Alira heard a long exhale that tried halfheartedly not to come across as a sigh, for the third time within the past few minutes. Occasional chirps also circled around her, echoing throughout the space.

  She squeezed her eyes shut, doing her best to ignore all the noisy things in her surroundings. Instead, her focus was on remembering and replicating the sensation she’d felt in the Vesper Reign forest. Well, most of her focus, but she tried.

  The first circle was said to come easily once the mage succeeded in materializing their element for the first time. After the mage saw their first success in shaping their mana, it should be a smooth sail and a matter of time before they ranked up to become a first-circle mage.

  Alira had felt her first element, which, according to Xia, was gold. Mediation apparently should help her take the next step. Breathe in. And out. While the mana supply wasn’t as abundant as in the forest, the training ground—illuminated with condensed mana crystals refracting each other’s light—was the second-best place for an apprentice mage to practice.

  Mana was apparently radiating from those crystals dangling from the ceiling above her. She imagined wispy streams of smoke, tugging at them toward her. Cool, flowy breeze surrounded her. Mana is the raw material. Alira repeated the definition internally. All she needed now was the concentration to mold the raw clay into gold.

  Concentrat—

  “Isn’t it time you gave up? Lower Bronze...” Lillian’s voice sounded from the side. “Magic is an arcane gift not everyone is destined for.”

  { That much is true. You have zero talent for magic. Without any help, I bet it’ll take at least two months before you see a glint of gold. }

  “Miss Lillian,” Alira inhaled sharply. “Do remind me why you’re here again.”

  Lillian turned her head away, avoiding Alira’s glare. “What? Raine said it’s just a group study session, so I don’t see why I can’t be here. Unless it’s supposed to be a study date for two. Is it, Miss Alira? Do tell me.”

  Alira pointed at Raine, who was on his knees before them, tracing lines on the granite floor with a chalk in hand. “Then why don’t you go bother him instead? ”

  Isn’t it a good opportunity to shoot your shot? Alira wanted to say, but didn’t.

  “Can’t you see Sir Raine is busy?” Lillian threw a look of disapproval at Alira’s question.

  “...”

  Alira still couldn’t figure out how Lillian found out about their meetup, appearing out of nowhere to join the second session on Wednesday. Her best guess was that one of the girls who followed Lillian around, like lost ducklings, had eavesdropped on them. She bet there was at least one stalking her at a time from how often her fur would spike up and her senses would turn sharp at seemingly nothing.

  Raine, being Raine, didn’t care enough to give a firm ‘no’ to her insistence, and here they were.

  Lillian herself was another puzzle. Alira really couldn’t understand why she was so over the moon for Raine. At this point in the novel, Raine was just a commoner nobody, while Lillian was the only daughter of the county. Was it actually because of his talent? Or, it could just be his protagonist aura, having guys and girls fall for him by just existing.

  At least the silver lining was that with two nobles present, Raine’s fans, with their single community brain cell, knew better to leave them alone.

  { What’s the Academy’s magic test like? I could help. }

  At a price. Alira completed Xia’s sentence mentally. She covered her mouth, coughing in an attempt to hide her words. “And how would you do that? By burning everyone else in the test with your unruly flame?”

  { Fire can be tamed. Don’t blame it for your lack of command. }

  Somehow, that line sounded familiar to Alira. This was similar to how he got to Raine in the novel. It was undeniable how powerful Xia’s fire magic was. With Hollowed Mirror, it was no different from getting a free ticket from earth to heaven. Forget an Apprentice mage, even a Grand Mage would kill to command an Imperial Mage’s power as if it were theirs.

  “I don’t need help. Well, not for this,” Alira muttered. “If you truly want to help me, tell me about that person who created the tarot or whatever cards.”

  While it could just be another ‘inspiration’ Staywes had taken from Earth, Alira had a nagging feeling that it wasn’t. Just from the fact that Xia of all people brought it up, there was definitely something more to it.

