‘Ugh… It feels like the potions are losing their effectiveness,’ Alec thought. He felt like his face was burning from the inside. His breathing was getting rougher by the minute as he tried to listen to the professor.

Putting his arms on the desk and placing his head between them, Alec decided to close his eyes to rest a little bit.

‘Maybe I should’ve skipped class,’ he thought. Fortunately, his classes were about to end for the day. After a little bit of student council work and hopefully getting his mana brain engraved in the evening, he would be able to rest well. It was Friday, so he would have plenty of time to recover from this week’s work.

Counting the minutes, Alec managed to get through the rest of the class without fainting and took off for the student council. Most of the members were third-graders and had a much more flexible timetable than the second-graders. So, by the time Alec arrived, everyone had gotten to work.

“Welcome Alec. Today—” Edward was about to say before he frowned. “What happened to you? Are you okay? You look abnormally pale. And your eyes are reddened.”

“I do?” Alec asked as he closed his eyes and pinched his glabella. He found it a bit hard to open his eyes back up again, as they felt very heavy. “Maybe I’m tired… I was up all night yesterday.”

“That won’t do,” Edward said. He joined his hands under his chin and thought for a second. “I can’t have you working on low performance and risk making mistakes. I need you on full energy.”

“I can…” Alec muttered. His throat felt tight as he kept speaking. “I can hang around for at least a little bit. At least start learning what you do around here.”

“Sigh… Alright then,” Edward answered. He took out a black armband that contrasted with the black and white student uniform. It had an upside-down spider-like arachnid symbol on it. The spider’s legs, however, were curled up together to create a pedestal-like shape with a flame floating slightly above. “Put that on. When you do, you’ll have more authority than any other student around you. You will get a better explanation of your full privileges in the student council member handbook. For now, I will explain your new duty to you.”

Alec nodded along and looked around the room. There didn’t seem to be a seat for him on the tables to his sides.

‘I wonder what they are going to make me do…’ he thought.

“Recently, we have had a sharp dip in students who focus on physical capabilities. You might be surprised, but close combat mages are a very important asset. Especially on school grounds,” Edward explained. “Because of the lack of CQC mages, the council had to disband one of its most important branches.”

“Oh yeah, I’ve heard of that before…” Alec muttered. He thought briefly before continuing. “The Disciplinary Committee, right?”

“Exactly. As you know, the entire school grounds are covered in a super powerful array that deflects whatever magic is cast inside. Although this keeps the order in place most of the time, it also inhibits the ability to use magic to resolve conflicts. The academy authorities refuse to give the student council bypass tokens for the ward array. Which leaves us with no other option but to recruit strong CQC mages.”

“Wait, wait, wait,” Alec stopped Edward. “You want to make me into a bouncer?”

“What? No! You are not going to be going around beating people up. I’m making you recreate the CQC department,” Edward refuted, holding his hands up. “The Disciplinary Committee intervenes in fights between students, keeps the order around the academy, and most importantly, resolves conflicts in the most peaceful way possible.”

“If not..?” Alec asked skeptically.

“Yes, then you beat them up and hand them over to the teachers,” Edward answered in surrender. “And don’t try to refuse. I have seen your physical capabilities, Alec. You are what we need right now.”

“I don’t have the intention to refuse. I just don’t know enough people to create such a group,” Alec answered. The only student he knew to be a CQC mage was Evan. But he was pretty sure that it wouldn’t exactly be a “committee” if there were only two people in it.

“That’s not a problem,” Edward said. Taking out a bundle of papers, he threw it over to Alec and continued talking. “Take a look at that. It has a list of possible candidates for you to pick from. If you want, you can interview them yourself too. I want you to create a team of four by the end of the week, excluding you.”

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As Alec took a quick look at the names on the list, he spotted Evan in there too. Noticing that he had stopped to look at a certain candidate, Edward smiled.

“I advise you to pick Evan. Most of the time, loyalty and trust are the best qualities to have in your team members,” he said.

“So you are asking me to practice nepotism?” Alec asked, his brow rising into a crescent.

“I’m suggesting you practice nepotism. It’s still up to you in the end,” Edward answered with a small smile. “And it’s not like Evan is incompetent. He is a pretty well-accomplished student.”

“I will… Take that into consideration,” Alec answered before stuffing the paper into his bag.

“For now, I suggest you go and rest,” Edward said. Alec nodded and turned around to leave, however, he turned back around and spoke.

“If anyone comes looking for me, I’ll be back in the dorms.”

“Sure. I’ll let them know,” Edward said as he returned to his endeavors. Alec left the room and headed back to the student dorms.

