Magnus made it back to Arlcliff City quickly after splitting off from Mia and the others. But with everything that had happened—and everything he had to deal with once he arrived, including a vampire attack—by the time he returned to Takerth Academy for the second time that day, the sun was already beginning to set.
Classes should have ended by now, making this the best time to look for Luden.
With that in mind, Magnus started searching the academy grounds. He checked the obvious places first, starting with the library, where he often found Luden. When that turned up nothing, he headed to their faction's private training chamber on the fourth floor of the main academy building, only to find it empty. That left him at a bit of a dead end as he wandered the academy’s stone pathways once again. The lanterns lining the walkways flickered to life, casting their glow against the warm hues of the setting sun—fading oranges and yellows stretching across the sky.
Students, both in small groups and larger factions, passed by, chatting about various topics. Some were already discussing their plans for the next Live Examination, but that didn’t really interest Magnus. He had already been promoted to Adept-level, and while his magical knowledge and spell reservoir had yet to really reach that rank, his abilities had long since reached the Pseudo-Master level. Unless he wanted to graduate early and officially take the Master-level test, he had no reason to participate again anytime soon.
Hmm?
Magnus slowed as he spotted two Knight Division students sitting under a tree on the well-trimmed grass between the twisting pathways.
At first, he thought they might be a couple. Takerth Academy had no rules against relationships, and students were even allowed to share dorm rooms as long as they didn’t break curfew. Because of that, relationships were more common than one might expect. It made sense—most of the students were nobles, and if your child was going to become a knight or a mage, what better place to find a suitable partner than the academy?
It was certainly preferable to the arranged marriages that noble children were often subjected to.
As Magnus continued walking, getting a clearer view past the tree, he realized it was Sylas and Syrna. The two had grabbed food from the cafeteria, which stayed open until midnight and reopened an hour before classes started in the morning.
Maybe they know where Luden is.
He made his way across the grass toward them. The moment he approached, the two knights sensed him, turning to see who was coming their way.
Syrna squinted slightly, studying him before recognition clicked.
“Hmm? Oh, I remember you! Your name’s Magnus, right? You look… different, I think.”
“Oh, yeah. I’m trying out a new type of magic that affects my body—just seeing how long I can keep it active.” Magnus gave a casual explanation, brushing over the real reason behind his altered appearance.
“I’m surprised you remember me, though.” With no reason to doubt him, the twins accepted the answer. Since Magnus used elementrix magic within his own body nearly nonstop, any knight with sharp enough senses would simply assume that was the 'body changing' magic.
“I heard keeping magic active for long periods is tough for mages,” Syrna mused.
“I guess that means you’re pretty talented, huh? Though I should’ve expected that from one of Luden’s friends. Though I swear, for someone who’s so good with their words, he doesn’t really socialize much at the academy.” She shrugged.
Luden was a mystery that way. Despite acting like a loner most of the time and barely interacting with students in his own class, he still managed to maintain good relations with some of the strongest factions in Takerth Academy, including their leaders.
It made you wonder where he found the time.
“Well, I’ll take that as a compliment. Oh, and sorry if I’m interrupting you two while you’re eating,” Magnus said, glancing at Sylas.
Sylas shook his head.
“It’s fine. We had sparring lessons for our second class today, and Syrna made us overdo it.”
Syrna frowned.
“Oh, stop complaining. We’re close to reaching Adept-level—I can feel it. This is when we need to push ourselves the hardest! Besides, the cafeteria doesn’t have a limit on how much food we can ask for, so why not take advantage?” Magnus had to admit, he agreed with that logic. It was one of the things he loved about Takerth Academy—unlimited food. Of course, no one was dumb enough to outright abuse the system, but for someone like Magnus, who enjoyed the academy’s meals, it was nothing short of a luxury.
“Fine, but don’t blame me if it ruins your diet and you get fat,” Sylas muttered.
Syrna rolled her eyes as if the very idea of her falling out of shape was impossible.
“Looks like the two of you are doing well after the Live Examination,” Magnus noted.
“Since you’re sparring again, I’m guessing your injuries have healed?” He directed the question at Sylas.
