Supreme Magus

by S.H.A aifu

MC is not an anti-hero or a hero.

10. 230

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"Does Phloria know about this Death Vision thingy?" Yurial asked.

"No, she has spent too much time worrying about me night and day. I'm going to give her a little respite before breaking the news to her. She deserves it."

"Man, that's exactly what I am talking about." Yurial sighed.

"Before Balkor, everything was so easy for me. I had my future set in stone. I thought I had my whole life in front of me. That my sh*tty wife would give me a few heirs before I started searching for happiness somewhere else.

"I didn't give a damn about love. All that I cared about was to take my father's place as the head of the family and make my Grand Duchy a better place for everyone to live in.

"Now I feel completely lost. I can't stop thinking about all the things that I will miss because of my role and my marriage. To make things worse, if something happened to me tomorrow, nobody would care.

"My mother barely remembers my name, while my father is always so busy that I rarely see him. Is it wrong for me to want to go away and have a life? To forget about duty and think only about myself for more than five minutes?

"I want to have something similar to what you have with Phloria, even once, before duty hog-ties me like a prime roast. What do you think I should do?"

"I'm sorry Yurial, but this is something only you can decide." Lith shook his head.

"There are only a few things I can tell you. First, give yourself some time to recover. Maybe you need to re-evaluate your life's long term priorities or maybe this is just your anxiety talking. We both need some quiet to get things straight, right now we are a mess.

"Second, you can't go to class in that state. Unless our Professors and colleagues have gone blind, they'll notice how high you are. You could get in serious trouble, maybe even get suspended."

Yurial sighed before using a few healing spells on himself. Cleansing his system was the easy part, in just a few minutes his appearance became that of someone that just had skipped too many meals and a few nights of sleep.

The problem was that now he could only resort to sheer willpower to keep his inner demons at bay. When they met the rest of the group in the compulsory courses' class for the Necromancy lessons, their mood only got worse.

While most of the class was moping in silence, the girls were smiling and laughing, like they had no care in the world. Yurial was so envious of house Ernas that he was about to pop a vein.

Phloria's older brother was already married, ensuring the future of the family and relieving his sibling from any kind of pressure.

Based on what Quylla had told him, she was walking on air. Orion was the father she had always wished for, and once she got used to Jirni's attempts to manipulate her, Quylla couldn't get angry with her.

Not after what she had heard from Friya and Yurial about their respective biological mothers. Yurial couldn't agree more with her.

'Lady Ernas may be nuttier than a fruitcake, but whatever she does to her daughters, she only does it because she thinks it's for their sake, not for her own.' Yurial thought.

Also, while Yurial's trauma was only getting worse over time, Friya was slowly overcoming her own. Losing her family after her mother's escape had been the lowest point of her life, but she was now certain that being adopted by the Ernas couple was the best thing that could happen to her.

She had finally a place where she belonged, loving relatives, and no more worries outside graduating from the academy. Since the fall of house Solivar, her arranged marriage had been called off. She was now free to do as she liked.

The boys faked a smile and sat in their chairs, waiting for the second gong to sound.

Professor Zeneff entered the room, giving a sad smile to the class. The students were so used to her cheerfulness that the change of attiude drawn on her drew even the gazes of those that usually wouldn't pay attention until the start of the lesson.

She had lost several kilograms too fast, making her appear much older than she actually was. Professor Zeneff seemed to be dreadfully tired, her movements were unsteady.

"Good morning, dear students. I know I look terrible, just like I know that after all you went through, you probably don't want to study Necromancy one more minute than absolutely necessary.

"Luckily, we are on the same page. The Black Griffon academy has suffered many casualties. I have lost many dear friends and assistants that were like family to me. So I'm eager to get over our lessons as much as you do and go back home.

"Today I'll teach you how to possess the body of one of your undead and use it as it was your own. This is the last thing you need to learn to complete this subject. I told you at the beginning that my course would be quick and easy. I kept my word."

Her voice lacked the enthusiasm they had become used to. The gloomy atmosphere of the class became even worse.

"The principle behind it is relatively simple." She made appear a rat skeleton, turning it into an undead, and imprinting it with her mark in a few seconds.

Death Vision made Lith see the undead's eyes turn off once the spell had lost its effectiveness and then after its body was crushed under something heavy.

'What the heck? Do I care for undead too or is this some kind of curse?' Lith thought.

"When I taught you how to move them and impart them simple commands, I explained to you how to perceive the mana that you have transferred within the corpse and move it with your will.

"Even if detached from your body, it's still a part of you."

Professor Zeneff placed her hand on the undead. Its eyes turned blue and it continued the explanation using Zeneff's voice.

"The last step requires for you to transfer your consciousness along with the mana. You have to find that sliver of your essence and establish a connection with it. I always suggest imagining it like creating a tunnel between the sliver and your consciousness.

"Then, imagine opening a door that leads outside your body and into the tunnel. Push your will through that door not to enforce a single thought, but your whole being. It can be done at any moment after creating an undead.

It will allow you to see, hear, and speak as if you were there.

"The process doesn't consume your mana, but the longer you use this technique and the farther you get from your real body, the greater is the focus required. Always remember that as long as you possess an undead, you can't use any magic and your own body is helpless.Find authorized novels in ReadNovelFull，faster updates, better experience，Please click for visiting.

"Also, if the corpse gets destroyed while you are still inhabiting hit, your mind could experience mild damage. Not enough to suffer from long lasting consequences, but enough to knock you out for a few minutes.

"In the event of danger, the best course of action is always to get out of the undead, animate a new one and take a different route."

Professor Zeneff returned to her body. Then, with a clap of her hands, she made a rat skeleton appear on each student's desk and a small metal bucket at their side. While some like Lith had no idea what the purpose of the bucket was, many others soon had a dire need of it.

Even if the rats and Balkor's creations were worlds apart in all respects, the feeling that the darkness magic animating them gave off was similar. Most of the students still had nightmares about those three days.

Darkness magic made them remember the fear of death they had experienced and the comrades they had lost. A series of dry heaving was quickly followed by puking sounds.

"I'm really sorry guys, but if you don't complete the task, I'll have to fail you." Professor Zeneff sniffed, empathizing with their feelings.

"Be strong and consider this lesson as shock therapy. If you manage to succeed today, you will not be forced to raise another undead until you graduate from the academy. There are no Necromancy lessons during the fifth year, you have my word for it."

The desire to get rid of the undead once and for all was motivation enough for most students to overcome their fear and start practicing.

Lith was already used to control multiple lesser undead at will, also he had decided to stop holding back. Merging with the undead's blood core wasn't much different from entering the mind space he shared with Solus.

Once he identified the part of him residing inside the creature, all he had to do was to force the sliver of his life force to take over the entire blood core.

Lith could feel his creation weakly rejecting him. Even with the mark forcing it into submission, the creature instinctively resisted the possession. The gap in willpower was abysmal, so it took him only a few seconds to complete the process.

The sensation he experienced though the rat's corpse was terrible. The world around him had turned black and white, all colors had disappeared. He couldn't smell anything and all of his new body was insensitive.

Either Lith touched the wooden desk or his originals' body hand, he couldn't feel any difference between the two. Even moving was awkward. Not only was Lith not used to moving on all four with such a different center of gravity, but also he could feel the body trying to expel him.

Even a mindless creature like an undead rat had enough hatred for the living to reject its creator's mind. It took Lith only a few minutes to get accustomed to the new body, but he could feel the resistance the creature offered increasing over time.

It was like keeping a spring compressed and preventing it to return to its natural shape.

The Lith rat jumped down from his desk, landing with the grace of a rock. Luckily, he felt no pain from the impact.

'If this is what it feels like being an undead, then it's simply appalling. The only bright side is that I don't have Death Vision in this form.' He thought.

"Professor Zeneff, is this enough for a passing grade?" Lith approached the teacher's desk, while Zeneff and a few students clapped at his performance.

"No, but it's a great result. Do it again another nine times and you will pass the basic Necromancy course with flying colors."

Abandoning the corpse turned out to be easy. As soon Lith let his concentration slip, he found himself back in his own body. He waited for a few seconds before trying again, hoping to be finally free from Death Vision.

Yet when he saw some invisible beast bite Professor Zeneff's head off, Lith understood that things weren't so simple. He repeated the process ten times without a hitch, obtaining a round of applause from the whole class and thirty points from Professor Zeneff.

Lith spent the rest of the lesson helping the Professor in teaching to his classmates, giving them hints and tips. Soon everyone became able to possess the undead, but despite all the support provided to them, some weren't able to keep the creatures under control for more than a few seconds.

The shock from the past fight against the undead was still strong enough for their minds to reject the corpse as strongly as it rejected them. Yurial was among them and even by the end of the lesson he hadn't been able to achieve a single success.

Things went smoothly during the following dimensional magic lesson instead. Lith, Phloria, and Yurial were already capable of successfully perform Switch, however they would still fail from time to time.

Succeeding eight times out of ten was a great result, but if it happened during a real battle it could prove to be fatal, so they kept striving for perfection under Professor Rudd's strict supervision.

He seemed to have changed too, albeit not physically. He gave them actual pointers instead of sarcastic remarks or riddles. Rudd would also explain to them what their recurring mistakes were and how to fix them.

With his help, they estimated that in another couple of lessons they would completely master the Switch spell and obtain more free time along with Friya and Quylla.

After dinner, Lith made up an excuse and went straight to his room. Seeing Phloria so happy had made him change his mind.

'I'll tell her about Death Vision another time. She's finally getting along with her sisters. I don't want to spoil Phloria's happiness with my problems. Her smile means too much to me.'

Thanks to Invigoration, he quickly returned to his peak condition and then started to work on the boxes.

Now that he was finally aware that multiple pseudo cores could exist within the same magical item and knew how they would interact with magic crystals, Lith was certain he would succeed opening at least one.

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Back in his room, Lith used Invigoration on one of the few boxes he had left, carefully studying its pseudo cores, mana pathways, and the mana crystals that sealed it.

He had taken notes on everything he learned so far about them, and thanks to Soluspedia he could remember everything with but a thought.

He started simultaneously attacking the mana pathways and the mana crystals, letting the energy they contained leak at the same rate. While both were draining, Lith also had to prevent the three pseudo cores desynchronizing.

The last time he attempted opening the boxes, he failed because he had never wielded a crystal embedded item. Therefore he didn't know that the only way to prevent the prevent destructive desynchronization was to imitate the mana signature of the crystals and inject mana in the pseudo cores every time they would go out of phase.

The process was long and required surgical precision. Lith had already learned that if he damaged the mana pathways too much, making the energy leak happen too fast, the box would just explode.

He had to bide his time, slowly eroding the pathways and corrupting the crystal with darkness magic while using spirit magic to keep the pseudo cores stable.

'Damn, how can normal Forgemasters open these frigging things without Invigoration? I already consumed thrice my whole mana reserve and I have a lot of it.' Lith thought.

When the box was finally opened, Lith was drenched in sweat.

'Don't push yourself so hard! You have yet to recover completely. Remember there's only so much Invigoration can do until you are back to your peak condition.' Solus was still worried about him.

After the breakthrough, Lith's body had quickly returned to its old appearance, except for the grey streaks in his hair. She had no idea how having lost so much life force would affect him in the long term, but Solus was certain there would be a price to pay.

At the moment, Lith was around 80% of his full strength and was getting better by the day. Yet because of his injuries, using his full focus would make Lith tire faster than usual and Invigoration could only restore his mana up to his current limit.

Lith nodded. He couldn't wait to take a hot bath and relax. A long time had passed since he had a vision of the future, he had yet to understand if the boxes still held any significance.

He pressed the blue crystal in the center of the briefcase-looking box and watched it unfold. The box grew bigger and bigger until it became the size and shape of a huge wardrobe. When Lith opened it, he remained flabbergasted.

Inside there was the closest thing to an Earth portable chemical lab he had ever seen. To make things even weirder, it seemed to be completely automated. Mechanical hands opened and mixed the content of several glass containers.

There were even a few Bunsen burners that the hands would light with a flintstone and use them to briefly warm up some of the liquids. In a few minutes the process was complete and one of the hands placed a small flask containing a transparent liquid at the center of the cabinet.

Chemistry and Alchemy were too different for Lith to understand what he had just seen. Also, most of the ingredients were magical in nature and had no counterpart on Earth.

'Solus, you are the one following the Alchemy lessons. Any idea of what has just happened?' Lith asked.

'Beats me. I only have fourth year knowledge.' She mentally shrugged. 'I can prepare fire seeds, low tier potions, and some basic wands but that's all. This stuff is advanced Alchemy, to the point where I have seen this machine perform at least five reactions that Professor Ryner told us were impossible.

In theory, everything should have been blown up to pieces. Whoever did this is a true genius!'

Lith took the flask, examining it with Invigoration while it was still sealed with a stopper. Whatever it was, it didn't seem to be magical in nature. With no other option, Lith conjured a small but strong barrier around the flask, fearing it would explode.

Then, he opened it from a distance with spirit magic. Once again, nothing happened.

'Damn, I hate riddles. Couldn't they add a warning label or an instruction manual? There is only one way to understand what the heck this is.'

Lith removed the stopper, taking a single droplet of the silver liquid it contained with water magic and put it on his own tongue. It was tasteless and odorless too, making it impossible to understand its nature with an external examination.

Lith was forced to swallow it and keep an eye on it with Invigoration. Everything that followed didn't make sense to him.

The droplet didn't disperse nor did it mix with his saliva. It went straight for his stomach, remaining unaffected by the acids, then it entered the bloodstream via his intestine and then spread out evenly through all of his body.

Lith didn't feel any better or worse for it, but he wasn't willing to ingest another droplet blindly. He used Invigoration to cleanse it from his system, instantly recognizing the unpleasant feeling that followed.

The liquid was resisting his efforts, nullifying part of the mana he employed as soon as they made contact. Yet he had cleansed so much of that toxin that the procedure was second nature to him, easily purging it out of his body.

'F*ck me sideways! This is the anti magic parasite toxin! In an even more powerful and effective form at that. Why the heck did they send it to the White Griffon academy? Poisoning someone with this thing makes no sense.

'As soon as a mage loses their powers, the scheme would be revealed. Killing someone with this stuff takes weeks. Also, why send all this terrible contraption? Why didn't they just give their accomplices the flask?'

Lith received the answer to his question a few minutes later, while he was still remembering the details about his vision. Both the droplet he had extracted from his body and the liquid in the flask became cloudy before turning into a fine dust.

'That's some first rate paranoia!' Solus blurted out.Find authorized novels in ReadNovelFull，faster updates, better experience，Please click for visiting.

'That's why. Once the stopper is removed, the toxin must be used quickly or it self destructs, leaving no proof behind. Still, it doesn't make sense. You, Marth, Manohar, there are a lot of people in the White Griffon that would immediately recognize it.

What's the point of making the students or the Professor lose their powers?'

'Maybe they were planning to use the toxin to make them helpless during an assault?' Lith realized how idiotic the idea was as soon as he thought it out loud.

Even without their magic, the Professors could still rely on the arrays. Fueled by the power core, they were the academy's greatest weapon and defense at the same time. Also, even if completely powerless, Linjos could still use the communication amulet and the Warp Gate in his office to call for help.

Lith searched the rest of the cabinet for clues. Aside from the magical ingredients, all heavily protected by thick enchanted glass, there was just a single drawer. Inside, Lith found three envelopes.

Each one contained a different item and several pills of unknown purpose. The quality of the items varied greatly. One was a plain ring, identical to the magical ones students would exchange points for.

Another was a precious necklace with several diamonds embedded and the last one looked like a cheap bracelet, something that only someone of humble origins would wear. No matter if their design was elaborate or plain, they all had the same enchantment.

When he used Invigoration for the first time on one of them, he was amazed by the complexity of the forgemastered spell matrix. It held five pseudo cores that required so many mana pathways that there was not an inch of the item that wasn't filled with runes.

He also discovered several small magic crystals embedded in each one of them, crafted so masterfully to be almost invisible unless one knew where to look.

Lith had no idea what could require such a complex enchantment, so he imprinted the ring with his mana and then he wore it. After several attempts, Lith realized that, whatever was its purpose, it wasn't something as simple as point and shoot.

After taking the ring off, Lith opened two more boxes. Each one contained the portable lab and had its own drawer with a different set of accessories. No two were alike. Each magical item was accompanied by several pills. It was the only thing they had in common aside from the enchantment.

'All this time and effort and I've just moved from square one to square two. I need to understand the reason they smuggled the toxin inside the academy and what the heck these things are.

'I wish I could ask the Marchioness or Lady Ernas for help, but I have no way to explain to them why I have more boxes nor how I managed to open them. Damn, I could really use a vision right now.

Useless dryads and their half baked gifts.'

After a long hot bath, Lith went to sleep. He was exhausted, only rest could help him recover from the damage his body had sustained. It took him some time to fall asleep. It wasn't just that he couldn't stop thinking about the boxes, but he also really missed Phloria.

He had got so used to her presence that, ever since he left house Ernas, he had trouble sleeping. His rest would be disturbed by nightmares about Protector's death and by the recurring visions of his loved ones dying over and over again.

'From tomorrow onward, I'll train myself to stop Death Vision whenever my focus is not required for something important. I'm starting to get tired of this sh*t. I still have too many things to do before I can allow myself to waste time on self pity.

'No matter what the future holds. As long as my strength keeps increasing, the number of threats to whoever I hold dear will become less and less. We're in this together, right Solus?' Lith thought.

'Always.' She replied, giving him hope.

The next morning, the first lesson was the Magic Crystals class. However, the Professor that entered the room after the second gong wasn't Nalear. The students were curious and worried at the same time.

No one had seen Professor Nalear since the attack, so they were naturally concerned something may have happened to her. On the other hand, there was something majestic in the newcomer's appearance that piqued everyone's curiosity.

The new Professor was a woman, around thirty years old with chin length red hair. She was very tall, almost 1.8 meter (5'11") high with a muscular build that was more suited to a front line soldier than a Professor.

There was something noble about the grace of her movements. Each one of them seemed to be full of strength yet incredibly delicate. She exuded an aura of power that Lith had never experienced before, completely different from the killing intent he usually employed.

He felt like he was staring to a natural born leader, someone that people would gladly give their life for, even if they had only known her for a few hours. They were polar opposites, if she was the sun then he was the moon.

"Good morning, students. I'm Professor Amyla Farg. I will replace Professor Nalear until she makes a full recovery. During the three days of siege, she was tainted by a Valor's life force while attempting to protect you.

"She didn't receive proper care until the undead was disposed of, so she fell into a coma and has yet to recover." Many students became pale while remembering that night, Lith included.

"Don't worry, the worst is over. Her condition is stable and slowly improving. If she has managed to survive until now, I'm sure she will overcome the hurdle and awaken soon. Very few among those tainted managed to survive, she is one of the lucky ones."

She looked for a moment at Lith's group and many students did the same. Yurial's and Phloria's miraculous survival was a well known fact, so they couldn't help but wonder how they managed to come out unscathed.

Farg tried not to stare for too long at Lith. Professor Farg was actually a member of the Queen's Corpse, the secret unit of Awakened ones at the service of the Crown.

Tyris had sent her to keep an eye on the hybrid and make sure he wasn't a threat. Her orders were clear: "Observe him without interfering and kill him at the first sign of danger."

"Today's lesson is a little special. It's something that you were supposed to learn during your trip to the mines, but I doubt any of you want to go back to the mining town again. Hence, the Headmaster was kind enough to reinforce the protections of the classroom and transport high tier crystals here."

She clapped her hands, making a mana blade required for crystalsmithing and a deep blue crystal the size of a coconut appear on each student's desk.

"Before we start, I want to warn each one of you of the risks this exercise involves. The array surrounding the class will keep you perfectly safe, but the same cannot be said for your academic career."

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"Even if they are just deep blue crystals, they are still very expensive. If you fail the following procedure, the gemstone will be destroyed and you will receive another one. There are only three crystals for each one of you.

"Destroying them all will mark the end of the lesson, of the need of attend this subject as well as of any chance of becoming a Crystalsmith."

"Since you have come so far, you will still get a passing grade, but no Master Crystalsmith will take an apprentice incapable of handling a blue crystal after three months of practice." Professor Farg explained.

"What's required from you it's the same thing you have already done countless times, but with a major difference. When you'll use the Crystalsmith spell Scope on the gemstone, you'll notice there are no lines inside.

You will only see a dot moving at a speed that will change from time to time. That's because, unlike the mid tier crystals, high tier ones are able to replenish their mana quickly. This property gives them a unique mana flow that is called Mana Breath.

A true Crystalsmith must be able to perceive the Breath clearly enough to follow its movements and cut the gemstone accordingly. Remember, the density of the mana blade must be kept constant.

If you focus too much on the Breath, the blade will damage the crystal. If the crystal receives too much damage, it will explode. Like everything in life, the key is to find balance in what you do. Good luck to everyone."

The Magic Crystal course was the reason why Lith's mana sensibility had improved so much during the last months.

Scope was a spell that relied entirely on the caster's perception and he had always used it instead of Invigoration during the exercises. It was the first opportunity he had to train his mana sensibility without endangering anyone.

Unlike healing magic, there was no life on the line, wasting a crystal scrap meant nothing to him. Also, it was much simpler than dimensional magic, since he didn't have to feel and manipulate multiple flows at a time, but only a static one.

Lith cast Scope, becoming able to see the dot Farg talked about. It moved with an irregular pattern and speed. Lith studied it for a while before understanding that the Breath had no fixed route. He was forced to rotate the crystal from time to time to follow its movements.

'Let's see what Invigoration reveals.' He thought.

Lith discovered that even the size of the dot changed with time, but most importantly, he was now able to see the circulatory system of the breath. It was like a maze, the branches of which crossed over several times.

It was still a chaotic mess that allowed the Breath to change direction most of the time, but Invigoration would still give him a great edge compared to the Scope spell. With Invigoration, Lith would know when the Breath could change direction and when it would be forced to move in a straight line instead.

'My mana sensibility still needs some work. I'll use Scope on the first two crystals and save Invigoration for the last. I don't aim to become a Crystalsmith, so I better use this opportunity to practice at the academy's expense rather than mine.'

No matter how much pain or grief Lith was going through, he was still stingy beyond belief.

After conjuring Scope once again, Lith began cutting the crystal. The more progress he made, the more the gemstone shrunk, increasing in power and quality. The problem was that the smaller it became, the more sudden the turns the Breath would take.

It was like an Earth roguelike game. At each new level, the difficulty would go up and what he learned from the previous run was useless. It was all a matter of focus and precision, never letting the mana blade stray too much from the dot.

Lith almost managed to refine the first crystal, but one error too many made it crumble and he had to start over. At the second attempt, his efforts were rewarded with success. He took a short break to relax, discovering that even Quylla had failed once.

"I got too cocky and paid for it." She explained while shrugging. Lith used Scope on the third Crystal too. He had already passed the exercise, but he needed all the training he could get to sharpen his senses.

By the end of the lesson, Lith's group had successfully cut all of their crystals. Only Lith and Quylla had lost one.

The second lesson of the day was the Healer specialization. The group performed the house calls under Professor Ironhelm's escort. Professor Trasque was dead and Ironhelm had been assigned to replace him.

Lukart had long fled the Griffon Kingdom thanks to the traitor's help, so no one was making attempts on Yurial's life anymore. Their rounds were peaceful, traveling from town to town and seeing many different cities bustling with the daily activities helped them to relax.

It also gave Yurial an idea that he shared with the others during dinner back at the academy.

"Why don't you all come to my house after we graduate from the fourth year? In my Duchy, the weather is nice even during winter. We could travel together and I would show you the best places my lands have to offer.

"If I go back home alone, I'll be forced to spend all the winter break before the fifth year studying magic and so would you. I say we deserve a couple of weeks of vacation."

The girls unanimously agreed. When Orion was home with them, he was a great father, but also a strict teacher. He left them little time for slacking off. When he was away for work, Jirni would turn everything into a competition.

She wouldn't force them to do anything, but she always seemed to know which buttons to push to make them dance in her hands. Compared to her, the academy was a relaxing environment.

Lith was the only one still on the fence. Two weeks was a lot of time for him. He had yet to inform Selia of her loss and had no idea how to give her the bad news. In his experience, no matter what he said, it would break her heart.

With the baby coming, she would need all the help she could get. Even if Lith had never agreed with Protector's request, he was determined to fulfill his friend's last wish.

No matter what the others said to convince him, the best they could get was a hollow:

"I'll think about it."

Later, after much thinking, he went to Phloria's room.

When she opened the door, her hair was arranged in a strange updo, held in place by hairpins and curlers Lith had never seen before.

"Nice hair." He said, failing to suppress a chuckle. "What's that stuff?"

"Something you were never supposed to see. Having long hair is a hassle. Or did you think they are naturally that wavy?" She replied with an annoyed tone.

"I never saw you using them at the mining town or when I was a guest in your home."

"Well, duh! I had more important things to care about at the moment. In fact, I was always a mess."

"So you say, I never noticed any mess." His words turned Phloria's mood upside down, making her smile from ear to ear.

"Well, come in. Sorry for the mess, I have just finished bathing. Your visit caught me by surprise." She let him inside her room, but aside from a bathrobe on the bed and more curlers on the nightstand, there was nothing out of place.

"Yeah, sorry. We need to talk." Phloria froze in place. In her mind, those words still meant: "We have to break up."

"Please, it's better for you to sit down. Some of the things I have to say aren't exactly good news."

Phloria did as requested, followed by Lith that sat right next to her.

'This should be a good sign. If he was going to dump me, he would keep his distance. Or so my brother says at least.' She thought.

Lith took a deep breath to calm down and then told her about everything that was troubling him. He explained to her how Death Vision was torturing him, how nightmares still haunted him, and how his body was still recovering.

"I didn't tell you any of this before because I wanted to leave you some space. You deserved a break from the drama that is my life. If you want…"

Lith was going to say that he would understand if she wanted to take a break from their relationship or find someone less complicated when he realized that, after he had spoken of his nightmares, she had stopped listening to him.

She had stars in her eyes and a big smile on her face.

"Let me get this straight." She said once she noticed he wasn't talking anymore.

"Death Vision stops when you are with me, like right now?"

"Yes." Lith had noticed that if they were close enough, Death Vision's effects disappeared. That was the reason he sat close to her. He lacked the willpower to dump her and hold Death Vision back at the same time.

"Also, you have no bad dreams when I sleep beside you."

"Correct again." Phloria closed in, her face was now centimeters from his own.

"Doesn't that mean that I'm special to you? As in really special?"

"You are, but that's not the point. You…" He tried to make her listen to reason, but she put her index finger on his mouth, stopping him.

"Just answer one question. Do you like me? Even with this contraption on my head?"

"That's two questions, but yes to both."

"That's all that matters to me." She gave him a deep kiss, making all his fears and worries fade away like a dense fog in front of the rising sun. Her warmth and her gentle touch over his skin were all Lith could think about.

"One more thing." He said as soon as she gave him a second to breathe.

"I can't take you out on a date during the weekend. I plan to go back to the mining town and visit Protector's grave. I can't keep being chained to the failures of my past. I need to face them and have my closure. That's the only way I can move on."

"Great idea. When do we leave?" Lith's surprised expression made her giggle.

"Did you really think I would let you go there alone? Then you are crazier than you think." She kissed him again, this time just a peck, before accompanying him to the door.

"Sorry, but you can't stay. Let me know when you decide about the trip. We could ask the others to come with us. They need some closure too, especially Yurial."

After another goodnight kiss, Phloria closed the door behind her. Now that she was alone, she couldn't stop to giggling and smiling like a little girl.

'I still can't believe Lith told me I'm special to him, nor that I'm the only one that makes Death Vision stop.'

Lith returned to his room. When he opened the door, his mind was still arguing with his body about lost chances. He spent half the night using Accumulation, to further refine his mana core and improve his abilities.

The other half he slept to help his body recover. Even alone, he managed to sleep peacefully.

The rest of the week passed quickly. Aside from home calls during the morning, Lith only had the Magic Crystal and Forgemaster classes to attend.Find authorized novels in ReadNovelFull，faster updates, better experience，Please click for visiting.

He had already completed the Necromancy and Dimensional magic courses. It left him with a lot of free time that he used to practice Forgemastering under Wanemyre's supervision, rest, and use Accumulation.

He was now also able to keep Death Vision in check with minimum effort unless something unexpected broke his concentration. The only side effect was that he always had a serious expression on his face, since he couldn't allow himself to relax.

The others would mock him to no end for this, saying that he had his glare back. Lith was so annoyed by their childish behavior that he ended up explaining to them about Death Vision and his plans for the weekend.

Yurial followed his lead, sharing with the others his worries about the future and the relapse in his addiction, against which he was currently struggling. The mood in the room turned gloomy for the first time since they had returned to the academy, but Yurial and Lith both felt better for not having to hide their burden anymore.

"Mind if I join you? My fiancée is coming to my house for a visit and I have no desire to waste my time with her." Yurial kept playing with a tranquilizer vial, taking the stopper on and off, fighting the temptation of taking a sip.

"Helping a friend is a much better excuse than remaining at the academy to cram. Also, it may help me with my problems too. If I manage to beat Balkor's shadow out of my head, tolerating Libea will be child's play in comparison."

Lith had never meant for the trip to be romantic, but before answering he looked at Phloria. Albeit their relationship was mostly platonic, he couldn't ignore her feelings since they had planned the trip together.

"Sure, you can come with us." Phloria nodded. "I have prepared two dimensional tents anyway. You can share Lith's."

"Tents?" Lith furrowed his brown.

"What for? I'm not planning on spending the night there. It would be creepy and depressing."

'Yeah, especially now that you know you would have to spend it alone' Solus mocked him. She was happy seeing the old cranky Lith back in action.

"Me neither." Phloria shrugged. "The forest is a magical place though. With everything that has happened this year, we never managed to have the trip to the forest we had planned after the mock exam.

I thought we may as well spend the whole weekend there. At our level, magical beasts are not a threat."

"It sounds like a plan." Quylla nodded. "We all need some rest and relaxation."

"Yeah, it will also be the first time we are all together outside the academy without something or someone trying to kill us." Friya said.

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The clerk at the academy's entrance looked at Lith's group like they were a bunch of lunatics.

"Normally, a group of five would be perfect, but the academy advises against going into the forest. We lack staff, so in case anything happens rescue teams might come late, as in very late.

"Also, a lot of magical beasts have been hurt or died, so they may hold a grudge against humans. Are you sure you aren't willing to reconsider? Remember that you can't open Warp Steps in the academy's proximity without a special pass."

The group nodded in unison. Even if they couldn't get inside the academy, they could still escape from whatever danger they met. They paid the required merit points and left through the front gate.

"Do we walk or fly?" Lith asked. The trip was already different from what he had planned, so he had no haste.Find authorized novels in ReadNovelFull，faster updates, better experience，Please click for visiting.

"Walk. The mining town is only twenty kilometers from the academy." Phloria replied after checking on a map.

"It should take us only five or six hours to get there. We can use that time to enjoy the scenery while we search for magical plants or natural treasures. Nothing prevents us from flying in case we get tired of walking."

Phloria took the lead of the group and Lith asked her to teach him how to read a map. He was still a city man. He wasn't able to understand where he was without looking at the sun. Over the years, he had explored the Trawn woods until he knew it like the back of his hand.

The forest surrounding the academy had denser vegetation, making it hard to walk in a straight line. Having packed provisions from the canteen, they had no need to hunt, yet Lith would use Life Vision from time to time to check his surroundings.

The more they got deep in the forest, the more his hunter instinct told him there was something wrong. There was little wildlife around, too little considering that during the attack, Balkor's undead had no reason to bother normal animals.

Even if some of them had run away from their dens, after so much time they were supposed to have returned. Unless something had happened.

Despite Lith's group was very conscious of their surroundings, they didn't find any magical treasure during the first two hours. On the other hand, they would often get lost forcing someone to fly and take note of the respective positions of the sun and the academy.

Phloria knew how to read a map, at least in theory. It was her first time putting her knowledge to use, hence she was prone to mistakes.

"I still can't use dimensional magic." Lith informed the rest of the group after another failed attempt.

"You can." Quylla lectured him, taking something out of her dimensional amulet.

"It's just that the academy arrays prevent any kind of long range spell aside from the flying ones. We can still Blink or Switch, but any dimensional corridor that stretches for more than ten meters gets disrupted."

"How do you know so much about the academy?" Lith checked the books in Soluspedia and there was only vague information about the nature of the arrays. Also, unlike him, Quylla hadn't performed experiments along the way.

It was hard to miss someone chanting.

"I'd like to tell you that I discovered it while we were walking, but the truth is that after I completed dimensional magic and Necromancy both, I've got too much free time on my hands.

"So, when you guys have your specialization classes I spend a lot of time in the library. Professor Rudd is often there and he loves talking about dimensional magic. He taught me a lot during our conversations.

He isn't so bad once you know him better."

Lith nodded. He actually had his reservations about the Professor, but he didn't have the time or will to talk about him. His instincts kept telling him that something was wrong, but neither Life Vision nor mana sense perceived a threat.

Unbeknownst to the group, Professor Farg had been following them ever since they had left the academy. She kept her distance, using an artifact to not lose their traces.

'According to Lady Tyris, the target is an Awakened one. If I get too close, he'll spot me with Life Vision.' She thought.

'I don't know what their goal is, but their behavior is definitely suspicious. The group keeps moving erratically, if it wasn't for the artifact I would have lost them already. The girl leading them is a master of misdirection, worthy of her mother.'

"You have no idea where we are, am I right?" Friya asked.

"No, you are not." Phloria flew above the trees, returning a few seconds later.

"I'm getting the hang of this, don't worry."

"Stay on your toes, guys." Lith warned them, sniffing the air and recognizing a familiar smell.

"Clackers incoming." They were now close enough to allow him to distinguish their pseudo chirping from the real birds sounds.

Everyone readied their weapon, but no one was worried. They all had improved by leaps and bounds since the mock exam and Clackers were a threat only if they managed to catch their victim by surprise.

When the monsters swarmed them from all directions, including from above, they didn't fell so confident anymore. What made them worry wasn't their numbers, but their size.

Clackers were spider type magical beasts, they had black bodies covered in long bristles that served as sensory organs, with red dots all over. They were supposed to be as big as a Labrador tops, but the ones attacking them were the size of a human being.

Yurial would have liked to curse at their bad luck, but he was too busy casting a barrier to deflect the acidic spit he was sure their enemies would employ.

Yet instead of using their webs and long range attacks, the Clackers on the trees cut their threads, falling through the air barrier while even bigger specimens were charging head on.

