“Did you know about the Age of Mysteries?” Adion asked Sell as the received their food.

They had gone to eat lunch together after their history class. It had been a little awkward to get rid of Relmon and Felicia. The excuse of meeting their siblings for lunch seemed a little doubtful a second time around, but Adion really wanted to talk with Sell alone.

“I don’t know much about it,” Sell said, “But I knew it was the Age before the Age of Wonder.”

“What do you know about it?” Adion asked excitedly.

“Well,” Sell said, smiling amusedly at Adion, “Apparently, a lot of scholars believe that the people of that Age were focused on the mysteries of magic. Presumably, things like Gifts and Words of Truth. They might have even had an answer to all of that and were investigating even more mysterious forms of magic. That is in contrast to the Age of Wonder, where the focus was on runes. At least that's what I heard.”

“I see,” Adion slowly nodded, “Aren’t you curious about it?”

“Sure,” Sell nodded, “But is there really a way to find out anything about an Age so far into the past? Whatever we find out about that Age is from findings left behind from the Age of Wonder.”

“I guess that makes sense,” Adion said, “But Professor Tenami seemed to know a whole lot that she couldn’t share.”

“Planning on finding out?” Sell asked.

“You’re supposed to be able to find out anything if you have the credits,” Adion said, “That’s why I want to go the library. Maybe I can afford to know a little.”

“Maybe,” Sell nodded, taking a sip from her drink.

“Anyway,” Adion said, “What was the family meeting about?”

“Haah,” Sell sighed, “Just a bunch of idiots wanting to know things I didn’t want to tell them.”

Adion raised an eyebrow questioningly, not understanding Sell’s vague answer.

“You see, the Amyss family is very big,” Sell said, “And we have a lot of members even here in Cyalis. My sister is currently in charge of the Cyalis part of the family. But that is only on paper, as her status as the crown princess beats anyone in a branch family. But in reality, she has too much work with the student council and her House to give much thought to anything else. And she is only here for five years, so the one who is actually in charge is Falmion Amyss. He is my great uncle’s son, and he is a little too invested in my life it seems.”

“In what way?” Adion asked.

“Well, for one, he wanted to know about my powers,” Sell explained, “As a high Bronze mage, I was expected to do well in the tournament, but no one expected my fire to be so powerful that I could defeat Vels Graton without a problem. I’m sure he is going to send word to my parents, and I’ll soon hear from them about it. They are probably going to be mad that I’ve hidden my strength.”

“You are not allowed to do that?” Adion asked.

“I don’t know if it’s exactly forbidden,” Sell mused, “But it’s just strange to hide your strength from your own family. At least, my family thinks so.”

“Right,” Adion nodded, “I’m glad it doesn’t seem to be so bad. I was worried they had heard about us spending time together and were suspicious about it.”

“Oh, you were the main topic of the meeting,” Sell said with a smile.

“What?” Adion asked, surprised.

“Haha,” Sell laughed, “You are the first student ever to be admitted as a Silver mage. Of course, people will talk about it.”

“But not anything about us being a couple?” Adion asked.

“He didn’t even seem to think of the possibility,” Sell said with a wide smile, “In fact, it was suggested that I should get close to you. It would be good to have someone like you as a friend of the family if you continue to grow.”

Adion stared open-mouthed at Sell, hardly believing what he had heard.

“Hahaha,” Sell laughed happily, “Still, we shouldn’t push it. I’m sure they’ve already heard some rumors but dismissed it as nonsense. But we can’t let them get anything with substance to cling to.”

“Right,” Adion said, smiling at the thought of getting to spend time with Sell, all with the blessing from her family.

Revealing my strength might have been a better idea than I thought.

“What about your sister?” Adion asked, “She was there, right? I can’t imagine her not being suspicious of us.”

“She definitely is,” Sell said, blushing slightly, “She is poking me with questions in that direction every time we meet. But I have always denied it. I’m not sure if she believes it or not.”

