The day after visiting Novela’s emporium, I finally deemed it appropriate to go back to classes. Besides, I had mostly healed back thanks to the relentless efforts of Mystic’s Dominion to keep its caster alive.

Sometimes it felt like the spell had a mind of its own, akin to a symbiote of some sort. I wouldn’t go as far as to call it a parasite, though. The spell was entirely beneficial, and I knew everything it did. It didn’t have any hidden agendas; I could see its effects on the corporeal and spiritual planes.

My classmates showed me their surprised faces as I entered the classroom. There weren’t many students as before, now fifteen of the twenty-somethings we used to be. Apparently, the Academy of Applied Magical Arts of Ferilyn proved quite the challenge for most. And I had been told that the graduation rate was around ten percent. Not great numbers, to begin with.

What shocked me was when I saw Marissa talking with Monica.

“You should rest.” I said as I sat on top of a very fluffy cushion beside my aeromancer friend.

“So should you,” Marissa replied. “I feel alright, and as a matter of fact, I have also attended classes yesterday.”

“You shouldn’t have. Your current status is rather… uncharted. I can deal with fine thanks to my training as a mystic, but you shouldn’t exert yourself in any measure.”

“Edrie,” Marissa looked me right in the eyes. Honestly, a bad play considering my magic. “I. Am. Fine.” And she was obviously not fine.

And I wasn’t being the pushy and overprotective parent here. I could hear her soul scream, she was actively pushing herself, acting as if everything was back to normal. I would make a fuss out of it if it was truly dangerous, but those screams felt more like the groan of someone who finished doing thirty push-ups.

It still wasn’t healthy, mind you. A sick person shouldn’t exercise.

“Alright, alright.” I opened and raised my hands in a non-threatening way. “Your life, your rules. I’ll respect your choice.”

“Thanks,” Marissa added in a very faint whisper as she hugged me.

I knew what her mind was currently thinking and why she was doing this. Death scared and scarred her. Post-traumatic disorder wasn’t out of the rule yet. Marissa was coping with it by ignoring it and drowning herself in distractions.

At some point, I needed to have a serious talk with her, but that could wait a bit.

At the corner of my eye, I could see a fidgety Monica dying to ask me something. “Yes, Monica?” I directed at her.

“Where were you these previous days?” Monica asked as Marissa finally undid her embrace. “You and Marissa were missing, but she just told me you were practicing.” I had ignored Adrian this whole time, but with Monica’s question, the swordsman turned his head to look at me with a silent and inquiring gaze.

“I have guesses of my own,” Adrian added and whispered something to Monica’s ears, which made her instantly blush.

I swayed my head in dismissal. “You’ll get your answer in a few seconds from now.” And as soon as I told them that, professor Innit appeared from the classroom’s doorway.

Damn, I love Soul Sight.

Our classroom tutor walked to the center of the classroom and dropped his books on top of the lectern. His eyes focused on me.

“How quaint of you to finally make your appearance, mister Nightfallen.” Henry Innit said with a smile. Though not as warm as they use to be. “Would you mind informing me why you have been absent these last days?”

“But of course.” I stood up from my cushion and saluted with a bow. “I have been helping some eleven-star mages with their work, which took a lot of my time, and I may have forgotten to inform the academy’s authorities about it.”

Boom.

With that, I had just justified why I had disappeared on the military base outing, and why I had been missing for a few days, and also provided me with some authority by dropping that I was associated with eleven-star mages.

I was a wizard with words.

Got it? Wizard? Damn, I needed a few more days of rest if I was this stupid in my head.

“I see,” Innit added with a pensive grunt, “you also did those wounds while ‘working’?”

“This?” I raised my left arm. The sleeve of the tunic fell down, revealing the entirety of my arm covered with bandages. “Working hazard. Nothing to worry about, it will heal off.”

“Well then,” the teacher told, “I’ll take your word and pry no further into your private life. We have already taken too much time out of the class.”