“Yeah,” Sylas confirmed with a nod.
“Healing magic did most of the work, but after that, I recovered pretty fast.”
“Good to hear.” With idle talk out of the way, Magnus got to the point.
“Anyway, I wanted to ask if either of you know where Luden is.” The twins exchanged a glance before Syrna spoke up.
"Well, honestly, we haven’t seen much of him ourselves. He still attends classes and everything, but the moment they're over, he disappears with Lazitha for private lessons. If I had to guess, he’s probably with her right now." Hearing that, Magnus immediately understood why he couldn’t find Luden. He had nearly forgotten that Luden was Lazitha’s disciple now. Disciples didn’t technically have to attend classes, but Luden still went for his own reasons. On top of that, he had private lessons with Lazitha, which meant most of his day was consumed by studying, training, and learning. No wonder he was so hard to track down.
Hmm, so the only time I’ll be able to catch him is during lessons. Well, whatever—I planned on attending classes again soon anyway. I’ll find an opportunity to talk to him then. But… before that, I need to figure out what’s going on with Seraline. I can’t attend classes while I’m still technically on an assignment. And even though I can turn it in myself and mark it complete, I still need her to send over the Arcana Credits we’re supposed to get as a reward.
"I see, thanks for letting me know. In that case, what about Seraline? I noticed she came back from her assignment, but I haven’t seen her around. Do either of you know what’s going on?"
"Seraline?" Syrna muttered, thinking for a moment before glancing at her brother.
"Didn’t Luden say something about her family prepping her to go to the Church of the Fourfold Light?"
Sylas nodded.
"That’s right."
Magnus frowned.
"Wait, the church?"
"Oh, right, you probably don’t know," Syrna realized before explaining.
"Seraline came back from her assignment missing an arm. So of course her family freaked out and requested that the academy grant her temporary leave while they arranged for her care. They also set up a meeting with the Church of the Fourfold Light. After all, healing magic capable of regrowing limbs is rare, even at the Master level. The only people they can rely on are the priests at the church." That caught Magnus off guard. He knew a little about the Church of the Fourfold Light—the main religion people followed in this world. For example, they accepted donations in exchange for using their blessings to heal others.
But I had no idea they could regrow lost limbs… Hmm, if I could observe the process, maybe I could figure out how to do it myself.
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His regenerative abilities were already impressive, but they were still a couple of steps below the kind of self-healing vampires had. If he lost a hand, a leg, or—like Seraline—an arm, there was nothing he could do about it unless the severed limb was still in good enough condition to be reattached.
No, wait, that’s not the real issue here. If the Church of the Fourfold Light can heal people who’ve lost limbs... then why does Seraline still seem to be missing her arm in the future?
He had already thought about this before. In the splash art where he saw Seraline in a war-torn battlefield, she had been missing an eye and an arm. But if the church was going to heal her now, then there was no reason for her to still be missing it later—unless she somehow lost it again. There is also a chance that the fact she lost her arm during their assignment was truly a coincidence, and his presence in this world had already altered things, making it so that the version of Seraline he saw in the splash art would never come to be.
Then again, there’s also the possibility that, for some reason, Seraline never gets her arm healed by the church. But that raises even more questions. Why wouldn’t she? I assumed something catastrophic happened in the future, something that left her family unable to afford the healing, while forcing her onto the battlefield. But something like that wouldn’t happen overnight. And definitely not in the time period it would take for her family to restore her arm, right?
Just thinking about it made Magnus’s head ache. He groaned slightly, rubbing the back of his head. He didn’t want to believe that whatever event had prevented Seraline from getting healed was going to happen anytime soon.
"Are you okay?" Syrna asked, noticing his sudden silence and the way he was groaning to himself.
"Hmm? Oh, yeah. I just wasn’t expecting her to lose an arm on her assignment," Magnus answered.
"Yeah, I know, right? She’s so strong, and she was with Cain. But apparently, she ran into an Adept-level mana beast while she was out there, and at some point on the way back, she and Cain split up."
Syrna exhaled, muttering under her breath, "Honestly... it makes me a little nervous about our assignments."
