Foresigh

by Sophia Schmidt

  "Ladies, allow me to introduce to you our guests of honour from the White Griffon academy. They are Yurial Deirus, Friya Ernas, and Lith of Lutia." Each one of them politely greeted the newcomers as soon the Marchioness called their name.

  "These three girls are the top rankers from the Lightning Griffon. Lusa Erjar, Kyla Dornar, and Vala Rothar." The girls gave them a small curtsy, having a hard time hiding their surprise.

  Usually, the first ranker was also the one awarded with the academy's crown jewel, the colored griffon pin. Lusa Erjar wore them both side by side, the golden griffon and the topaz griffon pins.

  That was also the reason why Yurial was the only one forced to wear his uniform, otherwise he would be forced to specify countless times which academy he was from.

  The second anomaly was the trio composition. On Mogar women were naturally more talented for magic, to the point that even inside the academies the males/females ratio was four to six.

  For both the pin awarded rankers to be men was something rarer than finding a unicorn on the doorstep. The three girls from the Lightning Griffon had prepared some nasty remarks for their opponents, but suddenly they were at a loss for words.

  The Marchioness didn't seem intentioned to leave the six of them. To make things worse, Yurial was way more handsome than they had pictured him, making hard for them being mean to him. Lith was a good head taller than the Lightning Griffon's golden trio and was looking at them with the same cold gaze an undertaker would use while preparing the boxes for his latest clients.

  Friya would have been the easiest mark, if not for the considerable amount of killing intent she was emitting. The muscles on her arms had been finely chiseled by daily training, while her soft smile was warning them that Friya had no problem breaking a jaw or two by "accident".

  Chapter 264 Friendly Challenge Part 1

  "You are the rising stars of your respective academies and the reason why I organized this gala. Your achievements bring great prestige to the Distar marquisate, so I'm going to personally introduce you to my guests. You should use this opportunity to distinguish yourself and show your value to the Kingdom."

  The Marchioness took a few steps back, throwing a short but meaningful look at Lith. She turned around, rubbing her throat and activating a first magic air spell.

  "May I have your attention, please?" Her magically enhanced voice resounded through the ball room, making all the heads turn and conversations stop.

  "Tonight, we have assembled to celebrate the new year. To remember all the hardships we have endured. Two academies are temporarily lost. Balkor has once again put the Griffon Kingdom on its knees. Yet we survived. Our future may seem grim, but our present is worthy of celebration.

  "I'll introduce to you, one by one, the brightest minds of this generation. I'd like to ask them to show us a little bit of their talent, so that they can demonstrate the progress they have made during the past year and make this evening more enjoyable.

  "There are a lot of rumors about the rankings being unfair." Marchioness Distar looked at all the six youths, but indulged on Friya for a second longer than the others.

  "Magic, however, doesn't allow one to bluff. Either you can do something, or you can't. There is no faking talent. What is required from you is to perform at your best by using only first magic.

  For security reasons, tier one magic and above are sealed by the mansion's protective arrays and so are all the magical items that are not defensive in nature."

  Lith was surprised by the announcement. He hadn't encountered such a powerful formation since during the plague, when he was under the effects of the Small World artifact.

  Solus activated her mana sense, scouting their surroundings.

  'There are a lot of arrays around us, but no Small World.'

  She thought.

  'This is not something I would have expected from a medium importance noble like the Marchioness. I thought only the royals had access to magical formations this strong. Let's see how they fare against true magic.'

  Lith silently waved a tier one spell in his mind, connecting his mana with the world energy surrounding him. The idea was to perform something simple and unnoticeable, raising the temperature of the room by a few degrees.

  Everything went fine until he mixed the mana with the fire element. As soon as the energy started to build, the arrays around him activated. They weren't actually capable of preventing him from casting a spell, only to disrupt the execution by causing fluctuations in the mana in the room.

  'That's why the security is so lax. Intruders and guests are both stripped of all their powers.

  'The arrays can definitely stop a fake mage, but not a true one. I could continue if I wanted. I only need to adapt my flow according to the fluctuations, something that a fake mage's fixed pattern is incapable of doing. What about our dimensional pocket?'

  Lith was reassured by his findings. He had walked into the arrays without even noticing them. He had gravely underestimated a noble household's resources.

  'I think we can open it but it's going to take some time and effort. In our case, rather than block our magic, these arrays make casting any spell much harder and mana expensive.'

  Solus replied.

  Lith mind nodded to her words, checking if both spirit magic and fusion magic still worked. Everything went without a hitch. No matter how much energy he conjured, the arrays remained inactive.

  "Let's start from the first rankers." The Marchioness continued.

  "Yurial Deirus, the white hand, from the White Griffon academy."

  "Yurial the what now?" Lith whispered in Friya's ear.

  "It's his custom title. High rankers often receive one or more nicknames from their Professors in the fields they are more talented in." She explained.

  "I never heard anyone calling him like that, though."

  "And probably you never will. He probably wouldn't have one if not for Linjos's you know what." Her voice was barely audible, even with his heightened senses.

