The Stargazer

by Nikostar A

  "Are you not going to train yourself?" asked Aila.

  "Nah, I've trained for the entire week. I deserve some rest," nonchalantly answered Alexander.

  Aila smiled, hiding her disappointment. She quietly resumed her practice and with Alexander's help, she mastered [Besmoth] in no time. However, transitioning between the two constellations was still not very smooth.

  After a while, the two took a quick shower and left the gym. They headed to the park where they spent the rest of the day chatting with each other. They brought a small basket containing their lunch and even had a short nap while lying on the grass.

  Alexander enjoyed the time spent with Aila. He kept reminiscing his past life, how they were both carefree and traveled through the different worlds. However, Alexander was well aware that Aila did not really like him at the moment and he did not let down his guard. As long as he could spend time with her, he was satisfied.

  When night fell, the two returned to Alexander's room and engaged in their usual nightly activities. When they were both satisfied, Alexander pulled Aila in his embrace. He could feel her heart beating fast; her alluring scent filled his nostrils.

  "Aila."

  "Yeah?"

  "If you were given the chance to come back in time... What would you change in your life?" asked Alexander with a weak tone.

  It was her first time hearing Alexander speak like that but she did not take it to heart. Men would usually behave differently right after sex. "Me? I don't know. I am pretty satisfied with my life but the one thing I'll do is to save my first time for someone special."

  She gently kissed Alexander's neck and asked, "Why are you asking this question? What about you?"

  Alexander fell silent. He did not answer immediately. Aila waited for his answer, but it never came. Instead, she could feel his breath gradually slowing down. She was trapped in Alexander's embrace and could not move but she had to admit that this position was quite comfortable.

  After a while, Aila's breathing also calmed down. Having not received any answer from Alexander, she concluded that he had already fallen asleep and stopped thinking about it.

  It was only after a few minutes that she heard within an almost imperceptible murmur, "I would come back and look for the woman I loved."

  ***

  Two days have passed since Alexander had been to the cultivation box and already, many scientists had been allocated to that particular project. Many had witnessed Alexander's test run; if it was really possible to meditate for so long at such a fast rate in the cultivation box, then it would be a groundbreaking discovery.

  Many other testers were brought in to attempt to recreate Alexander's phenomenon but they had yet to succeed. The research team had already received a green light for many decisions and had even started building a second cultivation box.

  "I am starting to doubt the claim of that student. It has already been the fifth person that we are testing and we have yet to observe what we saw in Alexander. None of the new testers lasted for more than three hours. Do you think he hid something from us?" asked one of the scientists.

  Dr. Meyer was in charge of this project. He looked at his team and spoke, "It is too early to come to a conclusion. Five tests are not enough, we need more people from varying backgrounds and different performance indexes. So far, we have focused on those having very high performance indexes but maybe it only works for average ones? Maybe it was also just a luck attempt; in short, we just need to run more tests; the sample size is currently too small. If we still fail to replicate the phenomenon, we should simply call Alexander back and have him test the cultivation box again. And this time, we would set up observation arrays to follow the mana flow."

  "Dr. Meyer, we have also reported the results to the Flemming Organization. They agreed to send five hundred thousand spirit stones to sponsor our tests. They also requested to allow one of their recruits to test the cultivation box."

  "That is acceptable. If we continue to use funds from other projects, we will soon run out of spirit stones. The upper management is so irresponsible; giving us staff but no spirit stones. How are we supposed to run the tests without those?" said Dr. Meyer with an exasperated expression. He was genuinely starting to worry about the research department of the academy.

  When magic was first discovered, tons of money was immediately injected into research, be it in terms of ancestral crafting techniques or modern technology. The field of research boomed overnight but now that more than ten years have passed, the hype had already died down and with it went all the investments.

  Research was not easy and unfortunately, the fruits of a decade of research were only starting to appear now. The cultivation box had rekindled the hope of the scientist community. It was proof that all the money invested was not wasted. If they could replicate Alexander's phenomenon, the cultivation box could easily become the most valuable asset of the academy.

  It would give Earthlings an edge over the mages of Loha. Investors would immediately turn their attention back to the research field and the scientists would all have an easier time. However, the prerequisite was that they succeeded in replicating Alexander's phenomenon.

  ***

  At the same time, at the discipline department, two young men knocked at the door of the main office.

  "Enter!"

  The two young men quietly entered the office and closed the door behind them. They politely smiled and grabbed a seat without being invited. They had already been here numerous time and were comfortable facing the man in front of them.

  The Head of the discipline department looked at the two young men and said, "Marcus? Hector? Why did you come here?"

  Hector, the shorter one of the two let out a wide smile and said, "It's done. She just told me that the package is in place."

