“See you later, Adion,” Heso said his goodbye as Adion stepped outside their dorm room.

“See you,” Adion said, his expression slightly uneasy.

This will probably cause me some trouble. But I can handle trouble. Compared to Heavenly Light and that Hesfym guy, this is nothing.

Adion had thought long and hard about his decision the night before. In the end, he decided not to accept Elder Kilth’s proposal to join the Shields. It was just too far from what he wanted. And even if he would have a Hard Soul mage with a grudge against him, Adion doubted he would encounter any real danger. He was still a promising student at the Academy, after all. Surely not even an Elder could kill him simply out of spite.

I won’t be on good terms with Elder Kilth going forward. But at least that will also keep him from discovering my space element. In a way, it is good that I’ve angered him. He shouldn’t want to get involved with me any time soon.

Adion continued on his walk for his class at the Old Academy, deep in thought. But a voice soon brought him out of his musings.

“Not greeting a professor when you cross paths?”

Adion looked up to see a woman who looked to be in her forties staring at him with a displeased expression.

“Oh? I’m sorry, professor,” Adion said, “Good morning.”

“These first years have no manners,” The professor muttered unhappily. “I’ll take away 20 credits for that.”

With those words, the woman continued on her way, leaving a stumped Adion staring after her.

She is even grumpier than Professor Haul. Hopefully, I won’t run into her too often.

Adion continued on his walk, but not even a minute passed before another professor approached him with a scowl.

“What’s with that look?” The old elven man questioned.

“Er,” Adion hesitated, “I’m sorry, what?”

“How disrespectful,” The professor scolded, “A deduction of 20 credits might teach you a lesson.”

With those words, the professor turned away from Adion and walked away.

Don’t tell me…

Adion had never met a professor behaving like the two he had just met. It was too much of a coincidence that two of them would approach him not even a minute apart. Considering what had changed from the day before, it wasn’t hard for Adion to figure out what had happened.

Seems like Elder Kilth carries quite the weight around the Academy. Oh well, I have plenty of credits. I can deal with the consequences if it’s only this.

It didn’t take long before Adion realized how naive he was, however. In short succession, one after another, various professors would cross his path and deduct 20 credits for some ridiculous reason.

I have already lost 120 credits, and I’m not even halfway to the Old Academy yet.

Adion decided he couldn’t take things so casually anymore. He stepped off the path and stepped onto the grass, intent on taking a detour. He figured Elder Kilth must have known about his class at the Old Academy and where he was living. He probably instructed the professors to intercept him on his way.

That crazy old man. How many professors does he control? Don’t they have classes to teach?

Fortunately, due to choosing a different and longer path to his class, Adion managed to avoid any preplanned encounters.

I guess I’ll have to move a little less predictably from now on. But hopefully, he can’t keep this up for long.

Adion knew there was no use in complaining. Who would he complain to? It was a Council member who orchestrated it all. And Adion had noticed that they all deducted exactly 20 credits. If he had to guess, that was the limit a professor could deduct without having to give a justification.

I am lucky that I have so many credits. This would absolutely destroy any other students. What even happens when you have a negative amount of credits? I should look into that.

Adion continued walking in an unpredictable manner, slowly making his way to the Old Academy. He didn’t run into a single professor this way, but that changed when he finally got close enough to see the walls surrounding the Old Academy.

Damn. I should have expected this.

On the road in front of him, six professors stood grouped together. They weren’t facing each other, though. Every single one of them was looking around suspiciously, searching for something. It didn’t take long before one of them noticed what they were looking for as he spotted Adion and grinned.

No matter what paths I take, will they just group up close to where my class is? Will I ever be able to go to class like this?

“Look at that, Professor Hender,” one of the professors said as Adion got close, “Such an attitude in one of the newly admitted students. If no one disciplines him now, I wonder what will become of our Academy.”

“You really said it,” Another professor nodded in agreement, “Adion Remori, I will take 20 credits for your disrespectful behavior.”

“So will I,” Another professor immediately agreed. Quickly followed by the rest of them.

Diamond mages and scholars. So highly regarded everywhere in the world. And they embarrass themselves like this?

Adion just shook his head and ignored them.