The academy grounds seemed emptier these days. Somewhat similar to how it had been when the school hadn’t started yet. There was less than a month left for the mid-term exams. Unlike the final exams of each semester, the mid-terms were mostly theoretical. This caused the students to flock to the library building. Alec, on the other hand, felt more relaxed. His understanding of most subjects was pretty good, as he was both very studious and backed by an unholy amount of mental enhancers.

‘Nothing some potions wouldn’t resolve,’ he thought to himself. ‘And now that I have resolved the problem of mana consumption, I can go looking into magical artifacts that might help me out. Even then, I’ll have to stock up on some mana potions before doing so…’

As Alec opened the door to his dorm room, he felt three distinct presences approaching him rapidly from every direction.

With a bang and a thud, he found himself on the ground, restricted from both his hands by the entire body weight of two people, with another person sitting on his chest, albeit trying not to block his breathing by supporting themselves by the knees.

These three were his roommates, Evan, Alexei, and Thomas. After seeing their faces, Alec kept his cool and looked at them with a confused expression. Normally, he might have been able to force his way out of the situation utilizing his high agility and strength stats. Now, however, he couldn’t move because of how tired he was.

“So? What is this supposed to be? Some sort of elaborate prank?” Alec asked. He wouldn’t be surprised if it were only Evan and Alexei who did this. But the fact that even the timid Thomas had joined the fray confused him.

“I’m sorry Alec, but this is the only way we could think of stopping you without alerting the authorities,” Evan said with a grim frown on his face. His words caused Alec to get confused.

‘What is he talking about? Authorities?’ he thought to himself. Before he could ask anything, Evan continued his words.

“Look at your face, at what you are doing to yourself,” Evan said. His gaze washed over Alec’s facial features for a brief moment. “I might never know how hard it is to lose your memories, but drug abuse is not the way to resolve your problems.”

“Huh?” Alec exclaimed. Hearing the words “drug abuse” made him completely lose his train of thought. “What drug abuse?”

“There is no need to act clueless Alec,” Alexei chimed into the conversation. Alec managed to barely turn his head to look in his direction. “Reddening in your sclera, getting constantly distracted, pale face, white liquid from the mouth, and most importantly, shady endeavors none of your roommates know about.”

With each symptom Alexei listed, Alec’s confusion lessened.

‘All the potions I used… Those focus potions can cause reddening in the eye. Distraction can also be caused by how tired my mind is after the study sessions. A pale face is a symptom that started today, because of how tired I am. The white liquid is…’

“You guys have been following me around?” Alec asked. Then he felt regretful for a moment, as that was the most suspicious group of words he could have used at the moment.

“Yes. As your friends, it is our duty to stop you from killing yourself by potion overdose,” Thomas answered Alec’s question.

“What is…” Alec shifted uncomfortably under their weight. “What is potion overdose?”

“We have been searching the library for something that fits your symptoms,” Evan answered. When Alec paid more attention to it, he noticed dark bags under his friends’ eyes. “Potion overdose. It happens when someone drinks too many potions for their metabolism to be able to handle.”

“It rarely happens because almost no one in the academy has access to that many potions. Especially students. That must be why you haven’t heard of it,” Alexei explained. “We don’t know how you got your hands on so many, but it fits your symptoms perfectly.”

‘Huh… Now that I think about it, are they right?’ Alec questioned himself. Although the potions he had been drinking so far didn’t show any distinct side effects, he had a hunch that his exhaustion wasn’t natural. He had pulled all-nighters before, but he had never been this tired and weak then. There was a chance that even the potions created by The Author’s Pen could cause him to overdose. Especially with the amount he had taken in the last 24 hours.

“There might have been a mis-”

“Don’t talk Alec,” Evan said. “From now on, we will be strictly monitoring your purchases. Although we doubt you have any money left, we’ll stop you from destroying yourself.”

A deep sigh escaped Alec’s mouth. Although he wanted to explain himself, that would necessitate him talking about The Author’s Pen. So for now, he had to play along with his friends’ whims.

“Say, how many potions does one need to drink to get sick?” Alec asked. The trio exchanged worried glances with each other before Evan answered his question.

“For most potions, five or six vials in twenty-four hours can be lethal.”

“Huh…”

Alec gulped loudly and closed his eyes. Whatever the pen-made potions contained, they were less toxic on the body than the normal ones. As he had surpassed that amount quite a bit.

Trying to free his arm one last time, Alec realized that he had no way out. It was time to surrender.

‘At least they are not outright harming me…’