Villin cursed as he looked around at the dispirited soldiers, when the Ottoia attacked again, they were done for. It probably wouldn''t be so stupid to send out two tentacles first again and would most likely attack with its full capabilities again when it returned.


    He looked to the right towards his puppet that he had retrieved, it occasionally did a fire breath that managed to take out a gorgon in one shot as they didn''t expect the small thing that looked like a bad sculpture to attack them.


    Villin thought at the damage the puppet could do when self-destructing to the tentacles and the Ottoia in general but then he shook his head.


    "I would need a hundred puppets to self-destruct if I wanted to use them to take out the Ottoia." he lamented as he looked at the thing.


    "Wait¡­ I would need a hundred puppets to self-destruct if I wanted to take the Ottoia out!" his tone changed as he came to a realization.


    A dumb smile came onto his face as his previous helplessness with a hint of despair turned to pure excitedness.


    ''What do you think Ashera?'' he asked the Kitsune within his mind.


    Ashera stayed quiet for a few moments before responding, ''I''m not sure if you''re mad or if you''re a damn genius.''


    Hearing her response Villin smiled as he looked at the soldiers on the battlefield, soon after, he began using Mentallage to start contacting them. He didn''t care about wasting magic power as, as soon as he had enough magic power he would contact the next group to make sure all the soldiers would get contacted as soon as possible.


    Because he spent his magic power on this, some of the areas where the Ottoia created a canyon had collapsed under water pressure causing more water to flow in but Villin didn''t have time to bother with that right now as he continued working on the plan he had just created within his head.


    Soon, the movements of the soldiers changed. They began getting more aggressive as they pushed the sea creatures back to behind the dome, in the process, they had some casualties but they succeeded in mostly clearing the battlefield temporarily.


    When this happened, a number of people began moving to and from the towers holding the spearguns holding certain items. Then, they all placed it into a large pit Villin was creating using transfiguration.


    Since they were so close to the dome soldiers were dying more than usual but they stayed in position, they seemed to be extremely well-trained and they knew how important their job was right now.


    The soldiers that weren''t there kept on moving certain items like crazy. When one tower ran out, they ran to one that was further, gathering all they could in the time they had.


    The soldiers managed to hold on for one long hour before enemies managed to reach the Atlantian battlefield again. As soon as they did, the soldiers stopped fetching items and Villin began closing the massive nearly-filled hole using transfiguration, not before he let his puppet jump into it though. They really didn''t want the enemies to catch wind of what they were doing or it would be hopeless, if an intelligent creature like a Mermaid noticed and warned the beast king of the plan, it would be doomed to fail.


    Soon after the first creatures made their way through, the entire line of soldiers backed off again. They were exhausted, moving closer to the dome made it easier for creatures like Kappas to hit them with ranged attacks. They got battered badly but since this time, Villin hadn''t kept them in the dark with the plan, they all knew how vital they had been.


    When the Ottoia appeared again two hours later, its enemies were clearly on their last legs. The Atlantians had been forced back a fair bit, they were exhausted and losing ground badly.


    Despite its limited intelligence, the Ottoia also noticed that the towers holding spearguns were unmanned, this had been the reason it lost one of its tentacles the previous time.


    When the soldiers noticed the Ottoia approaching they all seemed panicked and a number of them began routing. Amongst the people routing were the majority of the benders. They were backing off alongside the Atlantian army while keeping a smaller dome around them, the previous eastern front of the city was flooding quickly though and soon it was over two meters high.


    If the Ottoia could grin it would''ve. This was it, the battle was about to be over. Since the humans kept moving back, it had to keep moving forward with its main body as well if he wanted them to be within range of his tentacles.


    The large octopus-like creature didn''t notice anything wrong even when it got to the point where it stood in the middle of the previous battlefield, right atop of the location where a massive hole was hidden slightly underground.


    Seeing the Ottoia move onto the exact right location, Villin grinned as he prepared to pull the trigger. The trigger was a small line of magic power that connected from Villin all the way to the puppet hidden within the hole underneath the Ottoia.


    The puppet that was underground promptly self-destructed. This explosion shouldn''t have done much to the Ottoia, maybe just a slight burn to hid behind and that would be it, but the puppet wasn''t the only thing that exploded.


    Within the hole were hundreds upon hundreds of identical objects. They were the enchanted spears. They had all been gathered up and put together, they were many times more numerous compared to the ones that blew up the warehouse (and nearly Villin) some time ago.


    Then, because of the puppet, they all exploded at once.


    "BOOM!!!"


    A massive shockwave reached the exhausted, Atlantian army within a moment, throwing them all back even though they were nearly four-hundred meters away from the center of the explosion.


    The water all around evaporated due to the ginormous explosion, even the Ottoia''s main body didn''t escape this fate as it melted within a second.


    A massive crater appeared where the Ottoia once stood as a dustcloud shaped like a mushroom could be seen far away, even piercing through the upper dome of Atlantis.


    Just a few kilometers away an army was marching towards the eastern battlefront when they were all suddenly forced to cover their ears due to the sound. When they looked up they saw a ball of fire followed by a mushroom cloud and finally, a mass of water falling down onto the eastern part of the city.


    Despite the confusion, the reinforcements, including the main general that had been sent here, quickly moved forwards and the benders within their ranks quickly focused on trying to restore the dome, attempting to ignore the carnage the explosion had created.


    If someone was above the water, they would first be met by a massive wave caused by the explosion, if they got through that, they would notice hundreds of sea creatures floating to the surface, dead.


    Project mini-nuke was a success.

 Chapter 202: Battle Of Atlantis: Aftermath

    Villin was knocked to the ground, hardly being able to breathe for a full minute before he finally managed to get up. His ears were bleeding and he couldn''t hear anything but compared to the pain he had experienced before, this wasn''t a big deal to him right now.


    He got up while staggering and some of the soldiers around him did the same. Looking at their locations, they were knocked back several meters and a few soldiers that fell in a bad position died because of it. But, despite this tragedy, none of the soldiers who got up were looking at their fallen comrades.


    Instead, they looked forwards, towards the massive crater that was once a section of the city. Two sections of severed tentacles were lying to the side dead while the main body of the Ottoia was completely gone. The battlefield that was filled with corpses and blood just a minute before was now devoid of any life.


    Some of the soldiers looked at Villin with disguised fear in their eyes. Even though they didn''t think he gave the command they did know that he was the key piece. He enchanted the objects that were used and his them using his own techniques. From this day onwards, some of the soldiers that now stood just beside him would grow fearful of runemasters, knowing what they may truly be capable of.


    Villin didn''t notice the stares from the soldiers though, he looked at the crater with a cold expression. This had been much more powerful than he had expected it to be. Thinking about it, he only worked on this for less than a month, together with a group of enchanters. In just a month he accidentally made a bomb capable of killing nearly anyone or anything if they were caught by surprise.


    At this moment, a line came into his head, and seeing the destruction, it was the only thing he could say, "I am become death."


    This famous line that once existed on earth, now became the phrase associated with one of the most shocking days in Atlantian history. It would be engraved in countless sculptures and drawn in numerous paintings. As for Villin, he would generally be depicted as a black shadow whose face you couldn''t quite see. For he was death.


    When Villin got out of his trance-like state, he noticed a large number of ''fresh'' troops had arrived on the eastern front. Benders were getting the dome back under control while the soldiers looked around, stunned by the damage done and having no enemy to fight.


    When Villin walked down into the crater, he was soon met by the general. Even this man, one of the four strongest people in the city, looked at Villin with a hint of fear in his eyes.


    "Runemaster Villin, we heard your call for aid earlier but weren''t able to assist. The North, West, and South were all attacked by a Kraken making the situation harder to handle. Your spears helped defeat them though so once ours was gone, the leader sent me here with a section of the army."


    Villin nodded upon hearing the explanation and responded with a few simple sentences, "I''m tired and I ran out of magic power, I''ll be going to sleep now."


    He didn''t even wait for the general to respond as he went back into the city and went into one of the nearby houses sleeping in their bed. Nobody was home anyways since every adult was fighting and the kids were in the innermost circle.


    When Villin woke up, nine hours had passed, nobody had come to wake him in this duration of time.


    When Villin exited the building he found two Atlantian soldiers standing on either side of the door, he recognized him as some of the soldiers that fought on the eastern front. As soon as they saw Villin, beads of sweat appeared on their foreheads and they both kneeled in conjunction.


    Seeing this, Villin frowned, he knew this and that about the Atlantian customs at this point in time.


    "Aren''t you only supposed to kneel before your leaders?"


    Hearing his question, one of the soldiers lowered his head further before responding, "Yes sir, but the Atlantian law also states that as an Atlantian you are allowed to pick your leader yourself."


    Hearing the response, Villin frowned slightly, "So you two intend to follow me then?"


    The Atlantian guard quickly shook his head, his nervousness was clear to see, "No sir, it''s not us two. Many of the survivors that fought on the eastern front have decided to pledge their allegiance to you. They are currently resting as we have been taking turns in keeping watch."


    Villin''s eyebrows rose slightly as he turned to the second guard, "Aren''t you afraid of me? Why would you choose to follow me?"


    The second guard was also sweating bullets as he responded, "Sir, we heard from the commander that you were the one giving out commands during the battle. You showed us your wit, and then, you showed us your strength."


    Unconvinced Villin pushed, "You didn''t answer my question, aren''t you afraid of me?"


    Realizing that he had to respond the young guard swallowed before responding, "In all honestly, I am sir. I am afraid of your strength. I am afraid of your potential."


    Seeing that the boy had finished with his response Villin felt slightly confused for a couple of moments, but then he understood.


    These Atlantians saw the source of the fear, great power. And who wouldn''t want to be on the side of great power? This together with Villin''s status, the realization he created each of the plans, his unexplainable ability to morph earth, his young age, and the fact he properly managed a group of enchanters to create hundreds of amazing weapons, was enough to gain the loyalty of these troops.


    It was as perplexing as it was normal.


    Villin chose not to think of it as he turned to the first, slightly more confident guard again, "How''s the situation currently?"


    The guard understood the question and responded, "The battles on each of the fronts rounded up a few hours ago. It seems that the beast king spent a lot of time to get the Ottoia and the Kraken, because of this the small armies are much rares, and regular large-sized creatures were almost non-existent."


    Hearing the battle finished, Villin nodded before starting to head towards the palace. The two guards who were unsure whether Villin accepted their allegiance or not, remained at the building Villin had been staying at.


    As he moved towards the palace, Villin was still thinking about the words of the two soldiers and the reasoning behind it. He decided to see what the Atlantian leaders had to say about it before doing anything.


    He didn''t bother to go get the commander as he entered the palace by himself, the palace guards didn''t hesitate to let him pass.


    Soon, he was in the waiting room, he didn''t go to the throneroom immediately, after all, he was in the leaders'' city, and going to the palace on his own could already be seen as disrespectful.


    He only had to wait for a few minutes before he got guided to the throne room, and he soon stood before the three Atlantian leaders.


    Unlike the Atlantians, the leaders seemed composed and unfearful. Villin waited for them to speak.


    "Villin Grey, student of The Academy and distinguished runemaster. You have done this city a great service, for that, I will be the first to give you my thanks." the leftmost leader said as he looked at Villin with a neutral expression.


    After a few moments of silence, the rightmost leader spoke next, "Villin Grey, student of The Academy and distinguished runemaster. You increased the overall defenses of the city greatly, taught some of our enchanters new runes and enchantments, defended the eastern front, and killed the legendary Ottoia. For this, I give you my thanks."


    Before Villin could react, the centermost leader spoke, "Villin Grey, student of The Academy and distinguished runemaster. You have shown us your intellect when you created a way for our own enchanters to create enchanted spearguns. You showed us your fortitude when you managed to get out of a coma long before the doctors expected it, and you have shown us your strength when you defeated the Ottoia. For that, I give you my sincerest thanks."


    It quickly became obvious to Villin that these leaders only feigned their expressions, their words made it clear that they most likely were fearful of him, in the spur of the moment he decided to ask a question. "I did also destroy a section of the city, isn''t that a problem?"


    Villin barely finished his sentence when the leftmost leader responded, "It needed remodeling anyway."


    Villin was surprised by the quick response but didn''t continue asking anything as he waited for the leaders to speak.


    After noticing Villin didn''t intend to say anything else, the centermost leader spoke. "For your great achievements, you will obviously be rewarded. Firstly, I give you the Medal of the Savior. It is a one-of-a-kind medal that is created of a meteorite so hard we couldn''t dent it no matter how hard we tried. When you wear this, you will be treated as our equal while you are here."


    When the leader spoke of this, a soldier came up and opened a box. Inside was a flat round-ish piece of meteorite. It was bound to a cloth section he could use to wear it. Once he did, the leaders each stepped off of their thrones and approached him at equal height. It seemed they were serious that the wearer would have equal standing with the leaders.


    The rightmost leader was the last to speak, "Since, with the medallion, you have an identity similar to an Atlantian leader, you will be allowed to take those that wish to follow you if and when you wish to take them."


    Villin nodded as he understood the situation. These leaders knew how close the fight had been to the east despite Villin''s help. They wanted to tie Villin together with them so that, when the beast king would attack again in five years, he would come to help him with whatever knowledge and weapons he would have at that point in time.


    "Very well, I shall do so then. Thank you for your generosity." Villin responded looking at the leaders in general before focusing on the leftmost one, "So then, would you be free to teach me how to bend?"

 Chapter 203: Back To The Academy

    One day passed and finally, Villin returned to The Academy, after going through the Atlantian teleportation array, he found himself standing in the teleportation array situated back at A1.


    Villin felt somewhat stunned at the change in scenery. The buildings here felt much sharper and the sun was much brighter. The lack of the dome was rather odd. Even though he was only in Atlantis for slightly over a month, he had gotten used to being there and preparing for the attack.


    Now that he was back here though, Villin felt rather good. As he was walking towards Athena''s Forge he felt the atmosphere was a little different though. Occasionally groups of students in armor would be moving around together and individuals seemed hurried, slightly worried even.


    It seemed that during his absence things went as he expected, more attacks should''ve happened and things were more chaotic.


    When Villin arrived outside of Athena''s Forge, he noticed something as well. There were two more wards placed outside. They were clearly fake wards but it was still a great defensive measure. And even though Athena''s Forge appeared unguarded, Villin could feel someone look at him as soon as he came within a hundred meters of the building.


    When he looked at the location he felt the gaze come from, he found himself looking at the second floor''s wall. It seemed that they managed to find and cast an advanced illusion spell.


    Nobody came out though as Villin soon walked through the door of Athena''s Forge unimpeded.


    Inside, things had become even livelier than before. People were training and talking all around, as we went floor by floor he noticed people working hard on their specific subjects. He even noticed one of the previously spare rooms was being used for transfiguration and some students were busy morphing a piece of rock.


    He passed by everyone and went straight to the top floor before sitting down in his study.


    When he was there, he let out a deep breath, he took off the medal he had still been wearing and studied it thoroughly, he tried to morph it using transfiguration but was unsuccessful, he ended up putting it in his drawer.


    After this, he grabbed a cup of water and pointed at it, as he focused the water began rising slightly, after a bit a small ball of water was floating a good meter above the cup.


    It wasn''t easy to do though and Villin quickly put the water back in the cup before he lost control.


    Bending water and transfiguring earth was quite different, Villin had noted. Earth was hard and the movements you made with it were rigid but strong. You would force the earth to go to a certain place by pushing it.


    Water was different, it was soft and versatile. You couldn''t force water as you did earth, you had to guide it, pull softly to make it go where you want to.


    They both felt incredibly different to control, but when it came to the spells used to do so, they had a lot of nodes in common, it would surely be great for his research of the web.


    As he was pondering this, someone knocked on his door, using transfiguration Villin could feel it was Amelia, "Come in!"


    The door opened, revealing Amelia who quickly entered and closed the door behind her, "Villin! You''re back!" she exclaimed.


    "Oh really, I hadn''t realized." Villin joked as she took a seat.


    Villin didn''t bother with useless sentimentals though and quickly continued speaking, "What''s the current situation?"


    Amelia was caught slightly off-guard since she expected to have some small talk with Villin first but quickly composed herself, "Things have been going splendidly, the resourced the guild has have increased greatly since a number of students have succeeded in stealing the riches of other guilds and they have all been offering the guild half, it seems to have become an unspoken agreement.


    "Transfiguration has picked up in popularity amongst the members as a bunch have learned the art at this point. Due to our attacks and attacks made by different guilds, the outside has become more chaotic and we''ve had a large number of customers buying enchanted gear from us."


    Amelia thought for a few moments before hesitantly mentioning the next point, "There is also something that we didn''t expect though that have somewhat changed things¡­"


    Villin raised an eyebrow as he thought of what it could be, "Oh?"


    "Well¡­ nobody knows Athena''s Forge is behind the majority of the attacks. Thus far, none of our members have spoken despite the fact that there is a serious bounty on information about us. We''ve also managed to extract all students successfully before they got caught."


    Hearing this, Villin felt confused as well, it was hard to believe all of the members could resist the temptation of the offered rewards, then again, Villin knew they made the right call.


    After a bit, he responded, "All right then, it''s nothing but a good thing. What about the secret mission I gave you?" he then asked Amelia.


    Once this mission was mentioned, Amelia subconsciously spread out her magic power around her to make sure nobody was listening in.


    Before Villin went to Atlantis, he got a large portion of the items that came from the Decorus research station where he was imprisoned. When he looked at all of the objects in the list, he noticed there was something he could do.


    He used the teleportation array to go to the tower in K12 and had the tower rise above ground, then he came back and let Amelia know of the plan as well as the exact location of the tower. He did tell her not to go to K11 though. He hadn''t made a deal with the queen ant and didn''t want Amelia to find out he was planning to make one with her since fighting the ants would be good training for her as well if she thought it was real. She had been sent there for a different reason entirely.


    After thinking for a few moments Amelia responded, "The equipment has been set up and three stations could be created. The bit of equipment we were missing can also be used in pill-making so nobody batted an eye when I bought it."


    Villin nodded, telling himself to check it out later.


    "That''s good. I have to say, I am rather looking forward to doing it again." Villin lamented.


    "Yeah," came the response from Amelia as she thought of a period in the past, "Could you believe that just a few years ago, we were thinking of becoming great ''Cut and Crease'' players?"


    When Amelia said this, Villin was caught off guard, but soon a soft smile appeared on his face, "Oh my, how long it has been, fancy a round?"


    He looked Amelia in the eyes and then at the same moment, they jumped back from each other and all of the paper within the room swiftly moved to one of the competitors. Villin ended up controlling sixty pieces of paper while Amelia had fifty in total.


    They were no standing four meters away from each other and dozens of pieces of paper were folding in a multitude of ways. Even without enchantments, they both had no problem controlling this number of paper using only their magic power.


    Both of them breathed calmy until suddenly, Amelia attacked. A dozen pieces of paper had formed into spikes and shot right at him only to be blocked by a few pieces of paper that had been folded several times.


    Both sides played the game for over an hour before it finally finished. Amelia was left standing with two mostly-intact pieces of paper but there was a sharp paper spike just on her neck, it was Villin''s last piece, he ended up winning by the slightest amount.


    He had to admit it had been quite enjoyable playing this game again after years had passed but it was time to get to business again, they had just destroyed a couple of important reports so enough damage had been done.


    "Let''s check on your task and then I''ll go fetch Fang," Villin noted after catching his breath and both of them walked towards the teleportation array within the tower before teleporting to the new tower Villin made.


    Firstly, Villin used transfiguration so the tower went completely underground again and then the two of them moved to the lowest floor, it was there that Amelia had completed her task.


    When Villin arrived on the bottom floor he was content. One side of the room had all kinds of herbs, many of them enchanted to avoid them spoiling. On the other side were three workstations. They had all kinds of scientific equipment and Villin looked at it contently, "it''s the exact same as the ones professor Messen had." he commented as he had a closer look at the equipment. It was indeed the equipment required to create gene solutions.

 Chapter 204: Collaboration

    After making sure all the equipment used to create gene solutions was of good quality, Villin took out his old first-grade enchanting book and had a look at the recipes within. He had to admit he was looking forward to gaining more gene solutions even though he wasn''t sure if he wanted to be the one to make them. He had been, and would be, so busy with his work as a runemaster that finding time to become an expert gene solution creator would be tough.


    He was hoping for Amelia to continue her work in the subject, he knew her well enough to know she didn''t have any reason to poison him so it should be fine. Later, other core members, after an extensive interview, would also be exposed to this secret of himself and Amelia and possibly be brought into it.


    After a bit, he was standing with Amelia inside of an empty storage room in this core tower. Villin took off the spacial bag in the form of a backpack and turned it upside down. As soon as he did this, a number of objects and books fell to the ground. Amelia looked at Villin with a curious expression and he began explaining.


    "There are the majority of my gains of the mission I went on to Atlantis. The majority are books, these include basic history books depicting the events that have happened there, but they also include various techniques and even a couple of spell blueprints, even though they aren''t classified in the same way as ours are.


    "These five are basic techniques that were promised to everyone who completed the mission. They will allow you to move much faster underwater compared to regular people and your sight underwater will be nearly the same compared to above water.


    "These five are spell blueprints, each of them have ten uses. They are also all used for movement, the most notable is ''Water Bullet''. It is named as such due to the speed you would be moving at. It takes some time to cast but once you do you''ll soon be out of sight. I got these due to the status I acquired in the city.


    "Then there are a few enchanting and runebooks, they show the majority of runes and enchantments Atlantians used, lastly, you can see a few sets of Atlantian Armor and some of the metal they are made of, the core members can study these to get a better idea of the Atlantian runic alphabet and its main abilities."


    When Villin finished up, Amelia let out a breath she had been holding in. This was a lot. Even though she wasn''t really an enchanter anymore, she knew how valuable a few hundred new runes were, as well as nearly a hundred enchantments using these runes simply waiting to be improved.


    Yet, Villin didn''t stop. He took out a coin pouch inside of his jacket, it was the second spatial bag he had taken with him. It quickly became larger until it was a duffel bag, the largest it could become.


    When Villin turned this back around, nothing came out. He had to insert his arm and pull and the item barely made it through the opening of the spatial bad. They were two severed tentacles, each was about five meters long, they were also enchanted for the purpose of preservation.


    "What?" with a look of pure confusion, this was all Amelia could say.


    Villin responded, "These are the last remnants of a once-legendary creature. It should now be extinct and since all Kraken are its children, Kraken should now also be on the path to extinction. I suggest that if you at any point see resources of a Kraken for sale you buy them since they are going to become a lot rarer in the following years."


    Even though Amelia hadn''t heard of the Ottoia, she still nodded as she understood the gist of what happened.


    "One of these tentacles should not be touched for the next period of time, but you can use parts of one to experiment with gene solutions if the situation calls for it," Villin noted as Amelia nodded.


    "Anything else you gained?" Amelia asked curiously as she was already extremely stunned at Villin''s achievements.


    "Yeah, a section of the Atlantian army has chosen to follow me as well as a number of enchanters, two of whom have the talents to become a runemaster," he said, deciding not to mention the ability to bend water for the time being.


    "A section? How much is a section?" Amelia questioned as she wasn''t sure what to expect anymore.


    "About two-hundred soldiers and two-dozen enchanters. Whenever we leave The Academy we can go get them. I got the coordinates of Atlantis so it won''t be a problem to create a teleportation array. It would be ideal if I could get two of the enchanters into The Academy though, they have skills similar to Rein and they will be a great help to our development." Villin said as he thought of how to get them in.


    After thinking for a bit, Amelia responded, "Well, during the summer a bunch of guilds send people here to defend while a large amount of the students are gone right? There should be more exceptions to the rule that only students and teachers are allowed to enter. Since you are a runemaster, you are allowed to take a number of disciples, perhaps those would be allowed to enter?"


    "Yes that might work, I''ll request an audience with the headmaster, perhaps he''ll see me." Villin decided before finishing the conversation, "But now, I have to go see fang, he should still be near the magic array that led me to Atlantis."


    Amelia nodded and soon they parted ways. Villin first teleported from the core tower to the main tower over in A1, then he moved to the center of the square and teleported towards the safe zone where he left Fang.


    When Villin arrived he looked around and he was soon rather surprised by what he saw. He saw Fang, but he wasn''t alone. He was lying next to Ruby''s pet, Ember, it seemed that they had slept together.


    When Villin coughed, they both instantly jumped up and went on full alert, but when Fang noticed Villin he quickly sprinted over and licked his face.


    "Alright then Fang, calm down," Villin said as he petted the ice wolf, before turning to Ember. "And here I thought you two would fight every day. Since Ruby hadn''t come to pick you up yet, how about I bring you to her?" Villin asked. The tiger seemed to be intelligent enough to understand him and nodded, soon, the three were back on their way to A1.


    -----------


    "I see, I am glad you managed to get away unharmed," Ruby noted expressionlessly after hearing a short version of what Villin went through after waking up.


    Seeing his fellow runemasters neutral expression, Villin decided to ask something he had wanted to do long ago but never had due to the unlikelihood of success.


    "Ruby," he asked, "The black swans are a great guild with great strengths, but they also have clear and great weaknesses. We have been working together closely for some time now, what would you think of joining Athena''s Forge and make the Black Swans an elite squad of the guild used for information gathering. You would of course be the main person in charge of them."


    Ruby''s eyebrows raised as he looked at Villin in the eyes, "Even if I wanted to become a subsidiary of Athena''s Forge, my core members wouldn''t agree. They rather like only being under me."


    In response, Villin nodded, "If Atlantis taught me one thing it is that strength is one of the main catalysts of loyalty. If we show them what Athena''s Forge has and how powerful we truly are, I am sure they will change their minds."


    Ruby''s lips arched upwards slowly, "You are saying this as if you''re sure I would agree to go under you. Why are you so confident?"


    In response, Villin''s lips arched upwards an equal amount, "Because we are one in a way. I know you better than anyone, I know your past and who you are and you know the same about me. We have a connection that goes beyond that of friends. Additionally, I am sure you know that the black swans will grow faster under the umbrella that is Athena''s Forge. And I know that you know that I will change this world, and you will be capable of changing the world alongside me."


    After saying this, he outstretched a hand, and with the same soft smile on her face, Ruby took it. He was right, even though they could no longer see each other''s thoughts, they both knew they were connected deeply and as for ''Athena''s Forge'' becoming a subsidiary of ''The Black Swans'', neither entertained that idea.

 Chapter 205: Von Hauser

    "From today onwards, Athena''s Forge will have a completely independent group focused on espionage and information gathering. If you have information to be sold you can also contact them. A basement has been made over the last few days and this is where the group will be residing. They are under the full control of Ruby Von Hauser, a talented runemage that''ll be joining the upper echelons."


    After finishing his speech towards the tower, Ruby walked up to the small transfigured stage and looked out at all of the enchanters, pill-makers, and fighters around. It truly was an impressive force.


    Behind her stood a dozen individuals, the members of ''The Black Swans''. Originally ''The Black Swans'' had four core members aside from Ruby but since she grew so fast and made it to the fourth grade in such a short period of time, only two remained now. These were Hawk, a boy with silver hair and a very outgoing personality, and Sara, a girl with pink ponytails who acted very childish and playful.


    Hawk seemed excited as he stared at the requirements transfigured into the wall. Even though ''The Black Swans'' had figured out that ''Athena''s Forge'' was the cause of the constant attacks on various guilds, Ruby had told them not to sell the information. Hawk found it awesome that they would be joining this type of guild as he was quite a big fan of a few light-hearted battles.


    Sara, on the other hand, was a little skeptical. She didn''t show it though as she kept a playful smile on her lips. Unlike Hawk, she was actually a smart and calculative person, her playfulness was a guise made not just for her own entertainment but also to have her enemies underestimate her.


    She wasn''t quite happy that they were joining ''Athena''s Forge'' as they had managed properly beforehand and even if it was called an independent force, she didn''t doubt that ''Athena''s Forge'' would be setting certain restrictions on them when the time came.


    Both of them stayed silent though as Ruby walked up the platform and spoke to the guild.


    "My name is Ruby Von Hauser. Seeing how as most of those here are the offspring of minor noble families I am sure you recognize the name. But, I am not my father. I do not share his allies and as such I do not wish to inherit his enemies either. I assure you all that what happens inside of ''Athena''s Forge'' will not be brought to my father''s attention." then she looked at a dozen-or-so members in particular. "I am my own person as are you. Our parents'' grievances are theirs to deal with, there is no reason for us to follow them down. Thank you."


    And just like that she got off the stage.