Phloria and Friya had already activated Full Guard, a Mage Knight spell that gave them complete combat awareness of their surroundings in a radius of 1.5 metres (5 feet). Phloria quickly reached Yurial, while Friya did the same for Quylla.

The two quickly killed all the spiders that had landed close to their friends. Their swords could easily cut through the enemies, while their flaming shields conjured out of fire and earth would intercept the incoming attacks and inflict painful burns.

The role of a Mage Knight was to buy enough time for their allies to cast their spells.

Lith dodged a falling Clacker squashing its head with a single hand before it could even land. After facing a Valor, he could hardly consider those oversized arachnids a threat.

Lith took out from his pocket dimension the daggers he had enchanted during his Forgemaster classes.

It was a good occasion to put them to test, since their blades were short enough to perfectly integrate with his hand to hand techniques. Lith darted forward, intercepting the bigger ones that were charging at them.

He infused his body with both air and fire magic, boosting his strength and speed.

A single fist was enough to crush the head of a Clacker bold enough to try biting him. Being Lith alone against dozens, the spiders thought they would make short work of him, realizing their mistake only when it was too late.

Lith moved so fast that their sensory organs could barely determine his position. Whenever he approached an enemy, a gaping wound would appear. Between his talent in locating vital spots and his weapons, every one of his strikes was crippling if not lethal.

Despite the daggers' average quality, Lith's strength coupled with their enchantments was more than enough to pierce the monsters' exoskeleton and then open them up like they were made of paper.

The weapons he was wielding were one enchanted with air magic and the other with fire magic. The former was enveloped by air currents enhancing its edge to the point it could cut through stone.

The latter's blade was so hot that it would make its victims' blood and innards boil at every strike. Even if they managed to survive, the wounded Clackers were in so much pain they could only curl up on the ground writhing uncontrollably.

Lith had chosen those daggers because he wanted to see if evolved arachnids would feel fear for their lives or compassion for their kin. Judging from their reactions to their fallen brethren's screams of agony the answer was yes to both.

The Clackers in front of Lith stopped advancing, using the acid spit to keep him away from their wounded companions. Lith grinned, while with a twist of his fists he took control of the incoming attacks with water magic and sent them back to where they came from.

The spiders were caught by surprise. Most of them were still spitting while their bodies started to suffer from the effects of their own acid. Lith then stomped his left foot on the ground, transmitting his mana and will, making rock spears erupt from the ground that impaled his enemies.

All the Clackers around him were dead or agonizing, so he threw a glance over his shoulder to check the others.

Despite their best efforts, his four companions were already surrounded.

"Rings!" Yurial shouted, releasing the spells he had stored to repel the waves of Clackers without wasting time to chant. The girls followed his lead, using the barrage of spells to break free from the encirclement and turn their enemies into mincemeat.

Lith rushed back to help them, only to discover his teammates had the situation under control.

Quylla was using quick tier three spells to kill the Clackers above their heads while Yurial used a mix of first magic and tier one spells to block all kind of long ranged attacks directed against the four of them.

Each one of his spells was too weak to harm the enemies, but he could cast them fast enough to deflect the acidic spits and burn the webs the Clackers were throwing at them before they could do any damage.

Friya and Phloria were swinging their swords non stop, cutting apart those that came too close. Unlike Lith's daggers, their swords would penetrate deeply into the enemy and then release a dark magic pulse that made their organs collapse.

Mage Knights' specialty was the ability to summon an elemental tower shield that would float in the air according to their will, always leaving them a free hand to use potions or cast Mage Knight spells.

The one they were using at the moment was called Phantom Blade. Their weapons were engulfed in mystical energies that using their blades as a template, could temporarily extend them tripling their attack range.

Phantom Blades were made of light, hence they were weightless, giving the Mage Knight complete freedom of movement. The downside was that extending the blade would require focus and mana

They couldn't keep it always active, but only use it in short bursts whenever the situation allowed for it. Even if the spell's effects only lasted for the duration of a single slash, it was enough for them to mow down small groups of enemies at once, making their numerical advantage useless.

It was only a matter of time before all the Clackers were killed, yet they refused to retreat.

'It's amazing how much we have all progressed in these few months. During the mock exam, a much smaller group of Clackers almost wiped out my team. It was more balanced in term of talents, but there was no teamwork or coordination.

No matter how many spiders come at them, they will not break through. Time to finish this!' Lith thought.

He put the daggers away in the pocket dimension, to have his hands free to cast his strongest air spell. Ever since the last breakthrough, his attunement with the world energy had greatly increased, but some Clackers were still too close to his companions for comfort.

Manipulating a spell with his mind alone was too risky. Lith's hands glowed with a yellow energy, that he used to draw several circles that floated in the air while he was mouthing gibberish in case someone was watching him.

Then, he joined his palms before moving them toward the battlefield. From each circle erupted a bolt of lightning aimed at the nearest enemy. The spiders from the trees screeched to warn their companions on the ground about the impending danger.

The lightning bolts moved in a zig zag pattern, slower than normal ones, but they were still very fast. Most thunderbolts struck their target, leaving behind a pungent smell of ozone and burnt flesh.

Some Clackers managed to dodge them at the last second, yet the result remained the same. The thunderbolts simply chased after them, moving on the next target as soon as the first one was no more.

Farg and Lith's companions alike remained amazed noticing that each lightning resembled a snake in both motions and appearance. Lith had conjured ten of them, controlling one with each finger, as he had learned during the necromancy classes.

Be them undead or energy masses, they were all puppets dancing in his hand. He never stopped advancing during the assault, to have a better view of his allies and enemies alike.

His legs never left the ground, he simply slid one foot in front of the other, using his whole body to control the mana flow of the spell with surgical precision until only the five youths were left standing.

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From her vantage point above the trees, Professor Farg was burning with envy.

'How the heck can someone so young already be an Awakened one? I dedicated my whole life to the Crown before I was chosen to be turned into a member of the Corpse. Still, I don't understand why Lady Tyris is so worried about him.

He is just a stupid kid with more power than brain.'

Lith's companions didn't share her outlook. On the contrary, they were amazed.

"That was Chasing Lightning!" Yurial couldn't believe his own eyes.

"It's a War Mage spell! Where the heck did you learn it?"

"From the library." During the past months, Lith had studied many different spells from the various specializations, searching for those that were the easiest for him to imitate.

He didn't have the time to understand the fake magic principles underlying each magic class, so he had focused on the spells that had something in common with his personal ones.

Chasing Lighting was simply the tier four air magic version of his Checkmate Spears spell. The real War Mage's spell allowed one to mark their targets during the casting of the spell, something that Lith hadn't been able to do reproduce.

However, being a true mage and making use of his heightened reflexes, he was able to alter the course of each thunderbolt at will.

"Dude, how did you find the time to learn another specialization? Self taught at that? You are crushing my self esteem!" Yurial was only half joking.

Sometimes being so close to someone two years younger than him who was stronger, apparently more talented, and had a bottomless supply of suprises made him feel quite insecure.

"Less yapping and more spellcasting." Phloria scolded them both.

"You know the saying: 'where there is a Clacker, expect to find a hundred more.' We need to recharge our rings before they return."

Lith had not used any of his rings, so he just pretended to recharge them.

He used that time to think about the spiders' behavior.

"You are right. This doesn't make sense. While fighting against me, I noticed they were able to think for themselves. They should have understood their strategy was pointless. Unless they were just buying time!" Lith said.

"Damn me and this stupid walk!" Phloria cursed at their bad luck.

"Let's fly out of here." She had yet to finish talking when the ground below them turned into quicksand and tendrils made of earth wrapped around their limbs, pulling them into the ground.

The five reacted in unison, Blinking out of the quicksand. The tendrils were bisected as they passed through the remnants of the dimensional spells. The detached tendrils turned back into mud as the spell animating them failed.

"Keep your distance!" Phloria ordered.

"If we group up before finding the enemy position, we will only offer them an easier target. Get ready to Blink again."

Lith activated Life Vision, turning his head around, above, and below before finding their answer. While the group was fighting the wave of small Clackers, a few fully developed monsters the size of bulls had burrowed underground their feet and turned the clearing into a death trap.

The Hatchlings' strength lied only in numbers, but Soldier Clackers were fully developed magical beasts and could use water and earth magic. Not only were they physically much stronger than a Hatchling, but they were also smart enough to not underestimate such dangerous enemies.

They had forced their underlings to act as cannon fodder while they prepared the field to ensure their victory. Even if reluctant to throw away their lives, the Hatchlings had no choice but to obey.

The Soldiers had received their authority from the Brood Mother and she was an absolute being to them. Defying her will meant becoming their brethren's dinner along with the intrudersFind authorized novels in ReadNovelFull，faster updates, better experience，Please click for visiting.

"It's a trap!" Lith was unaware of the Soldiers' plan, but he could see them moving right below their feet.

"They are hiding underground. We need to get out of here!" Before Lith could finish warning his companions, new tendrils of earth erupted from the ground and seized him, Yurial, and Phloria. At the same time, Quylla and Friya fell into holes that opened up right below them.

Quylla screamed in surprise, but Friya had learned her lesson after the failed attempt on Yurial's life. She kept her cool, Blinking to Quylla's rescue and bringing her to safety on a nearby tree.

'There are four Clackers capable of using magic below the ground' Solus warned Lith that was still struggling to free his hands to Blink away.

'Their mana cores are only bright green, but their physical strength is on par with Protector when he was still a Ry. They only need one hit to kill a normal human.'

Lith nodded, using brute strength to break free from the constraints. He used water magic to freeze the tendrils restricting his companions. The spell wasn't powerful enough to completely block them, Lith couldn't risk freezing his allies to death in the process.

Yet he managed to slow the tendrils enough for Phloria to cut them down, freeing herself and Yurial, allowing them to Blink away. Lith followed their lead, but the trees they had taken cover on started to tilt.

Two Soldiers were uprooting them with earth magic, while the other two generated a hail of ice shards as thick and long as an arm to prevent their prey from running away.

The group Blinked again to safety, but their mana was about to run out. They had gone all out during the previous fight and Blink was a very mana expensive spell.

"Damn! If we try to fly away the shards will skewer us, but if we keep hiding behind the trees, they'll just uproot them again. How the heck can they see us from below the ground and how do you manage to do the same?"

Quylla was racking her brain to find a solution to their predicament, but there wasn't much they could do while the enemy remained hidden. She used an earth spell, opening a hole in the ground and partially revealing one of the Clackers.

"On my mark attack my position with everything you have." Lith yelled jumping down the tree, near the now visible Soldier. His companions immediately understood his intentions and would have liked to curse at his madness or at least try to stop him.

However, their situation was desperate enough to force them to save their breath for chanting their spells.

"Mark!" Lith used Switch as soon as he touched the ground and was replaced by a stupefied Clacker.

The Soldier was still trying to make heads or tails of its situation when two lightning bolts struck it. Thanks to his natural affinity with earth magic, the creature had instinctively protected itself by using fusion magic, so it wasn't fatally wounded.

Yet the shock had been strong enough to debilitate it, leaving the Soldier paralyzed. Phloria and Friya exploited the opening to jump on its back swords first, piercing the Clacker's head and body with their blades until the hilts bounced on its keratinous exoskeleton.

The Soldier fell on its side, its long legs scratched the air in agony until the creature stilled.

Meanwhile underground, Lith could see thee nearest Soldier's eyes glow in the dark, all eight of them.

'It's channeling earth magic, so it must have achieved some kind of Earth Vision. Maybe they can track their prey by following the vibrations produced when they move along the ground.' Solus pondered.

'I don't know and don't care!' Lith replied. He could finally go all out, making Solus turn into her glove form. Her stone claws boosted by fusion magic allowed him to easily pierce through the Soldiers' magically hardened bodies.

The Clacker barely had the time to notice its companion's disappearance when it spotted a small figure bolting at it in the darkness. His eyes were glowing with the yellow energy characteristic of air magic, all seven of them.

Lith's head had become a black slate with seven eyes burning with rage and mana. Two new pairs of eyes had appeared, one above and the other below were humans' eyes were supposed to be.

The seventh was a vertical slit opened in the middle of his forehead.

The Clacker was forced to change the target of its spell. It had been conjuring a stone pillar to uproot the tree its prey was hiding behind, but now he used it to try and stop its attacker. Lith sneered in the dark. He could see the spell's mana flow and only needed a side step to avoid it.

The stone pillar crashed into the ceiling of the cave, filling the air with dust.

The Clacker was shocked, but it kept the presence of mind to avoid casting another spell, Lith was already too close. It spat acid in front of itself instead. The enemy was too close to dodge it, so the Soldier charged forward infusing itself with earth magic to exploit the opening that was about to be created.

However, Lith had seen that trick countless times and was ready for it. He froze the acid while it was still in mid air, making it harmless before slapping it aside. Lith shoved his right hand into the Clacker's still opened maw, releasing a fireball.

The explosion emitted only a muffled sound. The Soldier's exoskeleton buffed by earth magic was strong enough to withstand the hit. Alas, its internal organs were not.

The creature collapsed without making a sound, leaving the last two Soldiers standing almost scared witless. One decided to run away to alert the rest of the Brood of the impending menace, while the other stood its ground, to buy as much time as it could against the incoming monstrosity.

It decided to make use of the confined space combined with its superior physical prowess to charge at the enemy with its own body hardened to the extreme, giving him no space to dodge.

Lith did the same, leaving spells aside and willing to test his body against a magical beast. The two clashed at full speed, Lith's arms against the Soldier's frontal legs. The spider was bigger and heavier, but Lith was empowered by more than one element.

The Clacker found itself sliding backward, using the remaining six legs to hold on the ground to avoid tumbling while the frontal ones cracked. Its exoskeleton shattered in multiple points.

Lith was forced to stop and his arms cracked too, but they started to heal the same moment they were damaged. He gritted his teeth and ignored the pain, charging again with renewed fury.

Lith grabbed the injured frontal legs, ripping them off and driving the creature insane with pain. Its head was now exposed, so the Clacker used earth magic to conjure tendrils of earth to protect itself.

Before they were fully formed, Lith had already grabbed the Soldier's head with both hands, flooding it with darkness magic that weakened it until it popped like a balloon. Lith threw the carcass aside, chasing after the last enemy.

Once outside, he saw that the Soldier hadn't gone far. Even if they were running of fumes, his companions knew that if the magical beast managed to escape it was likely to come back with reinforcements.

They had surrounded the Clacker and were slowly wearing it down with their teamwork. None of their attacks were strong enough to kill it, but they prevented it from escaping or focusing on a single target.

Whenever the Soldier attempted to attack, those at its back and sides would strike it with spells or swords, interrupting its spellcasting or making it stumble. The creature was already mad with fury. Its retreat was cut off and all of its attacks were mercilessly foiled one after the other.

When the Clacker perceived Lith closing in via Earth Vision, desperation forced its hand. The Soldier infused itself with earth magic to the brim and charged forward disregarding its safety.

Phloria chopped off one of its legs, Friya opened a gaping wound on its back, while Yurial released all the spells left in his rings blowing away two of its legs and making the Clacker lose momentum.

Only thanks to the combined assault did Quylla manage to avoid being pierced through her heart and instead took a front leg through her shoulder. The Clacker was mortally wounded, but it refused to surrender.

It threw away Quylla's body and tried to recover its balance to continue escaping. A bestial roar resounded, shaking the forest.

"Not another one!" Phloria cursed. "Is our bad luck never going to end?"

She turned towards the source of the sound, discovering that there was no new enemy incoming, only a blur that she managed to identify as Lith thanks to her training.

The sight of blood, seeing one of his companions apparently mortally injured had brought him back to the night Protector had died. The sun was still high, so the shadows surrounding his body were reduced to a thin fog.

Lith was surrounded by a red glow, like there was a fire inside him ready to set everything ablaze. Despite his killing intent wasn't aimed at his companions, it was strong enough to make them feel a cold shiver running down their spines.

Yurial and Friya ignored the feeling, rushing to Quylla's side. The former checked she wasn't poisoned while the latter treated the wound.

Phloria realized that despite having fought side by side several times, this was her first time witnessing a truly enraged Lith. During the second exam or the ambush, he had always remained calm and collected.

Between the fog, the red glow and his eyes brimming with unknown power, Lith looked scarier than anything she had ever fought.

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The Soldier could feel the shadow of death from the moment most of its body had been cut apart or blown away. When Lith reached its back, grabbing it by its legs, the last Clacker could only hope that its dying screech would manage to reach its brood.

Lith used the Float spell to make his enemy weightless before throwing it up in the air and immediately conjuring another spell. Away from its natural elements, water and earth, the Clacker was a sitting duck.

Six fireballs appeared at the same time around the Soldier, one above, one below and the others in a square shape. It was Lith's tier four personal spell, Burning Prison. The fireballs exploded simultaneously, each reinforcing the effect of the others

Their combined shockwaves ripped the Clacker to shreds while the extreme heat turned it into ashes.

After making sure there were no more threats lurking around them, Lith could allow himself to use Life Vision on Quylla. The wound was already closed. She was a bit pale because of exhaustion, but aside from that, she seemed fine.

Professor Farg had witnessed the whole fight. Thanks to the artifact Tyris had given to her, she had been able to follow the one that took place above and the one below at the same time.

'Now I understand why Lady Tyris sent me here. Whatever that thing is, it's no kid. I've seen my share of weird stuff, but nothing like that. His shapeshifting abilities make no sense. His strength didn't improve at all.' She thought.Find authorized novels in ReadNovelFull，faster updates, better experience，Please click for visiting.

'Damn! I can use Invigoration to restore myself, but if I do that, I could blow my cover. Yet if I don't and another enemy appears, I'm as good as dead. I'll choose the lesser evil.'

Lith was panting and wheezing like everyone else, but soon his breathing became steady. To avoid making things too weird, he recovered only about half his strength. Enough to defend in case something happened and at the same time leaving himself tired enough to not arouse too much suspicion.

Maybe.

Then, he checked Quylla's condition with Invigoration before doing the same with everyone else. Lith had seen enough poisons, toxins, and undead to last three lifetimes.

'Better safe than sorry.' He thought.

Aside from small injuries and fatigue, his companions were as healthy as horses.

"Okay, this road trip ends now." Lith said.

"Take Quylla and go back to the academy. I'll go on alone, it's much safer that way."

"Are you insane?" Phloria was still mulling over what she had just seen, refusing to believe her own eyes. Yet when she heard Lith's words all her worries disappeared, replaced by outrage.

"First of all, we are all exhausted. There are too many dangers lurking in this forest aside from those f*cking Clackers. If they attack us on our way back, we are basically a free meal."

"Use the academy's emergency button. They'll send someone here in a half an hour tops." Lith suggested.

"Second, and I speak for myself, I'm not letting you walk into this nightmare alone again!" She ignored his words, as she vented her frustration.

"Why are you acting like that? Have you already forgotten your father's words? You are no god! You could die out here." Lith's reckless indifference for his own life made Phloria seethe with anger, to the point she wanted to strangle him on the spot.

Therefore, she followed Raaz's lead and flicked her middle finger against his forehead.

"Consider yourself slapped, young man."

Lith didn't find it funny at all.

'I'm not a god indeed, but compared to you I might as well be. If only I could trust them enough to tell them the whole truth…' Lith gritted his teeth to hold his tongue.

'That's just mean!' Solus scolded him. 'Being weaker than you is not a sin. Phloria simply worries about you. Do you remember your big lesson? Do not ask others to do what you wouldn't ?'

"You don't understand, it's too dangerous!" Lith tried to make her listen to reason.

"That's my line, you idiot!"

"Oh, my. You humans sure are funny. Screaming like you are the only ones in the world."

The unknown voice made Phloria turn around in a split second, her estoc ready in her hand. Lith recognized the intruder and weaved a couple of spells, just to be safe. It was the dryad he had rescued from a Puppeteer Abomination months before, Lyta.

Yet he had no idea of what a Puppeteer was or how she was called.

"Yet I can understand why this ugly female is so worked up." She looked at Lith, licking her scarlet lips seductively.

"I usually don't like humans, especially after one really bad experience, but power is the most powerful aphrodisiac known to both women and dryads alike. Do you want to have some fun, handsome?"

Phloria hated the dryad for her cruel words and shameful act. Yet she had to admit she was the most gorgeous woman she had ever seen. Lyta had big red eyes that sparkled under the sunlight like rubies.

Her visage was simply stunning, from her delicate features to her full lips.

She had feet length red hair, the same color of maple leaves during autumn. Everything about her exuded a wild and unrestrained allure that made even Phloria ponder whether to kick her a*s or ask her out.

The dryad wore what on Earth would have been considered a skin tight cocktail dress made of vines and leaves. It exposed her shoulders, her arms, and her long legs up to the thigh.

The only thing that betrayed her non-human nature was the light green skin.

"You again?" Was Lith's only reply. After their last encounter, he had read all he could find about dryads. They were a shady bunch that sometimes would mate with humans simply to have some fun.

Most of the times they would just rob them blind. Dryads loved precious things, especially jewels.

"So she's the dryad you saved?" Much to everyone surprise, Yurial was looking at her with indifference. Yurial himself was amazed. It was the first time he managed to be aloof in front of such a beauty.

'Maybe it's because she is green, or maybe I'm finally starting to think with the right head.' He thought.

Lyta was deeply offended by their reaction. It was only the second time in her life that humans didn't throw themselves at her feet while swearing their eternal love for her. Suddenly, Yurial's word rung some bells.

"He saved me?" The dryad stopped looking at Lith's mana flow, focusing on his eyes and smell instead. Lith had grown more than five centimeters since their last encounter and his smell had changed after his breakthrough in Kalla's cave.

Yet Lyta couldn't forget that cold gaze devoid of mercy, nor the inhuman smell he exuded.

"You!" She suddenly lost all her self confidence. She ran back to the nearest tree, ready to flee in case something went wrong.

"Yeah, me. Since you have already bothered us, the least you could do is answer a few questions. Why are there Clackers here? This isn't their turf."

The dryad didn't like being ignored. An ugly short lived human being indifferent to her beauty was unacceptable. She would have never wasted her time if the two males were alone. They seemed to have a few loose screws. The reason why she chose to remain was that the females were just perfect.

They were staring at her with the perfect mix of envy, self pity, and desire that made Lyta feel alive.

"The Brood Mother's turf goes as far as she can get. She's exploiting the academy's and the forest's current weakened state to lay as many eggs as she can. Also, the Lord of the forest is absent for a while. It's the perfect opportunity for her."

She laid on a tree branch high enough to give her room for escape if the battle crazed maniac attempted something funny, but low enough to let the girls 'enjoy' her full figure. Lyta used a soft, languid tone like she was having pillow talk with her lover.

"We are going to the mining town. Is it safe there?" Lith had just noticed that Phloria was staring at them. She hated the dryad's guts for looking at him like a slab of meat, seductively playing with her dress and hair.

Yet the coldness in Lith's tone warmed her heart.

"Gods, no. It's full of corpses there, I wouldn't be surprised if she has turned it into her new nest. Even if I doubt it with all the protections and the alarms set in that place, I doubt it. Humans would run to protect their precious mine and slaughter her colony."

"What does she need the corpses for?" Lith was shocked by her words. He had an idea about what was happening, but he had to be sure.

"How do you think she managed to expand her territory so much? With all those corpses of powerful beasts and humans, the Brood Mother has greatly improved the quality of her underlings.

"That's the reason why they wanted to capture you five alive so badly. Each of you can become the breeding ground for a small legion of Soldiers. Corpses are second rate hosts, but they still provide a lot of nutrients. Especially those belonging to powerful beings like Kalla or M'Rook."

"When did Kalla die?" Lith had met her only twice, yet he cared for her. Not to mention he had to keep his promise to her too.

"A long time ago." Lyta laughed cruelly, losing most of her glamour.

"Kalla died the day she became a Wraith. Undead should stay away from the living."

"That's not what I meant! What happened to her? What about Protector's corpse?"

"Beats me." She shrugged, going higher on the tree, just to be safe.

"I've never been there and I don't plan to. I don't get involved in humans' squabbles. As long the Clackers stay out of my turf, it's none of my business. Thanks for getting rid of them for me. I'd say we are even now."

Lyta had enough of his rude behavior. She disappeared in the tree bark while Lith could only watch her dart away through the forest with Life Vision.

"Did you hear her? You guys have to go back." Lith now felt even more motivated to continue his mission. He had to find out what had happened to Kalla and prevent the Clackers from defiling Protector's corpse.

"We all have to go back! The Headmaster and the Professors can take care of the Clackers by themselves." Phloria said.

"She is right. This isn't a place for students anymore. We have to retreat to fight another day." Yurial patted his shoulder. He knew how deep the scar in Lith's heart was and how the decision he had to make would only worsen it.

"Heck, no!" Lith angrily pushed Yurial's hand away.

"I don't plan to fight, only to recover my friend's body. I can make it as long as I avoid direct confrontation. I don't have the luxury of time. It could already be too late. If you were Linjos, what priority would you give to retrieving a corpse?

Would you really risk the members of the staff you have left just to humor a grieving student?"

No one could deny those words. An awkward silence fell between them.

"Let's calm down and rest first." Yurial said.

"We can't remain here, it's not safe. There could be more Clackers around."

The group used darkness magic to destroy the corpses and erase all traces of their passage. They moved in a random direction, picking the first clearing they found to rest.

Yurial used what mana he had left to cast the best defensive arrays in his arsenal before entering the dimensional tent Phloria had arranged for them. On the outside, it closely resembled a pup tent.

On the inside, it looked like a three star hotel room. There was a fully furnished bedroom with three king sized beds, a liquor cabinet, and a single door leading to a bathroom.

It had no running water since any mage could easily conjure as much as they wanted, but there were a pot and a bathtub. Lith went straight for the liquor cabinet, removing stoppers until he found a familiar smell.

"Do you drink?" Yurial was surprised.

"Usually no." Lith poured himself a glass of something he hoped would taste like whiskey.

"Right now I really need one though. Do you want to join me?"

His father had never allowed him to drink alcohol. The ban had become especially severe ever since he had developed his nerve problems. So it was natural for Yurial to accept.

"Take small sips and watch out for the burn." Lith warned him after handing Yurial his glass. Back on Earth, Lith would have finished his drink in two gulps. Now, instead, he was forced to follow his own advice.

The taste was terrible but at least it was alcohol. Lith embraced the familiar warm sensation spreading from his stomach. It was only after the second glass that they talked.

"Are you sure you want to do it?" Yurial asked.

"I mean, risking your life for Protector's dead body is beyond stupid. No offense."

"None taken." Lith replied emptying his glass.

"He died to save us all, the only way we have to honor his sacrifice is to live our lives to the fullest, don't you think?" Yurial was surprised by Lith's meek attitude and by how at peace he was feeling after drinking the amber colored liquid.

"I agree with you. That's why I'm going to do it."

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Lith took the bottle away and locked the cabinet. He didn't want to risk for Yurial to go from one addiction to another.

"At this point, you should have realized the meaning of what I told you after the second exam. Life is like a crucible. It pushes us until we break apart and then it melts the pieces to forge something new.

"The mold is always the same, but the person that comes out it's not. Our beliefs and our convictions are put to the test every day. Some we keep, others we discard. When it happens, a part of us dies, never to return.

"You are not the same person you were when the academy started, just like you are not even the same person you were after passing the second exam. It's the same for everyone.

"My only choice is to embrace the change or keep mourning my past self as much as I mourn Protector. I need my closure. If I back away without even trying, I will regret it my whole life and sooner or later that weight is going to kill me."

"I understand." Yurial replied.

"I'm the same. I know that things can't go back to the way they were, but I can't accept my current situation either. Unlike you, I have yet to find an answer. I won't try to stop you anymore. Is there anything I can do to help you?"

"Actually, there are two things you can do. The first is to stay the heck away from the liquor cabinet, the second is to not tell the girls that I'm gone." Lith was back to his peak condition and had made up his mind.

'I can't risk their lives for something like this. I don't want to lose anyone else.' He thought.

Lith was about to leave when Yurial stopped him by standing in front of the door.

"I know that you could knock me down with a single punch, just like I know that you believe you are doing the right thing, but you are not. This isn't protecting us. This is casting us aside because you think of us as a weakness.

"I'm aware our friendship isn't that deep, we started talking for real only recently, but your relationship with Phloria should matter something to you. If you run away behind her back, you'll betray her trust. At least have the guts to tell her the truth."

Lith sighed, Yurial was right.

"Man, bad habits die hard. I was about to make the same mistake I always do. Treating people like they are too weak or stupid for their will to matter. Please, come with me outside. Otherwise Phloria will kill me."

Lith let Yurial out of the dimensional tent first. As he expected, Phloria was waiting for him outside. When she saw the door opening, she was about to give Lith a piece of her mind. Yet Yurial came out of it instead, leaving her surprised and relieved at the same time.

"You know me well, don't you?" Lith said.

"Let me guess. You were about to sneak out and leave us in the dark. Just like you did to your family for all those years." Phloria's calm didn't last long. Not when she saw the determined look on his face.

"Yes, I was. Yurial already talked me out of it. There is no need to scold me again."

"Are you saying you are going back to the academy with us?" Phloria couldn't believe her ears.

"No. I'm sending you guys back, but only after explaining the situation to you. Please, come inside. Yurial, please, leave us alone."

Back into the boys' tent, Lith cast the Hush spell. He had no idea how the magic distorting the tent's space worked. Lith wanted to be sure what he was about to say would remain between the two of them.

"Spit it out, let me hear your excuse." Phloria refused to sit, leaning against the wall with her arms folded.

Lith saw her die many times in a short period of time. Her face melted after being splashed by Clacker's poison, her head was bitten off by something, and lastly, her chest was pierced in multiple points while blood drenched her clothes.

All those visions didn't make him waver, they only strengthened his conviction.

"No excuses, only the truth. You have heard the dryad. The mining town has probably been taken over by the Clackers. Even remaining here it's too dangerous for you guys. Use the emergency device and go back to the academy. You'll be safe there."

"Why should it be any different for you? Why don't you come back with us? There's no reason to risk your life for a corpse. If the dryad is right, the Clackers have probably feasted on it already."

Lith felt his rage seethe at the thought, but he managed to suppress it.

"It's different because I am different from you guys. You have seen me in action. I am faster and stronger than any of you. While I was underground, I killed two of those giant Clackers, while you only took care of the one I served you on a silver platter."

"Since when is this a contest?" Phloria retorted. She was determined to not back down.

"It's not. I'm only saying that it's much easier for me to go in and out of the mining town alone. I promise you I'm not going to risk my life meaninglessly. If the place is infested with Clackers and the situation turns out to be too dangerous, I'll run away.

"I have to at least try. I need to see Protector one last time, even if it's just an empty grave or an egg infested corpse. He is… was my best friend, my mentor, my partner. When he died, I was so conceited and self absorbed I never got to tell him goodbye. I owe him that much."

Phloria saw Lith blink too often for it to be normal. She knew he had still a hard time fighting off Death Vision and how painful it was for him seeing his loved ones dying again and again.

'I don't want him to go, I want him to be safe. Yet maybe going there can help Lith overcoming his trauma. I can't live with the thought of being even partially responsible for his continuous suffering. I hope that Raaz is right and letting him go is the right thing to do.'

"Fine, but I can't let you leave just like this." She took out a bastard sword from her dimensional amulet.

It resembled a longsword with a blade 110 centimeters (3,6 feet) long, but the hilt was longer, allowing the wielder to use it with one hand or both according to the circumstances.

It had four blue magical crystals embedded, one on each side of the blade and the other two on each side of the hilt.

"This was supposed to be your birthday present. I asked my father to forge something for you as a thank you gift for saving my life time and time again. You should have seen his face back then." She chuckled.

"He reacted like I was asking him to cut his own right hand. After I told him all that happened during Balkor's attack and when my mom and sisters backed me, he gave in.

"I explained to him that you are not very skilled yet incredibly strong, so he made this sword. It's the first and for now the only piece of his Gatekeeper series of blades.

"Not only it can shrink, just like mine, allowing the wielder to fight in enclosed spaces, but it also can enhance the strength of all elements channeled into the sword. Each element produces a different effect." She handed it to Lith, who immediately imprinted it with his mana while performing a few practice swings.

'Does it mean this weapon has fusion magic too?' Lith was amazed by how light the sword was. It was the first time for him to see a weapon made by Orion with a double edge instead of a single one.

"Since you refuse to listen to reason, I'll borrow it to you. You have to give it back, though. It's not yours until your thirteenth birthday, am I clear?"

Lith nodded, putting the sword away.

"Look at the bright side." He smiled softly, caressing her cheek.

"I'll return to the academy in less than an hour. After that, since we are not going to stay in this stinking forest one minute longer, I can take you out to a proper date."

Lith flew out of the door and into the sky, without waiting for her reply. Once he was high enough, he didn't need the map to find the way. Yet he didn't rush forward. He took his time to conjure and manipulate a low altitude cloud to hide his approach.

'This Brood Mother is likely to be an Awakened one. Otherwise it shouldn't be able to order around Clackers capable of using magic. If she keeps an eye at the sky with Life Vision or something similar, my disguise is useless. Luckily, there's more than one way to kill a spider.' Lith thought.

He hoped that no Clacker would mind a small cloud two kilometers high in the sky that moved along the wind.

When he was right above the mining town, he looked below with Life Vision. Lith discovered that all the houses had lost their enchantments, whatever the Headmaster had done to them, was only temporary.

There were multiple life forms, but judging from their numbers and strength there was nothing that could worry him much. He kept moving the cloud until he arrived at a point where, if he moved fast enough, he could descend to the ground without being noticed.

Lith plunged down like a meteor, using the slipstream effect to accelerate his movements and a thin layer of darkness magic to hide his presence. Before leaving the academy, he had asked to Linjos what had happened to the corpses of the fallen beasts.

Contrary to his expectations, instead of punishing or reprimanding him for his behavior while they were at Protector's deathbed, the Headmaster simply informed him that Scarlett had buried them in a mass grave near the forest.

Linjos never intended to punish Lith for his words. He too had lost many friends that day, so he could understand Lith's feelings. Also, when Linjos saw his condition after the failed attempt to save Protector's life, he considered the case closed.

In Linjos's eyes, losing a dear friend and almost his own life on the same day was the worse punishment someone could ever deserve.

Lith stopped his fall just a few meters from the ground. Then, he moved while floating mid air, to not make any noise. Thanks to air and darkness magic, he was like a ghost, moving unnoticed behind the enemy lines.

He also made sure to always keep a house between himself and the nearest Clacker.

'After the last time, I learned my lesson. These creatures do not rely much on their eyes as much as on their bristles. Air magic cannot hide my movements. I can only stay as far as possible from them and hope it's enough.'Find authorized novels in ReadNovelFull，faster updates, better experience，Please click for visiting.

