Chapter 7

I’m… lost. I’m hopelessly lost. The academy halls are all mirrors of each other, everything so perfectly symmetrical, even the tiniest mistake on the wall is matched by the other halls. There’s no doubt that magic is being used here, but still! This is going too far! I don’t even know if I walked past the vice-principal’s office yet.

The supposed map doesn’t help either. Its completely blank! That woman definitely has it out for me, I probably embarrassed her by ranking higher than her son or something.

I think I’ve been wandering these halls for at least an hour, I can’t really tell but I know it's around night right now because it’s pitch black outside. The occasional window shows no sign of light, the school is just bathed in darkness. That’s a given though, there isn’t any civilization anywhere near here, only the academy and the ever-looming threat of a monster attack.

I kept walking down the shiny marble halls, carefully observing them using the lanterns that lined the walls. It was about the only thing I could appreciate about the school. The design materials are just excellent! Gold, silver and marble are all extremely difficult to enchant with magic, but somehow, the academy was able to do it. All three materials are natural anti-magic weapons, using them to harbour magic is simply genius! I don’t know how it works though, I can’t see the through walls after all.

The tiles were square in design, rows upon rows of beautiful, intricate patterns had been etched in every single tile, each one then plated with a beautiful coat of gold and silver. I could feel strong magic coming from it, even I might not even be able to dent this floor. The walls were more simple but carried the same amount of grace in their design. Golden arcs on top silver and marble coats surrounded me, only stopping their pattern to elegantly dance around windows and doors, which also happened to be plated in gold, the doors themselves however were made out of a exquisite wood which I can only assume came from the forest itself.

It wasn’t just the the building that was impressive. Even the mana in the building was refined. Mana in its natural state is almost like a goo-like substance. Crude, sticky and overall disgusting. The mana in the school however, it was almost like a river, like mana straight from a ley line. It was smooth, clear, clean and powerful, students who can’t produce their own mana can still be successful due to the very nature of the school.

Honestly, if a civilization was built here, taking the continent would be an easy task but having such a powerful place of learning, perhaps it outweighs world conquest. As I continued to marvel in the schools beauty, a huge fluctuation in the mana startled me. The mana started to move erratically, not as messy as an offensive spell, but uncultured nevertheless.

Suddenly, the tiles on the floor started to flip over, the beautiful white marble switched with a pitch black that seemed to absorb all light. It was like a wave of shadow that swept right past me, extinguishing the lanterns as it passed. Now, I was left in total darkness, while still being completely lost.

Due to my eyes, I haven’t lost any vision, however, the lack of light is still a disadvantage. The mana around me no longer has a affinity to light, rather, it has an affinity for darkness now. Of course, that barely affects me, I use my own mana after all.

I continue walking down the halls. I’m so tired. I feel my body become slow and my eyes start to close. Thankfully, I saw a shape come running down the hall which woke me up quickly. I could see legs however, I heard no noise. The creature continued to run down the hall, directly towards me. It’s clearly a creature of darkness, what I don’t know is if it is a friend or foe. Usually, the decision is easy to make, however, the Academy has many quirks, Dark Elementals, no matter how despicable they are, are still accepted.

Again, the creature saved me from making a choice. When it got closer, I could feel the the flow of mana gather around it, and I could see a disgusting blob of mana build around its arms. That was an offensive spell and there were only two creatures in this section of the school. Me and it.

Yeah, it was clearly trying to attack me. Alright, I’m not going to mess around with this thing. I’m just going to give it the most painful end possible. I start to gather my mana inside me, slowly building it up and wait for the creature to get closer. I love pretending to be weak. It’s so fun in situations like these!

I could see the thing grin and raise its arms to strike. I decided that now was a good moment and I unleashed my mana outward, my mana, being so pure, emerges as light, the entire hall brightened with a luminescent glow, the creature squealed as the pure light mana seeped into him, seeking to destroy the darkness his body harboured.

His skin started to sizzle and now that he was squirming on the ground, I could get a better look at him. He seemed humanoid, however, his skin consisted entirely of a disgusting, viscous oil-like substance that oozed off him as he moved. His limbs ended in horribly twisted claws and talons, the horror of it further amplified by the fact that he had three legs and arms, a twisted amalgamation that only filled me with disgust.