    The members of Athena''s Forge were left looking at each other slightly confused, she hadn''t said anything that mattered to most of them.


    But, there were a few in the crowd that were staring at Ruby as she got off the stage, trying to read her.


    Villin simply nodded as he didn''t think too much about Ruby''s words. She had bloodlines of a Xiexhi and a Sphinx, there were very few capable of reading people as well as she could


    She probably sensed certain individuals had malicious intent towards her, this was unsurprising since her father was a high elder, one of the most influential people on the continent. Certain noble families allied with him and others despised him, it was important she set herself apart from him early so people would have an easier time letting go of this resentment caused by family.


    Kayley made another small speech talking about the general improvement of the guild, she also named some of the people that managed to complete one of the challenges, and soon the atmosphere improved. The people of ''Athena''s Forge'' and ''The Black Swans'' mingled for a few hours until the unofficial gathering ended, then the people of the information-gathering guild went to the underground floor that had been constructed. Ruby would be plenty busy as she had a bunch of enchantments to lay in order to improve her work.


    Soon the evening arrived and Villin was in his study working on a small disk. Back in Atlantis, Villin was near the corpses of dozens of magical creatures, back then he had thought of using the supreme dark arts technique he knew to store a section of their webs but he didn''t have anything to store it in. He only realized this problem now and so he was making some lightweight disks that were easy to carry around, they were enchanted in a way that a web should be able to be preserved for a length of time, then he could later transfer it to wherever he actually wanted to use it.


    He was casually working on this when he heard a knock on the door.


    "Come in." Villin said as he put the disk he was working on in a drawer as he looked at the door.


    "Hey there boss," Kayley joked casually as she entered the room before taking a seat in front of Villin, "Your request was given to one of the more influential teachers and they promised to relay it to the headmaster." she continued as she looked around the room.


    "I see," Villin said as he squinted slightly at Kayley, "But you didn''t come see me to say that, did you?"


    As expected, Kayley shook her head, she then looked at Villin with a more professional gaze. She reached into her spatial bag and took out a few notebooks before placing them onto the study table.


    When Villin opened them and began reading, he focused entirely, the pages he was supposed to read numbered about a dozen but they were full of formulas, many of which were invented by either Villin or Kayley.


    "This¡­ it''s about the teleportation spell we all got, ''Lanuae Magicae''?" Villin asked as he looked up at Kayley. It was very hard to figure out what kind of spell or nodes a paper mentioned if you didn''t have the spell blueprint to compare it to.


    Kayley nodded though, confirming his suspicion, "Indeed. I have been trying to cast it for a long time and I am sure you have been as well but its difficulty increases tremendously when trying to cast with all of the three derivative nodes.


    "I tried to compare these nodes with other ones in a variety of spells. If the properties I recorded are correct, it is impossible to cast a spell using these three nodes in tandem, they contradict each other. The spell The Academy taught us is fake, it''s impossible to learn no matter how skilled you are." she finished as she highlighted a few of the lines on one of the pages she showed Villin.


    Villin remained silent as he looked through the formulas again, this time he would pause regularly, seemingly doing small experiments within his web, after going through the majority of steps once, two hours had passed, he hadn''t found any flaws.


    Kayley noticed Villin became noticeably colder, "Tch, so they even give their geniuses fake spell blueprints now do they?" he asked rhetorically. He thought of the problem for a bit but got annoyed when he realized he couldn''t do anything to The Academy, they were too powerful and important in the development of his guild.


    After a bit, his mood seemed to improve, the coldness he emitted went away as the mischievousness of a Kitsune showed up, "What about, we do the same to them as they did to us?" Villin asked Kayley, who only got more confused.


    Villin got a wide smile on his face though as he wrote some formulas and principles on paper that he and Kayley used. Kayley then looked at them and even though there were no specifics, she understood what he meant, "But, what kind of magic has that kind of appeal that they would focus on it so much?"


    Villin''s smile didn''t fade as a small droplet of water floated in front of his face, "Let''s get them close enough to where they think they can fix it if they put enough manpower on it, but far enough away that this distance will never fully disappear."


    Kayley nodded after thinking for a few more moments. "If you put down a sufficient amount of information and truths behind each of the required nodes, I''m sure I can find a way to get it done." she said confidently and the two of them began secretly scheming against The Academy together.


    ---------------------


    "It saddens me to see so many have died. The death of Julius, in particular, is great, he was the greatest commander and keeper of secrets I could''ve asked for."


    "Sir Valia was great, but the loss of the key is even greater, he turned traitor and assumed you were dead. We cannot have another person running around with a key, it could be catastrophic!"


    "Quiet Von Hauser! Do not speak out of line! Julius was no traitor, after believing I died, he tried to, and succeeded in finding an inheritor before his own death, just as I had commanded. Still, since I do live, we will indeed need to find and kill this inheritor, whomever they are."

 Chapter 206: Max’s Plan

    "Good, now, if I were to use the Byron runic chain, it may be possible to switch between a passive and active state, I''ll just need to find a way for it to identify threats and we should be good," Max mumbled as he looked at a stone golem in front of him.


    The rigid stone golem was about two meters tall, it was created by merging a multitude of stone blocks together using transfiguration, since Max wasn''t too good at the art yet, this was the only way he could get it to have a humanoid shape. The golem lacked hands and feet but due to the material used, it should have enough grip to move around properly if he could finish the task.


    Max clacked his tongue as he thought of the tasks completed. He was the first to succeed in robbing a guild''s main riches and it helped him massively financially. Shortly after this, he also reached second place in the runic exchange, placing just behind Rein. This meant he completed half of the requirement, the tasks that were left included creating a golem capable of defending the tower passively and creating either one completely new useful spell, or five new useful derivatory versions.


    After some thought, Max decided to focus on the task where he had the highest chance of success first He was an enchanter and magic array-creator first and foremost so he figured he would have some chance at completing the golem task in a relatively small period of time. He learned some basic transfiguration and quickly began experimenting, while Villin was in Atlantis he was practically locked inside of the tower, working tirelessly on the enchantments that could create the desired effect. Max wasn''t looking to create a great golem, just one that fit the requirements, at least for the time being.


    Yet, he kept on getting stuck at the most difficult step. He found a way to create fake joints using enchantments, allowing the golem to move properly, he even managed to insert a small moveset of fighting techniques that the golem was capable of performing. The biggest hurdle was getting the golem to see without spending too much power and recognize threats.


    The last bit was the toughest, something basic such as ''the golem will activate when it sees a wand or an offensive spell being used'' wouldn''t work since allies would also be attacked. If someone attacked ''Athena''s Forge'' the guild''s members would be using offensive spells of similar destructive abilities compared to the enemies''.


    After putting a great deal of thought into it, Max decided that finding a way to do this section himself may not be the best thing to do. If he could get the information from someone else that would be more ideal. He decided to put the names of those that may be able to help on paper to help him decide how to handle this. Villin and Rein stood on top of the list, the others were the leaders of various transfiguration guilds that may have that kind of information.


    "But, if they have this kind of information it''d be too valuable to give away. Even with the information I still have from my raid, I doubt I''d be able to trade for it," he told himself as he scratched a few names off the list.


    Villin and Rein were the first names he got rid of. If he could just ask them for the solutions the requirements for becoming a core member would be a joke, they were supposed to find a way themselves. But then again, perhaps a trade could be made with Villin or Rein if he showed his skills while doing so.


    After this thought came into his head he quickly formulated a plan, he got rid of all the names of the various guild leaders and wrote down two new names.


    Professor Jaiden Howitzer and professor Baldur Wing. These were the two respected transfiguration teachers, if there was any place within The Academy that taught how to create passive golems it would most likely be given to the elite students, those that got to the sixth grade. As for teachers, they were generally the elite even amongst sixth-grade students before graduating.


    Since professor Baldur Wing was over sixty years old, Max scratched his name out as well. Even though the likelihood of him having the required technique was higher, he had too much experience, some students stood nearly no chance of stealing or fighting him.


    This left behind professor Jaiden Howitzer, she wasn''t even thirty yet but was an extremely talented student in a multitude of courses, she ended up teaching transfiguration out of her own choice.


    Now alone, Max didn''t stand much of a chance of doing anything. Even though students were allowed to fight and all that without consequences as long as they didn''t kill each other, this didn''t include teachers, if he were to attack a teacher, he''d be in serious trouble.


    Robbing teachers was most likely also forbidden but if nobody knew who did it, it wouldn''t matter much and Max could always get rid of the book holding the technique after learning it so it couldn''t be traced back.


    Before realizing it, Max had spent a handful of hours thinking of various situations and possibilities. After this time passed, he found himself walking towards Amelia''s office.


    -------------------


    Villin smiled as he looked at the creatures surrounding him, there were dozens of giant ants around him allowing him to initiate the conversation with the queen ant.


    "Where are my metals? Did you lie to me about the compensation?" the queen ant painfully said to Villin''s consciousness while he kept a smile on his face.


    "No, I was simply away for some time, I have returned now and I have the metals I owe you, as well as more to by the lives of some of your children," Villin said casually before overturning two spacial bags revealing a small mountain of iron ore.


    Villin could feel the queen ant was somewhat speechless at first, but after a bit, two-dozen ants split off of the main group and went to stand behind Villin, "Here, after taking what you owe, you have enough for these." the queen ant said as some of the other giant ants began carrying the iron ore.


    "No, I''ll just take ten. The others are capital. If someone comes here with the crest of Athena''s Forge and kills some of your children, it would be best to just chase them out, this is payment in their stead."


    Even though the queen ant didn''t completely understand why he would do things this way, she gave him a mental nod before a number of the ants sent behind Villin went back to their nest leaving behind only ten.


    Villin simply nodded before turning around and beginning to leave, followed by the ten giant ants that were now his. He got all the way to the edge of the tile when the ants stopped following him, it seemed they were completely unable of traversing beyond the border. With science on his mind, Villin used his strength and barely managed to carry an ant, he took a few steps with it and put it beyond the border, once placed down, the ant stopped doing anything at all, Villin entered its mind and found that its connection with the queen ant had been severed. He then ended up just killing the ten ants before putting them inside of his spatial bag.


    When he got back to the core tower, Villin first cooked up a basic meal using the ants'' meat and organs. He found that the meat of the ant wasn''t the only tasty bit, the majority of its ingredients ended up being. There were a few that were slightly poisonous but a basic pill could easily take care of it.


    Villin cooked the meat very lightly before eating it, Salmonella wasn''t too big of a threat here, (similarly due to pills) so he could experiment with it properly. He found that whether properly cooked or not, the meat was extremely tender, the taste would change somewhat though.


    If someone ate a bite of raw meat from the giant ant and a piece of properly cooked meat, they would most likely think they were from completely different animals.


    Even though he wasn''t a cook and wasn''t planning to be one either, Villin found it most important to at least test the new delicacy out somewhat. It was possible that the meat from the giant ants would be the primary source of income for Athena''s Forge when they left The Academy, if they could export the meat that is, or relocate the nest. The carapaces were also very strong but not everyone had a need of those, even though Magi generally died young, it was more often due to failed experimentations than fights.


    Since Kayley would be doing the work for their tiny revenge plan against The Academy and Athena''s Forge was pretty much running itself right now, there wasn''t much Villin needed to do right now. He had considered going on a mission again but knew that most of them were rather useless to him. He could also try to go further out and explore the more dangerous areas but it was a large risk since he could always meat another tile such as the one with the giant ants but with a less talkative leader.


    After thinking of what would help him gain the most strength currently, Villin decided he wanted to go out shopping outside of The Academy. The Academy was currently the second greatest school in the continent but this didn''t mean it had all the techniques the school ranked tenth had, for example, they just had the second greatest overall strength.


    Then again, despite having read quite a few books, Villin never found a mention of some shopping mall or auction hall he could go to, it seemed that he would have to ask one of the more experienced teachers where he could find such a place and if students were allowed to go there.

 Chapter 207: An Auction To Come

    "Oh, a shopping street you ask? I''m afraid the magi world hasn''t had such a place for a long time boy and for good reason. If you want to find a rare item you''ll have to make a deal with a family or group that has said item." professor Idem told Villin after hearing his question.


    The professor noticed the boy''s dismayed expression after hearing the reply and suddenly recalled something, "Oh, there is another way, though it is not meant for individuals." the professor said as he thought of it. "Every year the Goodlaw family organizes an auction for all guilds within the magi world. It''s how Herman Goodlaw got the support and funds required to become a high councilmember. Sadly, the auction only caters to groups though since you need to have at least a hundred thousand crystals to be able to properly participate in the auction. If you are looking to see some rare items though, it''s the place to be, it truly is a spectacle to behold." the professor finished, not realizing quite how rich Villin was.


    "Thank you, professor," Villin replied seriously after he listened to the old man''s words. Professor Idem taught students how to create spell blueprints, one of the two classes in the grade you had to participate in a couple of times. Even though Villin hadn''t taken the class yet, he knew professor Idem was one of the most experienced professors around that was always kind to students so he decided to contact him.


    "Then, are students allowed to go to this auction? And how would you even get there?" he asked trying to get more information.


    The kind professor looked at Villin and shook his head, "Students aren''t allowed to leave The Academy if it''s not for a mission in the fourth and fifth grade," the professor began, but just like the last time, he seemed to recall something last second, "Then again, if you want to see how such an event goes, there should be a few missions to act as a guard. They would be in rather difficult tiles though and you would no doubt need to have a good status to be allowed in, even as security." the professor lamented as he thought of Villin''s inquiries.


    "Then, professor, would you happen to know where one could find such a mission?"


    The professor looked at Villin for a couple of seconds with a neutral expression before cracking a smile, "Boy, you really think The Academy lets us know what missions are where? We don''t hold that kind of authority. All I know is that the mission should appear somewhere in the following ten days, since the auction this year will be happening around a month from now." the professor said as he looked at Villin glistening eyes, "Now I need to teach another class in an hour and have some preparations to make, you should be on your way, and if you''re planning to try and become a guard, be careful, there has never been a year where the auction ends without any problems." after explaining this matter to Villin, the professor left him be as he had to make some preparations for his class.


    As Villin was walking through the now mostly empty streets of A1, he was lost in deep thought. So it appeared that there were only two ways to get certain items, either you deal with an entity or group who has them or you go to this auction. The former way had a lot of problems with them as every other school, and most families associated with a school that isn''t The Academy, probably wouldn''t be willing to deal with him. And if they did, he would probably be severely ripped off.


    He also learned that the mission to become a guard for the auction should be up within the following ten days, since the auction was a month from now, this meant that the mission would be up for a total of twenty days.


    Twenty days should be enough to have a look at a number of high-danger tiles that may hold this mission, but that was a matter for another day.


    Walking through the streets, Villin felt rather comfortable. Even though tensions here had gotten sky-high, to the point where people wouldn''t go out on their own, he felt more at ease since the streets were quieter, if there was a group, he could keep a proper eye on them without too much trouble, he didn''t have to worry about focusing on five different locations at once.


    He did pay a lot of attention to each group though. Due to what happened in Atlantis with Cornelius, Villin didn''t dare underestimate the malicious intent of students anymore. He looked at each student as a potential threat.


    When Villin got closer to the tower, he felt that something was wrong using his transfiguration. He crouched down and touched the ground with his hands to help him focus and tried to sense what was going on near the tower in more detail.


    There were two groups that seemed to be standing opposite each other. In front of the tower stood twenty students close to each other, denying the second group access to the tower. Said second group numbered sixty people, they seemed to be somewhat divided into a number of smaller groups but they were all facing Athena''s Forge.


    After noticing this, Villin quickly tried to figure out where the other members of Athena''s Forge were. There was one group inside of the tower on the bottom floor, preparing to defend if the enemies managed to breach, Villin sensed Amelia''s familiar aura amongst them.


    More, small groups could also be found all around though, small groups of members from Athena''s Forge seemed to be spread out, all of them faced with somewhat larger groups of opponents.


    Realizing they were under attack, Villin quickly approached the main two groups to have a better look at what was going on, since no spells seemed to be getting sent yet, it seemed that the two groups were still talking.


    After turning a few corners, Villin had a proper visual of the main situation. On one side were members of Athena''s Forge, Villin noticed Kayley and Rein were standing at the front as they seemed to be discussing something with the opponents, Rein had his brows furrowed as he seemed to be getting angry, "For the last time, we will not surrender anything of our own, if you wish to steal from us, give it your best shot!" Rein said in a provocative tone that wasn''t often heard on him.


    Standing opposite the group from Athena''s Forge seemed to be an alliance by a number of other guilds. Villin quickly noted two things that made clear what had happened. The first notable point was the fact that all of the guilds here had been robbed in the last period of time, either by Athena''s Forge or other groups also choosing to don fox masks in the chaos.


    The second important observation was the existence of a specific girl in the back of the group belonging to ''Today''s Oddities'', the girl seemed to be trying to go unnoticed by the people from Athena''s Forge but Villin recognized her thanks to his great memory. It was a girl belonging to ''The Black Swans''. It seemed that when she found out that Athena''s Forge was responsible for most of the attacks and seeing how high the reward offered for their information was, she couldn''t resist the temptation and sold them out.


    Then, Today''s Oddities must''ve let a number of other affected guilds know of the situation and they marched here together with their combative forces intending to take back what was taken from them.


    Since Villin didn''t bother to hide himself as he got closer to the tower, he was quickly noticed by both groups and he took the majority of the attention, "There! That''s Villin Grey, the leader of Athena''s Forge!" one of the opponents exclaimed while looking at their leader.


    The commander of this allianced army seemed to belong to a combative guild called ''The Soaring Eagles''. After thinking for a few moments, Villin actually recognized their crest, he had had an encounter with one of their members in the second grade. It was when he had just joined, he had some trouble with a guild called ''The Shielding Lions''. Things were about to be resolved in a peaceful manner when a member of this guild riled up ''The Shielding Lions'' causing a fight to break out. After this, he hadn''t had any contact with the guild anymore though.


    The commander was called Sylvia Russia, one of the greatest fighters of the grade. Villin actually recognized her name from a report Amelia had given him talking about the strongest fighters in the grade. Looking at the group, Villin also recognized a second person, a boy names ''Juliano Cartenmino'', he belonged to a mercenary guild that hadn''t been attacked by ''Athena''s Forge'', it seemed that they were paid to participate.


    With two of the top fighters of the grade here, the situation looked dire, Villin didn''t show any stress on his face though as he slowly approached the two groups.

 Chapter 207: Resolving a Conflict The Right Way

    When Villin got closer to the two groups, he didn''t get attacked, everyone was simply staring at him. The members of Athena''s Forge seemed to be letting out a breath of relief while the people of the allianced army were looking at the several leaders within.


    Said leaders looked like they wanted to speak up but they refrained and looked at their commander, Sylvia, they had all agreed to listen to her while they were here due to the threat Athena''s Forge posed.


    Sylvia Russia also remained quiet all the way until Villin had reached the troops of Athena''s Forge. Once he had joined them, she finally spoke up, "Now that you''ve joined us, mister Grey, let us properly begin negotiations. We have gotten word, and proof, that your guild has been responsible for the attacks against our guilds."


    The strong woman looked at Villin seriously as she continued, "Now, we don''t wish to fight. We aren''t unreasonable people either, as long as you give back what you took from the guilds with me here, we will take our leave."


    It was easy to realize that the people before him were indeed sincere and Villin had to admit they were extremely reasonable, but he had no intention to listen to them. He stroked his chin, pretending to be thinking deeply, but after a few seconds a slight frown appeared on his face, he then looked at Sylvia and spoke with a complicated expression.


    "Now, miss Russia, I am afraid I don''t own most of what you''re looking for. After all, I wasn''t involved in the raids, if a member of us gains resources, who are we to ask them to hand it over?" Villen ended his sentence with a helpless expression.


    Behind him, a few students who raided some of the guilds before them were about to speak up but they were halted by Rein, they were no doubt about to offer their resources to Villin but Rein knew his intention.


    Hearing the response, Sylvia frowned, "I am sure your guild has plenty of resources to pay for what you took."


    Villin sighed before lamenting loudly, "Maybe if our members help us out a bit¡­"


    After saying this, he turned around so he was facing his members.


    "Forgers of Athena!" he began loudly, with a confident tone. Even though Sylvia couldn''t see it, Villin had a bright smile on his face. Each of the guild''s members could now easily tell that Villin had been faking his previous expressions.


    "ATTACK!"


    While saying that simple word, Villin turned back and pointed his finger towards Sylvia Russia, she was caught entirely unprepared when she felt a ginormous force pulling her towards Villin and the members of Athena''s Forge, it was, of course, the force coming from ''Voccocito''.


    Immediately, the severely outnumbered members of Athena''s Forge began running towards the enemies while casting spells.


    As for the opponents, even though they had the number advantage, they mostly looked like they were shitting their pants. They didn''t have a lot of combat experience since most of the guilds attacked by Athena''s Forge weren''t those that focused on combat.


    When they saw the fearless expression of their opponents as well as the power behind their spells, the majority only managed to cast a defensive spell as they took a few steps back.


    But, there were enough proper fighters in the allianced army to halt Athena''s Forge''s charge. The Soaring Eagles seemed to be the main force on the opposite side, they had been spread out the entire time but now stepped up to fight against the opponents.


    Even if you just counted them and the guilds Juliano Cartenmino was a part of, they still slightly outnumbered the twenty people of Athena''s Forge.


    Still, Villin knew that it wouldn''t matter soon, as long as the people within the tower managed to finish what they were working on in time, their opponents would be running off never daring to come back.


    A few minutes later Villin clacked his tongue as he looked at one of the strongest fighters of the grade before him, her robe was charred as was her right leg, a section of her hair was ripped out, her face was bleeding from a multitude of cuts and now finally she had been tied up using vines causing her to be utterly unable of moving. Not that she could normally since she had already fainted.


    "How are you so weak?" Villin questioned the unconscious woman before sighing and slowly getting up from his crouching position.


    Looking over the situation as a whole, Villin first notices Reing fighting with Juliano Cartenmino. Rein hadn''t been hurt in the slightest yet, he seemed to be casually moving his wand and occasionally dodging a simple spell as he was practically throwing about his opponent. He ended up finishing his fight in the same manner Villin had, a number of vines came out of the ground and entangled him, causing Juliano to be completely unable to move.


    Finally, Villin looked at the battlefield as a whole. Athena''s Forge was outnumbered three-to-one. A single member of Athena''s Forge had to fight two relatively inexperienced fighters and one properly experienced one at a time, but Villin noticed they were still holding up pretty well.


    Some of the more skilled fighters of the guild had already taken care of a couple of opponents while some of the weakest links seemed like they could be defeated any moment now. But still, they were all standing while the opponents already lost ten men.


    The difference in quality was greater than Villin had previously expected but he was satisfied, he then quickly went ahead and entered the tower of Athena''s Forge. It was time to end the battle and he wanted to do it in a spectacular way.


    He entered the tower and quickly went up to the first floor of the tower. There, Amelia was overlooking a number of enchanters working on a device as quickly as they could. Villin sat to the side and worked on a second smaller, item and a few minutes later, they were all finished.


    "Let''s quickly assemble it," VIllin noted and the other nodded as they began putting the pieces they had enchanted together, after a bit, a newly made speargun could be seen.


    Villin nodded contently as he looked at it. He had given the blueprint to Amelia a while ago but didn''t plan to make it anytime soon as they didn''t need it currently, apparently, Amelia decided to have it made as quickly as possible when she saw a force that outnumbered their approaching.


    Villin had been working on a spear but due to the timelimit, he sacrificed piercing power, speed, and durability, putting all his energy in the explosive section.


    Next up, Villin located a position where, if a small hole were to be made inside of the wall, it wouldn''t have any effect on the enchantments made around it, and the speargun was positioned there, with a bit of transfiguration, the speargun was pointed at the battlefield.


    From the battlefield though, it was near-impossible to see, the small hole inside of the wall didn''t garner any attention, especially due to the current chaotic situation.


    Even though Villin wanted to point the speargun at the opponents, he knew it would have dire consequences so the gun was pointed behind the enemy troops instead.


    Just before the first person of ''Athena''s Forge'' would''ve been defeated, a spear shot out overhead, it traveled slow enough to be seen, and it caught many people''s attention.


    "BOOM!"


    An explosion rang out and a bent piece of metal hit two people staying in the back of the battlefield. The previously metal spear was bent beyond belief and a hole was made in the ground where it hit.


    Everyone quieted down instantly and no spells were cast, but Villin wasn''t done with his show of strength. There were still four leading figured standing but in the following four seconds, they each fell down to the ground, fainted. Villin used the simple mental attack to take them all out. Against people with little combat experience, it was too effective.


    The rest all felt an insurmountable pressure, one some recognized as killing intent. They all found themselves sweating marbles as their attention was thrown to the tower, or an individual within that nobody could see. Moments later, they all felt a piercing pain within their heads as a loud voice appeared within, "ENEMIES OF ATHENA, THOSE WHO DARED ATTACK THE TOWER, YOU HAVE HEREBY BEEN WARNED. IF YOU STEP CLOSE TO THE TOWER AGAIN, YOUR DEATH SHALL BE INEVITABLE!"


    The loudness of this mental voice caused nearly all of the opponents to scream in pain and most of them fell to their knees. When it was finally done, the group of people with wet pants ran away with terrified expressions, passing by the small crater caused by the speargun while they did so.


    As for those who fainted, they were all dragged over to A2, a somewhat unsafe place, and left there.


    The chances of any of them dying due to the beasts there were extremely slim due to how weak they were and the fact that the first to wake up could defend the others, but it was a clear warning.


    If you mess with Athena''s Forge, be prepared to die.

 Chapter 208: The Most Intimidating Force

    When Villin got up the following morning, the news of what had happened the previous day had spread all across the grade. According to Kayley dozens of visitors had passed by with seemingly kind intentions, not a single guild had even mentioned the fact that they had been responsible for most of the attacks that had happened thus far.


    A few guilds even came intending to be annexed by Athena''s Forge but Kayley rejected them all while waiting for Villin to wake up and make his decision.


    Other than these visitors and the people from Athena''s Forge, the area surrounding the main tower was entirely void of people. The guilds that lived nearby had packed up and moved away to another location, nobody wanted to be in striking distance of the explosive spears they had, and since it was now known that Athena''s Forge was responsible for multiple raids thus far, they figured the chance of them being properly attacked now that the news was out was too large.


    Over the course of a single day, a larger and larger area around Athena''s Forge was evacuated, this went on for a multitude of kilometers all the way until the section was cleared out up to the locations where a multitude of combat guilds including ''The Shielding Lions'' and ''The Soaring Eagles'' had their bases. This meant that nearly a fifth of A1 had been entirely cleared out saving the classrooms that were located in the area, and even if they had to go for those, any students would be exceptionally powerful.


    Because of this, a lot of buildings ended up empty and Athena''s Forge could spread out slightly wider, Villin stopped the utilities from being moved but members were allowed to have their living areas outside of the tower, if they wanted to work, though, they''d have to come.


    Villin also noticed that due to all that happened, the members of Athena''s Forge had become a little cockier, but since overall this wasn''t a bad thing, he allowed them to be so as long as it didn''t cause problems in performance.


    Since all the territory was thrown onto his lap, Villin also didn''t feel like he could leave it be and solely defend the tower, for no other reason than it''d be a bad look. Looking powerful was half as important as being powerful after all, this was a truth he had realized long ago. After all, one would be much, much quicker to contest someone who isn''t showing any strength.


    In order to take control of this larger area, the enchanters of Athena''s Forge began prioritizing the creation of enchanted spearguns.


    The only problem they had here was that they couldn''t form the metal quick enough, this was because Athena''s Forge only had a handful of people who properly knew how to smith.


    In order to take care of this problem, Villin had a look at the list Kayley had given him stating all of the guilds that wanted to cooperate or be annexed, and soon he began sending messages to each of them.


    Since overnight the status of Athena''s Forge had dramatically increased, becoming the clear alpha of the grade, Villin didn''t go personally to each of the guild leaders, instead, he sent some of the more trusted members of the guild to relay his messages, this saved him time and once more increased the image of strength he was trying to create.


    His messages to each of the guild were extremely simple. Currently, Villin didn''t want to take more people directly into his guild but this didn''t mean he couldn''t use them.


    He created trade and work agreements for many of the guilds that had contacted them. For example, he would buy a very large amount of forged metals from a blacksmithing guild for ninety percent of the market price. They were all overall fair deals including large sums of money and resources.


