Having concluded her impassioned speech, Kliss sat down on a wooden chair on the right side of the lectern, her steel armor clinking. I noted a standing [Charisma] wave present within her words, as its effects had become repelled with Battie's Ward-Shield, eating my little battery's mana bit by bit.

"You may proceed with the lesson, Instructor," Kliss waved a gloved hand at Wiklogg.

The portly man nodded his black beard and began to teach us numbers and letters. As Wiklogg mumbled the math out he made several mistakes on the blackboard that Kliss had to correct.

"Instructor Wiklogg," she said finally as he stumbled on a word. "Where did you study Imperial language and mathematics?"

"In Agamemnon," Wicklogg replied briskly. "I apprenticed with Mage Copershoff Obrok."

"Do you have actual teaching experience?" She asked sharply.

"I've been teaching for... nary a decade in Skyisle!" Wicklogg bristled.

"Nary? Do you mean nearly? Your pronunciation leaves much to be desired," Kliss commented. "You are dismissed for today, Instructor."

She waved the man off and he briskly departed, holding onto his black robe and hat.

"My apologies," the Overseer faced the class with a sigh. "It seems that my predecessors failed you. I will have to look for a more experienced instructor in Agamemnon or perhaps Cessna. Alas, you will have to bear with that disappointment of a man for now, as not many wish to live in Skyisle due to its position next to a skill-draining magogenic fault."

She went to the blackboard and quickly explained numbers to us. As she spoke, waves of [Charisma] radiated off her, pounding the information into my head. She was a good teacher and knew how to capture attention, I had to give her that much credit.

Having explained numbers, subtraction, addition and multiplication she narrated to us how Goddess Equality gave the Spark of magic to humanity so that everyone could make the world a more fair and just place.

She spoke of the importance of using our magic abilities for the greater good and how the Empire relied on its citizens to uphold the principles of Equality and work together against other evil gods. Kliss's words were persuasive, and I could feel the magical weight of her conviction in every sentence she spoke as they vibrated against Battie's defenses.

As she continued her lesson however, I couldn't help but feel greater and greater skepticism about the true intentions of the Empire.

Infoscope #2 identified her Armor as [Mana-crystal powered Magisteel LV 70 Armor] as I slowly passed it across her outfit. There were all sorts of reinforcement and acceleration runes tied into it, making Kliss into a truly formidable enemy. I couldn't copy the runework's internal structure due to the anti-spy runes, but I could evaluate the waves of magical radiance projecting off the runes, defining their general effects.

It was a good thing I had invested over 200 points into Intelligence. Had I not spend the past 12 years optimizing [NeuroVista] to control three Infoscopes at the same time, this exceptionally dangerous girl would quickly discover that I was an [Astral Phantom] and absolutely turn me into a blood puddle before I could even blink.

I was certain that if Kliss wanted it, she could take on the entirety of Skyisle with her eyes closed and her right arm tied behind her back.

Kliss continued her lesson, delving into the topic of points and skills. She sketched out the Status chart on the blackboard and explained how points aka "growth tokens" were earned through leveling up and could be allocated to different stats to eventually enhance one's abilities and "grow" magic skills in one's soul.

1

Strength:

2

Agility:

3

Dexterity:

4

Vitality:

5

Charisma:

6

Magic:

7

Foresight:

8

Intelligence:

9

Wisdom:

I noted that the chart she drew on the blackboard had no "soul" stat on it. Maybe being an Astral Phantom or follower of Mage Morningstar unlocked the [soul] stat for me and Delta. Or perhaps Goddess Equality didn't want people to improve their souls?

Kliss then emphasized the importance of balance and equality in distributing growth tokens to ensure that one's soul was balanced like a "wheel", relating the metaphor to a tale of a merchant that got stuck in the wilderness and got eaten by the wolves because his cart's wheels were uneven.

She even drew two wheels with 9 segments on the billboard to illustrate her point, one "balanced" and the other "unbalanced".

soulwheel.png [https://github.com/alexiussssss/romac/blob/main/soulwheel.png?raw=true]

"The dangers of unbalanced skill distribution aren't simply loss of your life," she said. "The imbalance of power in a society can lead to disastrous, globally catastrophic consequences. The reason why Skyisle is dying now is because of a great imbalance that happened over a thousand years ago!"

Kliss strutted back to the lectern and her armacus flashed, projecting a hologram-like map of skyisle.

"The magogenic fault threatening your town didn't exist once," she said.