  { Hm. I don’t think we’re close enough for such talk. Unless you prove me otherwise? }

  What? Was it supposed to be some affinity-locked character bonding talk? Alira wanted to complain, but it’d be a waste of words. She knew she couldn’t get him to talk if he didn’t want to.

  Either way, it did seem like she had to raise the affinity, or rather, the official term, harmonization. Once they reached stage two, she would unlock a whole new map to explore. Then, she could check out the village herself.

  Since she wouldn’t be making any progress in magic anyway—not with Lillian and Xia pestering her—Alira decided to call it a day. She sprang up to her feet and walked up to Raine. Alchemic casts only required symbolic drawing when an alchemist tried to perform a cast that wasn’t a few ranks below their own.

  At one glance, Alira recognized the cast Raine was drawing as a rank 9 Movement Bind. If he had done any practices on his own since she showed him the rope in the last session, his rank would have been higher than nine.

  That was the issue with genius. They knew things came easily for them, so their effort would often fall behind.

  This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road. If you spot it on Amazon, please report it.

  This was most likely his first time drawing out an alchemic cast at all. Even then, Alira couldn’t find any fault in it to dig at him.

  Like every other cast, it featured an outer circle lined on the inside with words in Ancient Tongue to invoke the Will. The number of circles, the rings of the cast in formal terms, grew with the complication and strength of the cast. A Complete Bind, such as the one between Alira and the duke, could be said to be at the top of the list. She vaguely remembered he’d drawn three to four nested circles on the table that day.

  A straw doll lay in the center. This was the target of the Movement Bind that could be cast between two living targets or a living target and an object.

  Apart from Will Favorability, the medium used for the cast was another factor that determined its success. Blood was the most effective for the life force it contained. Gold worked just as well, more or less for its purity, but it wouldn’t usually be the first choice because of its high cost. Mercury, silver, and ink followed in that order. Ash and salt were viable but harder to work with. Chalk could be said to be the worst medium, which actually made it a good choice for beginners, since failing at the right time could save them from the backlash.

  Alira picked up the small yellow chick peeking at the ground. The Academy provided the students with live stocks for rent to aid with their practices and demonstrations. The ball of yellow fluff settled inside her gloved palms without a fuss, cozying up and rubbing itself against the leather.

  It was unfortunate how so many of such small animals had inevitably been sacrificed in every cast that had gone wrong. The Academy would fine the student for their mistakes, but that was all there was to it. As someone who loved fried chicken a little too much, it’d be hypocritical for Alira to call animal rights on them either.

  “Raine, do it on me instead,” Alira said, tapping her finger on the napping chick’s small head.

  Raine’s hand stopped for a brief moment before he continued working. “Why? Feels bad?”

  Lillain raised her hand like an obedient student. “I feel bad for the little chick, too. I wouldn’t mind if you practice on me instead, Raine.”

  “That’s not it.” Alira sighed. moved the chick on one palm, using her now free hand to put Lillain’s hand down. “It’s...just a chicken. I’m trying to see how strong Raine’s bind is. Plus, I called dibs first.”

  “Alright,” Raine quickly agreed before Lillain could say something. Smart move. He finished up the cast with one last stroke, dusting his hands clean. He extended his hand to Alira. Alira placed the chick down.

  “Oh, don’t have any artifact for this like the one Professor Daw has? I’m surprised,” Alira said. Considering the number of artifacts he had been collecting, she had assumed he’d have one even if he hadn’t used it in the novel.

  “Not yet.”

  Well, this was a bit awkward.

  She didn’t really want to show her bare hand because of the hybrid characteristics. Not that she minded having a bit more fur on her. Rather, the look people tended to give was what bothered her. Like she was making them uncomfortable because of her misfortune. If it bothered her even as an outsider who hadn’t viewed hybrids and alike in a negative light before, she couldn’t imagine what other hybrids native to this world had to face.

  Alira pulled her glove off, placing her hand lightly on top of Raine’s. Raine didn’t say a word, and neither did Lillian. The cast lit up a faint greyish glow that lasted no longer than a few seconds.