Thanks to Life Vision, he could soon make sure that only Hatchling Clackers were inside the mining town. He found no sign of the presence of Soldiers or of the Brood Mother.

The closer he got to the mass grave, the greater the number of Clackers he met, until he reached a point where moving forward while remaining undetected became impossible.

Lith took out the bastard sword, infusing it with darkness magic. Instead of butchering his way to the grave, he proceeded slowly, ambushing the nearest Clacker and hiding its corpse in the pocket dimension to not leave traces behind.

Lith repeated the process until he had a clear path ahead. Before moving forward, he weaved several spells, preparing for the worse. Soon he was close enough to notice that the mass grave had been unearthed and enlarged.

While looking at it with Life Vision, it appeared like a huge pool of life forces, too close and numerous to distinguish one from the other.

'If the dryad is right and the Brood Mother turned the corpses into incubators, it's unlikely she has left such a precious asset unprotected.' Lith sprinted the last hundred meters, flying to the destination.

He had no idea how sensitive Clackers' perception was, but he was pretty sure they would notice him as soon as he got too close. He was right.

Lith was nearing the edge of the grave when he saw the front legs of two Soldier Clackers climbing out of the pit to check on the approaching anomaly they perceived.

Lith was too fast for them. He managed to close in before their heads emerged completely and attacked them while they were still defenseless. Lith cut them down with a single slash each, jumping over the edge and taking by surprise the two remaining Soldiers.

The first one died before realizing what had happened. Lith cleaved its head while unleashing several ice spears against the last enemy. Despite the shock, the Soldier managed to deflect most of the spears with true magic.

The Clacker was pierced multiple times, losing half of its legs in the process, but before the intruder could strike him down, it managed to sound the alarm.

By disregarding its own safety, the creature used the last strand of mana it had to strike the ground in a precise sequence, to alert his goddess of the impending threat to the colony.

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Lith was no Clacker, but his mana perception was high enough to allow him to perceive the earth magic traveling under his feet.

'Damn, I'd better be quick. I am sure that Clacker didn't waste its last moments of life to improvise dance moves. It has called for reinforcements.' Lith thought.

The mass grave had been enlarged so that the various carcasses could be separated based on their quality. In the leftmost corner of the pit, there was a giant cocoon made out of webs and covered in eggs.

Solus's mana sense could see that the eggs yielded an orange core, while the hatchlings that were taking cover inside the cocoon had already reached a yellow core. Tufts of flaming red hair were scattered around the floor.

Lith gritted his teeth, realizing that his worst fears had come true. Protector's body was lost.

'Damn Clackers! I can't resurrect the dead, but that doesn't mean I'm willing to let them go away with it.' Lith jumped out of the pit, releasing a stream of fire on the cocoons until the incubator was turned into a funeral pyre.

The dying screeches of the hatchlings filled him with joy, so he kept pouring fire while watching the eggs boil from within until the pressure made them burst. Hatchling Clackers tried to stop him. Now that he was alone, Lith only needed a glance to unleash several wind blades and turn them into mincemeat.

The Hatchlings were all the size of a basketball, like those he had faced during the mock exam. They were too small and afraid of the fire to be a threat. The only reason why they were attacking him was that they didn't dare to disobey the Brood Mother.

'Lith, on your right!' Solus warned him. Lith turned just in time to see a huge stone disc crash land right beside the pit, from which descended a human like female figure with razor sharp claws aiming for his head.

The creature was incredibly fast since it could exploit the Clackers' natural speed and boost it with air fusion magic.

"How dare you harm my babies?" She hissed with a voice full of hatred.

The Brood Mother current form resembled a woman of breath-taking beauty with long black hair that reached the ground. She wore a black evening dress similar to those Lith had seen the noble dames wear during social events.

Aside from the claws, many things revealed her inhuman nature. Four spider legs came out of her back and she had eight eyes instead of two. Two on the forehead, two on her cheeks and the last two beside her chin.

Thanks to Solus's warning, Lith managed to dodge just in the nick of time. He had been checking the surroundings with Life Vision, but the rocket like disc had been an unpleasant surprise.

"My army!" She cried in outrage, watching all her careful plans to take over the forest turn into ashes.

Lith took a few steps back, watching four gargantuan Clackers approach from the site of the crash. Each one of them was three meters (9'10") tall, with legs as thick as young trees.

'Beware, those four all have a deep cyan core.' Solus warned him.

'It seems this Brood Mother has really found a way to use corpses and living prey to hasten her offspring growth. If it keeps like this, all the members of her personal guard could evolve within a few months!'

Lith didn't care much about the future, he was concerned enough about the present.

He had never expected to face an evolved monster capable of using all elements, let alone that it would have so many powerful bodyguards.

According to the dryad's words, the Brood Mother was supposed to have only recently evolved. He had assumed she would have at her disposal a very limited amount of skills.

Otherwise, Lith would have never wasted so much time burning the eggs. Yet she was already able to shapeshift and nurture very powerful warriors.

It was a fight where he had nothing to gain and very much to lose.

'How strong is she, Solus?'

'More than you. Her core is light cyan and very close to become deep blue. There is a piece of good news, though. Now that I look better at them, despite their cores being already this powerful, they have only a limited amount of mana.

'I think their evolution was too fast, their bodies have yet to develop enough to employ so much power. They will probably break if you push them strong enough.'

The Brood Mother's body shapeshifted. The dress disappeared under her skin. Her lower body turned into the abdomen of a giant spider with eight long longs. The front legs were different from the others, shining under the sunlight like they were made out of obsidian.

It was like someone had attached a human to the spider body, starting from the thighs. Her upper body still looked the same, but her skin had turned from pink to a chitinous grey and her hands had unnaturally long fingers ending in razor-sharp claws.

"You owe me, human!" Her rage subsided when she looked at Lith with Life Vision.

"Your body will do just fine! A living host is much better than maggots infested corpses. Surrender and I promise you won't suffer. Much."

Despite her threats, the Brood Mother was reluctant to attack first. She could tell that the intruder was quite strong and she needed him alive to recover from the massive loss of the incubator chamber.

She had two of her Praetorians position behind her back and the other two on her sides.

"I'm sorry, but I already have a girlfriend." Lith sneered.

"You defiled my friend's body and dare to ask for compensation? Here is my offer. Let me go and I will not kill you." His tone was stone cold. He wanted nothing more than kill her in the slowest, more gruesome way possible, but he was outnumbered and outmatched.

Also, charging blindy was something the old Lith would have done, taking unnecessary risks just to quench his rage.

'Wrath without a purpose is just acting without thinking of the consequences. I can leave the Scorpicore to deal with these vermin, there's no need to dirty my hands.' He tried to convince himself.

The Brood Mother reacted by spreading her fingers and releasing a stream of lightning toward Lith, who Blinked out of the harm's way opening the exit point on her right side. Yet the Brood Mother was well aware of that.Find authorized novels in ReadNovelFull，faster updates, better experience，Please click for visiting.

She had never stopped using Life Vision, even though it consumed a lot of mana. She knew that if her opponent was capable of using dimensional magic, he could have appeared behind her back and kill her in one fell swoop.

That was the reason why she had made her Praetorians remain close to her, to block his line of sight. Her front legs not only were harder than steel, but they were also razor sharp, capable to pierce through stone.

She lunged them towards the Blink exit she had saw appearing only to have them hit thin air. Lith had yet to learn true dimensional magic, but he had taken to heart Kalla's words. He knew how dangerous it was to Blink in front of someone capable of using Life Vision.

When the Talons had ambushed him on his way to Kandria, he had managed to beat them because they were too reliant on the spell. Lith had learned from their mistake, so he had used Switch alongside Blink.

The gate on her right was just a really mana expensive feint. His real target was one of the Praetorians on her back. With their position swapped Lith now had almost a clear strike.

Almost.

The Praetorian beside him moved as fast as it could to intercept the enemy lunge aimed at its goddess' heart. Lith was holding the sword with both hands, channelling fire magic through the hilt.

The enchantment Orion had infused the sword with amplified the strength of the spell, turning the yellow flames into an emerald storm that engulfed Lith's whole body, turning him into a human comet.

Praetorians were bigger and stronger than Soldier Clackers, but their magic abilities were still limited to the water and earth elements. It unleashed the defensive spells it had prepared, raising a wall of frozen stone in front of Lith to block his charge.

Lith realized that his original plan had been foiled. Crashing head on might allow him to destroy the makeshift barrier, but he would be blind against what was waiting for him behind it. So he changed his target.

Lith ran horizontally along the wall at high speed, his sword aimed at the defenceless Praetorian. The creature raised its front leg like a shield, trying to infuse itself with earth magic. Lith was too close and too fast, when the first strands of magic started to harden the exoskeleton, it was already dead.

The Praetorian was cleaved in half, both parts of its body were being devoured by emerald flames scorching the earth below.

"No!" The Brood Mother screeched. Not only was the human stronger than she had predicted, but also losing a Praetorian was a huge blow to her army, second only to losing the incubator.

Even using the corpses of powerful beasts or magicians, there was only a small chance for a Praetorian to be born instead of a simple Soldier. She emitted a gargling sound, calling all her minions to help in battle.

Lith was amazed by how even a sword Forgemasterd with fake magic could be so powerful, yet he had no time to waste. He was still one against three and according to Solus, Hatchling Clackers were incoming from all directions.

'Thanks to Invigoration I was back at my peak condition when the fight started and aside from Switch I have yet to use a strong spell. If I let them combine their attacks, I'm done for.' Lith thought.

The Mother and here Praetorians stepped back to safety. Once the caster died, the frozen wall crumbled leaving a hole in their formation.

"Curse you, human! I don't care anymore of taking you alive. I'll make sure you suffer like the inferior being you are!"

If it wasn't for Lith's "No speeches while fighting" policy, he would have liked to tell her that she had just taken the words out of his mouth. Lith Blinked again instead of bantering, sending the Brood Mother into a panic.

"He's behind us!" She yelled noticing no exit point had opened in front or above them. The four turned around at unison, unleashing several spells that turned the ground in front of them into what looked like an earthquake aftermath.

Yet aside from some Hatchlings that had managed to arrive faster than his brethren, the natural forces they unleashed only hit the air. Lith had actually Blinked into the pit. The exit point had escaped her detection thanks to the magical flames that were still burning the cocoons with enough strength to overwhelm the dimensional magic signature.

Being generated from Lith' own mana, those flames were harmless to him.

'She must be scared witless to keep using Life Vision like that.' Solus pointed out.

'If you manage to keep her on her toes and prevent her from using Invigoration, she won't last long.'

'Yeah, the problem is that the same goes for me. I can't Blink around too much without using Invigoration. Time to use my ace in the hole.' Lith thought. He hadn't created the small cloud just to use it as a cover.

It was also his contingency plan in case something went horribly wrong.

Before descending to the ground, he had separated with air magic the positive and the negative charges, turning it into a thundercloud. While his enemies were still attacking the ground, he used air magic on them.

He charged them positively and turned them into living lightning rods.

Real thunderbolts were much stronger than their magical counterparts, but it also made them much more dangerous. Lith wasn't immune to their fury, so he kept channelling his spell from his hiding spot.

Suddenly, the Brood Mother noticed that her and her Praetorians were glowing like a Christmas tree, yet she couldn't feel any negative effect.

"What treachery is this?" She said looking at her palms trying to understand what was happening. The answer came in the form of a rumbling sound from above.

The evolved Clackers looked up in the sky with a confused look, while their Queen went into a panic again.

"No, no, no!" She screamed trying to think of a solution.

"Infuse yourselves with earth magic and shield us with rocks! Quick, or we are all dead."

Lith inwardly cursed at his bad luck. It was the first time he had attempted that trick, so he had no idea it would be that slow. He started weaving several earth spells, while helplessly watching his enemies build a makeshift fortress.

When the first lightning bolt came down, the Clackers' protection held it at bay. The rock barrier had taken the brunt of the attack and most of the electricity that managed to reach them had been nullified by their earth fusion.

The flash had blinded them, the thunder almost deafened them and the resulting shockwave had killed many Hatchlings that were still trying to reach their queen to protect her. Yet the Brood Mother rejoiced.

"Yes! We will survive. Not even lightning can beat our combined spells!"

'What do you think I was waiting for?' Lith inwardly replied.

When the following thunderbolts came, he unleashed all of his spells at once, turning the fortress they had spent so much mana to build in a pile of dust.

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While Thunderbolts quickly rained down from the sky one after the other, a spellcasting speed race for survival was taking place on the ground. The evolved Clackers were trying to keep their defenses in place, while Lith was putting just as much effort to make them crumble.

Despite Lith being alone, the fight was on equal footing. Lightning wasn't the only threat, there was also the shockwaves it produced. The Praetorians were now blind, deaf, and badly injured.

Unlike their queen, they were unable to use light magic to heal themselves. Also, by following their instinct, they shielded her to the best of their abilities. Lith exploited the situation, focusing on one of them at the time, leaving a different enemy unprotected each time a bolt of lightning struck.

The cloud Lith had conjured was small, it managed to produce only a dozen lightning bolts before returning to normal. Yet its effects were devastating. One of the Praetorians was dead, another was in agony, and the last one was severely injured.

Exploiting their blind loyalty, Lith had also exterminated the Hatchling Clackers that answered their queen's call by throwing them in the eye of the storm. Once the lightning bolts stopped, Lith jumped out of the pit, rushing at full speed toward his enemies.

His body was infused with air magic, making him appear like a blur. The magic crystals embedded into the bastard sword harnessed part of the spell, making a small vortex cracking with lightning envelope the blade.

The Brood Mother was triggered by the noise, summoning an earth shield all around her. The Clackers' sensory organs were still muddled by the thunderstorm, their reaction was disorganized.

When the last Praetorian still standing understood what was happening, Lith had already chopped off the head of his agonizing teammate, to prevent the Brood Mother from rejuvenating it.

The Praetorian screeched for help, fighting with all the strength it could muster. All the rocks and debris that had been created by keeping the thunderstorm at bay, flew against Lith following his every movement.

Lith was starting to run out of steam. His muscles were sore from the continuous bursts and his mind was losing focus. Using so many high level spells at the same time had taken quite a toll on him.

To make things worse, the closer he got to the Praetorian, the more accurate its control over the debris became, making it impossible for Lith to dodge all the incoming attacks. He could only deflect those aimed at his vitals and tank the others.

He used earth fusion to limit the injuries and light fusion to start regenerating them as soon as they opened.

When Lith was close enough, the Clacker interrupted the spell releasing a second one. Eight giant spider legs made of rock erupted from the ground, attacked him from all directions. Each one ended with a spike and was aimed at his heart to impale him.

'Damn my stupidity! I should have known the previous spell was just a diversion. I've no time to Blink.' Lith infused himself and the sword with air magic, charging against the incoming spike in front of him.

He slashed horizontally, aiming to use the force of the impact to alter his course at the last second and avoid being turned into a shish kebab.

Much to his surprise, the sword didn't bounce off the spike, it cut through the stone like it was paper instead. The Praetorian was suddenly as scared as Lith was jubilant.

'This isn't a sword. This is a masterpiece!' Lith rejoiced from the sudden turn of the events. The Clacker was defenseless. Weaving and controlling his spell with such precision had required all of its focus, leaving it no time for a contingency plan.

With one last burst of speed, Lith arrived in front of the Praetorian, performing a series of quick slashes. The first cut off the front legs that were trying to protect the Praetorian's head. The second and the third split the head in two and removed it from the body respectively.

Lith kept dashing forward, putting some distance between him and the Brood Mother, activating Invigoration as soon as he stopped. It took only a couple of seconds for the Brood Mother to realize there were no more lightning bolts incoming, but when she lowered her barrier everything was already over.

She used Invigoration to heal her many wounds and replenish her mana. Once she spotted him, the Brood Mother was ready to counter any attack the human could be plotting. Yet Lith remained still, his grin grew wider by the second.

"You really are dumb." He laughed at her with a cruel voice.

"Absorbing the world energy is a great idea. Too bad it's a game that two can play and I started before you."

The Brood Mother cursed at her own stupidity, it was her first time facing an Awakened one. Through Life Vision, she checked that Lith had told the truth. He was recovering faster than she was capable of.

The head start he got would allow Lith to attack before she was back at her peak condition.

"Great idea!" He kept mocking her after noticing her glowing eyes. Words didn't waste mana, so they were the only attack he could perform without hindering his recovery.

"I'm sure that wasting mana non stop will not slow you down even more."

The Brood Mother was outraged by Lith's defiant attitude, but she was even more scared of what could happen if she stopped watching his every movement.

Unlike him, she wasn't able to Blink. She also had noticed how the piece of metal in his hands could easily cut apart even her strongest minion. She only needed one strike to cut him down, but Lith was capable of doing the same.

The Brood Mother rushed forward, forcing him to stop using Invigoration too and playing straight into his hand. Life Vision gave her only a vague idea of Lith's core power. After all, he had almost killed her multiple times. The Brood Mother was certain that he had to be at least as strong as her.

Thanks to Solus's mana sense, Lith knew that she was stronger than him even at his peak condition, something that was still lost to him. His body had yet to recover from the attempt to save Protector's life.

Lith had manipulated her fears so that she would start recovering later than him and stop before him, forcing her to fight on equal footing. The Brood Mother was physically superior, but Lith was much more experienced in using all the elements.

Her front legs clashed many times with his sword, keeping it at bay. Their strength, speed, and stamina were on the same level since the Brood Mother was too scared to stop using Life Vision.

Yet Lith was forced to play on the defensive. While his opponent could block with the front legs and attack with her claws, he had only one sword. His daggers had a smaller range than her fingers. Also, he needed both hands to stop her heavy blows.

They were too close to use spells. If one of them stopped even for a second, the other would have the time to strike at least three times. Soon Lith was covered by shallow wounds on the head, shoulders, and arms.

The Brood Mother was starting to get used to his poor swordsmanship, attacking with her claws every time her front legs clashed with the sword. The impact would stun him just for a split second, but it was enough for her.

Lith changed his strategy, infusing the bastard sword with darkness magic instead of air.

The blade turned pitch black and small vortexes appeared on its surface. Lith didn't need to use Life Vision to know that Orion's masterpiece was sapping his enemy's strength by the second.

He only needed to watch at her terrified expression. Every time the dark blade clashed with the Brood Mother's stone like legs, they would crack and a bit of her life force would be transferred to Lith.

The tables were now slowly getting turned. She knew that the longer it lasted, the weaker she would get. She went into a frenzy, attacking faster and faster, hoping he would make a mistake not being able to keep up the pace with her many limbs.

Lith was soon forced to focus only on the defense again, the Brood Mother's attacks were too fast and well coordinated for his skill level. New and deeper cuts appeared on his flesh, but he couldn't stop grinning.

"Not even a monstrosity like you could laugh at his own death!" During the fight, the queen of the Clackers had noticed Lith's unusual smell. It was part human, part beast, part Abomination and completely unnatural.

'I'm laughing at yours!' He inwardly replied before releasing all the nine spells stored inside his rings. Fireballs, lightning bolts, Plague Arrows, and a fully charged Checkmate Spears were fired against her at point blank range while she was lunging her left arm toward Lith's right one.

The thunderbolts stunned her while the darkness missiles drained her lifeforce and the icicles ravaged her body. The explosions from the fireballs pushed her away, but not before her claws severed Lith's dominant arm at the shoulder.

The Brood Mother was severely injured but not dead. Now that Lith had lost the sword she was certain she would get the upper hand as soon as her body started to move again.

Then she saw it. Together with spurts of red blood, black tendrils came out of Lith's severed arm and from his shoulder, pulling it back into place. The flesh merged like the wound had never existed.

Lith was shocked as much as the Brood Mother. He had already seen Balkor's Valors reattach their limbs in a very similar manner. Unlike them, he needed light fusion to close the wound and stop the bleeding.

The arm was in place, but it was useless. The bones, nerves, and blood vessels were still repairing themselves. Lith had no sensibility whatsoever, his arm was no more than dead weight. The Brood Mother didn't know it and hope abandoned her.

It was only then that she realized that her body was already beyond saving. The electricity from the lightning bolts ha temporarily stunned her, but not prevented her from moving. Otherwise the previous thunderstorm would have managed to kill her.

The numbing effect had simply prevented her from noticing that several spears of ice had pierced both her human and spider body, puncturing her lungs and several organs. She started coughing blood, while her life was slowly slipping away.

"Please, have mercy." She pleaded him, shedding tears from all her eight eyes.Find authorized novels in ReadNovelFull，faster updates, better experience，Please click for visiting.

"You are a powerful magician. You can heal me. You know how rare we Awakened are, we shouldn't kill each other."

Lith clicked his tongue in disgust, moving the sword from the right to the left hand. The Brood Mother recognized him as someone similar to her. He didn't want allies, only servants.

"If you spare my life, I swear to devote all my life to you. I can take on any form you want, be every day the woman of your dreams. I'll be your lover, your slave, whatever you want. Just don't kill me!"

Lith plunged the sword into her head, using darkness magic to destroy the last spark of life force she had left.

'I can't believe she had the gall to ask me to spare her life. Slave my a*s, she would have killed me as soon as she recovered her strength.' Lith thought, storing the corpse in the pocket dimension.

'What are you planning to do with her remains?' Solus asked.

'Use them as ingredients, sell it, or reanimate it as a greater undead. I have yet to decide.'

Professor Farg had witnessed the whole fight from the beginning. The resourcefulness of both sides had left her speechless more than once.

'By the gods, even with all my equipment, I don't know if I could defeat either of them without reinforcements. The Brood Mother was cunning and the four Praetorians covered her blind spots, leaving no openings.

'Lith's swordsmanship is amateurish at best, but he is a vicious, scheming opportunist. He clearly has a lot of experience using true magic, that trick with the thundercloud isn't something you can improvise.

'Once again, Lady Tyris was right. Lith from Lutia isn't human. I must show her the fight, especially the part where the arm reattached itself. His existence goes beyond my understanding.'

Lith used Invigoration again, checking his surrounding from time to time. The few Clackers that had survived were all Hatchlings and with their queen dead, they had lost the will to fight.

He collected the corpses of the Praetorians too, hoping they were still worth something as trophies or ingredients. Then, he returned to the pit. The flames had destroyed everything, leaving behind only ashes.

Lith wasn't a believer, but he silently prayed for his lost friend. He couldn't avenge Protector's death nor could he bring him back to life. The feeling of helplessness heavily weighted on his heart.

"Goodbye, old friend. Thank you for everything you did for me and for all you taught me. I promise I will take care of your family like it's my own."

"Well, well, well. Look who's here. I should feel offended. I heard from more than one reliable source that you shed a lot of tears for Protector, but none for me."

Lith turned around, welcoming Kalla with a warm smile.

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"Kalla, you're alive!" Lith regretted those words as soon as he pronounced them. Kalla looked almost the same way when they met during Balkor's attack.

Almost.

The shadows surrounding her were deeper, the red light in her eyes was stone cold, and the presence she exuded was that of an undead.

"Not quite. I barely survived that night and only thanks to the experiments I had previously performed on my own body. After I recovered, I decided to push things to the next level. I'm currently in the process of turning myself into a true undead.

Is that a problem for you?"

"Not at all. What are you doing here?" He asked.

"I could ask you the same thing. I was minding my own business when I recognized your mana signature. I would have liked to rush here to help you, but I was in the middle of a delicate procedure. I arrived here just a few seconds ago. How are you doing, Scourge?"Find authorized novels in ReadNovelFull，faster updates, better experience，Please click for visiting.

Lith told her everything he had gone through from the last time they had seen each other, sparing no details about Death Vision.

"Fascinating." She replied. "Does it work on me too?"

"No." Oddly, Kalla remained the same, no matter how long he looked at her.

"Maybe it's because of my ongoing transformation, or maybe because you know I'm stronger than you. We should try asking Scarlett when she comes back."

Kalla looked at Lith first and then to Solus's ring. She didn't agree with their decision, but since they knew him better, Kalla decided not to interfere.

"Kalla, why have you decided to turn into an undead? You have evolved only recently, isn't this rushing things too much?" Lith was as happy to see her as worried for her mental health.

Since he had developed Death Vision, he had revised all the old conversations he had with his psychologist, to understand how much of a nutjob he was.

If before Protector's death his heart felt like it had been turned to stone, since he had developed Death Vision he could feel a void in his chest. Like a hole through which a cold wind blew non stop, freezing his body.

He was afraid that Kalla had been suffering from a similar trauma and had taken the easiest way out from her feelings. It was the same thing he had planned to do for a while, before his family's and Phloria's affection had convinced him otherwise.

"I'm not rushing anything. I have been mulling over the possibility ever since I was still a Byk. Why do you think I was so interested in greater undead, even when we met for the first time?"

"I'm sorry, but I don't understand. Based on what I read, evolved monsters have a very long lifespan. Can't you wait for a bit before taking such an irreversible decision?"

Kalla sighed, realizing how little Scarlett trusted Lith to keep him in the dark even about basic knowledge.

"I'm sorry to be forced to break it to you like this, but there is no easy way to do it. It's not just evolved monsters, all Awakened ones live for centuries. That means that you too will sooner or later face the same problem."

"What?" Lith and Solus were both flabbergasted.

"In your attempt of saving Protector, you have lost decades of life span. That means that you'll live a few hundred years less than the average Awakened ones, but you will still live on for centuries."

"How… how is it possible?"

Lith suddenly felt lightheaded, the world was spinning all around him to the point he had to use the bastard sword to support himself.

"People's lives depend on the amount of life force they possess. An Awakened one is capable of constantly absorbing the world energy, so instead of burning their own life force, they consume mostly world energy.

"That prolongs our lives for a very long time. I knew it from the moment I evolved into an Awakened one that it would mean to watch everyone of my kin die. To witness the world as I know it changes until I would become unable to recognize it anymore.

"In my Wight form, I could still have cubs, but what of them? They would live shunned by animals and humans alike, just to die of old age way before me. Know this, the offspring of an Awakened it's almost never an Awakened, just like having a mage for a parent doesn't mean having a great talent for magic.

"That's why there are monsters roaming this world. Scarlett's offspring are Scorpicores capable of using all the elements, they live around three hundred years, but they are not Awakened ones.

Also, your case is even more special."

"What do you mean?" All those sudden revelations had forced Lith to sit down. He felt like he was going to puke.

"You can live as long as an Awakened, but you might as well live forever. There are immortals in this world, creatures that can live until someone kills them and Abominations are among them, just like the undead."

"This means that my family, my friends…" Lith was stuttering for the shock.

"They will all die, in time. Even if you cage them all, even if you personally stand guard to them, sooner or later they will die in front of your eyes. Time is our ally as much as our enemy." Kalla completed the sentence for him.

"That's why what you did for Protector was stupid and childish. He had seen so many of his kin age and pass away in front of him after becoming a Ry. After becoming a Skoll, he was bound to witness all of his pack, her new mate and even his cubs wither away in front of his eyes.

"Also, your idea of undead is flawed. Greater undead not only can live forever, but also have all the same range of feelings that the living has. Human undead give us a bad name because once they get used to killing, they stop thinking of others as living beings, belittling them like cattle.

"A magical beast is different, though. We need to kill since the moment our parents abandon us, life is a constant struggle for survival. For me turning into an undead will change nothing.

"Unlike Nok, I wasn't born a Byk. First, I was just a bear, then a Byk, and lastly a Wight. No matter how much my appearance changes, I will always be myself. Can you say the same?"

"Maybe, I don't know." It was the first time that Lith was forced to lie to Kalla, but he had no way to explain to her how he had been reborn twice already and had changed very little so far.

"So, the good news is that you don't have to worry about my family. I will take care of them myself. I free you from your promise. The bad news is, well, everything else. There is something you have to ask me before we part ways again?"

Kalla rubbed her muzzle softly against Lith's cheek. Contrary to his expectations she was warm. Caressing her head helped him to regain his cool a bit.

"Let me get this straight. If I remain just an Awakened one I will live for a couple of centuries, while if I turn into an undead or an Abomination, I would live forever?"

"Yes." She nodded. "Beware that both conditions come at a price. Normal greater undead cannot use light magic freely, it only worsens their hunger. Some can't stand the light of the day, others get driven mad by their new instincts.

They are all unacceptable limits that would hinder my research, that's why I'm trying to turn myself into a lich."

"You what?" Lith froze.

"Liches are one of the few exceptions. The process requires to split your core into two. One part remains in your body and the other needs a special vessel, to seal it from all external influences, even the passing of time.

"That way, even if your body gets destroyed and your core shattered, you can always regenerate a new one from the vessel. The process is long and risky. One single mistake and I'll be dead for good.

As for Abominations, they can freely use all elements, but because of their parasitic nature, they are constantly hunted down. They care for nothing but their own survival.

"They don't even have a body unless they steal one. Even if they find a suitable one, their destructive energies consume it over time until they need to find a replacement.

So be careful about what you choose. Remain an Awakened until you are entirely sure of your decision. One day I might find a cure for undeath, but I doubt there is one for being an Abomination."

"What do you think I should do?"

Lith was completely lost, he didn't want Kalla to leave him. He had never felt so alone in his life. The moment he had learned that he was bound to live for so long, he couldn't stop considering everyone he knew just a little more than walking corpses.

"Stop living in the past." Kalla snorted.

"Enjoy your present, because it will change soon. Stop mulling over death and worry about the living. You have only a few years to spend with them, make them count. Also, try to learn from Nok about how to face changes.

"Do you know what's the first thing he asked me when I told him about my plans for the future? He said: 'Okay, mom. What have you caught for dinner?'

"I will remain in this forest for a few years, I don't know how long will it take to complete my transformation nor if it will succeed. Look for me only if you are in dire need of help, since I will be busy. We will resume our lessons when we both have more free time."

After saying goodbye to Protector's grave, Lith had found his closure. He was finally at peace with himself, but after hearing Kalla's words, he felt bewildered.

"Well, this is great. I needed some good news." Lith sneered.

"I was already considering to become an immortal, an undead, whatever. It would have liked for it to be my choice though, the last resort in case I didn't manage to find a way to have a proper death." He pondered.

"Until I understand what the heck I am becoming, my life span is the last of my problems. Even my arm acts on its own. I knew I would outlive my parents, but now it seems I will survive my sisters and even my nephews."

"There is no solution. Even if I find a way to turn them into Awakened, then what? Should I also turn Rena's husband and his family? Their children when they have them?

"It would destroy their lives."

Lith remained pensive for several minutes. The truth he had just learned was overturning his plans for the future. His age had become completely irrelevant. Judging by Scarlett's appearance he was likely to remain young looking even once he became a century old.

"I obsessed so much over controlling every aspect of my life, only to discover that I have no voice in the matter. I'm bound to have a long and lonely life, unless I befriend undead like Kalla, or Awakened ones." He bitterly laughed.

'By my maker, did you listen to a single word Kalla said? She told you to enjoy the present, to treasure those who you love and instead you are acting like they are already dead.

'Did you hear her plan to turn Nok into an undead or an Awakened? No. She is even willing to find a cure for her vampire adoptive daughter, to give her a mortal life. She worries about them and their happiness, not about herself.

'Think about Protector. He knew he would outlive his pack. Did he consider it reason enough for not evolving? No, he became a Ry first and a Skoll later. When he met Selia he didn't avoid her just because she is weak and short lived, he started a family!

'Why are you so bad at following your own advice? Do you remember what you told Yurial? Your only choice is to embrace the changes or remain forever chained by the failures of your past.'

She projected in his mind their last encounter with Protector before Lith had lost consciousness, quickly followed by Kalla's words. Lith had to accept that she was right.

Both of them had encouraged him to move forward without letting his fears control his life, yet he was there doing the opposite.

'Damn, I hate you being always right, Solus. This is exactly why Protector tried to stop me. All this time, I faced this existence like an enemy to beat or a problem to solve. My fear of losing those precious to me made me lose focus on what is really important.

'I wasted so much time preparing for the worse that I've probably spent more time with my comrades during the last year than with my own family until now.'

Solus could feel that Lith's mind was finally relaxing. After more than a decade of grieving and blind rage, he seemed to be able to rise beyond his limits and live his life to the fullest.

It made her incredibly happy and scared at the same time. Because in the end, Protector had made a huge mistake. Lying to Lith to protect him had been the wrong thing to do. It was up to her to make things right.

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The truth could hurt him, but lies had hurt him even more.

The trauma, the grieving had never stopped until he had been forced to face his own mistakes through the eyes of the others. She couldn't let him start his life anew based on a convenient lie.

It was time to come clean with Lith, even if that meant destroying their relationship. Every day she hid the truth had been torture for Solus, but she endured it because she cared too much for him.

She was even willing to bear his grudge if it meant for Lith to change for the better.

'Lith, do you trust me?' She asked.

'I'd trust you with my life. Beside Protector, you are my only true friend. Despite witnessing every single and most despicable flaw of mine, you have always accepted me for who I am. I wouldn't be the person I am now without you, Solus.' He replied.

'Then I hope that one day you'll forgive me.'

'Forgive you for what?' Lith had yet to complete his question when Solus projected in his mind everything that had happened after he had lost consciousness. How Protector had survived, his last words for Lith, and his plea to Solus to keep it a secret.

Lith couldn't believe his own mind.

'How could you do this to me?' There was no trace of rage in his thoughts, only the deep pain coming from the breach of their trust. Until that day, Lith had always considered it the only certainty in his life.

Solus was a part of him as much as he was a part of her. In his eyes, she back being an untrustworthy piece of stone, just like the first day they met.

She could feel his pain and silent accusations. They both deeply hurt her, but she kept being honest without hiding anything from him.

'How? I'll tell you how. I simply did exactly what you have done time and time again over the years to everyone you love and care for. I followed your teachings and lied to you to keep you safe from a truth that I was afraid could kill you.'

Lith wanted to rebuke, but everything that came to his mind would sound incredibly hypocritical of him. He still remembered how Scarlett had accused him of corrupting Solus's nature, but he only now understood the meaning of her words.

'How can I trust you from now on? How can you ask me to forgive you? You are the only one I never lied to, never!'

'It's actually easy.' She replied with a firm voice, even though Lith could feel her pain and tears. 'Just read my mind like you always did when we first met. Dig up all my memories and feelings until your paranoia it's satisfied!

'Do it right now, if it makes you feel better. I know that I made a mistake by lying to you, but I did it only out of love. Maybe you don't realize it yet, but you are my everything just like Carl was for you, if not even more.

'I was scared of losing you forever, scared of being alone again. I chose to keep you safe and sound, even if it meant losing your trust. I prefer a world where you hate me for my actions rather than to keep living without you.

It would be worse than death, even worse than slowly starving.'

Lith would have loved to believe her, but at that point, he believed in no one. He followed Solus's suggestion, fusing their minds completely for the first time in years. Lith could see everything that she had ever thought and felt since the day they bonded.

