It’s finally over. Liliana thought as she slipped out of the class S dorm.

Cool autumn air washed over her skin, refreshing after the heat of the dorm. So many bodies packed into the common room, celebrating with some debatably contraband alcohol smuggled into the Academy, had made the room stifling to be inside after an hour of partying.

My first highschool party and I’m running away as soon as I can. I used to dream of going to one of these. Liliana thought with a small, amused smile as she turned her head to look back at the door, imagining the happy but exhausted faces of her classmates.

Despite the tensions between the semi-warring factions in their small class, they had managed to reach a temporary truce for one night in the wake of finishing what was probably the single most grueling week any of them had experienced in their lives.

I’d gladly face down Minori again before I’d sit through another exam, at least for another six months. Liliana thought, face pulling into a pained grimace as she remembered the exams.

The difficult mini-games in Realm of Hope had done nothing to properly prepare her for the real thing. Not even her end-of-year exams in her online classes back on Earth had been even a fraction as difficult. Truly, the Academy made it obvious it only wanted to the best of the best to walk its halls.

At the very least, the professors expected every student to be some manner of genius based on the exam questions. Multiple-choice questions were a thing of distant, fond memories. All of her exams had required essay answers to the questions, her hands were still cramped from the frantic writing she’d done. Her affinity classes had all required demonstrations on top of the written exams as well.

Well, [Recall] got some levels as a bonus. I suppose exams count as skill training for it. Liliana thought, remembering the notification pop-ups during her exams.

Liliana shook her head, dismissing her thoughts as she looked around. The lights were on in every dorm she could see, partying for the end of exams not limited to just her dorm. The entire Academy seemed to have silently agreed to devote this night to celebration.

She could distantly hear the sounds of various instruments and loud voices carrying on the night wind. Liliana wondered if there were others like her, escaping the revelry for a moment of peace and quiet in the midst of the excited chaos.

Or couples sneaking off for midnight trysts. Liliana speculated with amusement as her eyes picked up a pair of giggling forms disappearing behind a dorm building.

Liliana looked back at her dorm once more, considering rejoining the party before she shrugged lightly and started walking down the path towards the Academy proper. She didn’t want to be around a room full of drunk teenagers and the walls to her room weren’t thin enough to block out the cacophony nineteen teenagers were capable of making.

It was well past curfew, but Liliana had a feeling no teacher would be out to stop her. Even Vereign hadn’t come out to stop their party once they’d started getting loud over various board games and hadn’t uttered a peep when Basil materialized bottles of alcohol for them to drink, so she doubted there would be a teacher who would complain about her taking a walk.

There were far more concerning incidents going on tonight, and she thought they’d care more about preventing teenage pregnancy than her taking a simple walk.

It’s a shame I’m going to miss Marianne’s attempt to stuff Alistair and Emyr in a closet together. She was talking about doing that after two glasses of whatever demons brew Basil brought us. The mental image was enough to coax a quiet laugh from her lips, the sound flitting away on the cold autumn air.

Part of her seeking a hasty exit was because Marianne had been looking at her with the same glint in her eyes and she wasn’t sure who exactly Marianne wanted to shove her in a closet with. She’d rather not find out in any case.

She might indulge herself in her little crushes in her head, but Liliana didn’t truly want them to go any further than that. Admiring someone from afar was as much of a luxury as she could afford right now. Not with all the complications in her life already. The Academy was difficult enough without throwing romantic attachments into the mix, not to mention her other issues.

Her father getting wind of anything like that would cause a mountain of issues she wasn’t at a point she could deal with just yet, she wasn’t ready to break off from the Rosengarde name yet and couldn’t afford to incite so much of his ire. Then there was the issue of the entity targeting her and anyone she was close to, and the god given quest she was on.

A shame, one of the things she’d been excited about when it came to living a real school experience had been engaging in one of the romances she’d only ever read of in books. Reality was different from dreams and fantasy, though. Liliana knew she wasn’t the heroine in a romance book, who would always somehow find time to woo several suitors before ultimately deciding on the one that was logically the worst for her.

If she had to put a genre on her life, she would probably pick horror.

No, best if I leave romance to others like Emyr and Alistair. Liliana thought with a shake of her head, ignoring the small pang in her chest. She had gotten so many new experiences, so many things she’d never dreamed she’d be able to enjoy. She didn’t need to be greedy.

Maybe one day. When this is all over, I can spend time on things like that. Liliana tilted her head back and looking up at the clear sky, spotting the moon hanging heavy and full in the sky surrounded by her coterie of stars.