“Well, I’ll feel I may have to steal a few more moments,” I said an instant before another person entered the class, this time it was a messenger.

Have I said how much I love Soul Sight?

“Is there an Edrie Nightfallen here?” The academy messenger said.

“That will be me.” I told her.

“I have an urgent summon from-“ She proceeded to take the message out of her satchel but suddenly came to a halt as she read the remittent. “f-from… Command Sergeant Major Fynn Albeyr.”

Such a high rank in the military was enough to make someone jump out. I didn’t know much about Ferilyn’s military, but I recalled Command Sergeant Major was the second highest rank. And it well might be the first because damn it was a long title.

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But no. What made the classroom fall silent wasn’t the title, but the name next to it.

“Did the damned Ceaseless Storm summon you?” Adrian shouted, jumping out of his seat.

Adrian’s reaction was understandable. The savior of the Wyrm’s Landing, the Ceaseless Storm, was his hero. And of many more mages, at that.

“Yes, of course.” I calmly nodded.

I was sorry for the poor messenger, who worked on delivery for a living, only to have suddenly noticed she was carrying the summon of such an important figure as the eleventh star electromancer was. Graciously, I took the mail out of her hands, stealthily sweeping her with a Soothing Touch spell to calm her as she had a heartbeat a tad too fast for my liking.

“Haven't I just said that I was working with eleven-star mages these last few days?” Even when I sounded incredibly cocky, which I very much intended, I was tremendously alleviated by the courier’s perfect timing. What a way to add credibility to my vague story.

I spellcasted a miniature Arcane Blade to open the wax seal on the message. I only needed a single instant to read the brief contents of the summon.

“Professor Innit, may I be excused from your class?” I told him. “It would appear that the Ceaseless Storm decided to make me part of his personal order.”

Oh, that sounded perfect. I normally would be very subtle and try very hard against highlighting. But seeing how I would apparently be part of the military now, that would prove quite difficult to hide. Better to make a scene out of it.

“Uh…” An open-mouthed Henry Innit commented.

“I’ll take that as a yes.” And made my way out of the classroom as I began hearing the deafening discussion between my classmates that soon followed.

I had been summoned to Lan’el, and I had quite the travel before me.

**********

It certainly took a bit of time to get to Lan’el. Well, more exactly the military section of the district.

Sin’fal was bigger than the academy grounds, to begin with. And whilst the central district was mostly known for the Arcane Sanctum and Ferilyn’s Academy, it had more nuance to it. I had to take a bridge to the Uin’tas district on my way to Lan’el.

Uin’tas, also known as the artisans and artists’ district, was quite the sight. Ellari already had their tradition to overdecorate their streets and houses, but that concept was brought up to thirteen when the place was mostly populated by people who made those decorations for a living.

Someday I have to visit all the districts. It has been more than three decades since I came to this world, and I had yet to see all the twelve districts of Ferilyn. With a quick reminder of True Recall, I remembered I had only seen eight. And Nikt’un I had only gone to two days ago.

Leaving my plentiful ramblings aside, I stood before the entrance of the military complex on Lan’el. The exact same entrance I had used when I came here with my classmates as part of the academy outing.

Two ellari covered in light metal armor stood on the gateway. They reminded me of the guards at the gates of the Arcane Sanctum, though in this case, they didn’t wear full armor, just protective gear covering the vital points.

Why would people use armor when a single spell can decimate a whole neighborhood?

Well, the answer was quite simple. All metals had good mana conductive properties, but also mana storing properties. The prime example of that was lead. A metal with such high capacity that it took decades to dissipate the mana it had absorbed, just because it had such a powerful attraction to mana.

This is quite ironic, considering lead is the most stable metal on the periodic table and has no magnetic properties whatsoever. Though I had heard it has good electric conductivity, don’t quote me on that.

The armor that these guards wore, though not as powerful as high-tier defensive spells, provided passive and free protection and made targeted spells borderline useless. Area of effects spells would utterly ignore the armor; they weren’t that good.