"One thousand, one hundred and seventy two years ago, there was a city here," Kliss declared, pointing a metal-clad finger at the fault. "It was one of many Citadels that belonged to the Almn-Inian Empire."

Stolen novel; please report.

It sounded like a longer version of 'Alanian', but the pronunciation was long and deep-sounding, like a distant bell toll echoing in the icy fog. When Kliss said the word it was almost as if she was singing it like an Orthodox psalm.

"Their word 'Almn' meant 'All-mighty'. The word 'Inian' meant 'The Masters of Souls'. The Inians were described in the Cessna Academia of Magic library archives as... Necromancers," she said with a small shudder. "In their desire for Immortality and dominion over humanity they unbalanced their souls and forged a permanent gate to the Astral Void, bringing back their own dead servants, Arch-Mages and Heroes. They unleashed the first Astral Phantoms onto the world and plundered, ravaged many surrounding nations. They built vast mountain-spanning, labyrinthine Citadels using golems powered by souls of people they subjugated. Their evil and depravity was truly limitless and the other Empires on their borders and even the Gods decided to unite against them, to strike them down once and for all, from every side.”

The voice of the Overseer grew somber.

“When their day of Judgement came, stars fell from the firmament of the sky. The world was set aflame and all of humanity nearly perished. For a hundred years, the sun was hidden behind thick clouds of darkness and humanity clung to life only thanks to magic."

"Nuclear winter?" I thought. It had to be.

"It was called the Age of Darkness. Generations after, survivors rose from the ashes, emerged from the deep catacombs and rebuilt civilization, united under one common goal - to survive the onslaught of the invisible demons and ghosts unleashed by the Inians.”

A much stronger pulse of Charisma pressed against my Ward, trying to manipulate my emotions into hating the Alanians.

“The Gregarius Imperium was one of the first nations that was able to recover,” Kliss narrated. “One of the first to collectively use hex-lanterns and tower beacons to drive away the ghosts and the endless night. Emperor Gregarion the First pushed back the Shadow that fell across all of Novazem. Walled cities like Cessna were constructed to keep phantoms at bay.”

“What was it like in Cessna Academy?” Delta asked.

“Tough but fair,” Kliss replied. “Cessna is a beautiful town, constantly filled with many people going about their lives. Some are Citizens of the Imperium and are allowed to own property, the rest take care of their needs. There are magitek machines on every street, horseless carriages that run on mana crystals. Imposing buildings of magisteel, glass and stone. White hex-beacons and message-broadcasting orbs on every corner.”

She sighed wistfully as she painted an image for me with her words, describing cafes and avenues, markets and buildings and people. Mana-powered artificer-designed engines, traffic of men and machines and clockwork towers.

“It sounds really interesting. I’d like to go to Cessna someday,” I said. “Study at the Academy of Magic, learn everything about everything.”

“You still can. You’re young,” she said. “Anyone can… all it takes to join the Empire is a Vow-free soul. All you have to do... is to accept the Citizen’s Vow into your heart."

"Become a puppet of Equality, yay, what a great deal," I thought sarcastically.

"Thanks to hard work and dedication, as an Imperial Legionairre, I have reached Level 24 in several skills by seventeen," Kliss stated proudly. "I have honed my combat skills, such as [Swordsmanship], [Improved aim] and [Magnified Strength], as well as developed my leadership abilities with [Charisma]."

“If there are people in Cessna who designed all of these magitek machines, then a similar type of Wizards designed the spells for your incredible armacus?” I asked, keeping the charade of a pupil eager to make a Vow to Equality.

“Yes,” Kliss nodded. “There are specialist Wizards in Cessna who can design magitek tools and spells. Artificers and Arithmancers. Hexagram design involves lots of complicated math and the dexterity necessary to carve runework into metal. Personally, I don’t know Arithmancy that well, I only took a general course offered about it in second year. Armacus 88 is designed to function despite the influence of the magogenic fault, allowing me to fire Level 88 spells. It is my best means of protecting the people of Skyisle against dragons, aberrations, Blood Elk herds and other vile monsters."

"Lady Overseer, how do growth tokens work?" A student asked from the back. "Would I instantly get stronger and be able to lift a house if I put tokens into [Strength]?"

"No," Kliss shook her head. "The change is very slow, gradual. The Soul Song makes rapid changes within the Soul, but the body takes a lot longer to change. Even if you invest a thousand tokens into [Strength], you would not become the world's strongest man. It requires Strength-based skills to actually become stronger."

