I returned to my room deep in thought. How would people react when it became clear that I had so much mana? Archibald was looking down on me already. There was no way he would suddenly try to be friends. He would consider me a threat. He might even panic and try to have me eliminated. Was that something he could do? How much influence did he really have? What would his father think?

I had successfully avoided Leo so far. From what Helena told me he was one of those who would try to use me. Probably manipulate me in some way. I would need to keep my guard up.

My thoughts were interrupted as I opened the door to my room. My eyes widened in shock as I saw someone lunge at me. It was an overly excited Helena.

“What did you get? What did you get?” She had grabbed my shoulders and was shaking me.

Skadi sat on the bed and sighed. “Maybe you should stop shaking her.”

Helena’s antics made me smile. “Calm down, I will tell you everything.” And I meant that. There was no point in keeping secrets from my friends. Sure, I had only known them for a brief time. But they were the people I trusted most.

I made sure the door was closed and we sat down. “Gronir has the skeleton of some large feline for me. Horas will help prepare it and I will try to create a tier two undead with a frost aspect! I have until the end of the month to pull that off.”

“Wow! This is so cool! Do you know what it will be able to do? How strong is it? What sort of feline?” Helena asked.

“Something similar to a panther. Gronir was not certain, he bought something from the adventurers guild.”

“Strange, you would expect the guild to know what they have.” Skadi said.

I shrugged. “I have no idea how they operate. Just that they are mercenaries and often make money from selling monster parts.”

“I am sure it will be deadly!” Helena said.

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“But is that not a bit much?” Skadi said. “A tier two undead, that is not small, and with an aspect?”

“I told you that I have a lot of mana, right? Well, it looks like I am already at the level of a senior mage…”

I looked at their surprised faces.

“YES!” Helena exclaimed. “We are going to have an undead army! I knew it! You will be a grand mage by the time you graduate. We will show every other group in the academy! MUAHAHAHA.” Her laugh sounded slightly evil.

Skadi ignored her and looked at me. “That is rather impressive. But you will need to learn how to use it. Even if you graduate with a grand mage mana pool you will not have the experience to truly be one. Senior mage is realistic, considering how fast you learned telekinesis. It also makes me more confident about becoming a spellblade. I can be your shield. A necromancer needs reliable protection.”

Helena looked slightly disappointed that nobody had joined her laugh. But she recovered quickly. “Hm. I am still torn. I do like to fight with a weapon but I think large scale frost magic will become my focus. We will see how classes go.”

“Gronir also told me to not leave the academy for now.”

“A wise choice.” Skadi said. “It’s hard to attack you here. That is probably why someone tried to intercept you on the way here.”

“Do you think they found out who was behind the attack?” I wondered.

“They probably have suspicions.” Helena answered. “There can’t be too many people who knew about your existence and could have organised that. But proof will be hard to find. And investigating a noble is difficult.”

“At least your first undead will be able to fight.” Skadi said. “Actually, that will draw a lot of attention.”

“I wonder if Princess Olivia will show up.” Helena mused.

I stared at her. “Why would she show up?”

“You are sort of a big deal and she is your sponsor. You were always a valuable asset but with that much potential? She will want to ensure you are on her side. Although she might wait until you have finished the first year.” Helena explained.

I was certainly not ready to meet a princess.

“We should grab some food before the mess hall closes.” Skadi reminded us.

“And have drinks to celebrate!” Helena added.

“We do have classes tomorrow.” I reminded her.

“Fine, only a few drinks…”

We had a pleasant evening and did not stay up too long. It was nice, having friends. I was lucky that I had found them. They were genuinely happy for me. When I curled up in bed that night, I was content.

The next day greeted me with the usual wakeup call. It was the last school day for this week. Not that I would do much resting on Solday. I had a lot of training to do. Maybe I could even work on my skeleton? Today was my first advanced alchemy class. I could not wait until afternoon!

The morning classes were interesting but my attention was certainly not a hundred percent. What would the skeleton look like? How much work did it need? Would it be dirty? Instead of being disgusted, I was looking forward to handling some bones. Was I weird? Maybe. But who cares?

The class was held in a special lecture room that included lab stations. When I arrived I looked around curiously. I was the first one here. There were eight tables for students and one for the teacher. All had some sort of stove and a vent above. I could see a lot of bottles and glassware. Each table had a large preparation area next to the stove. I picked a place in the first row and waited.