After class, I made my way out of the central school building and towards the library. I wasn’t in any rush, so I took my time as I passed my fellow students. A lot of them happened to be out and about as it was nearly noon, which mainly meant almost no one was still in class. The warm spring sun felt refreshing, and although I enjoyed the cold, I didn’t hate this kind of weather either.

We might have to switch to our warm-weather uniforms soon. I believe Bowen said he would have ours sent over in a few days.

The leaves of the purple trees swayed with the wind, bringing the unique smell of citrus and lavender. I had to admit the scent of these trees had grown on me significantly. I find them to be unique in appearance and their beauty is pristine.

Honestly, this entire campus is just charming. Not too flashy while still being luxurious. Comforts in all the right places. It’s just hard to complain about this place.

And speaking of charming, I’ve arrived at the library. It was a short walk from the central building, and this place looked like just about every other building on campus.

There was mostly black and gray stone, along with some carved marble pillars on the sides. The white and gray wood was present in order to accent the arches, and it just fit the style of this place. The only real difference was that the library had significantly more glass windows to allow the natural sunlight in.

I walked into the building and was greeted with the scents of old books. I found the smell to be almost as interesting as the trees. It was hard to place the unique smell of a book… somewhere between earthy and old… whatever old is supposed to smell like, but I imagine this is very close to that.

Speaking of old…

An old Dwarven woman was sitting high up on a chair, barely peeking over the counter. Her eyes were so wrinkly I couldn’t even see what color they were. Her long hair was black, with streaks of silver running through them. I approached and cleared my throat in hopes of managing my best voice.

“Excuse me. Would you be so kind as to explain to me how the archive works here?”

I imagine every institution like this had a proper archive system, and trying to figure things out on my own was a waste of time.

“So kind…” the old Dwarf croaked. “Most students don’t even bother to ask me for help,” she said slowly.

“I hate to bother you, Ma’am…”

“It’s nothing, young man. Don’t you dare worry about me. Besides, it’s good to get up and take a walk when you’re old.” She made her way around the desk and smiled up at me. “Of course, you won’t have to worry about that, will you?”

“No… I don’t believe I will,” I chuckled awkwardly.

It was true that Elves grew old, but we just didn’t appear that way. Usually, when Elves got towards the end of their natural life span, they entered what was called the “Final Decade.” It wasn’t necessarily the last ten years of their life but was more or less an indicator.

At that point, Elves started aging again and went from looking like they were in their early to mid-twenties to… looking like they were almost forty at most. As one can imagine, that’s still young for just about every race.

The old Dwarven librarian was waddling her way through the library, pointing out various sections, and explaining how things worked around here. And speaking of old… this Dwarf must be ancient and nearing the end of her natural life span, which for Dwarves was around two hundred eighty years. I couldn’t place her age for sure, but it wouldn’t surprise me to know she was over two hundred.

Dad was over two hundred as well… man, Elves just have it nice, huh?

In between her explanations, I gazed around the library. The ceiling was almost entirely made of glass, allowing the midday sun to shine through and illuminate the whole building. The floor was done in the usual black marble, and the shelves were made of the same white wood. Lines and lines of books filled the shelves, and although I really only had Sandervile Academy’s to compare to… this place was double the size.

It was a two-story building, and there were quite a few students along with teachers roaming the aisles. Crystal chandeliers with candles on them lined the center of the building, and I could see alcoves lit by candlelight as students read in private spaces. Couches and chairs were everywhere a bookshelf wasn’t. There were also plenty of long tables with comfortable-looking chairs for students to study, work, or just read at.

We looped back to the front, and the librarian gave me a warm smile. “I believe I told you everything I know. Do you have any more questions, young man?”

“None at all. Your explanations were perfect, and I should have no problem following your advice,” I said kindly.

“Ah… such a nice young man. What is your name?”

“Voker Winterheart, Ma’am.”

The old woman hummed to herself while giving me a nod of finality. “Thank you for taking the time out of your day to speak with me, Voker Winterheart. I do hope we can converse again soon.”

