POV: Lisbeth

“Now can anyone tell me the main disadvantages of the Swift Potion?”

A kindly old mage swept his eyes along a class of around sixty young acolytes. He briefly glanced at me meaningfully, as if to urge me to answer his question less obnoxiously than Mike Fosse. I busy myself with the journal I’ve been working on for the past two months.

“Yes, Mr. Fosse?” The mage’s voiced was overly cheerful and was pitched a little higher to disguise a sigh. Such a good teacher.

“The potion has a rate of failure that’s estimated to be twenty percent – the failures are indistinguishable to the finished product unless consumed. Although it’s low, it’s nevertheless significant when you’re out on a dangerous mission. You can’t take too much within fifteen hours as it’s poison could be fatal when it reaches a certain threshold. Now a mages regenera-…”

No, it’s because the main component is from a Jade Dugite’s bloodline and the particular gene only exist on 80% of them. But you’ll never get to study that because bloodline magic is banned. It feels like there are more banned magicks every year.

“Excellent, Mr. Fosse! I hope that you all finished your assignments during the class,” there were giggles everywhere, as Mr. Li is the only teacher that collects yesterday’s homework after class.

Mike sits in front of me, his abnormally huge eyes looking all smug as he collects the class’ papers for Mr. Li. “Looks like little miss perfect could get lax after just a little bit of praise.” He sneered at my frantic scribbling.

I opened the last page of the journal and handed him the folded assignment I did the night before. He scoffed and piled it on top of the stack. He had a subtle look of alarm looking at me work so hard. I might’ve told him to get a life but it’s honestly better for him to study more.

I gathered my school supplies and gave him my brightest smile, “See ya at the Team Tournament!” I watched his eyes dilate behind his glasses and a telltale redness rushed up his cheeks. Aww, puberty’s kicking in.

“You finish homework immediately to watch sports?” He glared at me hatefully.

Remembering my mission today, I feel a sense of urgency. “Yup” I acknowledged nonchalantly and went out of the classroom.

A few meters later, I heard some shuffling behind me. I looked back to see Mike looking at me.

“Incoming,” I said.

“Whooooooooo! NERD!!” A handsome well-built sophomore was standing upside down on the ceiling, dropping what looked like orange fur-balls. Those are itchy. In another life, I would enjoy this, I might’ve even joined in on bullying Mike. Now I just had a bitter smile at these trifling pranks. I walked away apathetically.

Mike dashed in front of me, probably going to buy the antidote. He paused and asked, “Why are you gonna watch it anyway? It’s only the Dark Schools competing on the finals” They’re unofficially called Dark Schools because they are rumored to keep banned magicks in their curriculum. They’re also accused of cheating a lot with less standard, undetectable magicks.

“It’s interesting now.”

Unauthorized content usage: if you discover this narrative on Amazon, report the violation.

He had a look of disappointment, as if anything that goes against his world view is a freak of nature. “Dark Magic users. You’d like that wouldn’t you!” A mix of physical and psychological discomfort made him raise his voice. He ran away to do whatever.

I clutched my bag unconsciously as I hurried to the Sidhe Stadium, absentmindedly avoiding hexes along the way. For some reason, the school isn’t really big on keeping order, despite the trend of discrimination to spells that are ‘harmful’.

I hailed a carriage to take me Downtown. I didn’t immediately enter the Stadium but I mixed into the crowed and casted a powerful ‘Nondescript’ spell on myself. Entering a dark alley, I spread my spiritual force and sensed three conscients observing me. I also felt their shock and terror when I suddenly disappeared from their senses.

Finding a blind-spot, I opened my bag and took a cursory glance at the racks of potions. Their amount and quality would reduce a rich Marquis to poverty if he buys them all. The real treasure however, is the spatial bag that even a prince may not necessarily have enough gold and connections to acquire.

I quickly picked a Face Dancer and downed it in one gulp. I chose an appearance of a man with dark brown eyes and chestnut-colored hair. Blending in the shadows, I donned a cloak from the space bag and stealthily went towards the Sidhe Stadium.

Passing through the rows of VIP rooms, I entered one that I had reserved a week ago. There was already someone inside but I didn’t bother to knock and I just entered.

She was sitting on one of the several luxurious couches, concentrating on reheating her cup of coffee. I could detect some alcohol in it too.

I didn’t make a sound as I approached her, yet she still turned and beamed at me. “Mr. Danton, it’s a pleasure to meet you.” She stood up and offered her hand.

“Ms. Olminsky.” we shook hands and exchanged fake smiles.

“Oh my, you look younger than I thought!” She gushed at me. Ah, if only you knew that I’m still a schoolgirl. “The essays you’ve sent me suggested otherwise. At least, I was expecting someone who actually served as a public official.”

I gestured for her to sit back down and I took my place on the couch nearest her. “Thank you. May I ask if you’ve considered my offer?”

“I accept. Your work is thoroughly researched and there are no errors in the citations. I plan to publish some articles twice a week, while the one about contractual beasts will be this month’s highlight. Are you sure you want to publish them all anonymously?”

Contractual beasts is a controversial topic. It’s an old prohibited practice of having a familiar. It greatly increases an individual’s war potential by binding any creature to a Mage, magical or otherwise. It has been lobbied to be a gateway for enslaving non-magical humans.

The higher echelons of the human government is aware of the existence of the magical part of the world. This is yet another restriction to the Wizarding society. It gained a lot of support because of the propaganda for it being anti-human. A lot of wizards come from human families, just like Mike Fosse.

“Yes, but are you alright? You might be seen as an enemy of the administration for this.” A lot of my work delved into the historical background of a lot of prohibited ‘Dark Magic’. They were passed arbitrarily with questionable propaganda, all in order to appease the humans as well as gain monetary benefits from their governments, humans had always been overwhelmingly populous and profitable.

“Unlikely. People like to listen to the dead more than the living.”

“Then we shall test the waters with these. I hope that we can gain enough attention that it would be safer to tackle the more recent legislative issues”

“Absolutely! I look forward to the research on bloodlines that you’ve proposed. Have you thought on who you might ask to help you with it?” she asked cheerfully.

It’s the same way I found you, fellow sympathizer. I silently activated Light Eyes and looked at the box opposite us, hundreds of meters away, at the Headmaster’s seat of a the so-called ‘Dark School’. His eyes sharpened and he glared at my general direction, not really knowing that I was the one who was staring at him. He doesn’t know me, we’ve never met before, not in any of my identities.

“I have my ways.” I smiled charmingly.

We haven’t met before but I know you. I know him. I’ve done all of these before, differently, more stupidly.

We don’t have much time. They are coming and we need to restore the Magicks of this world. “Let’s watch the game for now.” I need to piss off Mike later too.

----------End Chapter

A/N: Originally posted on reddit. Now turning it into a webnovel.