    The majority of guilds involved focused on crafting and things of the like, those that came with friendly intentions coming from combat guilds weren''t contacted as Villin didn''t have any need or desire for their help.


    "We have contacted twelve guilds and received eleven replies. Nine agree with the conditions set while two others wish to discuss the details of the deal. The non-responsive guild seems to be having some internal issues currently that is delaying their response, we should expect to get it tomorrow." Kayley finished as she looked at some of the files in her hands.


    "I see. What''s the situation with ''The Black Swans''?" Villin asked as he thought of the issue that had caused this entire ''problem''.


    Kayley''s expression darkened slightly as he thought of the traitor, "We have been doing our own investigations into them, we are still unsure what the traitorous boy was offered to betray the guild as he seemed loyal to Ruby previously. The Black Swans have been extremely nervous today and barely left the basement, whenever they come up, they have been getting mean stares from the members of ''Athena''s Forge''." she said before waiting for Villin to speak.


    "Good, we need them to be nervous and realize how important it is. Let the mean gazes continue but make sure nobody gets physical." after pausing for a few moments he continued, "You are the person most liked within the guild overall and the members of The Black Swans seem to like you too. Play bad cop, make them nervous, if they''re scared, they''ll show what they''re made of. Have people tail any member of ''The Black Swans'' that leaves the tower, if they head into the direction of one of the guilds that attacked us, capture them and lock them up secretly. We''ll do this until we are sure there are no more traitors."


    Even though Villin had been the one to invite ''The Black Swans'', now that one of them was found to be a traitor, he wouldn''t be kind to the others until he was sure no others would pull a similar move. Making them stress out was the best way to find the rats currently as they would get scared and try to run.


    After thinking of this for a bit, Villin spoke again, "What about Ruby, how has she been handling this?" he asked.


    "She doesn''t seem to have done anything in response that we can see. She has been continuing her work as if nothing has happened. She and Sara are currently the only ones in the guild that don''t seem affected at all, they have been going outside and doing missions like normal. I''m pretty sure one of our members got spotted by Ruby while tailing her but she didn''t mention it or anything of the like."


    Hearing the situation, Villin nodded seriously before releasing a deep sigh. In just one day, a lot had changed, and a lot more could change in the following days.


    Currently, a lot was happening at once and things were a little chaotic, exactly how Villin liked it. He and Kayley swiftly took care of the situation in an organized way. Amelia was making sure those that got wounded the previous way properly recovered while Rein worked with the enchanters to create spearguns and sections of the spears.


    Villin finished these spears and soon a few spearguns and spears were ready to be deployed.


    Overall, the section not belonging to Athena''s Forge was rectangular-ish. Villin decided to have a speargun on high ground every hundred meters, flattening a couple of the buildings that would disrupt the nearby line of sight. He also tasked the fake warding guild that contacted them with creating a massive ward all around the area to defend against people using invisibility spells. This was one of the guilds that wanted to be annexed by them but were declined. Their task would take multiple months to complete but they would be paid a great sum by Athena''s Forge so nobody complained.


    When the new neighbors saw the number of spearguns that were being built and the speed at which it was done, they were all seriously sweating but nobody moved anymore, it''d be useless to do so.


    When the evening came, Villin saw in his study when Rein knocked on the door. After entering and sitting down, he took a red envelope and presented it to Villin.


    Villin took the envelope and inspected it. It was bright red and seemed to radiate magic even though it didn''t have any effect, there was a red seal in the middle of it showing The Academy''s crest. On the other side were a few short lines.


    ---------


    From: The Headmaster


    To: Villin Grey


    ----------


    When Villin broke the seal and took out the pink letter within, he fully expected it to talk about today and yesterday''s events but it didn''t mention any of that.


    -----------------------


    Villin Grey, runemaster and genius of The Academy.


    Earlier, I was presented with a request for you to see me, I''m not able to oblige you here since I''m currently not capable of coming to The Academy. When hearing the reason you wish to speak to me was the fact that you wish to bring some Atlantian enchanters to The Academy to learn under you, I decided to grant you permission to do this.


    This would not be the first time The Academy would get exchange students and it will not be the last. Atlantis is a mysterious nation with limited knowledge about it, having Atlantians enter The Academy will only create benefits for us.


    You will be allowed to take three Atlantians of your choosing so long as they are below thirty years of age. They must also, obviously, be magi.


    Good luck with your endeavors,


    The Headmaster.


    ----------------


    Reading the letter, Villin got a weird feeling. This didn''t seem like something The headmaster would write. Then again, the seal couldn''t possibly be forged and it simply had to be. As for how the headmaster could write a letter here without being able to travel here, magic was the obvious answer.


    No matter what, he could take in some Atlantians.

 Chapter 209: Two Weeks Later

    "Alright, time to report. Rein, you go first." Villin said as he took a seat at the head of the table.


    Rein nodded as he also took a seat, "The enchanters have been working extremely well this last while, they''ve finished the creation of all the spearguns we may have a need for and are back to enchanting weapons and armor. The two Atlantian enchanters Keith and Hazel have also been getting integrated into the guild properly. There have been no signs of discrimination, possibly due to the fact they are extremely skilled enchanters. I''ve been teaching them our runic alphabet and they''ve been growing rapidly as a result. In a few months they should both be at my level, especially Hazel, she is incredibly talented." Rein finished as he spoke of the matters he had been occupied with the last two weeks.


    "Amelia?" Villin asked as he gestured for her to begin her report.


    Amelia paused for a few minutes while thinking before beginning her report. "Our defenses have been steadily increasing in the last period of time. We found a few people sneaking in with disguising spells but thanks to the signature system we began using we''ve been able to catch them thus far," she said as she complimented a new system they''d began using in the meantime.


    Ruby''s specialty as a runemaster was surveillance, she had been improving steadily and had gotten an idea to stop any people from pretending to be Athena''s Forge''s members when they weren''t.


    The key to this was the same wall enchantment she had made in the second grade, this allowed her to see all the signs of life and magic of people within Athena''s Forge''s territory and a section outside of it. If they used an invisibility spell to get in, they should emit enough magical radiation to appear on the ''map''. As for those just producing life signs, Ruby had been looking for a way to differentiate members from Athena''s Forge and those outside of it.


    Eventually, she made a bunch of small devices that sent out a unique type of magical wave, easily detected by the enchanted wall she set up. They didn''t actually give these small devices to anyone and tell them the use, they sneaked them onto their robes. Once it was clear this system worked, those belonging to the guilds that had to enter Athena Tower''s territory to complete their jobs.


    Whenever someone entered the territory without a tracker, someone would be sent to have a look, this way a number of people had been caught in the last two weeks.


    Soon Amelia continued, "Amongst those that were caught, there was nothing to suggest some sort of conspiracy, they seem to be acting alone for various purposes. The combat ability of our men has also been increasing. Overall everyone''s confidence has increased greatly, in some cases this turns out to be extremely useful as people are finally showing their full ability while others got a little too cocky, these quickly got whipped back into shape though." she explained as she finished her report.


    Villin nodded upon hearing this and turned to Ruby for her report.


    "The Black Swans have gotten back in shape. Two traitors within the guild were found working for various information guilds, they have been captured and ransomed since they hadn''t made any negative moves. Overall people seem loyal, we haven''t found anything being sabotaged either so the surveillance system seems effective."


    Ruby''s report was the shortest but that was expected and so Villin turned to the last member of the upper echelon, "Kayley?"


    Kayley nodded and began her report. "The guilds we contracted have been holding up to their part of the deal, some delays did happen but nothing too major. Many individuals have come to request to join Athena''s Forge and as you asked, those that had notable achievements were sent to Ruby for questioning. This way, a dozen more people joined all together. People seem to have a positive expression of the upper echelon overall. Even though ''The Black Swans'' are still seen in a negative light, since we cleared the others of suspicion a bit ago, the hostility is mostly gone. Some people are starting to create derivatory spells and have gotten a few useful ones. As for our plan concerning The Academy, I am about to finish the ''spell'' and a rumor has begun circulating that Athena''s Forge is creating an entirely novel version of a transfiguration spell."


    Hearing this Villin nodded with a faint smile, he did want to get back to The Academy for giving a fake teleportation spell and this would be a good way to do so, the bait had been set.


    After a short pause, Kayley continued, "Max also had a request for us, I asked him to wait outside of the room."


    One of Villin''s eyebrows arched upwards as he got curious about what Max wanted to ask them, "Let him in." he said casually and so Kayley got up and opened the door, letting in a nervous boy.


    Seeing the upper echelon of the guild all looking at him, Max nearly felt like fainting but he walked up wonkily until he stood properly within the room where he could be seen by everyone.


    "So, Max, why is it you wanted to see us?" Villin asked as he looked at the cowering boy, recalling how he was the first to take action against an entire guild.


    "Eh-well, ehm-" Max stammered for a while, he took in a deep breath before asking his request, "Well, I wanted to have your assistance. I think I know where I can find the knowledge on how to make a passive golem and I wanted to steal it instead of creating the technique from scratch, which would take a lot of time."


    When Max finished talking he was barely audible anymore since he became quieter and quieter, Villin ignored this though as he asked, "Then why did you come to us? If you wish to steal from a guild you simply have to inform one of us, you are even allowed to make a team to do it even though it won''t count as completing the requirement to become a core member for the others."


    Hearing Villin''s response, Max quietly responded, "Well, I''m not really meaning to steal the technique from a guild."


    Barely hearing the response, Villin was stunned silent for a moment as he realized what he meant. This boy seemed like such a coward when he talked to people he sees as above him but dared to do the ballsiest things, it was somewhat admirable really.


    "So, a teacher. You do know it could have serious consequences right?" Villin asked.


    Max immediately nodded as his expression turned grave, "I know. But if you can keep him away from the classroom for thirty minutes I am sure I can get through his alarms and defenses and steal the techniques he holds." Max said, his cowardice suddenly gone.


    Villin''s eyes squinted slightly as he looked at Max, "And why would we do that?"


    "Anything inside, other than the technique to create a passive golem will go to you, as well as this," he said as he took out an item from his robe, it was the crystal maker he got from his first raid, an extremely valuable device that Villin immediately recognized due to descriptions he had read in certain books.


    After being asked to do so, Max quickly began explaining the plan and Villin had to admit, it was extraordinarily simple. Three members of the upper echelon would be required, they would have to be masked and attack the classroom from a distance with relatively weak spells just strong enough to destroy a few basic enchantments. The teacher would get annoyed thinking they were some of the hooligans that liked to mess with teachers and go after them.


    The three of them would stay just out of reach while leading the teacher away from his classroom, if the teacher tried to head back before the required time had passed, they had to forcefully stop him.


    They had to be careful though, if they put enough pressure on the teacher that he swallowed his pride and asked for reinforcements to deal with them, a second teacher would appear about ten minutes later.


    It was a simple plan but it depended on the teacher first being patient and follow the students for a good while before trying to turn back as well as prideful so that he wouldn''t call for reinforcements when his path back would be blocked.


    Then again, if the teacher was one of these two to the extreme, he didn''t have to be the other one at all for them to be successful, alerting Max of their failure also shouldn''t be a problem using an enchanted object.


    After thinking for a bit, Villin decided to agree, but he changed what was offered.


    "I agree but only two of us will be coming, myself and Amelia, we''ll be  enough to delay a teacher."


    He didn''t change this for no reason, neither did he do it because nobody else could be missed for a couple of hours. He did it because he was confident that his strength was nearing that of a new teacher already and he wanted to put pressure on Amelia so that she could improve her strength.


    "Ruby will also be coming with you, there might be traps you don''t spot but she will, we can''t have you being caught." Villin finished.


    When Max agreed to the conditions, they decided to do it in six days. At that point it would only be ten days to the auction so for now, Max was also asked to help clear tiles to find the mission Villin needed. In six days, they would be attacking a teacher.

 Chapter 210: The Teacher’s Secret

    Four days after the previous meeting, just two short days before Max''s plan would go into action, Villin got pleasantly surprised. Apparently, Ruby had gotten lucky and found the location where the mission looking for people to defend during the annual auction was set. It was a solo mission and only Villin would participate, he quickly headed to the location and applied, since he fit the requirements set he would have to come back on the day of the auction, a few weeks from now.


    "Alright, so, are we ready to make our move?" Villin asked Max as they were all situated in a deserted alleyway, situated close to their target''s classroom.


    Max didn''t seem nervous at all, he checked the objects he had on him once more, took in a deep breath, and nodded, "After you."


    Since Max was ready, Villin and Amelia put on fox masks and walked out onto the road, leaving behind Max and Ruby.


    The duo looked at the building about seventy meters in front of them and decided to attack from this distance, close enough that it wouldn''t be too surprising their spells would reach from this far but too far away for the teacher to swiftly catch them.


    Villin looked at Amelia and pointed his wand forward, "Three, two, one, go!"


    At the same time, two spells were shot out, an icy pike came from Villin''s wand while a purple streak came from Amelia''s. Both spells rushed towards the class and accurately hit the door. As soon as they did, flames engulfed the door for a few seconds before fading, clearly one of the defensive enchantments that were set off.


    Villin kept his wand pointed forward and soon more icy pikes were shot forwards, he only sent out one every two seconds though as to not seem too powerful, Amelia was doing a similar thing. Multiple other enchantments were set off as temporary forcefields and special effects happened every couple of spells.


    After twenty long seconds, the door opened and a young teacher rushed out. He had messy brown hair and clear blue eyes, he clearly seemed like he came from his bed. He was only wearing a basic white shirt and loose pants, not even wearing the robe that identified him as a teacher.


    It only took a second for the teacher to spot them as Villin hadn''t paused and sent another icy pike straight at his face. The teacher only had to point the wand he had on him at all times slightly upwards for the icicle to explode, he seemed like he got upset though as he looked at Villin and Amelia with a huge frown.


    As soon as they saw the hostility in his eyes, Villin and Amelia turned around and started running, Amelia sent another weak spell towards the teacher as she turned which he easily defended against, Villin also sent another icy pike back but he purposefully missed the teacher by a few dozen centimeters.


    In response, the teacher cast a few quick spells and shot them forwards, intending to restrain the students but they had positioned themselves properly and disappeared into an alleyway before the spells reached, quickly followed by an angry teacher.


    ---------


    As soon as they noticed the teacher chasing Villin and Amelia into a different alleyway, Max and Ruby quickly went onto the street and made their way to the classroom. Even though the teacher didn''t seem to have locked the door, it was closed up properly as Max realized alarms would be set off as soon as he put his hand on the door handle. Ruby stood by the side as he waited for Max to do his work, she would only need to have a decent look when Max thought he was ready to enter or whenever he needed her help.


    Max took in a deep breath and softly touched some of the enchantments with his magic power, testing them out slightly, then he would touch certain sections with his wand and move the magic power slightly in a way that would dismantle the enchantment without causing it to go off.


    In the beginning, things were going properly, since it was a teacher''s classroom Max expected there to be between three and five layers of enchantments and he had already dismantled four within a short dozen minutes without a problem, it got harder every layer though since you had to be careful you didn''t set off any of the previously dismantled enchantments when moving to a new one.


    The fifth layer was a lot more complicated and took a dozen minutes to disable by itself. Seeing the spike in difficulty Max expected it to be the final defensive enchantment on the door but when he was about to open the door, Ruby stopped him, "Wait up, there is something else here." she said as she pointed at a section of the door.


    "What? I don''t see anything." Max replied, confused.


    "It''s a common method amongst runemasters, a way to hide our enchantments to keep others from copying them," Ruby said slowly as she did her best to try and properly sense the hidden runes.


    "Runemasters? Why would a runemaster bother working on a regular classroom?" Max asked, runemasters generally only enchanted truly important locations, not the classroom of a normal teacher.


    Ruby frowned as she thought, "I''m not sure¡­ but I do think I recognize this style of enchanting."


    Max stayed quiet as he waited for Ruby to finish having a feel of the hidden enchantment, "This- this enchantment was made by Cornelius! A runemaster that died some time ago." Ruby said as she realized where she recognized the style from.


    Max, who had heard of the boy, nodded and responded, "I see, I guess the teacher commissioned him to enchant the door and he agreed." he said casually, even though it was a little troubling, he knew that if Ruby could recognize his style, she could probably find a way around it.


    "Hmm, maybe¡­" Ruby commented suspiciously but she dropped the train of thought she was about to go on and began working on disabling Cornelius''s enchantment.


    -----------


    "He''s falling behind, we should be careful since he''s physically not as fit as us, he''ll probably quit soon," Villin remarked as he glanced behind him and pretended to barely avoid a spell that was being sent at him.


    "Well, he has been following us for thirty minutes, this is already an ideal time, another twenty and we''ll be in the clear," Amelia said as she also dodged a spell.


    As if he could read their minds, the teacher that had been following them, let out a long string of curse words before turning back.


    "And there we go, time to fight I guess," Villin said casually as he turned around and ran closer towards the teacher who was now heading back in the direction of his classroom, Amelia nodded as well and at the same time they sent out a spell, Villin sent out another ice pike and Amelia another purple streak.


    As soon as he felt the surge of magic behind him, the teacher turned around in a flash and cast a basic defensive shield, just like earlier it blocked the spells but it slightly trembled this time, the spells the due had sent out were much stronger than the ones from a moment ago.


    After he turned around, the two didn''t start running anymore either, they started splitting up, the person he thought was male moved to the left of him, and the female went to the right of him, they seemed to want to divert his attention as much as possible.


    "Humph, if you brats think you can take on a teacher with the two of you, you are seriously underestimating you!" he bellowed, causing Villin to make a mental smirk as it seemed the teacher was prideful a good thing.


    -----------------


    "Finally, we''re through!" Max lamented as he properly stepped into the room. After the door came even more enchantments within the room, Max and Ruby actually had to work together to get through them all as quickly as they could. There were multiple other enchantments made by Cornelius as well.


    The large classroom had the teacher''s desk, some closets, and a door leading to the living space, since they all had their own enchantments, the duo decided to go for the teacher''s desk first.


    Once the enchantments were broken, Max began looking through the desk, he found a number of different files that were useless to him and a few that held somewhat valuable information on students within the school. There was also a spell blueprint but nothing too major.


    He was about to close the desk and turn to the closet when he noticed something, the inside of one of the drawers was less deep than the others. He realized this meant a fake bottom and after looking around for a bit he found a switch that unlocked it.


    When they opened the fake bottom they found some letters in a foreign language which Ruby quickly stored. Additionally, there was also a button within the drawer that seemed to have a magical connection to one of the walls, after a short round of discussion, the duo decided to press it. When Max did, one of the walls slid to the side and a stairway leading down was revealed.

 Chapter 212: The Truth Behind The Teacher

    "You damn brats, let me show you what I do with disobedient students!" the teacher yelled out as he continued casting spells towards Villin and Amelia.


    He couldn''t help but feel that this fight was too weird, he kept casting spells at the two unknown students and they seemed to almost hit every single time but they never quite landed, either they barely dodged out of the way or their defensive spell could barely defend against it.


    Villin gasped loudly, as if out of breath, but still responded, "Come on sir! It was just a prank, why don''t you let us go?!"


    The sense of alarm within his voice was feigned properly and the teacher would''ve been fooled if he didn''t suddenly realize something.


    "Hold up, you two were the ones that attacked me when I tried to leave¡­"


    It took a moment for the realization to properly reach his mind, first, for a moment, he was confused as he thought of why they would do such a thing, then, he looked alarmed. Finally, he looked Villin and Amelia in the eyes with an expression that was a weird mix between surprise and rage. "YOU! You two are trying to enter my office!"


    Even though rage was expected if a teacher found out students were trying to break in, when he heard the shake in the teacher''s voice it betrayed a hint of fear he was feeling. This wasn''t a natural reaction and just when Villin was trying to figure out the feeling, the level at which the teacher had been casting increased drastically.


    The teacher stopped speaking and flicked his wand in a peculiar motion, as soon as he did, a line of fire came out of it, appearing in front of Amelia''s face a moment later, before she even realized it.


    Amelia barely had the time to realize she was about to die when a large green vine pulled her leg causing her to be pulled down, barely dodging the line of fire.


    "Careful, this guy isn''t normal," Villin said calmly as he looked at the surprised teacher who had completely expected to kill Amelia with that spell.


    The only reason Villin managed to save Amelia in time this time around was because of what happened with Cornelius in Atlantis, he no longer dared to underestimate anyone and had taken a few precautions during the battle. The fines had been resting just underneath the surface, ready to move.


    Amelia rapidly got up from her awkward position before having to depend at a twisting red streak, she didn''t hold back and cast a powerful shielding spell but when it was hit it shook violently, barely holding back the projectile.


    The teacher was about to cast another spell at Amelia but Villin moved first, a dozen vines moved out of the ground around the teacher and sped towards him, their tips sharp and twisting, it was meant to pierce right into the teacher.


    Since he was trying to kill them, Villin had no intention to hold back.


    It only took a moment for the teacher to realize they had been holding back severely as well but he was capable of dealing with the vines, as they approached, the teacher grabbed a vial from a hidden vial within his sleeve. He threw it onto the ground and its contents were exposed to the air about a seconds before a dozen vines were to pierce through the teacher.


    As soon as the contents of the vial touched the air, they caught fire, then, the air itself caught fire. Within but a few instants, the fire had spread through the air and was about to engulf the teacher and the vines but just before it did, Villin could see the teacher had another vial in his hand and he was swallowing the contents.


    At the same time, Villin and Amelia turned back and ran, chased by the rapidly expanding flames that lit up their surroundings, luckily the flames stopped spreading a few seconds later, then, they disappeared completely.


    All that was left was a broken glass vial lying on the ground. The road they were walking on didn''t seem charred at all but there was a burnt scarf where the teacher previously stood.


    Alarmed, Villin and Amelia quickly grouped up, "We have to go, he might be going back to his class!" Villin said alarmed, Amelia nodded and they quickly began sprinting back.


    ---------------------


    "What is this place?" Max asked as he made sure there were no more enchantments or magic arrays stopping them from going down the secret staircase.


    Ruby thought for a few moments before responding, "For all we know, this could be normal and all teachers have this, or it''s an escape route in case of an attack, let''s have a look."


    Her words made sense and calmed Max somewhat, he nodded and they began going down the dark stairwell, it quickly became clear there were no more defenses either, they didn''t inspect intruders to get this far and if they did, some more of the same defenses wouldn''t stop them.


    Carefully, the duo went down and before they knew it, they were twenty meters under The Academy. It was then that the stairs stopped and they found a door on the left side. Max carefully walked up and prepared to open it while Ruby grabbed her wand and pointed it at the door, ready to respond to any unexpected threats.


    Max gulped once before counting down to open the door "Three¡­ Two¡­ One¡­ CREAK"


    As Max threw open the door he threw himself to the ground, having expected some sort of trap to be sneakily connected to it.


    This didn''t happen though and, instead, a large open room was revealed.


    The room was absolutely massive and full of stuff. There were hundreds of drawers and closets hiding all kinds of goods. There were a few tables, some of them having glass jars with herbs inside or small vials with unknown liquids. One side of the room had glass cabinets inside of which they could see large glass bottles with similarly unknown liquids.


    "What the¡­" Max exclaimed as he stepped inside. The door they came in through was one of eight, spread across the outer edge of the room. The room itself was split into two massive sections by a wall going through most of the middle, when Max went around he saw what was on the other half of the room. Massive black cauldrons, large workstations with flames in various colors that didn''t go out. Books holding recipes to who-knows-what.


    Ruby looked at these items with a stunned expression and then moved to open one closet after another, other than instruments and normal living items all they could find were herbs, the lack of any kind of metal or part of beasts erased the last doubt out of Ruby''s mind, "This, these are potioneering stations. This teacher¡­ is a traitor of the continent, he works for the east." Ruby said these words calmly and carefully, trying to think of other explanations but she couldn''t. If there were materials coming from some sorts of magical beasts here she may still hold a smidge of an idea that this teacher may just be experimenting with a new method of pill-creation and the bottles and vials were reactants used in the process, but it was well-known that potions only used herbs.


    Max had reached the same conclusion but was scared to even think of it "There are over twenty workstations here¡­ just how many people are betraying the continent?" he asked as a chill went up his spine. Neither of these two knew that Villin and Amelia were also traitors to the continent, just that it was to the western side and they hadn''t had contact with the person that taught them in years.


    "What should we do?" Max asked helplessly as he looked around him.


    Before Ruby could give a suggestion though, the two heard footsteps coming from the open door they went through, there was someone going down the stairwell.


    They both pulled their wands and looked at the open door, prepared to cast their strongest spells at the figure, then, he appeared.


    "Max, Ruby, you two are okay?" Villin asked in a somewhat confused manner as he came through the door, soon followed by Amelia.


    Before Max and Ruby could ask what he was talking about, Villin and Amelia looked around the room, they already realized what was going on when they saw the vials and glass bottles, they had had time to think about what was going on with the teacher while running here, and due to the vials thrown and drunk the chance of him working for the east had already come up.


    Villin looked at the stations and the massive amounts of unchecked closets and drawers and noted, "I think we should be safe, he won''t come back."


    Amelia nodded but the other two were confused.


    "What do you mean, why won''t he come back?" Max asked in a confused manner.


    "Because he left before us and would''ve made it here first. He''s probably in the middle of getting his allies and escaping. I''m guessing he moved like this because he thought Amelia and I may be teachers when he realized we had been severely holding back. This would mean he was exposed."


    Even though this somewhat explained what had happened on the side of Amelia and Villin, Max was holding his head in his hands as if his worldview had shattered, "So, he''d a traitor? There are over two dozen traitors here? In the grade?"


    Villin nodded as he looked at the twenty fully-functional workstations, he then turned to Amelia.


    "Let''s take everything to the core tower before The Academy realized the teacher left and why." naturally Amelia nodded as she was eager to see how potioneering worked as well. Max looked at Villin with a stunned expression and Ruby remained neutral.


    "Do you think you can erase the traces of us being here after we take what we need?" Villin asked Ruby and she nodded as well, "Shouldn''t be too much of a problem, as long as you don''t mind the place getting destroyed that is."


    Hearing this Villin nodded, "Thanks, let''s move quickly."


    Max shook his head as he looked at Villin "Hold up now, you aren''t planning to report this to The Academy?" he asked, still confused as hell.


    "No¡­ Are you?"


    Hearing Villin''s cold voice Max shook his head, then he paused, "But¡­ why?"


    Villin smiled slightly as he looked at Max, "Max, you are set up to become the first true core member. Let''s do this and then I''ll show you the core tower, you''ll get it then."


    Max took in a couple of deep breaths as he calmed himself, "Okay then, let''s carry things, I guess." he said with an awkward expression.


    Villin nodded upon seeing his expression and they quickly began searching, they soon found a drawer holding a dozen interspatial bags filled with rare ingredients, this would make transportation a lot easier.

 Chapter 213: The Guild’s Interests

    "That should be everything." Amelia noted as she carefully placed a bunch of empty glass vials into one of the interspacial bags she was carrying.


    Villin nodded and turned to Ruby, "How long until the traces of us will be gone?" he asked.


    "I need another hour, I''ll start at the section where the workstations were at earlier. We''re done early so if you want you can still check out the other entrances." Ruby said as she drew a few runes onto the ground.


    Villin shook his head and responded, "No, we can''t say for sure that professor Howitzer, whom we fought actually went to warn all his allies before escaping, he might''ve figured they were already taken and escaped by himself. We aren''t used to fighting those from the east and if we make too much of a scene, the chances of The Academy finding out increases drastically."


    Villin was glad to see his allies seemed to agree as Amelia and Ruby nodded, Max still seemed a little out of it, he hadn''t had any contact with traitors prior to this and had been unaware of their existence.


    "We can finish our initial purpose though, check the professor''s classroom and living area for the technique we require most."


    Hearing Villin''s suggestion, Max found something he knew to focus on and quickly did so, "Then I''ll work on getting rid of the enchantments upstairs!" he responded before heading up the stairwell they all came through, leaving behind the trio most familiar with each other.


    "This is serious Villin. Twenty workstations and if our assumptions are correct, eight seperate teachers. This is way more then we had ever guessed." Amelia said silently after approaching Villin.


    Villin nodded in response, "With eight teachers and twenty workstations we can be sure they have at least forty students within the group, most likely closer to eighty." he paused for a moment as he realized the true severity of the situation "The percentage of traitorous students and teachers is too high to handle. The Academy is not a safe place, even though we already knew this, we got a good reminder of that fact today."


    Amelia nodded with a grim expression, Ruby who was still working also seemed a little more serious, she also hadn''t known of any traitors before this but she had seen Villin''s memories in the second grade and knew of the ''Mortal Club'' in the first grade.