High-pitched screams emerged from the holes my mana delivered before his body completely rotted away, leaving only bones and a small glowing talisman in the middle. I stopped the flow of mana and picked up the trinket. Examining it closely, it seemed to belong to a noble, evidence by the inscription on the back. Judging from the number of skeletons that was inside its body, it’s safe to assume that it wasn’t his.

I placed the necklace back down. I had no need for it, besides, I need to leave now. I could feel several pressences coming down every hall, no doubt teachers and students worrying about those horrible screams. Oh god that thing was disgusting. Good thing I gave it a proper end for its miserable existence. I hope it felt lots of pain before it died.

I moved the light around me and began to walk down the hall with the most students coming down it. More students usually means dorms right? Skillfully dodging rushing students, I managed to find two doors, one with males walking in and out, and one with females. Students I mean.

Finally! I hid behind a corridor and disabled my invisibility. I walked out, feeling quite proud of my accomplishment and walked into the male door. Inside, I saw ten other doors, one for each of the elements obviously.

I briskly walked towards the glowing door and walked inside, again. I was instantly felt the rays of sunlight fall on my weary body. My dreary eyes could slightly open again. The room was a large dome that could easily fit thousands of people, the amount of people inside barely filled two-percent of the space. The entire outer edge of the floor was a large walkway, rooms lining the walls beside them.

Inside the circle created by the walkway, were two biomes. A hot, arid desert and a very pleasant meadow where most of the students seemed to be. Either sleeping under the comfortable rays or playing with the various creatures that filled the room… wait.

I looked up, and I was shocked… for a moment. When I looked up, I saw the sun, however, after looking a bit more, I could see its core and the magic it emitted, something I could never do with the real sun. While impressive, it's nothing compared to the feats I’m capable of. However, a portable sun would be very nice. I would love to find the person who made this. Already, I’ve seen two different magics I’ve never seen before. Coming to this school was the correct choice.

As I observed the room some more, I could feel mana start to gather around me, rather, around the piece of paper I was still holding for some reason. I picked it up and the numbers 221 were displayed on its surface. Wow, this thing actually works? Wait, its magic too? That’s strange, I couldn’t feel any residue mana surrounding it. The magician who made this must have been very refined.

This school keeps getting more and more interesting. I walked along the outer edge of the room, each door conveniently had a corresponding number. The number 221 made a lot more sense now. I watched the center of the room as I walked by, I was curious of the animals that they let in.

The first thing I noticed were the glowing, floating, bloated balls of light, maybe as big as an ant. They swarmed the students that were awake, I could see them feeding off of the mana they emitted, the students didn’t seem to mind though, I think they even enjoyed the company.

Wisps. I reduced my mana output to zero. Those things are attracted to light, the stronger you are, the more pure our mana and therefore, the more of those things start to cling to you. They usually stay very high above the clouds and follow the sun around the sky, which is why they are very rare. Here however, there exists no darkness, at least I hope, so I can understand why these wisps would decide to stay here instead of returning to the sun.

If I let out even the slightest bit of mana, those things would swarm me endlessly. Sure, there may be a lot already around the kids right now, but I can see the presence of countless wisps, all surrounding the pseudo-sun.

Other than the wisps, the only other creature I recognized was the unilope. A rabbit-like creature with a few oddities. One, their eyes were completely white. Two, their fur was very long and three, they had a single horn growing out of their forehead. This horn also happens to be a great conduit for mana, combine that with the larger intelligence of the species and you have one of the only monster races that can actively cast magic.

I stayed very far away from those things. They are well loved by the populace but I can’t stand them. Their magic is so hideous that I can’t even bear to look at one. The way they contort and abuse the mana… it's horrible.

I noticed the eyes of the students as I walked by. Most of them would smile and wave and I would respond in kind, others would whisper, not bothering to look me in the eyes, which was strange. Light elementals are extremely social and kind, so to see this behaviour from them, its almost worrying. It makes sense though. I did come first in the exam, there were bound to be rumors about me.

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I reached the room labeled 221. The doorknob seemed to glow in my presence, I could tell that I had reached my destination. I opened the knob and walked in. I felt a huge surge of relief wash over me. My legs began to shake and I quickly looked for something to lie down on.

I don’t do well without rest, because of my amazing qualities, I never truly relied on my body for daily activities. I opened the first room on my left, inside I saw a bed and I rushed over to it, collapsed on top and went to sleep.

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I was awoken by the sound of chattering outside my room. Groaning, I lifted myself off my bed.

Aenios: “Wait!”