If I survive to see my twenty-fourth birthday, I can start looking for love then. I’ll still be fairly young by this world’s standards, with hundreds of years left to live, more than enough time to find love and settle down or do whatever my heart desires. Liliana decided with a sad smile. There was a part of herself that didn’t think she’d truly live that long, but it was nice to have a hope, a dream for the future, however unlikely that future may be.

Liliana dipped her head back down and looked around, surprised to find she’d made it to the affinity towers during her walk. The grounds were dark, almost eerie in their silence and gloom. She was utterly alone. She couldn’t see or hear anyone in her vicinity and [Perception] was quiet, letting her know she truly was alone right now.

When was the last time I was alone? Liliana wondered, spinning around for a moment to be sure.

She couldn’t remember the last time, if she was honest with herself. There was always someone nearby in a place like the Academy. A friend, a classmate, even her bonds. Liliana trailed her fingers over her soul stones unconsciously. All her bonds were back in the dorm, either asleep or partaking in the party. Liliana shivered slightly at the realization. It was a little frightening, a little calming, to be so alone. It was new.

To think there was a time when loneliness was a familiar companion she’d grown so used to, she hardly noticed it. Now the brush of its fingers against her skin felt foreign, chilling. Yet in a contrast, the reemergence of such a familiar feeling felt almost like coming home, like nostalgia.

Liliana looked back towards the towers and inclined her head, a small smile playing on her lips.

There was no one around to see her if she did something stupid, and no teacher around to tell her she couldn’t do something. Shaking out her limbs and bouncing on the balls of her feet, Liliana crouched into a running position before she took off, pushing her Speed to the limit as she raced at the wall of a tower.

Her feet hit the wall, and she made it up several feet before gravity started to pull her back down. Liliana pushed off the wall, activating [Leap] and flying with a loud laugh. Throwing her arms out, she gracefully flipped in the air, letting herself fall for a moment before she activated [Wind Walk]. Liliana knelt down and pushed off her spot in mid-air, jumping as high as she could before she was caught in the air again by her skill.

She repeated the process, bouncing off the tower wall several times and flipping from spot to spot, smiling and giggling as she did something ridiculous and showy for no other reason than just because she wanted to. It was such a rare thing for her to be able to use her skills and spells not for combat but just for fun that she spent a long time just flying through the air.

Liliana’s feet landed lightly on the top of the affinity tower, perching on the thin, decorative rod that crowned the building. The towers were the tallest points on Academy grounds and from her spot she could see the entire Academy grounds spread out before her, neatly spaced and meticulously aligned as if by some godly hand.

Above the grounds, a thick blanket of stars covered the scene, like a black velvet cloak studded with diamonds. From this height, Liliana could almost believe she could stretch her hands out and snatch the stars from the sky. Hold them in her grasp like cold diamonds.

I rarely get a chance to appreciate it, but the Academy is truly a beautiful place. Liliana pondered as she looked over it like a queen examining her queendom. She imagined she could even see the bright lights of the capital from this height in the far distance.

Liliana spent several long minutes just taking in the grounds and the sights, mind going quiet as she absorbed the peace of the night. When her feet started to ache from the position she was in, she jumped off her perch and took a seat on the roof of the tower instead, tilting her head back to stare at the sky.

This place almost feels like its own little secluded kingdom. Liliana reflected idly as she traced constellations in her mind.

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The thought made her think of her first home in this world, Rosengarde territory, which was its own sort of secluded kingdom. Many of the dukedoms were in such a large country, with travel being something that was both dangerous and expensive.

Most commoners never even left the town, village, or city they were born in because of the danger travel presented. Even lower ranked nobles wouldn’t often leave their territories because the danger was great even for them. Travel was a luxury for those with either the levels to survive or the money to afford safer forms of travel.

How would it change the world if travel was easier? Liliana wondered. The Academy was unique in its wealth of freely available knowledge, but many people in this world were ignorant because information could not easily be exchanged thanks to the restrictions of travel.

Anya struggles to see her family because of the distance between the Academy and her homeland. Even Emyr, a noble, could only see his family over the summer break because of Marianne. For those like Anya or Dianna or those without connections or money, they might not see their family until after they finish the Academy. Liliana considered, frowning at the thought.

On Earth, it was a simple thing to travel hundreds, thousands of miles. Airplanes, cars, trains all made such a thing a simple endeavor. Many even middle-class people could visit other countries, something only the richest of nobles in this world would even consider, and even then, it was a great undergoing to organize.

Traveling to across an ocean could only be done by the highest level masters of teleportation magics. Even royals used ships more often than not. And the oceans were filled with treacherous monsters that wouldn’t hesitate to attack any ship they came across.