    "Villin, there is something else." Ruby said seriously as she paused her work.


    "What is it?"


    "Some of the defenses upstairs, they''re created by Cornelius."


    Villin frowned when he heard this but he didn''t seem too stressed. I see, so he worked for the east as well."


    Ruby paused with a complication expression on her face, after a few seconds she elaborated, "This, the runes he used. They included a couple of atlantian ones."


    When he heard this, his head instantly shot towards Ruby, she seemed serious. Atlantian runes? But, he has to be dead, the explosion was insane. And even if he wouldn''t be, how did he return here when the Atlantians didn''t send him, and how has he already recovered?"


    Ruby didn''t know what to say for a while, after all, Villin was right. She had heard what happened at the warehouse and she had seen what the explosion had caused. But after a bit, the facts were there, "Well, apparently he did survive, and got back, and got better. There''s no other way, Atlantian runes never spread on the central continent. Nobody but us have them currently."


    Villin grabbed his head as he thought of what was going on. He felt that there was something going on behind the scenes and that he was so close to being able to see it, but yet, it was still invisible to him.


    After thinking like this for a couple of seconds, he sighed, "Let''s just get this done with, there''s not much we can do about Cornelius. If he is in The Academy, he''ll probably leave with the professor. If he doesn''t, we''ll find out and kill him."


    The plan was simple and brutish but it was all they could currently do without jeopardizing the growth of the guild.


    An hour later, Ruby finished her enchantments and they all began heading back to the tower. Max had gotten a bunch of techniques and spell blueprints on transfiguration, this included the techniques that he wanted, allowing a puppet to recognize individuals and certain actions.


    With this, it would probably only take a month or so for Max to finish another requirement and make a passive puppet, after this, Villin would talk to him about selling the techniques to the guild.


    For now though, it was time to show Max the core tower as he had been promised. Since his magic power wasn''t inside of the core tower yet, for the first time Max would have to go on foot. He was joined by Villin, Amelia, and Ruby and they soon approached a small empty field near the border of K12. When they were there, Max and Ruby didn''t see anything special. Then, Villin put one of his hands on the ground.


    The ground began shaking, surprising Max and Ruby. Max took a few steps back while Ruby grabbed her wand and looked around warily. The source of the shaking soon became clear though as a tower breached through the ground, reaching the surface. It rose all the way until it was completely visible, after which Villin transfigured them an entrance.


    The first thing they did was bind the magical energy of Ruby and Max to the teleportation array, this way they could move through the core and central tower without having to go all the way here.


    After this, they went to the floor where they kept the stations used for creating gene solutions.


    When Villin opened the door and the two newcomers saw the unfamiliar stations, they both acted very differently. Ruby seemed neutral but Villin could see a faint bit of anticipation in her eyes.


    Max, on the other hand, seemed like he was about to faint, "Y-you are traitors too? For the western continent?" he asked helplessly.


    In response Villin shook his head, "Not really. I mean, Amelia and I learned how to make gene solutions from a western traitor but we didn''t act against The Academy, we just learned the skill to become stronger, the ultimate goal for every magus."


    Hearing the response, Max stayed silent for a while as he was trying to process the information, Villin broke the silence after retrieving two vials and a syringe.


    This time, Max was confused once more, "Didn''t you two learn from the western continent? How come you have potions?"


    Villin smiled in return, "These are gene solutions, a liquid meant to either swallow or inject, they look quite similar to certain potions. Also, we did get a whole bunch of potions earlier so if we offered potions, wouldn''t you know where we got it from."


    Hearing the complete reply, Max blushed slightly, "Oh, right."


    Villin soon continued, "These are two o the simplest gene solutions, one that increases strength. They have both been created by Amelia herself. They are simple to make and the chance of her screwing up is minimal. It''s one we both have that increases strength by a level. It can save your life and it''s not something that easily exposes you even if you show it off.


    "But. If you take this, there will be no way back. With some testing and a good amount of suspicion, there are ways to figure out whether someone has taken a gene solution. If we were to be caught, you would most likely be arrested as well. Turning us in will also no longer be an option as you will be an accomplice.


    "It has never been said but this is the final requirement to become a core member."


    After saying this, Villin looked at the reaction of the two. Ruby didn''t hesitate and took both a gene solution and a syringe from Amelia, she was about to stick it in her arm but Amelia quickly stopped her and shower where to stick the needle.


    Max, on the other hand, felt more conflicted. He did feel proud as a member of the central continent and this had all come very sudden, "This, can I have some time to think about it?" he asked, looking at Villin.


    "You have one week," Villin said simply before leading them back out of the room and heading towards the teleportation array.


    When they got back to the central tower, the members were just waking up. Other than those that guarded who they told not to mention they left and returned a couple of times, nobody knew they had left, there should be extremely few links between them and the crime scene.


    As he thought this, he felt a slight magical pulse coming from Ruby as she set off the enchantments set up underground to erase the evidence. It seemed she also had the ability of making her magic power string-like so she could activate enchantments from a distance.


    When Villin got back to his study, he sat into his chair and sighed. He would''ve loved to get into potioneering for a bit but it would have to wait, the auction date was getting quite close and there was no time to rest.

 Chapter 214: An Unsafe Auction

    "A couple of days have passed and The Academy is still no closer to finding out we were involved in the eastern traitor incident. I think we''re in the clear." Ruby said to the other three people within the meeting room. These three were Villin, Amelia, and Max.


    "I see, and there are still two missing teachers?" Villin asked calmly.


    "Indeed. Six of the traitor teachers got captured the day we managed to get into their secret basement. It seems that you were right, professor Howitzer didn''t inform his allies before escaping. He left, causing The Academy to realize something was wrong. They somehow found the basement and went into each of the hallways, capturing most of them. Other than professor Howitzer only one managed to escape."


    Villin nodded as he thought about the situation. There were a total of eight traitor teachers from the eastern continent, six of them got captured, and two escaped. None of this went silently as most of the teachers fought viciously before they got captured, harming some of the loyal forces and attracting a lot of attention. Other than them, none of the students knew what was going on as they just saw teachers fighting teachers.


    "What about students? Have they been found out?" Villin asked as he thought of the people these teachers had been teaching.


    "As far as I know, no. Then again, it is too early to say. Students go out into the wilderness every day and occasionally enter missions so when one goes missing it is only seen as normal. It''s possible some have been captured, but if it is so, they weren''t all captured at the same time and it was done quietly."


    "So they are likely still safe," Villin concluded.


    Ruby shrugged as she didn''t know the answer, which was to be expected.


    "What if we look for them, if we recruit them some may be able to help in figuring out potions quicker," Amelia suggested but it was quickly shot down by Villin.


    "No, it''s possible The Academy did find them but is waiting for the arrests and are tailing them to try and find as many as possible. Additionally, we don''t know if these students are like us or if they''re generally loyal to the east. If it''s the latter, we have no way to safely control them.


    The other people at the table slowly nodded as they understood it, at this time, Villin turned to Max. "Now, Max, the deadline has come. Are you planning to join the core tower and take the gene solution?"


    In response, Max sighed, "This¡­ has been a rather tough call. I am an orphan and the only reason I was able to survive thus far was due to the council of the continent who supplied us with food and some resources. But then again, during these meetings I''ve more-and-more realized you aren''t traitors so much as you simply try to get more powerful. You aren''t guided by loyalty but by strength, perhaps that is the reason Athena''s Forge has been able to grow so much so quickly. I''ll join but if we ever make a move on the council, I would prefer to be kept in the dark." he finished, before walking up to Amelia who grabbed a vial and a syringe from her interspacial bag.


    "Good choice." Villin simply said, not mentioning that Max didn''t really have a choice since he had seen the core tower. Keeping Max out of it if they were to attack the central continent wasn''t a big deal. It was like keeping Ruby out of it if they were to assassinate the Von Hauser family (saving her of course), it was something they would''ve probably done anyways, to make sure they''ll still agree with Athena''s Forge as much as possible.


    A few minutes after Max took the serum, the side effects faded and he was able to pay attention again.


    Good, with that, we have four people that are now tied together, with nobody being able to betray the guild without giving up their own lives." Villin said as he talked about the gene solutions. "Now, Kayley and Rein will also naturally be brought in, but this will have to wait until after I get back from the auction," he mentioned while thinking of the upcoming event.


    After a couple of seconds he grabbed a couple of crystal holders out of his interspacial bags, he no longer put all of his funds in the same location. On his body, he had two-hundred and fifty-thousand magic crystals. A bit more than what he took with him to Atlantis.


    "Amelia, how many funds do we have that I can take with me to the auction?" he asked the brown-haired lady who was missing an eye, "Well," she replied "Including what you have on you, we should have six-hundred and fifty-thousand magic crystals that can be moved. With another fifty thousand that we found in the secret basement, that makes seven-hundred-thousand. A proper fortune with other words,"


    "Okay then, let''s gather all that," Villin said, not completely realizing how much money that was.


    "I already did," Amelia said as she threw a couple of crystal holders across the table which Villin promptly intercepted, "Or well, Kayley told me to give them to you.".


    "Good then, I''m almost ready to go." Villin said with a sigh of relief, "Anyone else got something to report?" he asked as he looked across the table.


    Everyone except for Ruby nodded, when Villin gave her an inquisitive stare, she explained herself, "My dad talks about the auction regularly. Guarding that place is not safe at all. Proper magi organizations go there and some of the rarest items on the market get sold. There aren''t too many wandering robbers around anymore, but most of those that are, pick this place to make their move. If you were to buy something, you should head back immediately, it''s dangerous. I know you''re stronger than most decent magi but even you can''t fight a group of properly equipped mercenary magi."


    Hearing her worries, Villin nodded with a grim expression, "I was already warned about the dangers of the mission, don''t worry. As far as I know, there''s a bunch of guards and even though some die every time, when looking at the number, the chances of me dying are slim, and this isn''t even considering my personal magic power. I''ll try to find a way to anonymously buy the items I want as well, I''ll have to see though, a mask won''t do in such a well-protected place, I''d probably get attacked by the other guards for wearing one."


    For a short while, Villin simply looked at the faces of each of the people here, finally, he turned to Amelia.


    "Amelia, even though Kayley and Rein will be the people in charge of the main tower while I''ll be gone, you have the most important position. When people realize I''m gone, they may try something. As far as I know, the auction isn''t over in a day or two so I''ll be gone for a while. If you want you can authorize any attack you deem necessary on other guilds, you''re our commander, I trust you''ll do well."


    Amelia slowly nodded "I will. Just make sure you get back alive¡­ and try not to almost die this time, it''d be a nice change of pace."


    Amused by her joke, Villin smiled at her before dismissing the meeting. He passed by Kayley and Rein once as well before heading towards the tile that held the guard job. It was technically still two days until the start of the auction but he was supposed to come earlier to help set everything up.


    The tile was pretty far away but Fang was as speedy as ever as he managed to easily make his way past any potential enemies.


    When he made it to the safety tile, Villin let Fang go back to A2 where the wold made a little nest with Ember and he approached the center by himself.


    Villin was careful when he approached the center but luckily it seemed that he was the only one there. He quickly stood on the teleportation array and looked at the mission board, he sent some magic power to the mission requesting a guard for a whopping one-thousand magic crystals, and Villin was soon engulfed in a flash.


    --------------


    "How do you mean they want us to sell ''that'' item? Do you have any idea how dangerous that is?"


    "Please be calm miss Targentelli, the auction has taken even better safety precaution this year, last year''s problem will not occur again." the man was in a pink suit as he spoke to the woman on the other side of the desk. It was Eveline Targentelli, she worked for the Goodlaw family.


    "Staying calm? Extra security measures? Bullshit! Even the big guilds will seriously be considering attacking the auction to get this damn thing, leave alone all the scum out there looking to make it big! Even with extra guards and enhanced defenses, there is no way this thing will get sold successfully! How am I supposed to take responsibility when it gets stolen?" Eveline Targentelli asked, nearly desperate at that point.


    "Please miss, there is no need to worry. The sale of this item isn''t as important as the very fact that we put it up for auction here. In the last couple of years, the big guilds and schools haven''t been sending their people anymore because they keep getting casualties. If we were to sell an item like this, this time around, even if unsuccessfully, they will certainly show up next time, trying to get something similar of value." the pink-suited male explained professionally as he was trying to get miss Targentelli to see the bigger picture, "It is a direct command from Herman Goodlaw to try and sell this you know."


    When she heard this, Eveline instantly calmed down, Herman Goodlaw was one of the most influential people on the continent and he was the one that truly ran this auction, she was only here because of him.


    "Damnit, okay then, I''ll try to sell it. But if more casualties happen because of this let it be on record that I was very against this!"

 Chapter 215: Viney

    *Content warning: This chapter contains relatively horrid gore."


    "Tch, they let kids join the guards these days?"


    These were the first words Villin heard when he went through the teleportation array. He looked around and found himself in a large rectangular waiting room with four teleportation arrays, one in each corner of the room.


    Two of the walls were lined with hundreds of lockers. A few were open since a bunch of people were already here and checking out their lockers. Villin spotted a blue suit in each of the lockers, as well as a sturdy wand.


    The man who spoke when he entered was an extremely burly male that was currently topless. He had large tattoos over each of his shoulders and looked extremely intimidating.


    If it were a few months ago, Villin would''ve simply smiled and possibly made a joke about the man as he didn''t see him as a threat, but because of the Cornelius situation he was more careful and his gaze carefully inspected the burly man and the surroundings. He was specifically looking for any people that could be his friends.


    ''Bingo.'' Villin knew that it was the right precaution to take when he saw two lean men and a pretty lady exchanging gazes, they seemed to be looking for confirmation from the initial muscular man but he didn''t focus on them since the man noticed Villin''s gaze on himself.


    "The f*ck are you looking at, kid?" the muscular man said angrily as he tilted his head upwards slightly to make the slight height difference between himself and Villin seem more apparent.


    A quick gaze at the surroundings, told Villin nobody seemed to have any attention to speak up for him, the three people that knew the muscular man also weren''t moving as they simply observed the situation.


    Villin''s mind worked overtime as he thought of his to fix this situation, he didn''t want another Cornelius on his hands who harbored bad intentions.


    Then, he thought back to Atlantis, not the warehouse explosion this time but the people, they feared him, and yet nobody did a thing to him. Some even felt the need to join him and even the leaders who he inconvenienced, didn''t make a move.


    The reason? Fear.


    When he thought of this, Villin knew what to do. He shouldn''t attack the man even though his chin seemed so exposed right now, that would only anger him and may even anger the people organizing this auction.


    The answer was to act entitled, bait in an attack, and squish it, pretending it wasn''t the slightest problem at all and he could kill the man at any point.


    "Tch," Villin scoffed as he began walking past the muscular man, an aloof expression on his face, "A little ant should know not to annoy a warrior. If the little ant does not know, he will be squashed."


    Villin spoke with a thick accent as he spoke in a neutral tone. Even though his words were brutal, his expression didn''t change, other than initially when he checked everything out, he hadn''t given the muscular man that questioned him another glance.


    Still, Villin could see his expression perfectly well with his magic power.


    As Villin walked past the man, he froze, as if he had no idea of what to do. Then a vein bulged on the side of his forehead, ready to pop as he seemed furious.


    The man turned back with a furious expression as he looked at Villin who was aloofly walking through the room, passing by multiple stunned spectators.


    "You dare call me, Alexi Gurnov, an ant?! You are the ant! Do you not know who I am?!"


    Villin didn''t seem to react but he did think of the man''s name. Gurnov was a name he had heard before. If he was right this man''s brother should be the leader of one of the smaller guilds that aided Mafoli, or now Decorus, in combat.


    After a moment''s hesitation, Villin decided to respond, angering the man further, "An ant supported by slightly bigger ants is an ant nonetheless."


    This casual-sounding reply was enough to anger Alexi to the point of no return. Villin saw his hand reach for his waist within his magical sight and silently checked his preparations, for the others it seemed that he was still walking though, unaware of the wand that soon pointed towards his back.


    "For you to insult my brother! You will pay!" Alexi shouted angrily before a vicious orange streak came out of his wand and headed for Villin''s back.


    Villin continued walking but before the spell hit him, a massive vine popped out of the ground behind them, slashing at the spell, the spell seemed to have no effect on the vine whatsoever.


    "This! You!" Seeing that Villin didn''t even turn around to face his spell, Alexi grew even more furious, within just a dozen seconds he cast a number of spells, but all of them were deflected by the large vine. Occasionally a small section would get cut through or burnt slightly but smaller vines would then come out of the ground and assimilate with the big one, "Damn this thing is strong." Alexi mumbled through gritted teeth. Not realizing what was going on behind him.


    Just before he sent out a second string of spells, he felt a light tap on his shoulder.


    "Huh?" Confused, Alexi turned his head to see what was going on behind him, only to be surprised by a dozen vines just like the one he had been attempting to destroy.


    Before he could make a move, the thinnest vine, the same one that tapped his shoulder, shot forward, right into the muscular man''s slightly open mouth. Within a moment he had dropped his wand as he choked on the vines that seemed to be moving through his windpipe.


    Only a second after the event began, Alexi''s eyes turned to the back of his skull as bits of puke and juice came out of his mouth around the area the vine was blocking.


    The muscular man was easily lifted up, by the vine that reached his insides. A small string of it made its way to the heart, slightly piercing the stomach, letting blood in.


    Even though Alexi had fainted, Villin knew that he would be able to feel it touching his heart, able to crush it at any moment.


    It was only then that Villin took a condescending glance back. One of the three people that were friends with the muscular man quickly walked forwards with a desperate expression, "Please man! He was just messing around! That first spell he used was just a stunner, he wasn''t really going to hurt you, I promise!"


    Villin simply scoffed but the vine began retracting from Alexi''s body, causing it to fall onto the ground. Seeing how deep the thinner section of the vine had gone and all the juice and blood that was now on the vine, all of the people within the dressing room gulped, looking at Villin like he was a monster.


    One of the people who just entered through one of the teleportation arrays, immediately went back after seeing the vine coming out of the man''s body.


    "Shhh, Viney, it''s alright."


    When Villin said this, everyone turned their gazes to him. The vine next to him seemed to be alive as it twisted in an oddly natural manner and Villin casually petted it. A few seconds later, the people in the room swore they could hear purrs coming from underground, even though this was just a sound effect caused by transfiguration, the majority of people here were completely convinced there was a beast made out of vines underground, tamed by the young boy, protecting him.


    When Villin saw the terrified expressions of his fellow guards, he inwardly nodded, this would do.


    Since he didn''t have to care about appearance as much anymore since the seed of fear had taken root, Villin took another look at Alexi, who was now surrounded by his three friends.


    They seemed to be casting several healing and revitalization spells on him, Villin was sure he''d be all right. Other than poking a hole into the man''s stomach no truly severe internal damage was caused, it could all be healed by healing spells as long as they were cast quickly.


    Even though he took care of Alexi this way for a decent reason, Villin had to admit it was rather nice to take care of people this way. It had been the same back when he took care of the attackers of Athena'' Forge. There was something quite satisfying in easily winning a battle. Then again, Villin didn''t have a lot of experience ''winning'' thus far so that may be a reason.


    Villin retracted the vine in a manner that made them look more alive once more, reinforcing the belief that ''Viney'' existed. Then, the ground seemed to repair itself automatically. Most people managed to figure out it was Villin doing this easily as well due to the fact that he wasn''t wearing shoes. Then, a rumor popped into the heads of some of the people here.


    "Did you read ''Today''s Oddities'' last week? Didn''t they say that they had a contact that claimed that the Decorus headmaster has another son and that''s why she gave up on her daughter so easily?" one of the older guards here asked the person next to him in a whisper.


    Soon, the rumor had gone all around the dressing room, Villin heard it but pretended not to. He hadn''t been outside of The Academy a lot yet and didn''t know for sure how accurate the claim was. But since it came from ''Today''s Oddities'' and Elinoire never said she had a brother, Villin decided not to do anything, if they wanted to believe he was the Decorus heir, he would take the temporary bit of status. If anyone asked him about it though, he would have to come clean, he was already an opponent of Decorus as a whole, best not to make any more personal enemies.

 Chapter 216: The Guards Rules

    "Hmm, this doesn''t look all too bad." Villin lamented as he looked over the blue suit he was now wearing. If he had to describe it he would have to say it''s a slightly fancier version of the suits that flight attendants generally wore.


    They seemed like they would restrict movement quite heavily but Villin was glad to see that it was made out of an extremely flexible material that easily stretched. They also had the Goodlaw family crest on the front, it was pretty small and was put underneath a pocket at chest-level.


    Other than this, the inner side of the suit was also filled with enchantments. They were more advanced versions of enchantments used to minimize harm from cutting and bludgeoning spells, there were also a few that were supposed to keep the suit from being set aflame.


    All-in-all, they were of pretty decent quality, especially when you realized there were a few hundred people in the locker room and there should be several locker rooms full of guards.


    The wand was also pretty good, being able to hold three spells of eleven nodes each, Villin put it onto his belt since it was a part of the set but didn''t intend to use it since it wasn''t too useful for him.


    Looking further into the locker, there was also a blue hat with the Goodlaw family crest on the back of it. The cap didn''t have a top and didn''t have any enchantments either, it was most likely a fashion thing. Villin still decided to wear it though since he didn''t want to stand out too much from the other guards.


    With all of this taken care of, there were only two items left in the locker. One was a pair of sturdy steel-tipped boots, the last item was a small pill put into a red container.


    Villin looked at it and inspected it closely, he recognized it to be a pill called the ''Nuclea Marshine'' named after its creator Stephanie Marshine. The pill was generally made by people around the fourth and fifth grade in The Academy, meaning it was quite high in value in general.


    It was capable of fooling your body and mind, making it think you still have plenty of stamina and magic power left. You could use this when you''re about to run out of magic power and you''d be able to use your magical reserves that are generally inaccessible, the after-effects could be quite serious as well though.


    Surprised to see such a high-quality pill in his locker, Villin looked at the people around him, after a bit he realized everyone was given one pill but the pills received could be different. About half the people got a healing pill, some got an immolation pill, a few had poison-resistant pills, and various other kinds.


    Villin wasn''t sure if he got a higher quality pill by luck or because his employer picked him to have it, but he was happy nonetheless.


    After getting his new clothes on, leaving behind the steel-tipped boots since he still wasn''t comfortable wearing shoes or socks, Villin and the other guards had to wait for a little over half an hour. In this period of time, a bunch of new guards came in and the room quickly filled up. The area around Villin that was initially mostly empty since people avoided him after seeing how he took care of Alexi, soon began filling up again since the new people didn''t know what had happened.


    At this point, had woken up but he looked quite pale, he and his three friends didn''t approach Villin at all, barely even looking in his direction, Villin knew he had effectively terrified them.


    Fifteen minutes after the last person entered the dressing room, the main door opened, and in came three people.


    To the left was an old man in a black suit that seemed very high-class. Villin couldn''t help but find that he looked very much like a butler. On the right was a blue-haired youth that barely paid any attention when looking at the guards. He was wearing fancy clothes but Villin could feel magic energy emanating from him, this boy was identified as an arrogant young master, even though his arrogance hadn''t been insulting in any way, Villin decided to classify him as such for the time being and be careful around him.


    These two were led by a lady in a red suit that seemed a lot brighter than the blue suits the guards were wearing, making her very easy to spot. On her chest were to emblems, the first was easily recognized as the one from the Goodlaw family. The second was most likely from the family the lady actually came from.


    When the three entered, the changing room very quickly became silent, seeing this the lady nodded before speaking, "Hello guard regiment six, I am your current employer Eveline Targentelli. I have been asked to run this year''s auction in the name of the Goodlaw family and I hope you all can help in making things go smoothly.


    "I see you all found your lockers and the clothes within. Each of your files has been manually gone through and we selected the pills we believed would be most useful to you when looking at the information given. The only exceptions are the students coming from The Academy and Decorus since we are only allowed to specify requirements, not request files, we decided to give you proper pills to help you survive what may very well be your first dangerous mission.


    "Guard regiment six will be placed to guard the various VIP lounges and the people within it. Those of you that we plan to put in proper locations will be interviewed first but you shouldn''t worry too much about that."


    After having explained this section of the information, Eveline looked at her watch, upon seeing the time she knew she had to hurry things up, there were still four regiments she had to greet.


    Quickly, she continued, "Now, as you all know the auction will begin in three days, as for how long it will go on for and when the more valuable items will be brought in or sold, this is all classified information but do expect to be here for a month, probably more. In the following three days you will be going through various rounds of examinations and training, the examinations are to decide where exactly you will be placed within the regiment, it will also decide the regiment captain and vice-captains. The areas looked at are physical health, mental fortitude, moral viewpoints, magic skill, leadership abilities, status, and more.


    "In return for going through the examinations you will be given training, the training we provide is good and the main reason many of you are here, there is a lot you can learn in three days if you do your best. In the ''break days'' the auction has, of which the dates are also classified, you will be given further training.


    "Now, I am a bit stressed on time currently so I''ll round this off quickly. There are only three individuals and one group of people within the auction you listen to. The three people are the three of us. Myself, the butler, and Aurus Goodlaw."


    Hearing Eveline''s words, Villin was surprised by two things. Firstly there was the fact that she called the man he thought looked like a butler as ''the butler'', secondly it was that the blue-haired youth was Aurus Goodlaw, a member of the Goodlaw family.


    Even though Villin hadn''t heard of the boy''s name again, he did know the Goodlaw family had three heirs. The first should be a lot older than this boy who seemed about twenty and the second was a girl, which meant that this boy should be the third heir of the Goodlaw name.


    "Lastly, if we tell you to follow the instruction of anyone else you do so, but only then. Last year we had a problem where some people got in and pretended to be ranking officers, they commanded the hired troops around to create vulnerabilities and attacked through those. We don''t want that to happen again. With that, I thank you all for your patience, I am sure we''ll meet each other again in the following days."


    After finishing her sentence, Eveline turned around and left, the butler didn''t react at all when it came to his expression as he followed close behind the lady while Aurus took a few seconds to follow behind them, Villin noticed that the boy seemed rather nervous. Unsurprising considering he was at a place where people died every year, the boy was most likely pampered his entire life.


    Even though Villin thought this, he didn''t take it as a fact, he could always be very wrong and the boy could be very hardworking where he just got nervous in certain situations, similar to Max.


    Villin thought of these matters casually for a few minutes at which point a large, old man with a dark-red suit on opened the door, he looked like a very well-disciplined general. He looked at the hired help without too much hope.


    "Hmm, doesn''t seem like a great batch. Oh well, we''ll see what you got, move to the training grounds."

 Chapter 217: The Hidden Test

    "Well, time to go I guess." Villin''s locker neighbor said before quickly jogging over to the door.


    Everyone here was paid well for the job and they didn''t want to be tardy, within a minute nearly a third of the guards had already moved through the door as they followed the general to the training grounds.


    Villin shook his head at this group as he thought, ''The general was right, it truly is a bad batch.''


    The reason for this, of course, was that they weren''t supposed to follow the general at all. Just a few minutes ago Eveline, the current manager of the auction, came to tell them they could only follow the commands of the three people present, unless they told them to follow someone else''s command.


    It only took a couple of minutes for a third of the guards to totally forget about this fact, most probably didn''t really pay attention or process the information, or they thought some completely unprofessional-looking person may come to ask them to do something and that would be a problem.


    There were a few lucky people who were the last to begin moving out that noticed that most guards weren''t moving and quickly got back to the lockers but Villin figured most of the people that went with the general would either be fired or disciplined.


    Alexi Gurnov and his three companions hadn''t moved when the general came either, but this was only a small matter in Villin''s mind, he was just keeping an eye on him out of probably unnecessary caution.


    After the guards waited for another ten minutes the old general returned, soon followed by the blue-haired Aurus Goodlaw. When Villin looked at Aurus he felt that he seemed to have changed his walk slightly, his steps were slightly more sturdy and his facial expression was more positive, he also looked many guards in the eyes, unlike earlier where he barely paid attention to him.


    "All right, from now on you can follow the commands of the general here, until told otherwise!" Aurus said positively as he took a step back, giving the general the stage.


    "Ah, yes, of course. Hmm, let''s go to the training grounds then guards." the general said in an unsure voice.


    At this point, everyone, including Villin approached them, but Villin had a frown on his face, he had a suspicion he wanted to confirm.


