Foresigh

by Sophia Schmidt

"So, the players have changed, but is the game still the same?" The Queen pondered out loud.

  "Guess we'll find out soon. I'm not going to have him arrested getting a small fish can only get us so far. We'll use him to get to the top of the command chain."

  ***

  The rest of the winter passed quietly. After the gala at the Marchioness' manor, Jirni allowed Phloria to go to Lith's house, allowing them to spend his birthday together. Orion kept his word, gifting Lith the Gatekeeper sword.

  Lith was really happy about it, but there was not enough time left to perform any more experiments. He could only keep studying the interactions between the mana crystals and the pseudo cores.

  The armor and the weapon had different effects, allowing him to further his understanding about how to shape a pseudo core with true magic to give it specific properties. Lith and Solus could almost see a pattern, but they needed more data.

  In the blink of an eye, it was already time to go back to the academy for the last year.

  Chapter 269 New Accomodations Part 2

  Lith spent the last days preparing Tista's homework during his absence and studying once again Lochra Silverwing's book "The basics of magic".

  Archmage Deirus's words had inspired him, making Lith suspect that maybe there was something he had overlooked for all those years. If Solus was right about Lochra being an Awakened Magus of the past, then her book could contain part of her legacy or at least point him to its location.

  'After all, everything she explains about first magic in her book can also be applied to true magic. I learned every word of the book, but I think I failed to comprehend its full purpose until now.

  'As Yurial's dad said, Gravity magic is an obscure subject because of its difficulty, but the same can be said about Silverwing's Hexagram. What if they are both legacies left from past Magi about true magic?

  'Back when I first learned how to perform the Hexagram, I had no idea arrays existed. Now, the more I look at it, the more I'm certain it's not just a parlor trick to impress the academy's old fogeys.

  'If I'm right, it's not only the first true magic array I learned, but it's also part of the legacy of one of the most powerful mages in the history of the Griffon Kingdom.'

  Lith's experiments lead him to discover that he could enlarge and empower the Hexagram at will. There were two major difficulties in the process, though.

  The first was that the bigger the array grew, the harder it was to keep all the six elements in perfect balance. To achieve stability the spell required for each element to receive exactly the same amount of mana and for them to have their energies flow as one.

  The second was that he had no idea what it was supposed to do. Being a pessimist by nature, Lith suspected it could also just be an elaborate prank from a long dead magician. If Lochra was really dead, of course.

  'According to Kalla's words, she may still be alive. So either I find her and ask Lochra an explanation or I need to bang my head until I crack open this mystery.'

  At his arrival at the academy, Lith was in for a surprise. The fifth floor of the White Griffon academy was almost identical to the fourth one. The only major changes were that his new room was in a different position and it was much bigger than the previous one.

  It was also equipped with a forgemastering laboratory and a healer's office. Fifth years students were fewer in numbers compared to their juniors. In a good year, they would be around one hundred and fifty.

  Because of the recent events, between those who died during the attack and the ones that had failed due to the anti mana toxin, there were less than one hundred students attending the fifth year.

  It left a lot of free space, granting those who had made it much more liberties.

  Each room was customized for their needs so that a Healer could receive patients from outside the academy or a Mage Knight practice their swordsmanship.

  Having only one specialization, Phloria's apartment was entirely dedicated to sword practice. It had a soundproof room complete with golems as training dummies. Thanks to their magical nature, they were made of materials which density was identical to the human body.

  They could also be programmed to assume different shapes and sizes, mimicking all the creatures that her Mage Knight course would cover.

  The golems were also equipped with a sort of Artificial Intelligence. It allowed them to retaliate to the student's attacks by following the most common combat patterns of the various creatures the golem replicated.

  The students were allowed to personalize their training dummies' AI to further increase the difficulty level. The first thing Phloria did was to input her own style to practice against herself and find the flaws in her execution.

  "It's the first time I'm actually happy to have only one specialization." Phloria said while showing Lith her personal training facility.

  "How so?" He noticed that the living space hadn't improved much. Once again, the habitations were poorly furnished, there was just enough to live and practice properly. Everything else was on the student.

  Aside from the forgemastering lab and the medical practice, Lith's room had only a bed, a wardrobe, a work desk, and a few bookshelves as furniture. He would never waste money to embellish a place he used only to sleep.

  Especially since he would live there only for a year.

  Phloria, on the other hand, was more carefree. Her room had already a second wardrobe full of clothes. Soft carpets covered the whole floor allowing her to walk barefoot even during the cold winter mornings.

  It was the only commodity Lith almost envied.

  Almost.

  The Skinwalker armor was capable to reproduce not only clothes, but also shoes. He only had to will for it and the armor would reshape itself from the pajamas form to the uniform, covering his feet.

  The transition would only last for a split second. The enchanted clothes turned into a semi liquid state, running over Lith's body while changing its color and composition on a molecular level.

  'It's worth every single point I spent on it.' Lith thought every time he used the armor's properties.