“Of course, Ma’am.”

She returned to her desk, and I went back into the library and began my search. It took me no time at all to find the gravity magic book Professor Garrison was talking about, but it wasn’t what I was expecting. It wasn’t a book to train people on the school of magic but rather a brief history of it.

History.. huh…

I looked around and noticed that, once again, the history section was by far the smallest section in the library. In Sandervile, there was almost nothing and browsing the books on this shelf told a somewhat similar story. Although there was far more here, it was all the same. And a vast majority of it was recent history, primarily focusing on the war.

War…should I…

No. I shouldn’t.

Bowen made it a point when he refused to tell me about Mom and Dad. There must be a good reason for it if he didn't tell me. If something were to happen to me and my father’s enemies got that information and managed to hurt my parents because of it I’d never be able to live with myself. Besides, knowing their past wasn’t going to bring them back to me any sooner.

I settled for another book on dungeons and decided that was enough for today. This library has plenty to offer, and I plan on spending a few hours here a day after class from now on. Maybe I’ll even do some leisure reading… the story section was surprisingly large.

I found a nice little table on the top floor tucked away in the corner. There wasn’t a single soul around me, and the atmosphere was divine. There was just enough white noise in the background to be considered peaceful, and even with my Elven hearing, I wasn’t overwhelmed at all. In large cities and sometimes even around campus, I had to sort of shut my hearing off at times.

It was just something I learned to do after a long time. If Elves weren’t able to filter out the overpowering noise of a city, we would never be able to enter one, let alone make our own civilization.

That makes me wonder how big the biggest Elven cities are… what do they sound like? Tel’an’duth must be an interesting place.

Not that I ever plan on going there anyway. I set my books down on the table, and they gave a light thud as they hit the wood. Pulling up a chair, I took my seat and cracked open the book about gravity magic.

It was a rough translation done in Elvish from a Dwarven text. It was crude and poorly written, but I managed at least to paint a somewhat accurate picture as I read through passages. Unfortunately, it took me a little over an hour to read through the entire thing.

From what I could gather, gravity magic used to be to Dwarven Royalty how lightning magic is to High Elf royalty. The Dwarven nobles and royal family had managed to pass down gravity magic until, eventually, they just simply couldn’t. Somewhere along the line, something unknown happened. Generations after generations went by, and fewer and fewer gravity mages were born. Over a period of thousands of years, gravity magic was all but gone, nothing more than a relic of the past. Forgotten by all.

So… a forgotten school of magic, huh?

Magic wasn’t exclusive to specific bloodlines. It was true that parents were more likely to pass on affinities to their offspring, but nothing was a guarantee. Mother and Father could both use water magic, yet I couldn’t even manage to form a spell core for a measly drop of water. In the same way, technically, anyone can use lightning magic if they have an affinity for it. Outside of family affinity, gaining an affinity was completely random, and there was no way, as far as I knew to increase the likelihood of gaining one you didn’t already have.

I once imagined that my mass exposure to light magic from Grandpa would lead me to gain an affinity, but despite all the times that old healer used light magic on me, fourteen years later, I still can’t use it. Hell, I drank water that was created with water magic for most of my childhood as well.

The only way to learn about affinities was to test them out yourself, which is what I did with both gravity and lightning magic. Well… all my schools of magic really. And you couldn’t try more advanced schools of magic like lightning until you had the mana pool to support those kinds of spells. So in the case of gravity magic…

No wonder it’s forgotten. If it’s this mana intensive, only the most gifted of mages would even be able to attempt a spell core let alone successfully cast one.

I let out a deep sigh and stretched my body out. My bones stretched, and it felt good. That was until I hit something soft underneath the table. I swear I even heard a small squeak as I suddenly shot forward and out of my chair, my heart pounding in my ears.

I scrutinized my surroundings and brought my hearing to its full potential as I looked around for the sound I was sure I had heard. Unfortunately, a quick peek underneath the table revealed nothing, and I was starting to think I was hallucinating.