    Tiny invisible magical threads started moving towards the general and Aurus, Villin was extremely stealthy as he didn''t want to risk offending him in case he was wrong. When one of the tendrils approached Aurus''s head, he knew he was right. He could feel magical power coming from Aurus''s face. It didn''t come from runes either but a spell, if Villin was right it would be an illusionary one.


    When Villin became sure of this, he quietly stepped to the side, an action unnoticed by nearly all of the guards around.


    One of the only people that did notice was Alexi, he had sneakily been keeping a really close eye on Villin to make sure he wouldn''t try anything again. When he noticed Villin stepping to the side and not following the group, he got suspicious.


    He thought of a couple of reasons Villin could be doing so, then he thought of how Aurus acted a little different this time around.


    "Go ahead guys, I have a suspicion but if I''m wrong I''ll get disqualified," Alexi told his friends. Even though they wanted to ask what it was, they were close enough to Alexi not to ask questions at this time, they simply nodded and went on ahead.


    Nervously, Alexi took another look around after the general, Aurus, and the group of guards had all left. Now, there were only five people left in the room. Villin was clearly the youngest, the scar on his face made his age hard to guess but Alexi guessed it as eighteen. Coincidentally, the second youngest guard in the group was also here, he seemed to be about twenty and looked extremely normal with his messy blonde hair. That was, until you looked him in the eyes, the boy caused Alexi to feel extremely uncomfortable, not as much as Villin but close. An impressive feat considering the lack of contact between the two.


    The final two people that remained were together. They seemed to be twins, one boy, and one girl. They seemed to be slowly nearing thirty but as magi, they may as well be fifty at this point. Their hair was equally long and was falling flatly to the sides of their faces. They had black lines around each of their eyes, clearly makeup.


    The most unique thing about these two wasn''t their long tattered black robes, neither was it the fact they never went closer than one meter away from each other. It was the fact that they both had two swords hung on their back.


    "Tch, using cold weapons like that, they''re like damn easteners." Alexi inwardly cursed. Of the four people that remained here, he was somewhat scared of two and the other duo acted like they were from the east making Alexi, who had lost a lot of friends to the east, quite unhappy with them.


    Looking at these people did confirm to him that he was right to stay though. No matter what he thought of them, the four people here were all clearly of high-quality. Two geniuses and twins that were probably extremely used to fighting and working together.


    As Alexi thought of the situation, someone entered the room. It was the general that was supposed to have left with the main group about a minute ago. He was also closely followed by Aurus Goodlaw.


    "General Gaze is in charge, listen to him," Aurus said as he stood next to the general. This time he looked over the remaining guards, unlike the first time when there were too many to count. He soon got bored of their faces though and seemed to be inspecting the wall as the general became the center of the group.


    For a few minutes the old general said nothing, he just looked at the five guards intently. Alexi saw Villin looked the general in the eyes with a neutral expression. The regular-looking blonde-haired boy, only looked at the general for a moment before inspecting a wall, similar to what Aurus was doing. The twins barely looked away from each other as they looked at the general with reluctance.


    When the general looked at Alexi, he felt extremely exposed for some reason. He could feel something pushing him, or his emotions rather. He gulped nervously as he tried to resist whatever it was that seemed to be exposing him so much but wasn''t able to do so.


    "Hmm, it seems we only have one fluke. Four in a single group, that''s not too bad." the general contemplated as he took his eyes away from Alexi for a moment, he looked at him again when he said his next sentence though, "Then again, luck and regular observation are also important skills, you can stay for now."


    -------------------


    "So, what now?" Villin asked the general as he decided to take the initiative. Since there were only five of them left and they were greeted by both the general and Aurus, he figured it shouldn''t be a problem to ask the question.


    The general looked at him before replying. "You lot will be trained a bit more properly than the others and if you do well in the other tests, you will be protecting our more important VIP''s from within their booths.


    "You lot seem to have a good grasp of the art of observation, one of the most important skills a guard can have. Other than the big guy here you all also have sturdy minds, an extremely important quality to have when you may have to deal with rogue magi.


    "You''ll be getting some extra classes on how to more effectively identify different kinds of illusions and how to deal with basic mental attacks. In a bit, you''ll join the rest of the group after they finish the briefing. Don''t tell them that their instructor was fake or that you''ll get extra classes. There are most likely spies amongst them."


    "And how do you know there aren''t spies amongst us?"


    Surprisingly, these words came from Alexi, who was still somewhat pale-faced. Both Villin and the general noticed that Alexi subconsciously glanced at the twins.


    "Hmm, I don''t believe you have to worry about that." the general responded before looking at Villin and the blonde boy, "but if there are spies, we''ll find them before the three days are over."


    Villin couldn''t help but smile slightly when he saw the general''s gaze fall upon him. He couldn''t help but think that even if he was a spy for the rogue guilds, they were unlikely to figure it out. As long as they didn''t have anyone from the Von Hauser family working for them that is.

 Chapter 218: Competition

    Not much time passed before Villin and the other chosen guards from the sixth regiment were brought back to the main group. They joined them as the main group of guards exited from a large room where they had gone through a very basic briefing of how things would go.


    As Villin listened to the guards around him talking about the briefing he knew he hadn''t missed much. They had simply gone over the basics almost everyone knew already.


    This included the fact that a bunch of prominent groups would send representatives but the important figures generally didn''t show up due to how long the auction took and they never knew when the big items would appear. They were also told to pay a lot of attention to the wrists of various guests. One of the rules guests had to follow was that their wands had to remain inside of a box within their jackets or bags. They were not allowed to take it out.


    This was a good compromise where the guests didn''t feel completely defenseless since they could still get their wands out in a couple of seconds. But the guards would have these couple of seconds to react if anyone tried anything funny.


    Looking at the wrists was the best way to catch someone who sneakily took out their wands, some troublemakers always got found out by guards following this extremely simple procedure.


    They also got a bit more information on the various rogue guilds that may cause trouble, but nothing truly important was said.


    The large group that currently numbered around two-hundred guards, it could be considered a large force, when considering that there were at least five regiments that had this number of guards, and this was only the hired help that didn''t include the Goodlaw''s forces, it could be seen that the auction was taken extremely seriously.


    As Villin followed the group, they soon made their way outside. Villin could see they were in a massive compound with walls all around. The closest wall was a couple of miles away, at this distance, Villin couldn''t sense anything from them but it wasn''t hard to guess they were probably enchanted.


    Looking in the other direction, they were faced with a massive rectangular building. It was white with gold accents and the shine it emitted didn''t leave any room for hesitation, it was most definitely enchanted. It was most likely the main auction building where they would be performing their work.


    This wasn''t where they were headed though. They found themselves going to a large black square tower.


    "This is where you will be staying when you aren''t working." the general''s voice said as he walked behind the group of guards that were walking in semi-organized lines.


    "The tower has all the facilities you need. This included bedding, training rooms, a library, and more. Other than the people set to guard the perimeter at any given time, nobody can leave the building without my say-so." as the general said this he walked past and in front of the guards. Villin saw that it was clearly the real general, he had switched out with the fake apparently. He was also closely followed by Aurus, it seemed that the general was most likely his mentor at the current time.


    "Now, you all should go inside and put away anything on you that may have value. This includes the pills you were given, don''t take them with you until the auction starts. If they break during training it''d be too much of a waste." the general said as the doors to the large tower swung open.


    Overall, the black tower was a bit smaller than the one Athena''s Forge was currently using in A1, it was also less secure. The walls were enchanted but when Villin places his hands on them he immediately spotted a few sections where a lot of magic power was being wasted. It was a classic example of several enchantments that seem perfect on their own, not working very well together.


    Still, at the very least, it was strong enough for Villin not to mind sleeping inside. It should still be able to take an explosive spear before crumbling, maybe even two.


    The tower was sectioned up and organized very well. One corner of the tower was a stairway leading all the way up. It had enough space for two to three people to walk on it side-by-side and was the easiest way to get from the bottom to the top of the tower.


    Nobody walked up yet though as they waited for the general to tell them where to go or what to do.


    "Hmm, I''ll leave this tower and it''ll be sealed for twenty-four hours. Whatever happens within this time happens, as long as less than five guards died, nothing will be looked into. I suggest you find yourself a room and get comfortable. Training starts in twenty-four."


    The general had only just said these words when he was already outside and the doors leading in closed. One of the more nervous guards quickly walked over to the door and tried pushing but it didn''t open.


    For a few seconds, it was deathly silent, then, a whole bunch of guards stormed towards the stairway at the same time, pushing and pulling each other as they rushed upwards, most probably trying to claim a room for themselves.


    Even though the auction hadn''t used this technique before, it was clear what they were trying to do. They were trying to give people a few enemies in their fellow guards, not life-or-death ones but the kind that you want to surpass. It was mot likely that there weren''t enough rooms for everyone. Those that would have good rooms would want to get stronger so they don''t have to worry about other people trying to steal them while those without a room or with a bad one would want to defeat someone with a better room and take it.


    Since they were hired troops, there wasn''t too much risk at having them competing with each other, at the very least there was much less risk compared to if you would do it to a force that''s supposed to work together for years to come.


    As Villin thought of the situation, most of the guards had already rushed up the stairs. Villin, together with about a dozen others remained on the bottom floor though, sometimes it was better to let things calm down before doing anything.


    It seemed that Alexi and the twins had also rushed up, the unknown blonde-haired boy hadn''t though. He was simply leaning against the wall with his eyes closed, seemingly relaxed.


    Villin took it another step further and simply went ahead and sat on the floor, closing his eyes as he seemed to be dozing off. One of the other people that remained here while waiting for things to calm down saw this, and when Villin hadn''t moved for a dozen minutes she figured that he had actually dozed off instead of waiting.


    The woman''s gaze landed on Villin''s chest, or at least his chest-pocket.


    It was a small pocket and she knew that the vast majority of guards decided to put the pill they got there.


    She knew that she wasn''t very good at fighting or anything of the like so she stayed downstairs for now. But if there was anything she was good at it would be sneaking and stealing.


    She looked at the guards around her, none of them seemed too gullible other than the blonde kid that also had his eyes closed everyone here seemed rather tough, she figured that they probably wouldn''t alert the kid if she tried anything.


    And so she did, she crouched down low to the ground and pulled out her wand, getting her a lot of odd looks from the people around, then she slowly began moving towards Villin, not making a sound.


    Most of the spectators around looked with a little bit of curiosity, they figured out what she was trying to do and wondered if it''d work.


    The blonde boy opened his eyes as well at this time, he noted the situation but didn''t seem to care.


    There were two guards with different expressions on their faces though. They looked amongst the toughest here and they were also good fighters. They simply decided to wait before taking a room for themselves, fight in a more orderly and skill-based manner. But when they saw the lady approaching Villin, they seemed like they wanted to look away while having pitiful expressions.


    The other guards around thought they might feel pity for the boy, but the actual fact was that they were there when Villin dealt with Alexi. That was just for someone insulting him, who knew what he would do to someone trying to steal from him.


    Slowly but surely, the lady got closer and closer. She had some sweat on her forehead as being as stealthy as she was, was incredibly stressful and taxing on the body but she was close enough now. She was less than a meter away from Villin when her wand pointed at his chest pocket where the pill should be hiding. She silently prepared to cast a basic levitation spell when Villin''s two eyes popped open, as soon as they did, the lady felt that she was looking death itself in the eyes and she regretted her actions immensely.

 Chapter 219: The Game

    *Pop*


    The guards around weren''t sure what happened when they heard the pop. Since they were almost directly behind the thief, they didn''t have a good line of sight on the situation. Most didn''t even see Villin opened his eyes.


    But this pop got everyone''s attention. They could see the lady hadn''t moved the slightest bit for the last couple of seconds, then, Villin got up and lightly pushed her to the side with one of his feet.


    The woman didn''t resist at all as she fell onto her side before rolling onto her back, showing everyone the origin of the earlier pop sound.


    When they looked at her face, most of the guards here swallowed nervously. Looking on her right cheek and below, there seemed to be a white fluid that was flowing down. When looking at her right eye, their vision was obstructed by a large icicle that pierced the location deeply, reaching all the way to the brain and causing her eye to ''pop''.


    Seeing all of this, even the blonde boy frowned slightly. He hadn''t been there when Villin dealt with Alexi so he only realized now how brutal the boy was. It reminded him of his parents, a rather unhappy thought.


    "Tch."


    Villin didn''t say anything as he walked past the lady and moved towards the stairway. He didn''t even bother to take her pill, he had been paying a lot of attention earlier and knew that she had only gotten a regular healing pill. Villin already had some higher-quality versions of those with him, made by Kayley, he had no need for it.


    Going up the stairs, Villin checked out every floor. He was surprised to note only a third of the floors had living spaces in them. The others were gyms, sparring halls, libraries, and some resting areas.


    Currently, since the tower had just started being used, only the living spaces and resting areas were being used. The resting areas had some people just sitting around either observing the situation or asking around for people that knew healing spells to fix their black eyes, some had even broken a bone or two.


    The living areas were sized depending on the floor you are on. The lowest living area had fifty rooms. Each holding a bed and a small closet. The very top floor only had a single living area encompassing the entire floor. It was the typical gist of the higher the floor, the better quality rooms you have.


    None of the doors had locks on them, allowing anyone to enter at any time if the door didn''t get blocked by the occupants.


    Before doing anything else, Villin decided to go to the main mess hall on the fifth floor. There were about fifteen people there at the time making it a pretty spacious area. The food was stocked properly, there was plenty of everything even for two-hundred people. Villin went ahead and grabbed a plate with food and sat alone in the corner of a room where he had an oversight of everyone that was in the room.


    Thirteen of the people in the room were just sitting down talking or eating, not doing anything too irregular. The final two though, they were acting oddly.


    They seemed to be a team as they regularly came together to talk, their main activity was different though. They were knocking on several areas of the floor and walls.


    At first, Villin thought they were just a couple of weirdos but he kept an eye on them. When one of the two, a man with a fancy mustache, made a discovery, Villin didn''t miss it.


    The man was knocking on various sections of the floor as he had been. Then, he seemed to find what he was looking for as he remained at a certain section. Villin noticed he got slightly excited as he pulled out his wand and pointed it at the ground. The man didn''t cast a spell but Villin saw a very small section of the floor opening up, just a few centimeters in width and length.


    Villin saw the man sneakily grabbing what was inside of the hole, a small box, before he pretended to casually be leaving the room, closely followed by his friend.


    "Oh?" Villin walked up to the section where the man had found the box and put his hand on the now seemingly sturdy ground below. He immediately felt enchantments on the ground below him, with his transfiguration, he also felt a hollow space underneath.


    The runes created an extremely simple lock that only required magic power to open. When magic power was inserted into this section of the floor, the secret section will open up, revealing its contents.


    Villin simply got up and left, the other people in the room hadn''t paid attention to his actions and didn''t realize something was going on.


    "Hmm, the chances of it being the work of spies is very slow but still possible. More likely is that it''s some sort of test or quest the auction organized to further encourage competition and reward the more skilled guards." Villin told himself as he followed the duo going up the stairs.


    At first, Villlin wasn''t sure where they were going. This high up had very few rooms and all of them were highly contested. But soon, as they kept rising, there was only one location left where they could be going. The top floor. A single living area that was absolutely massive and had everything you may need.


    Villin cast ''Invaecus'' on himself turning mostly invisible and he was extremely careful with his steps as he followed the duo towards the penthouse.


    At this point there were quite a few scorch marks on the walls around, a lot of people had rushed here as soon as possible and a large fight broke out, causing many to get hurt.


    Villin wasn''t sure what the duo was planning, were they going to try and take the penthouse?


    As Villin thought about this, they arrived at the door that looked as if it was made out of wood and that led to the penthouse, then, the two knocked, two times fast, once slow, and three times fast again.


    This seemed to have the desired effect as just a few seconds later two people Villin recognized opened the door. "Success?"


    Asked the rightmost individual that opened the door. She had a black tattered robe on and two swords on her back. She had dark makeup around her eyes similar to her brother standing next to her.


    The man with the mustache responded, "Yeah, we got it. What about you guys, find anything else.


    In response, the duo both shook their heads before the brother spoke, "We found some symbols behind a painting, possibly a code. We can''t do anything with it though as it stands."


    His sister also decided to give her input, "Yes."


    "Okay, well, maybe we''ll know what that means after having a look at the box we found." the mustached man said before walking past the twins, entering the penthouse, "Now, close the door, we don''t want to have people listening in. The longer other people don''t know, the better."


    And with that, the door closed, the sound insulation was also excellent so Villin couldn''t hear a thing they were saying inside.


    Villin was left standing a few meters from the door with a thoughtful expression, the short conversation he overheard created more questions than answers but that being said, the questions it created were also useful to have by themselves.


    The possibility of the hidden box being caused by a spy was extremely unlikely, if something was hidden in a location as simple as ''behind a painting'', there was no way that the auction, who highly valued security, would miss such a thing. This was further confirmed when they said ''The long other people don''t know, the better.'' insinuating that other people would probably find out.


    Villin decided to assume there was a hidden ''game'' within the tower. Even though only half an hour had passed, one team that consisted of at least four people already knew about it and began playing. The fact that they also had the penthouse probably wasn''t a coincidence either. It was most likely that the first hint, or the existence of the game, was confirmed for whoever got to the penthouse first. Either that or someone in that team had a daddy or mommy who was in a high-ranking position in the auction. An unlikely thing since they should then be in the main Goodlaw forces, not the hired ones.


    There were a few ways to proceed now that he had this information. The first option was to burst into the penthouse, try to take out whoever holds it, and take whatever they gained. The risk in that plan was great though and he had no idea of how strong the opponents were.


    The second option was to go around and try to find hidden sections using his transfiguration.


    This was the best idea Villin could currently think of. Then again, the creators of ''the game'' probably did think of people that could use transfiguration. Even though the earlier box could be found that way, there were probably certain ones that couldn''t be found in this way.


    "Oh well, I''ll try it and I''ll probably get enough clues from those ones to be able to get a proper idea of the game." Villin figured as he thought of it.


    Even though only about a dozen minutes had passed, he wasn''t thinking about the lady he killed at all, something that would''ve been nearly unthinkable just a couple of years ago.

 Chapter 220: The Hardest Riddle

    "Where to look, where to look," Villin mumbled as he walked through the tower aimlessly. He was a little troubled currently. Generally finding small underground sections would be extremely easy but since this tower was enchanted the range he could easily look at sharply decreased, if he had to look through the entire tower it''d take more than a day.


    Villin, who was wandering through the tower was currently the hottest topic of conversation. Other than the fact that he may be the son of the Decorus headmaster, he nearly killed Alexi earlier and actually killed a woman within the tower. This made for two deaths thus far. One person died in the earlier chaos and Villin killed one as well.


    This meant that three people could still be killed without consequence. This made people extremely careful of Villin. Wherever he went he was watched, some looked at him cautiously while others looked rather scared.


    The tense atmosphere wasn''t too uncomfortable, since most of the time Villin already left a room by the time people actually spotted and recognized him.


    When he had checked half of the rooms starting from the top and skipping living rooms, Villin still hadn''t found anything.


    "Come on, Villin, think!" he told himself somewhat annoyed as he kept looking at the floor beneath him.


    "The existence of a game and the fact it was placed here probably meant they wanted it to be a competition. There is no way the only starting point is on the top floor. If I were the designer, where would I put all the starting points?"


    Villin thought that perhaps, properly finding the first hint would be quicker than going all over trying to chance upon a box he could use to figure out the game.


    The auction, and the Goodlaw family that hosted it, probably made this game to decide who to spend more resources on in this short period of time. The fact that there was a starting point in the penthouse was a clear sign of this. In the beginning, most people would rush there and only the best fighters would have a chance at getting the penthouse.


    It was also possible that some of the other living areas had starting points as well, but it wasn''t certain enough for Villin to make his move. He didn''t want the other guards to team up on him, if he threatened them too much then that may happen.


    "Now, where else could it all begin," after pondering for a little while, Villin suddenly thought of somewhere, "Of course! At the beginning!"


    If there was any place where there would be a good chance of finding an underground room or space, it was obviously the bottom floor. Space wasn''t limited there and they could go as deep as they wanted.


    A few people were still on the bottommost floor. When Villin arrived, the first thing he saw was that the lady''s corpse disappeared, probably placed to the side. The two strong men who saw Villin deal with Alexi were also still here. They seemed to be in a vivid conversation with each other and didn''t see Villin come down the stairs.


    The blonde boy was still here as well. Villin saw him sitting in a meditative manner with his eyes closed.


    Villin didn''t comment on it, until he got down the stairs entirely and put his first step on the actual ground, as soon as he did, he felt a foreign presence beneath him, causing him to immediately jump back again, a few steps onto the stairs.


    When Villin looked around in confusion, he saw the blonde boy had opened his eyes and was looking at him with the same confused glance Villin was throwing about.


    It was then that Villin realized what it was he felt. It was the same technique he invented back in his cell, there was a faint bit of magic power flowing through the ground stealthily. If Villin didn''t constantly use the technique shortly around him as well, he wouldn''t have noticed.


    The blonde boy stood up and started walking to the extremely wary Villin. When he stood a few steps away from Villin he stopped, a frown on his face, "How do you know the royal spying technique?" the boy asked as he looked Villin in the eyes.


    "How do you know the magical crease technique?" Villin responded. He had an idea of what was going on but didn''t plan on acting weak, it was best to stand his ground here.


    "Magical crease technique? Why would you call it that?" the boy asked with seemingly genuine curiosity.


    "Because in order to utilize it you create a magical crease within the ground and expand it further and further." came the response, only holding half-truths.


    "No, You are supposed to create tunnels for easier transfer of power, how would you even create a magical crease underground?" the blonde boy asked.


    At this point, Villin got a slightly better idea of the boy''s personality. At the very least, he was careless. He had just explained the technique both himself and Villin used honestly, without hiding anything. It was a rather dumb move in Villin''s opinion.


    "But tunnels collapse, creases expand. It costs less magic power to expand," Villin responded with a made-up reason. The boy already seemed like he somewhat got his guard down but Villin wanted to wait a little more before asking where he was from.


    "That¡­ sounds like it makes sense," the boy responded hesitantly "but it doesn''t. There is nothing underground, what is there to crease?"


    "There is always something to crease. There is magic power all around them, what do we do as magi if not alter them? Why would we not be able to crease them?" Villin asked, continuing the act.


    "But, magic power doesn''t have form. It has to go through the web before the nodes make it so that it does. You can''t just form magic power that isn''t yours!"


    "So you say you can''t form rogue magic power? Isn''t that what wards do though? Attract and form magic power for hundreds to thousands of years in the future?"


    "But wards are wards. They take a massive amount of time and effort to be created, and the fake ones get made through the web, making the magic power your own"


    At this point Villin had to admit he was quite engaged in the discussion himself, even if he didn''t truly believe in what he was defending, he didn''t intend to stop.


    "Well yes, but most of the steps within the creation of a ward is to make it have the effects you wish. Just having a ward hold together the magic power around it in a certain shape should be extremely easy. You would use transfiguration to create runes and make a tiny, extremely limited ward that way, creating an easily expandable crease underground."


    "This¡­ with the creating of runes using transfiguration¡­ hmm¡­ I suppose, that would be possible." the blonde boy responded with some surprise.


    Villin seemed to be taken aback by the boy''s positive response, he thought for a little bit. "I suppose, that would indeed be possible¡­" Villin thought with a fair bit of confusion himself.


    He thought about it and figured the idea may actually have some potential. As someone who could create wards bare-handed, it may be possible to use transfiguration to create runes as well.


    "Golmi." the boy introduced himself as he took a step closer to Villin and extended his hand.


    After a moment''s hesitation, Villin shook the other boy''s hand. "Villin."


    The two looked at each other for a few moments before Golmi began talking, "I found something earlier, a hidden compartment within the tower''s wall holding a letter."


    Surprised Villin looked on as Golmi took a small box out of his pocket and handed it to him.


    When he opened it, he found a note inside.


    -----------


    There you do, you found the beginning.


    Harry you should find, for he has the answer.


    I don''t know who else it may be.


    Ron seems possible, but he is untrustworthy as could be.


    Dean, on the other hand, has never told a lie.


    Farming lives, the opponents aren''t kind.


    Lovers get separated and children killed.


    Over dinner, you should not talk about such horrors.


    On the hour one dies, an exception is made.


    Run now, for time is short.


    ---------------------


    "This¡­ did a kid write this?" Villin quietly asked as he was stunned at how horribly written this poem was, and how easy to find the hint was."


    "I think it''s a riddle, or code!" Golmi said with a bit of excitement, "It seems incredibly tough though, I''ve been looking for a teammate and you seem smart enough, you have any idea on what it may be.


    Villin barely held himself back from looking at Golmi like he was a fool. It seems he seriously thought of this boy wrongly, he seemed rather stupid, and much, much too trusting.


    "The hint says ''Third Floor'', just look at the first letter of each line," Villin said, barely keeping himself from coming over as condescending.


    "Oh my, what a riddle, to think you solved it so quickly! It seems I was right to trust in you!" Golmi said in an excited tone that didn''t completely match his facial expression.

 Chapter 221: Capturing A ‘Special Beast’

    "This kid¡­" Villin mumbled as he visibly facepalmed. About ten minutes had passed since he had met Golmi and he had gotten to know the boy''s personality a bit more.


    Villin referred to him as a kid in his mind because of how he acted, he always seemed incredibly excited and happy when he talked, even though oddly enough most of the time his facial expression didn''t reflect his emotions at all.


    From a distance anyone would think Golmi was a serious person, maybe even someone who felt himself above other people, but this illusion was far from the truth.


    "Just, let me finish something up first, then we''ll head over to the third floor," Villin said before turning away from Golmi who promptly agreed.


    Currently, Villin had extremely mixed feelings about Golmi. His background should be substantial since they had a secret transfiguration technique of great value, Villin knew this personally because it had helped him a lot. He didn''t ask Golmi where he came from though, even though he seemed clueless and trusting, Villin didn''t want to push it.


    After all, he could be useful. He was easy to fool and had a good background, there was value in that. Additionally, he did give him an idea on transfiguration earlier, something that was also somewhat valuable. Villin intended to work with Golmi for now while keeping his guard up, if Golmi seemed like he was trying to play Villin like a fiddle, he would immediately quit the cooperation.


    Before going to do the first part of the secret quest though, Villin had something to do that he wanted to do earlier but couldn''t.


    He moved through a couple of rooms on the bottom floor before finding what he was looking for. The corpse of the lady he killed earlier was lying in a tiny isolated room on the bottom floor. Most likely put there by one of the spectators who didn''t want to look at the body when exiting the building.


    A bit of time had passed but when Villin put a hand on her forehead, it was still rather warm, the magical currents within her were also still moving around quite rapidly. Since the wound that killed her was still mostly plugged by a melting icicle, magic power didn''t dissipate all that fast, other factors like the fact they were in a fully enchanted tower surrounded by enchanted walls that didn''t let magic power cross also contributed to the lack of dispersing magic power.


    Glad she didn''t seem to be affected that much yet, Villin looked around and extended his magic power, making sure nobody was around that could see his actions. Then, he reached into his interspacial bag and took out a flat disk that was filled with enchantment.


    It was something he had worked on quite a bit. First before going to Atlantis and then again afterward in his study, utilizing some of the new runes he learned.


    But, of course, the core of the enchantments within this disk laid in some runes and a technique he learned all the way back in the first grade, or well, shortly after leaving the first grade. The Supreme Dark Arts Technique: Embed.


    The technique was supposed to put a section of somebody''s web within an item, now, a wand would be the most obvious place to put it. You would be able to dual-cast just like someone that used the actual dark arts could, albeit limited to the section of the web within the wand.


    Villin had a different idea on how to use this technique though, but for that, he needed time. And time wasn''t something you generally had when using the technique since the web would rot. Because of this, Villin worked quite hard on creating a vessel that could hold all the magic power within, stopping the web from getting destroyed and rotting in a short period of time.


    He succeeded, mostly. The disks he had on him now could probably store the web for two months without it degrading in the slightest. After this period of time, it would slowly begin rotting over a long period of time.


    Considering that this mission was estimated to last for a month, he would have another month to work on the project, two if he didn''t care too much if some of the web''s edges were destroyed, plenty of time to initiate his plan, that is, if he got enough webs to finish it.


    Looking in his interspacial bag, there were eleven disks in total, some less perfect than the one he was currently going to use but there were eleven nonetheless. Ten needed to finish his project and one spare, just in case.