The pain from not having a body, how her feelings for him had grown and changed over the years. At some point, it was impossible to understand if it was the kind of love a daughter had for a father or rather the one a woman felt toward a man.

Everything she had told him was nothing but the truth, from the reasons why she had lied to him to all the sacrifices she had made to keep him alive until that moment. He learned about all the times that she had risked her life to protect him, belittling herself like she wasn't even a person.

He experienced the guilt and suffering that derived from hiding the truth from him. Lith was shocked by all those revelations, even more so because fusing their minds meant violating her privacy, rummaging through her most private thoughts.

'I knew you would do it, but it hurts nevertheless.' She sobbed.

'Please, throw me away if you must, but leave me alone.' The old pouch reappeared around his neck and Solus left his finger to hide inside it. Suddenly, he couldn't feel her presence inside his mind.

The door between them could be opened with a simple thought, but then what?Find authorized novels in ReadNovelFull，faster updates, better experience，Please click for visiting.

Lith felt lost, he couldn't think about anything that he could do to make either of them feel better. Everything that Solus did, was only because she followed his teachings. He had no one to blame but himself.

White Griffon Academy, Yurial's apartments.

"Girls, I can't believe I'm going to say it out loud, but the more I know Lith, the more I think he isn't a human being." Yurial said.

"I mean let's set aside his terrible attitude when we met, since we well deserved it. How can he possibly be that strong? It's not natural. Also, how could he be okay without resting not even for one hour? It doesn't make any sense."

"Yeah, not to mention that somehow he spotted the Clackers despite them being underground. Did he ever explain to you how he managed to do it?" Quylla pointed out.

"No." Phloria replied.

'There's also the issue with his beloved brother that he let slip while giving us the pep talk. I have triple checked it, his relationship with his brothers is terrible. Either he has a third secret brother or I don't know what to think.

'Yet if they didn't notice it, I'm not going to add coal to the fire. I don't like where this conversation is going already.' She thought.

"Honestly, I never understood how any of you could overlook his ever changing persona. First, he was very rude to us. Then he became our mentor despite being three years younger than us and lastly our 'good friend'.

"We all have seen how he kills people without remorse, how easily he lies to everyone, even to us. I'm grateful for everything Lith did for me, but he still creeps me out." Friya shrugged.

"I suspect Lith actually is a bastard member of the royal family." Yurial's words left the others speechless.

"My father says that the Royal couple is known for having physical abilities on par with magical beasts. It would also explain how he is so knowledgeable and why Linjos keeps him in such high regard."

"Guys, I can't believe I'm going to say it out loud, but the more I hear you talking about Lith like this, the more you disgust me." Phloria's gaze was filled with contempt.

"I don't know about you, but I approached him after the first exam, not the other way around. So, he definitely didn't try to exploit me for personal gain. Also, yeah he has a lot of secrets, but so what?

"He could have hidden his strength and let the assassin kill you, Yurial. Just like during Balkor's attack or against the Clackers just a few hours ago, he could have run away and leave us for dead. Instead, he fought by our side, saving our lives.

"He helped us countless times, but never asked us anything in return. Yet here you are, talking behind his back because he never explained how he did manage to beat those Clackers or cleanse us from Balkor's toxins while many others died.

"I don't care how he did it. What matters to me is that he cared more about our safety than about his own secrets. I don't care if he is the King's bastard son or if he has dragon blood in his veins."

According to the legends, the offspring of a human and a dragon would carry a hidden strength that could manifest in the form of physical prowess, magic talent, or beauty.

"It would explain why the female members of his family are so pretty and why he is so different from the rest of us. Whatever his secret is, I'm certain he will tell us in time. What really matters to me, is that his actions speak loud about his character, just like your ungratefulness does about yours.

"If you really think about questioning him after all the times he saved our lives, after all we have faced together, you don't deserve being his friends and neither mine!"

Phloria slammed the door behind her, incapable to listen to their ramblings any more.

"Do you think that her feelings for him are clouding her judgment?"

Phloria's words struck several nerves, making Friya regret to have spoken so harshly.

"No, I think we have let our fear of the unknown get the better of us." Yurial replied.

It took a while to find out Balkor's whereabouts, but Scarlett discovered his location thanks to her communication network with all the magical beasts she had worked with in the past.

The various Lords of the different regions had helper greatly in collecting the necessary intel. She knew that Balkor would require a constant supply of dead bodies to build each year such a massive army.

Also, by examining the captured undead with her artifact, she had managed to identify Balkor's energy signature. At that point, all she had to do was to use her enchanted pince-nez as a scanner.

She started her investigation from the locations were big battles had taken places. Balkor's undead required more than just bones, so he needed fresh corpses. From there she had interrogated the magical beasts that lived nearby.

All that work would have been useless without her artifact, though. Balkor was aware of the flaws in his supply chain. Over the years he had used countless middlemen to store what he needed in dimensional amulets and have everything delivered at his doorstep.

The only thing he was unable to predict was the existence of an artifact capable of recognizing an individual's life force from a great distance.

Scarlett had almost been on the verge of giving up before finding his trail. Like the countless pursuers that preceded her, the Scorpicore had remained trapped in the web of false leads and deception Balkor had laid.

Too much time had passed from the attack. The trail was cold and the Forgotten Plume tribe was nomadic. However, one of the Lords of the oasis reported to her about how a small mound of rock that had decorated his fief for centuries collapsed right after the attacks on the academies had ended.

The Lord had no idea what could have happened, but for Scarlett was more than enough. Once she reached the location the mound occupied, the artifact was able to detect Balkor's energy signature.

It took Scarlett just a few hours to follow the lead to her destination. She was already tasting Balkor's blood and fear, when her chase came to an abrupt end.

Salaark, the ruler of the Blood Desert blocked her way, staring at Scarlett with annoyance.

"What are you doing here? This isn't your turf. You are not welcome here."

Scarlett recognized Salaark for what she was. Her body instinctively trembled in fear.

"Lady Salaark, I'm here to exact vengeance for all the loyal subjects and dear friends that the fiend hiding in that encampment killed." She said pointing at the Forgotten Plume tribe visible at the horizon.

"Fiend? Do you mean Ilyum Balkor? If that's so, you better go home. He's one of my subjects now. Tell Tyris that she had her opportunity and wasted it. Now it's my turn."

"What?" Scarlett was flabbergasted. "You know who he is and what he does, yet you let him live?"

"Of course, I do. Who would be so stupid to let such a rare talent unattended? Over the years, Balkor has helped the Forgotten Plume tribe to prosper. He not only protected them from all kind of threats, but he also taught them advanced magic and took care of the sick.

"You should know that light and darkness magic go hand in hand. When people think of Balkor they only see the necromancer, but he is also a great healer. I offered him many times to become one of my underlings.

"Yet he always refused, because it would mean to swear his loyalty to me and relinquish his foolish plans of revenge. Now that he has only a few years left to live, Balkor finally listened to reason and submitted to me.

So bug off, Scorpicore. Tell your master he is under my protection."

"I respect Lady Tyris as I respect you, Lady Salaark." Scarlett roared.

"However, I have no master. I'm here of my own will and I will not back down just because you say so!"

Salaark laughed heartily at Scarlett's daring words.

"Kid, I have a soft spot for arrogant youths, but that doesn't mean I will go easy on you. Take another step forward and the two of us will fight as enemies."

"So be it!" Scarlett roar made the earth tremble and the skies cry. Despite the dry climate of the desert, black clouds appeared out of nowhere and covered the sun. Salaark's smile grew even wider.

'A world tribulation? This sure makes things more interesting!' She thought.

AN: Dear readers, I'm sorry to tell you that Supreme Magus will go on hiatus for some time. My health is slipping and I can't postpone things anymore. I'll be hospitalized for a while, but if everything goes well I should be back in 3-4 weeks. Thanks for your support and understanding.

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Scarlett too recognized the signs of a world tribulation. It reminded her of Tyris's words, sending a cold shiver down her spine.

'Damn my bad luck. Not only am I forced to face a Guardian, but I also have to undertake a tribulation at the same time. I don't know what the world wants from me, only that my odds of dying just doubled.

Even if Salaark doesn't kill me, the world could if I fail. Bah, too late for hindsight!'

Scarlett set aside her fear of death and charged forward. Her body started to swell and change, doubling its size. Her fur morphed into red scales as thick as a shield and a pair of feathered wings appeared on the Scorpicore's back.

The muzzle became a fiery slate, only her eyes remained visible. Scarlett's mane turned into a raging purple flame, hot enough to turn sand into glass.

Salaark's interest was piqued, but she wasn't impressed. The changes occurring during a tribulation were merely cosmetic, pointing out the nature of the potential guardian. Alas, the Scorpicore's strength hadn't changed.

Scarlett weaved ten spells at once, unleashing an elemental barrage. The ground was upturned, the sand turned into spikes, attacking the Guardian from all sides. Huge hands erupted from the ground, pushing Salaark down a pit that had opened below her feet.

Scarlett's only hope was for the combined spells to swallow and bury the Guardian long enough for her to take Balkor's life.

A hail of lightning and ice crashed on Salaark from the skies, darkness engulfed her sapping her strength, while molten lava erupted from the trench beneath her. Salaark was unfazed. All of Scarlett's attacks were nullified by a wave of Salaark's hand that turned the spikes and the hands back to harmless sand, closing the pit at the same time.

White flames surrounded her body dispelling the darkness engulfing her, consuming the lightning bolts and sublimating ice.

Despite Scarlett's best efforts, an ant would still remain an ant.

Scarlett focused all the mana she had left in one final attack. Whole dunes floated mid-air, turning into flaming black meteors the size of a two-story house. Each one of them had enough destructive power to turn a medium-sized city into a crater.

They all crushed against the Guardian, who was forced to raise both her arms to block them all. Salaark was astonished by the attacking prowess Scarlett possessed.

'What a cunning opponent. If I miss or deflect even one of these darkness imbued meteors, I bet she will redirect it toward the Forgotten Plume tribe. I can't afford to play anymore, time to get serious!'

Salaark's battle cry sounded like an eagle's screech, her white aura expanded in the form of spreading wings that engulfed the surrounding area with blinding light. Any other people would believe it to be a sign that the goddess of light had descended among them.

However, the Forgotten Plume tribe knew better. They fell to their knees, their foreheads touching the sand while worshipping the Benefactor.

The white flames and the black meteors fought for a long second before the light consumed everything in its path.

Salaark looked at her own palms in surprise. Even under her human guise, she was still a phoenix and yet her arms were covered in third-degree burns, bleeding from several wounds.

"You attacked me despite knowing who I am and managed to hurt me fighting fair and square. You have earned my respect. This time I'll let you go, but if you dare to attack me again, I will end you. Now scram!" Salaark opened a Warp Steps, shoving the exhausted Scorpicore through it.

Scarlett had barely the strength to stand, so she offered no resistance. She found herself back in the forest surrounding the White Griffon academy.

'Damn Salaark!' She inwardly cursed. 'How can Guardians be so aloof and self-absorbed? Yet her power is far beyond mine, a second attempt would be suicidal. It's time for me to stop wasting time with humans.

The Council is useless, the Guardians untrustworthy. If I want justice, I'll need the power to take it with my own hands!'

When Lith returned to the academy, his world was still upside down. The anger stemming from Solus's lie and the bewilderment from the breach of their absolute bond of trust fought on equal ground inside his head.

He didn't know what to think or what to do anymore. He had stopped grieving Protector from the moment he accepted his death, before leaving house Ernas. The trip to his grave served as a mean to deal with Lith's sense of loss and accepting his failure.

Therefore, there was nothing preventing him from resenting his so-called old friend for his manipulation. Yet it had all been so sudden that he needed time to digest the revelation.

Lith went to Phloria's room, to return the bastard sword. She remained shocked seeing his uniform tattered. His left sleeve seemed to have been almost turned to shreds, the uniform's self repairing magic barely managed to prevent it from falling apart.

Phloria noticed that despite all the damage the magical cloth had sustained, Lith seemed to be perfectly fine. He was without a scratch and full of energy, yet his eyes were dead. He wasn't even looking at her but at something past her.

His voice was flat, his mind was elsewhere, in a bad place.

"Thank your father for me. This sword truly is a masterpiece." He handed it to her with both hands.

"I will." She nodded. "Has something happened? Do you need to talk?"

"Many things, but none I'm willing to share, sorry. We'll have to postpone our date. I need some time to think alone."

The following days were the worst Lith had lived since his rebirth in the new world. Before finding Solus, he had been knee-deep in his personal hell.

His new family was alien to him, but he had managed to accept that he was some kind of monster and that he would be forced to spend his whole life pretending. His true identity, his past, weren't something he could share.

He had come to accept that he was destined to be alone even when surrounded by people, a shadow in a world of lights. Yet finding Solus also meant finding hope. During the last eight years, he had never been truly alone.

She had been a constant presence in his life, from the moment he woke up in the morning. She would often even take part in his own dreams. At first, he had been scared by her intrusions in his thoughts, by all her questions about him and why he acted as he did.

However, over time their relationship had grown, becoming deeper than he could have ever expected. Solus was the only one to truly know him, the one he could share all his deepest and darkest secrets without being judged.

Whenever Lith had been struggling, either by accepting his new family or the hardships in his life, she had always been his mental support. With every struggle he overcame, Lith's life had become easier, yet the abyss inside him would also become deeper and hungrier.

In the end, everything he had achieved, he had got it through hard work, deception, and the occasional killing. Mogar, the new world, wasn't much different from Earth. 'Every man for himself' and 'power conquers all' were unwritten rules everyone abided to.

Solus had been his moral compass, often questioning his choices and forcing him to ponder about the consequences of his actions, but in the end, she would always be on his side.

Now they were separated, their mind link remained inactive since both of them were unwilling to make the first move. Solus was still consumed with remorse for her lie, living in constant fear to have forever destroyed their bond.

Cutting herself out of Lith's life was her way to atone for her mistake and give him the time he needed to reflect on what she did without external influences.

As for Lith, he longed every day to hear her voice in his mind again. To feel her warm compassion for all the secrets and the sacrifices he was daily burdened with. Hiding in plain sight, lying even to his own family wasn't so bad as long she was with him.

Solus knew the truth and supported him at every step he had taken so far. Yet he wasn't willing to forgive her, nor to resume their usual routine pretending that nothing had happened.

The situation was tearing him apart, it was like the sun was covered by a permanent eclipse. It was still there, but he wasn't able to experience its warmth and light anymore.

The thing that bothered him the most was being angry at Protector as much as he was at her.

'Damn Protector! How could he do this to me? Or to her? Loving me like a son my a*s. He put us one against the other with his idiotic decision. He left me grieving like an idiot, second guessing everything I've done, to the point of almost revealing my secret to my family!'

During that time, Lith realized how dependent he had become on Solus's influence in his daily activities. Without her constantly soothing his rage and filling the void he felt in his life, Lith became colder and detached.

Outside the lessons, he would spend most of his time alone.

Even his grades started to drop, albeit slowly. It wasn't just the feeling of betrayal putting him off his game. He was too used to brainstorming every problem with Solus, being forced to do everything alone only reinforced his feeling of loss.

After failing to approach him a few times, Friya, Quylla, and Yurial decided it was better to give him some space. They thought he was having a hard time to accept what he had seen at the mining town. Lith would barely speak to them and even when he did, his voice was full of ill concealed annoyance.

'If Solus can't be trusted, then I can trust no one.' Was what Lith repeated to himself more and more often.

Phloria was the only one that held onto him, no matter how many times he pushed her away. She would go visit him in his room, sometimes they would spend hours in silence, each one studying for the following day lessons.

She didn't force him to open up, her hope was that her company would help Lith understand he wasn't alone. If he needed help, he just had to ask.

Lith was grateful to her. Phloria was the first person in the new world that had approached him without a hidden agenda. She was more interested in who he was rather than what he was able to do.

Her care and dedication to him were the only silver lining in his situation. Yet at the same time, it made things worse, forcing him to realize she was just a young girl. No matter how much he wanted to share his burden with her, he simply couldn't.

A week passed, Lith's mood was getting worse by the day. Sometimes he would even dine by himself in his room to avoid being bothered by his companions.

Not only his relationship with Solus was at a stalemate, but he was also so used talking to her about everything that in the past days he often established a mind link out of habit just to shut it down immediately.

That morning, before the gong marking the start of the first lesson resounded, a hologram of Linjos appeared in all the classes and the departments.

"My dear students, I have an announcement to make." The Headmaster's voice was firm, but he appeared to be exhausted. He had black circles under his eyes and despite being in his middle thirties, his hair was already turning grey.Find authorized novels in ReadNovelFull，faster updates, better experience，Please click for visiting.

"Many things have happened this year, some good, some bad. All the academies have lost members of their staff because of Balkor's attack, causing a further delay in our activities.

"To allow everyone to mourn their loved ones and in respect of what you have gone through, the Crown has decreed that this year there will be no third exam. Your grades will depend exclusively on your daily evaluation during the third trimester.

"The rankings will be revealed during the last day of academy, but you can already learn your grade in a specific subject by asking the Professor in charge. If for any reason you are not satisfied with your results, you can apply for a practical test to re evaluate your skill.

"Beware that Professors are allowed to raise as well as to lower your grade, in case you decide to take it.

"We have only two weeks left before the winter break. You can schedule your test any time before that deadline. Have a nice day."

Lith's group left the academy for the morning rounds, accompanied by Professor Ironhelm. Lith was happy for the turn of events, he had no desire to babysit his companions again, nor to pretend to care for whatever lesson Linjos meant to teach to the other students.

Every day without Solus was torture, he could feel his rage and hatred grow without limits. It required him sheer willpower to not lash out every time something or someone bothered him.

Lith knew that sooner or later he would have to confront her once and for all. Keeping her at a distance wasn't doing him any good. On the contrary, the void her absence created was a constant reminder of how he needed Solus as a person even more than the abilities their bond granted him.

He was already at the point where he could barely care for Phloria. If the whole academy exploded in front of him, Lith wouldn't bat an eye. He couldn't wait for the winter break to finally have three months only for himself.

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Their rounds were uneventful. All of their patients were nobles suffering from minor diseases that had exploited their contacts to have healers come to their homes.

"Okay guys, we are almost done." Yurial said once they had checked all but one of the names on their list

"I have saved this patient for last because he is a friend of my family and it could take a while. Is there any problem if we get back a little later than usual, Professor?"

Ironhelm shook his head, he had no reason to refuse. The longer he babysat them, the lesser paperwork he would find at his return. Having someone else doing it for him was the main reason he had volunteered for the task.

"I'm sure you can handle it without me. I have much to do. Have fun with your friend." Lith snorted, opening a Warp Steps right outside the local branch of the Mage Association. He was about to step through when Yurial stopped him.

"I'm really sorry, Lith. I have a favor to ask you." Yurial didn't like being forced to ask for his help, especially since Lith had been giving him the cold shoulder for no apparent reason for days.

"What is it?" Lith glared at Yurial like the first day they met.

"The person we are going to visit is actually a friend of my father. He doesn't have the authority or the status to get an appointment with one of the great healers of the Kingdom.

"So he did all he could to be included in our rounds. I don't know why, but he expressly asked for you. He even pestered my father until he was promised that I would ensure your collaboration."

"Is this person influential?" Lith asked. One thing was adding another name to the list of those that owed him a favor, another was wasting his time with minor nobles.

"Actually, no. House Tanash is a young magical bloodline that didn't produce a magician in the last two generations. They are on the verge of losing their status. There's not much they could do for you, but if you agree to help, my household would be indebted to you."

Yurial understood the meaning behind Lith's words, so instead of playing the friend card, he decided to make a deal.

Lith nodded. House Deirus was on the rise and he was already on good terms with them. Together with the Ernas, Archmage Deirus was someone that could help him greatly, if ever the necessity arose.

Despite being located on the outskirts of the high-end district, House Tanash turned out to be a magnificent mansion. It was a three-story building, each floor about two hundred square meters. Yet despite the pristine white walls and the enchanted fence surrounding it, Lith could clearly see that it belonged to a declining household.

It was much smaller than the Marchioness' house, something more fitting to a rich merchant rather than a magical bloodline. The mansion had no garden at all, there was no insignia along the walls or on the front door.

It seemed like they were trying to hide their identity.

After Yurial knocked, the door was opened almost instantly. The butler wore quite an expensive dress. His white shirt was made of silk while the deep blue blazer and the pants were cashmere. He was a man around 1.65 (5'5") meters high with blue eyes, blond hair, a beard and mustaches of the same color.

The butler was deadly pale and sweating bullets, several stains could be seen on the collar of his shirt.

"Lord Deirus, thank the gods you are here! I was starting to lose all hope!"

Lith smirked at the bad manners of the man, who was dragging Yurial inside instead of making way to his master.

"You must be Master Lith." The butler said while suddenly grabbing his hand and holding it like it was a treasure. The man's hands were slippery like an eel because of the sweat. Lith wanted to get rid of him but didn't know how to do it without being rude.

"You are exactly as they described you. Tall, calm and with a gaze that would make even a baby stop crying. I hope that everything else about you it's true too. My son is in desperate need of your help."

"Your son?" Lith blurted out.

'They must really be in hot waters if they don't have a butler. Either that or the situation is so desperate that Lord Tanash came to open the door by himself. Yet it doesn't make sense. If his son is so ill, how come they didn't accept him at the White Griffon hospital?' Lith thought.

"Lord Tanash, this is Lith of Lutia." Yurial was truly embarrassed by the lord of the household's behavior, but he kept his cool and performed the proper introductions in their host's stead before Lith changed his mind about helping.

Yurial knew that those days it was really easy for Lith to lose his temper.

"Lith, allow me to introduce you Duke Vinald Tanash." Lith shook his hand, using darkness magic to cleanse it as soon as he managed to get free from the slimy vice.

"Duke Tanash is not himself today because…"

"Yes, yes! Please, excuse my manners, Master Lith!" The Duke cut Yurial short, giving Lith a bow so deep his head almost touched the ground.

'Definitely desperate.' Lith concluded.

It was only thanks to the efforts of Yurial and of the family butler that they managed to calm Vinald enough to let their guests accommodate in the tea room. Lith noticed that after serving the tea for everyone, the butler spiked the Duke's with liquor.

After several cups of liquor diluted with a bit of tea, Vinald managed to calm down enough to explain himself properly.

"I'm really sorry for earlier, but I just received a piece of news that will be the final nail in the coffin of my household if even Master Lith proves to be powerless against the ruin looming over our heads." Duke Tanash turned pale again, his words on the verge of turning back into a rambling.

The butler had lost all hope to preserve the dignity of his master, so he poured liquor instead of tea into the cup.

"Let me explain. House Tanash was founded by my great-great-grandfather, Gillam Tanash. Born as the son of a humble blacksmith, he managed to become an archmage and served the Kingdom with honor.

Before his death, he received the title of Duke for his achievements.

"Alas, after him no one in our family showed the slightest talent for magic. All we have comes from Archmage Tanash's work, but in a single generation, there is only so much one can do. Over time, our contribution to the Kingdom has become less and less.

"We didn't have a mage nor the necessary funds to gain merits enough to increase our status. That was until my son, Zintar, was accepted in the Lightning Griffon academy. He is no genius, but he is very talented and hardworking. During the first three years of the academy, he always was in the top percentile.

"This year, after the second trimester, his grades started to drop. At first, I thought it was all my fault. With the civil war on the brink of exploding, I tasked him to… protect the interests of the family. It forced Zintar to neglect his studies quite a bit."

The truth was that House Tanash had been one of the most active members of the new magical bloodlines party that wanted the civil war to happen. The Duke had tried more than once to escalate the events, aiming to get rid of the ancient households that threatened to take everything away from him.

They constantly reminded the Crown of how useless were the relatively poor and mageless households to the Kingdom.

He had forced Zintar to sabotage the studies of his rivals and engage them in fights outside the academy's walls.

"The lack of practice led him to almost fail his second exam, so he went back to study full time. The problem is that the situation never improved. His grades are still bad enough he is likely to be expelled.

"Now that the Crown has decreed no third exam will take place, he is doomed. If he fails, we'll lose our noble status, our home, everything."

"You want me to tutor him or what?" Lith was exasperated by those ramblings. His fingers almost pierced the armrests of the armchair he was sitting in.

"Gods, no. He already has the best tutors and teachers I could afford. I want you to visit him. Zintar says that something is wrong with his body, that no matter how much he tries he can't focus as well as he did before.

I already had him visited by the best healers I could find, but they found nothing. You are our last hope."

"A mysterious illness that makes you fail in your studies is the oldest excuse in the book." Yurial whispered to Lith's ear.

"Even I used it a lot in the past. Usually the prescribed cure is a good pep talk and a cut on the daily allowance. It sure worked on me."

Lith nodded.

'This man is just sad. He refuses to admit his mistakes and tries to find someone to blame. If his son lost a whole trimester, no matter how talented he is, he cannot catch up.' He thought.

Duke Tanash lead them on the first floor, where his son's study was located. The walls were covered by bookshelves filled with tomes covering all the conceivable magical topics.

Several volumes were missing. Some had been left open on the floor, occupying most of the space, others were piled on a desk behind which a youth was sitting while taking and reviewing notes.

An open door revealed a state of the art Alchemical lab. Just like the study room, the lab was a mess, with shattered components on the floor marking failed experiments and burn marks on the walls.

The Duke introduced the youth as his heir.

Zintar was a fifteen-year-old boy with blond hair like his father and deep set eyes from the lack of sleep. He seemed to be on the verge of exhaustion.

"Nothing, father. No matter how much I study or practice, my results are always mediocre." Judging from his bloodshot eyes, he had no more tears to shed.

"Don't worry, son. Master Lith is here. He is the only White Griffon student that was chosen by his Professors to assist them during the plague. If there is someone that can help you, it's him." Duke Tanash patted Lith's back like he was a long lost brother.

Lith barely escaped Zintar's hug, starting to chant his diagnostic spells and stopping him on his tracks. Lith used everything he had, yet he found that there was nothing wrong.

Even the spell Professor Marth had devised with his help against the parasites gave negative results. Yet the more spells he used, the more Lith was certain that Zintar wasn't making excuses.

After learning Necromancy from Professor Zekell, Lith was now able to follow the mana in his spells even when he used fake magic. Lith could perceive them working properly, but each one would lose a bit of their strength as soon as they reached Zintar.

Even if his mind was still a mess, he hadn't forgotten about the boxes and their content. Lith used Invigoration to check if Zintar was wearing one of those mysterious items or had been poisoned.

As Lith suspected, Zintar's system was plagued by the same toxin he had obtained from the boxes. The layer was thicker than the one he had experienced.

'With so much toxin in his bloodstream, he should barely be able to cast tier four spells. This kind of prolonged exposition is clearly deliberate. Without a parasite, the toxin should wear off in a few weeks.

'Also, despite being poisoned for almost six months, his core doesn't show any sign of discoloration. He has been administered small doses over time. Whoever did this, didn't want to kill him, just to make him fail his exams.' He thought.

Lith was about to give him the good news, but then he froze up.

'If I cure him, the existence of the toxin will become of public knowledge. The responsible will have plenty of time to get rid of the evidence and go into hiding. With the traitor afoot, I can't trust Ironhelm. I must report this to Linjos.

'I have finally found a way to share my knowledge about the boxes or at least about the toxins they contain. Let's hope this is enough to change the future.'Find authorized novels in ReadNovelFull，faster updates, better experience，Please click for visiting.

"I'm sorry, there's nothing wrong with you." Lith said with his most professional tone, while father and son both burst into tears.

Yurial, Quylla, and Friya examined Zintar too but to no avail. Lith was annoyed by such a waste of time, but he had to keep the façade and pretend to care about the patient.

After they left the house, they used a Warp Steps to return to the local branch of the Mage Association and from there to the academy.

"Have lunch without me, I have things to do." Lith walked away before they could even register his words.

"He's always in a bad mood recently." Friya pondered. "I'm really starting to worry about him. Maybe something bad happened in the mining town."

"Me too." Yurial nodded. "The question is, what could possibly be so bad to turn him back to how he was nine months ago? And why does he refuse to speak about it even with Phloria? She's going to freak out one of these days."

"I have no clue." Quylla shook her head. "By the way, didn't you feel something was odd with our last patient? I can't put my finger on it, but all my spells gave me a weird feeling."

Quylla, was the only one besides Lith talented enough for necromancy to have developed even more her mana perception thanks to its practice, but unlike him she had no idea what they were against.

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Lith went to the Headmaster's office and because of the queue, he had to wait quite a bit. He couldn't say it was an emergency. Lith knew there was a traitor if not more than one inside the academy, so he couldn't afford to alert them.

When his turn finally arrived, the first thing he did was to close the door behind himself and ask Linjos to activate all of his office protections. Only when the arrays in the room started to hum, their magic so densely packed to be visible to the naked eye, Lith told him about what he had discovered.

"Anti mana toxins at the Lightning Griffon? This is indeed a serious matter." Linjos was about to use his communication amulet, but Lith stopped him.

"Not only there. They are also here at the White Griffon." His words made Linjos turn pale.

"We had no such cases here. Our average of promoted students is better than the previous years…"

"Yet the grades are dropping, remember?" Lith cut him short.

"Tanash is not only suffering from the toxins, but also from wasting three months following his father's agenda. If he kept practicing magic, he would have probably got used to the toxins over time and his grades would have just dropped.

"Have you already forgotten about the box I found a few months ago? How it was delivered from Kandria, where the plague started?"

Linjos's brain was spinning at full gear, reaching Lith's same conclusions and even more.

"By the gods! It would explain a lot. Before Balkor's attack, it would have created the perfect scenario for the old noble households. No matter if the civil war happened or not, they would have crippled the competition anyway.

"Even now, the heirs of their noble rivals and the mages of commoner origin are getting expelled or being deemed as low value assets for the Kingdom. It proves their point that magical legacies beat effort.

"If the civil war starts, they only need to increase the dosage to make all the young mages useless in battle until the problem is discovered. Even worse, the poisoning could have not been exposed until it was too late, if never at all.

The only thing I cannot understand is why they made their own children receive low grades too. Unless…"

"Unless it was part of their plan." Lith continued. "After all, the only thing that really matters is the result of the final exam of the fourth and fifth year. They can afford lowering their grades during the first two trimesters, since it has no consequences.

"During the final exam, they can perform much better and they will likely ask to be re-evaluated. That way, if the results don't match with the daily evaluation, it will prove that your teaching methods are wrong."

"It's worse than that." Linjos pondered. "By affecting the other academies, they managed to make it go unnoticed. Since the same thing happened everywhere, not even the Crown got worried. I can spot only a flaw in their plan.

"If all the students belonging to the old noble households get their grades back up at once, it would arouse suspicion. Unless of course, they either sacrifice the fourth year, using the winter break as a cover, to 'regain' their talent during the last year, or they make only the elite take full marks now while the others gradually recover their performances.

"Anyway, they can't repeat the trick again. Not now that the odds of a civil war are almost zero. My only question is: why did the White Griffon receive the same treatment instead of a worse one? If you are right and I have little doubt about it, I would have expected them to strike harder.

They need to take me out of the picture, their plan ended up helping me instead."

"My hypothesis is that they underestimated you and the control you managed to achieve over the academy. The lack of infighting and the Ballots prevented the worse from happening." Lith replied.

"Maybe." Linjos couldn't stop thinking about how fast Balkor found out their hiding spot. Actually, he found the hiding spots of all those that followed Linjos's protocol so fast that the attacks happened almost at the same time.

It had several implications. First, it meant that every academy had traitors or there was someone close to the Crown that leaked the information to Balkor. Either way, the situation was deadly serious.

Second, the attack had been the perfect opportunity to destroy Linjos's work, if not to kill Linjos himself.

'Why did they let it slip under their nose? Unless…' He thought.

"Lith, be honest with me."

Linjos had turned pale, leaving Lith surprised. The Headmaster looked like a man that had just found a venomous spider resting on his shoulder.

"How did you discover the toxin? Did Professor Marth's diagnostic spell work?"

"I used my own spell. The one we devised during the plague didn't work." Lith shook his head.

"It was aimed to detect parasites rather than toxins since the latter fade away over time."

"Just as I feared." Linjos nodded. "Please, check if I have been infected too."

Lith pretended to chant a spell while actually using Invigoration on the Headmaster, who didn't miss it requiring physical contact. It was the first time Linjos had seen such a spell.

"It doesn't make sense." Lith was flabbergasted.

"You are poisoned too, but the amount of toxin is much lesser than the one I detected in the Tanash kid."

"It makes perfect sense instead." Linjos replied.

"A student may not notice the disruption of their own mana flow, but any competent magician would. That's why they must have started poisoning me only right before Balkor's attack, when my mind was elsewhere. I noticed being weaker than usual, but I thought it was because of the stress.

"Also, with Hatorne disappearance, the traitors have no idea how to adjust the dosage. Balkor's change of plans was unpredictable. I wouldn't be surprised by discovering that poisoning me and likely most of the Professors, was a last minute attempt to get rid of me.

"Since the toxins build up over time, there was only so much they could do. Not to mention it would be hard for me to miss having my powers halved in a few hours. I would contact Manohar and it's unlikely he wouldn't discover the truth, just like you did."

Lith felt relieved, he had convinced Linjos of the presence of a threat to the academy despite having very little proof and without blowing his cover. The Headmaster waved his hand, making four magic crystals appear at the corners of his desk.

He put his communication amulet right in the middle, activating a secure channel with the Crown, relaying the information he had just acquired and requesting the intervention of a royal constable.

"We need to have the staff and the students examined." Lith heard Linjos expressing his immediate worries to the King.

"I can't do it by myself without risking to alert the culprits. It's also necessary to have all those that failed the second semester examined. Some may actually be talentless slackers, but others could as well be innocent victims…"

While the Headmaster was mentioning Lith's contribution, his sight blurred. Lith suddenly felt lightheaded, while images kept rapidly appearing and disappearing.

'Good grief, finally! I managed to change the damn future!'

He watched the old vision from the beginning, the fall of the White Griffon academy, followed by the start of the civil war until his whole family was butchered. Lith didn't feel scared by those images.

They were fading away, getting more blurred by the second until they completely disappeared. Everything went blank and for a long second Lith held his breath waiting for the new future.

What he saw was a quick series of sunrises and sunsets over the academy, the leaves of the forest's trees became red and fell, the snow turned everything into a white landscape.

Then, the sun rose higher and higher, melting the snow while new leaves replaced the fallen ones. Lith could sense something going on inside the academy, despite looking at it from a great distance.

He could hear voices and see flashes of light coming out the windows, but he wasn't able to understand what was going on, the distance made everything muffled.

