The Stars had gone to attend the Rune Club orientation, except Felix. He had no interest in the club, after all, Runes were useless to him. His cursed mana rejected it.

“We need to state our presence.”

That is what Rose said as the nine of them left. So, Felix had to do the council work today. Jayce was supposed to bring some magic stones but now he had to do it.

Felix stapled some papers and left the council. The usual bustling academy was quiet. Not a single student was around, likely because of their club work.

As he walked he reflected back on his training. Felix had not made any progress with the bard training. He hadn’t found the ‘harmony’ that the book said. Manipulating mana was already hard for him, making sounds from it seemed impossible.

He had hit a wall and found no way through it. There was no one to teach him.

Maybe I should have trained under Professor Vincent. But I doubt he could have helped me in any way.

Felix reached the labyrinth. He showed the papers to the guards, who guided him to another small section at the back of the labyrinth. There was a tiny counter there with a woman inside sipping her coffee.

“Excuse me.”

Felix said, which startled the woman and she almost spilled her coffee.

“Y-yes.”

The woman looked at Felix and didn’t even notice he had slipped papers on the counter.

“Mam”

Felix called her and pointed at the papers.

“Oh-”

She took the papers and read them. After a while, she stamped it, and took out a card and a mask with two filter holes.

“Please take the elevator to the left side and use this card to open the elevator. Also wear the mask before the elevator door opens.”

The receptionist said.

Felix nodded and walked to the elevator. Beside it, there was a card scanner and he used the card. The door opened and the card turned to ashes.

The card was specifically made for students to enter the third floor. The third floor was not a dungeon or a forest filled with monsters.It was a magic stone cave, which was used by miners. So students even if they had completed the second floor or not needed a pass.

Felix walked into the elevator. Without pressing any button the elevator moved. As the door opened, Felix felt a wave push him back. His nose burned, as a burning sting passed through his nasal canal.

Felix wore the mask, and the burn stopped.

This-

The cave was a lot bigger than Felix had anticipated. Red and blue magic stones stuck out from the walls. Hundreds of miners in the cave were in the cave with a pickaxe and yellow helmets.

Felix looked around and noticed an old man walk towards him. He wore a white vest and brown pants, cleaner than what the other miners wore. He passed a helmet and shook Felix’s hand.

“Howard. In charge of the mining department.”

“Felix”

He said and took the helmet. The man noticed the brooch he wore, and the striking color of his eye.

“What is your surname?”

Howard asked, which could be considered rude, but Felix didn’t mind.

“Valerius.”

He said. The sound of mining stopped. Even through all that noise, everyone heard his surname. They stared as if he had committed a crime.

The old man gave them a sharp look and everyone started working again.

“Hmm…..no wonder, you seemed familiar. Those lads must be curious to see what the lineage of Valerius looks like. Don't mind them”

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“I understand.”

Felix said.

“Is there anything magic-related in your pocket?”

Howard asked and Felix shook his head

“This whole area is a no-magic tool zone. Any of those items will not work. Some even explode.”

Howard said. The density of magic stones and mana often made the magic tools useless, which is why the miners had to resort to traditional tools and methods.

“But the clothes they wear, isn’t that special?”

Felix could notice mana around their clothes.

“You have quite the eye. The clothes are made so it doesn’t absorb mana but just attract it to form a shield the clothes”

Howard said.

“So what kind of stones do you need?”

“Defected ones. It’s for a test.”

Felix said.

“A test, huh? You look like you would breeze past through it.”

Howard said as he eyed the brooch.

“I hope I can.”

Felix replied.

As Howard guided him, Felix watched the miners. The way they worked, it was slow. Every five seconds they hit the stone, which caused only a dent on the stone.

“This is none of my business but aren’t the miners too slow.”

Felix said

Howard looked around and nodded.

“Again, good observation. They are slow, very slow.”

Howard took the pickaxe from one of the workers passed it to Felix and pointed at the smallest batch of stone.

“Go on. Show me what fast work looks like.”

Am I really having to do this?

He didn’t consider the work a lowly job like how other nobles did. It was just a pain in the ass.

Felix took the pickaxe and started striking the stone. He kept hitting it and noticed cracks forming on it and struck them so the stone would break faster.

After five minutes, he finished mining and looked at Howard.

“Impressive. You struck the cracks and made it fall effortlessly. Are you sure you haven’t done this before?”

Howard said

Felix shook his head. The “Sense” guided him and he just followed it.

Felix looked to his left and all of the miners were done. They had already moved on to other areas, and the magic stones they mined were three times larger than Felix’s.

He again watched them work. All of them struck the stones at the same time. The damage at first was small. Since they hit the stone at the same time, a resonance of mana was formed which made multiple cracks making the stone easier to break.