    After once more confirming nobody was close, Villin sat next to the corpse and closed his eyes. He felt magic power flowing through his body. From his web to his mind, from his mind to his body, and then, a tiny bit went to the disk where it got trapped.


    After getting familiar with the route, Villin used his right hand, which wasn''t holding the disk, and pressed it onto the dead girl''s forehead.


    When Villin''s magic power penetrated the girl''s mental space, it was clear that something was wrong, it wasn''t far away from collapsing.


    This was expected though since it had lost its host. Villin''s magic power moved through the girl''s mind and made his way to where her web should be.


    Looking around, he saw the dark-grey nodes had largely disappeared, it wouldn''t be long before the useful ones would rot away as well. It was quite the beautifully terrifying sight really, seeing a web, supposed to be so full of life, slowly being eaten away by the endless void, but Villin didn''t have time to appreciate the beauty of this tragedy. He thought back to the technique he read so long ago and he moved his magic power as he was supposed to. He combined his magic power with the rogue magic power within the web, floating around aimlessly, then, he tried pulling them.


    When the rogue magic power around the web got pulled, the web itself followed. It had lost its host, the thing it previously attached itself to. In order to slow its demise, it tried to hang on to every bit of energy they could, the rogue magic power was the best source of energy it currently had, putting up no defense when consumed.


    Thanks to this, it was rather easy to move the web in its entirety. It quickly moved through the two other, now mostly empty areas of the mind before reaching the border. The bridge really, between Villin''s mind and the mind of the girl.


    Now came the most difficult step. He would have to move the rotting web past his own mind and stop it from connecting to his web. If it did, it may start rotting alongside it.


    After taking in a deep breath, Villin took the leap, the decrepit web moved through the bridge between the two minds before appearing close to Villin''s own web, just behind the third line of defense.


    Villin could feel the web gravitating towards his own, the main source of energy within the mind, but he managed to force it away with Ashera''s help.


    Once past his web, the most difficult part was luckily over, there was nothing else really capturing the lust of the rogue web. It tried to consume some of the defenses but they moved away before it could properly want for them and kept following behind the rogue magic power being controlled by Villin.


    From his mind, it went to his body. Even though this was normally quite dangerous, with Villin''s tough body and proper control of magic power, there wasn''t much of a threat at this point. He steadily led the web into the disk before sealing it. Like this, he had used the supreme dark arts technique for the first time without taking any damage himself. A rather rare feat, something he was unaware of.


    Once it was within the web, Villin let out a breath of relief, he opened his eyes again and checked the surroundings, it seemed that nobody had come in the couple of minutes it took to do this.


    The corpse of the lady was going through certain changes though. Her skin started turning grey and it became cold. Villin was sure that soon it would look rather horrifying, it wouldn''t be possible to hide that someone here used dark arts on her, something he''d rather keep secret.


    Luckily, back when he joined a group to raid Decorus, they all had to learn a spell capable of destroying bodies. He quickly used that and a few minutes later all that was left was a pile of ash, wanting to destroy a body wasn''t such a weird thing, after all, nobody wanted it to begin smelling and it wasn''t a pleasant sight to behold, so Villin opted not to hide the ash, if he hid it unsuccessfully it could cause some genuine suspicion.


    With his own mini-goal accomplished, Villin quickly went back to the naive Golmi, it was time to figure out how exactly this game worked.

 Chapter 222: Solving A Clue

    "Well, let''s split up and look around then, the faster we get this done, the better," Villin said after the duo arrived on the third floor. The third floor consisted of a myriad of rooms. Nearly half of them were gym-related. Various devices and objects to help you strengthen yourself. Additionally, there were lanes where you could test your magic, as well as safe rooms to try new enchantments without too much danger.


    The second half of the floor consisted of small living areas, some relaxation spaces, and a library.


    The floors truly were large and searching them would take a long time. It was here that Villin felt rather glad to have met Golmi, someone who knew the same transfiguration technique he did. He would be able to search close to as thoroughly as he could. They split the floor up into the different rooms and decided to each start at another end. Checking any paintings, moving movable furniture, and using transfiguration to find a clue. Villin also told him not to do anything if someone else was looking at him, they could revisit those rooms later. If there were other players, it was best they couldn''t identify them as competition.


    Just a minute later, Villin found himself within a ''lane''. Lanes were a very popular method of testing the strength of certain spells. A lane would generally only be two meters wide and they would be around a hundred meters long. The sections close to the door would be full of enchantments that would try to keep the person within it safe from their own spells.


    At the other end of the lane would be a humanoid target, even though Villin had to admit, they looked more like scarecrows than anything else. These scarecrows were enchanted beyond belief. They were capable of regeneration and taking a large amount of damage. If it was a piercing spell you tested out, you would be able to most easily test its power by seeing how many layers of the scarecrow were penetrated, each layer being an entirely different color.


    There were a total of ten layers in one of these things until you got to the center. If you got past the tenth layer, the necessary runes would be damaged and the scarecrow destroyed, rendering it useless. Other types of spells were harder to test on these targets but they were still often used to see if they can have a decent effect.


    The average magus to finish school (finish does not mean graduate) could make it through three to five layers with their best spells.


    On this floor, there were five separate lanes, each with its own scarecrow. Two of the lanes were currently in use while three were available.


    Villin quickly made his way inside of one of the free lanes before locking the door.


    He slowly walked through the lanes, past the safe zone, and carefully checked out his surroundings, and, even more so, the ground below him.


    He made it all the way to the scarecrow without finding anything, at which point he looked at the thing more carefully.


    It was clearly a large magical object and was impossible to control using transfiguration, Villin looked at it from every side but couldn''t find anything useful, it was then that he thought of something, "If they want to find qualified people to put more resources into, then it would be logical if one of the steps was getting through a certain amount of layers of a scarecrow!''


    When Villin thought of this, he figured that there would be no harm. He began walking back towards the beginning of the lane but stopped when he was hardly twenty meters away from the scarecrow. After all, power would be better the closer he was and who cared if he didn''t play it fair.


    Realizing he didn''t have to play it fair since there was most likely not a way to really stop him from doing so, Villin also decided not to use a single powerful spell to try and get to the potential clue.


    Instead, icicles began gathering around him, first, there was one, then two, then five.


    These five didn''t come from five different spells, he simply used a derivatory version of ''Icy Pike'' five times.


    Still, Villin did wonder how he would do with just a single spell.


    A singly icicle shot forwards at full speed and quickly made its way into the scarecrow with a loud bang. Villin looked at it carefully and saw six layers had been pierced, nearly seven. If he were to have shot the spell from the actual starting line it would probably be nearly six, or just about six. It was a decent bit above the average of average magi, definitely so considering it was a spell he didn''t generally focus on all that much.


    After seeing the result though, Villin didn''t give the scarecrow time to repair itself and a second floating icicle sped up and went into the already made entrance, easily piercing through the seventh layer and nearly through the eighth. Villin was about to send out the three other icicles he had prepared but spotted a hidden box within the eighth layer, it was the bit that stopped his previous icicle from making it through eight layers.


    "Oh, that was rather easy," Villin mumbled, slightly disappointed as he walked forward and ripped out the small box before the scarecrow repaired the hole.


    Since he was in a locked lane that was rather safe, Villin looked at the box right there. It was a little deformed in general, most likely because of Villin''s previous spell, but there was no problem opening it.


    Inside, Villin found a piece of paper. He took in a deep breath, excited in what he may find, and then opened it, quickly reading its contents.


    -------------------------


    There you go, you found the beginning.


    Harry you should find, for he has the answer.


    I don''t know who else it may be.


    Ron seems possible, but he is untrustworthy as could be.


    Dean, on the other hand, has never told a lie.


    Farming lives, the opponents aren''t kind.


    Lovers get separated and children killed.


    Over dinner, you should not talk about such horrors.


    On the hour one dies, an exception is made.


    Run now, for time is short.


    ------------------


    "DAMNIT!" Villin cursed before throwing the piece of paper on the ground.


    His excitement of finding another clue immediately disappeared when he realized that the text was one he had already read.


    It wasn''t the next step in the puzzle, it was just another starting point.


    This did give a bit of information though. It seemed that some of the starting points were the same, but not all of them. If they were all the same, the group that held the penthouse would''ve also gotten this as the first section, which they didn''t since they went to find a clue in a cafeteria shortly after the battle for the penthouse concluded.


    Of course, it was possible that the box in the cafeteria held this very same letter but Villin didn''t think so since getting the penthouse was already a serious first test.


    "So what now¡­" Villin thought as he opened the door and went out of the lane after taking the duplicate letter and box. Searching the entire floor would take very long, he couldn''t help but think that there should be a different way.


    At this very same time, a woman that had been using one of the other lanes, cautiously came out. Even though Villin was thinking deeply, he always paid attention to his surroundings and noticed the lady looking around cautiously while holding a crumpled-up piece of paper within one of her hands.


    She noticed Villin but since he looked like he wasn''t paying any attention to her, her gaze didn''t linger and she quickly began moving through the floor.


    It seemed that she also managed to get the clue from one of the scarecrows, whether she cheated like Villin or played fairly was unsure. What was noticeable though was that she was walking with a purpose. She didn''t hesitate in her steps, only pausing to make sure nobody was paying attention to her.


    This was curious to Villin, he didn''t know how long she had been in the lane for but it seemed that she either might''ve figured something out or had teammates. If she worked with the penthouse, Villin would have to rethink his plan.


    For now, though, he sneaked behind her room after room. She looked behind her multiple times but never caught the elusive Villin that always stayed one step behind.


    After a while, Villin found out what her destination was, she had made her way to the library.


    Once she arrived here, she finally paused to properly look around. She began looking through the rows of books that were there, seemingly skimming over the titles.


    For now, Villin spectated and ten minutes later, it seemed that she might''ve found something. For the first time, she grabbed a book off of the shelf and looked at it. She then checked the piece of paper she still had, visibly sighed, and put the book back before returning to skimming the titles.


    Curious, Villin waited until she moved to another aisle before she grabbed the book she was looking at earlier. It was titled ''Methods of Relativity''. Seeing the title, Villin wondered why the lady picked up this book, then he saw the author''s name, ''Harrey Gold''.


    Immediately, Villin knew what she figured out and he felt beyond stupid. She was most likely looking for three names. Harry, Ron, and Dean. The three names mentioned within the riddle. He had been stupid to think that all the text was just filler to hide the actual, extremely basic clue. There seemed to be more to it, he just hadn''t thought of it.

 Chapter 223: An Annoying Trio

    Now that he knew what exactly was going on, Villin was somewhat troubled. He had been too slow, too dense. He didn''t realize what was going on and was no longer the first to get to this floor with the letter. There was already a girl in this very library looking for what he also needed and as for how to deal with her, it was a tough call.


    If he attacked her and knocked her out or killed her, he would be attracting a lot of attention to this location. Other ''players'' may figure out something was going on in the library and come over, further complicating the situation.


    Harry, Ron, and Dean, these were the three names he had to look for. Harry has the answer, Ron is untrustworthy and Dean never lies. It wasn''t clear whether these things only mattered after you found the books or right now, but he didn''t feel like he had time to think about it.


    At the very least, Villin knew where the girl had already been in the library thus far and that she hadn''t found anything yet. If he began looking now, they would both have a fifty percent chance at finding it before the other. At this point, it was a bet Villin was willing to make, if he ended up losing he could always follow behind the girl and try to take the books from her later.


    The library was entirely empty right now and there didn''t seem to be anyone else than himself and the girl that found out about the game.


    Because of this, Villin decided not to mask his intentions, the only one that might pay attention to him was the girl that was also looking for the clue and he was confident in staying ahead of one person.


    So, like this, he quickly walked through the aisles looking at each book''s author, he could move quite quickly, helped by his high comprehension and great memory.


    "Jack Storm, Jay Collin, Rupert Stacey, Roland Magni, Kately Hauwensein, The Delectables, Ksum Nole, HRD, J. Schlatt Stall-"


    When he got to this point, Villin abruptly paused and looked back at the previous book. It was called ''The Reaping Of Lives'' and it was written by H. R. D.


    The book was black and worn out, hidden on the very bottom row where if you weren''t looking for it specifically, you would probably miss it.


    Carrying it in his hands, Villin felt that the book was exceptionally heavy, a regular person would have a hard time holding it for anything more than a couple of seconds, even Villin seriously felt the weight.


    This was surprising since even though the book was rather large, it wasn''t so much so that it corresponded with the weight. Either it was made out of some odd material or it had a secret compartment inside holding a heavy object.


    Just as Villin wanted to try and open the boom on the first page, he felt a gaze coming from his left. When he looked he saw a woman in the guard uniform, she had a brown ponytail and was looking right at him.


    Villin could instantly tell that she recognized him from earlier, and as soon as she did, she looked at the book he was holding intensely. It seemed that she connected the dots.


    Even though it would bring some attention to him, Villin dropped the book and unsheathed his wand. When the book reached the ground a loud metal bang could be heard, startling the people who had been reading not far away from where they were and causing them to come over to check it out.


    When all of the three readers arrived, they came upon a surprising scene. In front of them was Villin''s back, and in front of that, they could see a woman with a brown ponytail. Both of them had their wands pointed at the other and had grave looks on their faces.


    Something that was also rather obvious were the woman''s glances towards the book that laid near Villin''s feet, she seemed eager to get it.


    Villin didn''t recognize any of the three people that just arrived, the first to speak was a blonde man that was below the age of thirty, "Oh, I think we should get evolved." he noted, gaining a nod from one of the two other spectators.


    "Yes, we should get the book, it''s valuable you see." said the second spectator sporting green hair and eyes, Villin thought that he felt rather slimy.


    The third spectator was a grey-haired old man who simply sighed, "Who knows what we should do. The answer is always so hard to find."


    The slimy green-haired man quickly commented, "Come on old man, you always know the answer, don''t you? So should we attack this vermin or not."


    Hearing his words the blonde-haired man spoke hesitantly, "Attacking seems favorable to us, even though I don''t quite like his attitude." The blonde said to the old man, talking about the green-haired slimeball who acted hurt.


    "My God, why must you always be so honest, you are hurting my feelings you know!" he said but after some fake crying, he suddenly stopped since the old man seemed ready to make his judgment.


    "We will wait here, when the time comes, we will grab the book."


    "What do you keep glancing at?!"


    This time the voice didn''t come from behind Villin but it came from the ponytail girl a few dozen meters before him. He felt incredibly uncomfortable in his current position with an enemy before him and three potential enemies behind him.


    He decided not to answer her question though as it seemed like it was most likely mocking him, either that or she wanted him to focus entirely on herself, an impossible expectation when there were three people just a dozen meters behind him.


    When Villin glanced behind him again to make sure the three weren''t pulling any wands out, the girl took the opportunity to send out the first spell. It was a basic stunner that Villin managed to defend against relatively easily but he did have to take one step back since he had been dividing his attention, somewhat expecting the three to attack at the same time as she did.


    "Oh god, I didn''t expect him to be so weak." the blonde man behind him said when he saw Villin had to take a step back.


    The green-haired man started laughing loudly holding his hips, "Oh my, a stunner like that! And you moved because of it?! How pathetic is this guy really?"


    Getting both annoyed and distracted by the insults of the blonde and green-haired men, Villin couldn''t help but yell out, "God, could you just shut the f*ck up!"


    "You! What did you just say to me!"


    These words came from the girl who sent a stunner at him earlier, she seemed to somehow be thinking that his words were directed at her and got angry because of it. Sending out a quick but weak string of attacks, this time Villin didn''t move back since he was more prepared to deal with the threat.


    "This guy really does seem a little slow." the blonde man said emotionlessly.


    "He doesn''t appear bright enough to look for the truth, a pity." the old man joined in as he shook his head sagely.


    "PHAHAHA, how long will it take this idiot to figure out what is going on? To imagine this guy is a contestant, Phah!" the green-haired man chipped in causing Villin to have an intense desire to choke him.


    "These f*cking idiots," Villin mumbled in a quiet voice that was unheard by the woman, he thought that if he said it louder, she''d probably think it was about her again. Thinking about it, she was probably some rich princess that thought that everything that anyone said was about her, stuck-up.


    The situation he was in was extremely annoying, he had a woman that intended to fight him in front of him but even though he should be able to defeat her, he was afraid that if he committed to an attack, the trio behind him would take the opportunity to take him out as well.


    He also obviously couldn''t attack the trio first, even if he could perhaps catch two by surprise since they weren''t holding their wands, by that time the woman would''ve already attacked him from behind and he''d have enemies on both sides.


    "Villin, I believe we''ve been infiltrated."


    The voice came from inside his head, it was Ashera, but it was also the first time she talked to him when it was dangerous for him to lose focus, something that made Villin take it very seriously.


    "How do you mean?" Villin asked while deflecting another shot from the ponytail lady who was still testing the waters.


    I believe I sensed a disturbance, there''s something that somehow managed to get to your ears and eyes. If I am correct, it could turn off these two senses if it wishes to. We have to find a way to get rid of it right now."


    At first, Villin had a frown on his face, even though he would still be able to fight using his magic sense, without his sight and hearing it''d be a lot harder. Then, he realized something and he glanced at the trio behind him, "Stop ignoring me!" the ponytail woman said angrily as she sent more spells his way, he believed he figured out what was going on here.

 Chapter 224: Golmi’s Instinct

    "I don''t have time to deal with you!" Villin said in an annoyed fashion as he used reverto to reflect the spells the ponytail girl sent at him, following it up with a drowse to cause more pressure.


    He was pretty sure at this point that either she cheated like he had to get to the eighth layer of the scarecrow, or the spell she used to get there couldn''t be used in practical battle. Her spellcasting wasn''t unusually fast and spells quite slow. If the ground underneath them wasn''t completely enchanted, Villin would''ve been able to take care of her within ten seconds using vines and transfiguration.


    Even if he just had a puppet he wouldn''t have to waste time as he was.


    After five minutes of dueling while being insulted and laughed at by the green-haired man behind him, he had had enough of this fight. At any point, actual people could come into the library and see them fighting. If they looked at the situation in the entirety, they might figure out the book at Villin''s feet was the cause of the fight.


    Unwilling to deal with such a situation, Villin promptly decided to use one of his trump cards.


    His face tensed up a little as he focused, causing the ponytailed girl to quickly cast a defensive spell since she thought it was a sign he would attack.


    He did.


    No spell came from his wands, but invisible threads moved from his own mind towards his opponent.


    When she noticed thin threads of magic power approaching her from multiple directions, she was momentarily surprised, causing her to lose the only opportunity to stop Villin from mounting a proper mental attack.


    When the magical threads connected their two minds, she no longer had even the slightest chance of winning. Her mental defenses were nearly completely non-existing. She didn''t even know how to properly control magic power within her mind making it so that Villin''s magic power easily kept the lead and made it to the second mental region.


    Here, his magic power simply went around and ravaged the place, messing with her emotions. He didn''t completely destroy anything inside though making it all temporary. After all, you never knew who had a powerful family and he wasn''t prepared to deal with one.


    A few seconds later, she slumped to the ground, fainted. She would probably recover in a couple of days, meaning she''d probably get fired when the general came back to get them all for further training.


    "Oh, did she just fall down?" the green-haired man asked, confusion clear on his face.


    "Hmm, it would seem that he used some sort of technique to take care of her, it is somewhat impressive." the blonde main added.


    "He used a mental attack." The old man said simply as he looked at Villin who now finally properly looked back.


    "So, I grab the book and something enters my body, altering my vision and hearing, allowing me to see and hear three strange people." Looking at the blonde man first, then the green-haired man, and finally the old one, he stated, "Dean who never lies. Ron who is untrustworthy as can be. And finally, Harry, who has the answer."


    Villin frowned as he thought of the situation. If it wasn''t for Ashera, he might not have figured out what was going on as quickly, even if it seemed obvious in hindsight. It seemed that he relied on his human senses a bit too much, something that would need fixing.


    Noticing that the three were still engaging in what Villin thought could potentially be banter, he turned back towards the heavy book that had fallen to the ground. Then, since he heard sounds coming from one of the two entrances of the library, he took the book and left the other way, encountering Golmi when he was on the way to the staircase. Golmi seemed to have been looking for him as they both headed to the staircase when they saw the other and descended to the bottom floor.


    Even though Villin found golmi acted quite a lot like a kid sometimes, he wouldn''t call him stupid, and despite the extremely short time spent together he trusted him slightly, he simply didn''t seem like the type of person to try and fool him.


    When they got to the ground floor, it seemed empty. Most likely because there were no facilities here nobody bothered to remain. If anyone was here they probably had the same idea as Villin and Golmi and needed a private place to convene.


    In order to reduce the risk of being overheard, Villin gestured for Golmi to follow him and headed towards a small room with a pile of ash in the center of it, they should be safe here.


    Villin wanted to make sure the area around them was clear using transfiguration but already felt Golmi''s magic power underground. It seemed that, in this situation, he was acting a little cautiously, something quite surprising considering he just gave Villin the first hint when they met for, what was really the first time.


    Still, he wouldn''t complain. And just as he was about to open his mouth and tell Golmi about what he found, Golmi spoke first.


    "I found it!" Golmi said with enthusiasm, even though his facial expressions didn''t really follow. "I looked very hard and found what we needed!"


    "Wait, what? What did you find?"


    "So, I was looking through the second room I had to search and I searched everywhere. Beneath couches, under the ground nothing! But then, I had a feeling I should try to jump into the fireplace, so I did! And so I got into a room full of statues. One of them was of an angel holding a sword. I got closer to look at her but she didn''t move.


    "Then, I searched the statue and I found a note inside of her sleeve."


    After this, he took out a small yellow note and Villin read it.


    ----------


    The sixth step, you''ve come so far.


    Shown your courage, looking at your enemy so closely.


    But it''s angry now and the safe times will dissipate.


    Two hours more you have until they all awaken.


    Two have died, two are needed to finish your quest.


    Two more deaths and the mission becomes void of rewards.


    I tell you once more, hurry now.


    Get on guard duty or you will fail.


    With wits, strength, compassion, and courage tested, only two are left.


    Show your charm and you will pass.


    -------------


    "This¡­"


    Villin was rendered speechless when he read the note. He looked at the trio that he saw standing beside him also reading the note with bewildered expressions and wondered what he went through all that trouble for when Golmi could just go ahead and casually jump into a burning fireplace to skip multiple steps


    "This? They cheated!" the green-haired man said in anger as he looked at the two.


    "Technically, the only rules we put into place were that only five can die in the allotted period and that you cannot go outside if you are not on guard duty." the blonde man reasoned.


    Once more the two then looked at the old man to hear his thoughts, he seemed respected by both of the opposite men, "Hmm, this is a tricky one. It appears they found their own answer." he noted before going silent again.


    "I''m not sure what it means but I think it could be another one of those hard riddles!" Golmi said excitedly.


    "Hmm, probably not a riddle, just a clue. We seem to have skipped over a multitude of steps. It also seems that we have to be careful of guards dying if we want to see this through to the end, at least until it comes up.


    "I''m guessing that either the angel specifically of the statues in general are opponents. Possible just ours, but more likely of all of the guards. I''m also guessing their threat should''ve been seen in one of the steps we missed.


    "We heard guard duty being mentioned by the general before we entered, there''s probably a place to sign up somewhere in the tower.


    "Lastly, we will have to try and be charming to whomever or whatever will come while we''re guarding."


    Looking at Villin speaking, Golmi''s eyes looked like they were made out of gems, "Oh my! You are so smart, to know all that just from that little text!"


    Villin was about to say it was incredibly obvious and most of it was explicitly stated but couldn''t get himself to do so when he saw Golmi''s gaze. ''Damnit, why do I even care about what this guy thinks of me.'' Villin said to himself inwardly, but he didn''t really mind too much.


    "Oh right! What did you find?" Golmi asked, remembering Villin seemed to have found something as well when he saw him.


    In response, Villin nodded grimly, whatever he had was probably useless now, he would most likely just have to find a way to get rid of the three distractions.


    "This." he said before grabbing the heavy book out of his spacial bag and dropping it to the ground.


    Looking at the book, Golmi looked slightly confused, "What is it?"


    Knowing that Golmi probably didn''t want to hear ''A book.'' in return, Villin explained what happened to him, starting from when he saw the ponytail girl leaving a lane and skipping over the part of how he knocked her out. Golmi was engaged the entire way through.


    "So, we open the book now?" Golmi asked Villin, looking at the tattered book on the ground.


    "Best if you don''t touch it. But yeah, sure." Villin said before leaning forwards and opening the book.

 Chapter 225: The Solitude

    As soon as Villin opened the book, it quickly became clear this wasn''t truly a book but a box instead.


    With the top opened they could see the objects inside. The first object that was clearly a reward for getting this far was a crystal holder holding five thousand crystals. Most likely motivation to keep going.


    But this was the least eye-catching object in the ''book''. All around the inside were purple, pulsing mushrooms. They seemed like the textbook example of toxic mushrooms but Villin had never actually seen an accurate description of this specific mushroom so he didn''t know if the appearance was accurate.


    Then, there was also a thin, small, empty diary. On the cover it said H. R. D. but that was all, the inside of it was void of any text.


    Lastly, there was a small stone figurine. It was hardly five centimeters tall, she had a fancy dress on and her curled hair was covering her eyes.


    Villin looked at it carefully and just as he was about to take it out of the box to spectate it more closely, it moved. When Villin''s fingers were just about a centimeter away from the figurine, she suddenly turned towards it and bit down.


    Villin was stunned when he saw the tiny figuring move, as soon as she did, her hair flowed like the hair of a living person, something that seemed impossible to happen with stone, even with enchantments Villin had never heard of anything even close to being able to create movements so complex and realistic from a hard surface.


    When the tiny statue bit into his hand he felt a slight sting but knew his skin hadn''t been pierced, she would''ve barely been able to pierce a regular person''s skin. Since his own was tougher than the one of a regular person, she didn''t get through all of the skin.


    After biting down the little statue didn''t move so Villin carefully grabbed her and took her away from his finger.


    She seemed to have turned back into a statue but this time, her face was clearly visible, she had a savage expression on her face and vampiric teeth could be seen in her open mouth.


    "What? It''s so small! How is it a golem?" Golmi asked as he looked at the tiny statue, shocked.


    "I was wondering the same thing. It has to be a collaboration between Decorus and the Goodwill family. I mean, who else would be able to do such a thing."


    "It''s not, this is a different force," Golmi responded with some severity on his face.


    "Hmm, now I do wonder whether this thing was supposed to be a trial and if she pierced the skin, some sort of poison would take effect, or if she''s a warning and a clue towards the statues, for whichever steps we missed." Villin wondered as he looked at the little thing he had just put down.


    "No matter what, we should test something out." Villin continued as he took out his wand and pointed it at the little statue.


    Before Golmi could properly react an icicle shot out from Villin''s wand hitting the little statue in the face which promptly exploded into pieces reassuring Villin.


    "Wh- what did you try to test out? Did you expect something else to happen?" Golmi questioned as he looked at Villin with a confused look.


    Villin was about to say he wanted to see whether the statues could be taken out with magic but then he realized how dumb of a question that was. Just the fact that a golem so tiny existed, leave alone with realistic hair and beautiful craftsmanship, was already an insane feat. For it to be impervious to most magic would be beyond impossible, runes required space to be made.


    "I- I wanted to see whether there was a clue inside." Villin lied with an unmoving face.


    "Oh! I see! Well, it looks like this time there wasn''t." Golmi responded as he grabbed the broken body of the statue and looked at it carefully, trying to feel its magic signature.


    "So, what are these mushrooms then? And this diary? And those invisible people you keep seeing?" he asked, expecting Villin to have answers to all of that.


    Faced with these questions, Villin thought about them sincerely. The three were quiet now as they looked on, it didn''t seem like they cared to enlighten him.


    "Hmm, I believe the mushrooms may be hallucinogenic. The three could be some sort of hallucination created by them. Then it would make me see what I expect them to be like. But, this seems unlikely. It''s also possible that the diary somehow contains the souls, or a section of the mind, of these three individuals, and the mushrooms spread this information in a non-standard way. But this too, is a little far-fetched."


    "Then, how can you stop seeing them?" Golmi asked as he looked at the box and made sure to keep a bit of distance between himself and the mushrooms.


    "Well, sometimes the simplest answers are the best ones as well," Villin said before pointing his wand towards the box in its entirety. A ball of fire quickly began forming before Villin and his plan became clear.


    "Wait, hold up now! We are here to help you! We are to help you in the game! You shouldn''t try to get rid of us! We''ll disappear on our own after helping you succeed!" the green-haired male quickly interfered when he saw a fireball being created before Villin, he sounded panicked.