No… I… kicked something, and I heard a small voice… but there is nobody here…

The next closest student to me was well over four table lengths away. I was alone here as I have been for the last hour. I hadn’t heard a soul, let alone someone being directly in front of me.

I sat back in the chair and started rationalizing that maybe this book had something in it that was making me go crazy. I pondered something for a moment and reared my leg back for another kick when a small voice spoke to me.

“Please, don’t kick me…”

No shit… someone is in front of me.

I glared at the open air in front of me. “Show yourself,” I demanded.

The disembodied voice had come from directly in front of me and upon my order, the air in front of me shimmered. It looked like… active camo… but even better than from my previous life…what the hell?

As the scene in front of me came into view, I was left at a loss for words. Sitting in front of me was a High Elf girl around my age. Her facial features were sharp and had every aspect of High Elf beauty to them. Her petite body was visible through her school uniform, which matched her short ruby red hair. Her hair was cut in typical High Elf fashion, and her bangs mostly covered her… heterochromatic eyes…

Bowen’s words replayed in my head as I looked at the girl. He had said he’d only seen my type of eyes once before… could this be that person?

Her right eye was a swirling pale yellow color, almost like that of straw. Her other eye, covered by her hair, was a light cactus green. She nervously fidgeted in her seat, and I honestly just didn’t know what to say to her.

She was using illusion magic… to absolute perfection. This girl had maintained an illusion spell for over an hour while remaining in complete silence. I could have stood up from my chair and reached across the table and grabbed her; I was so close, yet she remained utterly unknown to me.

I looked down at the table and my eyes felt like they were going to bulge out of my head. My book… was touching hers… which meant when I placed down my spare book and slid it over she changed her illusion spell to incorporate my book…all without me noticing.

She’s a Master illusionist! No… maybe even a Grandmaster…

“Ummm… Voker?” she said meekly.

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“You know my name?” I asked in surprise.

Well… that’s not all surprising I guess. Just a bad habit.

“Well, yeah… I sit behind you in class.”

What.

All the time I spent in class flashed through my mind as I tried to find this girl in my memory. And I couldn’t place seeing her at all, not even once. Not during our training… my duel… nothing. Let alone sitting directly behind me in class.

“Were you… maintaining an illusion spell… the entirety of class? For all this time?” I asked in utter shock.

“I was…yes…” she whispered while reaching for the red lace choker that was around her neck. A small green emerald was placed in its center with smaller light green crystal chunks at regular intervals.

I think that’s a dungeon core shard. No wonder…

She was averting her eyes as she tried to find something interesting in the grain. I was just beyond shocked to the point I didn’t even know what to say. This girl might have been able to walk up behind me and shove a knife through my heart, and I’d still be wondering where she came from.

“I see…”

She nervously looked to and from the table. “Why… are you staring at me like that?”

I might have a staring problem.

“Sorry… I’ve just never seen another Elf with het— with multi-colored eyes,” I mumbled.

I’m so confused I almost said a word in English. English… now that’s a language I haven’t spoken aloud in a long time. I haven’t even thought in another language in years.

Her eyes sparkled for a moment and her High Elf ears fluttered slightly as she looked up at me expectantly. “Does that mean… you have two different colored eyes as well?” she asked with a hint of excitement in her small voice.

Do I say yes? I mean it’s on my wanted poster… I uh… sure, why not? This won’t get me in trouble, right? Or are these just my famous last words? Surely this girl isn’t frequenting Adventurer Guilds or places where wanted posters would be.

“I do.”

She gave me a happy smile that reminded me of a child seeing their parents after a long time. My heart ached slightly as I could already tell what she was going to ask me… and I already knew what my answer would be.

“Can I see? If you don’t mind, please?” It sounded like she was begging me.

“I can’t do that. I’m sorry,” I said a little too sternly.

Her happy smile faded as quickly as it had come as she receded back into herself. “Oh… sorry…” she mumbled quietly.

Ah, man… I feel like I shouldn’t have said anything now. Gah, I’m dumb.

“I didn’t catch your name, by the way,” I said trying to save this burning ship before it exploded.

