[Kathyln Glayder POV]
I was walking through the halls of Xyrus Academy, it was afternoon and I still couldn't stop thinking about the dinner that happened yesterday, it was something amazing and interesting to say the least. I didn't expect us to be dancing between our main dinner and desserts.
I couldn't remember all the details well, for me everything was a big blur in my mind, except when I was with Luz. I could remember every second of the dances we had, for me it could go on for years and I would never be tired of being with him.
I started to feel my chin a little wet, and soon I touched it with my hand, noticing it was really wet. I grabbed a napkin I had and wiped my mouth. "I-I was drooling?" I thought, in shock that I'd stayed in that state without realizing it. Lucky for me, in the hallway I was in, there was no one.
Slowly, I arrived in front of a door and gave it a light knock, I could hear a voice on the other side as it opened the door. "Huh? Hello? Ooh, Princess Kathyln. Great to see you. Your mentor is already here."
"Excellent." I said as I entered the room.
The person at the door was one of Xyrus Academy's staff. I had asked Principal Cynthia so I could have a private room where I could train a little with my mentor twice a month. The room wasn't big, but it was big enough for the style of training I received. Sitting on a rug on the floor was my mentor, Varay Aurae, better known by her codename, Zero. She was wearing a variant of her Lance's Uniform, which was a white tank top with gold accents, as well as long, tight white pants that completely covered her legs.
"Good morning, Kathyln. How have you been in class? Any news?" Varay asked in her cool, calm voice, I knew that, in addition to being my mentor, she was serving as a link to let my parents know about my routine.
"Good morning, mentor Zero. I'm doing well in my classes, the teachers here are excellent, but not as practical as you are." I commented and then took a deep breath.
Listening to the academy staff leaving that place, meaning it was safe to speak now. "As for news, there weren't that many things, just that I joined the disciplinary committee, and at the last minute the Leywin brothers also joined. Even though this was their first year here, they were made vice captains, with one of them even becoming a teacher of a class I have."
"Wow..." Her expression was one of extreme surprise, and soon she returned to her normal self. "So those extraordinary commoners actually managed to get into the academy? And on top of that they've already won so much this first month? Amazing. I hope you remember that reports involving the Leywins will only be delivered to your mother, Queen Priscilla."
"Of course I remember. After all, my mom is being super protective with them. She doesn't want my dad's wishes to be involved within my closest friendships." I gave a slight smile, although this was not a lie, another reason for that was related to me, my brother and my mother knowing that Luz and Arthur were the adventurers who refused the request to become Lances. Luckily, my mentor didn't seem to associate the two, so she just thought it was for the most obvious reason.
"Anyway, what will we train today?" I said taking a good look at our training room.
"Cold resistance. I will create a Domain Spell around us and I want you to create a shield using your deviant form." She said throwing me a red stone, I took it. "That's a temperature stone. Its color will change in relation to the cold and heat around it. Every time we train, we will do this specific training until the stone doesn't drastically change color. Understand?"
"Okay, I think I can do something like this. We can start." I said already activating an initial layer of mana protection around me, it wasn't that big, but it was enough for me to sit there on the floor, with the stone in my hands, and still have a good space for light movements.
"Ice Kingdom." Varay activated a spell well known for Ice mages of great power, the place began to be covered by a layer of ice as three small pillars of ice appeared next to my mentor, floating and spinning.
I looked at the stone that was in my hands, it was quickly changing from red to orange, then yellow and finally it was turning into a greenish color, it was at that moment that I knew it was better to activate my spell, before it was too late.
"Snow Cover." My body felt the icy mana around me get closer to that protective layer of mine. Slowly creating a small dome around me that looks like snow. That way I couldn't see my mentor anymore, but I noticed that the stone didn't change color to blue, it at least managed to stay green.
"That's good... Now I just can't... Empty my mana core all at once..." I thought as I covered the stone with my hands, thinking that my body heat would help in some way.
"This spell will last about 4 minutes. After that I'll see how the color of the stone is, we'll repeat this for 3 hours today, understand?" my mentor's voice came from near the snow dome I'm on.
"Yea!" I replied.
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We continued this training for the next three hours, of course, there were moments of pause so I could recover mana. Due to my mentor's high skill level, in addition to the fact that she was on the white stage, she was able to put in our environment, a large amount of mana that I could absorb, after all, we have the same elemental affinity.
The results were well expected, being my first time doing a test like this, every time the stone ended up turning green. Varay congratulated me a bit, because at least I managed to steadily stop the stone from getting blue and white, at least I was doing something almost right.
