Lasutro returned to Gallina House alone, having opted to return for the day instead of joining Henry in paying their tuition, like she had originally planned to, and his further exploration of the Academy grounds. Once inside their room she carefully set the things of Henry’s she had been persuaded into taking down upon his bed before going about organizing their own purchases. After nearly two hours of organizing not just their new purchases for their studies, but all their personal belongings with the exception of their red tome which she kept buried within the smallest of their bags. And while the organizing itself did not take long, Lasutro found themselves prolonging the activity, often taking several minutes to thoroughly examine their new purchases before putting them away.

When Lasutro finished organizing their things in such a manner it was clear to whom they belonged, at least to some degree, she returned to their studies of their spell scroll. Instead of the approach she had taken the previous night of a more direct scrutiny and note taking, she decided to utilize their more introductory texts as a sort of reference material as she went over their notes. Over the hours that followed, she pressed on in their studies, taking only the occasional break for munching on some of the few snacks Lasutro had purchased earlier in the day. When the shadows of the room grew and the light shifted from bright to dim, Lasutro reluctantly pulled themselves from their studies, and set them aside for the day.

Once their new notes had been put away, Lasutro returned to reading the book she had started in the morning, lighting a candle before she did so. A simple task that she used as an opportunity to practice one of the more mundane spells she had learned from the red tome. She was a little over half way through the increasingly convoluted telling of the history and impact of a long collapsed and partially forgotten empire from the far off continent of Exduii, when Henry returned and gave them a polite greeting before going about organizing their own new things.

While he went about his business, Lasutro continued reading about the forgotten empire, the proper name of which was the Xelsohposian Empire. An empire that despite reportedly having settlements in every corner of the world and an extraordinary understanding of the arcane arts, collapsed in its peak following the disappearance of not only its emperor but all those who could succeed them. A mystery that had such significance among the populous that the origin of several myths can be traced to the empire's sudden end. And while the mystery itself remains unsolved, though not due to lack of effort by those scholars and mages who have studied it, many more scholars study the aftermath of its collapse and the collapse itself due to its relevance in the aftermath.

The end of the Xelsohposian empire itself was set into stone shortly after the revelation of the disappearances of the emperor and their circle with what is believed to be the nearly synchronized attacks of not only the empire’s allied and enemy kingdoms but several rebellions in both its home continent but its colonies as well. One of the prevalent theories described in the book as to how the attacks managed to be so in sync was that a mage from one of the empire’s allied kingdoms happened to be visiting the emperor’s palace and caught on to the reason for the panic, and convinced their king to seize the opportunity for more power. An idea which was first spread like a strategic fire, but quickly burned out of control into the hands of not just a few of the empire’s enemies but all the kingdoms that envied its land and influence.

When Lasutro reached the end of the academic text, it took on a writing style that she had only recently noticed in other non-fiction books. Though the style wasn’t particularly unique, it held a great similarity to their red tome and the handful of academic texts she had on the arcane arts. The end of the text transitioned from its previous focus on greater scale effects of the aftermath of the collapse, such as how the kingdoms of the continent of Exduii have remained at war with each other, into the surviving histories of the magical artifacts of the empire. Histories that are, for some of the artifacts, more detailed than others and on occasion of including precise drawings of the artifact itself as well as notes in relation to a the author's personal research on the artifact, not unlike Lasutro’s own notes on their scroll, though paradoxically more complex and simplistic.

Once she finished reading the text, Lasutro returned it to its place on their shelf, making a note to themselves to revisit it in the future when she had gained a more advanced understanding of artifacts, and a separate note to research a specific type of material mentioned in the more detailed descriptions of artifacts following their payment of tuition. As Lasutro laid themselves to rest under the barely audible sounds of the creatures of night, she found their mind reflecting on their recent dream, more specifically the corridor she was now sure was one of the hallways she had seen in their tour of the Academy, until she gradually drifted to sleep.