  Lith was able to notice Yurial being embarrassed by the pompous title and the deafening applause that followed.

  'Poor Yurial.' Solus's voice was full of compassion. 'Not only he gets constantly reminded of his fake achievement, but he also got the short end of the stick by going first. Hope he doesn't get stage fright.'

  'Right now he has only two choices. Either to keep drowning himself in self-pity or do his best to turn the lie into truth. I hope he'll choose the second one.' Lith replied.

  Before their telepathic talk could finish, Yurial was already moving.

  Stage fright was something he had overcome years ago. As the heir of the Deirus' household, Yurial had followed his father to all the most important social events ever since he was little, often opening his speeches in the role of valet.

  After being paraded around the whole Kingdom for the last two months, bragging was second nature to him. Yurial slowly spun around, waving his hands in the air while collecting small wisps of fire from every candle that met his eyes.

  The ballroom was mostly lighted with magical crystals, but there would always be other sources of light at a banquet, to give the room warmth. No matter how brilliant it was, magic generated light had something cold about it, especially to non mages.

  The wisps danced around Yurial forming an ethereal river, until he widened his arms making them spread around. The wisps rose a few meters above the guests' heads, taking advantage of the high ceiling.

  Then, each wisp grew to the size of a football, assuming the shape of a griffon that shrieked its challenge to its fiery companions. Each wisp-griffon was of a different color, ranging from red to green.

  Handling so many griffons with only first magic put a cap on the temperatures the conjured flames could reach. The whole room gasped in amazement while the pseudo creatures charged at each other like they were fighting to the death.

  Then, Yurial made them fly out from an open window, sending them as high as he could before he lost control
. When it happened, they exploded forming multi-colored fireworks. His performance caused a spontaneous applause that continued until the Marchioness announced the next student.

  "Lusa Erjar, the Mistress of the Storm." The Lightning Griffon first ranker was in quite a pinch. She had not prepared anything, the show wasn't planned. Lusa didn't want to be outshined, but fire was the flashiest element and it had already been used.

  So, she resorted to water magic, collecting a few drops from the drinks of those presents to form a multi colored sphere of liquid that created multiple rainbows across the room before turning it into an ice dragon that flew out of the window before exploding into a huge rainbow.

  The crowd applauded, but after Yurial's performance Lusa's was lackluster.

  "Friya Ernas, the master of space."

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  When her name was called, Friya went to the center stage. She used light and darkness magic to recreate the celestial sphere, giving to those present the illusion the ceiling had disappeared.

  Chapter 265 Friendly Challenge Part 2

  Whole constellations moved at unison like each second was an hour, until a fake sun appeared on the horizon making the right return in the room.

  The spectators congratulated her with a thunderous applause.

  "Kyla Dornar, the battle goddess."

  Lith was already bored when he felt someone tugging at his arm. He turned around to discover it was Phloria. He was about to whisper a greeting, but she was faster.

  "Kiss me like you miss me." Aside from Friya that was standing right next to them, everyone was so caught in the performance that no one noticed the deep, passionate kiss she gave him.

  Lith had the impression she had just sucked the air out of his lungs and maybe even tasted his tonsil.

  Phloria only let him go when the applause marking the end of the performance resounded. Lith could finally take a proper look at her. She wore a silk-satin red evening dress and white evening gloves, emphasizing her olive colored skin due to the prolonged exposure to the sun.

  It was skin tight, with a neckline that somehow exerted a push-up effect. Her hair had grown even longer, allowing Phloria to braid them into tresses that were knotted, twisted, and tied back in an intricate headpiece, complete with pearls and fabrics.

  '

  Walking like a man, hitting like a hammer.'

  Lith couldn't avoid remembering an old Earth's song.

  'Well, she definitely got the look.'

  Solus giggled.

  Before they could exchange a single word, Lith got called to the center stage.

  "Lith of Lutia, the eye of god and maker of wonders." The whole room gasped in surprise, Lith included. No one else had received two titles and him being the third ranker made it even more amazing.

  Not even most second rankers would receive a title.

  'It seems that Vastor wasn't kidding when he said that the light and forgemastering department were quite pissed off at Linjos for the rankings. Usually I wouldn't like so much attention, but tonight it's different.'

  He thought with a smirk.

  "Thanks for your kind introduction, dear Marchioness. I hope you all realize that at this point, there isn't much I can do without boring you with a rerun of what my peers already did. So, to spice things up I'm going to try something different, but I need an assistant."

  He turned around the room pretending to be searching for the right person.

  "You." He pointed his finger at Phloria.

  "Would you do me the honor of accompanying me in this feat?" Lith extended his hand to her. Phloria was dazed for a second, embarrassed by all the eyes on her, before stepping forward to take Lith's hand.

  "Thanks. Now just follow my lead." Lith walked toward the nearest wall, leaving some of the guests confused and most of them disappointed.

  Once they arrived in front of the wall, Lith didn't stop walking, stepping on it. Phloria didn't understand what was happening and neither did most of the guests. The others were either chocking on their drinks or inwardly cursing at him.

  'Son of a¡­'

  The Marchioness was among the latter.