By this point, there were a lot of other students around. Everyone looked at Adion weirdly, taking a few extra steps away from him.

“What the hell was that?” Adion overheard a student whisper loudly to his friend.

“Seems like that Adion has made himself a powerful enemy. I wonder what he did,” His friend said in a low voice.

Adion thought that he had at least gotten through the bulk of the professors after him. But before he reached the gate leading to the Old Academy, three similar groups of professors appeared in his way and similarly deducted 20 credits each for his disrespectful behavior.

How many credits have I lost now? 600? And the first class of the day hasn’t even started yet.

When Adion finally arrived at the gate leading to the Old Academy, he was surprised when he spotted Sell and Felicia standing outside.

“Sell?” Adion called out as he ran up to her, “What are you doing here?”

“Nice to see you too, Adion,” Felicia said, rolling her eyes.

“Oh, good morning Felicia,” Adion nodded to the blonde elf.

“The class is canceled,” Sell said. She then looked at Adion’s arm and asked, “How is your injury?”

“All healed, don’t worry,” Adion said with a smile. “But why is the class canceled? Did something happen?”

“It’s pretty normal, I heard,” Sell said, “At least with Soul mages teaching classes. And in particular, the Headmaster. He is a busy man, after all.”

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“Oh,” Adion nodded in understanding.

“Are you ready to go now?” Felicia asked.

Adion looked questioningly at Sell.

“I thought we might as well go to the library now, and she wanted to go too,” Sell explained.

“Oh,” Adion nodded.

Why is she and Relmon always so keen on going with us? Don’t they have other friends?

“What?” Felicia asked, “Am I not welcome? You want to go on a date just the two of you?”

Sell looked at Felicia with an angry look and a slight blush. “I already said you could come. Just don’t spout nonsense.”

“Haha,” Felicia laughed, “Good. Let’s go.”

They all headed inside the Old Academy together. There was a library in the middle of the Five Halls as well, but the one with the most interesting information was the Old Library in the Old Academy.

Adion looked around carefully to see if he could spot any professors. Fortunately, they all seemed to have made sure to catch him before entering.

Still. If this is a daily occurrence from now on, I’m done for.

“Sell, do you know what happens when you get negative credits?” Adion asked.

“Hm? Why?” Sell asked. Felicia also turned to look at him curiously.

“I might have gotten myself into some trouble,” Adion said, smiling awkwardly.

“What kind of trouble?” Sell asked with a worried expression.

“So, yesterday, I got summoned to see Elder Kilth,” Adion then went on to explain all that had happened to the two girls. Including his run-ins with the various professors on his way over.

“Why wouldn’t you just join the Shields?” Felicia asked, shocked at Adion’s decision.

“I didn’t want to join them,” Adion shrugged, “And I didn’t like being pressured like that.”

“Being pressured by Elder Kilth would be an honor to most people,” Felicia argued.

“Maybe,” Adion said, “It doesn’t matter. What’s done is done. Now I have to find a way to deal with it. Do you just what kind of limitations there are on the professors?”

“I’m not sure,” Sell said carefully, “I think they can basically take 20 credits away without having to explain themselves. At least not explain themselves very much. It should be impossible to do so from a distance. Otherwise, they wouldn’t have gone through the trouble of finding you and making up excuses. But I have no idea if they can just keep doing so every day.”

“I’ll have to find a way to avoid running into professors going forward, it seems,” Adion said.

“This is really shameful behavior,” Sell said angrily, “I really thought the Academy would be better than this.”

“If everything is done according to the rules, no one can say anything about it,” Felicia said, “If I were you, I’d give up on Elder Kilth and try to see if someone else might be able to protect you. Maybe there is a Soul mage hoping to see you join Soaring Souls or some other House.”

“Maybe,” Adion nodded.

That might be the best course of action.

“Haaah,” Adion sighed, “Hopefully, it will blow over eventually.”

“I wouldn’t count on it,” Felicia said, “A Hard Soul mage can easily live to be 600. What does it change for them to spend five years spending a little of their time to cause your trouble?”

“How can he be that petty?” Adion questioned, “I just didn’t want to join the Shields. Does he have to act like I did something so unforgivable?”