  That was a precast with its effect held back until release. Alira took her hand back, putting the glove back on.

  Raine bent to pick up the straw doll. “Ready?”

  Alira nodded before standing upright in a relaxed stance. Raine held the straw doll’s right hand between his thumb and index finger. He pulled the doll’s hand up. Alira felt a strong force dragging at her right hand, trying to move it upward. She didn’t resist it. Her hand stood up straight, held midair by an unseeable force.

  Unlike the duke’s Complete Bind on her, she could feel the force and extent of Raine’s bind. It was strong. Considering his middle-ranked prismatic and Alira’s upper-ranked gold, he could keep her still for a couple of minutes in theory.

  In practice, however...

  Alira flexed her forehand, twisting her wrist around the force. It was like the chain she was tied to when she first arrived. Heavy and tight, but rusty and unstable. She slammed her hand forward. The air trembled for a second before it snapped. The pressure exerted on her from the bind instantly disappeared.

  “You...” Raine started.

  “Unlike you, I haven’t been slacking off,” Alira said, rubbing her slightly reddened wrist. “Losing against me even with the advantage you were born with...” She clicked her tongue in disapproval and tried not to let the aches in her wrists show.

  Her gaze lowered to Raine’s hands. They were littered with scars, newer ones lying on top of older marks of the past. When his mother died, he was twelve. For five long years, he was alone and getting hunted down by shadows with or without purpose until the Academy’s headmaster welcomed him here.

  He did everything to stay alive. A little alchemy homework was no difficult task for him. The problem was the fact that he had no direction and still wasn’t taking this seriously, even with the insights Alira had offered up.

  She needed him to realize exactly what he would be going against. Not just the truth behind his mother’s death, he needed to see the terror of the Mother Cult.

  “What’s your alchemist ranking?” Alira asked.

  “Five,” Raine said, his voice softer than usual. “What’s yours?”

  “Higher than you, that’s what. I was going to wait until after you become a Lesser Alchemist, but since it’d be soon anyway, let me give you your ‘reward’ ahead of time.”

  “Reward?!” Lillain blatted. She’d been so quiet, Alira totally forgot she was even here. It was a bit strange how she tended to just blend into the background. Alira wondered if Lillian’s Role was what she thought it was.

  “What reward?” she repeated when no one answered. “Why are you rewarding him? With what?”

  Alira turned to Raine, who bent down out of nowhere to start cleaning up what little chalk dust remained on the floor after the cast had disappeared. What a nice timing he had.

  “Don’t get involved. Shouldn’t you know that after what happened in the Vesper Reign?” Alira scorned at the girl.

  “I—” Lillian hesitated for a beat but pressed on. “I will be fine. If it’s about those cultists, it wouldn’t be right for me to turn a blind eye to it. Whatever happens inside the Academy and its surroundings would implicate my father. I didn’t get in the way last time, and I will try not to this time as well. So, let me tag along.”

  Alira felt her temples throbbing. “No—”

  “If it’s too dangerous for me to go, neither should you two! How about we just let the professors know about this?”

  That was a threat if Alira had ever heard one. “It’s not inside the Academy. We need to go out for Astrail.”

  Lillian’s face lit up at that, finding more reasons. “That’s even more reason for me to come along. Astrail is my father’s town. I know my way around better than you two. Moreover, with the ability of my Role, I can sneak away to call for guards if something were to happen!”

  Alira turned to Raine, who simply raised his brows dismissively. She wanted to give him a kick and would have done just that if Lillian weren’t here.

  “She’s already involved,” he said.

  Alira sighed and couldn’t help but feel like she’d been sighing a whole lot. It almost felt like that was all she’d been doing.

  “We leave for Astrail this weekend. If—” She paused, meeting both of them with a glare. “—and only if you’re at least rank ten combined in alchemy and magic. That’s twenty for you, Raine, since you’re already a rank ten mage.”

  A quest should obviously have a minimum level requirement for the adventurers.