“Tsarra…” she whispered.

“Tsarra. Mmm. Well, it’s nice to meet you.”

I looked at her face, and I could tell my existence was bothering her. She clearly didn’t want to be talking to me, so I should probably leave her alone… especially after I just crushed her smile like that.

“Sorry for bothering you. I’ll sit somewhere else,” I said while standing up from my seat.

Tsarra stretched her hand out and actually made eye contact with me again. “Wait! You don’t have to go… you are already sitting here, so you might as well stay…”

“Are you sure? I’m clearly bothering you,” I said, trying to sound as neutral as possible.

“No, you aren't! I’m just not used to talking to people. You were also very quiet, so I don’t mind it as long as you aren’t noisy or anything. Which you aren’t! I mean… you don’t talk much in class… only really to Sylvia…” she mumbled while also managing to shout sometimes.

Did she repeat herself a lot, or was that just me? And oh my… she has heard everything Sylvia and I have said to each other, huh? Thankfully we don’t say anything incriminating during class.

“Well, if you say it’s fine, then I guess I don’t have a problem.”

I sat back down in my chair, and Tsarra immediately started reading her own book. From what I could tell, she had a healthy stack of books beside her of all different types. Currently, she was reading a fantasy novel from the Holy Kingdom… at least the title of it suggests it’s from there.

Her heterochromatic eyes scanned the book's pages quickly, and I decided just to open my own book. I started reading through the book on dungeons but it mainly was knowledge I was aware of already. If anything, it was more of a survival guide than anything else.

Tsarra was reading quietly to herself, and she never once looked back at me. She seemed utterly engrossed in her book, and even my gaze didn’t drag her out of her little world. I was completely thrown back by this Elf. I had no idea what to think of her.

Maybe I just won’t think about it.

Once I got closer to the end of the book, I noticed there were some pages added to the last section. I quickly read them and found them to be Bowen’s work. It was basically an aside saying that dungeon activity has increased in the previous two decades… huh… seems I need to make a stop at my wonderful Headmaster’s room soon.

“Well, I’ll be going now, Tsarra. Perhaps I’ll see you tomorrow?” I asked in a friendly tone. The High Elf didn’t even spare me a glance as the air around her shimmered, and she vanished from view.

So much for that.

I got up and gathered my things when Tsarra’s small voice called out to me. I turned around only to see the book she was reading slide across the table and into existence. “Read that. I recommend it,” she said firmly.

Since I couldn’t see her, I wasn’t sure what kind of expression she was making, but she sounded completely different than before. “Sure, I’ll give it a read.”

I took the fantasy novel with my other books and set the two I read back into the sorting bin. I waved the librarian goodbye and set off for my room. I figured I could relax a little before my training session with Sylvia.

“Voker, how’s it going? Did you find what you were looking for?” a friendly voice called out to me.

“Professor, I did indeed. But don’t you have class?” I asked curiously.

The War God scratched the back of his head and gave me a friendly smile. “Nah, I don’t have another class till later in the evening. Bet this sounds like a pretty good job for a retired soldier like me, huh?”

“Yes, that does sound like a good job.”

The Professor gave me a wry smile and motioned for me to walk beside him. The two of us strolled through the campus together when he turned to me with a somewhat sad look.

“I really just don’t know what to do with you, Voker.”

“Mhm? What do you mean, Professor?”

The Professor shrugged and let out a small breath. “I just don’t feel like I can teach you very much. Most of my students are either really good at combat and suffer from general schooling or the other way around. For you…well, you excel so much in both I find it hard to find something for you to do. Then again, I suppose you could work on your Beastmen…” The Professor waved whatever he was thinking away and smiled at me. “I try my best to make time for my students and help them overcome and learn what they are lacking in, despite me being the “combat” teacher.”

“I could see how I present a problem… but what’s this with you being a “combat” teacher? I believe your general studies are just fine. And I found your physical education methods to be on the higher end of things.”