Sell paused, with a conflicted look on her face. “Anyway, she was actually quite supportive of the idea. And she didn’t mention anything about us being more than friends during the meeting, at least.”

“That’s good,” Adion said, “Maybe you should just tell her. She might be able to help out if anything happens.”

“Absolutely not,” Sell refused, “Never trust her, Adion. Unless it’s for the good of the Amyss family, she won’t budge an inch.”

“Okay, okay,” Adion said, giving up on the idea. He looked at her empty plate and asked, “Have you finished?”

“Yeah,” Sell nodded, “Let’s get going. We shouldn’t be late.”

Adion and Sell both got up from their seats and started walking toward the Old Academy, where their next class would take place.

“Have you been to the Old Academy before?” Adion asked as they walked side by side.

“No,” Sell shook her head, “Not even my sister is allowed to bring people inside the Academy before they are students here. And even as a student, the Old Academy is closed to most people.”

“It is? Why?” Adion asked.

“A lot of important buildings and people,” Sell said, “Can’t just have anyone running around.”

“Oh, right,” Adion said, “The Ruins are in the Old Academy. Do you know anything about them?”

“No one but the Council knows anything about them,” Sell said. She turned to look up at Adion with a smile and said, “But I have a feeling you will try to find out despite that, right?”

“I’m not going to teleport inside or anything,” Adion said, “I have been told that’s a bad idea. But with enough credits, who knows what I can find out?”

“In theory, credits can get you anything,” Sell said, “But I can’t imagine how much that would cost you. I doubt even being the rank 1 student for five years straight would cut it.”

This story is posted elsewhere by the author. Help them out by reading the authentic version.

“How unfair,” Adion muttered, “Well, I’ll figure it out.”

Once they arrived at the wall surrounding the Old Academy, they had to show their Academy badges before they were allowed to enter.

As they continued making their way to the fighting pits, Adion looked around curiously, trying to see what was so special about the place. But besides the Tower of Cylalis, he didn’t notice anything different.

“I expected more,” Adion said.

“More what?” Sell asked.

“I don’t know,” Adion shrugged, “Secret stuff? Runes and artifacts?”

“Haha,” Sell laughed, “I’m sure they have secret stuff somewhere. But it’s probably behind locked doors. The Ruins, for example, should be behind those walls over there.”

Adion looked in the direction Sell pointed and spotted a wall, pure white in color, a bit further away.

“The Ruins are over there?” Adion asked.

Do they really have runes that would detect me if I teleport inside and take a look?

“It’s probably the most well-guarded area of the Academy, so don’t get any ideas,” Sell warned.

“I just can’t imagine what type of runes could detect me,” Adion said.

“How about a Soul mage trained in sensing auras?” Sell questioned.

“I guess that would do it,” Adion admitted.

I’ll find some other way.

Eventually, they reached the fighting pits, where they saw most of their classmates already waiting.

“Adion, Sellitha,” Relmon greeted as he walked up to the two.

“Sell! Could you come over for a second!” Felicia’s voice rang out from further away.

Sell looked toward her with a slight frown.

“I’ll go see what she wants,” Sell said before walking away.

“You sure spend a lot of time with Sellitha,” Relmon commented, “Must be nice having a brother that close to her sister.”

Adion looked at Relmon with narrowed eyes.

What’s that supposed to mean?

“Anyway,” Relmon said, “I hope you won’t leave me alone with Felicia again. I don’t think she likes me very much.”

“No offense, Relmon,” Adion said, “But I’m good friends with Sell, and I barely know you. So that will probably happen again in the future.”

“Oh…right. Sorry,” Relmon said, screeching his neck awkwardly, “I’ll figure out a way to handle Felicia’s personality.”

She seems pretty nice to me?

“Anyway,” Relmon said, “You are aware that people are talking a lot about you two, right?”

“Well, we are the rank 1 and rank 2 of the diamond class, so I would expect as much,” Adion said.

“Yeah, sure. But more than that, people are talking about you two seeming…well, more than friends,” Relmon said, looking for a reaction from Adion.