    Villin scoffed, but he did pause his spell for a moment as he turned to the trio before looking at the blonde-haired man, "You, say what he just said."


    The blonde man was as panicked as the green-haired one but he hadn''t said anything. Now that Villin specifically asked him to repeat Ron''s words, he was at a loss of what to do. He opened his mouth multiple times, trying to say the words but was unable of doing so.


    "Dean who never told a lie, tell me then, what are you? After all, what do you have to lose by telling me, I''m about to destroy you all anyways.


    Ron quickly tried to interfere again, talking to Villin about how they were to help him but when a couple of sparks came dangerously close to the mushrooms, he shut up.


    "This-" Deal started, trying to find the right words to say. "We are- We are- We do have some uses." he struggled.


    "Tch, don''t play games with me, of course you have uses, everyone does. If you don''t tell me what you are trying to do, you''re gone." to put some weight on his threat, the fireball before him expanded again, becoming large enough to threaten even himself, leave alone some mushrooms.


    "We- we are just supposed to keep you on the path of the clues." Dean finally said.


    This sentence caused one of Villin''s eyes to raise. "If it were that simply there is no reason for you all to have hesitated and struggled before saying it, Why are you supposed to keep me on the path of the clues?"


    "Because- because the Goodlaw family needs talented magi!" at first, Dean seemed to once more have difficulty finding the words but he seemed glad when he found what to say.


    Villin narrowed his eyes as he looked at him, thus far the answers hadn''t sounded too bad, "Why?"


    This time, Dean didn''t speak for the longest time, when Villin once more caused some sparks to fly out, he seemed resigned to his fate, "Because, his son needs four talented individuals to advance in the dark arts." he finally said.


    "Four¡­" Villin mumbled, "Ah right, the two who get through and the two that need to be sacrificed. I''m guessing the latter two would be from those within the penthouse as well." he finished before looking at the three people again.


    "Then who are you? Why do you do this."


    This time Harry spoke, something Villin didn''t mind. "You found the truth earlier, or part of it. Our souls are within that book, we have been trapped for over a hundred years, if we complete our assignment, we can finally go to rest."


    "Tch, I''ve seen where the dead go, there is no rest, just an endless darkness and a hunger for the living," Villin said, thinking about the hall of horrors.


    "Well, it''s better than being inside of the book, isn''t it? For a hundred years we were locked within having nothing to look at or do. There have only been three times when we were able to see anything! Three times! And one of those has just been the last hour when we have been able to see your surroundings!" Ron said clearly agitated, even though the words came from the untrustworthy one, Villin believed him.


    He actually thought about the question for a bit, "I''m not sure what''s better, endless darkness or endless hunger. I could help you pass on, but I want you to tell me, who were you, and do you remember what you all knew when you were alive?"


    Then followed a long conversation of which Golmi couldn''t understand a thing. Harry, Ron, and Dean were close when they were alive. They were three famous magical scientists in their time. It was a craft that was now lost, replaced with more specific jobs such as enchanters, spell creators, and things of the like.


    They remembered everything but one thing Villin did notice was that their perception of time was off, they had been dead for much longer than a hundred years, but exactly how long was hard to guess since early magi history was incomplete and inaccurate.


    "Despite what I said, I will not let you die and pass on."


    When Villin said this, Harry and Dean seemed to lose a certain amount of hope they had left and Ron was about to blow up and yell at him.


    "But, I will bring you along. I will destroy most of the mushrooms but keep a small amount. When I get back, I will study both your empty diary and the sample of the mushroom. I will look for a way that you will be able to see, speak, and experience. That is, as long as you swear your fealty. Otherwise, I will destroy the book, causing your souls to disappear completely."


    Despite all the hardship they went through, none of the three wanted their souls to die, it was heard to be the worst thing imaginable. And even though Ron could lie, and Harry probably could too, if Dean were to swear his forever fealty, it would be for real. Additionally, if he got the diary and mushrooms back, he would be able to study the soul with some of the best objects imaginable.

 Chapter 226: A Conversation

    For a while, both parties involved were silent, Ron and Dean both looked towards Harry, unsure of what to do in this situation.


    Harry looked into Villin''s eyes and after five full minutes had passed, he sighed.


    "To think this is the path I will follow, even I had never thought it. I swear my fealty to you, for the next thousand years." after saying this, he got on one knee and looked downwards, he seemed to be taking it very seriously.


    When Dean saw Harry''s actions, he also seemed convinced and took a knee, "I too, swear my fealty to you for the following thousand years."


    The only one left was the green-haired Ron. He seemed to have a lot of trouble deciding what to do, even when Harry, the one person who he respected greatly, took a knee, he wasn''t sure if it was the right call. Villin could see he seemed to be fighting his pride, but in the end, he too kneeled and repeated the other two''s words.


    Villin wasn''t foolish enough to unconditionally believe him but was still satisfied with the action of the three. Dean shouldn''t lie and Harry seemed sincere to him, even if he was unsure of Ron, he was unlikely to try anything when the only two people he could call friends decided to follow Villin.


    -------------------------------


    "My liege, I found one of the things you have been looking for." a shadowed figure said to the creature of darkness before him. The creature of darkness still wore no clothes, appearing the same as when Villin had seen her. She seemed to be casually waving her finger but in front of her, a magical fortress was being built in front of everyone''s eyes. A new fully enchanted brick appeared every couple of seconds, it would only take a couple of months for a truly magnificent magical fortress to be built by her alone.


    "Oh? You found something, didn''t you? What is it?" she responded, not giving him a glance.


    "The bracelet of dragons you wore in the war. It was broken when you were assumed dead but it still holds great power." the shadowed figure said, lowering his head slightly when the creature turned to look at him.


    "Hmm, the bracelet of dragons you say. Even if broken, I may be able to repair it in some time, we indeed could very much use it. Who holds it?" she said in a completely neutral tone.


    "It''s held by the Goodlaw family. We aren''t sure where exactly it is right now but we believe they''ll try to sell it at the upcoming auction," he responded, thinking of the reports that had come in.


    The dark lady clacked her tongue as she thought about the situation for a moment. "Is it possible that it is a trap? Has anyone guessed my return?"


    The shadowed male quickly shook his head, "No. Even though you do have a bounty on your head in your current form since you were seen transforming into a creature of darkness some time ago, nobody had guessed your true identity thus far."


    "Very well then. I wish to remain a secret for a while longer. Go to the auction and take a couple of trusted others with you. If you can buy the bracelet, do so. Otherwise, take it by force."


    "Yes, my lady, I shall do so." after saying these words, the man hesitated for a moment before speaking again. "But, my lady, may I ask a question?"


    The creature of darkness who was just about to return to building the fortress nodded.


    "I don''t mean to doubt your judgment but¡­"


    "Don''t waste my time. Ask what you wish to ask."


    Knowing that his leader didn''t like it if he beat around the bush, the shadowed figure decided to ask straight up, "The two people that were there when you transformed back into an intelligent form, why didn''t you just kill them?"


    After a few seconds, he got asked a question in return, "Why do you think I should''ve killed them?"


    Confused by the question, the man responded, "Because they fought against you, they even hurt you. They also captured Ligma. Even though he was only a minor general, wasn''t he still one of your troops?"


    After finishing his words, he was afraid he overstepped his boundaries, but it seemed his leader hadn''t minded.


    "When we fought, I was but a savage cannibal. As for Ligma, I do not trust a man who willingly chose to become a cannibal with the hopes of becoming a creature of darkness."


    Hearing her response, the shadowed male continued, it was a savage path to take. The person before him had been forced to do so due to the circumstances but Ligma had been on that path by choice.


    A few moments later, the creature of darkness continued. "There is another reason I didn''t kill the two. The girl is from a family that used to be an honorable opponent and has become a trusty follower. I will not kill a girl whose father is one of my most trusted men.


    "As for the boy. I sensed something on him. A small piece of metal that proved that my legacy still existed even now. Magic is still evolving and the boy seemed to be contributing to that, how could I kill a person who, most likely, follows my philosophy."


    Hearing her words, the shadowed male seemed unsure on whether she was telling the full truth or not but he didn''t continue to ask. "Thank you for your response, I will go get some others and get to the upcoming auction."


    The female nodded and so he promptly turned around and headed away from the remote location they were at. He had to admit, he was excited. With her return, he would have another chance at realizing and sharing his philosophy. He had seen people grow less and less cautious in the last hundred years, believing they killed their opponent and destroyed her forces. Then, recently, the idiotic schools began turning against one another again, losing both forces and resources that could''ve been used to either fight them or protect the continent, or the world.


    He knew that many lives would be lost when she revealed her return, families would be split apart and organizations full of magi would disappear with their members dead.


    But he knew that it was for the good of the world. Many would be sacrificed but in the end, the rest would live on, better than before. Magic would advance rapidly again and they would be able to defend themselves when the threat they sensed so long ago appeared.


    Some may call him a fool for believing the word of a single person, but he believed her, with all his heart. They would kill for the good of humanity.


    ---------------------


    "I think that''ll do," Villin said as he looked at the flames below consuming the mushrooms he had put to the side. A small bit of them had been collected inside of a vial but he decided to destroy the rest. According to Harry, as long as the vial was airtight, the three of them would dissipate from his senses within a couple of hours and for now, they stayed quiet.


    Golmi wasn''t entirely sure what was going on, Villin explained it to him somewhat but still didn''t get it completely. What he did get out of it though was that they shouldn''t try to do the missions that were put up. Villin said that he thought that if they went on guard duty, they''d be approached by someone that worked for the Goodwill family, they would assure they were the right people, and then, a bit later, they''d be sacrificed.


    But even Villin wasn''t sure of everything, would the statue actually come to life as it had said on the latest clue Golmi found, or was that just a ruse to cause you to hurry up.


    Villin decided to assume it was the latter and hunker down somewhere safe with Golmi until the twenty-four hours were up. Best not to take any risks right now since they were already so deep into the trap.


    Villin did think it was curious though that Aurus Goodlaw was following the dark arts with his status. Then again, he was only the third heir so it was somewhat understandable.


    Villin sighed as he and Golmi entered the room where they planned to stay for the rest of the day, it was a small classroom on the ground floor, it didn''t seem like anyone had come here yet and was seen as relatively safe.


    A few hours passed and Golmi soon fell asleep with Villin not far from following him when he heard a loud bang coming from the floor above him, it sounded like a powerful explosive spell had gone off. If anyone was hit by a spell like that, they would probably be dead.


    Seeing that Golmi was still sleeping, Villin hesitated for a moment, but in the end, he decided to have a quick look upstairs, just to get an idea of what happened.

 Chapter 227: The Tower Warfare

    When Villin rushed up the staircase, he heard two more explosions go off before it went quiet. When he opened the door to the first floor, he nearly immediately managed to figure out what happened.


    He saw two magi had large cuts on their torsos, they seemed to be badly hurt and were resting against the wall.


    A few minutes to the side of them was a large pile of broken stone and dust, Villin quickly recognized it as a destroyed statue, it used to be a statue representing a contracted, having just learned about magic.


    The only other two other people in the room, ignoring the people that had just rushed here and were observing the situation, were the twins that had control of the penthouse. They held their swords in their hands and were full of dust. It was clear that they had been involved in what had just happened.


    Villin noticed a few people that had just gotten to the floor, same like him, were reaching for the wands, they saw the sight before them and probably assumed the twins attacked the other two magi in the room, a normal assumption considering the cut-wounds and swords.


    Villin decided to be the reasonable one at this time though as he took a step forward, "What happened?"


    He didn''t want things to grow too far out of control. If things got too chaotic, he was afraid that the Goodwill family may cancel the ''game'' and just take those that showed a lot of promise in the previous test.


    The twins looked at him expressionlessly, breathing somewhat heavily. They looked around and saw how tense some of the newly arrived spectators were before they decided to respond. "The statue came alive and attacked us. They were in the area and helped defeat it." the male twin responded as he glanced at the pile of dust and stones.


    "Yes. Statue attacked." his sister responded in her usual short-spoken fashion.


    Villin noticed the guy to his right hadn''t moved his hand away from his wand, he seemed to be about to speak when Villin interrupted him, "I see. The same thing happened to me and Golmi, we were exploring the tower when a statue came alive and attacked us, we barely managed to get away with our lives."


    Hearing these words coming from a seemingly uninvolved third party, the newly arrived spectators focused on the broken statue more compared to the twins.


    "Wait, so you''re saying they''re golems?" someone asked who just got down the staircase to check on the sound. Villin recognized the voice to be one of the men that saw him killing the lady downstairs but since the latter only saw his back thus far, he only noticed it was Villin when he turned around to respond.


    "Some sort of golem yeah. We should assume it''s a test from the Goodwill family to see if we''re qualified to guard the VIPs." Villin responded, lying a little more with every word that came out of his mouth.


    Even though the man shut up as soon as he noticed it was Villin that had been speaking, the others looked at each other somewhat worriedly, the situation seemed to have been defused as Villin''s words were taken at face value. Soon a couple of magi went up to heal the two hurt magi and when they recovered it further confirmed what happened.


    Apparently, they were in the room talking when they heard a sound behind them, when they looked behind, they noticed the twins unsheathing their swords as they ran from a mobile statue. Seeing how the statue seemed unarmed and was only two meters tall, they decided to help and used some explosive spells to fight it. They underestimated it though and they both got hurt badly before the group of four managed to defeat the thing.


    About sixty people gathered on the floor at the end of the day, some already having been here and others having come after hearing the commotion. They were all discussing the situation pretty calmly, even though a couple of magi got hurt, they were already on their feet again and nobody was all that afraid. If it was a test, it was probably created by the Goodwills who had a good reputation, it was probably not meant to kill anyone.


    Just ten minutes after the statue here was defeated, someone rushed through the main door, having come from a higher floor. It was a woman with a cut on her forehead. Her clothes were ripped in multiple places and she was breathing heavily. When she saw the number of people that were in the same room here, she heaved a sigh of relief, "Here you all are! I knew we were missing too many. We need your help up the tower! The statues in the penthouse came alive a dozen minutes ago, they''ve been making their way down attacking any person they meet! They''ve taken the top three floors now and we''ve been getting pushed back, one magus has been killed and two others were hurt beyond the point where we know how to heal them! We''re starting to run low on magical energy as well."


    Hearing that a battle was being waged in another section of the tower, the sixty guards that were here were extremely taken aback. A few quickly rushed upwards to help while another few pretended to be doing something or sneaked downstairs, away from the action.


    "What the hell? Why?" Villin wondered as he thought about the situation. He wasn''t sure why the Goodwill family would do this. And then it hit.


    The ''game'' he had been playing was hard to get into, but it was very possible that someone that did, spread its existence. If that happened, the Goodwill family would need to have a good reason for having the game in, it seemed that they decided to go with the most obvious thing. It was just testing the guards, as long as too many didn''t die, most wouldn''t mind since they knew they were in for a dangerous task.


    If the ''game'' didn''t spread, most of the guards would only be faced by the statues that came alive, the few that were playing the actual game, wouldn''t be paid attention to by them. They would simply disappear to be sacrificed to Aurus Goodlaw sneakily. If the ''game'' did spread, the main group of guards would still fight the statues while also looking to progress. The person that finished the game wouldn''t just disappear but instead publicly rewarded. After this they would either be left alone or in a few months they would sneakily be hunted down and sacrificed.


    Villin thought of the options he had right now. The first was to compete in the ''game'' but spread the news about him doing so. This would be idiotic since he didn''t want to be hunted down later down the line. The second option was to hide somewhere he''d be safe. Let the other guards handle the situation and only come up once the situation was well under control. This also wouldn''t be ideal since there was a decent chance that those actively running away and not helping at all would be fired as a guard.


    The last real option was to just follow the main brunt of the guards without standing out too much. Simply fighting the statues without attracting so much attention that he may be picked as a sacrifice.


    He had to say, the fact that Aurus Goodwill used the dark arts made things a lot more annoying to deal with and he''d have to be sufficiently careful.


    And so, without hesitating for more than a couple of minutes, Villin headed up together with the main crowd trying to figure out what was going on.


    On the way up, Villin glanced into rooms on multiple floors and saw that stationary statues hadn''t been destroyed yet. Since a statue had begun moving on the first floor, it was clear to him that any single one of them could be an opponent but it seemed like in the chaos, most hadn''t thought that far yet, that being said, there were a few that split off on various floors, they probably figured out what he had but wanted to take care of the future threats themselves since their employers could be watching.


    After going up the stairs for a while, explosions could be heard coming from higher up, soon the yells of magi could be heard as well, either casting spells or groaning after being hit.


    The seventh floor had been turned into a temporary base as the battle was currently situated on the eighth floor and the staircase around the ninth. On the seventh floor, people seemed quite organized, even though only a dozen minutes passed, everything ran in organized chaos.


    On one side people with cuts and broken bones were being healed by magi whose clothes were still unripped and had much less dust on their clothes. Nobody complained though since healing spells were rare.


    "What are you three doing there? You''ve been healed up already so get up there you scumbags!" a man yelled, causing the three that had been staying back, to quickly rush up so as to avoid angering him further.


    The man that had spoken was the one that had taken the commanding position in this newly-started battle. When everything went chaotic, he ordered people around and knocked down the disobedient one, quickly causing everything to fall into place. It was nobody other than Alexi.

 Chapter 228: Solving The Problem

    "Oh, Charley, I see you got the people from downstairs, and there seem to be loads of them!" Alexi said when he noticed the woman that led them here who quickly nodded, "Yeah, they were grouped up downstairs, all of them seem to be in fighting condition as well.


    Satisfied, Alexi nodded, before briefly going over some of the faces, Villin cautiously took a step to the side making it so that he was situated behind someone else and Alexi couldn''t recognize him.


    "Alright then all of you, let''s get going! The situation is as simple as can be. The statues in the penthouse seem to have suddenly come alive. They''ve been going down floor by floor attacking guards. Be extremely careful, even those that don''t have weapons on them are quick and deadly. Those with weapons are even more dangerous as they can stab someone from a distance away. The only positive point we have is that it seems that the weapons are stuck to the statues'' hands. This means that they can''t throw weapons, halfsword, or pick anything else up. If their weapon arm gets destroyed, they won''t be able to pick it up again with their other hand.


    We''ve lost one guard thus far and five others are seriously hurt. Despite this, the statues don''t seem to be going in for the kill, if an opponent is down, they''ll deal with anyone standing before anything else. Just try to keep a distance from the statues. We managed to split them up into two areas. Around ten statues have been lured into the eighth floor where we are currently fighting them while the rest, however many there may be, are being held back on the staircase to the ninth. Any healers should stay here while anyone else should either help to hold back the statues on the ninth floor or eliminating those on the eighth floor." Alexi ordered with authority, causing many of the people close to Villin to nod.


    "How many have you taken out thus far?" the male twin asked as he took a step forwards, his sister standing next to him nodded.


    "We took out four thus far, two others have been disarmed as far as I''m aware." Alexi promptly responded, this wasn''t time to worry about politeness or anything of the like. The brother nodded before walking out the door and heading up, followed by the majority of the people that came with them, a few split off to help the healers while some others went downstairs again upon seeing that this thing may actually be properly dangerous. Villin was pretty sure Alexi saw some people go down but he didn''t comment on it, probably because it would only destroy morale and people had every right to question his leadership, it was best not to antagonize anyone, Villin was surprised to see Alexi''s competence, when they first met he truly thought Alexi was just a stuck up nobleman who only boasted without having any skill to back it up.


    But now he was proved wrong with Alexi showing wits and leadership abilities.


    Even though he went unnoticed for the first bit, as the crowd dissipated to go fight, heal, or hide, Villin was soon in the front of the line.


    When Alexi, who had been busy explaining the situation in more detail to some people that came up to him, noticed him, he immediately got a chill.


    When Alexi saw Villin his hand instinctively went towards his heart as his face got slightly pale, "Y- What are you doing here?" he asked, his tone had lost its previous energy and confidence.


    Villin simply smiled in return "I''m here to join the fight, what else?"


    After leaving behind these parting words, he turned around as well, leaving through the door to go up the stairs.


    Alexi, who was left behind, felt some cold sweat coming down his forehead, his pale face surprised the people around him, but he quickly gathered himself again and continued giving orders.


    As Villin slowly rose up the stairs, he considered what to do. The situation right now was rather annoying. If he fought the statues with his full strength he could probably subdue a few but he would gather a lot of attention and would potentially be sacrificed to Aurus Goodwill. If he held back too much instead, whoever may be monitoring them could take notice and tell the general. In response, they might think he is a spy sent from another force and capture and kill him.


    There were no paths to victory here, making the situation very annoying.


    "Tch, if only this whole statue thing wouldn''t have happened¡­" Villin lamented before an imaginary lightbulb above his head lit up.


    He couldn''t turn back time but there was something he could do to end what was going on.


    After this all was done, there was no way around it that the auction''s representative would state it was a test to see how the guards behaved under pressure. This would be fine unless too many guards died. The number was most likely five, maybe six. It was stated that if more than five people died, they may look into the deaths, but it was more likely that they would cancel both the current ''test'' and the ''game'' to avoid too much backlash. Finding good sacrifices for Aurus was important but the integrity of the auction was much more so. If necessary, the Goodwill family wouldn''t have a single problem getting some prisoners from the east to be sacrificed, the only problem was that they would probably have a less active web compared to the talents here.


    As for those of the western continent, barely anyone ever got captured from there and if they did they were also most likely some of the weaker ones around.


    In reality, all that had to happen was the death of two more people, three at most for this whole thing to end.


    If Villin just went ahead and killed two, he obviously couldn''t get away with it. If he fought golems with them and accidentally made a mistake causing two people to die, at best he would be seen as incompetent and fired, at worst assumed traitor and killed.


    There was still an option though, he just had to sneakily kill a few people without anyone knowing it was him.


    When he thought of this, the thought of having to kill someone didn''t affect his mental state at all, he didn''t know these people so why would he care if some of them died.


    He decided to turn around on the stairs and head back to the safe seventh floor, there should be an opportunity to get rid of some of the heavily wounded magi without arousing too much suspicion he wagered. Just as he was about to enter the floor again, he heard a voice from behind him.


    "Ah, Villin! I woke up and you were gone! I looked all over but all I found were some people trying to stay out of sight! When I asked what was going on, they said what happened up here, are you okay?"


    Surprised by Golmi''s appearance and his sudden care, Villin paused in his steps, "Ah, right. Yeah, I''m unhurt, I only got here a bit ago myself." he answered truthfully as he looked at the gullible Golmi.


    "Cool! Didn''t you say you know healing spells? I do too! We can help out just by staying back, how cool is that!" Golmi now said in an excited tone, confusing Villin.


    "Ah right, healing. I guess we could just do that." Villi responded somewhat absentmindedly before following Golmi who had now passed by him and entered the floor.


    -----------------


    "So, how is the situation looking?" Eveline Targentelli asked a shadowy figure before her.


    "It seems the golems activated, much earlier than anticipated. Whoever did it either skipped steps or got entered into the game by accessing the secret room behind the fireplace. The golems in the penthouse activated and have caused some havoc already, a man by the name Alexi Gurnov moved quickly though and organized the magi somewhat."


    "Hmm, Gurnov you say?" Eveline lamented "He''s most likely the brother of the leader of ''The Ravagers'', this''d make him a pseudo-nobleman, let''s keep our hands off of him. So who activated the golems?"


    "Ehm, well, here''s the problem. Since nobody had even gotten to the fourth step yet, we didn''t expect anyone to get there so soon and we don''t know who it was. We should be able to get them when they apply for guard duty though." the man said with a hint of nervousness.


    "Hmm, it''s okay, we''ll indeed find them then," Eveline said before noticing the slight nervousness of the man. "You seem nervous, why, what happened?"


    "Well," the shadowy figure said nervously, "When we sensed someone got into the secret room and tried to get there to find out who it was in vain, someone else got the book containing the souls of Harry, Ron, and Dean."


    Eveline looked at the man blankly for a few moments before uttering "Huh?"


    She seemed completely helpless, the book was extremely valuable, entrusted to her by Herman Goodlaw himself for this very purpose. It was an object of great importance that was used for cases like this where the keeper of it would be monitored.

 Chapter 229: Project Skynet

    "What are these idiots doing, do they think we''re such pushovers without Villin?" Amelia raged after hearing that yet another person trying to sneak in had been caught.


    "It''s rather annoying that they figured out Villin was gone right away, the fact that Kayley is on a mission as well complicates things further. Either we have a mole or they have been able to stealthily follow both of them and see them disappear. The latter seems more likely in the current situation." Ruby noted knowing how things had evolved.


    "This¡­ is rather insulting. I mean, I know Villin is our core and Kayley is the face of the guild but we''re strong too, right? Certainly with the defenses we have set up." Rein finished up, also annoyed at the current situation.


    Ruby put her head in her hands as she tried to make sense of the situation, "Half a day, just half a day and we''ve already caught a dozen people trying to sneak in. None of them have talked yet either. Something is off here."


    The one-to-final person in the room, an Atlantian girl called Hazel, also wondered, "The beast king shouldn''t be able to follow us here so what else can it be¡­"


    This lightened the mood a little, however smart the girl was, she didn''t have a lot of experience when it came to people, or not the people here at least. Since she only ever talked to Atlantians before, a rather unified race, there was still relatively little she knew about human nature.


    "The problem is also within the enchanted spears, even though our lookouts have managed to spot most before they got into the perimeter, they''ve been hesitant to fire the explosive spears due to their lethality, by the time they get down or others reach the location, the opponent has generally hidden again and we have to slowly track them down with Ruby''s system," Amelia noted, talking about the crux of the problem.


    "The pill exchange is next week already, if we fail to host it as we said we would, it will be seen as a sign of weakness. Even though it doesn''t matter much here anymore due to our stable overall position, the news of our inability to host the tournament will reach the outside world. Even if we want to host a pill and runic exchange then, other guilds will be much less likely to give it a shot seeing that we can''t even keep our promises while still within academy walls." The final person here, Max, remarked with a surprising amount of confidence.


    For a little while, everyone was silent, four of the people here were lost deep in thought while Hazel already seemed to have an idea, she remarked, "We have the coordinates to Atlantis right? And I''m sure the leaders there wouldn''t mind making a mission to allow some of us in. Why don''t we just hold the pill exchange there? The requirements to join the mission would be to have an invitation and if people want to make trouble as you say, they wouldn''t have a chance to do so as long as we protect the teleportation array everyone will come back through."


    Hearing her suggestion, pretty much everyone was surprised. It was an interesting plan, abusing their connection with the Atlantian leaders and abusing the mission system the Academy utilized to get a safe location to hold the exchange.


    Of course, there was a fee that had to be paid in order to be allowed to create a mission and it was higher if more people were requested but Athena''s Forge could easily shoulder that cost.


    Hazel also knew that Atlantis wanted to increase their connection with Villin and this was a great opportunity for them to do so while also having a look at pill-making, a non-existent trade within the city.


    Ruby nodded while Amelia, Rein, and Max thought about the suggestion. They never went to Atlantis and only bits of information had been revealed to them, they weren''t quite sure how much was true and how much was false.


    In the end, Amelia frowned as she thought about another problem.


    "No, having to defend one of the teleportation arrays on another tile will take forces away from here. We need to protect the people that are working for us here currently, it was one of the promises we made. We also have to make sure nobody can destroy the buildings, magic arrays, or ward that is under construction. That''s not even talking about the spearguns. If they get sabotaged and catastrophically fail when someone tries to fire, it''ll mean one of our own dies. It''s also just a manner of time before someone realizes what technique Ruby uses to distinguish friend from foe on her enchantments, this means we need all hands on deck!"


    Amelia spoke with passion and sense, making her words hard to refute.


    They were being put in a tough spot where they had to choose between two equally tough options.


    After a bit, everyone seemed to be waiting for Rein to speak. There was no doubt that in this room, Rein and Amelia were those with the most say. Ruby only joined Athena''s Forge recently and Max only just joined the inner circle. As for Hazel, she wasn''t even really supposed to be here. She was simply brought in since, as an Atlantian, she might have a different perspective compared to the others.


    Before Rein could make up his mind, someone knocked on the door to the meeting here causing the tension that had been building up to momentarily break.


    "Come in!" Rein exclaimed, glad to have some more time to think about the options presented.


    After these words rang out, the door opened revealing a petite lady with pink ponytails and a jovial expression. It was Sara, one of the core members of the black swans.


    "Hey!" she said after entering, waving in an exaggerated fashion while entering further and looking once at everyone.