MARK

Following a leisurely reading of a few chapters of another of their unread books, Lasutro made their way to House Xov Aradenti, a former mansion of a long passed mage of the Academy that like many of the others left their property to the care of the Academy. While their tour of the grounds gave a brief history, including the mage’s contributions to the academy, which seemed to be among the several hundreds of books under lock and key due to the particular research they did, Lasutro hadn’t had the chance to go in. Though as soon as she entered it became clear as to why the tour didn’t pass through the building. The reason being the near swarm-like activity that occupied the foyer and the corridors of the house’s interior.

Several minutes after she began wandering the building for the office of the Academy’s administrator of finance, Lasutro gave up on finding it on their own and waited for one of the comparably less occupied individuals roaming the halls to ask for their assistance. When she finally entered the office, the first thing she noticed besides the obvious aspects of the room’s previous purpose, was the variety of students, some of whom she recognized from the tour and others who seemed closer in age to Resnya and Daarkiz. While the crowdedness of the room tempted Lasutro to wait outside for a few minutes, however she resisted the urge when she noticed the efficiency of each of the generally older robed administrators who worked on various papers as they spoke with the student who sat in front of their desk.

After Lasutro took a seat of their own among their fellow students, she spent several minutes almost hypnotized by the multitasking of the administrators, until she was finally called to one of the desks. There she was prompted by the administrator to explain why she had come to the office, and as soon as she did so he began explaining the various systems she could pay by, only a few really applied to them given she had yet to receive any “official” education as a mage. In the end Izora, as Lasutro had introduced themselves as, decided to pay their tuition for the year all at once, after hearing the brief but detailed explanations of the methods of payment that had the least amount of requirements as well as the most feasible. All in all the paperwork for the transaction was simple, or at least made simple by the administrator, who, after counting the bag of coin that she handed over, quickly took the large sum of twenty five large platinum pieces and six large gold over to a wooden drawer that sat behind the largest desk of in the office and placed inside a sizable compartment labeled tuition.

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When all of their paperwork was filled out, the administrator who had guided them through the process handed over a scroll that acted as confirmation of both their official enrollment and as proof of their payment, which he explained wasn’t strictly necessary, but was the standard procedure for all payments to the Academy. After giving their thanks to the older gnomish man who had helped them, Lasutro made their way to the vast library of the Skire Lapidez Citadel, making only a brief stop along the way to drop off a few things in their room before continuing on to their destination. Once she had passed the less active halls of the Citadel and entered the more energetic halls where older students and occasionally individuals Lasutro believed to be professors or researchers argued on topics that more often than not she did not understand as they made their way in or out of the library.

While previously she had managed to enter the library through one of the many alternative doors to the library thanks to their ambling about the Citadel, this time she had the opportunity to appreciate the age of the library itself in relation to the rest of the building. Specifically the weathering that remained on the stonewalls that surrounded the doors to the library itself, the sight of which partially vindicated their attentiveness to the half-lectures of their tour guide. The interior of the library wasn’t much of a surprise, as their previous entry had given them a rough idea of the layout and some insight into its design. Despite this Lasutro spent a few moments inspecting the sights of the library that she didn’t get a chance to see on their previous visit, the comparably small second floor, which was only visible due to the lack of shelves between the main entrance and librarians desk which was built around a large pillar that while not in the actual center of the library, gave the impression that it was.

Instead of browsing without any particular purpose she had previously, Lasutro walked over to one of the librarians attending the desk and prepared themselves for the interaction. As soon as she arrived at the desk the librarian stopped what she was doing and turned her attention to Lasutro, then she asked in a soft voice “How can I help you?” Quickly matching the librarian’s cadence, Lasutro found themselves asking a slew of questions about the library itself, its second floor, and the organization system. To which she received a series of seemingly practiced answers, some of which were vague enough to almost tempt personal investigation, yet most satisfied Lasutro’s curiosity. After having their questions answered satisfactorily, the distraction of their curiosity left their mind and she recalled what she wanted to look into: the material mentioned at the end of their book on the history of the Xelsohposian empire.

