Seated on the one chair in his room, Lucius took a deep sigh as he clutched the spellstone in his hand. Orlen was watching him from his bed. The latter offered to help him move the lightbox back to his dorm in order to make their meeting less conspicuous, and so, while Tirssette and the others were preparing for the party in each of their rooms, the two of them were now contemplating amongst themselves after discussing 'the plan' in its entirety.

"Our main priority here is to make sure that Dario wouldn't be able to participate in the Labyrinth Dive. We'll lure him out deep in the gardens. There's a large clearing there that students rarely visit," Lucius explained concisely with a blank look on his face.

"Ah, you're making him lose progress in his levels. Seeing someone as obsessed with strength as he is lose an opportunity to get stronger will be fun to watch," Orlen said gleefully at first, then frowned. "Now that that's established, how do you plan on getting him where we want him?"

"You can leave that part to me. I know what makes him tick by now. Not exactly the hardest task in the world if I might add. That one's ego and aggression are nothing short of excess, and I'm certain it wouldn't be any different next week," Lucius replied with a tone of certainty.

"Next week. There's no going back now, is there, my friend?" Orlen said with a small smirk. "And all of this must be done covertly, correct? How do you plan on getting us out without him knowing it was us?"

Lucius looked at the spellstone in his hand and answered, "I don't need to be visible when I'm casting the spell. I just have to be at the right distance away from him for it to work. In fact, you run the most risk of being discovered by him more than me since you'll be the one who he'll need to see. Are you certain you can outrun him?"

"In a clean game of chase? Absolutely not," Orlen smiled. It was the first time he had seen the elf smile ever since they went inside the room. "But who says it'll be a clean one?"

Lucius nodded, appreciating the elf's answer that gave him confidence. "Good. I assume the garments I told you to prepare are ready?"

"Of course. A pure white cloak with gold trimmings, eh? That was oddly specific, now that I think about it."

"There's a reason for that as well," Lucius replied matter-of-factly. "But let's just say this plan has varying degrees of success and the highest one hinges on that one particular detail."

"There it is again. Are you sure you're not half-elf? You're sounding more and more like those old guys in the high courts back home," Orlen said. " Not exactly the best people to be around, but they're plenty reliable with things like this. I think their inclination to scheme against each other as opposed to using violence outright was what made the elven nation immune to civil wars unlike the humans and the ferrians. We're more a more cerebral type of warmongers, see. That's one thing about us I both like and detest."

"Interesting take," Lucius replied with an amused grin. "I doubt they're used to plotting sabotage against school bullies though. That's more of our thing, you know?"

A short moment of silence ensued, and then, Orlen laughed. Lucius couldn't believe it at first, but it became readily apparent that what had happened was exactly what he thought it was.

He had finally landed a 'joke'.

"Oh well, that should be it then. I need to get back to my dorm and decide what I want to wear to that party. Oh, and on that note, do you need any help with picking yours?"

"No, I'm all settled," Lucius replied before sighing and looking at the spellstone for the last time--what little doubt he had in his heart now all gone.

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"Aestimo."

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Item Appraised Successfully

Requrement/s for appraisal:

50 Sensus

Item Name: Sicken Spellstone

Item Class: Consumable

Rarity: Uncommon

Description

A dark-element Spellstone that contains the full knowledge of a spell. Can be used to learn Sicken instantly. Improvement in casting scales with Sensus.

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"Use [Sicken Spellstone]."

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Item Usage

A consumable item: Sicken Spellstone has been used.

You have learned the spell ‹Sicken›!

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Both him and Orlen watched as the spellstone finally vanished into thin air, fragmenting little by little into particles of light until it finally went away.

Another moment of silence came, but this time, it was heavier. At that moment, both of them finally realized how much was hanging on how flawless they could execute everything, and how much risk they are going to take, but neither of them cared enough to back down anyway. They were too far in now, and their payback was long overdue.

"Hey. I just want you to know that if there's a student that deserves this, it's Dario," Orlen said right before leaving, surprising Lucius. "And, uh, I don't usually say this, but I think you're pretty cool for wanting to do this with me. I've always been the odd one out of the group for wanting Dario to get a taste of his own medicine for some reason, so uh...I'm glad you came along. Us proud ones should stick together, yeah?"

Lucius smiled, genuinely surprised that someone almost as 'few-of-words' as Althea would say all those things and acknowledge him. It was quite an achievement on its own. The elf must've endured so much from Dario for him to be able to speak his mind this much.

"Well then, see you at the party."

"You as well," Lucius said, waving Orlen farewell. Now all alone, he couldn't help but ruminate on the elf's last words.

Pride, was it?

Lucius looked at the lightbox, courtesy of the one thing he once longed for the most during his years of isolation in Askanar Castle. He smiled for a moment, which then turned to a bitter frown as he glared at his own fist--now clenched tightly and shaking. What made him decide to take action wasn't his pride at all. It was the fact that, finally, he now had people in his life who he could call friends.

No one will ever take what is mine. No one.

He composed himself right after his arms went numb. Right after he was sent to the future, he had decided to deviate from the 'values' and 'code' of the Asherii that Castarossa taught him ever since he was little. Acting on his emotions and feelings of camaraderie was a good thing to contrast that cold and almost sociopathic way of living, but he knew that too much of anything would certainly have the opposite effect. If he truly wanted Dario to pay for everything he had done not only to himself but to his friends as well, then he still had a long road ahead of him, and a lot more work to do. Now wasn't the time to drown himself in his anger.

He looked at the spell's description and sighed. What was about to come next wasn't going to be pretty, nor would it be fun despite him enjoying casting spells over and over again, but he needed to be sure that the spell would be as effective as he could possibly get it to be once the day of the Labyrinth Dive comes.

"No half measures," Lucius whispered, steeling his resolve for then he knew...

Hell was about to begin tomorrow.

For now, though, he had a party to attend, which hopefully would be enough to offset the rough week of spell spamming he was about to go through.