"That's it for today. I hope to see improvements on our next training day." She said, undoing her spell, bringing the place to normal temperature.
"Alright. Thanks for the workout today." I answered her.
Leaving my training room, I started walking towards the disciplinary committee section. During my walk, I ended up seeing Luz. He was knocking on one of the doors, and I kept quiet so he wouldn't notice me standing nearby.
"Yo! Gideon! Open the door!" he complained.
Soon the door opened, revealing the scientist best known to Dicathen's royalty. "Argh... What is it now, Wonder Brat?" he said in his usual grumpy voice.
"It's about the project. I think I've found ways to improve." Luz took out, from within one of his dimensional rings, a bluish scroll.
"Ooh! Oh yeah that's great news, come on, come in!" Professor Gideon said in a more animated voice as Luz entered that room.
My curiosity got the better of me and I started walking until I got there, before the scientist closed the door. "Good afternoon, is there anything interesting going on this time?" I spoke disinterestedly, so that they wouldn't know that I approached them because of my love.
"Good afternoon Princess Kathyln. No big deal, just me and an old friend organizing some inventions. Things I don't think a princess would be interested in." Professor Gideon spoke in a neutral but friendly manner.
"Hm....? And would these inventions have something to do with the technological advancement of Dicathen? As a daughter of Council members, could I see something like this?" I tried to choose the best possible words for him to let me in.
"Um..." He kept thinking of an answer to give me, but I soon realized that on the other side of the door, Luz was looking at me.
My god, those cyan eyes so beautiful and deep, like an immense, bottomless sea. I felt like I was sinking deeper into that sea, even though I was a little way out of his sight, but then I woke up to reality when he spoke.
"Kathy? Ooh glad you're here, want to see something I planned with Gideon?" He asked and I accepted.
"Yes! I managed to get in, now I'm close to him!" I thought, victorious, even if the Professor was close to us.
I entered that laboratory and saw several artifacts in half, some complete, and others that were still in development. I approached my man and smiled as I got very close to him, hugging his right arm as I always do.
"So what are you guys doing?" I asked, still trying to sound uninterested.
"Well, the wonder brat here came up with an idea for us to make some equipment that works for mages and non-mages, as well as some items that will be for casting spells." Professor Gideon answered me, while taking blueprints of some artifacts.
"Yes, we have some prototypes prepared. I was thinking that, after we've done in-depth testing, we'll use Gideon's influence to get me to present these artifacts to the Council. If this is approved by them, we can start thinking about creating more similar artifacts for be sold throughout Dicathen." my man said smiling at me as he seemed to ask me to let him go, and I did as he wanted.
He approached four items and took them to a table next to me. They were strange, one of them looked like some sort of stylized board, another looked like a stringed musical instrument, another looked like a glass cube with runes on it, and the last one looked like... I really couldn't describe the last item well, but for some reason it reminded me of a crossbow, only with missing pieces.
"Well, here are three of the items I'm developing, and the core for them." Luz caught that glass cube when he mentioned the word "core".
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"Um..." I was trying to think what to say about those things, but I obviously didn't know what they do, so I made a comment about the artifact that looked like a musical instrument. "Is this for parties?"
Gideon started to laugh at the way I reacted while Luz held back a laugh for a bit, but then took a deep breath to explain. "Well, this musical instrument also serves to play music, but its additional function is to cast spells in a different way."
"Um....?" I didn't understand again.
"Wonder Brat, explain more simply, I know she's a princess, but even I was confused when you told me about this concept, remember?" Professor Gideon made a comment that resulted in my protector taking a long, heavy sigh.
"Okay... Well, just look." He said taking the musical instrument there and starting to play some notes, slowly I could see a fireball appearing on the end of the instrument.
"Woah!" I was impressed.
"This one I call the Magic Guitar. The name isn't that creative, but it makes music to be used to attack. I did this thinking about adventurers who are exploring dungeons or walking in boring places. If one of them has it, they can use it for battles and to cheer up the party if they are with low hope." Luz commented undoing the fireball and then played other notes, making the surrounding glass things vibrate a little. "Obviously, Sound Deviants will be the ones who can use this item extremely effectively."
I stared at that instrument, while Luz putted it on the table and took the glass cube along with that "strange crossbow". Slowly the cube seemed to fill with mana as it was held in his hand, which made my eyes widen.
"Like I said, this is a core for these items. I can store a limited amount of mana inside it. It's for times of extreme urgency, when a person has no more mana inside their mana core." He said, opening a compartment in that crossbow and putting the cube inside.