“You did do something unforgivable,” Felicia said, “You went against a Hard Soul mage. I’m sure he wants to make sure that everyone knows what will happen to anyone thinking they can be so disrespectful just because they are at the Academy.”

“What a pain,” Adion muttered.

“I’ll talk to Rell and see if she can do anything,” Sell said.

“I doubt even she can do something against a Council member,” Adion said, “But she might have a better idea of what I should do about my situation.”

The group of three soon reached the library. It was a magnificent building close to the Tower of Cyalis. Pillars of marble decorated the entrance, and even though the building was old and slightly worn, that only gave it a feeling of profoundness.

“Incredible,” Adion said as he stepped inside and spotted the endless sea of books in front of him.

I’m sure there are even more books hidden away. There should be sections around here where you can only go by paying a lot of credits.

“Don’t cause such a ruckus,” Adion turned to his side, where he spotted a young elven man in spectacles.

“Oh, sorry,” Adion said, but he had a creeping suspicion things wouldn’t end with just that.

“I can’t have someone like you yelling and disturbing the other students. I’ll have to take 20 credits for that and have you banned from the library for four weeks,” The man said in a determined manner.

Of course.

“I’m sorry, but that doesn’t seem fair at all,” Sell said through gritted teeth with a furious look.

“Well, too bad. Twenty credits will be deducted from you, too, along with a four-week ban,” The elven man said as he grinned at Sell.

What the hell?

Adion was fine with taking responsibility for his actions, but he couldn’t accept Sell getting dragged into it.

“Listen here,” Adion said, staring deeply into the Gold mage’s eyes, “I get that you have to cause trouble for me. It’s fine. But you should take back your words to her. No need to cause more trouble than you have to.”

“I stand by my words,” The elven man said with an angry expression, “Now get out.”

“Adion, it’s fine. I wouldn’t come here alone anyway,” Sell said, pulling Adion to go outside.

“I hope you don’t come to regret it,” Adion said threateningly to the man before turning to leave with Sell.

Felicia hurriedly stepped up to Sell and said in a low voice, “Sorry, Sell. I really need to get my book. Is it fine?”

“Of course, don’t worry about it,” Sell said.

Felicia smiled apologetically to them before turning around back inside.

“Sorry about that, Sell,” Adion said as the two walked away from the library together.

“It’s fine,” Sell said with a comforting smile. “This is nothing really. As long as we continue to grow strong, everything else will take care of itself.”

“Yeah,” Adion smiled. He remembered the pill that he was going to give to Sell and couldn’t help but be slightly excited.

“What did your grandfather want to talk with you about, by the way? Did you get the chance to see him?” Sell asked.

“I did,” Adion said, “He just wanted to talk about me revealing my strength. Apparently, a lot of people had already stopped by to talk to him.”

“That makes sense. What did they want?” Sell asked.

“I think they mostly just wanted to form a connection with our family. People seem to think I have a very bright future,” Adion said with a grin.

“I can imagine,” Sell said, “These connections…Have you received marriage proposals?”

“There seemed to have been a few of those, yes,” Adion nodded.

Sell looked at Adion with a slightly angry expression, “And what did you say?”

“Unfortunately, the Amyss family wasn’t one of the families offering their daughter, so I had to decline,” Adion said with a smile.

Sell blushed a rare deep red at the implication.

“Good,” Sell said and skipped a few steps ahead of Adion so he couldn’t look at her.

“Since your family seems intent on not offering you, I guess I’ll have to court you the old-fashioned way,” Adion said as he caught up to her, trying to glimpse her face.

“And how will you do that?” Sell asked, still hiding her face from Adion.

“I thought a date would be nice,” Adion suggested, “I have prepared a gift.”

“A date? Another gift?” Sell asked, cautiously looking in Adion’s direction.

“You want to go?” Adion asked.

“I want to go,” Sell nodded shyly. “But not until next week!”

“Next week, why?” Adion questioned.

“You’ll find out later,” Sell said with a smile, finally turning to look at Adion again.

I guess I can wait a week to give her the pill.

“Alright,” Adion nodded.

Sell and Adion continued walking, not having a destination in mind, just enjoying each other’s company until it was time for the next class.

All things considered, this was a great morning.