"So I can't become immortal or invincible by investing in Vitality?" Another student asked.

"Health and mana are level dependent and are not changed by growth tokens at all," Kliss shook her head. "If you invest a lot of tokens into [Vitality] stat for example, you could someday develop a healing skill if you study medicine, alchemy and the human body. Skills do not arise out of mere planting of growth tokens in the soul. Blind ignorance produces very weak skills pulled randomly by your Soul Spark from the Astral Ocean. One must know how the natural world works to be able to control it. To bend the universe to your will, you must study hard and understand relationships between various types of magic. Growth tokens are akin to seeds planted in the soul that can blossom into fertile trees if you water them daily with the study of foundational theory and practice."

"So, having say... 400 pp... err, tokens in Intelligence is useless for magically becoming smarter than everyone else?" I asked.

"Yes," Kliss affirmed. "If you don't know math, language, or magic theory... if you haven't read thousands of books at an Academy Librarium and understood every single one exceptionally well, 400 tokens planted in Intelligence won't make your smarter. Likewise, 400 tokens in Vitality won't make you invincible to injury or a slow death from a tiny, infected cut."

"I thought that investing in Wisdom would make me a wise wizard," Kovac laughed.

"Alas," Kliss shrugged. "The most basic Wisdom skill is akin to a harpoon's arrow that can pull an answer from the Astral Ocean, but it doesn't mean that the answer will be correct or even helpful. A wise wizard understands that true wisdom is found in sharing of knowledge between great Academias and controlled experimentation. Passing of knowledge from Master to Apprentice is incredibly important. A hedge wizard who never had a tutor will be easely outmatched by one who studied under a Master who had a long line of Masters."

"What does Foresight do?" Delta asked.

"Without knowledge of precognitive theory or skills that permit you to see the future, nothing at all," Kliss said.

What? But I've had a dream of my future death when I invested 15 points into Foresight! Wait...

I mentally reassessed my encounter with Hollow Mother. Was that nightmare not a skill of mine? I didn't have any Foresight-based [skills]! What the hell?

"So, Foresight... tokens don't make you instantly better at card games?" Kovac frowned.

"No. Every stat is the spoke of a soul's internal wheel," Kliss repeated. "They work together to help you arrive at a better future!"

"Then what is even the point of having a choice? Why doesn't the Soul Song automatically make growth token spread out evenly?!" Delta demanded.

"Specialization is of value when you are an old and wise Archmage who already knows how the world works, has the backing of the Academy and wishes to partake in obscure, innovative research," Kliss said. "For a novitiate to plant growth tokens into the soul in a lopsided fashion is an incredibly foolish action, barring their potential future paths, akin to a farmer who would only use 1/10th of his field to grow crops and then starving to death. Goddess Equality isn't a monster like Ishira, she permits people to have free will, to make wrong, even foolish choices."

I sputtered internally.

"I see," Delta muttered.

"The names of the Stats arise from the collective unconsciousness of humanity," Kliss resumed her lecture. "They're generic terms because people dream of having more strength, foresight or wisdom. Actual [Foresight]-based skills don't make you any better at a card game or a chess match. They simply permit you to see a move that your opponent might make against you, based on your existing skills at cards or chess. Witches and Wizards that specialize in [Foresight] are known as fortune tellers, seers and searchers. In such, [Foresight] skills are connected with [Wisdom] and [Intelligence] skills. Seers can spend mana to predict what choices people will likely make or look back into the past and predict what choices people made already. Prophets, on the other hand, enforce, craft the chosen future they want to occur with their own actions."

Damn it all!

I was certain that it was Foresight that saved me from Hollow Mother! If it wasn't then... I was... manipulated, goaded into Destiny's body by the Astral Phantom similar to how sheep are led by a dog to their pen.

Was Hollow Mother an agent of Ishira's will? Or, was the prophetic dream I had of my death caused by Cassandra's Blood sacrifice?! Was that dream shoved into my unconscious Astral-Tree body by Ishira as part of a greater plot to screw with my sister's future, to make her into an abomination meant to destroy Skyisle?!

The Charisma of the Overseer pulsed across my shield. I wasn't sure if she was beginning to influence my mind with her words. What was the truth? What was it that bound me and Delta together? What was the Omniscience? Was it working for Ishira too? Or was it just another local god, perhaps?

I had far too many questions now and no real answers.