One thing I was quite disappointed in was my Resin chainmail armour. It didn’t seem to do much at all during the astral space excursion. Maybe it blunted a couple of the hits, but not by much. I knew it would never do much when being squeezed to death by a snake. I was pleased with the gauntlets and greaves, but that was all. I still had not worked out something for my head.

I think part of the problem was that my links were too big. I had done that so that Ardisia could spike out through them. I had a 4 to 1 weave where each ring had four linking rings. There are different types of weave, and the orientation of the weave is important. My basic skill book knowledge was not enough.

I was not going to have time to get armouring lessons this coming semester, but in the second year, my course choices opened right up, and there were many crafting options available.

In the last two weeks of the semester, I attended the bare minimum of classes because I did not like being the centre of attention. People raced past me on the obstacle course, and I could see them wondering how someone not at their peak physically could have survived in the astral. This is probably my peak. It is just not as high a peak as others.

In Intro to Magic, I struggled. Akemi had always been my main help here, but now Saskia and Melor rallied around as well. I also had a lot of other, more book-oriented types offer to help. They all wanted to join my team next semester for the biweekly excursion into astral space.

“I am not forming a permanent team,” was my standard answer to everyone, including my last team members. Akemi, Saskia, and Melor were disappointed to hear that. Although Saskia did have other offers now, she refused them without Akemi staying with her.

Nassor had already had offers to other teams. The more I heard about his account, the more prominent he became, except for one thing. “Theo single-handedly ripped apart a bronze-rank monster with his bare hands! It was incredible!” All the people looked at me in the Basic Melee class practising with my spear and shield and found it very hard to believe.

When large-looking people, including second and third years, approached me and asked, “What is this I hear about you ripping apart bronze rank monsters with your bare hands?” I replied along the lines of, “Don’t believe everything you hear.” For some, that was enough, but for others who heard the story from a more reliable source like Jaha, that was not enough. The trouble was that the more I refused to talk about it, the more rumours there were. I spent less and less time on campus. Hopefully, it will die down over the break.

My favourite course, Introduction to Monsters, also stopped after the joint exercise into the Astral Space. Aura Control continued, and I really needed more of it. Melor and Nassor had almost let us down with their lack of control. I was considered one of the top students in the class, but I kept getting glimpses that there was so much more to it. I mainly concentrated on the stealth aspect of it rather than using it to manipulate others.

Then, on the last day of class, my nose picked up the smell of our professor arriving. But I looked around and didn’t see him. Then I noticed two class members move to the side, and they didn’t even realise they had done it. I finally saw him walking down the main aisle, and nobody noticed. My eyes didn’t want to notice him either, and it worked better if I concentrated elsewhere and followed him in my peripheral vision. This was simple aura manipulation. Well, not so simple, but it was only his aura. He wasn’t trying to hide or move quietly in any way. He was just using his aura to move through the crowd of students mostly unnoticed. I have so much to learn.

I had been hanging out for some time alone. I wanted to get away from the city, but there didn’t seem to be anywhere to go. The wilderness is not accessible from Vitesse, as everywhere was farmed, and monsters spawned in the silver range. Golds were not infrequent. If bronze monsters were spawning, it was in packs. There was nowhere an iron ranker could go alone.

The only real place I could go alone was my Tranquil Garden, which was not very large. The second best place was the Temple of Death and its gardens.

I set myself two goals over the two-week break. The first was to start imitating what I had seen of my Aura professor and get people to leave me alone with my aura. This is not just passive hiding as I had been, but actively guiding people away. I was not expecting to get very far, and I did not expect it to work very well at all on those of a higher rank than I was. Most people were of a higher rank than I was in Vitesse. I figured in the Temple of Death that, people were already predisposed to leaving people in silent meditation, so it would be easier here. The second place I could practice was the Temple of the Lost and Outcast, where there were more common folk and iron-rankers like me.

The second goal I set was to learn the identification ritual. I procured a book with the ritual in it from the academy library. You were not supposed to remove books from the library but just use them there. The fast hands Kitten had taught me came into use, and it went into my storage unnoticed. I would return it after the break.