  Unlike Lith's desk, which was always empty unless he was studying a particularly difficult subject, Phloria's was decorated with egg-shaped nacre ornaments on small pedestals. They were arranged in a semi circular form.

  She had even a couple on her nightstand. She had never allowed him inside her own bedroom, except when the group gathered to study together. Even then, he had never seen them before. Clearly, she hid them before their arrival.

  "Because unlike Friya's, my training room allows me to spar with multiple golems at the same time. It's also big enough to accommodate two people. It means Friya and I can work out together, or I can simply train you a bit with the sword." She replied.

  "Good idea. The only problem is if we'll have enough time for that." He sighed.

  "Well, last year was different. Now if we finish late, you can always sleep here." Phloria swept her hair, blushing a little.

  "What are these things?" Lith changed the topic. It wasn't like Phloria to make such an odd and rushed offer. After he had almost died, their relationship had slowed down quite a bit. Too many things had happened too fast. His constant mood swings had contributed to making things worse.

  "Do you really have never seen a¡­" Phloria almost chocked on the rest of the phrase. The most shocking thing about visiting Lith's house had been noticing how his room was as big as one of her closets.

  He was always so aloof to luxury that she often forgot about his humble origins.

  "A what?"

  Phloria touched the closest egg. The upper part of the magical item opened, projecting a hologram the size of a photograph. It was completed with sounds and colors, depicting a younger Orion while he was reading a story to Phloria when she was a little girl.

  It was a short clip played in a loop.

  Chapter 270 New Start Part 1

  "A Rememberer." Another touch from Phloria made the egg close and the hol
ogram disappear. Then, Lith watched one showing Phloria playing with Lucky when the mastiff was still a puppy, both covered in mud from head to toes.

  Another was about Jirni teaching her the basics of self defense.

  "It's how mages store their precious moments."

  "Why did you never show them to me before?" Lith's doubts were turning into a suspicion.

  "Because those are my private moments." Phloria fiddled with her hair while she was staring at the ground incapable of looking him in the eye out of embarrassment.

  "I didn't share them even with my sisters."

  "Okay, let's cut to the chase." Lith closed the Rememberer, resisting the temptation to pry further in her life.

  "Are you jealous?"

  "What? Why do you say that?" Phloria's flinching like that was a big tell.

  "Well, whenever you called me after the gala, you seemed nervous. You have always liked to keep some boundaries. To go slow and steady. Yet now you are offering me to sleep here and sharing all this stuff. Sounds¡­"

  "Desperate?" She completed the phrase for him.

  "No. I was going to say: 'out of character'."

  "Oh." Phloria blushed up to her ears. She wished for the ground to swallow her whole, but the carpet remained still.

  She walked to her bed, sitting on it before answering with a sad voice.

  "Yes, I'm jealous. I don't think I can compete with the Marchioness' daughter." Phloria's fears had gone through the roof when Jirni had pressed her to visit him during the last days of winter, instead of nagging her about her studies as usual.

  "She's better than me under every aspect. She's very beautiful, moves and speaks like a lady. I'm just a clumsy giantess compared to her." Her eyes fell on her chest area, closing the speech with an unspoken comparison.

  "Since when it's a challenge?" Lith scoffed.

  "Do you think I have a little book where I assign all the girls I know points or something? That I score them according to some standards? How shallow do you think I am?"

  "Wait, did you say all the girls? As in there's more?" Phloria was dumbfounded.

  "Of course, there are. Ever since the rankings came out, all the girls of marrying age of my village have been parading in front of me every time I left my house. I keep getting invitations from small and medium importance nobles of the Lustria county.

  "Most of them I didn't even know they existed. To be honest, I expect to receive the same attention from our female schoolmates Yurial did last year, if not even worse. Because now he is publicly engaged, while I am just 'an ignorant fool'.

  "I expect them to think of me as a limitless letter of credit. I'm not stupid or arrogant enough to believe I've suddenly turned into a beautiful swan. They are all just gold diggers."

  Lith sat on the bed beside her.

  "Brinja is not different from them. Even after I saved her life, she never considered me nothing more than a brat with a glare. Otherwise, she wouldn't have waited for so long before making a move.

  "She probably heard about me from her mother and got curious. You are the only person I met since I joined the academy that looked at me as a person, instead of an asset. Even before we started dating, you sought my company and advice.

  "You have shared with me your everyday problems, the quarrels with your mother, and even your dreams for the future." Lith swept the hair that was covering Phloria's face before starting to caress her cheek.

  "I wouldn't have ever accepted to go out with you otherwise. Not even if you were the most beautiful girl in the world."

  "Are you saying I am not?" Phloria had suddenly found her spunk back, hitting him with a cushion.

  "Your words, not mine, remember?"

  The mood while they walked toward the fifth year Lecture Hall was completely different from before. Phloria hummed the whole time, without forcing herself to be clingy or flirty.

  Not even when several girls looked at him like they saw Lith for the first time, giggling and trying to strike up a conversation with him managed to ruin her high spirits.