  "Really? It was that easy? Are you sure we can trust her?" suspiciously asked the head of the discipline department.

  "Definitely! She would never betray us. She is being forced by him to stay with him. That bastard! Once we arrest him, we should immediately expel him!" declared Marcus with a tinge of anger.

  The head of the discipline department calmly looked at the two hot-blooded men in front of him. "Fine. If you trust her then we shall proceed with the plan. Make sure nothing can be traced back to us. Marcus, I am doing that to repay back my debt to your father. That's five thousand Earth credit's worth of herbs."

  "I know. I am very grateful but can I ask for another favor? Once he would be arrested, there would be a short period where he would be jailed. I would just like to see his face as he despairs in his cell! I will reveal everything to him; how he had been manipulated from the beginning!" exclaimed Marcus as he revealed a twisted smile.

  "I cannot guarantee this. There is already a lot of risks in what we are doing. Marcus, you should genuinely start to focus on your meditation. You know what the UN is planning. You need to be ready or you will just end up as cannon fodder. You just have three years before we attempt to go through the rift. You cannot waste any more time on such trivial matters. Once you survive the battle, you will have all the time in the world to chase after girls."

  Marcus bit his lips. He calmed himself down and lowered his gaze, "I know. I've made a lot of mistakes but after he is gone, there will not be any more distractions and I'll focus whole-heartedly on meditation."

  Chapter 43: Arrested

  The past few days had been fairly calm. Alexander spent most of his time with Aila hanging out. Alexander was very satisfied with this life. The holidays would soon be over but for now, he was slowly building up his relationship with Aila.

  UNEA was not a very large city; within those few days, Alexander and Aila had already visited all the interesting areas and stores. Alexander's friends naturally noticed his behavior and did not interrupt him at all. They simply gave him a thumbs-up from afar before giggling among themselves.

  It was the ideal student life one would hope for. However, all good things have an end. There was s
till two days before the start of the new semester and Alexander spent the day with his friends. Aila was particularly busy with a project work she needed to submit and was unable to accompany him on that day.

  When he returned home with a tired expression, Alexander was surprised to see a bunch of students waiting outside his room. Alexander noticed the badge on the students' jackets, indicating that they belonged to the discipline department.

  It was not unusual for the discipline department to send patrols and sometimes inspections but those were normally aimed at the recruits of the organizations. As far as Alexander remembered, his room had never been inspected in his past life. Something had changed in this timeline!

  As Alexander walked toward his room, he immediately attracted the gazes of the students. Their face displayed less than friendly expressions. "You are finally here, criminal scum! You are under arrest!"

  "What?" Alexander froze. He was confused. What exactly was happening? He instinctively took a step back but the students of the discipline department had already made their move. Two young men quickly grabbed Alexander's hand and cuffed his wrists with Aimantite cuffs. They both grabbed Alexander's shoulders, preventing him from running away.

  "We have irrefutable evidence of you concealing smuggled goods. During today's routine inspection, we came across this bag. You know what it contains?" Hearing the commotion taking place outside, an instructor stepped out of Alexander's room, holding an X-Driver and a large black bag.

  He ruthlessly placed the black bag in front of Alexander's face. "You think we would not find it? There is at least five thousand Earth Credit's worth of herbs in there. How did you get all of them? You extorted the other students or you found a way to smuggle them?" The instructor bellowed; as he spoke, some of his spit splashed over Alexander's face.

  The latter was confused but quickly recollected himself. He knew he was being framed. The head of the discipline department was finally making a move toward him? Or did other forces make a move because he displayed an Extreme Spell?

  "You choose not to speak? Very well, you have the right to remain silent. I am Instructor Vlad and hereby declared that you are being officially arrested for possession of illegal resources. Escort him to the discipline department!"

  ***

  "What did you say? Alexander was arrested for possession of a large amount of recovery herbs? Explain the situation to me! Is it something orchestrated by the Flemming Organization?"

  "It is a possibility but we doubt it. The team was led by Instructor Vlad. He is well-known for being incorruptible. It is very unlikely that he or a member of his team brought the bag of herbs to Alexander's room. The bag must have already been there for a while but I do admit that the schedule of the inspection was quite suspicious."

  Carmen frowned. She bit her lips and quickly put an end to the call. She then quickly dialed the discipline department and asked to speak to the head.

  Without even greeting him, Carmen asked, "Explain the situation!"

  The head of the discipline department wore a calm expression; he was visibly prepared for the call of the headmistress, "Miss, one of our teams went on a routine inspection at the Colony. There, they happen to stumble on Alexander's room where they found a bag full of recovery herbs. According to our estimations, there should be 5192 Earth's credit worth of herbs in there."