'Well, at least the academy is not crumbling anymore. This is a good sign.' Lith thought.

Suddenly he was transported inside the castle. He was now able to recognize the voices as screams and explosion while the flashes of light were caused by spells. Lith watched Phloria die, stabbed through the heart by a long knife.

The culprit was unknown, the weapon looked real, but the hand wielding it was just a shadow. Rage and pain ravaged his mind.

'Is that a f*cking Abomination or even this damn vision doesn't know who will do it?' Even if he understood none of it was real, Lith tried to stop the blade with spirit magic first and to heal Phloria later, but to no avail.

No matter how much he struggled, he found impossible to move from the spot he was forced watching from.

The vision moved back to Lutia. The village was quiet, but a shadow fell from the sky. One after the other, the members of the Queen's corps patrolling the zone fell, their bodies dismembered or disintegrated.

The shadow reached Lith's house, killing his family in the blink of an eye. This time they would not suffer, no unnamed soldier would kidnap and r*pe his sisters, but they would die nonetheless.

'No! Why? What did they do to you, you f*cking bastard?' Lith inwardly screamed.

The corpses of his family danced in front of his eyes. Even Rena and his husband wouldn't get spared. The shadow was careful and meticulous, leaving no witness behind.

Panic invaded Lith's heart. According to the new vision, he wasn't collateral damage anymore, his loved ones were now the intended target.

"Lith, what happens? Why are you screaming?" The King asked, his voice worried.

Lith discovered he had fallen on the ground and Linjos was at his side checking his condition.

Lith froze, searching for a proper answer. The Headmaster knew of the dryad's gift that led to his past vision, so Lith could freely share it with him.

Lith stuttered some words while recovering from the shock, not being able to make any sense. He didn't just see things happening, the magic bonded to his soul made everything real and painful. It was like being forced to live those events before time rewinded.

"It's all right, calm down and tell me what's wrong." Linjos helped him to get back on his feet. Lith pondered about the vision, searching for the best way to describe it, when his paranoia cranked up to eleven.

'The future is much better for the Kingdom, but much worse for me. Whatever happens to the academy will surely take top priority. Between the toxins and the traitors, the Kingdom's resources will be stretched thin.

'I can't trust them to protect my family out of the goodness of their heart, nor I want to owe the Crown favor that big. I need to play this smart, but I don't know how.'

Lith was on the verge of panic. Lying about the vision to make it more convenient was easy, the hard part was finding a way to force them to help him without twisting the vision's meaning.

It was the first time that he had to face such a big issue alone.

'I can't afford to make any mistake here. F*ck my pride. Solus, I need your help!'

'Yes?' She answered timidly. Solus was afraid it was once again a butt call that would end shortly. Lith shared with her all the memories of the last 24 hours up to that point.

'By my maker, this is terrible!' Thanks to the mind link the events became part of her memory too in a split second.

'You are right, I too think that without the threat of the civil war we would be stuck in the background. The best way to get their attention is to tell them the truth, but with a few changes.'Find authorized novels in ReadNovelFull，faster updates, better experience，Please click for visiting.

Hearing her talk about them still using the "we", helped Lith to regain his cool, soothing his anguish. Solus pondered for a few seconds before answering.

'You must say that after your family dies, you will die too and so will the royal couple.' Solus said.

'What? Why?' Lith wasn't able to understand her reasoning.

'No time, Linjos is already calling for help, you have remained still for too long, please trust me on this.' Their mind link was fast, allowing the whole conversation to last just a couple of seconds, but they would still need the time to think.

"I'm all right, Headmaster." Lith noticed that both Linjos and the King seemed to be extremely worried.

"Good to hear." King Meron replied. "Bring Manohar here anyway. We need him to devise a new diagnostic spell for the infected students. He can also check on Lith while he is at it. Just to be safe."

Lith used those few moments to decide what to do.

'Please, explain your plan to me.' He asked while the King was still talking.

'Adding the death of the Royals after yours it's a double failsafe.

'After all, they know the vision shows what your soul craves the most. Putting the Royals in there while you are still alive would make you a suspect. If you die first, however, they will be forced to protect their investment, you.

'Also, if you are allegedly dead, they can only think that whoever will attempt to kill your family will come for them later, making it their problem too.'

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Lith followed Solus's plan, describing the vision in great detail. For the made up part, he described the assailant as a shadow, just like for all the others. Death Vision provided him plenty of material about how the King would look like after having his throat cut.

"Damned dryad magic!" King Meron slammed his fist on the armrest.

"It gives us too little information. At least now we know that the civil war should not happen anymore and that we are safe until next spring."

Lith nodded. Knowing how much time he had left before the events in his vision could happen was at the same time a reason for worry and relief. It gave them a deadline but also an idea about their enemy.

There couldn't be many people capable of getting rid of the Queen's corps. Also, until the attack on the academy happened, Lith had no reason to worry. The problem was if they would be able to prevent it and how the future would change after that step.

When Professor Manohar and Marth arrived, they checked Lith's condition before examining Linjos.

"This is simply unbelievable." Marth said. "None of my diagnostic spells detects anything, but now that I know what to look for, it's easy to recognize the dampening effect of the toxins."

"Agreed." Manohar nodded while extracting the toxins from the Headmaster's body. "It's unbelievable that someone could miss such a blatant effect, be it the patient or the healer."

Linjos and Marth both ignored his remark. They knew that in Manohar's eyes any result but perfection was due to incompetence.

"Usually I wouldn't ask something like this, but are you sure you don't want to share your diagnostic spell, Lith?" Marth asked.

"It helped us greatly during the plague and now it has allowed to unveil a dangerous plot against all the academies. If it's as good as I think it is, you may as well be set for life with the profits you would make by selling it."

Marth needed sheer willpower to not let his frustration transpire, yet Lith was able to perceive it nonetheless. His jaw muscles were slightly tensed and there was an edge in his voice that was hard to miss with his enhanced senses.

'Poor guy, not only he has to deal with Manohar on daily basis, but now he also has to face the fact that despite being younger I'm already a better diagnostician than him thanks to Invigoration.' Lith thought.

'Yeah, you have become for Marth what he is for Vastor.' Lith had yet to cut the mind link off, in case something else happened, allowing Solus to indulge his company.

"Don't. If it's at least half as good as mine, it would be a disaster." Manohar said.

"You know why it's so hard to find a decent healer? Because mages just rote memorize everything without even trying to understand what a spell does and why. Healers are forced to be better than regular mages because illnesses change, new poisons are created, and many things are still unknown about the human body.

"If you share your spell, it will be great in the short term and a nightmare in the long term. Everyone will stop using that stone they call brain and rely on your spell for everything, while others, better paid and motivated, will exploit its limits.

"So, when a new threat will appear, your spell will be 100% useless and the so called healers will be helpless against it because out of practice."

An embarrassed silence befell into the room. It was hard to reply to Manohar's temper tantrums, but it was even harder when he actually said something wise. Lith exploited his help to politely refuse Marth's offer.

"Thanks for your offer, Professor Marth, but I think I will follow Professor Manohar's advice. It took me years to create it, so far it's my opus. It's not only a matter of money, but also prestige.

With it I'm the second best diagnostician in the Griffon Kingdom, without it I'd just be a student like all the others. Unlike Professor Manohar, I'm no genius."

King Meron sighed loudly. He knew Tyris had sent Farg to look after Lith, but he didn't know why. Yet he was sure there had to be a good reason for it. He really wanted to get his hands on the diagnostic spell, but keeping Lith as an asset was much more important.

According to several witnesses, he had fought against a Valor. It was unknown what had happened, except that despite being alone and just a fourth year student he had survived and brought to safety another four people.

Adding that to all his past endeavors, his ability as Healer, Forgemaster and now Necromancer, he really was too good to be true. Queen Sylpha was even considering if to introduce the sixth and the seventh princesses to him.

They were too low in the hereditary line to be of political importance, so they could be used to ensure his loyalty to the Crown. King Meron didn't put much hope in the idea, though.

None of his daughters was a real beauty nor a seductress. They had taken much from their mother's temper and had yet to understand that their status of princesses would last only until a new King or Queen would be selected.

Their pride blinded them enough for them to find the idea of marrying a commoner disgusting. Another thing that heavily weighted on his mind was the meaning of the vision.

He knew that, albeit vague, a dryad's gift was as rare as trustworthy.

'I wonder how Lith's death will trigger mine and Sylpha's. Also, it's completely unclear if the events at the academy and the death of his family are related or even if they happen at the same time.

'Normally, I would just reinforce the White Griffon's security and wait for the events to play out, but now I have to protect Lutia as well. If his family dies, Lith could commit suicide making the vision come true. We must solve the issue with the toxins fast, so that when spring arrives, I can focus my forces on both tasks!' Meron thought.

"Gentlemen, we have no time for debating the magical research." King Meron said.

"Manohar, I need you to provide a diagnostic spell able to spot the toxins that anyone can use. Marth can help you, but Lith can't and no one else must be informed about today's events.

"We will only use royal healers and royal constables to control the situation. Lith's involvement must be kept hidden or belittled if found out. My hypothesis is that his family will be targeted because he discovered the plot against the academies.

"If I'm right, the attack on the White Griffon and on his family during next spring will happen by the same hand. Lith, you can return to your quarters. There's nothing you can do and it's better if you don't stay too long in the Headmaster's office. It could arouse too many questions."

Lith nodded and promptly left the room. Solus inwardly sighed, she knew what was about to happen.

'Before I go, do you mind if I give you an unsolicited piece of advice?' She asked.

Lith pondered for a while. On one hand he didn't want to cut the mind link, on the other one he was still far from forgiving her. Solus had been brilliant and useful as always, but her company was still bittersweet.

'You should talk to the others about the vision, they have the right to know. Based on what happened in the vision, it's not only Phloria who is going to die, but all of them.'

Lith was flabbergasted by her words.

'Do you remember the dryad's words? The vision shows what your soul cares the most for, so it's natural for it to cover your family and Phloria. She is the only friend you have left.'

Solus had enjoyed their reunion, but she had perceived the fracture between them. Lith needed her, she could sense his longing for her company and help, but it was more like an addict on withdrawal rather than the desire to be back together.

He still didn't trust her and whatever was going to happen to their relationship, Solus didn't want to be treated just like a commodity. She wanted for him to accept her like she did for him, with her flaws and mistakes.

'I think that whoever is behind the attack on the academy, will try to get their revenge on you by exploiting the chaos during the battle. Killing your group is relatively easy, if they get ambushed like you have seen happening to Phloria.

'They'll attack you too, but you are likely to survive. Otherwise it would make no sense going after your family. You should warn Yurial and the others, because if I'm right, the only reason they didn't appear in your vision is because you don't care enough for them.'

'Thanks, Solus.' Lith nodded, closing the mind link. It was hard for him deciding what to do. If he told them that he had seen them dying in the vision, it would help their relationship, flattering them.

Yet if the King talked about the vision with the royal constables, Jirni was bound to learn about it. She would question why he omitted to tell the King about the threat pending on her other two daughters and would easily discover the lie.

Telling them the truth was his only option.

Lith used the communication amulet to reach them and ask them to come to his room. When they were assembled, he told them the truth about the young Tanash's condition before sharing with them the conversation with the Headmaster and the changes in his vision.

"So, the good news is no civil war and the bad news is that I'm going to die?" Phloria did her best to stay strong, but the thought of having a little more than three months to live was crushing her.

"No, you are wrong about the bad news." Lith corrected her, explaining to them Solus's reasoning about why the others didn't appear in the vision.

"I think all of us are going to die. I'm more likely to survive because of my paranoia. Backstabbing me is not that easy. You guys, on the contrary, are easy targets."

"Wait a minute!" Yurial blurted out.

"Thanks for caring enough to warn us but not enough to include us in your vision." His voice was oozing sarcasm.

"I think you are making a mistake though. No one can die in the academy. Do you remember what Lord Ernas told us? Isn't it more likely that whoever it is, will target only Phloria because of your relationship? Everyone knows about you two."

Yurial was worried about Phloria, but as much as he hated the thought of spending the rest of his life with Libea, he really hoped to live long enough to have children and maybe find love.

"Do you really think that none of us thought about that?" Lith sighed instead of scoffing. Thanks to the little time spent with Solus he was now able be less of a jerk.

"Attacking the academy is madness itself, unless it's an inside job from someone that knows to bypass its power core or forcing the arrays to shut down. Since the attack will happen, I'm pretty sure that Linjos will have the power core triple checked for tampering.

"It doesn't mean that the traitor can't sabotage or destroy it, though. If Balkor's minions managed to do it, then anyone with the proper knowledge can."

After the attack, the Crown had tried to keep the fall of the Crystal and Earth Griffon academies a secret, but it didn't last for long. Balkor had triumphantly spread the news himself.

Everyone refused to believe him until the academies reopened. Forging a new power core was a mammoth task at best, if not impossible at all. When the Crystal and Earth Griffon remained closed and their students transferred to other academies, it became impossible to deny the truth anymore.

Yurial and the girls turned pale, their sliver of hope shattered mercilessly. Phloria felt no joy at the idea that everyone in the room was a walking dead.

"What do we do now? Can we at least tell our parents?" Friya asked.

"I don't think so." Quylla felt her mouth dry. "Our communications can be intercepted. The King is doing his best to keep everything a secret, Lith shouldn't have talked about it even with us."

Quylla felt guilty for having spoken behind Lith's back in the past, questioning his real identity. Even though he suffered from mood swings and with his not so nice character, he would never let them down.

Yurial and Friya felt the same, but their guilt was quickly overruled by the fear of the tomorrow. One after the other, they left the room after thanking Lith and promising they would not talk about it except that in person.

Only Phloria remained behind. Lith had held her hand the whole time. His grip was firm but gentle, letting her understand there was something he needed to talk with her.

'I waited all this time for a chance to know what's going on with him and Lith decides to open up right now? I don't know if to be flattered by his consideration or angry for his horrible timing.' Phloria thought.Find authorized novels in ReadNovelFull，faster updates, better experience，Please click for visiting.

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"First of all, let me say that I'm sorry. If it wasn't for me, you and the others wouldn't have a target painted on your back." Lith said while holding her hand and caressing it with his thumb.

"If you want, you guys can escape from this sh*t. Avoid the academy for the first trimester or ask the Headmaster to attend the fifth year after the threat is passed. I don't think he'll have any objections."

"What about you?" Phloria asked.

"I have to stay." He shrugged. "Whether the attack succeeds or not, my family will be the next in line anyway. At least from here I can do my best to help Linjos and maybe take out the traitors before something else happens. I'm the only one that knows when and how the future changes. I need to inform the Headmaster as soon as it happens."

Phloria bit her lower lip, full of uncertainty. Lith was right, she and her sisters had an easy way out of that situation. Until they remained at house Ernas or near their parents, they would be safe.

"Also, you can greatly improve your odds of survival simply by cutting your ties with me."

"What?" Phloria had to fight to prevent herself from slapping him for saying such a thing and herself for seriously considering it, even though for just a second.

"No matter how discreet the King is. My visit to house Tanash is public knowledge and when the investigation starts, it doesn't take a genius to notice the timing of the events. Between the plague and this I have made too many enemies.

It's better if we break up. Possibly in a public place and in front of lots of witnesses."

"Do you want to break up?" The little blood she had left in her face was drained, making her turn even paler, her stomach twisted into a knot.

"I don't want to…" Lith shook his head.

"But it's the best thing for you. Do you remember our talk, that night when I was recovering? I think it's time for us to seriously discuss about this thing between us. I don't plan to marry anytime soon."

Lith had promised Jirni to make things clear with Phloria about their relationship and he decided it was the right moment to do it. It was the only way he could think of for protecting her.

"I have lots of things to do. First the military, then some stuff that I don't want to burden you with. I don't know how long will it take and I can't ask you to wait for me. It would be stupid and unfair. You deserve someone better, someone that can give you what you want, that has your same goals in life."

Lith never stopped looking at her in the eyes. He wanted Phloria to understand how serious he was.

Those words struck her hard enough to make Phloria stop, thinking carefully about what to say next.

'Lith is right, I can easily get away. I asked him out only because I wanted to have at least a boyfriend before joining the Royal Guard and risking my life on a daily basis. It started almost as a joke, yet now I feel terrible at the thought this might be our last month together.

'I don't want to marry either. There are still so many things that I want to experience, so many places I want to visit. Yet I think that will come for me the time to settle down.' She thought.

"I have first to consult with my parents before giving you a definitive answer." Phloria took his hand between hers.

"This much I can tell you for sure: I don't want to break up."

"What?" Lith was flabbergasted. Her devotion was way beyond his expectations.

"You know, when we aren't in a life or death situation and I can think clearly about us, I still don't know exactly what I feel. What I'm certain about, is that I care for you like I never did before for someone outside of my family.

"Be it when I emotionally needed help after the second exam, or when the undead first and the Clackers later could have killed me, you never left my side. Every time we were in danger, you could have run away by yourself.

Instead, you always protected our group. You always protected me." She caressed his cheek, leaving Lith as stunned as outraged.

'Like heck I did! I was simply protecting my investment, otherwise I wouldn't have saved Yurial or the other girls. I never cared for any of them in the past. I took a liking to Phloria only after we started to date. It's only their fault if they have fallen so deep for my deception to picture me like some f*cking hero.' Lith thought.

'Maybe she is right, though. Maybe now I do care for the group. I risked my life for them more often than any "investment" justifies. I simply can't admit with myself that I see them as persons because I'm scared of getting hurt again. The more people I love, the more I have to lose, just like it happened with Protector first and now with Solus.

'If I tell her the truth about the past, she will either despise me and everything I fought for a whole year will be for naught or she will not believe me, thinking I'm just trying to push her away.

'Either way, I'm screwed. It's a lose-lose scenario. Let's hope her parents force her to take a sabbatical. I already have so little, I don't want to risk losing the person I care about the most in the academy.'

"Even now, despite knowing what could happen to you or your family, you are still worrying about me instead of running back home to warn them. I'm truly blessed by the gods." Phloria smile was dazzling, but it only managed to piss Lith off even more.

'How the heck did she manage to make everything about her in less than twenty seconds? Does she think life is some kind of romance fiction?'

"I came to you because you guys are the only ones I can speak to in person. Also, just like for the old vision, there is nothing that my family can do to protect themselves or avoid the predicted outcome." He explained.

"Warning them would only make them live what could be the last months of their lives in fear. I don't plan on telling them anything about the second vision. Whatever it's going to happen, it's my burden, not theirs."

His words fell on deaf ears. Instead of understanding the logic behind his actions, Phloria only focused on how brave and stoic Lith appeared to be. She hugged him tightly, making his annoyance peak.

Yet his irritation lasted only for a moment.

It was how long it took Lith to realize how bad his situation was. Her warmth and affection destroyed the layer of frost surrounding his soul.

"I think you should tell them the truth. All the secrets you keep to yourself, all the burden you refuse to share, sooner or later they will crush you. You don't have to always fight alone. The whole world isn't your enemy.

"I don't know what has happened to you at the mining town and if you don't want to talk about it, I'm okay with that. However, I can see that you are in deep pain. Please, don't shut me out of your life like you did since you came back. Just tell me what can I do for you."

Now that Phloria had got a hold of him, she wasn't willing to let Lith slip away again. Ever since Solus came clean with him, Lith had been confused about his feelings. He needed someone to talk to, but until that moment, he felt like he was alone in the world.

"It was all a lie." Lith blurted out, returning her embrace.

"Protector is alive. He, Kalla, even the Lord of the forest manipulated me to teach me a lesson!" In his rage, he tightened his grip enough to hurt her, making Phloria yelp in pain.

"Please, calm down and tell me everything from the beginning."

Lith told her the truth about that night, how he had failed saving Protector and how they both survived only thanks to the Scorpicore's intervention. He even repeated her word by word Protector's speech before he had left.

Lith let Solus's role out, pretending that his outrage was aimed at Protector and that he had forced Kalla to tell him the truth after discovering Protector's missing corpse in the mass grave.

Phloria went pale more than once, but never interrupted his story, waiting for Lith to calm down.

"Can you believe it? After all we went through, he had the gall to let me suffer like that and calling it an act of love!" He wished to meet Protector again, just to give him the beating of a lifetime.

Phloria remained silent, while he kept cursing Protector's name and expressing his outrage for having been manipulated. After a while, Lith was tired of hearing only his own voice, so he turned towards Phloria noticing her distress.

"Why you say nothing? Don't tell me you agree with him." Lith really wanted to punch the wall, but scaring the only person he had left sounded as a d*ck move even to him.

"I understand you are angry. You have every right to be and I don't want to make you any angrier. I think is better for me to leave."

She stood up, but Lith grabbed her hand.

"Please, I trusted him with my life. I don't know what to believe anymore, just be honest with me. I don't want to be coddled, I need the truth."

Phloria held his hand, caressing it with hers.

"Promise me not to get angry."

"I promise." Lith gritted his teeth, her words didn't bode well.

"I completely agree with him." Lith took a few deep breaths before calming down. He didn't yell, didn't punch anything, he even managed to keep his hand relaxed.

"Why?" He asked after he was able to speak again.

"Are you serious? In his shoes, I wouldn't have lied to you, I would have strangled you with my own hands as soon as you recovered! At least now you know how he, or anyone else that cares for you, would have felt if you traded your life for theirs."

Lith started to feel like a jerk. He knew how crushing the death of a beloved one could be. His new life started because of the domino effects Carl's demise had triggered.

"Also, it's rich coming from you. Accusing someone to be a liar. You lied to your family over the years for the gods know how many times about almost everything. You lied to me countless times too.

"About your strength, the mysterious brother of yours you fought so hard to protect, about how the heck you come back always in one piece even if your uniform gets wrecked so often that it's scary. I don't know why you do it and I'm still waiting for you to tell me the truth.

"What you are experiencing is how your family felt when they discovered all your lies. How I may feel if and when you decide to be honest with me. Yet they didn't love you any less for it, because you did it to protect them, to give them a better life.

"I think you owe Protector a second chance, he just played a Lith on you. By the way, I don't care if you are a dragon in disguise, I still care for you." She quickly gave him a peck before running away, leaving Lith stunned.

Her speech made a lot of sense, only the last phrase was beyond his understanding.

'If Phloria reacted like that, I'm afraid what mom or Tista would say if they knew the truth.' Lith thought.

'She is right though. Me complaining about being manipulated is like Nana preaching about generosity. Even when I open myself to someone, about half I say is a lie. I wonder what Carl would have said if he ever learned what really happened to our father.

Would he hate me for what I did or would he just resent me for hiding the truth from him and shouldering everything by myself?'

Lith pondered for a while about the whole situation before deciding that moral dilemmas could wait. He needed to study for the following day's lessons and to devise contingency plans for whatever could happen to the academy the next spring.

Soon he found himself wishing to have Solus's input, but his rage was still too strong. Lith couldn't call her for help twice during the same day. It would be like admitting with her and even more importantly with himself that he was ready to forgive her.

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From the following day, elite units from the army and the Mage Association covertly examined and cleansed the various academies' staff members and their students. Even without a proper diagnostic spell, the purifying one Marth had devised against the anti-mana parasites would still work.

It turned out that Linjos wasn't the only one that had been poisoned. All the Headmasters that followed his protocol had suffered the same fate and with them many of the Professors that fought against the waves of Balkor's undead.

Even if there was no proof of their involvement, the surviving staff members of the fallen Earth and Crystal Griffon academies were quietly arrested for treason. Royal constables interrogated them only to discover that their only crime was pursuing their own political agenda rather than their students' best interests.

Soon it became clear that the culprit wasn't someone at the top of the food chain, but someone at its very bottom.

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Being the last trimester, the students of the White Griffon academy weren't going to receive hidden report cards anymore. They would be ranked according to their grades, letting everyone in the Kingdom know about their performance.

The royal decree that called off the third exam made many youths desperate. Cooperation suddenly had no value. Extra points had unexpectedly become more valuable than platinum, turning friend against friend and brother against sister.

Everyone would walk the extra mile trying to score as many as possible during the last two weeks, hoping to improve their ranking even if by just one position. Classes and corridors turned into battlefields, following the principle that attack is the best form of defense.

During the practical lessons, sabotaging one own's neighbors was elevated to a form of art, while any student walking alone, no matter the time of the day, was bound to be attacked.

Lith barely noticed such inconveniences. While performing the morning rounds for the Healer specialization, his only companions were the members of his group.

During the Magica Crystals classes, Professor Farg proved to have a frightening keen eye and a ruthless personality. She beat the students at their own game.

As soon as she understood what was happening, anyone she caught not working on their gemstone without a good explanation would lose some points. A couple of students attempted a coordinated attack.

One of them would ask for the Professor's help while the other used an almost invisible wind blow to shake their opponent's hands at a critical moment in the cutting process.

The result was for both being busted, losing twenty points each that were given to their victim as compensation.

No one dared to make a move against Lith during the Forgemaster lessons.

He had always been the teacher's pet, but since his visit to house Tanash, Professor Wanemyre had showered him with so much praise and attention that rumor spread the two of them were having an affair.

Unbeknownst to the public, Wanemyre was part of Linjos's inner circle, so she knew about the anti-mana toxin and had also been one of its victims. Like many of her colleagues, she had believed her poor physical condition to be a consequence of Balkor's attack.

She was still grieving many friends and the long-lasting effects from the undead's venom only made her feel worse. Wanemyre had suffered both personally and professionally, most of her latest creations were what she could only grade as "cr*p".

After being cleansed from the anti-mana toxin, her magical prowess and Forgemastering skill returned. Wanemyre knew it was all thanks to Lith. Between the feeling of gratitude and the desire to find the ones that caused her so much suffering, even glaring at her favorite student was enough to make her deduct points.

Between lessons, things would get more up close and personal. Lith being without a Ballot was public knowledge. Several people were desperate and angry enough to give it a shot.

Forty clean fractures, twenty-four comminuted fractures, a dozen concussions, seven punctured lungs, and several ruptured spleens forced Linjos's hand to reveal the rankings ahead of schedule.

Much to the Headmaster's dismay, Lith had long stopped holding back, so his assailants were clogging the wards of the academy's hospital on a daily basis.

Be them Professors or medical staff, after learning how their patients received those injuries, the healers would just stabilize their conditions and give them the lowest priority, forcing them to waste almost a whole day in bed before administering them a sloppy treatment.

Enough to release them but not enough to allow them to perform well in their daily activities. The Light magic department looked after their own and was capable of holding quite a grudge.

One week before the end of the last term, Lith was summoned in the Headmaster's office along with Friya and Yurial. None of them had any idea about what was happening.

When they walked through the door, they found that Archmage Deirus and the Ernas couple were waiting for them together with Linjos. A wave of the Headmaster's hand made three new chairs appear.

Yurial and Friya sat near their parents while Lith was alone. He didn't like it one bit.

"This is highly improper, Linjos." Lady Ernas said.

"Where are Mage Lith's parents? Shouldn't they be present too? I don't know why you requested our presence, but it's easy to assume it must be important."

Lith and Archmage Deirus nodded in unison.

"It is. The reason why you are here is to make your children behave." Linjos explained.

"Lith has proved himself to be reliable and discreet more than once. His parents, however, due to their simple life in the countryside could be more of a liability than helpful. No offense, Lith."

"None taken." He replied while trying to read Linjos. He seemed to be nervous, if not embarrassed. Lith couldn't feel any hostility or bad news incoming, which made him even more curious.Find authorized novels in ReadNovelFull，faster updates, better experience，Please click for visiting.

"The situation at hand requires confidentiality. As you all know, the rankings are about to be disclosed. To avoid information leaks, this time I had the Professors report directly to me.

"Each student's grades have been converted into points, allowing to add them to the extra points gained during the daily evaluations and the exams' results." Linjos handed them a piece of paper each.

It was a list of the students in ascending order according to their points value.

Lith was ranked first, with 19,481 points, Friya was second with 10,276 points and Yurial third with 9,742 points. Phloria and Quylla were respectively sixteenth with 8,832 points and fourteenth with 9,156 points.

Lith could feel many eyes on him. Jirni, Yurial, and Friya were grinning, while Orion and Archmage Deirus had their mouths almost touching the floor from the surprise.

"Being second place is not that bad." Friya said. "I don't get it why Lith has almost doubled my score, though. I know he performed better than me, but this much? Does the ranking include the spell he shared?"

"No..." Linjos shook his head. "but it does take into account his contribution as medical staff during the plague and… the most recent events. Every meritorious act a student performs gets properly rewarded. Based on his academic results only, Lith's score would be 12,235 points."

Friya felt a tinge of envy ruining her moment and so did Yurial. They had hoped the gap was due to Lith's services to the Kingdom and the academy rather than skill. Two thousand points were an abyss compared to how close the rest of the scores were.

"It doesn't matter since no one will ever know." A snap of Linjos's fingers and the papers turned into dust.

"I wouldn't have shown you any of it if I wasn't aware of your good relationship and of how you shared your previous grades. To do what it must be done I need your cooperation. This is what will get released to the public in about an hour."

Linjos's desk projected a hologram in the middle of the room, displaying the rankings. There were only two differences with the previous one. Lith's and Yurial's scores were swapped, turning the top three as following: 1) Yurial Deirus: 10,353 2) Friya Ernas: 10,276 3) Lith from Lutia: 10,125.

"What does this mean?" Yurial and Friya blurted out, while Lith's eyes burned with mana out of anger before he understood what was happening.

"Are you doing this for political reasons?" Lith asked.

"Yes." Linjos nodded. "After the Griffon Kingdom went inches from a civil war that spread poison, corruption, and traitors deep inside even the most loyal institutions to the Crown, after Balkor, we cannot afford any more internal strife.

"A grassroot commoner reaching the top spot in any academy is unheard of. It would cause problems to any Headmaster, let alone someone like me that's already a controversial figure. It would raise all the wrong questions and countless suspicions.

"They would say that's just another ploy from the Queen to belittle the ancient noble families and turn the embers of the revolt into a fire once again. This way, instead, we'll strengthen the Queen's new policies.

"Lord Deirus's first place will make the new magical bloodlines happy, Lady Friya's second place so close to the first will make easier for the nobles to accept that you 'ranked' third. Do you have any questions?"

After being cleansed from the toxin, Linjos had regained his incarnate and strength, but he still appeared to be deadly tired. He had deep set eyes, unable to hide the sadness that lied within his heart.

'I never liked Lith much, but this is just bullsh*t.' Linjos thought.

'I became a Headmaster to change things for the better from the inside, not to be forced by politics to strip a student from their achievements just to please some old fogeys. For every battle that I win, there are two more that I lose.'

"Does this mean that I'll lose my points? Also, is there some prize for being first or second that the third doesn't get?" Being third was already bad for Lith's plans. He had hoped to be in the lowest positions of the top ten.

'The higher I get, the more trouble I will find. I don't give a damn about being third, fifth or even twentieth, as long as I keep my points and prizes. It's the only way I have to acquire magical equipment.' Lith thought.

"Of course you will not lose any point!" Linjos raised his voice, outraged by the simple idea of it.

"The total amount is unchanged, but only those present in this room will know the truth. Whatever you need to exchange them for, will be presented as a gift from the Crown for your services. As for the prizes, there is none. The honor of being first it's its own prize, along with the glory and fame it entails."

Lith had a hard time repressing a scoff.

"I'm fine with this decision." Lith said.

"Well, I'm not!" Yurial jumped off his chair, the pride for his achievement already fading away.

"I wanted to be first, but not like this. It's unfair as much as demeaning. How can I watch myself in the mirror knowing that it's only a lie? I refuse to be a puppet! Give the first place to Friya if she wants it and the second to Lith at least."

Linjos sighed deeply before answering.

"Young man, this isn't a request. It's an order from the Crown. I'm not asking for your permission. I wouldn't have told you any of this if not for the fact that by knowing your respective grades you can easily discover the truth.

"You have no idea how mathematically creative I had to get to fix the scores using only the third trimester points. Someone inside the academy leaked all the report cards, otherwise I would have put Lith even lower and have this talk with him only."

"House Ernas has no objection." Orion actually would have liked to say many things, but as a soldier, he knew that orders had to be followed not discussed. He turned towards his wife, who winked at him with a smug expression.

'She clearly knows what the little monster did to get all those points. It must be something important if she isn't allowed to discuss it even with me.'

Archmage Deirus was embarrassed by his son's behavior. He could understand Yurial's outrage, he was the one that had taught him to never take shortcuts and only rely on hard work.

As the heir of House Deirus, though, he had to learn how to play ball, even when it was nasty.

"House Deirus has no objection either." Velan Deirus clenched Yurial's shoulder, preventing him to say any more.

"Excellent." Linjos replied. "Congratulations on your well-earned second place, Lady Friya. Despite you went through a lot this year, your outstanding performance in dimensional magic and healer classes makes us all proud."

The Headmaster shook her hand, his words stabbed Yurial's heart deeply.

"You are the best healer we have got since Manohar enrolled." Linjos shook Lith's hand too, handing him a pristine white pin the size of a button, shaped like a rampant white griffon with the number four etched on its surface.

"The six great academies specialize in one element each. Ours is light magic. This pin identifies you like the top of the fourth year Healer specialization, the crown jewel of our institution.

"No one can take such achievement away from you. I can guarantee you that next year things will be different. If you achieve again the first spot, you'll be allowed to keep it."

Lith nodded, storing the pin away and explaining to Linjos how he intended to invest most of his points. There was something he had set his eyes on for a long time, but with the official ranking alone he wouldn't be able to afford it.

"Don't let this ruse ruin your moment, young Deirus." The Headmaster shook Yurial's hand for last, giving him a pin identical to the one Lith received but made of gold instead of moonstone.

"Your real score surpasses those of most students that ranked first in the past, it's something to be proud of. All your Professors speak fondly of you and expect great things from you in the future."

Yurial smiled, while his hand clenched the gold pin so hard that it would have turned into a crumpled ball if not for its protective enchantment.

'Who the heck cares about my score compared to the past? This pin means nothing. I would have never gotten such a score without Lith's and Quylla's private lessons. Quylla deserves it much more than me. Despite having only one specialization, she achieved an insane number of points.'

Yurial's heart was reduced to shreds, all the insecurities that he had fought so hard to keep at bay overwhelmed him to the point that he could feel the weight of the tranquilizer flask in his pocket burning through his clothes, calling on him like a siren.

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Once the matter of the rankings was settled, only Jirni Ernas remained inside Linjos's office.

"The results of the investigation on the academies' staff is unsettling. It seems that whoever is behind the anti-mana toxins played both sides. They used the rivalry between the old noble households and the new magical bloodlines to recruit members from both factions and escalate the internal struggle into a civil war.