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I had seen the ritual used by Farrah and the guy from the Magic Society who performed the Hunt essence ritual for me. They did not use any particular ritual diagram but just chanted some syllables. This was for experienced users. Beginners needed a diagram. This was because you had to shape your mana into a certain pattern. It was a fairly simple pattern, but I had no experience at all in shaping my mana. I could Input my mana into a ritual diagram, like when I summoned my familiars, but I had not tried shaping my mana at all. The purpose of the ritual diagrams was to take mana and shape it. The vocalisation of the syllables helped as well, but more to the amount of mana used. At least, that was my simplistic understanding. I am sure there is a lot more to it.

There were then many different types of identification rituals for use on different things and giving different information. The ritual I had seen was the most commonly known as it could be used on many different objects but only gave the most basic information. It would identify most magical items but only give the basic description. It would work on most essences, awakening stones, and quintessence. It would also work on most items created by magic, like the items from my Reaping Magic ability.

I created the ritual diagram on a large round shield. On my fourth attempt, It worked. I placed a quintessence in the centre and used the ritual, and I discovered it was a water quintessence. I placed my Snakeskin in it, and it told me it was bronze rank snakeskin. I already knew that, so it was not very helpful.

I read the book further, and if I wanted to find out the properties of the snakeskin, there were a myriad of more complicated rituals that would tell me if it has resistance to elements, poison, or any myriad of other things. I guess this is why there are identification specialists. They probably had skills that could help as well. It was never going to be my thing, but I could learn the basic ritual and identify things I picked up.

I spent a lot of time practising carving the ritual onto a shield and then trying to manage my mana through it. The more precisely the ritual diagram was carved, the smoother it went and the less mana it took. The spoken phrases also controlled the amount of mana, and there were recommended phrases suggested, but mana was highly adapted to the individual, so you needed to work out what was best for you.

Even the simplest ritual was stretching me. I was never going to do more complicated rituals.

The two-week break went too fast. I spent three afternoons/evenings a week at the Temple of the Outcast helping Davu, and in the kitchen, as well as trying different aura techniques. Techniques might be too ambitious of a word. I tried different things. I was trying to get people all around not to notice me. I need more instruction around this. Hopefully, we will get it this semester in Aura Control.

I did have a surprise visit just after lunch in the second week.

I heard Denice say, “There he is, ladies, I will leave you to it,”

I got up from my meditation pose and turned. Val and Akemi were walking towards me.

“Hi, you two. What brings you here?” I asked.

“You, of course. We have come to see how you are doing,” Val said.

“I am good. What about you?”

“Good,” Val said.

Akemi whispered, “Don’t you find this place depressing… like sad?”

“I actually find it peaceful.”

They both looked at me like I was crazy.

“We came to see if you wanted to hang out with us this afternoon,” Val said.

“Can we go somewhere else to hang out, though?” Akemi asked, obviously uncomfortable.

This place would bring sad memories for many people, as the only reason most people come is to say goodbye to loved ones. I could understand that.

“Sure, I am meeting a friend soon to help him. We could all go.”

“He won’t mind?” Val asked.

“Not at all. Everybody is always welcome at his place.”

That is how Val and Akemi got to meet Davu.

Akemi was helping me in the kitchen while Val was off with Davu when she said, “You obviously come here often. Why?”

“Because I was lost and outcast. These people don’t have a gift from a goddess to help them find their way, so they struggle and turn to other things—alcohol and alchemy mostly, but they need help like I did. I can only help a little, but I do what I can.”

“I never dreamed this was so needed in a great city like Vitesse.”

“Not everyone can get access to magic, and even when they do, it is usually not enough.” I shrugged. “The goddess cares and provides a refuge. The lost need to be found and the outcast brought into a home.”

“You sound like one of her priests, but I thought you were with the goddess of death?”

“I am actually with neither at the moment. The purposes of both goddesses have a lot of overlap.”