She hadn’t been too worried about taking on an Intermediate-level assignment before. But if someone like Seraline—who was stronger than both her and Sylas—had struggled to the point of losing an arm, what did that mean for them? Seeing his sister's expression drop slightly, Sylas placed a hand on her shoulder.
"And that’s exactly why we’re training. Even though I think you overdo it, we’re making sure we’ll be ready for any assignment we take on, right?"
Syrna looked at her brother, pausing as she saw the certainty in his eyes. After a moment, she smiled and gave him a nod.
"Right."
"You two have a surprisingly good relationship," Magnus commented with a friendly look.
Then, shifting topics, he said, "Anyway, sorry for bothering you. Thanks for filling me in on what’s going on with Luden and Seraline."
"No problem. Just make sure to pay us back by sparring with us," Syrna said with a grin.
"We’ve been meaning to go up against more mages, and considering you’re friends with Luden, you must be pretty strong, right?" Magnus froze. He glanced between Syrna and Sylas, who let out a sigh and shook his head.
"Ignore her. We were happy to help," Sylas said.
Syrna turned to him, looking betrayed.
"What are you talking about? This is our chance to get a mage sparring partner who isn’t at the Adept-level. All the Apprentice-level mages we convinced gave up after one round!"
"Because you don’t hold back enough to let them cast anything," Sylas countered.
Feeling this was about to turn into a full-on sibling debate, Magnus took the opportunity to quietly slip away before he got roped into any sparring matches. Back on the path he had been walking before stopping to talk to the twins, he turned his thoughts to his next move.
Well, if Seraline’s stuck at home until her arm is restored, who knows how long that’ll take? I should just mark the assignment as complete myself and ask her for the Arcana Credits later when she gets back. Maybe I can even visit her as Cain under the guise of being a classmate and friend. After all, I was the one who went on the assignment with her.
That would have to wait until tomorrow though, after he attended classes and talked to Luden about the Nightshade situation.
With a rough schedule pieced together, Magnus made his first stop at the Mage’s Adept Compendium, using one of the many spatial doors scattered throughout the academy library.
The moment he stepped inside, he was greeted by a familiar sight: windows looking out into an empty white void and endless shelves filled with books and scrolls detailing Adept-level magic and spells. The temptation was immediate. He had been holding off on assimilating any Adept-level knowledge to upgrade his [Arcane Matrix] and [Library of Babel], but mostly because he’d been too busy.
Unfortunately, the free time he thought he’d have after returning to Arlcliff City had vanished thanks to the constant wave of problems—vampires, Zeth, Nightshade, the Major General, and now even Seraline.
Just wait for me… By tomorrow, I’ll have all the time in the world, and I’ll finally be able to use magic beyond the peak of the Apprentice-level.
Magnus made his way to the second section of the Mage’s Adept Compendium, stepping into one of the unoccupied alcoves that housed an assignment board. The moment he approached, the board reacted, displaying a notification. It simply asked if he and Seraline had successfully completed their assignment, with ‘Yes’ and ‘No’ options below it.
He tapped ‘Yes.’ The notification changed to a congratulations message, confirming that the allotted Arcadia Credits had been sent. Glancing down at the back of his hand, Magnus focused on viewing his Arcadia Credits. A familiar holographic number appeared—zero. Exactly as expected. The academy had sent the reward to Seraline, meaning he’d have to trade with her later to get his share.
Well, at least that only applies to the Arcadia Credits given by the academy. The rewards from requestors have to be received in person.
Like the chest of money the Freyborn Village elders had given him—those kinds of rewards weren’t regulated by the academy. They belonged solely to the students who completed the assignments.
Well, that wraps that up.
With all his business in the Mage’s Adept Compendium settled for now, Magnus stepped back through the spatial doorway, returning to the academy’s library. His assignment was officially done, meaning he could attend classes again starting tomorrow—just in time to meet with Luden. Until then, he didn’t have much else to do but head back to the dorms.
The walk was uneventful.
He reached the dorm building, headed up to his floor, and stopped in front of his room. A quick scan of his Sigilbrand unlocked the door. As he stepped inside and it closed behind him, his eyes swept over the room.
Celia wasn’t there.