"As for the poisoning, the method employed was as simple as effective. They administered the toxin in the meals. The targets were only those who belonged to the most vocal families loyal to the Crown but that lacked the resources to request the help of any of the great healers involved in the plague.

"It was likely meant to make the young mages lose their rankings, if not fail completely their exams in order to cripple their opponents' status and political relevance inside the Royal Court."

"How could they achieve such capillary control?" Linjos had already realized by himself most of Jirni's report, but he still couldn't believe it had happened right under his nose.

"Easy, they contacted and corrupted several members of the canteen's staff. They seem to have handpicked them one by one, choosing only those that suffered from financial troubles or had a deep grudge against the Crown.

"You should know that working for one of the six big academies is considered an honour. Yet it doesn't prevent staff members who belong to noble households from treating with disrespect mages of commoner origin, while those of humble origins resent the nobles for treating them like cattle.

"Both get usually very pissed seeing so much power and money passing right under their noses, yet not having access even to the crumbs of the system. I think you should consider changing the work condition of the non magical staff too.

"The information leaks, the poisoning, everything that has happened wouldn't have been possible if the academy system wasn't already rotten from the start."

"Who provided the toxin and when did they start administering it to Professors and Headmasters?" Linjos pondered about Jirni's words. No one had ever stopped considering how much power and knowledge the student secretariat actually held.

Grades, points records, purchases, those people that had always been regarded as low level bureaucrats had complete access to the personal information about every resident of the academy, from their addresses to the security details.

Just the thought of how much work he had ahead of himself was enough to give Linjos a splitting headache.

"That's where our investigation was abruptly stopped. The corrupted officials gave away the names of their recruiters to spare their families from capital punishment, but they turned out to be strawmen. Once we apprehended them, the recruiters had no idea who they were working for.

"As for the toxins, they were delivered through several drop spots that changed every time. All of them were located in trash bins inside common areas, so anyone could put them in place. Students, administrative staff, even Professors.

"Alas, after our investigation started the deliveries stopped. Either someone from the inside leaked the information or more likely they noticed how many people were being detained and interrogated. An operation of this scale can't remain hidden for long."

Jirni didn't like facing smart opponents. She preferred the dumb and self-entitled kind that provided open-and-shut cases. So far, she hadn't spotted a single mistake on their side.

If not for the Kandria's incident triggering the plague, no one would have even thought such wonder of Alchemy was possible. Even after Lith found the box, the authorities wouldn't pay him any attention if not for the dryad's gift.

Last, but not least, without Duke Tanash determination in getting help for his son, everything would have kept going according to the enemy plan. Jirni could not help but think that the small victories they had scored so far were all because of luck and coincidences.

Luck was something she couldn't control or interrogate, hence it was one of the things she hated the most.

"They started poisoning the magical staff only after Balkor's message was revealed and stopped immediately after the situation was resolved. I think it was a long shot plan, hoping to use the god of death to get rid of the academies.

"Officially, such a move would have harmed both factions at the same time, so it doesn't make any sense.

"Off the record, I think that whoever planned these events doesn't care at all about who profits from the struggle. They want to deal as much damage as possible to the Griffon Kingdom. I suspect that even Lukart was just a pawn.

"A narrow-minded idiot is the perfect frontman. Easy to take out of the picture in case of success, easy to pin all the blame on in case of failure."

"Basically we got nothing." Linjos sighed.

"No, quite the contrary." Jirni replied.

"We have discovered a massive corruption system, cleansed the academies from the traitorous scum and foiled at least part of the enemy plan. Not to mention that several good mages will have a second chance at the academy, strengthening the future of the Kingdom.

We haven't won the war, but we aren't losing it either. Considering the amount of time and resources that our opponents invested, even achieving a draw is actually a success for us. Stay on your toes, this is far from over. A cornered enemy is the most dangerous one."

Jirni gave the Headmaster a small bow before leaving the office. Unlike Deirus, since she was already at the White Griffon, she had no hurry to leave. She could as well pay a visit to her daughters and congratulate them for their achievements.

'One achieved second place and the other two reached the top twenty despite having only one specialization. House Ernas is bound to have a bright future, but only if I manage to keep all the girls alive.'

Meanwhile, in Phloria's room Lith and Orion where sharing the good news with the rest of the group. Yurial remained silent most of the time, the golden pin felt to him more like a stigma than something to be proud of.

"This is bullsh*t!" Phloria was enraged enough to yell.

"Since when the academies have to bend the knee to political interests? This is just unfair!"

"Life it's unfair by nature." Lith shrugged. "The key is making it unfair to your advantage."

"How does getting stripped of your rank and title work to your advantage?" She scoffed.

"First, being third means the target on my back gets much smaller. The points gap with the others in the top 20 is low, so they'll think that if instead of bothering me they work harder, they may be able to catch up with me."

"You wouldn't have been attacked so often if you stuck with us like before!" Phloria scolded him, but Lith ignored her words.

"Second, I didn't lose a single point. Yurial gets the glory and fame he always wanted while I can go home a week earlier. Everybody wins. By the way, have you thought about what I said? Will you guys delay attending the fifth year?"

"I wish!" Yurial snorted. "My father never believed in visions and prophecies, so convincing him to push back all of his plans for one more year was already hard. As soon as he saw the rankings, he immediately changed his mind.Find authorized novels in ReadNovelFull，faster updates, better experience，Please click for visiting.

"He says that backing down for no reason would make him lose a lot of face and stir too many questions." Yurial still couldn't believe his father would place the pride of the house above his only son's safety.

"Don't be too harsh on your old man, kid." Orion sighed.

"The vision is top secret and has to stay that way. There is no way to justify any of you taking a year break, especially after such outstanding performances. There's no illness that the White Griffon can't cure, so 'getting sick' is off the table.

"A family crisis that needs kids to be resolved would turn any big household into a laughing stock. Many students do not return home even if their parents die, the academy is deemed too important.

"I could ask for Phloria to be transferred into another academy, she is the only one that was clearly harmed in the vision, but again, there is no plausible excuse. It would appear like we are punishing her for her 'low score' or that we disagree with Linjos's methods.

Either way, it would make us look bad in the Court's eyes."

"Are you really going to have them attend?" Lith was genuinely worried.

"It makes no sense, they could die!"

"Thanks for worrying about me." Yurial snorted.

"I do, but I can't argue with your father since he already left. He's an a*s. In his shoes, I would keep you home. You are not only his son, but also the only heir of your house."

"You are damn right I am!" Yurial slammed his fist on Phloria's desk.

"Do you know what he said to me before leaving? Son, I receive death threats on a daily basis. If I had to hide and cower every time I get one, I should never get out of bed."

"What a d*ck!" The girls said as one.

"He is right though." Orion patted Yurial's shoulder, trying to comfort him.

"Jirni and I, but especially Jirni, receive so many death threats we have lost count of them. During winter, we use the old ones to light the fireplace. Also, Phloria wants to join my corps, the Knight's Guard, since she was five."

"I still want to."

"Then you have to get used to such things. At least you have an idea of the when and how it could happen. It's more than I have ever known every time I risked my life during a mission."

"I still think it's stupid making them stay." Lith scoffed. "Losing a year is no big deal, especially for Quylla. She can use that time to learn etiquette, court manners, and everything she needs to live as a noble. As for the others, with all that happened, a break can only do them some good."

"What about you?" Orion retorted. He wasn't happy with that decision either, but defying a direct order from the King was impossible. Not even Jirni's accumulated royal pardons could allow such a thing. It would be considered an act of high treason, something way worse than murder.

So, he had to obey. Lith's words were just salt being spread on his injuries.

"Are you taking a year break? Because what you said about Quylla applies to you as well. You could defend your family, instead of worrying from distance."

"I'm staying because the sequence of events that will lead to the massacre of Lutia will start here. Only by remaining I can make sure that whatever the enemy is planning will fail, or at least timely call for help to prevent things from escalating.

"Also, my death should happen after my family's, while Phloria's should take place during the attack on the academy. I have no reason to hide, not to mention that I too don't plan living behind a desk in the future.

"I faced death enough times that I'm not scared at the idea of facing a mortal threat as much of remaining alone. If I were to lose you guys and my family, there would be nothing left for me in this world. I can already see me turning into a mad beast hungry for revenge and with no future ahead."

Orion sighed, he understood Lith's point of view. It was the same for him. Honour, loyalty to the Crown, his career. Without his family, it would all be meaningless.

"I don't want to get caught in the mess that will ensue when the rankings will be revealed. I'm going to pack my stuff and go home. It will be a busy winter for me. I have a lot of things to practice and even more to Forgemaster.

I hope to see you all for my birthday." Lith said looking at Phloria. He could only hope that Orion would keep his word and give him the Gatekeeper bastard sword as a present.

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"I wouldn't miss your birthday for the world." Unbeknownst to her, Phloria was the only one truly happy for the invite.

If not for the enchanted sword, Lith wouldn't care for his own birthday, let alone inviting people to a party he was the first to be happy to avoid.

He had yet to find a way to salvage his relationship with Solus. Between that and Death Vision still haunting him, Lith wanted to be left alone with his family. Not to mention that having guests was a problem for him.

Despite all the renovations it had undergone, Lith's home was too small for hosting a decent birthday party, even by Earth standards. Rena and Trion had already moved out. Whenever he was at Lutia, Lith spent most of the time outside, doing the gods knew what.

Raaz and Elina had no reason to further expand the house, it would only make the maintenance more expensive. It had never been a problem before since Lith had no friends to invite aside from Selia.

Lutia's harsh winters prevented even Nana to reach their home, or at least so she used to say. Lith suspected she hated birthdays even more than him and used old age as an excuse to avoid wasting her time with the risk of missing customers.

Ever since he had helped Count Lark to survive his ex-wife plot, he forced Lith to have two different parties, though. One at home, only for the family and another at Count Lark's manor.

The Larks were his patrons, so Lith had no way to avoid the issue. He had no love for festivities, but he appreciated the Count's company and the support he provided for his family.

That year was already bound to be even more problematic since the Count and Marchioness Distar were his sponsors with the academy.

Lith was certain they would push him to celebrate his third place in the overall ranking and first place among the healers. Thanks to the two nobles providing the location and banquet, Lith deemed there would be no problem adding a few more guests to the list.

Friya and Quylla were still a bit offended with him for his recent rude attitude, but after all, they had gone through together, they were happy for the invite. Te girls were also very curious to visit his birthplace.

Yurial nodded, inwardly cursing at his own bad luck. He didn't know how to face Lith's parents and friends without apologizing for having robbed his friend of his rightful status.

He wanted to avoid all the congratulations and niceties his status as first ranked involved as long as possible. In that moment, Yurial was so nauseated by his situation to be on the verge of puking.

Everyone but Orion left the room. They were all eager to leave, but first they needed to return to their respective rooms and pack their stuff.

Phloria wanted to say goodbye to Lith properly, away from her father's eyes, instead.

Jirni entered Phloria's room while she was still absent. Orion used that opportunity to speak with his wife freely.

"Do you think we should force Lith and Phloria to break up? Putting some distance between them could avoid her from taking unnecessary risks. For the same reason it may be better if once the fifth year begins, our girls avoid associating with him.

Lith is not a bad kid, but right now first place or not, he is a liability."

Jirni was already pondering about what to do next since she learned about the dryad's gift. She was aware of how much Lith had done for her family, but Orion's proposal sounded logical. It was the safest option they could take.

"I understand what you mean and I'm glad of your decisiveness, but I don't think it's a good idea. First, we can't give orders to Lith and neither to Phloria. She has consulted us because we are her parents, but remember that in less than six months our little Flower will become an adult.

You know she inherited your stubbornness. Making demands will only make things worse. She could simply refuse, if not even leave house Ernas. Antagonizing her now will only earn us her contempt and the further she gets from us, the harder protecting her will become.

Also, how are you going to make sure they actually break up? Are you going to move into Phloria's room?"

Orion had to inwardly admit his idea wasn't as good as he had initially thought. They had been aware for months of Phloria's intention of leaving her household in case they attempted to force her into an arranged marriage.

That was the reason why a few months prior Orion had threatened Jirni to divorce from her. Their friends had warned them about Phloria's asking for the necessary papers to get emancipated from her parents.

"As for avoiding associating with Lith, I'm afraid that would be another major blunder. He has proven to be an invaluable help for the girls, both academically and as a protector. Not to mention that you too have seen his score.

If next year he gets first again, commoner or not, flocks of nobles will try to earn his favors. If we do as you propose, not only we would be ungrateful but also appear as fair-weather friends. I understand you are worried about our little Flower and so am I, but don't let fear get to your head.

Only by sticking with him when he needs us, we will get his gratitude. Also, there is the possibility that the threat to Phloria's life has nothing to do with him. She could just be collateral damage or the target of a revenge on me or you.

So far Lith did quite a good job keeping her alive, I don't see why this time it should be any different."

"Why do you care so much for him?" Orion still wasn't convinced.

"Because these are chaotic times. Kings and Queens come and go and if we want for house Ernas to outlive them we need power. Why do you think I was so eager to adopt the girls? I wouldn't be surprised if the Court forced the current royals to abdicate. They have made too big of a mess."

Orion nodded with a sigh, recognizing the truth in Jirni's words. He was grateful to Lith for all he had done and respected him deeply. Yet Orion couldn't help but be afraid for his daughters.

Griffon Kingdom, Royal Palace. Inside Tyris's Lair.

Amyla Farg, the newest recruit among the secret unit called the Queen's Corpse, had not reported to her one true master, Lady Tyris until the end of the academy's third trimester. Her undercover role as Professor took away most of her time, plus she still couldn't make sense of what she had witnessed.

Farg kept an eye on Lith for weeks, searching for more clues about his true nature and the threat he could pose, but with no success. If not for what she had witnessed in the forest, Farg would think of him nothing more than what his personal file stated.

Lith was considered a dangerous yet talented individual. The Court was still debating what to do with him. So far, he had proved to be manageable, but his loyalty to the kingdom was shallow at best.

After the help he had provided during the plague outbreak, the unanimous consent was that unless proven otherwise, he was worth the risk of letting him live. The Court hoped that marrying him into a noble household would put him on a leash for good.

After the fight between Awakened Ones, Farg wasn't so sure it was such a good idea.

She had many unanswered questions, so she used that time to mull them over. Getting an audience with Lady Tyris was a rare event even for the King himself. That was the reason why she didn't submit her report until now.

When Tyris imparted orders, they had to be executed at once leaving no space for discussion. Only when one was required to give a report or was granted an audience, they may have the opportunity to ask questions.

'Since I risk getting stuck with brats for a whole year, I better make good use of this chance and try to understand as much as I can about Awakened ones. I don't know when or if I'll get the opportunity to speak with the master again in the near future.

'This might be my only opportunity to learn from her for the gods know how long and I don't know how many questions she'll allow me. I must make them count!' Farg thought.

As soon as she walked through the double stone door, Farg's body froze in fear. Every hair on her neck stood up, her instincts screaming at her to beware of the danger ahead. Something was wrong with the underground throne room.

Instead of being dimly lighted as usual, everything was bright as daylight, allowing Farg to notice black stains of blood on the floor and columns. Near each stain, there was a small crater from which departed several cracks.

Farg needed but a glance to recognize the signs of a struggle. She knew how powerful were the defenses in the lair, yet the invaders had managed to smash some of the stone armors decorating the room, damaging even the thousand years old tapestries.

Before she could understand what had happened, a sudden flash almost blinded her. The light was followed by a shockwave, like thunder after a bolt of lightning.

Farg used earth fusion to protect herself, conjuring a barrier with spirit magic a split second later. Yet the force of the impact was enough to push her several meters back with one knee on the ground, the air squeezed out of her lungs.

A second was all she had before a second flash appeared. Bracing herself for what she knew was about the come, Farg strengthened the barrier. This time she managed to stand her ground, but the effort took a toll on her.

After a third and a fourth shockwave, she finally realized that the flashes had a precise rhythm.

'Could this be just a heartbeat?' The surprise faded away quickly.

Farg brushed off the panic that had paralyzed her until that moment, taking the whole room into account. Right behind the throne, there was a white mass that she had never seen before.

At first glance it looked like a white wall, changing its color at the edges. The left one seemed to end in a gold vein, while the right one was of a clear grey, like a mountain peak.

About once per second, the wall produced a lightning. It was dissipated on the ground by several arrays, so powerful to be visible to the eye, leaving behind only its light and the resulting shockwave, yet producing no sound.

"Lady Tyris, it's me, Farg! Please, cease the attack!"

The next lightning had almost completely formed, but after Farg's words, it disappeared. The white wall opened, revealing a silver circular window as big as the throne itself, one meter and a half (5') high and 1.1 meters (3.6') wide, with a black dot at its center.

The contrast between the gleaming silver reflecting the light and the dark dot, made it appear like a bottomless hole in Farg's mind.

"There's a reason why you should always announce yourself before entering." The voice was soft like a whisper, yet it made the walls and the floor tremble.

"Sometimes I feel the need to stretch myself. Other times, like now, the human form cannot contain my wrath and I need to revert to my original one."

The wall moved backward, towards the center of the massive underground cave. Farg realized it was no wall, it was simply a portion of Lady Tyris's head in her griffon form. The gold vein that Farg had spotted earlier was actually her beak, while the grey belonged to a different shade of feathers near her neck.

Tyris's body was enveloped by a white aura that was the real source of illumination. The griffon had the head and the front legs of an eagle, while the rest of the body was that of a lion. On her back there were three pairs of feathered wings.

"It seems that my enemy does not only know about my existence, but also about my efforts to identify them. Attacking me in my own home is something no one managed to do in millennia. This should teach them a lesson."

The griffon body shrunk, turning into the familiar womanly form Farg was used to.

"Sorry for earlier, but that was no attack. When I'm angry I produce lightning bolts that the arrays in place are supposed to nullify. It seems I was still a little worked up from before, so my power overloaded them and part of the energy ran wild. Your report?"

Tyris smiled apologetically at Farg. Normally she would have her subjects kneeling, but she could see how tired Farg was after withstanding wave after wave of her anger empowered heartbeats.

A nod of Tyris's head wiped out all the traces of the attack, cleaning the black blood and repairing the stone furniture in the throne room. It also made a comfortable armchair appear right behind Farg, allowing her to rest.Find authorized novels in ReadNovelFull，faster updates, better experience，Please click for visiting.

"My lady, did someone dare to attack you?" Farg didn't know if to be worried about her master's safety or the enemy's madness.

"Yes. Several Abominations Warped in here and self-detonated. I don't know if they were trying to harm me with the explosion or to make the underground cave collapse, destroying the castle in the process.

"Either way, the only thing they managed to do was annoy me and force me to upgrade my arrays." Tyris sighed sadly. Even if her protections were ancient, one of her oldest and roughest works, she still loved them dearly.

They had been one of her few happy memories of the times when she still had most of her feelings and now they were gone forever.

"It pains me to admit that albeit outdated, their power was supposed to be unmatched. I guess that Arthan's Madness isn't the only thing our enemy has managed to find in the archives. That, or we have a traitor among the Corpse's ranks.

There is no way for beings so weak to bypass my protections unless they had a deep knowledge of my arrays. Now your report, please."

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Farg was shocked by the news of the attack, but managed to hold her curiosity. If Lady Tyris was angry, her patience would be very limited. The questions at her disposal were already down by one.

Farg told her everything she had noticed about Lith from her observations during the fight with the Clackers and the academy's lessons. Tyris listened in silence, nodding from time to time.

"Do you have any questions?" Farg's report did nothing but confirm what she already knew. Tyris always allowed some questions because often humans needed help realizing details that they had seen but not noticed.

"Many." Farg replied honestly. She was honored to be allowed to sit while her host was pacing around and listening to her report.

"The kid is barely thirteen years old, yet I saw him go toe to toe with evolved monsters and magical beasts. How is that possible? The members of the Corpse are faster and stronger than normal humans, but not like that. We need enchanted equipment to make up for the difference in physical prowess."

"Quite the contrary." Tyris shook her head.

'During our brief encounter, I was only interested in his mana core and neglected to check his body. This is another important piece of the puzzle. It seems humans aren't the only ones to be slow on the uptake, sometimes.' She thought.

"It is possible. Your Queen, your King, and the veterans of the Corpse are all like that. It may seem incredible to you now, but only because we have just started your refinement process. In time, you'll become like that too. If you live that long, of course."

"What?" Farg was stunned, the words escaped her mouth before she could realize to have wasted another question.Find authorized novels in ReadNovelFull，faster updates, better experience，Please click for visiting.

"Doesn't that mean that the kid is a veteran too? Isn't he too young?"

Tyris smiled at her, happy to see the rookie catching up on her own.

"Yes to both. There are only a few possible explanations. Either he is an Awakened from the birth and that would be as incredible as terrifying, or he is a weak Abomination that possessed the body of an infant. That would be even worse.

"The former scenario would mean a natural talent like I have never seen before and hopefully will never see again. Beings Awakened from birth are incredibly rare, almost a myth even to us Guardians.

"I have never met one alive because when they are born from humankind, they start abusing their powers and get killed by their own kin before they can become a real threat.

"On the contrary, true magic comes natural to beasts, but being too much reliant on their instincts, they lack the wisdom and awareness about the risks the refinement process implies, so they die young too.

"The latter scenario would mean that albeit being incredibly weak, an Abomination managed to evolve into a Puppeteer and then stumbled into a highly compatible body that still lacked any sense of self or distinguishing feature.

"It makes it the perfect match. The body grows alongside the user's power, making the rejection of the new soul almost impossible. It would give birth to a Puppeteer that can hide in plain sight and without the need of switching bodies.

Needless to say, such a thing is almost impossible"

"It doesn't make sense!" Farg blurted out again.

"His mana flow is blue, not black. I checked more than once with Life Vision. Yet I saw with my own eyes black tendrils reattach his severed arm. That's something only Abominations can do.

"Also, I think the kid is utterly insane. One moment he puts his life on the line for his companions, the following he treats them like garbage."

"Excellent point." Tyris sat on her throne.

"That's why I suspect him being a hybrid, rather than a pure Abomination. A hybrid is born when something goes wrong during the body's assimilation process. If the Abomination is weaker than the host's body, it gets assimilated instead. It loses its nature and remains trapped inside it.

"It would explain the wisdom beyond his age, but not why he has helped the Kingdom time and time again.

"As for the madness, if he is as strong as you describe him to be, then it's normal. If he is a hybrid, his human and Abomination impulses are constantly at odds. It surprises me he has showed so much self restraint.

"If he is an Awakened from birth, instead, there is the possibility that he is afraid of harming them, hence he tries to keep them at a distance. When you get so powerful while still being so young, many have problems controlling their strength.

Consider that for him normal humans are made of paper. All he needs to do is use a little strength to crush them.

"Whatever is his nature, the attachment towards other humans is a good sign for us, because it means he cares for them. If he does, then if the necessity arises they can be used to shackle him."

"My Lady, why not kill him? His corpse may answer all of your questions and he would no longer pose a threat. Two birds with one stone."

"Killing another living being only because I don't understand them? Who do you take me for? A human?" Tyris scoffed.

"If he was another wannabe tyrant or a monster sucking everything dry on its path, your suggestion would make sense. Yet so far he poses no threat to his kind nor to the beasts, who consider him as one of their own. Even the world has recognized his worth, subjecting him to its cruel tribulations.

"If he fails, he'll die. If he succeeds the balance will have a new Guardian and I another potential mate. It's a win-win situation for me.

"Thanks for your hard work, Amyla. You'll resume your surveillance when the academy reopens. Until then, you'll continue your normal activities as a member of the Corpse.

"Do not tell anyone about Lith being a natural Awakened, not even to the Royals. They are past their prime and surrounded by strife. It would be easy for them being tempted to coerce him into turning them in real Awakened.

The Kingdom wouldn't survive if I was forced to have both of them suddenly pass away in an 'accident'."

Tyris's eyes shone with silver light, sending a shiver down Farg's spine. She understood how Lady Tyris was not only testing her loyalty, but also burdening her with the fate of the Griffon Kingdom.

She still had many questions, but now Farg was scared by the answers so she preferred to leave after giving Tyris a deep bow.

Once alone again, the Guardian let her mind ponder about what she had omitted to say to Farg.

'I don't know what this Lith is, but for certain he is no kid. I watched all the recordings available of him, including his exams. His words, actions, and spells do not match a kid. Even geniuses like Manohar couldn't pull the thundercloud spell at that age.

'Not when coming from an uneducated family. At this point, even using a member of the Corpse as middle man has little value. The only way I have to find out the truth is to speak with him in person.' Tyris sighed.

'Too bad that with all that it's happening, this matter is of low priority. First I need to upgrade all the arrays of the castle to prevent further attacks. Then I have to find out how the enemies managed to get down here. As of now, the Griffon Kingdom is a giant with clay feet.

'The noble households are still able to trigger a civil war, we have lost two of the six great academies at once, and most of my attention has to be directed at the Abomination threat.

'I have no idea what this Lith is or wants, but so far he has proved to be harmless to me. His parents are still alive, his village still standing, and he even joined an academy. None of this makes sense, either if he was an Abomination or an Awakened at birth.

'Maybe Salaark is right, the only way to rule humans is with an iron fist. I gave the Griffon Kingdom everything I could without directly intervening. Power, wisdom, inspiration.

'Yet it has stooped so low that now it needs only a gentle push to fall into ruins.'

In the two weeks following the events in the forest, Solus had managed to speak with Lith only once. For eight wonderful years they shared everything. Solus missed all the little things they did together in their daily routine, from their morning walks to choosing what to have for breakfast.

Yet he still refused to talk to her. No matter if it was a serious matter like talking to Linjos about the rankings or something trivial like inviting his friends. Lith kept her confined in the stone marble, making her feel as alone as useless.

Since their mind link was broken, Solus had realized that, despite during the past years she had greatly suffered from all the limitations her stone form had, it was only thanks to their bond that she had been able to keep her own sanity in check.

Even with their mind link shut down, Solus still retained all of her senses.

She could hear and see the world around her, perceive the mana flow of everyone that came in contact with them or the alterations in their emotional spectrum. Yet without Lith, without access to his body, she couldn't feel anything outside her own thoughts.

It was like being locked up inside a panic room, having access to the outside world only through cameras and monitors.

She still received all the nourishment she needed to keep restoring her power, but her life had turned into nothing more than a cage. Solus felt desperate and lonely, but she did her best to not let those feelings transpire.

Their bond was strong enough that they needed the mind link only to talk. If they wanted to avoid sharing a strong emotion or a recurring thought from the other, they had to be careful.

Lith wasn't as good as her, so Solus could feel his yearning for her voice, the desire to contact her along with the sense of betrayal preventing him from opening their mind link.

It would have been easy for her to contact him first and play with his feelings to get what she wanted, but Solus never even considered doing it. The only thing she wanted was for him to accept her as a person just as she did for him.

'Lith didn't even contact me to share the ranking results. We worked so hard for that, spending so many nights awake and yet he still cut me off like that. Like I am nothing.

'I just did to him once what he does to everyone else on a daily basis.

'What I did was wrong, but so is Lith's constantly shutting everyone out every time he has a problem. He needed to realize how his lies can affect his loved ones. Piling lies upon lies, only because it's more convenient than opening himself to others, even a little.

'I understand why he can't talk about his past lives or being an Awakened one, but hiding all the bad things that happen to him and always acting behind the others' backs with the excuse that he does it to "protect them" is bullsh*t.

'Lith never shared with his parents the ostracism he suffered from the other students, the mean words Professors like Rudd addressed him with or the difficulties he faced during the exams.

'By sugar-coating every aspect of his life, maybe he doesn't make his family worry about him, but for sure he ends up alone, incapable of sharing any of his burdens and to rely on his loved ones.

'Lith can't hope for others to help him in times of need. They never know what he is going through, simply because he hides from them even what he had for breakfast! The only good thing that came out of my lie is that at least he opened up with his family.

It did him some good, making him realize that they never wanted anything from him except being happy.'

From the moment their mind link had been severed, Solus's condition kept getting worse by the day. She was a prisoner of her own body, without anyone to talk to or anything she could do. Life around her was a cruel reminder of how the lack of a body made her little more than a slave to whoever was her host.

Solus knew her future was grim, yet she soldiered up and waited patiently.

The bond she shared with Lith was symbiotic, it couldn't be broken unless one of them died. Her only options were for Lith to forgive her or spend the time they had left together as a mindless tool.

Either that or go completely insane. The prolonged isolation and the constant status of fear of being abandoned, losing her life companion, were slowly eating her from the inside.

It was only a matter of time before her condition deteriorated beyond saving, scarring her mind permanently.

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Lith's personal possessions still amounted to little enough to be stored in the trunk his dad made for him, leaving space to spare. Most of his clothes were now too small for him, but Lith kept them anyway, moving the trunk in the pocket dimension before departing.

Returning to Lutia took him just a few minutes. His mastery of dimensional magic coupled with his recent breakthrough allowed him to open Warp Steps with a range of dozens of miles.

Lutia was a balm for Lith's heart. It was a small, insignificant village in the middle of nowhere, but it was his kingdom. The only place where he could not care for the appearances nor constantly watch his back.

He needed some quiet to decide what to do with Solus. Lith still had conflicting feelings about her, but she was a too important part of his life to keep avoiding the issue for long.

He needed her for his experiments, since Lith was unable to operate the tower or to Forgemaster with true magic without her help. Also, she had always been his best friend, confidant, and his moral compass.

Her absence left a dreadful silence in his mind and a void in his heart that was only getting worse by the day. Even more importantly, when he had fused their minds, Lith had understood how deep was the feeling of isolation haunting her.

The pain that Solus shared with him had turned out to be just the tip of the iceberg. Lith had never forgotten about it and was worried about her well being.

Lith could have arrived directly at home, but he preferred to appear in the sky above Lutia's plaza instead. He wanted to make sure that everyone knew of his return.

With all that had happened to him, he had no desire of wasting his time dealing with small fries.

Lith landed softly, drawing the gazes of many. Most of the villagers flinched at his sight. The memory of Lith's last homecoming was still deeply etched in their minds. Of how he killed Renkin, the richest man of the village, and his son.

After he almost killed many of them for not having helped his sister when Garth harassed her, their despise towards him had turned into blind fear. Money and authority were a paper shield against his wrath.

If before the villagers considered him as someone that didn't deserve his magical talent, that robbed them of their wealth and hopes for their children, now they saw him like a hungry monster.

His presence defended them from bandits and foreigners, but at their least mistake, he had no qualms turning against them too. The thought that one day he could be the lord of the land scared them to death.

Lith noticed their behavior and couldn't help but scoff.

'Morons. If we wanted to take revenge on you, we would have done it years ago. As long as you behave, no one gets hurt. Right, Solus?' The mind link was closed, so only silence ensued.

Lith inwardly cursed at himself before going to Nana's home office. It was still midmorning, giving him the opportunity to visit his old mentor and pick up Tista before returning home.

Phloria's words were still echoing in his mind and without Solus, he needed someone to talk to. His mind was a mess, Lith still couldn't decide if to tell his family about the vision or not.

'Maybe I should warn at least Tista. She is the only other magic user in the family, she could make a difference in case something happens. Scratch that. The shadow made a short work of the Queen's corps. If they are helpless, I doubt she can do any better.'

Lith shook his head. The more he thought about it, the more confused he felt.

He opened the door of Nana's home office. The waiting room was filled with people, there was not a single chair or bench free.

Most parents forced their children to sit on their lap. Between the screams of the babies and the loud chatting of the adults, Lith felt like his eardrums were going to pop. When he entered the room, the conversations immediately stopped.

The place was familiar to him, yet it felt alien, like waking up from a long good dream. He had spent the last year in the academy, where everything was clean, everyone was properly dressed and fed.

Compared to the academy's hospital, Nana's office was dirty, noisy, and chaotic. Looking at those people, with their cheap clothes and weathered faces, Lith remembered how hard was life in Lutia.

'They are here to get a check up before winter arrives. Once it starts snowing, reaching the village becomes almost impossible. Many farmers die every year because of the flu or because a simple cold turns into pneumonia.' He thought.Find authorized novels in ReadNovelFull，faster updates, better experience，Please click for visiting.

"Young spirit, you are back already!" Nana walked towards him as soon as her latest patient paid her.

"Yes, master. This year the academy ended early. How are you?"

"Good as always." Nana replied hugging him.

Death Vision kept showing him the waiting room as the set of a slasher movie, but unlike the others, Nana had only one possible outcome.

The light in her eyes would go out, her corpse quickly invaded by maggots and larvae.

Lith was upset, he still had no idea what Death Vision was, so he used Invigoration on his old mentor. He discovered that her life force was weaker than the last time he examined her.

Her whole body was filled with impurities that were clogging her bloodstream and weakening her organs. Old age was consuming her. Lith felt a sting in his heart, realizing that Nana had five years left to live at most.

"You don't look so well. Let me see what I can do for you."

"Bah, I'm just old. Stop wasting my time, there are people waiting!" Nana rebuked. She was aware of her condition. Waking up early was getting more difficult every day and if it wasn't for Tista, she would be able to work only for half a day.

'Can't allow myself to show any weakness. As soon as word of my condition gets out, who knows what kind of criminals could get attracted to Lutia. Now the Queen's corps are defending us, but once Lith gets out of the academy they'll leave.'

Lith didn't move, stopping the queue. Yet no one dared to ask him to move aside. Nana was about to scold him, but Tista was looking at her with puppy eyes, making her feel guilty.

"Fine, hot shot. Show me what a real professional can do." Nana pulled the curtain behind her, sitting in the patient seat. Lith pretended to cast a diagnostic spell first and a healing one after that.

What he was actually doing was using darkness magic to destroy most of the impurities in her bloodstream, cleansing Nana's arteries while enhancing her kidneys and liver metabolism with light magic.

With his current level of mana perception and control, Lith didn't need anymore to force impurities out of a body, he was able to destroy them while they were still inside.

The treatment lasted a few minutes, during which Nana felt hot, sweating bullets despite the weather was already quite cold. When Lith finished, she felt at least five years younger.

"By the gods, whatever you did, you just put me in a pinch, young spirit. I suddenly feel the need to take a bath, eat the biggest lunch I ever had, and take a massive dump at the same time!" A loud and stinky fart emphasized the last part of the sentence.

"I'll start with the dump." Nana nodded as she had just made a life or death decision. Tista cleared the smell with a touch of darkness magic while addressing a disgusted expression at her mentor.

"Don't look at me like that. I'm old!" She rebuked like it explained everything.

"Young spirit, cover for me until I get back. Since this is all your fault, whatever you earn is mine for compensation. Got it?"

Lith nodded, barely holding a chuckle at her words. Nana's health had slightly improved and making her rest had been his plan all along. Originally Lith meant to ask her letting Tista leave work early and go home together, but Death Vision changed his mind.