If Felix had “Sense” then, the miners had teamwork. They were slow yet efficient and Felix was a lot more tired than they were.

“What do you think goes on in their head?”

Howard asked.

“Beer and barbeque, I guess.”

Felix replied.

Howard chuckled.

“Yes, every time. But the resonance they create isn’t the only reason they are faster. When they mine all they think about is mining, nothing else. They are mining for the sake of mining.”

He then pointed at Felix’s head.

“You lad, think too much.”

******

Felix thought about what Howard said, as he left the labyrinth. His thoughts kept getting complicated, the more he thought and that was exactly what Howard said. He overthought everything. Overthinking everything was his problem and he didn’t have a magic spell to fix it immediately

Mine for the sake of mining

He thought. So he decided to overthink only one thing.

Felix kept walking with that thought in his head until his “Sense” clicked. And he changed direction. Instead of going to his dorm, he was headed to somewhere nobody would imagine him seeing.

After ten minutes of getting lost and asking for directions, Felix found the room he was looking for. The room was in the attic of a building and it was the only room located there.

He opened the door and looked around. To his surprise, the music room was clean. The floor had some magic circle that most likely ventilated the room. He flickered the lights on and looked around.

The room wasn’t to the standard of the academy. It was small and not well organized.

Even the receptionist was shocked when I asked for the key to the room.

The music room was probably the least used in the academy. Because nobody was interested in music. Felix wasn’t surprised by this. Students came here to learn magic, not to create beautiful songs. Anyone with an interest in them would have studied in another institution. The academy did make the music club and provide equipment for it, but no one cared.

Students that used sound magic, didn’t need to learn about the keys of a piano. Even the professors didn’t know how to read a music sheet. It wasn’t necessary.

Felix was the same. He had no interest in music and he wasn’t learning sound magic. But the more he read about the bard, he understood it was more of magic with music than just sound.

The room was filled with many musical instruments. The shelves had stacks of clarinets and flutes. Violins of different sizes were beside those shelves. To the left was a large harp that, was almost as tall as the room.

Other equipment was also there, except Felix had no idea what they were.

What he was interested in was the piano, right beside the panel of windows. The wooden piano was polished but aged. The keys had gone with time, and some of the structure of it had been chipped.

He pressed the keys on the keyboard and they were somewhat in tune. He pulled a chair, sat in front of the piano and closed his eyes.

Play the piano for the sake of playing it.

After taking a few deep breaths, he started playing it, one key at a time.

He wasn’t the best at it. It had been almost eight years since he had played it. But he kept at it and found his rhythm.

Is this the right path? Is the piano too old for this? Am I playing the wrong note? What if it doesn’t lead anywhere in my training?

Thoughts crept up. He doubted himself. But he kept playing. For now, only one thing mattered to him, and that was music.

He was not the best at it, and he could hear it getting worse but this was enough. Just existing with the music for now was enough.

An hour or so passed, and he stopped. He was drenched in sweat. Physical training didn’t take this much out of him.

There was some guilt for not practising and running away from Ms Dawson when she chased him to take his classes.

“Music helps find a rhythm, young master.”

She would say in each of her classes. And she was true. He was bad until the end, but this was the right path. His “Sense” told him, and the most important of all.

I had fun.

As he was about to leave, he noticed the door slightly open. Felix was sure he had shut the door. He checked it and the door didn’t fully shut unless it was locked with the key.

It must be the wind.

******

Stella walked around large empty halls. The Rune Club orientation had just finished, but some council work needed to be done. She needed some scrolls. She had forgotten to make the orders, so she had to get them herself.

She roamed around the building, swinging the keys, looking for the “Paper” room. She went from one floor to the other and still couldn’t see the door sign.

After getting lost and almost giving up she found the room on top of the building. As she was about to walk in, something distracted her. The sound of piano playing.

Do we have a music room?

She followed the sound and climbed the stairs which led her to the attic. As she got closer, the melody was clear to her. It was a soft, melancholic note.

The door to the room was slightly opened. She peeked and saw the last person she had expected, playing.

Felix?

Stella didn’t know he played piano and not this well. She wanted to look away. It was Felix after all, and she had other work too. However, her body refused to move.

It wanted to listen and the more she did, she realized

He isn’t good.

Stella had been to better performances

However, she stayed, for Felix. She couldn’t take her eyes off Felix. He looked different, but similar at the same time. The calm in his eyes and face stirred memories of the past. His calmness wasn’t a facade but something deeper, something real, something she always saw when the bond between them seemed inseparable.

She watched until Felix stopped playing. The moment he looked at the door, she bolted down the stairs into the storage room and closed the door.

What am I doing?

She clenched her fists and shut her eyes, wishing to erase the sight. It would have been easier to see him in agony, to watch him shed the same tears she had, as she once did under his demon-like gaze.