Well, I can’t easily fix that problem… but maybe I can do something about travel issues in this country? Liliana thought. She had been planning on introducing Earth technology, if only for her own quality of life. Perhaps she could introduce something to this world for the purpose of making the lives of the everyday citizen better?

What came first for long distance travel? It was… steamboats, then… trains, right? Cista isn’t a river heavy country so steamboats would help on a small scale but for a major overhaul of travel it would need to be trains. Liliana thought, closing her eyes as she forced herself to recall memories not tied to the game, which were always the easiest for her to access from her past life, but instead memories from her classes on Earth, or specifically one class and one project.

They’d had to research steam engines and make their own rudimentary blueprints for a steam engine that would be able to work. The steam engine would be the key to making a train and getting it to work, as Liliana didn’t have knowledge of how modern engines actually worked on Earth. If she would’ve had a class on that, she hadn’t lived long enough to experience it and she had never had an interest in mechanics enough to research such a thing on her own.

We could eliminate the entire need for a boiler and coal with magic. If enchanting something to do it is too expensive, a low or mid leveled Wind or even Fire and Water mage would be enough to use. If necessary, a noble could sponsor commoners to get Awakened and trained high enough to be of use. Such a thing would be good for the economy as well, perhaps become the beginning of schools for trades for commoners in the future. Liliana smiled at the possibility. Stimulating the economy was always a good thing, and improving the base level of education for the populace could only be good.

Well, perhaps not so much for the nobles, but a little revolution is good for the spirit. Liliana giggled at the mental image of the nobles reacting to a more intelligent populace, demanding no taxation without representation. Perhaps trains wouldn’t cause such a large scale change, but maybe it would.

Travel always births change. Introducing a steam engine to a world stuck in the medieval age would shoot its progression up a few hundred years. It could be the beginning of the industrial revolution, but if I can get us closer to modern benefits, like the Internet and cell phones, I won’t complain. Liliana sighed longingly at the thought of being able to use a search engine or a calculator.

If I really want a revolution, I should introduce the printing press too. At least if the Industrial revolution happens I won’t have to worry about severe pollution like on Earth, all of this can be done cleanly using magic. In fact, it would be far more expensive to use a resource like oil or coal for this than simply power leveling a commoner to a high enough level to work a shift at an engine or machine. Liliana smiled at the thought that her ideas wouldn’t cause the slow death of yet another planet. Even if capitalistic greed undoubtedly took hold of those in power.

It would be a good way to make money as well. I am in need of a way to make money and power, since in a few years I won’t have my family name to lean on or the Rosengarde treasury to use. I’d prefer if Alistair was the duke already, so I could just have him bankroll the initial costs, but that bastard genetic donor of mine isn’t going to die naturally anytime soon. Liliana scowled at the mental reminder of her father.

She knew she’d need to break from her family sooner rather than later, but when her brother took power, she’d be taken back in without hesitation. However, in the time between, she’d be penniless.

Perhaps I could get Marianne to back me? The queen would definitely want to capitalize on this. It would strengthen her power and being in control of travel across the country would tilt the scales in her favor. If I can get enough together to prove this would work and be beneficial to her, I could get support and negotiate a contract where I have a good level of control and take out of this, and I’d be able to push for training schools for commoners for this. Liliana felt a dark grin spread on her face and she gave into the urge to cackle. Oh, the plan was coming together now.

It might be enough of an incentive to push the queen to strip my father of his title and give it to Alistair as well. At that point, I’d be far more of an asset to her than my father, and she might be willing to sacrifice her leash on the north for it. Liliana resisted the sudden need to rub her hands together and cackle again.

No one might be around to see her, but she didn’t need to act like an evil mastermind coming up with dark plans. Even if she was planning a hostile takeover, and a technological advancement that would give her unprecedented political control. And possibly cause a revolution, but that was just a bonus.

“What are you doing?” a tired voice asked her and Liliana’s eyes flew open as she sat straight up, whipping her head around until her eyes landed on Emyr, leaning against the rod of the tower.

“How long have you been there?” Liliana asked, feeling her face flush.

“Long enough to hear you cackle like a villain out of a bad street play.” Emyr stated, utterly deadpan as he stared at her. Liliana ducked her head, face burning as she rubbed a hand at the back of her neck nervously.

“Ah. I didn’t think anyone would see that.” Liliana muttered.

“What were you laughing about? Think of a plan to send someone else to jail? Maybe a certain foreign prince?” Emyr asked, tilting his head as his eyes lit up at the thought.

“No. I had an idea and was considering if the mayhem and chaos it would throw our society into were worth the results.” Liliana said petulantly, crossing her arms.