He watched Nana walking away. This time she was stabbed in the heart and then had her throat slit before leaving the room. Death Vision was usually disturbing, but this time he found it reassuring.

Using the cover of the curtain, Tista hugged Lith.

"Welcome back, lil brother. It's good to see you again."

"It's good to see you too. Now it really feels like home." He returned the embrace checking her condition, just to be safe.

"Was that a tier four spell?" Tista's professional curiosity was piqued.

"Yeah. There is no cure to old age, but at least it will relieve her symptoms for a while." Lith's treatment was just a band aid. Only Awakening Nana could prolong her life.

"It's still better than nothing." Tista nodded.

"I'm so envious of you. I hate being forced to watch her get weaker by the day, to see so many people suffer and not being able to do anything for helping them." She sniffed, laying her head on his shoulder.

"Better if we get to work, or people will get angry." She said letting him go.

Lith and Tista worked together, talking between patients.

Identifying a villager from a farmer was painfully easy. Villagers were well dressed, clean, and looked around the waiting room like they owned the place. Farmers instead wore layers of thin clothes to protect themselves from the cold and looked like they could use a warm meal.

If the patient was a farmer, Lith would listen to their request and then heal every ailment they had, making them pay only for one spell. Thanks to the curtain, the other patients couldn't see the deep bows they would give him before leaving.

Before winter money was always short, so farmers resorted to Nana's help only in case of an emergency.

If it was a villager instead, Lith would examine them and list all the conditions he found before asking them what they wanted for him to heal.

"You have a slight cold, a strained back, and a thrombus." His patient was Ilna, the jeweler. She was a nice looking woman in her forties, with chestnut hair and a dress that was probably more expensive than Nana's house.

"What does that mean?" She had a quiet voice. Usually she preferred being served by Tista, since she was easy to push around. Lith had the same caring gaze of a wolf mulling if to rip your throat first or go straight for the gutting.

"A blood clot in the brain." Lith explained. "If it moves, you die. Simple as that."

"What are you waiting for? Heal it immediately!"

"You came for the backache and paid only for that." Lith pointed at the sign stating "Payment in advance".

Ilna was about to rebuke that she didn't trust him, but there was something in Lith's eyes that stopped her. Years in the business had taught her how to read people. She could see from his smirk that he hoped she would walk away.

Ilna quickly paid and after receiving the treatment, she rushed home to bring her whole family back for a check up.

'I hate that b*stard, but even I know that Nana is not a professional healer. Who knows when or if I'll get someone from the White Griffon to visit my family? I have no time to lose!'

Tista was amazed by how fast her brother was working. Not only did his spells seem to be more effective than hers, but also he didn't need to take any break. Lith had a stronger core than Tista and wasn't as old as Nana.

That, coupled with all his training, gave him a mana capacity a few times bigger than theirs. Not to mention that compared to the academy's daily exercises, casting one spell at the time was almost relaxing for him.

Lith had just finished with his latest patient when Tista pulled his arm. He turned around, noticing that she was holding a petite girl about her age by the arm. The girl was well dressed and had a healthy incarnate.

Despite the sunny day, she was already wearing a long sleeved sweater with heavy gloves on both hands.

"Lith, do you remember Brina?" She asked him.

"No." Lith sighed. That was one of those moments when Solus would chime in and remind him about who's who. The silence in his mind was deafening. Despite Tista's presence, Lith felt alone and sad again.

"She is the baker's daughter and like me is part of the shut-in club." Tista was referring to a group of youths that for some reason had spent most of their life in isolation, just like her.

"I was wondering if you could do something for her." Brina became pale and tried to sneak away, but Tista was on guard stopping her in her tracks.

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Lith looked at her, but he couldn't see anything wrong. She was 1.54 meters (5'1") high with long gold hair tied back in a braid. She was quite cute, especially since her diminutive stature emphasized her bosom.

Lith was wondering why he had no recollection of her, when Brina took off the long glove covering her right hand. Her arm had a long burn scar up to the elbow, while the hand was unnaturally thin. It had only the thumb and the index finger.

The scar tissue was bright red and swollen. Its jagged surface made it look like a sponge had grown under her skin.

"She had an accident with the oven when she was little. They had to amputate most of her fingers and even if Nana managed to save the hand, the scar causes her a lot of pain whenever it gets cold. We prepare an ointment for her, but it's not enough.

This year she will take part in the Spring festival…"

"I won't!" Brina angrily whispered cutting her short. "I'm damaged goods. I'm tired of people staring at me with pity just like…" The "your brother" part died in her mouth.

Lith was merely looking at the arm like it was a broken chair, assessing the damages with Invigoration.

Brina hadn't noticed his touch because the arm lacked any sensitivity.

"I can fix it. For a price, of course."

"The cold issue?" Tista asked full of hope.

"No, I mean the scar, the fingers. Everything." Seeing their disbelief, Lith placed his index finger on Brina's elbow, casting a short spell that restored an inch of skin.

"Nana can't perform tier four light spells, but I can." His voice was cold and professional.

"The procedure is expensive. If you are interested, talk to whoever manages the finances in your family and then let me know. I'll be available until spring."

Tista opened her mouth to say something, but remained silent. Everything had happened so fast that Brina wasn't able to move or speak. She stared for a while at the pale new skin, before leaving in a hurry after noticing the kids staring at her, pointing their fingers at her still exposed arm.

An hour later Nana finally returned and the queue was reduced to four people.

"Excellent work, kids." Nana said after checking the income.

"I can handle the rest. You go home and have a nice meal."

Lith could have opened a Warp Steps, but judging by how Tista was looking at him, she clearly had something to say. So, he kept the surprise for another time and they walked home instead.

"How can you think about money when you can help someone in need?" She finally said once they got out of the village.

"Do you have any idea what she went through all her life? She gets out of the house only during fall and winter, she never had a boyfriend, she…"

"Had it much easier than you." Lith's voice was indifferent.

"She has been well fed and dressed all of her life. Her parents have a nice house and can afford the treatment. End of the story."

Tista was stunned.Find authorized novels in ReadNovelFull，faster updates, better experience，Please click for visiting.

"Yes, but I got cured and she didn't. A healer's job…" She replied after a few seconds, only to get cut short once again.

"It's a job like any other. Light magic it's not some kind of holy power, it's just a mean to an end. Does the baker give bread and pastries away for free to those in need? No. Did anyone ever help us when we were starving? No.

When you were ill, did her father care for your condition? No. Then give me one good reason why I should work for free."

Tista remained silent for a few minutes until they arrived halfway towards home.

"So, what are your limits now?" She asked.

"Brother sister confidentiality?"

Tista nodded.

"As long there is a breath of life, I can save anyone. I can now regrow organs, limbs, anything. My only limitation is that I can't repair something that was missing from the start. I can give back the sight to someone that has lost an eye, but not to someone born blind."

Tista seemed incredibly happy at his words, making Lith worried.

"Are you unwell or there is someone else you want me to heal?" He sighed.

"No, everything is fine." She giggled.

"It's just that Lutia is a small village in the middle of nowhere. After hearing your stories and seeing you at work today, I'm wondering if I should try to get into an academy too."

Lith shuddered at the thought.

'I have always avoided mentioning the nastiest details of the academy, I can't see Tista not getting scarred for life by all those jerks. Not to mention that if she manages to graduate too, our family would be recognized as a new magical bloodline.

'It would cause us a lot of troubles. If she really wants to step up her skills, then I can't shield her from the truth anymore. The princess has to become a warrior, or the world will eat her alive.'

Before going back home, Lith went to Selia's house. According to Solus, she was supposed to have left together with Ryman, but he wanted to make sure the huntress didn't need help.

The door and the windows were locked. Lith used Life Vision, discovering that there was no one inside.

'One less person to worry about.' He shrugged. Nana was at the end of her rope and the huntress was gone, probably for good. Lith felt a sting in his heart, but he preferred to focus on those he had left.

His parents were really happy to have him home earlier and during lunch, they wanted to know everything about his last days of the academy. Lith didn't tell them about the vision, but for Tista's sake, he shared with them all the aggressions and sabotage attempts he endured.

"So much violence just for a grade?" Raaz couldn't believe his ears.

Lith explained to them how fierce was the everyday life at the White Griffon.

"Nobles take success for granted and don't like being overshadowed by commoners. They consider it as a personal insult. Commoners mostly work their ass*s off, but since the academy it's the only way out of poverty, they are ruthless too. It's easier to meet a dragon than to find an honest friend."

After many questions about the academy and as many reproaches for the things he had omitted in the past, Lith finally could tell them about the rankings. Elina and Tista cried with joy at his achievements, while Raaz simply hugged him.

"I'm so proud of you, son. I don't know what I did to deserve such a good kid."

Lith was happy too. Their joy was the first piece of good news in months.

"We should share the good news with Rena!" Elina stood up, walking toward the door.

"You stay here. I'll go get her." Lith said while opening a Warp Steps.

Elina was about to argue when the dimensional rift opened in their dining room right outside of Rena's house in the village. The mouths of the members of Lith's family fell to the ground for the surprise.

When less than a minute later the Gate reopened, they were still awestruck and so was Rena. Lith had to princess carry her through the Warp Steps. They could hear many scared murmurs coming from the village.

"Ah! Suck it, you bastards!" The voice of Zekell, Rena's father-in-law roared.

"I'm the only one with a god in the family!"

"What a classy, humble man." Lith sneered as soon as the Gate closed behind him.

After much stuttering and many questions about Warp Steps, Lith finally brought Rena up to speed. She was overjoyed by so many good news and so was the rest of the family.

Again. Lith couldn't understand why they were so excited about something they already knew.

"It's incredible! Mom, this means you can visit me whenever you want, even during winter!" Rena's words left Lith speechless.

"Indeed. Now we can go to the village regardless of the weather. Oh, gods. Freshly baked bread during winter is a dream come true!"

Suddenly the conversation degenerated into how to better exploit Lith's new ability. More than once he wanted to point out that he wasn't a cab, but there was no such word on Mogar.

After everyone had decided what they wanted to use Lith's powers for during the winter, Tista pulled Elina aside. They whispered among them for a while and even with his enhanced hearing, Lith was unable to understand what they were saying.

Rena was bombarding him with questions about the places he had access to, how many people he could move at once.

When they returned, she wasn't done yet.

"Big sis, come here please." Tista pulled Rena aside, pushing the index finger against her own lips.

"Lith, dear, please have a seat."

Elina had a serious expression, making him inwardly fear to be about to get scolded again.

'I told them so little and I am already getting my a*s kicked. I was right working on a "need to know" basis with them.' He thought.

"Would you like to have another sibling?"

Her words made Lith's brain freeze. His hands clenched the armrests so hard that only the fear to reveal his strength too made him snap out of it when the wood started cracking ominously.

'Is this a trick question?' He thought. 'After Orpal and Trion, I don't feel safe rolling the dice again. Sadly, it's not something up for me to decide. Damn if I hate rhetorical questions.'

"Sure, mom." He actually replied while hoping that his face matched his happy tone.

"Are you pregnant already or is it something you are planning ahead?"

His words made the mood in the room turn heavy. Everyone was looking at the floor with a sad expression. Elina was squeezing her own hands, taking deep breaths to calm down.

"Have you ever wondered why we didn't have any more children?" Raaz said while hugging his wife from behind to comfort her.

"Yes. I thought that since we had so many problems with food and money already, you used some spell to prevent further…" Lith was about to say "issues", but managed to stop in time.

They were speaking about having another baby, so they didn't share his lack of love for small, smelly, noisy humans.

"…another pregnancy."

"Well, yes and no." Elina explained.

"Sure, after you were born, we couldn't afford to have more children, even though we love each other so much." She caressed Raaz hands, kissing his forearm.

"That's why we were actually happy when the Great Mother took the choice out of our hands."

"The Great Mother? Aren't you using a darkness magic spell?" During all his life on Mogar, Lith had yet to find a single church or temple. Religions were almost non existent, gods were relegated in the roles of swear words or synonyms for destiny.

"We know the spell, but it requires a magico level of power to be viable. Otherwise repeated uses can cause permanent sterility."

Raaz's words were like a punch in Lith's stomach.

"Do you mean that…"

"Yes." Elina nodded. "The labor was long and complicated. I don't know exactly what happened. Nana tried to explain it to me, but I couldn't and didn't want to understand.

"The only thing that mattered to me was that something inside of my body broke that night, making me unable to bear children anymore."

Everything made sense. Lith had wondered from time to time why even after Orpal had been disowned, after Tista had been healed, and the financial situation of the household had improved so much thanks to his jobs, his parents had stopped having children.

His mother was still young, yet nothing had happened. He had always shrugged it off, thinking they wanted to sit back and enjoy their new wealth. Yet now he couldn't help but feel guilty.

Guilty for having always ignored their distress simply because it suited him, but mostly because he was the real root of that situation. They were his parents, but Lith wasn't really their son.

'Calm down, you idiot. No need for guilt trips. I didn't choose Elina, I didn't kill the real Lith. He was already dead, so nothing that happened that night was my fault.' Lith was aware of how his birth was considered a miracle by his family.

"I pray the Great Mother every day to thank her for her gift." Elina took the word out of his mind.

"When Nana told me about my condition, I felt desperate, but as soon as I held you in my arms, it didn't matter anymore. I was already too scared after almost losing you. At that moment, you gave me a reason to live." Elina looked at him with deep affection.

Those words soothed Lith's uneasiness, but his stomach was still tied in a knot.

"Tista says that you can cure everything. Is it true?" Her eyes were full of expectancy.

"Yes."

"Do you think you can help me?"

"Absolutely." Lith lied with confidence.

The reproductive apparatus was one of his weakest spots since he never experimented with pregnant women. There was nothing in the textbooks to help him understand the difference between a functioning yet defective organ and a mint one.

He remembered how during the treatments he had found lots of impurities in Elina's womb, but even removing them and bringing her to full health for years didn't seem to have worked out.

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'I never noticed any anomaly, the damage must be something subtle. Probably it just makes the changes of pregnancy really low. I would have never missed something that affected her health.' He thought.

Lith stood up, placing his hand on Elina's belly before activating Invigoration. He scanned her ovaries and uterus for a long time, but came up with nothing.

"Odd. Everything seems fine." Noticing his mother's distressed expression, he tried to reassure her.

"Don't worry, maybe it's just because I don't know what to look for. I just need reference material." Lith touched Rena's womb, looking for clues.

"Good gods!" Lith snapped back with a shocked expression.

"Is there something wrong?" Rena was on the verge of panic. She had never seen her brother freaking out, not even after having an arm cut off.

"Yes, I mean no. I'm not ready to be an uncle, I'm too young." The room exploded with cheers, tears, and joy. Lith remained dumbstruck. He really was not ready.

'Guess they didn't know either. For a moment I thought that Rena's pregnancy was the reason behind mom's request. Like knowing she is about to become a grandma made her aware of the passing of time.' He thought.

"Thank the gods." Rena squeezed him between her arms, before putting his hand back on her belly.Find authorized novels in ReadNovelFull，faster updates, better experience，Please click for visiting.

"After being married for almost a year, I was starting to be afraid Senton or I was sterile. I was going to ask for your help right after mom. How is the baby?"

"This big." Lith's index finger formed a circle about as big as a pea.

"I want to know if it's healthy!" Rena slapped him on the nape.

"I guess." He shrugged. The fetus was too little, there wasn't much he could see. Lith had no experience in the matter and didn't want to give them false hope.

'Me and my big mouth. The chances of miscarriage during the first pregnancy are high, or at least, they are on Earth. I can only keep my finger crossed and keep an eye on her'

"Please, no more surprises." He said using Tista as a template this time. At those words, she became beet red but said nothing.

"I need a clean slate." He explained.

'I have no idea if Rena's body has changed to better host the baby. Using her as blueprint could cause a false pregnancy.'

A few minutes later, he believed to have found the root of the problem. The difficult labor had caused the formation of adhesions in the tubes. Lith had no idea what they were, though. He only recognized them as an anomaly.

"I got good news and I got bad news. Which do you want to hear first?" He asked.

"The bad news." Elina hugged Raaz, who tried to act strong.

"It's worse than I thought. Between the damage that you suffered and the passing of time, I can't promise a full recovery."

"What about the good news?" Raaz asked.

"I think I can do it, but I need some time to prepare and to ask for guidance."

Raaz tried to lift Lith out of joy, only to realize a second too late that his son was already taller than himself.

They spent the lunch merrily, talking about their plans for the winter. Rena couldn't wait to share the good news with her husband, but remained with them, asking Elina for advice.

Lith didn't want to ruin that moment for them, so he avoided talking about the impending danger nor the distress Death Vision caused him. Tista couldn't take her eyes off his White Griffon pin, asking a lot of questions about the academy.

Lith didn't lie to her, describing in detail the teaching methods, the harsh competitive environment, and the need for commoners to get a Guilty Ballot as soon as they got admitted.

The more Tista learned about it, the less attractive the perspective of attending the academy became. She knew nothing about combat. Tista used mostly light and darkness magic for her job, while she practiced the other elements only for doing the daily chores.

'My situation is pretty much the same as Quylla's, but I doubt I'll find someone like lil brother to watch my back. Even if I get admitted, I'd be quite old compared to my schoolmates.

'Dammit, I want to learn more about magic. I'm tired of the daily routine, Lutia is starting to feel a cage like home previously was. At the same time, it's a safe haven for me.

'The academy sounds like the forbidden love child of a viper's nest and a warrior's arena. I want to test my limits, but it's kind of extreme as first challenge. Ballot or not, I don't know if I can stand so much pressure.'

Tista needed time to think, so she went back into her room to study the offensive spells from her grimoire. She learned them years ago at Lith's and Nana's insistence, but after never using them, Tista remembered only the simplest ones.

After taking Rena home, Lith Warped to a random location in the Trawn woods. After checking not to be followed, he Warped to an irrelevant spot at Lutia's outskirts.

'Warp Steps should make following me impossible, even to the Queen's corps. Being careful never hurts, though.'

After coming through each Gate, he would walk for a few dozen meters in a random direction before opening another. Lith hoped that the multiple spatial jumps would allow him to lose his tail, even if an artifact capable of opening again or tracing Warp Steps did exist.

Only then he opened a Gate to the mana geyser in the Trawn woods. Without Solus, he wouldn't be able to recognize the place, if not for the fact that the mana geyser was the only spot were weeds, grass, and flowers had already started to grow again in the scarred ground.

The damage caused by the Abomination he had fought alongside the other three Kings of the woods wouldn't recover until spring, if not even later. Everything reminded him of Protector, making Lith's blood boil.

'F*ck Protector. I'm here for much more important stuff. Solus, do you mind turning into the tower?' This time he didn't say he needed her, nor he gave her an order. Lith was really asking her permission.

'Sure.' Solus had no idea of what was happening. To reduce the suffering from isolation as much as she could, she had found a way to fall into a kind of deep slumber. Solus had missed all the recent conversations and thought Lith just wanted to train or Forgemaster something.

'What do you need?' She asked.

Lith didn't reply until the tower was completely formed before answering. There were no changes from the last time. The repairs on the first floor had progressed, but weren't finished yet. The tower was comprised only by the ground floor and the basement.

"Not what, but who. I think it's time for us to talk. I didn't want to have this conversation without giving you a physical presence and a voice too."

Solus consciousness took her wisp form. The sphere of light was bigger and brighter than the last time he saw it. When she was close enough, Lith noticed another change. There was something at its center, something that looked almost solid.

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"Uhm, thanks." After all the time she spent alone, Solus was confused by his apparently kind behavior. Lith placed his right hand on the wisp, making her experience physical contact for the first time in months.

The wisp turned out to be solid enough to stop his hand. Solus could feel not only Lith's warmth, but also his touch. It was the closest thing to a caress she had ever experienced, so she couldn't help but quiver.

"Interesting. Now your wisp form is tangible and warm." Lith was amazed. He had expected his hand to go through it.

"Indeed. What were you saying?" Solus was happy with her development, but for some reason, she felt really embarrassed. Lith quickly recovered from the surprise, remembering why they were there.

"It's easier if I show you, rather than tell."

If he was talking with anyone else, Lith would have asked her if she really meant what she said the last time they talked. Yet with Solus there was no need to. Once their minds were fused, there was no way to lie or hide even the most embarrassing thought.

That was the reason why once they had started trusting each other they had stopped doing it. Lith because after considering Solus as a person, a girl at that, there were many parts of his past he wasn't willing to brag about.

Solus because the more her personality developed, the more she felt the need to have some personal space.

Lith clearly remembered how terrifying was his life from her point of view. Always scared of losing him in battle, to the point of sacrificing herself during the fight with the Talons, or almost degrading her own core to keep him alive when he failed to save Protector.

He remembered how much she had suffered hiding the truth from him, that she was aware of what coming clean could cause, yet when faced between her sake and Lith's, she had always put him first, no matter the consequences.

Lith shared with her all his memories about the last weeks. Every minute, every second was unveiled. He wasn't afraid to admit how much he cared for her, how being separated made him feel incomplete.

"Wait, this is…" Solus was shocked by the amount of information. It was the equivalent of a one sided mind fusion. Lith was showing her everything without receiving anything in return.

"Why didn't you fuse our minds again?" She asked.

"Because I don't want to force you again. Your lie hurt me deeply, but you are still my Solus. You are the only person I never had to lie to and I don't want for it to change. So, I'm doing something that I usually don't.Find authorized novels in ReadNovelFull，faster updates, better experience，Please click for visiting.

"I'm showing myself vulnerable.

"I understand how my behavior must be terrifying for someone forced to ride shotgun with me without never touching the wheel. I understand how Protector's words made you feel and why you lied to me.

"I'm willing to forgive you, but you have to promise me never to do it again. I'm not perfect, so if you disagree with me, nag at me until my ears bleed, kick my ass, whatever. Just don't act behind my back again."

Solus was so happy that the walls of the tower trembled a little. She wasn't used to expressing herself with words anymore, so she triggered a mind fusion, sharing as much as he did, no matter how embarrassing it was or how pathetic she looked in those memories.

Lith felt Solus's pain like she felt his own. Their lives were like two crooked towers, but as long they could lean onto each other, they would stand forever.

Lith held the wisp tight against his chest, shocked by the amount of suffering she had gone through in so little time. The raw strength of the emotions he was experiencing made Lith completely lower his guard.

It was only the second time that he had allowed it to happen, the first being when he was ready to die at the Scorpicore's hand as long he and Solus fought side by side. Neither of them noticed the wisp going through Lith's chest despite having achieved a physical form.

Once their minds and bodies were fused, the same happened to their mana cores. They pulsed in unison, beating at the same rhythm while tendrils of energy connected them. The two mana cores revolved around each other like twin stars.

The resonance between them made Lith's core turn bright cyan, on the verge of turning blue, while Solus's bright yellow core turned into a bright green one simply by absorbing the excess energy that Lith's body usually dispersed not being able to handle it.

The tower was shaken to its foundations, rumbling noises forced them to snap out of their trance. Lith noticed that everything was different, even though he had no idea why. The walls looked sturdier, the space around him larger.

Lith could perceive the mana flow passing through the magical artifact like he could hear his own heartbeat.

The debris leading to the first floor had disappeared, just like Solus.

"What the heck? Solus, where are you?"

"Right here." Lith heard Solus's voice coming out of his own mouth.

"I'm inside you!"

"That's a gross way to put it. Are you listening to yourself?" Lith made a retching sound.

"That came out wrong. Sorry." She giggled.

"Do you have any idea about what happened?"

"None." Lith replied noticing that his left hand was moving by itself, touching his own face.

"So, this is how having a body feels. It's amazing." Half of Lith's face was shocked, the other had a delighted and quite feminine expression.

"Wait, you can move my body at will?"

"It seems so." She shrugged. "Want to go check the first floor? I'm curious."

"Curious? Aren't you supposed to know what's what as soon as your body repairs?" The situation was becoming odder by the second.

"Normally yes, but nothing is normal now. I think that us merging is an anomaly of sorts, temporarily boosting my strength. I have no clue about what's upstairs like I don't know how we fused."

"I hope you are right about our condition being only momentary. It would be creepy in the long term." Lith shuddered.

"No need to be shy. I've seen you naked plenty of times." She mocked him.

"I know and I'm fine with it. Yet this gives a new whole meaning to the words 'touching oneself'."

Solus laughed heartily, before realizing the full meaning of his words and blush from the embarrassment.

"I would never do that!"

"I believe in your good will, but you don't remember how having a body feels."

To prove his point, Lith took out a cream puff out of the dimensional pocket. It was still fresh as when he took it from the academy's canteen.

"Stop after one bite."

Solus sniffed the pastry, its sweet smell was intoxicating.

She took a bite and then another, until there was nothing left.

"Sorry, but it was too good. We ate them in the past, but sharing your senses is like the trial version of the real deal." She said apologetically.

Lith sighed, climbing the stairs leading to the first floor.

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While climbing the stairs, Lith didn't know what to think of his current situation. Since he and Solus had fused, most of his usual rage and resentment seemed to have taken a rain check.

Solus could perceive his happiness for being reunited with her, which made her even happier. Because of the mind fusion, their feelings reinforced one another in a loop.

Not knowing when it would end, Lith fed Solus all of his favorite foods, letting her experience them first hand. The care and the attention she received plus all those new tastes sent her on cloud nine.

"By my maker! Everything is so good! Are you sure I can eat so much? You had lunch barely an hour ago." She said worried for Lith's stomach.

"Don't worry, it's nothing we can't cure. We should enjoy this 'pink colored glasses' moment until it lasts."

The first floor was quite peculiar. The furniture was comprised of a few empty bookshelves, lots of mirrors, each one of different shapes and sizes, and a globe. It was similar to the one he had back on Earth, but this one represented Mogar and it was huge, with a radius of over half a meter (2').

Unlike his childhood nightstand lamp, it didn't show the whole world. Only the areas where Lith had been and the places he had visited were depicted.

He focused on the map of the region that was stored inside Soluspedia, recalling the names of cities and rivers, but the globe remained blank.

"So it's not a matter of knowledge." His voice was muffled by all the food Solus was stuffing herself with.

"It only matters where we have been. I wonder why. Any idea, Solus?"

"None. Hey, there's even the academy. Both of them actually. Even the Lightning Griffon academy is marked." The moment she made Lith's finger touch the academy, the globe's surface zoomed in, projecting a 3D hologram, precise down to the last detail.

The hologram was colored in shades of red, giving them a mild headache whenever they focused on a specific room they had visited during their short trip before Headmistress Linnea rejected Lith's application.

Lith then touched the White Griffon, getting the same result.

"I'm feeling a pattern here." Lith pondered. "Let's try the mining town."

The headache persisted. The holograms representing the known areas nearby the academy were all as red as detailed.

"Okay, now let's give the Trawn woods a shot." Lith had never been outside the White Griffon's forest, since thanks to the Marchioness he had access to the Mage Association's Warp Steps that brought him directly inside the academy.

He could have chosen the Lightning Griffon's outskirts, from where he departed along Count Lark, but he clearly remembered how tightly patrolled was the area. So, he picked a closer and much more harmless location.

This time the hologram was blue and the headache was gone. Lith focused on the clearing in the woods where he used to train in the past. When he zoomed to a specific location, the hologram disappeared and Lith felt his attention drawn to the biggest mirror in the room.

It had a silver circular frame and it was so big to occupy most of the west wall. The surface of the mirror rippled and the image of the room it had reflected until a moment ago was replaced by the clearing's spot Lith had been looking for.

"Could this be…?" Lith pressed his hand against the image, but nothing happened. He could feel the cold glass surface under his fingers.

"Maybe we should send mana into it." Solus snapped Lith's fingers, channeling the energy from the mana geyser through the tower and into the mirror. The mana quickly rotated along the frame's edges, making it emits an orange glow.

The glass then turned into a silvery liquid that was drained by the frame, yet the image in front of Lith's eyes didn't change. He was now able to hear the familiar noises of the woods' wildlife, to feel the chilly breeze blow on his face.

"A personal long distance Warp Steps!" Lith was amazed as much as confused.

He tried several locations he knew, even some very close to Derios, the capital of the Marquisate. They were hundreds of kilometers afar, yet they managed to open them effortlessly, without using a drop of their own mana.

"There are only two problems." Solus pointed out.

"One, we can only pick deserted places. If someone looks through the Warp Steps, they could see inside the tower and that would get us into trouble. Two, how the heck do we come back? If the tower stays here, either we split or this thing is useless."

Lith nodded, letting his arm across the dimensional Gate. An unpleasant sensation spread through his body. Both Lith and Solus felt their minds drifting apart, their connection became weaker and weaker, until he pulled his arm back into the tower.

"Guess our condition really is temporary. Probably we'll revert back to normal as soon as we get outside the tower."

They were still recovering from the surprise when the walls shook violently, cracking in multiple spots. The tremors were strong enough to make Lith almost lose his balance.

"What the heck was that?"

"Well, this room shouldn't exist in the first place." Solus ate a chocolate sprinkled biscuit.

"If for any reason our fusion gets broken, it's likely everything will collapse on our heads. See?" She pointed at the cracks that were disappearing as quickly as they had formed.

"Okay, so the globe represents all the places we can Warp to. The headache probably means that a place is unavailable, at least at our current level. I prefer not to try forcing our way through the academies' arrays.

"Not only do we risk getting detected, but we could also spend so much mana to get split. Let's check the rest of the stuff first."

"Yeah, too bad we don't get to understand how we are supposed to return here."

The second biggest mirror in the room had a gold rectangular frame. It reflected an image that left them both flabbergasted.

Lith had now a second pair of eyes, right above his eyebrows, and was shrouded in a golden aura.Find authorized novels in ReadNovelFull，faster updates, better experience，Please click for visiting.

"My aura has always been black and red. I suppose it's yours, then." Lith shrugged.

Solus winked at their reflection, making both left eyes close.

"Definitely mine. The question is: what the heck is this for." Lith injected the mirror with mana, the edges of which started to emit a blue glow. Instead of spinning, this time the mana seeped into the mirror until it emitted a humming sound.

"Okay, let's try visualizing stuff again." Lith thought about the White Griffon academy, getting a splitting headache in return. Then it was Derios' turn, but the result was the same.

"Lutia, then?" The mirror turned black for a second before showing him the village's square. Lith discovered that he could move his perspective at will, watching and listening like he was actually there in person.

He could move to any place he had been at least once in the past. By looking through a window, he could also enter inside the houses of the villagers. Their talks had no significance to him, so he kept experimenting with the limits of his scrying device.

"This thing sucks!" Lith stamped his foot on the ground.

"I can't even see the whole village. The range's too short."

"For now, at least." Solus tried to console him, but she didn't believe her own words either.

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'Visiting this room is already a sneak peek. Who knows when we'll actually get it? If this is all it can do, then it's pretty terrible.' She thought.

"Agreed." Lith replied.

"Mind fusion, remember?" He added in response to her surprise.

Solus felt stupid for a second, then she had a crazy idea that made Lith's skin crawl. He focused on a small pebble in the middle of the street, using spirit magic to move it. Lith could perceive the tendrils of his mana moving through the air, wrapping around the stone.

Moving it was as hard as it was an elephant. Lith tried a series of chore magic spells too before giving up. Fire blackened only a spot the size of a pinhead, water couldn't freeze it even with the weather being already cold and earth magic didn't manage to crack it.

"It's useless. Yes, we can use magic even from this distance, but the effects are negligible. Unless…"

Lith focused on the area surrounding the tower and the image in the mirror changed accordingly. He could see and hear everything in 25 meters (82 feet) radius, like every single stone that composed Solus's body was his eyes and ears.

He could even use Life Vision and Solus's mana sense at will, allowing him to spot all the animals and magical beasts in the vicinity. When he used chore water magic on a dried up tree, it had the same effect of a tier one spell.

"I stand corrected. It doesn't suck at all. I can use it not only to scout everything within its area of effect, but I can also cast spells while being empowered by the tower and the mana geyser. This is a tremendous improvement to our defensive capabilities." Lith was overjoyed by the discovery.

"I wonder which one of these mirrors controls the arrays." Solus pondered.

"What arrays?"

"I am bound to have several arrays at my disposal, both for protection and attack. Remember what Jirni said? If every noble household has wards to protect against Warp Steps, I don't think my maker was so dumb to overlook the dangers of dimensional magic."

Lith was about to move towards a mirror with a square frame, when his vision cracked, as if he was watching through a kaleidoscope. The room seemed to be spinning around, disorienting him and making Lith lose his balance.

"What the heck is happening?" Suddenly the world wasn't so pink anymore. He didn't feel happy or relaxed, just angry.

"I guess our time has ran out." Solus calmly bit one last pastry while the tower rumbled ominously. The tremors increased while the room was shrinking in size. Countless cracks appeared on the walls.

Like living snakes they spread up to the ceiling, making dust and debris fall on their head.

Lith's mind was too messed up to use dimensional magic for escaping. He couldn't see or focus properly with Solus's mind getting in and out of his own like it was a revolving door.

He could only stumble towards the stairs, but everything happened too fast even for his enhanced body. Huge sections of the ceiling came crashing down, forcing Lith to roll forward to avoid being squashed to death.

A giant piece of stone fell on the stairs, blocking his way.

"F*ck me sideways!" He yelled while the whole room came down.

The rubble weighted more than a ton, but instead of turning him into toothpaste, it simply pushed him down through the floor. The rock beneath his feet became immaterial for a second, letting him fall down to the ground level unharmed.

He hadn't the time to use any spell, yet he was slowly descending through the air as he weighed nothing more than a leaf.

"Why so scared, dummy?" Solus chuckled.

"The tower is my body and so is every single piece of stone and furniture. I would never allow any harm to befall my beloved host." She smiled.

"Holy sh*t! You are smiling!" Lith pointed his finger to the figure that was floating in mid air a few centimetres from him.

It was a humanoid female, entirely made of golden light. It had no facial features, aside from her shining eyes, a smiling mouth and a cascade of golden hair enveloping her whole body that floated in the air like she was moving underwater.

"What do you mean?" Her mouth disappeared. Solus had barely the time to look down on her own hands when her body imploded on itself returning to be a wisp made of light.

"F*ck!" Solus angrily swore.

"Can I see how did I look like through your memories?"

"I don't think it's a good idea." Lith shook his head.

"Pretty please with a cherry on top?" She begged while circling around him.

"Solus, it's for your own good. You wouldn't like what you see."

"Please, I need to know!" She rammed into Lith's head to emphasize her point.

"We just reconciled, I don't want you to get angry or sad."

"I won't, I promise."

"Remember your words, because I will." Lith let his memories flow into their mind link.

He had been true to his word, Solus didn't like it.