  'I asked him for a distraction and some ruckus. This is going to turn into a riot if I don't handle it properly.'

  "Do you trust me?" Lith said with a smile, seeing that Phloria was hesitant. In response to the question, she immediately stepped forward discovering that her foot was now effortlessly stuck to the wall.

  Lith then resumed walking, accompanied by her until they were standing upside down on the ceiling.

  As it was apparent ever since their first vertical step, it wasn't a flight or float spell. Otherwise the coats of Lith's suit and Phloria's gown would be falling toward the ground, making the situation quite embarrassing, especially for Phloria.

  Her hair, dress, and jewels were perfectly normal, like she was just walking on the floor.

  "May we have some music?" At Lith's request, the Marchioness signaled the orchestra that started playing a minuet.

  The couple danced the whole song while avoiding the numerous crystal chandeliers, returning back in front of the Marchioness when the music ended. Phloria was red from the excitement, but the room gave them a cold reception.

  No one applauded, they were just looking at them like they were monsters, even Jirni and Orion.

  "I'm sorry you didn't like it, but I did." Lith shrugged. Their approval meant nothing to him.

  "For your information, that's something I like to call¡­"

  "Gravity magic." Archmage Deirus blurted out, cutting him short.

  "Nailed in one." Lith was surprised by how fast Yurial's dad had understood what had happened. After all, Gravity magic was Lith's original creation.

  Or so he thought.

  "That's impossible!" One after the other, the mages present expressed their disbelief while the nobles would ask them for an explanation.

  "What's Gravity magic, dad?" Yurial was among them.

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  "The seventh kind of magic. Something that's considered an exclusive of the ancient noble households."

  "I never heard anything about it. Not from you nor while being at the academy. Is it some kind of secret art?" Yurial's curiosity was piqued, he never heard about a seventh natural element.

  "It's not a secret, otherwise I wouldn't know about it." Velan Deirus shook his head.

  "I never spoke about it because I don't practice it. You can find books about it in the academies' libraries, but no one will ever teach it to you. It's¡­complicated."

  As soon as the details about Gravity magic were being disclosed, the murmurs rose in intensity and volume, turning into chatting first and yells later.

  "Complicated how?" Yurial asked while Lith and Phloria joined him. They were as confused as he was.

  "Gravity magic requires to be able to cast six spells at once and wave them together. It also requires a great mastery of the mana control and of the principles behind the natural phenomenons.

  "What you saw your friend using is the equivalent of first magic, yet it's already beyond the reach of most. Gravity magic is considered to be a legacy of the most ancient noble households because they are the only ones that possess the knowledge and the magical legacy to teach it."

  "Why did you never learn it? Aren't you an Archmage?" Lith nodded, agreeing with Yurial question. He was quite disappointed in learning he had just reinvented the wheel. Again.

  Yet this time it seemed to be quite a fancy wheel.

  "Because it's useless. Even tier one gravity spells are too complex. They require such fine control over the mana and the hand signs that their difficulty goes beyond that of tier five spells. The results do not justify the effort."

  Lith understood Velan's point, but it wasn't an issue for him. Lith neve
r had to struggle with magic words or signs, true magic was all a matter of manipulating the mana flow according to one's will.

  Gravity magic was indeed difficult, he was just scratching the top of the barrel and it required Lith's full focus just to reverse the gravity on two people. Yet moving to higher levels of Gravity magic was far from impossible for him.

  "It's not just a matter of effort, it's a matter of pride!" Archmage Ejar, Lusa's mother roared.

  "Gravity magic it's the living proof of all true magical bloodlines!" She looked Velar in the eyes, clicking her tongue in disgust.

  Chapter 266 Second Meeting Part 1

  "That's why I practice it and I'm teaching it to my daughter." Archmage Ejar echoed through the ballroom.

  "Because we, the Ejar are true mages, not two bit pretenders like you. Grassroots mages shouldn't even be in the same room as us!"

  A lot of indignant voices cursed at her. Archmage Deirus's eyes shone with a menacing emerald light.

  "I dare you to say that again!" Velan snarled, his face only a few centimeters away from his peer's.

  'I did my part, that's for sure.' Lith thought with a grin on his face.

  'The Marchioness asked me for some ruckus. I'd say dinner is served, even though only Isaac Newton knows why.'

  "What in the gods' name are you grinning for, kid?" Archmage Ejar ignored Velan's threat, pointing her finger against the uncaring youth.

  "How did you do it? Who taught you about Gravity magic? Pray that I like your answers, otherwise¡­"

  "Otherwise what?" Lith slapped away the hand in front of his face, making the Archmage's eyes almost pop out of their sockets in anger.

  "I'm a student at the White Griffon. First in the light department and an asset to the Kingdom. I'm Marchioness Distar's honored guest, attending this gala on request of the Crown. What authority do you represent, exactly? Outside your own foolishness, of course!"

  "Indeed." Archmage Ejar's face was still in the process of losing its color, realizing the amazing number of blunders in a row she had just made when the Marchioness's voice resounded next to her ear.