    People had varying expressions upon her arrival. Rein and Hazel seemed to be in a better mood. The child-like fashion she acted in was refreshing to see sometimes. Ruby remained expressionless while Max and Amelia seemed a little more serious compared to before. They both already knew that the way Sara carried herself was a guise, it made people let their guard down and underestimate her.


    In all honesty, both of them had a very small amount of fear for Sara. Not because she was strong or anything of the like but because of how well she played her act, if they didn''t know what her job was and how capable she was, they would''ve never guessed she was faking anything. They would want her even less as an opponent compared to Ruby whose intentions were slightly clearer, even though they''d never say that out loud.


    "Yes, Sara?" Amelia said after fixing her expression to a more neutral one, not wanting to show how careful she was.


    For a moment Sara looked playfully abashed before she put her hip out, put a finger on her bottom lip, and thought in an overexaggerated fashion.


    "Well, I kind of, sort of thought you all may have a problem I can help with!"


    Hearing she was here for business, Rein regained his serious expression again as well, "Oh, what problem is it you can help with then?" he asked casually.


    "Welllll, there''s a bunch of people sneaking in and the pill exchange is soon! We don''t want people to ruin the event, right?" she asked with a slight pout.


    Nobody noticed a slight sense of alarm crept into Ruby''s eyes, Sara''s entrance had really been timed too perfectly. "That could be a small problem, then what is it you''re suggesting?" Rein asked, interested in what Sara might''ve thought of.


    "Well, even though Ruby''s design to detect intruders is good, you can still bypass it, if someone were to knock out one of our members outside of the territory for example, and took their clothes, they could sneak in no problem!


    "I created something a little while earlier that could help with this!" she said jovially.


    At this point, Ruby was glaring daggers at her. She knew what she was playing at and knew what she was going to suggest, she was the one that turned it down, after all.


    "Oh, what is it?" Rein asked, drawn into her words.


    "Well," Sara explained as she took out a small two-centimeter by half a centimeter black rock out of her sleeve. "This is a little something I made, I call it, Project Skynet! It''s a small runic device that can be implanted into someone''s neck, it''s relatively easy to insert but nearly impossible to take out! Anyone that has it inserted will be easily trackable at nearly any distance! I can even make it so that it works as a microphone that lets us hear what''s around them! And, it will work for at least a dozen years! It draws a tiny amount of magic power from the person it''s inserted in to continue being powered.

 Chapter 230: The Origin Of The Towers

    "Project Skynet? Small devices capable of tracking and listening in?" Rein questioned as his heart began beating slightly faster.


    "I don''t think this is a good idea," Ruby quickly interjected. "She has shown me the devices before, they take it too far. The devices can''t just be altered to add a microphone but they have also been created with a killswitch within."


    "A Killswitch?" Amelia questioned, "For the device?"


    Sara, who still had an innocent smile on her face shook her head, "Nope! For the person."


    The room went silent for a couple of seconds after these words were spoken.


    "I see," Rein finally said after a couple of seconds, "And how hard are they to make?"


    "Rein," Amelia quickly interjected, "We''re not getting these things, the microphones are already pushing it heavily, we aren''t inserting killswitches into the people that are a part of the guild."


    Even though Amelia was generally the tough one, this time she was heavily against the idea of enabling Skynet.


    "They''re quite cheap really!" Sara said jovially, ignoring Amelia, "And the best thing is, you don''t even need a runemaster to make them!"


    When Sara finished her sentence she looked Ruby in the eyes with the same smile as earlier on her face. But Ruby found that it was more taunting than anything. She was planning to speak up when Max finally spoke as well.


    "Rein. Amelia and Ruby are right. We already have good control of our guild members, the current problems aren''t nearly large enough to use this kind of¡­.evil device."


    Rein looked at the faces around him and when he saw nobody but Sara wishing to support his opinion, he was about to take a step back and concede when the final voice came out.


    "What are you guys talking about? Why wouldn''t you insert the devices?" Hazel asked with a confused expression as she looked at Amelia.


    Nobody here had quite expected Hazel to stand on Rein''s side so Amelia quickly explained, "Hazel, these devices could kill whomever it''s implanted into whenever we wished, and hell, none of our members would have any privacy."


    Still holding a somewhat confused expression, Hazel expressed her opinion, "But they would give control, right? If you don''t have control, you have chaos, and with chaos, the cycle of death will continue to endlessly speed up. We learned that the hard way in Atlantis!"


    "What are you talking about Hazel?" Amelia questioned, "How do you mean you learned that on Atlantis?"


    With a now more serious expression, Hazel spoke, "Atlantis has had many leaders in the history, and many catastrophes have happened as well! When the leaders have control over the citizens, nothing bad happens. It''s impossible for it to do so! It''s only when a leader loosens up, allowing their subjects enough freedom and power to rally up that war breaks out and they get overthrown! It''s then that people die, not under the rule of a strict leader, even if they restrict freedoms somewhat.


    "Other than the beast king, all previous major massacres happened this way. It wasn''t because of the revolutionaries. Our current leaders were once revolutionaries. It''s the leaders allowing revolutionaries to exist! When people don''t have the chance to rebel, they''ll be loyal and they won''t feel the need to kill their own."


    Amelia looked at Hazel in an entirely different light now. Hazel always seemed kind so she never really thought about the fact that she was an Atlantian with Atlantian beliefs before.


    "This isn''t the same Hazel." Amelia said after a moment, "There isn''t a single city here, this is the central continent, it has hundreds of different forces who are all out to get each other!"


    This time, Hazel also felt herself heating up, "But it won''t be like that for long right? Isn''t it best to make preparations now?"


    "What are you talking about?"


    When Amelia asked this, she noticed Rein was looking away from her and Ruby looked visibly conflicted, a rare sight. As for Sara, she was unreadable.


    "What is she talking about?" Amelia now asked in a more serious tone as she realized Rein and Ruby both seemed to know what Hazel was talking about.


    For a few moments it was silent before finally, Ruby spoke up, "She''s talking about Villin."


    "How do you mean she''s talking about Villin? Weren''t you just on my side?" Amelia asked as she felt uncertainties pop up, something she had known for a while but had been cropping away was starting to make its way up to her consciousness.


    "When it comes to Skynet, I am against it," Ruby finally said. "But, what Hazel means. Amelia, what is Villin''s goal? Do you know why he made this guild?"


    "Yes, I was there! It''s made to revolutionize magic. To create bigger, better, more powerful types of magic and advance all magical disciplines."


    "And how do you think he''s going to do that?" asked Rein this time, looking her in the eyes again, his expression was no longer confrontational though.


    "By¡­ by growing the guild, making it a beacon for improvement. Like the towers!"


    "Amelia, do you know who created the towers. How they came to be?" Ruby asked this time, causing Amelia to get even more nervous.


    "I don''t, I''m mortalborn you know," she said as she had become much more timid compared to just a minute ago.


    "Something like the towers doesn''t just pop up. The forces of the continent didn''t just suddenly get along with each other and decided to work together. There have been revolutionaries before. First, there was Roland. He defied all odds and defeated the magi of the central and eastern continent, unifying them before creating The Academy, later one of his students became the first magus from the western continent as well. He was a revolutionary who advanced magic by hundreds of years using a unified people.


    "Then, much more recently, there was the monarch. A mortalborn magus that believed she too should be allowed to learn magic and enter the magus world. She wanted the mortalborn to be accepted and for magi to work together, advance magic, and conquer other worlds. She took over the entire central continent, created the towers we all know now, and let mortalborn learn magic. She has done horrible things before her death, but she also had a lasting positive impact on the continent, changing it massively and tripling the speed at which we advance magic today compared to how we used to." Ruby explained as she went over the history she was told by her family.


    Max looked at the ground as he realized what was being heavily implied by the three people here that were in the know, while Amelia still seemed to be having difficulties believing what was being told.


    "But¡­ the monarch. From what I heard she was terrible, she killed thousands of magi, caused the rest to live in fear and under her iron fist. All continents were forced to work together to finally take her down!" Amelia exclaimed, this was all she really learned about the monarch in the last three years.


    "Even with her death, she unified the world, even if it was just for a single day," Ruby said, echoing the words her father once told her. The three continents worked together to take someone out, it was the second time in history that had happened.


    Decisively, Amelia shook her head, "No, Villin isn''t like that. He can do things better, fairer. So many don''t have to die just to advance magic." she said, unknowingly a couple of tears had crept into her eyes.


    Ruby looked away from her as she stared at Rein, "Even though I don''t agree with her. I do believe there are limits, certainly when it comes to our own people. You don''t even need a runemaster to make these things. If we begin using them, others will find a way to make them as well. What happens if every time we are about to kill a guild leader, all the members of said guild also die? There''d be no magi civilization to improve, none at all."


    This time, she had Rein placed in a corner, he tried to find a way around that but couldn''t. Sara too, was silenced with that argument, she eventually spoke up, "This¡­if this was the problem then why didn''t you tell me last time?" she questioned Ruby with an unhidden angry expression before storming off.


    The people left in the room were in a variety of states, Amelia was sat in a chair convincing herself that Villin wouldn''t be another monarch, killing thousands for ''the greater good'', Ruby was looking at the door Sara left through with an unsure expression, Max was sat on the ground, his mind in turmoil as he tried to place everything he just realized, and finally, Hazel sat in a corner, she wanted to apologize to Ruby since she hadn''t thought of other people stealing the technology but wasn''t sure how to approach her. Her worries were by far, the least pressing amongst them all.

 Chapter 231: Two Days

    "This¡­ is this really all we had to do?" Villin wondered as he looked at the guard towers'' gate open.


    His plan to kill a couple wasn''t needed at all, he just sat down inside of the main room and healed. He thought of taking different actions multiple times but Golmi, who was sat just beside him healing people, made him rethink it. After all, why wouldn''t he just heal and let things blow over, there wasn''t really any risk to it.


    Even though this conviction was extremely weak within Villin''s mind, this, together with Golmi''s proximity made it so that he didn''t do anything.


    During the fight with the golems, they were forced back two floors but nobody else died. The golems never finished anyone off and the healers managed to stabilize everyone after some time, Villin and Golmi in particular seemed to have good healing spells as they were much more effective compared to those of their coworkers.


    Alexi had also noticed Villin but always stayed away as he ordered people around, he let the healers do their own thing since Villin joined them and focused on the fights. He rarely went to the front himself as he kept to commanding, the three people that were with him split up and often gave him information helpful to the battleplans.


    All in all, he seemed like a capable commander as very few people questioned his decisions overall.


    Then, just like that, after a bunch of fighting, the twenty-four hours ended. The tower gates opened and the guards were allowed to leave as the statues stopped moving. Villin made sure to have a good look at them then but couldn''t find anything whatsoever, as to how they moved remained a complete mystery for now.


    Once all of the guards were outside, General Gaze spoke up"Well then, all of you. You will be split up into two groups. Those that acted like cowards, running away as soon as there was some danger, and those who fought to defend both themselves as well as the others.


    What followed was a fairly normal ceremony. One after another names were being called and the guards were supposed to stand in one of the two separate groups. Since they healed and contributed a lot, Villin and Golmi were obviously in the group of non-cowards, together with the majority of guards.


    After this, the two groups got split up, the cowards would remain as guards but be placed in less important positions and their pay would also be reduced.


    Before they went though, the general had one request, "First, please see to it that you do not take anything with you that comes from within the guard tower. Any objects or books you may have found there belong to the Goodwill family, if you have any on your person, please surrender them now."


    This request didn''t garner any suspicion as it was beyond reasonable. A couple of guards realized they indeed had taken something from the tower and placed it on the ground. General Gaze glanced at each object here but didn''t seem to get what he was looking for as Villin noticed he faintly shook his head when he had seen everything.


    After this small interruption, the group was brought to yet another building. This time it was much smaller as it just held some dormitories, since most of the guards hadn''t slept yet they were given six hours to do so now, an acceptable amount.


    It was after this that the real training began. There were only two days until the auction but they would be an extremely busy two days. First, they were put in separate groups depending on their strength. Villin cast a fireball that he weakened somewhat so he didn''t stand out so much. The general seemed slightly disappointed in his results since he was one of the ones that managed to see through the advanced disguising spells but he didn''t seem suspicious, unlike Alexi who was certain that he was purposefully holding back when he saw how much better his results were.


    They were divided into a total of five groups, with the first group holding the strongest people. Alexi and Golmi were placed in the first group while Villin found him within the third group.


    Even though he didn''t want to miss the opportunity to learn new magic spells, he didn''t want to die either, and knowing what he knew now he wasn''t planning to risk anything.


    Villin had to say, he was surprised by the number of physical tests that were done, he expected everything to be magical but it wasn''t, they were told to do push-ups and sprints quite often, Villin guessed it wasn''t to just increase their physical shape but more so their mental fortitude, to push them when they were about to give up.


    But of course, quite a bit of magical training was also given, much of it in the form of lectures. One of the magi working for the Goodwill family would come up and give a lesson on certain things. The most valuable ones were on how to see through disguising spells and even Villin learned a thing or two there that he may be able to apply. They also got taught how to behave themselves as guards. All they were supposed to do was stand still and be respectful without doing anything a guest may ask. If a guest continued to ask a guard to do something for them or threatened the guard using their identity, the guards in the area were allowed to arrest said guest and bring him to general Gaze who would then decide what to do with them. Sadly, even after all these years, there were still people in every auction who would cause problems in a stupid way like this.


    The masks they were all given were also meant to hide their identities, it hid your face enough to go unrecognized by anyone except for people that know you decently well.


    "So, with this, I conclude my lecture on the web and the creation of new spells."


    The final lecturer said before leaving the guards behind. To most of the guards here, the knowledge they gave was quite advanced but in reality, it was only at the level of a third-grade student of The Academy.


    Since Villin was most likely even more knowledgeable about the web compared to most teachers within The Academy, this class was particularly useless.


    He had to admit he had some minor regrets for not doing a bit better when they tested their magical strength, if he got into the first group, he may actually have learned some properly useful stuff. Then again, if they were looking for the soul book, or sacrifices, that would also be where they would look the most.


    And so, the two days had passed and the morning of the auction was upon them. When the group of guards went outside they saw General Gaze, Eveline Targentelli, and Aurus Goodlaw all stand there.


    Once everyone was out, Eveline raised a piece of parchment within her hand and began reading it out loud.


    "Group one will defend the Marquise family''s VIP booth, the guards in this group will be John Doe, Alex Save, Herman Copiut,..."


    She continued at a steady pace and soon the guards were all divided into little groups. "Very well then, time to go to your locations, follow the butler and he will show you where to position yourselves, the guests will arrive soon."


    After all this, there were still some people left behind though. Villin noticed all those that were left were Golmi, the twins, Alexi, and himself.


    First of all, Eveline focused on him and Alexi, "Villin Grey, you may lack strength but you are very perceptive. On the other hand, Alexi Gurnov lacks a sufficient perception while he has shown incredible strength. You two will be placed together within the first VIP booth, the owners of said booth have said they will be coming personally to witness the auction and they are of high status, nothing can go wrong here."


    After this, she turned to the twins who were placed in VIP booths two and three which also held the leaders of certain forces. As for Golmi, he would be placed in the hallway where these three VIP booths would be located.


    ------------------------------


    "Is everything prepared?" a shadowed figure asked the woman standing next to him.


    "Yes, I contacted the auction and they are ready for our arrival," she responded


    The man couldn''t sit still as he reminded her "Good, this is the first mission she''s given since she returned, we can not fail."


    "Believe me, I know the importance of this. We will get the bracelet and give it back to her. If she could somehow repair it, things will shift greatly into our favor." the lady responded with a serious expression.


    After looking at her for a while, the man simply nodded "Very well."

 Chapter 232: The Suite

    "This is where the guests you are supposed to protect will be coming," Eveline explained to Villin and Alexi after showing them to the first special VIP room. She gave them both a special key that could be used to open the main door to this auction room, just in case something happened that made them have to take the guests outside.


    Even though it was supposed to just be a VIP auction room, it looked more like a suite. It was extremely large, luxurious foods and drinks could be seen everywhere and expensive rugs and chairs were placed by the dozens. There was also a room they weren''t allowed to enter which was the bathroom as only the guest and herself had the key to that one.


    The room was large enough for over a dozen people to live permanently with extreme comfort and if it was just for the auction, Villin figured they could''ve probably fit close to a hundred people inside if a few more chairs were added.


    The luxury of the main room was so extreme that Villin thought it took away from what was truly important here. The massive wall which most of the chairs and couches were facing. It was completely transparent, or at least it was from this side. Allowing whoever was here to look out onto the main venue.


    The main venue was massive and was separated into five sections. The first was the auction platform,  from inside here you could look down on it but a few screens were also placed inside of the room allowing you a more close-up look of both the podium as a whole and the items being shown.


    The second section was the ground beside the auction platform. There were no chairs there but a lot of place. The vast majority of guests would be there and most of those wouldn''t buy anything either, they were here for the experience after gathering enough crystals to be allowed entry. Thousands would be standing there packed closely together. Villin also saw the guards there were getting into position, this included some of those he recognized that failed the first or second test his guard regiment went through.


    Then there was the third section. This consisted of the seats places around the second section going upwards. It was similar to a baseball or football stadium in that regard. People didn''t have a lot of space in between each other but at least they could sit.


    The fourth section was where the important factions sat. Just like the suite he was in, each of them was hidden by a one-way window. There were about fifty of these in total all besides each other with the people inside having plenty of space. The major factions that didn''t have their truly important members here were placed inside of these luxurious boxes.


    Then finally, there was the final, fifth section. Sitting above the fourth section were nine, much larger boxes where the forces that had their leading forces here would be allowed to sit. If there were more than nine, the nine most powerful factions would be allowed to sit here but that hadn''t happened in a long time.


    This time three of these boxes were taken, with Villin and Alexi protecting the first. The enchantments on the room''s door and walls made it clear that whoever was inside here was almost absolutely safe. The only way someone could break in would be by an extended siege.


    "So, let me say what you are supposed to do one final time. You are not to speak to the guest unless they speak first. You may go silent at any time and are not supposed to follow any orders. You must remain respectful towards the guest even if you disagree with their viewpoints. You may only use your wand if something happens or if you need to do your business. You may only open the door to leave the room if something happens that jeopardizes the safety of the guests within the room. Such as a large crack appearing within the wall.


    "If anything happens to any of the guests inside, such as some of them betraying the head of the family or someone getting sick or poisoned, you must first ensure the safety of the head of the main family before turning to the others. If the former situation happens and you are able to take care of the threats, you are not to open the door. If the latter happens you may open the door to request assistance from our finest healers, they would be able to arrive within a few minutes, the guard situated within the hallway will know how to contact them.


    "Now, any questions?" Eveline asked, having gone through most of the important information.


    "What if we have to sleep?" Villin immediately asked, it was something he had been wondering.


    You will do so sitting down at the locations you will be keeping an eye on things from. Both of you will never sleep at the same time and if someone wishes to exit the room, open the door, or if anything of note happens, including the appearance of one of the main rare prizes, you must wake the other guard up to make sure the guest''s safety is guaranteed."


    Villin nodded to show he understood and Alexi did as well.


    "Oh right, there is one individual other than the ones you are already taking orders from whose words you are sometimes supposed to follow. His name is Jeonardi, you''ll see him enter with the main guest later. He takes care of the high-stakes betting in the auction and never does business without seeing someone. He may ask to leave or enter the room, always allow the former and allow the latter if the main guest doesn''t oppose it."


    Eveline then looked at the watch she was wearing, upon seeing the time she revealed, "The guest will arrive in exactly ten minutes, you are no longer allowed to leave, so I''ll now disclose his identity. The person you two will be guarding is Grand Von Hauser, a high council member and one of the most powerful men in this world. He''ll be staying here with some of his associates."


    Upon hearing the name, Villin just barely managed to keep the surprise on his face away. To think he would be guarding Ruby''s father.


    "All right then, I''ll be getting the last few in position. Don''t mess this up, mister Von Hauser is a powerful man who could complicate things for the Goodlaw family."


    Soon after saying this, Eveline was gone leaving Alexi and Villin as the final ones within the suite. The two had a quick look around before deciding on locations to stand at. Alexi chose to stand near the door, most likely for no other reason than to properly do his guarding duty. Villin chose to stand close to the one-way wall, he would be close to the VIP which gave him a good reason to do this while he also could keep an eye on the auction without a problem.


    He hadn''t thought about how to place a bet yet since he didn''t know how bets were made. He just hoped he''d have the opportunity to buy what he wanted when the time came, it was bound to be a pain though, considering it would be impossible to blend in within a VIP lounge. If only messed up in the beginning then he would stand amongst the regular people. He would probably be able to find a way to sneak out of his guard uniform and place a bet then, but that became impossible in the current situation, not that there was anything he could do about it anymore.


    For the last day, Alexi had been keeping a close eye on Villin. He always stayed out of distance while the other was healing or doing whatever else but he made sure he knew where he was. He still remembered that feeling of vines moving through his body, a stand wrapping itself around his heart, capable of killing him at any time.


    But, his fear was no longer for Villin the person, it was more for his skills than anything, thanks to this he didn''t fear speaking to him anymore, or not all that much anyway, even though he vowed to remain very careful and think about his words deeply.


    "My brother made a deal with Grand Von Hauser again, he''s a dangerous man. I suggest you don''t talk to him. He''s capable of knowing when someone lies or tells the truth. From what I''ve heard he''s a skilled magus but that''s not why he''s feared." Alexi said to Villin as they were waiting for the mentioned man to come.


    Villin didn''t feel the need to shut him down currently so he responded, "I know. I have an associate from the same family. She''s a force to be reckoned with for sure, I doubt the head of her family would be any worse."


    He kept the exact identity of the family member a secret to avoid Alexi from being able to dig for his information too easily.


    Alexi intended to respond but before he could, the door opened and he stood straight as a pole, remaining silent as he waited for the person to enter.

 Chapter 233: Gracia

    The sound of footsteps could be clearly heard as the two guards became stiff, not moving a muscle as they waited for the VIP to get into view.


    The man that entered was over two meters tall. His hair was silver and looked as if it was glowing. His golden eyes would make him stand out in any room even if his previous features failed to do so.


    He was wearing a simple black suit with the Von Hauser crest on his chest.


    After entering, he didn''t look at the guards, he simply walked further into the suite and had a look around. Following behind him were a couple of other people. The first was a man with green hair and sharp eyes, this was Leonardi. Other than him, four others followed behind Grand. Two of them were youths hardly older than Villin, one was a kid of around seven years old while the final one was a man that looked to be in his thirties.


    Other than Leonardi, everyone here had something in common, their golden eyes, something only the Von Hauser family was known to have. Of the two youths, one had brown hair while the other was blonde, the adult man was ginger and only the small kid shared Grand''s silver hair.


    Most of the people here completely ignored the existence of the two guards but there were two exceptions. Leonardi gave them a small nod of acknowledgment while the small silver-haired girl looked at Villin intensely once she noticed him, "Ooh so pretty!" she exclaimed when she looked at him, "How did you get that scar? Did you fight like daddy?"


    Villin wasn''t quite sure how to respond, Grand sat himself down in a chair while talking to Leonardi who was also sitting, the others, excluding the little girl, were standing patiently behind Grand as they listened to their conversation without interrupting. Nobody was paying any attention to the girl.


    Since she was a part of the group he was supposed to protect and he had been told he could talk as long as they initiated the conversation, Villin decided to respond.


    "Some bad people attacked me and they later gave me the scar."


    Villin didn''t add too much emotion into his voice since he still didn''t know what Grand''s reaction would be if a guard talked to what seemed to be either his granddaughter or his daughter.


    Still, the girl''s eyes seemed to sparkle, "Oooh! Who did that to you? I can ask dad to stop them, they must be really mean if they did that!" she said, puffing up her cheeks.


    "Eh, that''s quite all right." Villin quickly responded, wanting to stay out of trouble with the Von Hauser family.


    The girl looked at him with her bright golden eyes for a couple of seconds before talking again, "I like you! Do you want to be my babysitter?"


    "Huh?"


    "DADDY! CAN THIS GUARD BE MY BABYSITTER?" the girl suddenly yelled out loud, turning towards Grand and the rest of the family.


    The following couple of seconds one could hear a pin drop. Villin could see Alexi and Leonardi looked at him with alarm, as if they expected something really bad to happen with him.


    Villin himself straightened up a bit further as he felt a bead of sweat going down the side of his forehead.


    "Do whatever you want Gracia, just don''t get too attached." This off-handed comment surprisingly came from Grand, one of the most powerful people on the continent.


    "Yayy! Do you want to play? Ooh, no, tell me a story instead!" the little girl quickly said as she turned back to Villin.


    ''Shit'' Villin thought, unsure of how to proceed. He had the option to go silent now but then Gracia could potentially start crying which may anger Grand. Thinking about it, this may actually be an opportunity. Gracia was probably quite close to Grand, if he got closer to her in the following couple of days and he wanted to bid for something, perhaps Gracia would be able to ask Grand to allow him to do so.


    Sure, afterward, if they found out, the auction may not like that he acted in this way, but even if he was banned from being a guard it wouldn''t affect him, he wasn''t here for the pay either. If he was banned from the auction as a whole, he could always have one of his companions go instead of him.


    Additionally, if Grand felt somewhat angry at his actions, later on, he''d probably survive if he said how close he was to Ruby.


    Overall, even if there were risks, they were relatively small, and taking this risk gave him a potential opportunity to bidding for something himself. Which was still the man''s purpose for this trip.


    "Sure, what kind of stories do you like?" Villin said after making his decision.


    "Real ones!" Gracia responded without needing to think, "I like real stories! Tell me something that happened to you!"


    Villin didn''t even consider lying since he knew the girl had a bloodline that would be able to figure out if he was and thought for a moment, trying to find a child-friendly story he could tell.


    Since he couldn''t find a single tory he could tell that didn''t include death and destruction, Villin simply settled on one.


    "What about I tell you about the time I went to Atlantis!" he thus began.


    --------------------------------


    "Hello, is anybody here? Headmaster?"


    Silver''s words went completely unanswered as she looked around the room she was in.


    She had been quite busy the last while. She had been following her classes and doing research on various subjects. But other than that, she had also met the headmaster a couple of times.


    She wasn''t sure why but he seemed to have taken some sort of interest in her. Every time, things went similar. The headmaster had a matter to discuss with her. The first time it had been Villin. The time after that the escalation of conflict in the east, then it was the destruction of one of The Academy''s prison complexes, and finally, it was to discuss a thesis she made about the use of transfiguration and why The Academy should do more effort to increase the skill level of their students and teachers in this field.


    At first, she was scared of him, he seemed to be playing games with her making her feel very uncomfortable. But, she gradually grew used to conversing with him. She no longer feared The Headmaster as much as before.


    The way she was called up this time was the same as always. A teacher contacted her saying that The Headmaster would like to see her. Rumors had been going around she was his plaything but she decisively ignored those.


    She thought she knew the reason The Headmaster wanted to see her this time, it would probably be concerning the escape of multiple teachers in the fourth/fifth grade. She heard that a number of teachers had been secretly teaching students potioneering, they thought they had been found out and tried to escape, soon after, the secret lab they had been using blew up using runes that had been activated from a distance.


    She looked into the fact quite deeply and it was hard to figure out why the teachers tried to escape in the way they did. They could''ve applied to go on a mission themselves and they would''ve been able to easily go a few days later. She guessed either the headmaster had something to do with it or someone found out about their secret but didn''t tattle, something they hadn''t expected.


    She was in the same room she would always be in before meeting the headmaster. There were pedestals to the side with various cold weapons on them, each of which had a long history, having been used by both the headmasters of old and legends of before that time entirely.


    Generally, the headmaster would either open the gates to the throne room or join her here just a few minutes after she arrived.


    It had already been over an hour this time which was extremely unusual, even more so since she headed here as soon as she was told to go see him.


    But, after all this time, she finally heard something, coming from behind her.


    "Magrovishe"


    Out of instinct, Silver immediately grabbed her wand and cast a defensive spell.


    BOOM!!!


    A large explosion happened as Silver was shot forward due to the force of the spell.


    She twisted around in mid-air as she ignored the burn wound that appeared on her back, sending a quick spell towards the figure that appeared a dozen meters behind her.


    When the smoke subsided, Silver saw who it was, standing behind her.


    The figure was hunched over, his clothes were in tatters and he had clearly been hurt badly, but his face was easily recognized by Silver.


    It was the Headmaster, and he looked like he was standing on death''s door.