“Do you need something?” One of the guards asked me as I stood there in ponderation like a moron.

“Oh, yes,” I told. “I have been summoned to this camp.” And passed her the letter I had received.

I had just noticed that the pair of guards were both females. Ellari were mostly androgynous by nature, though it was still easy to distinguish males from females. Sexism was mostly inexistent in Ferilyn. There still were some idiotic people around here, but sex didn’t matter in the city of the ellari. At the end of the day, both men and women could conjure spells able to kill thousands with an afterthought.

Magic is scary.

“You can pass.” The guard returned the summoning letter after examining it.

Props to her, she didn’t react in the slightest when she read who the sender was.

Even though I had no idea where to go once I entered the military grounds, the message didn’t specify a place or a time, I just made my way toward Sergeant Major Kalyd’s office.

Not only I knew where the office was, but the Sergeant Major herself was there, so I just let my Soul Sight guide me there.

I received a few curious glances as I made my way into the military offices, most likely because I wore the academy’s tunic and didn’t even have a military uniform like most, but no one tried to stop me.

I knocked on the office door three times and after a few seconds, I got an answer.

“Yes? Who’s there?” Kalyd’s muted voice said over the door.

“Edrie Nightfallen,” I replied. “Command Sergeant Major Albeyr has summoned me.”

“You can enter.” She said in a neutral voice.

As I put my hand on the doorknob, I heard a soft click. It would seem the door was magically closed, so I couldn’t have opened it even if I wanted. Though considering I was able to phase in before with Astral Self, I had my alternatives.

“Mister Nightfallen, I didn’t expect to see you again this soon.” Amira Kalyd, the Arcane Veil, told me once I entered the room, her eyes shining with a pink hint. “Especially in the flesh.”

“Truth be told, I also didn’t expect to be back here on such short notice either, Sergeant Major.” I said and made my way into a seat. Or more accurately, a comically large cushion.

“You can call me Amira.” The powerful arcanist said.

“Are you sure?” I responded to her, which admittedly, was a very bold move. “You certainly outclass me in every rank.”

“Of course.” She replied lightly, though I couldn’t verify which one of the claims she was acknowledging there. “I have the feeling we will see each other a lot in the following times. What better way direct ourselves by first name basis.”

“Alright then, you may call me Edrie, if that’s what you prefer.” Amira nodded. “Though I will admit you are quite different than I had expected from the important figure that is the ‘Arcane Veil’.”

“How so?” Amira asked.

“Well, you are calm and thoughtful,” I answered. “You listened to me even when I breached into your private office. Something not many people would do.”

“I consider myself an open-minded person, and you are but a child.” The last part came rather dismissive even if her intention was innocent.

“Would you even consider a ten-star mage a child?” I asked with a neutral yet dead voice.

“You are very powerful for your age, yes, but that doesn’t mean you are mature.” Oh, if you just knew how wrong you were. “Just look at your most recent actions.” Alright, that was playing dirty.

“Let’s say I wasn’t in the most suitable place of mind in these last days,” I spoke. “I wouldn’t attribute my actions to immaturity, but rather the lack of self-control and impulsivity. Both attitudes that even the oldest of ellari can be guilty of.”

“I won’t deny you that.” She nodded in acceptance. “But you are still a child.” Now she was joking with me. I could see the corners of her mouth rising ever-so-slightly.

Amira herself didn’t look that old either. She was older than my mother for sure, but not by much. Mom was around the one-forties right now, so Amira could be well into her one-sixties or one-eighties. That would be between thirty and thirty-five human years using my very sketchy conversion method.

“Anyways,” I said, “do you know when the Command Sergeant Major will make his appearance?”

Amira’s visage quickly lost its colors and became more rigid. Going from her true self to the persona that was Sergeant Major Kalyd.

“I have notified him of your presence.” I hadn’t even noticed she had done so. “He will see you when he’s available.”

So, I waited in the tensest of rooms until the Ceaseless Storm came for me.