“That’s not all.” Emyr stated.

“And I was thinking it would make the queen indebted to me and probably give me a chance to have my father stripped of his title.” Liliana confessed, quickly flushing deeper as Emyr let out a laugh.

“You’re insane.” Emyr told her, finally walking closer to her and sitting down.

“That’s why you love me, though.”

“Nope. I utterly despise you.” Emyr responded without hesitation. Liliana gaped at him as he smirked at her, his eyes sparkling. Her eyes narrowed, and she jabbed at his side, making him collapse as he groaned.

“Gods woman, I’m not Alistair. Are you trying to kill me? I think I heard a rib break.” Emyr whined as he clutched his side, pouting at her.

“Oh yes, I forgot. You’re a delicate flower that wilts at the first strike.” Liliana grabbed his arm and pulled him back up. He kept clutching as he side, shooting her glares.

“Exactly! You brute.” Emyr muttered as he rubbed his side.

“What are you even doing here? I was sure by now Marianne would’ve locked you and Alistair in a closet.” Liliana said, rolling her eyes at his theatrics. Emyr froze and even in the darkness, she could see the way his skin darkened in a flush.

“Oh my gods, she did!” Liliana squealed, grabbing Emyr’s hands when he tried to stand up and walk away, keeping him in place.

“Did you two kiss? Is it official? Are you my brother-in-law now?” Liliana demanded, moving her grip to his shoulders and shaking Emyr in time with her words, which grew louder and shriller in pitch as she spoke. Emyr grimaced and ducked his head, not meeting her eyes as he quickly muttered something she didn’t catch.

“What was that?” Liliana demanded, shaking him again.

“Stop before you shake my brain out of my skull, woman!” Emyr hissed, smacking ineffectually at her hands, crossing his arms and looking away before he spoke again.

“He kissed me, but he was drunk off his ass, so he probably won’t even remember it.” Emyr finally said loud enough for her to hear.

Liliana stared at him for a long minute, mind processing the words before she screamed and threw her arms around Emyr, sending them both down in a pile of limbs as she hugged him.

“Congratulations Emyr!” Liliana told him as he sighed dramatically before wrapping his arms around her and patting her back as she giggled into his chest.

“Thanks, Lili.” Emyr whispered.

“How was it?” Liliana asked, lifting her head so she could see his face, still dark from the blush that hadn’t abated.

“Wet. Messy. Wonderful.” Emyr confessed the words pouring out of him, a smile he probably didn’t even realize he was wearing crossing his face. His eyes were soft and warm and Liliana felt herself grinning, seeing her closest friend so happy.

“I’m glad your first kiss was with your first love.” Liliana told him, resting her chin on his chest.

“What makes you think that was my first kiss?” Emyr demanded, and Liliana rolled her eyes, just staring at him until he sighed and hid his face in his hands. “Fine. It was.” He blurted out, and Liliana kicked her feet as she giggled.

“What did you do afterwards? Did you confess?” Liliana prodded him and Emyr groaned loudly, keeping his face hidden.

“I disappeared into the shadows and ran away.” Emyr told her and Liliana sat up, mouth wide as she stared at him in shock.

“Emyr! How could you?” Liliana demanded, and Emyr rolled over, hiding his face in his arms as he let out something in between a groan and a scream.

“I know! But like I said, he was drunk! He won’t remember anything and I was just so overwhelmed I ran.” Emyr whined pitifully and Liliana sighed, laying back down and setting her cheek on his back.

“If he does remember, you’re going to have to talk to him or he’ll be miserable and think you don’t feel the same.” Liliana informed him, eliciting another groan.

“I know. I don’t know which is worse, him forgetting or him remembering.” Emyr told her, turning his head so she could see his profile. His skin was still flushed, but the smile was gone, replaced with a frown.

“Either way, you know he likes you and you can’t just go back to how you two were before.” Liliana told him, and Emyr sighed.

“If he doesn’t remember, I’ll confess after the Tournament. If he does… I’ll tell him once he’s done suffering from his hangover.” Emyr promised her and Liliana let out a breath of air but didn’t push him further.

“Fine. But if you don’t get this sorted by midnight the day after the Tournament I’ll stick you both in another closet.” Liliana threatened, and Emyr flapped a hand at her, smacking her head lightly, but didn’t argue.

“How about you tell me this brilliant chaos inducing title stripping plan of yours instead?” Emyr asked, sitting up and forcing Liliana to do the same.

She glared at him but huffed and let him redirect the conversation, though she didn’t miss how he kept touching his lips and gazing into the distance during her explanation.