I just slept in an unknown room! I swiftly got up and began scouring the room. The room had a classic and elegant feel, like it was made for nobles. I was grateful for that, I could never forgive myself if I slept in some dirty unkempt closet. The decor was simplistic but blended well with the room around it, it was clearly meant to be adaptive. To be used to emphasize whatever design the student wanted.

A bed, drawer, table and window, that was all that was in the room currently. I looked over them, looking for hidden magic in the form of displaced mana. Thankfully, I found none. I sighed when I knew I could relax. My main worry was if I saw straight lines of mana. These straight lines only appear when observatory magic is being used, scrying, enhanced senses and so on fall under this category. The straight line represents the information line passed through the mana. My celestial orbs don’t have this trait however due to the unique nature of their magic. The only magic present in the room was embedded deep into the walls, protective magic, something that wards off external sources of mana as well as physical forces.

Now that I cleared this room, it was time to check the next. I walked outside the door, which I had unfortunately left open in my rush to find somewhere to rest. There was no observatory magic being used outside the room, it seemed the rooms was mostly magic free.

There were four rooms total, something I find quite acceptable. One bedroom, bathroom, kitchen and an extended room containing living space and a dining area. The decoration matched the theme from the bedroom, simplistic and adaptive whilst being stylish by itself. Truly constructed for versatility.

The most intriguing part was the dining table. Placed upon it was a neat little breakfast. It seemed to be some eggs, cooked white, covered by small amounts of mozzarella served with a glass of milk. The creatures they came from I had no idea however, I could find no trace of magic nor could I visibly see any poisons. Assuming that poisoning students on the first day wasn’t a great business strategy, I took a bite from the completely white meal.

Astonishingly, the food was quite delicious. I sat down and began to eat. This room, and the food. They’re very good. I took this time to think over past events, my life had rapidly accelerated during these two days, while there have been some downsides, and some minor annoyances, it was mostly positive and my plans remain relatively unchanged.

The school is only a front afterall. Getting into it was the only problem, now, I can focus on other things, like the slow annexation of my neighbouring lords and thanes.

I sighed in delight as I finished my meal. The moment I did, some mana began to conjure directly in front of the table. I stood up, alarmed. The mana seemed to be forming a portal, a clear sign of summoning magic. I summoned my chains, preparing for a fight but I was surprised to see a simple unseen servant emerge from the portal apparition.

It payed me no heed, picked up my dishes and briskly floated towards the kitchen wear I could hear the washing of said dishes. So that’s who prepared my meal? A skilled servant indeed.

I went to the bathroom after I was fully calm and prepared for the rest of the day. The academy uniform was laid down inside, and I prepared for the day, going through basic hygienic procedures. It wasn’t until I walked out of the bathroom that I noticed an odd, yellow coloured ball of fluff. It seems that a wisp had managed to find its way in my room and began feeding off of my mana.

However annoyed I was that the wisp took advantage of my rest-deprived state and ate my mana as I slept, it didn’t matter now and would serve as a lesson to me for the future. This room was already full of my personal mana, which I must have released subconsciously during my rest. The overload of hyper-pure mana seems to have affected the wisp greatly as its natural colour has turned something closer to rays of sunlight. A pale yellow. That and it has doubled in size, greatly out weighing its brethren. I guess this is what happens when wisps eat too much mana. Whatever.

I opened the door to my room and made sure none of my mana could flood outward. Releasing no mana myself, I closed the room, and began to walk towards a large group of Light elementals. I could see plenty of groups form around the main area, and I could hear the same words come from the groups.

I walked over to a random group, gave a quick little greeting and asked what everyone was talking about.

The student barely managed to explain it to me despite the numerous amount of words he used. He rambled on and on about a monster that was hiding in the school and how the monster was finally killed.

Basically, he depicted the events from last night. That wasn’t the main part of the conversation though. The topic of discussion was the person who killed the monster. Apparently, the monster died simply from being in his presence, no offensive magic was found, the hero that killed the monster was probably a photomancer that could rival even the strongest of magical beasts.

The gist of his long speech? I was now a mystery. Benefits? None. Deficits? Now Luciana has even more reason to try and continue searching the school and I have to be even more careful with my powers. My main goal was to try and blend in, but that’s becoming increasingly more difficult as time passes on.

I predict sneaking out of school will become more and more tedious. This is vital towards my plans however. I tried to change the topic and asked them about the school. My social skills proved superior and we began talking about the school, how different it was and a bunch of other useless small talk. It wasn’t until long into the conversation that some useful information popped up.