“Well, thank you for that. You see, I’m not the first teacher for this class. Every two years or so, the position is swapped, and somebody with a different focus comes in. I suppose that makes me the combat specialist. And in another year, someone else will come and take my position.”

Professor Garrison is indeed our primary teacher. He does teach a majority of the class, but occasionally other more specialized staff will come in for small amounts of time. I never really thought that I might be a difficult student, however… but it does make sense.

“How about you teach me some swordsmanship? I wouldn’t mind a pointer from you during our training sessions. Or you can just teach me how to get as strong as you,” I said jokingly.

The Professor let out a small chuckle. “Yes… maybe that would be a good idea. But that brings me to another question, Voker. I’ve been meaning to ask you something. How is it that you are so… big?”

“I work out. A lot. I also eat properly and make sure to get an adequate amount of rest,” I said simply.

“Huh, lots of training, huh?” Professor Garrison mused while readjusting his glasses.

“You should join me one of these days for a workout, Professor. I’m sure I could teach you a thing or two.”

The man let out a hearty chuckle. “You think so? You know what, I bet you could. Anyone can learn something new, after all. When do you usually workout?”

“The mornings.”

The Professor gave me a pained look and let out an ooo sound. “Mornings, huh? That’s uh… rough.”

“Too early for you, Professor?” I asked playfully.

He gave me a wry smile. “You could say that… I have… you know… things to handle in the mornings.”

“Things to handle in the morning?” I questioned.

“Yeah? You know, after a long night with a wom— never mind… I really shouldn’t be having this conversation with you, even more so since you clearly don’t understand what I mean.” The Professor just shrugged his shoulders and gave me an awkward laugh.

“If you say—”

I caught something moving in the corner of my eye along with a faint noise as my neck snapped towards the location. I was prepared for another fight today when the Professor just gave me a warm hand on the shoulder. “Mason, it’s not very nice of you to sneak up on people. Even more so one of my students. Doubly so since this one might just kill you by accident,” the Professor chided.

“Ah, you’re no fun! I just wanted to see what you were teaching these kids!” a high-pitched voice complained.

Something shimmered against the wall, and a man was wearing a white security uniform, but his had gold accents. He had a mask in his hand, and just by giving it a quick glance, I could tell it was a magic item. It must have cast an illusion over him, but it wasn’t nearly as good as Tsarra’s magic.

Man… she really is something.

I stared blankly at the man. His brown hair was cut to the scalp, and he had a poorly trimmed goatee to match. His hazel eyes were locked onto me, and his face was morphed into a grin. “Well! Aren’t you going to introduce me, Kels?”

The Professor sighed and made an exaggerated show of his hands. “You are now in the presence of Forward University's Head of Security, Mason Fields. Mason, this is my student, Voker Winterheart,” he said in a mocking tone.

“Nice to meet you, Sir Fields,” I said politely.

Mason just smiled. “So you’re, Voker… well, at least I understand why Lauren is so interested in you now.”

“Lauren?”

“Mason is Princess Lauren’s mentor,” Professor Garrison added.

“Interesting… she’s never mentioned you before.”

Mason winced slightly. “Ouch… that doesn’t surprise me, though. Not much to talk about with a stuffy old man like me.”

Old man? This Human couldn’t be over forty.

Mason shrugged and gave us a short bow. “I’ll catch you around, Kels. Voker, it was a nice meeting.”

What’s with this Kels business? Is that a nickname?

“See you around, Mason,” Professor Garrison said in a friendly tone.

The Head of Security put his mask back on and I watched as the air around him shimmered, and he disappeared. I managed to track him for a while until, eventually, he got so far away that I lost him completely. The mask also didn’t hide the sounds of his footsteps either.

“Do all the King’s children have such interesting teachers?” I asked out loud.

“They do indeed. All three had War Gods as teachers,” Professor Garrison hummed.

Interesting.

We arrived at a crosspoint where the roads split. Professor gave me a warm smile. “I’ll see you tomorrow, and I look forward to seeing how you do on our next test.”

“I’ll see you tomorrow, Professor. And I hope I do well.”