Adion was very well aware of the direction the conversation was taking, so he had Atao ready to eliminate any reactions he could show to give anything away.

“That’s just normal for people to talk about,” Adion shrugged, “It’s not like it bothers me.”

“Is there any truth to it?” Relmon asked.

“No,” Adion denied.

“You’re a hard guy to read, Adion,” Relmon said, scrutinizing Adion’s expression.

That might be the first time I’ve heard something like that.

“Why are you so concerned about what people are saying about me and Sell?” Adion questioned.

“I’m not,” Relmon said, “It’s just something to talk about.”

“Sure,” Adion said slowly.

He was still thinking that Relmon wasn’t saying something, but he decided to drop the matter when he saw a Diamond mage approaching.

“Anyway, looking forward to some fighting?” Relmon asked, also looking towards the professor.

“I guess it could be interesting,” Adion nodded.

“Alright, everyone. Gather around!” The Diamond mage yelled out as he arrived. He was a middle-aged man with short black hair and a big black beard with sprouts of white in it.

“I’m Professor Magner,” The professor introduced himself as the students of the diamond class circled around him, “And I will be your instructor in this class. The name of the class is ‘Fighting - To Diamond and Beyond.’ Just like the name would suggest, the focus of the class will be on fighting. You will mainly be fighting each other, as even if we would like to think that we sapi only use our strength to fight beasts, that is often far from the truth. And there is a world of difference between fighting other sapi and fighting beasts.

“But that is not the only focus of the class. As you all know, weapons are very important when fighting, but more so when fighting beasts than sapi. And it is only essential in the lower stages of a mage’s journey. You will realize that weapons will lose more and more of its importance as you grow stronger.

“It will never be completely useless, as even Soul mages make use of weapons. But it is a fact that most mages who come here tend to have an overreliance on their weapons. This makes it hard to develop any fighting style revolving around your magic. I watched the tournament, and a lot of you use magic as a supplement to your weapons, and not the other way around.

“If you one day reach the Soul stages, you will notice just how much of a handicap that is. For this reason, you won’t be using weapons in this class. Some of you might take some time to adapt. But eventually, you won’t even recognize your old selves.

“You will have to make use of your concepts and spells. And you will have to use them cleverly, honing your battle instincts little by little. I know this might seem especially difficult for the earth and wind mages among you, as your element rarely has what it takes to kill an opponent of the same stage, But we are not here to kill each other, and you lot will have the most to gain from a class like this. So make use of the experience. By the end of it, you will be able to take down the fire and water mages a lot easier than before.

“Well, I’m not going to say much more than that for now. Let’s get started. We’ll begin with rank 100 against rank 99. Step forward.”

Two boys stepped forward from the group. They both had straight backs and seemed fired up to give a good fight.

“That red-haired guy was placed in the gold class before the tournament,” Relmon said in a low voice for Adion to hear.

“I would guess we have a few of those around,” Adion said, “Maybe I should take the time to learn who my classmates are.”

“You really should,” Relmon nodded with an amused smile.

“Alright, you win if your opponent gives up or if I have to intervene on someone’s behalf,” Professor Magner said as the two boys stood facing each other on the fighting pit. He turned around to look at the rest of the class. “Pay attention to the fight. If I ask a question later and you don’t have a good answer, I’ll deduct 20 credits.”

That’s harsh.

Professor Magner started the fight, and the two boys immediately started conjuring flames to attack each other with.

A fire mage usually doesn’t rely too much on their weapons either way, so I guess they’ll be able to handle it pretty well.

“I guess we’ll get a rematch between you and Sellitha by the end of the class,” Relmon whispered to Adion.

“I didn’t think about that,” Adion murmured.

“Will you be allowed to use your Gift?” Relmon asked.

“If I do, there will never be much of a fight,” Adion responded.

“Then I guess we’ll see a little more interesting fight this time,” Relmon said.

Interesting? Adion thought with a rueful smile. I’m afraid Sell will defeat me immediately if I’m only able to use fire against her. But I guess I can give her the chance to shine a little.