"What's this? C cup, maybe more. F*ck the light? Solus is a shorty, barely 1.54 (5'1") high? Nice legs, sadly ass N/A? Her belly looks kind of flabby?" The images had more footnotes than a director's cut.

"Did you check me out in less than five seconds?" Lith couldn't share a memory without everything that came attached to it.

"Yes. I told you it would make you angry. Or sad. Or both."

"That's why you made me promise!"

"Guilty as charged." Lith nodded with a smirk.

"I'm the one stuck in a pubescent body for at least another few years and as I told you before, you have no idea how it feels. I already have to keep everything I do and say in check. I have no control over my thoughts."

Solus accepted his explanation, but was quite pissed off anyway.

'All this time wondering how I'd look like in a human body and when I finally get to see it, my precious memory is ruined by those sh*tty remarks. Couldn't he just be stunned by my beauty?'Find authorized novels in ReadNovelFull，faster updates, better experience，Please click for visiting.

"So, how do you plan on curing Elina?"

"It's going to be tricky." Lith sighed, remembering the second reason he had decided to solve his conflict with Solus. He needed her help.

"This isn't just anybody, it's my mother we are talking about. I'm not going to take any risks, I can't afford using Invigoration during the procedure. I need my full focus and for you to constantly monitor her vitals. Just like we did to remove the undead's poisoning, if I slip up, you must prevent things from escalating."

"Don't worry, we can do it. We'll get Elina pregnant in a jiffy!" She declared proudly, making Lith emit a retching sound.

"Gross!"

"Oh, come on! You know what I mean. We just need to get inside her and do our job."

"Please, stop!" Lith begged her. "This is even worse."

"Fine, I'll shut up." She mind pouted.

'I don't know if the prolonged isolation made me socially awkward or it's just that fusing myself with Lith infected me with his dirty mind.'

While pondering about her poor choice of words, Solus found herself resting on his lap. Lith was planning ahead the procedure while caressing the wisp as it was a puppy.

Before she could realize it, Solus fell asleep for the first time in over eight years.

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Lith didn't have the heart to wake Solus. She had never slept before and he had no idea if it had been made possible by her improved wisp form or because of their temporary fusion. In the past, even when she accompanied him in his dreams, Solus was wide awake.

She was able to follow him only thanks to their mind link and would get no rest from the experience.

After an hour, Lith had finished planning the procedure to cure his mother and even devised contingency measures for everything that could go wrong he was capable of foreseeing, yet Solus was still sound asleep.

After shielding her with the Hush spell, silencing the area around the wisp, he called Professor Vastor. Over the last year, Lith had exchanged contact runes with all the Professors he had a good relationship with.

"Lith, my boy. Glad to finally hear from you." Vastor said with a jovial voice while twirling his mustaches.

"I was a little offended when you left without even saying goodbye, but now I understand why you did it."

"You do?" Lith had no idea what Vastor was talking about. He was inwardly cursing at himself for committing such blatant discourtesy. Between Solus and his foul mood, he had been too sick of the academy to stick around even a second longer.Find authorized novels in ReadNovelFull，faster updates, better experience，Please click for visiting.

"Yeah, thank the gods you left so quickly. When the rankings got out, everything went south. The whole top three in the Light department is something that hasn't happened in years.

"A commoner, a noble and an old noble at that. It sounds almost like the beginning of a joke. Too bad so many people can't see past the end of their noses. In less than an hour, we have been swamped in complaint calls and letters. Most of them are currently warming my old bones."

Vastor showed him a fireplace fueled by still closed envelopes.

"I expected to find you upset, maybe even outraged. I see you are pretty calm despite Linjos's trickery. He should have told us. It would have spared us a lot of troubles."

"What do you mean? What trickery?" Lith's surprise appeared genuine.

"Son, remind me never to play cards against you." Vastor laughed.

"You know, even if we aren't allowed to share the students' grades, we Professors do something called 'talk' about our most promising student. When I heard about you placing third, I asked Wanemyre why she gave you such a bad grade, right before she asked me the very same question.

"Bottom line, we know what happened and we understand why it was necessary. If a third place triggered such a mess, I can't think what would have happened if it was the second or the first." Vastor sighed.

"Wanemyre sure didn't take it well. When the Warden specialization Professor started boasting of their first place, she almost roasted him alive. That woman really has a soft spot for you. It makes one wonder if the rumors about you two are true."

Vastor said it as a joke, but Lith could sense it was actually a serious question.

"I wish." He replied honestly, it was the best way to avoid ruining both their reputations and tainting his achievements with false allegations.

"Don't be so impatient. I get older women are charming, but time only moves forward." For a moment Vastor seemed to be really tired.

"Soon you'll be old enough to court all the Wanemyre in the world. After that, you'll be so old they will pay you no attention unless marriage is at stake. If only there was a way to live forever young. Enough with my whining, to what do I owe the pleasure of this call?"

"I was thinking about healing cut tendons, regenerate missing fingers. Little things, just to make a quick buck." Lith explained.

"I have no idea how much I should ask for it." He wasn't worried about asking too much, but to be underselling his services. As an intern at the academy, he always did what he was asked to, without thinking about the fares.

Vastor pondered for a bit before answering.

"Skin, tendons and maybe a tooth or two are manageable for a single mage, but I wouldn't call even a finger a little thing. Without a mage providing the treatment and another the life force at the same time it's a risky procedure.

Anyway, there is no law against being young and reckless. If you were already graduated, I'd say ten silver coins to split between two mages is a fair price. Since you are still a student, one is more than enough.

"After you kill your first patient, feel free to call me or Marth at any time if you need to talk."

Since Solus kept sleeping, Lith used that time to call Wanemyre and Marth to make up for his blunder. They were happy to hear from him and wished him a good winter break.

When he could finally go back home, it was almost dinner time, but he was forced to skip it due to all the food Solus had shoved down his throat while they were fused.

The next morning, Lith woke up in his bedroom perfectly rested. No matter how effective Invigoration was, he wanted to be at his peak condition for the procedure. Solus could act as a life support system in case something went wrong, but everything else weighed on his shoulders.

'I really don't want another sibling, but I realize how lonely my parents must feel having gone from living with five kids to just one. Once Tista and I leave, maybe I should buy them a house somewhere so they do not feel so isolated from the rest of the world.'

Lith opened the window of his room, letting the chilly morning air in. The sun had still to rise and during the night had snowed a little. He warmed up the house and the floors with fire magic before leaving for the bakery.

Even after a good night's sleep, Lith was still full. The thought of going to the village's bakery was enough to make him sick.

Yet Elina had expressed so much joy at the idea of eating fresh white bread that he couldn't deny her that small luxury.

'No matter how much she trusts me, mom is bound to be scared. Even if I'm not going to cut her open as a surgeon would, she is aware of the risks any procedure, even the simplest one, implies.' Lith thought.

'A positive mindset can help me during the operation and make her recovery faster. Also, I'm curious to see how that b*stard will welcome me now that he needs me.'

Vexal Cornerstone, Brina's father was one of those that almost died at Lith's hand for not defending Tista from Garith's harassment. Ever since then, he lived in fear of Lith coming to finish what he had started, to the point of closing the shop whenever Vexal saw him.

Lith grinned while opening a Warp Steps from his front door to outside the bakery. He could have gone right inside, but he preferred giving the people of Lutia the illusion Warp Steps had limits.

Otherwise as soon as they lost something, they would blame him.

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Sure, there was nothing they could do to him or his family but it would still hurt his reputation. Based on what Professor Vastor told him, many nobles were probably out for his blood.

He couldn't afford to risk for the rumors to turn into mass hysteria, giving those old farts a pretext to doubt his integrity, or even worse get him expelled. The fifth year was the last one he had to pretend to be a normal mage. After that, he could just reveal to be a "genius" magician, just like the Magi of the past.

'I'm really sorry about yesterday. I knew I shouldn't have eaten so much.' Solus said.

'Don't worry about it. A little fasting has never killed anyone. How was sleeping?'

'Incredible.' She replied. 'All of my stress and worries feel so distant now. It's like being born anew. I even dreamed a little, I think. Too bad I can't remember anything.'

Lith nodded while crossing the dimensional corridor to his destination, a few kilometers away. When the shop's door opened, the little bell above it chimed, alerting Vexal of a potential customer.

"Welcom…" The baker almost choked on his words when he recognized Lith. He was dressed like a farmer, with a simple brown shirt and pants, but looked nothing like one. His clothes were pristine, without one spot on mud and so were his shoes.

Vexal looked through the window, noticing that the snow outside was still immaculate.

"I'd like five loaves of bread and twenty pastries, thanks."

Vexal had prepared a speech, hoping to make him feel guilty for his lack of sympathy towards someone less fortunate than him. Brina was the same age as Tista after all, and they both suffered from their condition.

How could he be so insensitive despite knowing the pain she was going through?

Yet he was unable to speak. Lith exuded a cold aura that sent a shiver down Vexal's spine despite the heat coming from the oven in the backroom. There was something wrong with him. He managed to move over the squeaky old floor without making a noise.

'Why the heck does he say nothing?' Lith was surprised by Vexal's meek attitude. Usually he doesn't hide his hostility.

'Opps! Sorry, I'm out of practice.' Solus explained.

'I forgot about having to cut down the killing intent you emit naturally. Since your last two breakthroughs, you always mix a bit of darkness magic with your usual glare whenever you are angry.

Mages don't notice it because their mana flow protects them from it, but normal humans are weaker.'

Once Solus took action, Vexal discovered to have held his breath until that moment. Lith didn't look like a ferocious beast anymore, he was back being an annoying prick.

"Can I get my food? I don't have all day." Lith snorted.

Vexal inwardly cursed at himself, handing over the bread and the pastries as efficiently as he could.

"It's on the house."

With a single wave of the hand, Lith made the goods on the counter disappear in the pocket dimension, replacing them with the money at the same time.

"I owe you nothing and I like things as they are." Lith sneered at him.

"You should have thought about it when I was starving, not now that I have enough money to have a bakery of my own. Keep your fake kindness for yourself, or I'll shove your bulls*it right where it came from. Who knows, you may even like it."

"Lith? Is that you?" Brina's voice came out of the backroom, soon followed by the sound of quick steps that announced her arrival.

"Hi, Brina. Have you considered my offer?" Lith's voice was calm, but lacked any warmth. He was neither hostile nor friendly towards her.

Brina was carrying a basket of bread with her right arm, always covered by a long glove, while her face and left arm were dusted with flour. She wore a net over her air and was smiling a lot.

"Yes, of course. How much is it?"Find authorized novels in ReadNovelFull，faster updates, better experience，Please click for visiting.

"One silver coin for the whole skin. Five silver coins for each finger."

The idea of losing sixteen silver coins at once made Vexal's heart skip a beat.

"That's it?" Brina sighed in relief, making her father inwardly curse at her.

'Ask for a discount, you damn woman! If you flaunt our money, he will find an excuse to raise the price even more!'

"When you can start?"

Lith had actually asked much more than Professor Vastor suggested, to leave some space for negotiations. The outcome was a pleasant surprise.

'I could ask for more, but it's better to shear a sheep rather than butchering it.' Lith thought.

"Not today, I already have another client scheduled. Is tomorrow fine with you?"

"Yes." She nodded, incapable of hiding her surprise. "How did they find you so fast?"

"Word travels fast. Plus I'm that good." Lith gave her a thumbs up.

"I need you to be perfectly rested, so take it easy today. Also, the procedure will take a toll on you. Before we start, eat as much as you can. You'll need energy. Remember I'm a healer, not a miracle worker."

Lith walked out the door, disappearing from sight before it closed behind him. Vexal and Brina looked out of the window almost at the same time. The snow on the porch was still immaculate.

"Dad, do you think the blacksmith is right? Is he really a god?"

"Zekell Proudhammer is just like my chamber pot, full of sh*t." Vexal wanted to spit out of disgust just by hearing that name, but managed to stop in time.

He hated the blacksmith's guts. Ever since Rena had become part of his household, Tista would always treat them first and for free while Vexal had to stand in line like an idiot.

During the city assemblies, Zekell would always have his way, getting to pay fewer taxes compared to others simply by casually mention Lith or his daughter in law. To make things worse, the blacksmith always flaunted the enchanted tools he bought from Lith, saying they were all presents.

Unbeknownst to Vexal, it was a lie. Lith only gave presents to Rena while Zekell exchanged with him precious metals to get what he wanted.

Before going back home, Lith went to Rena's house. Giving her some sweets, a few potions and checking on her and the baby, just to be safe.

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After going back home, Lith finished preparing breakfast for everyone and used Invigoration to recover the energy spent by using the Warp Steps.

The procedure took place in his parents' bedroom as soon as they finished eating. Lith had Solus take the form of a small disc that he placed over his mother's belly.

"What is that thing?" Elina asked.

"It's a focus. It will help me direct and control the magical energies." He lied in response. Solus's core was weak and her mana capacity small, but she was able to use Invigoration as well.

Her role was to check Elina's condition, using her own mana to fix any mistake Lith could make or at least buy enough time for him to stabilize his mother.

He also needed Tista's presence, to use her as a blueprint. First, he blocked Elina's abdomen pain receptors, then he destroyed the scar tissue causing infertility while reshaping the organ to make it resemble Tista's healthy one.

It was the first time he attempted something like that, so it took Lith several hours to complete the procedure. When he finished, he was exhausted.

'Damn, ever since I burned part of my life force, I get tired faster than usual and my stamina has yet to completely recover.

'Using Invigoration on two people at once for imaging was more difficult than I thought, then I had to cut away the scar tissue one layer at the time to not cause too much damage.

'I also had to prevent her from losing too much blood or going into shock. Unlike when I cured Tista, I couldn't immediately replace the destroyed tissue with a healthy one, since it was the excess tissue causing mom's infertility.

I can only hope that everything is fine now.'

"Is it over?" Elina asked with watery eyes. Despite Lith's precautions, she had experienced a burning sensation in her abdomen the whole time. The blood loss had made her dizzy from time to time, stopping only when Lith infused her with part of his life force.

"Yes." he used a clean towel to wipe the sweat from his face.

"Can I get up now? I really need to stretch my legs a bit."

"Not a chance."

Lith forced Elina to rest while he sat near her, checking her condition from time to time. Regrowing organs inside the human body was something he had practiced at the academy, but altering their shape by switching between darkness and light magic was another thing entirely.

He realized how big was the edge true magic gave him compared to normal healers. Unlike them, Lith was able to split a procedure into different steps instead of being forced to complete it in one go.

It had given him the time to share part of his life force with his mother when necessary and to lessen the strain on her body by taking a break from time to time. He also used those pauses to recover his strength with Invigoration.

The procedure had turned out to be much harder than predicted.

Using Invigoration on two people at the same time while exerting surgical precision magic was taxing for both the mind and the body. There were so many things to check at all times that he was sure he would have failed if not for true magic coupled with Solus's help.

She had checked Elina's physical condition at all times, allowing Lith to focus only on the procedure, and as a life force IV replacing most of the blood lost by herself. Only when she couldn't keep up due to her low mana capacity, Solus had asked for Lith's help.

Solus remained with Elina all night long, making sure that everything was all right. Only after twenty-four hours had passed without complications Lith could finally breathe a sigh of relief.

Only then Lith went to Brina's house, removing the scar from the whole arm and making the two fingers she had left perfectly functional. The only downside of the treatment was that the new skin was pale as milk, but Brina didn't care one bit.

"How do you feel?" Lith checked her with Invigoration. Since the procedure was only on the external skin, he had not shared with her any life force, hoping it wouldn't be necessary.

"I feel good. Can I show it to my mother now?"

"Feeling okay doesn't mean being okay. Stand up slowly."

Brina did as asked, but she felt so dizzy she needed to sit again.

"I guess you were right. Gods, suddenly I feel so weak and hungry."

'It seems I almost pushed her physique too far. Vastor is right, a single healer can't restore fingers without endangering the life of the patient.'

He decided to split the treatment in three different days, one for each finger. It made everything easier for both of them and allowed him to better study the regeneration process without witnesses that could notice the anomaly his magic was.

While at the academy he had to use true magic like it was fake, now he could finally use it as he saw fit. After Brina, several other villagers came to him for help and every single patient provided Lith with invaluable knowledge.

After a few days, Tista entered Lith's room while he was using Accumulation to further refine his mana core.

"Say what you want, lil brother, but after seeing what you did for mom and Brina, I don't think that being a healer is just a job. It's something that brings hope and joy to other people. That's why I want your help. I'd really like enrolling in the academy."

Lith was sitting on the floor cross legged, her words merely caused him to raise an eyebrow.

"Once again, that's incredibly naïve of you. I can't wait for you to meet Professor Manohar. If he can't change your mind, then no one can." He sighed.Find authorized novels in ReadNovelFull，faster updates, better experience，Please click for visiting.

"Let me be honest, right now you have no chance of getting admitted. You are old for the fourth year, your mastery of the elements is sloppy, and you have no sponsor." At those words, Tista's smile disappeared.

"Use next year to practice magic until it becomes second nature to you. Then, if I manage to graduate, I can pull some strings and make everything easier for you."

Tista rushed to hug him when Lith stopped her by raising his hand. She suddenly had no control over her body anymore. Tista was pinned against the wall with her feet dangling a few centimeters from the floor.

"Tista, you are a pretty girl and the world is a harsh place. This could happen every time you walk alone in a corridor. Show me that you can take care of yourself."

At first, she thought it was just a bad joke, but when Lith refused to let her go, she discovered she couldn't even call for help. Whenever she opened her mouth, no voice came out of it.

"It's just chore magic. You can do it." Lith's words helped her to regain her cool, yet it took her a while to break the spell.

"Why did you do that?"

Lith replied by telling her about all that had happened to him from his first day at the academy. About the hazing attempts, the mean words from the students and professors and even how Phloria had almost got r*ped.

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"Despite Linjos's best intentions, the academy is still a 'survival of the fittest' environment. If you go in there with a weak mentality, you will not last even a month. Chore magic is your sword and shield against humans, since it's quick and effective. Practice it until you get as good as I am."

Lith had expected for Tista to be shocked and to need some time before making her decision. He was only half right. She immediately asked Lith's guidance, to the point of requesting homework to improve her control over the elements.

After a month passed, her magic foundations had improved by leaps and bounds. Because of the harsh weather, she could spend most of time indoor practicing. Lith's training course focused more on finesse and surgical precision rather than use magic for bashing stuff.

It allowed them to safely perform sparring sessions inside the house by fighting for the control of the color of candles, changing the temperature of a glass of water, or use earth magic to juggle with an increasing number of pebbles.

When the weather was good, Lith's family would use Warp Steps to visit their neighbors or the village. Elina was the only one with a communicator amulet, so she could always call Lith to have them Warped back home anytime they wanted.

Lith used those days to go back in the forest and conduct experiments with Forgemastering. It had taken a while, but the package from Linjos had finally arrived. After learning of his ranking, Lith had spent almost all his points immediately.

He had purchased a Skinwalker armor and several magic crystals of different purity. The Skinwalker armor was similar to his uniform, but better in every way. The elemental and physical protections were stronger. Also, by injecting mana into it, Lith could boost its self-repair speed.

The armor's best trait was its adaptability. It could shapeshift into different forms, the only requirement was for Lith to provide the enchantment a sample of the clothing he wanted it to reproduce.

Thanks to the Skinwalker armor, Lith now had a whole wardrobe of enchanted clothes. They would all offer him a great degree of protection and he wouldn't remain naked for a second like it happened when he switched between clothes via the dimensional pocket.

Lith stored inside the gemstone his farmer clothes, the hunting suit, the academy's uniform and the expensive noble clothes that Lark had bought him.

"Now this is the only suit I'll ever need!"

Lith had chosen the Skinwalker armor not only because it greatly improved his defensive abilities, but also because it made possible to easily blend in with any crowd and provided him a sample of magic crystal imbued clothes.

He had now an enchanted item he could study with Invigoration, which properties he could attempt to replicate and improve by using true magic.

Lith had spent the rest of his points to buy mana crystals. There were too many unanswered questions about them. He was eager to perform experiments with the mana blade away from prying eyes.

Realizing a mana blade like the one he used during the Magic Crystal class had been an easy feat. It was just a handle made of solid silver enchanted to have mana pathways but no pseudo core.

The only issue was the price. Lith had to pay for both the material and the craftsmanship since he was no blacksmith. Lith managed to cut his losses by exchanging his forgemastering works with Zekell's.

The blacksmith was eager to acquire dimensional rings to safely store his possession and enchanted tools to make his life easier, just like Lith was eager to get his hands on free materials.

Thanks to his experiments, Lith discovered that if instead of cutting along a magic crystal's lines he used the mana blade on the cracks that Invigoration revealed, he could recharge the low quality ones or increase their purity by one tier by providing them enough mana.

The crystals' cracks were capable of absorbing and store his mana, but only up to a degree. As soon as the crystal couldn't contain more energy, the cracks disappeared. All the attempts of further refining the gemstones ended up in failure.

'It seems that the cracks are the spots from which the crystal was still absorbing the surrounding world energy when it was mined. It means that it had yet room to develop further and that's exactly what happens when I inject mana into it.Find authorized novels in ReadNovelFull，faster updates, better experience，Please click for visiting.

'I wonder if the so called crystal scraps are actually what I need to refine better quality gemstones. If they work like my mana core, the mana crystals need to grow up to a certain size before shrinking to compress and boost their energy and then they need to grow again, repeating the process.

'If I'm right, it means that high quality crystals require not only an abundant mana source, but also a lot of time to properly develop. Since my core took years to turn from red to cyan and its max size is that of marble, I can't imagine how many decades it takes for a mana crystal as big as those I saw down in the mine to form.

'Unless I find a way to artificially grow them at a faster rate, buying and charging low quality crystals is the best I can do. Refining them would take too much time, my mana core takes precedence since I can't buy a better one with money.'

Soon only one month of winter was left and Lith's birthday was closing in. The prolonged rest made Lith recover most of his strength, while teaching Tista turned out to be a great way for him to further improve his foundations about magic.

Everything he taught her about chore magic also applied to true magic. Tista asked him a lot of questions about silent magic and multicasting, some so peculiar that he had never thought about such niche cases.

Unlike him that was used to think big since he was little, trying to improve the effects or the range of his spells, Tista thought small by following his teachings, focusing more on micromanaging the mana.

To answer her, Lith had to revise and deepen his understanding of the flow of mana. After many trials, experimenting together with her, Lith was able to improve the way he waved spells and to further simplify multicasting.

The only times Tista had the opportunity to put into practice her new skills was when Nana had to leave the village either for personal reasons or because of house calls. Lith would spend those days locked up in the tower, trying to incorporate magic crystals into his creations.

Lith's aim was to reproduce an Earth's house facilities, providing his family with running water, lighting, and most importantly, a real bathroom.

After getting used to the academy's lifestyle, not having a bathtub and being forced to use a chamber pot again was quite traumatic for him. His elemental stones could provide the first two, but to make them last until his return, he had to mass produce them.

Elemental stones were just a poor imitation of magic crystals that he had invented before even knowing the crystals existed. They could store a single spell, needing to be recharged after every use.

Even the weakest red magic crystal held much more mana than dozens of elemental stones. Also, it could be turned on and off like a switch, making it last much longer. For any other young mage, using red mana crystals would be too expensive.

Low quality crystals didn't recharge by themselves, and once they ran out of power they had to be changed. Lith could simply pretend to replace them with new ones, since he was able to power them up at will.

Even with the experience gained developing the elemental stones on his own and having studied the academy's tools for a whole year, the task turned out to be harder than he expected.

At first, he used only the lowest quality stones. Lith expected them to be lost or even worse, to explode. Lith had no idea how to link a pseudo core to a crystal since it was a subject of the fifth year, which he had yet to begin.

He used the Skinwalker armor as a template, searching for a way to reproduce its schematics using true magic only. After over two months Lith had yet to find a way to make the process safe.

There were only two weeks left before his birthday when he received a call from Marchioness Distar.

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"Your Ladyship, to what do I owe the pleasure of this call?" Lith gave her a bow. Not only Mirim Distar was his sponsor at the White Griffon academy, but she was also his most powerful backer.

"First of all, congratulations are in order. The ranking you achieved brings great prestige to both our households and puts a muzzle on all those who wanted to prosecute me for strong arming Linjos into accepting your application."

"I'm sorry to have caused you so many troubles." Lith bowed again, aware of the meaning of her words. The Marchioness was a busy woman, she would never call him to exchange niceties.

Hers was a business call and she was reminding Lith about how much he owed her before asking him for a favor.

"Don't be." She dismissed his apologies with a wave of her hand, surprising Lith quite a bit.

"Politics work like that. If you cannot attack someone's actions, then you attack their reputation. Remember this well, once you have made some powerful enemies, they will criticize you no matter what you do.

It's something you must get used to, if you ever decide to join the political arena."

"Thanks for your concern, but it's not my intention. I plan to devote my life to magic and magical research. Wealth and status are just a mean to an end to me. I think the Marquisate is in good, capable hands already."

Lith chose his words carefully. The Marchioness' game was still unclear to him, so he decided to make it clear that he had no desire to become one of her competitors. Once he became a mage, Lith would receive a last name and a noble title.

Yet unless he also accepted the role and responsibilities that ruling his lands implied, he wouldn't become a true noble. His title would simply be nominal, giving him status and authority over the lesser nobles, but no wealth or annuities.

Many Professors of the academy had chosen that kind of life, serving their country with their magic rather than as feudal lords.

"Thanks for your kind words." The Marchioness nodded her head in approval.

"Now let's get down to business. The reason I called you is to inform you about the progress we made with the sealed box and the coded message you delivered to me. Sadly, despite countless hours of studies, my Forgemasters were unable to open it. It detonated leaving behind little clues. If only we had more than one, things could have been different." She sighed.

"The contents we managed to salvage matched your hypothesis. It contained a lot of alchemical tools that could have been used to synthesize and transport the toxin. It also carried enchanted items, but the explosion destroyed them leaving nothing we could identify."

'Damn! I know that already.' Lith thought. 'If only I had a decent excuse to provide her some of those useless trinkets I found, I could understand the bigger picture. Too bad there was no way to explain my stockpile of boxes.'

"On the bright side, we have finally managed to decipher the message." The Marchioness continued.

"It contained a series of instructions and names. The instructions explain the timing and dosage of the toxin, so at this point is irrelevant information. The names are quite interesting, though. They belong both to members of the academy staff and the students.

"We know from the royal constables' investigation that only a part of the academy staff listed was involved in the poisoning scheme. The others were simply approached and found ill-suited for recruiting because of their loyalty to the Kingdom or simply due to their cowardly nature.

"The problem is that we cannot interrogate students as we did for the staff. Accusing young heirs of noble households of treason would mean to implicate the whole bloodline. Those are more intricated than a spiderweb.

"One wrong move without hard evidence could escalate things, especially if the kids are actually innocent. Just being publicly suspected of high treason would mean for the households to lose their reputation, upsetting the balance of power in the Court.

"As I told you earlier, in the political arena it's not enough to be guiltless, you must also appear guiltless. The slightest suspicion can make you persona non grata in the right circles, not to mention your business relationship with the other nobles or the Crown.

"It can turn a family on the rise into one in decline. The Crown can't allow itself to lose even a single ally, that's why I have thought of an unorthodox method to continue the investigation…"

Deirus Household. After the closing of the academy.Find authorized novels in ReadNovelFull，faster updates, better experience，Please click for visiting.

Yurial Deirus was having the hardest time of his life, to the point that he often remembered Balkor's attack with nostalgia. At least back then he had friends and enemies. A safe zone and a danger zone. Everything was perfectly black and white.

Now his whole world was in shades of grey so similar between them that the only way to distinguish sh*t from chocolate was by the smell. His parents and his future in-laws paraded him almost daily during social events and parties, forcing Yurial to always keep his uniform and the golden pin on.

The situation caused him a huge amount of stress, since he was forced to spend a lot of time with Libea, his future wife, while pretending he enjoyed her company. The more Yurial knew her, the more he found himself contemplating Lith's suggestion about how easy it would be to arrange for her to an 'accidental fall' from a window.

Also, every time someone complimented him for his achievement, Yurial prayed to the gods to make him disappear or put him out of his misery, whatever they found more convenient.

Linjos's trickery with the rankings was like a poisoned knife in his heart. With each present and congratulation he received for his undeserved position, his condition got worse.

In two months, he had barely the time to touch a single spellbook. Yurial felt like an exotic beast, no one was interested in what he thought or had to say, only in the griffon shaped golden pin.

To avoid another relapse in his addiction to tranquilizers, Archmage Deirus, his father, had assigned him a personal assistant whose only task was to make sure Yurial would remain clean.

Yurial's father had chosen for him a stunning young woman, so to not ever leave him alone, even at night. Yet her well paid care and attention only contributed to making Yurial feel like a puppet.

'Neither my father nor Libea's family trust me. If this is how I'm going to live my life after I graduate, then I'd rather fail. I have no say in what I do, where I go, not even about who I spend my nights with. What good is to be a powerful mage if I'm only a spectator in my own life?'

The only silver lining in his current predicament was that the Ernas family attended to most of the events he was forced to took part in, allowing him to spend some time with his friends.

He and Lith called each other from time to time with the communication amulet. Every time Lith told him about his slow life in the countryside, Yurial couldn't help but wish their roles were reversed.

In his eyes, Lith's life was perfect, with a loving family, no responsibilities and a bright future ahead, while his own resembled more an elaborate form of torture with each passing day.

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Ernas Household. After the closing of the academy.

Phloria Ernas was having the time of her life. Her ranking was high enough to earn her father's admiration and to prevent her mother from nagging at her. She could spend her days as she pleased, riding, hunting, practicing her sword or magic.

The only sour note was that she wasn't allowed to leave the estate. Winter was the time of the year when the Ernas, her father's household, and the Myrok, her mother's, would meet to spend some quality time and reinforce their bond.

Since she attended the academy, it was her only opportunity to see her cousins and grandparents. There was no bad blood between the families and although Phloria found her mother's bloodline to be quite creepy, she loved them nonetheless.Find authorized novels in ReadNovelFull，faster updates, better experience，Please click for visiting.

She was aware that while the Ernas embodied the shield protecting the royal family in broad daylight, the Myrok were the poisoned blade that was tasked of taking care of the enemies of the Kingdom from the shadows, under the façade of being harmless second rate nobles.

Jirni's side of the family was very interested in Friya and Quylla. Since the girls had no blood relationship with the Ernas, the Myrok hoped to have them marry into their household to add their magical talent to their assets and hopefully to their bloodline too.

Between her relatives and the parties she was forced to attend to, she never had the time to visit Lith, only hearing from him with the amulet.

"Whoever said 'away from the eyes, away from the heart' was a jacka*s, right Lucky?" Phloria said throwing a chicken leg to the big mastiff, that barked enthusiastically.

As long as she fed him roasted chicken, Lucky agreed with everything she said.

"I miss so much our walks, our talks, the cuddling and everything else. I can't invite him here, or my grandparents would eat him alive, nor can I go to Lutia.

They have no Warp Steps and I have never been there. Going back and forth would take too much time, dammit." A chicken wing earned her another woof of compassion.

Quylla and Friya were faring much worse than their adoptive sister. During the last two months, Quylla had been unable to practice magic even once. Jirni gave Quylla her undivided attention, trying to cram in a single winter the education the other girls had received since birth.

Quylla had to learn the proper etiquette during conversation and the meals. How to ride a horse, play at least one instrument, and learn everything about the Kingdom's history and current political affairs.

Her talent for magic couldn't help her in any of the above, while her shy character made everything more difficult. Day after day, Quylla was forced to talk with people she didn't know and do things she didn't care about.

Friya had a lot of free time, instead. She used it to learn about her new family, spending more time with Orion and Jirni. Compared to her biological mother, Jirni was a much better kind of monster, giving her ample freedom about how to manage her life.

Orion was the father she had always wished for, so she soon came to realize that being adopted by the Ernas couple was the best thing that had ever happened to her. Friya spent her days helping Quylla revise the various subjects daily assigned to her and training together with Phloria.

Outside the academy, the two had still a shallow relationship, but it was slowly improving. Friya had long feared for Phloria to push her around abusing her status of the true daughter, yet the only thing she ever did was nag her about how bossy Jirni was and how fat Lucky was getting.

There were only two downsides to her current situation. The first, just like for Yurial, was being paraded as the second best student of the White Griffon at every occasion. The second one was closely related to the first: the bad rumors that came with her achievement.

Being a former member of the Solivar family was a stigma she was unable to wash away. Both the old and new magical bloodlines resented Friya, spreading the vilest accusations about her.

During each party, as soon as Friya turned her back, she could hear whispers about her sleeping with the Professors, blackmailing them, or cheating her way to success. There was nothing she could do about those rumors.

The thought that despite her presence was hurting the Ernas' reputation, her new parents treated her as one of her own, only made her wish that she could cut away those filthy tongues and shove them up their as*es.

Distar Household. Two weeks after the call.

That evening, one of the most important events of the season was taking place in the Marchioness' house. Her Marquisate was flourishing quickly, since it now ruled over the region hosting two of the only four remaining great academies.

The Earth and Crystal Griffon academies were closed. No one knew when or if they would ever reopen. Archmage Deirus had been awarded for his services with the lands hosting the Black Griffon, giving him control over the remaining two.

They now shared an enormous power above all the other noble households. Some said too much power.

All the four remaining academies depended on the two households for funding and supplies, giving them a voice in the matter of who to admit or about the changes in the academies' system.

The Crown had received countless petitions about taking at least one academy away from each of them, yet none had received a response. Officially, the Crown was still considering both sides' claims. Off the record, they had already dismissed them all.

The Crown had no interest to strip two of its most loyal subjects of a prize they had worked hard to achieve just to indulge households with a shady past and an even more shady present. The names at the bottoms of most petitions were the same on the Marchioness' list.

It wasn't enough to accuse them of treason but more than enough to not listen to a word they said.

That night Marchioness Distar had gathered the most influential people of the region to celebrate the rankers in the top twenty of the White and Lightning Griffon academies, allowing to students and their parents to mingle together.

Yurial and his fiancée, Libea, were having another 'happy' evening together.

"You know, when our parents arranged our marriage, I couldn't help but see you Deirus like tricksters hungry for the Fintyr household wealth. I would have never expected for a commoner's bloodline to become so successful. I admit I was wrong about you."

Libea said as soon they got rid of Duke Cailon.

"I was wrong about you too." Yurial replied with the same plastered smile like hers.

"I always saw you Fintyr as thirsty beggars in desperate need to get a bit of magic in their bloodline. I knew all along that your family has given birth to more dragons than mages in the past." He added viciously.

"I hoped we could at least keep things civil between us, but as I said, I was wrong."

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