As Lasutro began to give their recollection of the description of the material, the librarian’s expression of minimal interest transitioned into a more focused and attentive one. While she continued their explanations of the material, the librarian pulled out a series of scrolls and in between the occasional pauses in Lasutro’s descriptions, the librarian skimmed through the scrolls, making notes on a loose piece of paper every so often before moving onto a new scroll. A task she continued doing after Lasutro finished their description, only stopping briefly to ask Lasutro to wait for a moment. After a few minutes of what Lasutro assumed to be investigations on potential texts with the relevant information on the materials that had been their history book had referred to as sutcefre, the librarian returned the scrolls from where she had pulled them from, before making her way in front of the desk with a filled sheet of paper and making a gesture for Lasutro to follow her.

Over the several minutes that followed the two expertly traveled the near labyrinthian shelves of the library, with the occasional stop to inspect and remove a book or two to hand over to Lasutro. Eventually, after several stops and gaining a well sized stack of academic texts, the librarian led Lasutro to one of sets of reading desks, after which tucked away the piece of paper she had been glancing at during their journey through the various shelves. Then, before she started to make her way back to her desk, she asked Lasutro, in an almost instructive manner to just drop the books off at her desk when they finished with them, her own interest in Lasutro’s “research” clear as she left.

Alone, besides the other visitors of the Citadel’s library, Lasutro set to the task of reading their stack of books the librarian had helped them acquire. Not long after she started the third book of the various texts she had collected, it became apparent that the intended subject of their studies wasn’t as well known as she might have preferred. However despite the minimal information on the material referred to as sutcefre she got from each text, she still found themselves absorbing plenty of new information on a subject she had little practical knowledge of: materials with uses in creating permanent enchantments and less common materials effective in more general arcane spell castings.

As she continued making their way through their stack of books, Lasutro gradually felt a part of their curiosity shift from the variety of dry writings she was poring over, to a general curiosity of the methods of enchanting objects. Although the slight reduction in their focus slowed their pace, Lasutro eventually finished all the texts the librarian had helped them find, and while it wasn’t as much as she wanted, she found some satisfaction in that she was able to get a solid idea of what sutcefre materials were. Though she wasn’t able to find any information about the origin to sutcefre materials, whether it be how it is made or where it is found, with the exception of vague suggestions of possible methods, she did discover that sutcefre materials was a non specific term that generally referred to specific metals that classified as “sutcefre” though the term was not limited to only metals.

Each of the texts that Lasutro went through described the various sutcefre materials in several different styles, more often in a way that suggested that the author’s knowledge on the material was second hand. Although the information was slightly more convoluted in those texts, they still benefited Lasutro’s studies, as not all of the books that covered the materials with the clear understanding that was only possible with a more personal scrutiny, did so of every material. And while Lasutro found themselves entranced by every detail on sutcefre materials during their studies, she was particularly curious about a few specific ones: Murphucotkelfed, Orecalmurfyr and Anulmutnygraium.

Much to their chagrin, she got very little information on the properties of the three sutcefre metals, besides their general appearance, though the exception of the three was Murphucotkelfed which was well documented compared to the other two, at least in relation to its supposed properties. Lasutro attributed that the reason for its greater documentation was the one of the properties it was said to have, which was the natural ability to deflect magic, and despite the fact that one might expect it to be a horrible object to enchant or any other magical use, the most detailed description of the red metal described its reported use in protective magical enchantments instead enhanced the effects far more than almost any other material.

The other two metals that caught Lasutro’s attention were only ever mentioned in terms of its physical appearance, and in the few books that held more detailed information on sutcefre materials the forms the two metals were often worked into. Orecalmurfyr was reported to be a dark metal with little to no luster often shaped into blades and occasionally small shields. Anulmutnygaium, on the other hand, was made into rings and other forms of jewelry, its bright silver appearance, according to the texts she read, making them easy to avoid notice in high society as magical items a fact which stuck in Lasutro’s mind as she dropped off their stack of books for the librarian and made their way out of the Citadel. More specifically the casual description in one of the more detailed academic texts that mentioned Anulmutnygaium: “A Particularly lustrous metal, that holds a distinct coolness to the touch…”