Ignoring Dianthus’ outburst, Velvet observed Paramus’ and Harlan’s reactions, much more interested in the Traversa family.

She had to steal from them, so having the chance of knowing how they acted beforehand was truly a gift.

As per Baetylus’ name… it was a future her problem. Present her was busy taking notes.

First, Harlan’s big gear. It wasn’t an artifact made for a knowledge mage, reason why Paramus hijacked its control so easily. Like Dianthus did to her vines, stronger mages could take ownership from spells differing from the attacking mage’s Paradigm.

That’s why mages preferred to center their efforts on bettering their own Paradigm abilities, which didn’t lose power like abilities from other Paradigms, and couldn’t be hijacked.

But Velvet, remembrance and knowledge mages worked differently. If they managed to know their enemies' Paradigms, they could simply use spells differing from the enemies’ Paradigms.

Knowledge was their forte, after all.

Now, a knowledge mage could use spells from other Paradigms, but they weren’t supposed to act like other Paradigms. That’s why knowledge was formed by apathy and greed.

Apathy was an important part of knowledge, and Velvet had discovered something about Harlan. He was closer to the Greed part than the Apathy part.

He snapped when Dianthus said that they couldn’t accomplish anything. And before, he had gotten extremely disappointed when Velvet didn’t complain about his work, not giving him a chance to prove his knowledge.

Harlan was greedy. Greedy for acknowledgement.

Paradigms were fixed, and couldn’t be changed. If a mage got a Paradigm just to discover they didn’t enjoy it, then it sucked to be them, but the choice was final.

If someone became a knowledge mage, then they were the result of apathy and greed. Not just greed.

Trying to behave like someone from a different Paradigm was a trip to madness. Miasma would accumulate faster, the magic would be weaker, and the mage would be quicker to lose control.

That being said, Velvet thought, knowing that gives some hints about the Traversa’s behaviors. Harlan is not an unbacked mage, so there’s official mages behind him who should keep him in check.

For them to not be doing so, I have two guesses. One, they don't care. If a novice mage is stupid enough to ignore their Paradigm’s rules, they deserve to lose control.

And two, very high competition. Harlan’s problems seem to be born from wanting to prove himself to others, so maybe the Traversa have a novice ranking like the Mergifari. And the higher you are, the more attention you receive.

That affected Velvet’s incursion plan. Her previous expectations were that if she entered and encountered a novice mage, they might fight for a bit, before they ran to get help. But now, she kinda expected that any novice mage she found there would fight her until one of them truly went down.

She expected that Tristan would give her concealment artifacts to keep her identity hidden, but the problem was the spells she had.

If she used her normal set of spells, even if she wore the best concealing artifact, her identity would be revealed.

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Not only that. If she used spells from too many different Paradigms, the fact that the intruder was a knowledge mage would also be revealed.

So she needed to pick one Paradigm and stick to it.

It doesn’t need to be a Paradigm, but that depends on Him listening to me. Velvet mused, the plan taking shape on her mind. But if He does… yes, that might be what I need.

She needed to buy some more things.

Blinking slowly, Velvet extended her hand, touching the pillar Dianthus had summoned.

It’s warm to the touch, and there are some runes written, similar to the ones in Igern’s weapons. Arhontissa’s magic authority, perhaps?

She slid her finger a bit, but the pillar disappeared. Looking up, her eyes met Dianthus’, who glanced at her, clearly having canceled the spell.

There was no need to be so stingy. I already memorized the runes, jackass. Smiling back at him innocently, Velvet looked to the mass of tables, materials and chairs conglomerated on the other side.

Dianthus knocked the gear in the direction opposite of her, so she ended up safe. The other mages, on the other hand…

“Why did you throw it here, you imbecile?!” A mage, who was climbing from under the debris screamed at him. “You should have stopped it instead of playing with it like a fucking yo-yo!”

“Yo-yos are supposed to come back to the hand, I think you mean a spinning top.” Velvet corrected, not helping the situation at all.

“Aren’t the ones who come back boomerangs?” Dianthus asked, deliberately ignoring the fuming novice mage, sitting down again next to her.

“Different methods, but same result.” She said, smiling.

Dianthus extended one arm behind her back, without touching her. A table crossed half the room instantly, crashing against the shield he summoned, ending reduced to smithereens.

None of the splinters touched them, crossing to the other side.

Wrath mages… Velvet sighed to herself, but neither she nor Dianthus turned to pay attention to the raging mage.

Only for him to get angrier.

“Enough.” Paramus said, touching her monocle.

The moment she did, the whole room spinned, tables, chairs and mages going back as they were moments before, unbroken and unmoved.

As if nothing had happened minutes ago, she continued. “Since the explanation for the ritual got interrupted, I will explain the traditional ways to engrave artifacts.” Paramus stared at Dianthus. “There should be no problem with that, right?”

“None whatsoever.” He said.

…

Once the class was over, everyone parted ways, including Velvet.

Well, not everyone. Harlan and Paramus stood behind, but she didn’t want to be present for that conversation.

She did want to, actually, but there was no way for her to do so without getting caught.

So, instead, she went to buy more materials. The night was going to be long, and she was going to need them.

…

When she finished, it was dawn.

She had spent 10000 auris more on materials. Some she did need, and some she didn’t, just to confuse anyone watching her.

I’m really becoming a moving workshop… Ah, whatever. Time to keep working. She thought, going to the end of the Mergifari’s safe forest.

She had someone to find.

It didn’t take her too much time. Yes, she had gone as far away from Velvet’s hut as possible to work, but, since her work was the same, her location didn’t change much.

Nebura was in front of the magic wall, tinkering with the box.

Slowly, the feeling of being watched crept over her neck, making her look to the trees behind.

It wasn’t night yet, but the forest was cloaked in shadows, and the cold mist was sweeping in.

Her eyes met a figure half hidden by the darkness, making her jump, almost dropping the box.

“Velvet!” Not the damn girl again, she cursed.

“Hello!” She waved at Nebura, like friends who hadn’t seen each other in days.

Which they clearly weren’t.

“Are you trying to steal the replicator again? The last time you got me by surprise, but now-” Nebura took a combat posture. She wasn’t planning on surrendering.

“Ah, no, don’t worry. I don’t want the box anymore.”

Even when it would be a nice way of getting profits. A perpetual motion machine of money…

Nebura clicked her tongue, not trusting Velvet one bit. “Then why are you here?”

“I live here.” She said, widening her eyes slightly, using a ‘Isn’t that obvious’ tone.

“Stop playing dumb.” Both of them knew that this place was far away from Velvet’s home, so she clearly, obviously had gone after her on purpose.

“Ah, well, the truth is…” Velvet touched her face, a slight blush growing on it. For anyone who knew her, a very fake blush. “I know you’re planning to team up against me~”

She proceeded to cover her blush with her hands, like a delicate miss. “Ah! So much attention is embarrassing, you know!”

Nebura’s eyebrows twitched, annoyed with Velvet’s antics. Even so, she changed her posture, to one much more wary.

“I’m a shy lady, and I cannot take you all at once, so…” Spreading her fingers to look at Nebura, she finally said. “I’m going to take you down one by one, again and again.”

“If half of you are constantly in the hospital, you can't team up.”