"And this is an item that allows you to use this artificial mana core to cast offensive spells. With this item, even augmenters can cast spells from a distance. I call it a 'shotgun'." He said as he approached a window and opened it, aiming the artifact out of the room.
"Fireball." As he recited the incantation, the barrel of the 'shotgun' began to glow slightly red and Luz squeezed a trigger. The spell came out of the item and was cast in a straight line in the desired direction, until it broke after a long journey.
"Amazing..." My eyes sparkled, while I still managed to remain as neutral and cold as ever.
"Heh, it will be even better, today I brought a project of another artifact model like this, which allows you to cast spells from a more distant area." When he commented that, Gideon quickly went to the blue parchment and opened it.
"Wonder Brat, I think I'll name you Genius Brat now. That's amazing! But.. what a weird name... 'Precision Rifle'?" Gideon asked.
"Yes, if we can make this battle artifact, I could say that an augmenter could cast a spell at a distance of 1.5 kilometers. A conjurer could cast the same spell at a distance of 2 kilometers." I was extremely wide-eyed at the information he was saying.
"This... It's going to be insane, you know right?" Gideon spoke in disbelief.
"Yes, and that's why this particular artifact can only be handed over to royal guards who are professionals in ranged attacks. But of course, for one to cast a spell like that, they'll need extreme concentration to aim." Luz commented as he took the glass cube out of the 'shotgun'. The cube looked like it was more than half full.
"Okay, and the last artifact is something I call the 'Hoverboard'. This item allows the user to move great distances. There's a limit to how much weight it can hold." He said putting the glass cube into a compartment for the next item, making the underside glow slightly.
When he put the item on the ground, instead of touching it, it floated a few centimeters. My love got on top of the item and started to slowly go back and forth to demonstrate the artifact to me.
"This... This is..."
"Yes, it's like how Xyrus City is floating right now." Gideon completed my sentence.
"Of course, it still needs some testing. The final product I want to make, will be able to reach a maximum speed of 200 m/s. But of course, this is only if an extremely skilled and agile mage, in an advanced state of mana core, has this in hand." I was confused by the way he spoke of speed, not understanding what proportion it was.
Noticing my confusion, Gideon seemed to answer my question. "In the case of an incredibly compatible mage with the item, if he goes in a straight line and his weight isn't great, he can reach a speed that even augmented eyes may have slight difficulty seeing."
"M-my god, this is amazing!" I replied, showing a little of my shock.
"Thanks, but for now this only reaches a maximum speed of 30 m/s. That's the equivalent of almost twice what a non-mage can reach running, if he has incredible physique and stamina. We need to test more and improve this one. prototype in such a way that it is to the liking of the Council." Luz answered me as he got off the 'hoverboard' and took the core out of it, putting everything back on the table.
"Hm.. But why don't you make carriages out of it?" I asked curiously.
"That's really smart to ask, but first we should start with simple things and then move on to more complex things. As I said before, this artifact has a weight limit.And if we're going to do that in carriages, we'd need to figure out an efficient and inexpensive way to create several of the items that make the hoverboard float." He answered me again, heaving a sigh.
"You're really smart, you know that?" I said hugging his right arm again, wanting to cheer him up.
"Thanks Kathy.. I know that, Gideon always says something like that when I bring up new ideas." He said laughing a little and I felt his hand caressing my hair, making me calm down and hug him tighter.
"Are you by any chance dating the princess?" Gideon asked that and I opened my eyes immediately, having a slight panic inside my mind while I still managed to get my face straight.
Luz seemed to stare at Gideon for a few seconds, but then he chuckled. "Well, Gideon, she's always been glued to me since I saved her, so this is super common to see, I'm super used to it."
"Wait, so is that rumor really true? The Helstea Auction House 10th Anniversary Rumor?" Professor Gideon looked shocked.
"That I defeated a Light Yellow Mage who was a former royal guard? Yes. Actually, Lance ThunderLord helped with the final blow, but I know that if he hadn't shown up, I would have still managed to defeat the invader. " Luz said proudly.
"Oh my gosh, are you a monster by any chance? That was 4 years ago! You were only 8 years old then?!? How were you a mage with that skill level back then?!?" Professor said extremely curious.
"First, remember the story that I lived in the elven realm? The environment there has an absurd amount of mana, so it was easy to evolve my skills as a Wind Conjurer. Second, I awakened my mana core at 5 years old, so you can idolize more, I like that~ And third, I was 9 at the time of the incident, not 8." He laughed again after saying all that.