As I know, today was the day for the written exam, I was completely prepared but I had no idea where it was. This eventually spiralled into a brief instructional lesson on how to use the map. Something I was neglected during my introduction to the school. The map also functions as a guide, informing me of my next class and reminding me of important dates. An important device for a successful student life.

Thanking them and saying my goodbyes, I left the group and using my newfound knowledge, found my way through the winding halls with a lot less difficulty. The morning was full of students walking down the halls, chatting, experimenting, casting magic and sometimes even fighting. The fights are short however due to marble gargoyles phasing through the walls and breaking up the fight. Large constructs made out of a material that deflects magic, pretty hard to continue whatever petty argument when those things are staring you down.

The amount of fighting that occurs is simply unordinary. It's a given though, so many conflicting ideals and abilities packed in this tiny place, it’s a miracle that the school hasn’t crumbled already. None of that matters though, the squabbles of peasants aren’t of concern currently.

Passing through the crowd, following the map, I was eventually lead to a large hall with many doors on the sides, Students walked in but did not walk back out. I think this is the exam room. I walked over to the door the map lead me to. I could not see any students walk in or out.

I guess this was where I was to write the test? I walked in. Inside lay only one desk sitting in the middle of the room. Placed on top was a large stack of papers, a pen and an ink well. I sat down, and waited. Was I supposed to start? I had no idea. There was no one else in the room except for me.

I could see observatory magic all across the room, their attentions directly focused on me and my paper. I could tell this was to prevent cheating but it might have been a little overboard. I decided to get up and explore the room more while I waited for the test to begin, or someone to tell me that I could begin the test.

I walked all around the room. It was sparsely decorated. A blackboard remained at the back, three windows were all that illuminated the room and the desk in the middle was all that truly defined the room. If it were not for the constant streams of mana, I would have already fallen asleep.

A few minutes passed before I remembered that the exam doesn’t start until a set time. I guess I rushed here in my excitement of finally getting a handle on how this school works. I went to open up the door but found that it was locked. Okay… I guess this was also for preventing students from cheating?

I quickly grew bored and sat down in the chair and waited. I didn’t want to touch the tests lest I find myself in a situation where starting the test before instructed to is considered cheating. I don’t know how long I waited before something finally happened. I was really close to dozing off.

The door opened and a single man still wearing his spectacle, walked in. The librarian approached me and stood in front of my desk. His eye observed the room as he walked in before settling on me.

Librarian: “I will be your overseer for this exam. You will be granted one hour to complete the written exam. Failure will result in immediate expulsion. Upon completion, you will be allowed to return to your dorms or visit your class and acquaint yourself with your future homeroom teacher, you classmates and the room itself. When you are ready, you may begin.”

Needing no more words, I flipped over the test and began. While unsettling having someone watch over me, I had nothing to fear. I pride myself in my intellect, even more so than my magical prowess. I completed the first page in nearly a minute. I could see the confusion in the librarian’s eyes as I sped so quickly through the test.

Ten minutes later, I had finished. The librarian was astonished and looked over the papers, dumbfounded. He returned the papers to the desk and looked at me closely.

Librarian: “Did you use magic to cheat on this test?”

His eyes glowed as he spoke. The mana around him looked like observatory magic, but I didn’t know what kind. But again, I had nothing to fear.

Aenios: “I used no magic, Sir.” Humbly and confidently, I replied. The librarian looked even more confused. He looked back at the test and shook his head in disbelief before returning to his usual demeanor.

Librairan: “Seeing that you’ve completed your exam, you may return to your dorm or continue to your class. The choice is yours.”

I didn’t like those choices. Both seemed like useless options to me, a waste of time that could be used to advance myself and my position.

Aenios: “Is it possible if I can explore the city? Using up the rest of the day just sitting inside the school seems like such a waste…”

The librarian looked sternly at me. Finally, he gave in and accepted. “You may go, however, you must be back before the sun sets and make sure you do come back. If you get lost all blame falls on me. So make sure you come back on time and don’t go too far away from the school.”

Success! I thanked him and walked out. The halls were completely devoid of students my grade, only those from the upper grades remained in the halls. They paid me no mind so I returned their attitude. I walked to the front of the school before exiting those massive doors.

Integration and disguise? Complete. Now it was time for scheming and uprooting.