  "I am not asking about that. Why did you happen to schedule an inspection to Alexander's room? Inspections were meant to take place after lectures would resume. Why move it a few days earlier? And why is it that only one team was dispatched for the inspection? Is it a coincidence?" exclaimed Carmen. Her fiery eyes stared at the head of the discipline department. She was very doubtful about this case; it was very likely that he was being framed.

  "This... You are absolutely right," the head of the discipline department let out a sigh, with a defeated expression. "The truth is... Do you remember how Marcus Lombardi argued that Alexander is able to use magic without being detected? Then look at these clips, what is the similarity between them?"

  The screen in front of Carmen quickly changed, displaying Alexander's figure. Short clips started to play; the first one was during the duels of the fresher's party when Alexander just entered the battle room. The second clip showed Alexander facing Jeremy during the end of term exam. The third and last clip was quite peculiar; it showed Alexander from a person's perspective. On the screen, Carmen could see Alexander facing an ordinary sergeant; both were in fighting stances, ready to jump at each other.

  After she watched all the clips, Carmen's eyes lit up. The head of the discipline department quickly reappeared on the screen and spoke, "You must have noticed it. Alexander always does that particular set of movement and each time, he displayed outstanding physical strength. If you rewatch the duels of the fresher's party, you will notice Alexander making other strange sets of movement when blocking Frank's fireball and when using Dragon's Breath."

  "With this clue, I decided to send a team to Alexander's room to see if there is any relevant data about this but to our surprise, we ended up finding other criminal evidence. Alexander's purchasing record shows clearly that he had been purchasing a lot of recovery herbs since his arrival; it might have something to do with his ability to use magic without being detected. He has only been here for three months and cannot have accumulated five thousand Earth Credits already. This means that he either somehow smuggled those herbs or he has been actively sharing resources with others; in both cases, he is guilty!"

  "Mmm"

  Carmen remained silent, on a second screen, she played the video of Alexander's battle against Frank and indeed noticed the set of movements mentioned by the Head of the Discipline Department.

  "Alexander is in jail, right? Let me visit him."

  ***

  In one of the cells of the discipline department, Alexander leaned against the wall in silence. He stared at the ceiling lifelessly; his mind was a complete mess. Contrary to one's expectation, his cell was rather spacious and well lighted. There were no bars but rather a semi-transparent windowpane preventing him from escaping.

  Alexander did not argue at all when he was brought here; he was too occupied in trying to figure out what exactly was happening. When he looked at the situation, it was clear that he was being framed but the question was why did they choose to act now?

  Twenty minutes after he had settled in his cell, Alexander heard the door open quietly followed by a few footsteps. Alexander did not need to open his eyes; he knew it was a woman from the sound of the heels and her voice immediately gave her identity away.

  "Explain the situation to me."

  Alexander could feel the headmistress' fiery gaze on him. He straightened his back and opened his eyes. His hands were still held together by the cuffs to prevent him from using magic. "What is there to explain? Isn't it obvious that the Flemming Organization is making a move against me?"

  Carmen crossed her arms and leaned against the wall. "Impossible. I already checked. The Instructor that investigated your room does not belong to the Flemming Organization. Instructor Vlad is well-known for his honesty and he had been a contender for the post of the head of the department. He has no reasons to work with the current head. They did not bring the herbs into your room and you know that only you have access to your room. What is your defense?"

  When he heard the headmistress speak, Alexander expression became gloomier. He bit his lips but in the end, he remained silent.

  "You don't want to speak? You know I am the only person that can possibly help you. The Five Ocean Palace has asked that we hand you over. They even agreed to give us quite a few resources for the trouble. I am against those transactions but the others aren't. You were found with a lot of illegal resources; you risk expulsion."

  "Furthermore, there is also this. How do you explain this?" asked Carmen. She took out her X-Driver and projected a small screen in front of Alexander.

  "This..." Alexander's eyes widened when he saw t
he scene. He knew why the headmistress was showing these images; he realized that he had been too careless... Those were all the scenes where he did not bother hiding his body postures. The question was how did the academy find out about them?"

  Carmen was quietly observing Alexander's reaction. Despite all his self-control, it was impossible for him to hide everything he was thinking. "I suppose your reaction is telling me everything. Are you really able to use magic without using mana? This information will have to be reported to the higher-ups."

  "The academy could protect you before but now, the situation is different. Your record was clean but you have just been caught possessing this huge amount of resources. It is a clear violation of the rules. Unless you can explain how you obtained them, you will be punished. Normally, expulsion would not be an option but your case is a bit special. It is very likely that they would leverage on that to get you expelled."