But then he said something that scared Gideon. "And as you know, my brother is equally skilled as I am, the difference being that he is good at physical combat and I am better at magical knowledge."
"Remind me to give you a trophy after that." Professor said monotonously and I chuckled lightly, now burying my face in my love's shoulder.
"Of course...Of course.. Well Kathy, Gideon and I are going to work on some more stuff and then I'm going to the DC's sector at evening. Do you want to stay with us or do you have more things to do?" He said making more pats, with his fingers running through my hair.
"I want to stay here..." I said smiling internally.
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[Curtis Glayder POV]
By Saturday morning, I had already decided to leave Xyrus Academy, why? Because I had a meeting with Bairon Wykes. I used to have my own mentor for sword fighting, but my father ordered me to be trained in magic, with the help of one of our human Lances.
I was curious what this training would be like, after all, Bairon has the codename of Thunderlord, while I only have affinity in fire, without me having discovered if I'm compatible to have the deviant form. I've NEVER seen him use fire spells, only lightning spells, so... What could he teach me?
More conceptual things? Things that lightning and fire spells have in common? Or would I finally see him using a flame-related spell?
I had all these thoughts and questions while in a carriage with two personal guards. And slowly I approached the Wykes family mansion. My blood boiled a little just thinking that my new mentor was the brother of a traitor who nearly killed my best friend. But I wasn't supposed to think about it too much, I was here for Bairon only.
The carriage stopped and I could already see him, along with some maids, waiting for me there. I grabbed my bag, a maid opened the door, and I walked over to my new mentor. He looked me up and down.
"Welcome to my family's residence, Prince Curtis. I hope your coming here hasn't been a hassle." he said with a serious but neutral expression, the same he has when he's close to my parents.
"Thank you, Thunderlord. And coming here was more peaceful than I expected. I'm curious to know your teaching methods." I said as we started walking towards the residence.
"It will be similar to my training at your age. The king asked that you be taught to be like me in some battle situations." Bairon answered me, while a maid opened the main door and now I'm inside their mansion.
In front of me I saw a woman with facial features that reminded me of my new mentor. And next to her... There was only one garbage. Apparently he decided to spend this weekend with his "family".
"Welcome, Prince Curtis. My name is Susan Lunvit Wykes, I'm Bairon's mother. I came on the name of Otis Vayhur Wykes, Bairon's father, to welcome you and a say the gratitude to see that one of our children is a good mentor to a prince." Her voice is soft, gentle, but at the same time polite. If it weren't for her looks and last name, I would never have thought she was in any way related to her two children.
"Oh wait.... Lucas isn't even her blood son. Good thing." I thought for a while remembering this fact.
Lucas said absolutely nothing, but I could feel he was shaking with fear. At first, I didn't understand why, but I looked discreetly at my new mentor. He was staring at him with a judgmental look. Apparently, the fact that one of them has a habit of betraying others, and the other being one of the most powerful protectors on the continent. It makes them both not get along very well.
"Maybe the only thing holding him back from not taking justice into his own hands is just his last name... If I remember correctly, that day at the meeting with the adventurers, he wasn't angry that his brother was being judged as a criminal, he was annoyed that the Wykes name is starting to get dirty." I thought a little more about the situation and then took a deep breath, turning my attention to the woman.
"Thank you very much, I will try my best to learn from him. And tell Mr. Vayhur Wykes that I am happy for what he wanted to say to me, even if he cannot be here at the moment." I spoke in the most political voice possible, and she smiled in agreement.
"Follow me." Bairon started to walk in one direction and I followed him.
We passed through some corridors until we reached a large field surrounded by high walls. If it weren't for these walls, I'd say this would be the back garden of the mansion. On the ground there were some markings and a white arena, which was 50 cm above the actual ground of the field.
We went up there and Bairon went to the other side of the arena. "Firstly, as you don't have access to deviant form, I want you to augment yourself as intensely as possible. Also, I want you to get a blade, as I want to know how your training level was with your last mentor."
I took a long breath and pulled my sword out of my dimensional ring. It was simple, but there were gold and red decorations on the base, and it was made of strong metal, perfect for representing a prince of a proud kingdom.
Bairon got into a defensive position. "You can attack me, I will see your sword level just by defending myself and dodging your blows. I may be a white core, but I can still tell what your skill level is by the way you attack."
I took a deep breath and fire mana poured out of my mana core, surrounding my skin and creating flames around my body. With my left hand, I touched my blade and imbued it with my flames, while I held it tightly with both hands.
"Okay, let's get started!" I said as I propelled myself with one foot towards him.