  Especially because he dismissed them every time with a growl. Lith had no time to waste in pleasantries and hated leeches ever since his time on Earth. He still vividly remembered all those that thought him being parentless was "cool", who had attempted to make him waste his hard earned money for their own gain.

  The Lecture Hall was identical to the fourth year one, but even with all the students attending the first compulsory lesson more than half the seats were empty.

  When the second gong rang, Headmaster Linjos entered the room, closely followed by Professor Farg.

  "Welcome back, my dear students." Linjos's face was still long and unattractive, but he seemed to have turned into a different man. His gaze was hard as steel, any trace of his previous optimistic disposition was gone.

  Despite the Headmaster was just in his late twenties, his chestnut hair had partly turned white, complimenting the shades of silver he was gifted with and giving him an even colder look.

  There was no joy in his voice as he spoke, only determination mixed with something that Lith recognized as slithering rage. Linjos's expression could only be described as feral. Usually the Headmaster's sharp features and aquiline nose contrasted with his kind nature, while now they gave him a ferocious appearance.

  "Since lesson time has already started, I'll go straight to the point. The past year has been a nightmare, partly because bad things happen and partly because of some of the students and their parents."

  A few youths stood up in outrage, but before they could even open their mouth they were forced back to sit with a thud, unable to say a word. Linjos had used no spell or array.

  He only needed to let out part of his magical aura to overwhelm with his killing intent all those who had attempted to interrupt him. The power released by the Headmaster was so strong that everyone present who didn't attend a combat specialization or wasn't part of Lith's group found themselves shivering in fear.

  "So many troubles could have been avoided if some of you had the decency to leave politics outside the castle walls. So many would be still alive if not for blind pride and stupid prejudice tainting young minds like poison.

  "Most of the perpetrators have been arrested at this point, others I have just expelled. This is my academy, after all, I don't need to justify myself to you or anyone else for that matter. Since I believe we still have some snakes in the grass, this message is for them.

  The party is over." With a snap of his finger, Linjos made a Guilty Ballot appear in front of every student.

  "To use it or not is up to you, but I strongly believe it's better to have it and not need it rather than to not have it and need it. Now imprint it with your mana."

  A few students stood up again. This time Linjos did nothing to stop them.

  Chapter 271 New Start Part 2

  "That's ridiculous!" Said a fifteen year old girl with blonde hair.

  "Only weaklings need a Coward's End." When she handed it to Linjos, others followed her lead.

  "I'll take the Ballot and your uniform back, young lady." Linjos extended his arm grabbing the magical stone.

  "Because defying a direct order from your Headmaster is more than enough to get you expelled. I'm sure that, not being a weakling, you'll have no problem finding another academy taking you in. You'll only have to wait one year."

  "You can't do¡­" The girl's voice faded away when Linjos bent down to look her in the eye while releasing his killing intent again.

  "I can and I will. Who wants to get expelled can give me the Ballot." No one stepped forward.

  "Good, now imprint it." Everyone obeyed without hesitation.

  "Minus five hundred points to all those who disobeyed my order."

  "But¡­" Another girl managed to stutter despite the Headmaster's imposing presence.

  "¡­ we didn't say anything! That was her idea." The thought of losing right off the bat more points than acing an exam would provide was enough to make the unruly
students try to push the blame on their previous leader.

  "You have chosen your leader, hence you'll follow her in defeat as in victory. Minus two hundred more points to all of you for further questioning my judgment. The class is yours, Professor Farg."

  Linjos left the class while most of the rebels realized that their magical equipment had been forcefully turned off. They wouldn't be able to access to any dimensional item until they had gained back enough points.

  The girl and her followers were weeping because of the humiliation they had just endured when Farg sent them back to their seats.

  "The Headmaster's speech fits perfectly in today's lesson. I am not going to teach you about fancy spells or techniques to slay monsters. Today's subject is the life outside the comfort of your homes, something that every mage sooner or later needs to face.

  "Some of you come from small villages and know nothing about the outside world." Her gaze lingered for a second on Lith and Quylla, sitting in the front desks. Contrary to Lith's expectation no one had a good laugh at his expenses.

  Linjos was gone, but the fear still lingered in the Lecture Hall.

  "Others come from noble households and know nothing at all. All of you lack the knowledge necessary for surviving in the real world. Money can't fix all of your problems. No matter how strong you are or how much influential you consider your family to be.

  "A rogue can kill any of you just for your pocket money. If you happen to mess with a wandering wizard, they will destroy you before disappearing as fast as they arrived. To thrive, society needs order. Order breeds only from the law and the respect that all of you need to show for it.

  "The first topic we will talk about it's the difference between the Mage Association and the Mercenary Guild. In some other countries they are known as adventurer guilds, but we of the Griffon Kingdom like to call things with their proper name.

  "An 'adventurer'¡­" Farg's voice was filled with disgust, her tongue clicked every time she spoke the word adventurer.

  "¡­ it's nothing more than a mercenary that names themselves in a fancy way. Mercenaries can be recruited to do almost anything. Kill monsters or magical beasts, clean dungeons, retrieve stolen property. They can even act as personal bodyguards for whoever can afford their services.