"Hmm... maybe she’s at the Research Station." After glancing around the dorm room once more, Magnus turned and stepped back through the door, planning to head there. But the moment he crossed the threshold, he realized he wasn’t in Eveline’s library. There were no suspended platforms connected by twisting, floating staircases.
Instead, he found himself somewhere entirely different.
He was still standing on a platform, but this one was circular, made of smooth stone carved into bricks. Beyond it, there was no sky—just an endless white void, the same kind he’d seen through the windows of structures built inside Alternate Spaces. A long table stretched around the entire circumference of the platform, and the soft sound of clicking joints filled the air as artificial intelligence puppets, the ones Eveline had created, stood in front of it.
Just as Celia had said, there were over a hundred of them.
Each puppet was featureless, textureless, and before them sat a teacup and a thin, blue holographic sheet of magical paper. In their hands, they each held a mana-constructed pen, writing with a precise, mechanical rhythm.
"Huh... so this is what Celia was talking about," Magnus muttered as he walked toward one of the puppets. At first, nothing happened. Then, in the puppet’s empty hand, the space around it warped slightly, and the Knockout Brick appeared. Without hesitation, the puppet tapped the teacup in front of it, knocking it out and beginning its display of a prophetic dream. After that, the space around the brick bent again, and it vanished—only to reappear in the hands of the next puppet in line.
"Teleportation?" Magnus observed as he watched the process repeat.
"I see... so every time one of them uses the Knockout Brick, it’s passed to the next, then the next, and by the time it completes a full circuit, they’ll be able to write another prediction." His attention shifted as he noticed something else. Each time a puppet finished writing what they had emotionally experienced viewing the dream, the glowing magic paper dissolved into light, drifting toward the center of the platform before sinking through it. That’s when Magnus realized a circular patch of the stone floor looked slightly different—like it was meant to move separately from the rest of the platform.
Walking over, he tapped his foot against it. "
Is this supposed to go down or something?"
"It is, though you need to stop moving for it to activate." Magnus paused as a familiar, amused voice rang out behind him.
Turning, he grinned lazily.
"Hey, Eveline. Been a while. Celia mentioned you were busy with something." A chuckle escaped Eveline’s lips as she straightened, a knowing smile on her face. The wide brim of her hat cast a shadow over her piercing eyes, making her look as much like a witch as ever.
"You didn’t jump this time," she noted.
Magnus shrugged.
"Well... a lot happened while I was away. I’ve gotten better at handling surprises—just a little."
Eveline’s smile faded slightly.
"Oh, I see. Well, that’s a shame. I was so sad when Celia told me you dropped by while I was stuck in a council meeting. Believe it or not, you were a topic of discussion."
Magnus frowned. He didn’t like the idea of the Takerth Academy Council taking an interest in him more than they already had.
"In a good way, or the kind of way that means I’m going to be killed soon?" He asked dryly.
Eveline smirked.
"That depends. News of you becoming my disciple has finally reached the other academies, though thanks to some information suppression, they don’t seem to know about your abilities yet. If your goal is to keep a low profile, that could be considered... unfortunate."
Magnus sighed, shaking his head.
"I see. Well, I suppose that’s not too bad. Anyway, you made this place, right?" He gestured to the vast Alternate Space around them.
"That’s right. And now that you’re here, it’s the perfect opportunity for me to show you around. Oh, you wouldn’t believe the discoveries we’ve made while you were away." Her voice practically vibrated with excitement as she took a step forward.
"Little Celia has been an absolute treat as an assistant, and the Knockout Brick is proving to be a far more potent tool than we ever imagined." Magnus could practically hear the enthusiasm bubbling beneath her words.
"Speaking of which, I heard you encountered a glitch during your assignment," Eveline continued, her eyes gleaming with curiosity.
"Tell me, what was it? What did it look like? What were its abilities?" She took another step closer, the hunger for knowledge radiating off her.
"The anticipation has been driving me crazy ever since that girl told me about it." Magnus exhaled, already feeling the weight of her insatiable curiosity pressing down on him.
Well, good thing I don’t have anything else planned today. Eveline definitely isn’t going to settle for a rehashed version of the story like Celia did.