Guilt and Punishmen

by Sophia Schmidt

  "In the following lessons I'll teach you how to cut a mana crystal according to its intended function. How to check its quality, how to identify its consumption rate and if it has it, the recharge rate.

  The last part of our lessons will be about how to manually recharge high quality crystals, with a trip to the mines in the forest to show you how to find, dig and extract raw crystals without having them explode in your face. Dismissed."

  As soon as Nalear had finished speaking, the gong signalling the end of the lesson resounded and she left the class.

  "This lesson made me feel dirty poor." Lith sighed.

  "I know, with my weekly allowance I can barely afford a few red mana crystals. That's why I don't use them unless it's absolutely necessary." Yurial sighed along, showing Lith a small bag containing enough red gemstones to fuel Lith's staff for more than a year.

  Suddenly Lith felt the urge to gift him with a hammer too.

  Chapter 190 Dimensional Business

  Between classes there was a ten minutes break that students could use to relax, exchange notes or simply stretch their legs a bit. Lith was eager to understand if one or more of the girls was still angry or wanted to keep a distance from him.

  The problem was introducing the topic without making himself sound worried or even worse, desperate. From his previous life, he had learned that girls could smell desperation from a mile away and they were usually good at exploiting it.

  Before he could find a proper way to clear their relationship, Quylla spoke up.

  "Did you really practice Forgemastering on your own?"

  "Of course, I did." Lith felt slightly offended by the implication.

  "But aside from small stuff I didn't manage to create much. On the contrary, I wasted quite a few materials, since Wanemyre left me stumbling in the dark." He snorted.

  "Really?" She was genuinely surprised.

  "How can your family afford a magic lab? It's not something you see often near a farm."

  Lith realized too late his slip up. He couldn't tell them about Solus and her custom-made labs, so he had to improvise.

  "They can't. I practice in a small clearing in the woods near my house. It's not much, but at least it's quiet and isolated."

  "Then you can't really blame the Professor for your failures. Father always says that without a properly insulated magic lab, enchanting items is more a form of gambling rather than magic."

  "Are you taking Forgemastering lessons from Orion?"

  Quylla nodded.

  "More like he explains to me the basics while he works. Father says that I could use a second specialization and that Forgemastering helps build the character."

  "It seems to be true, since she managed to look me in the eyes the whole time without blushing. Orion must have been spending quite some time with them to make Quylla call him father already."¨C

  "By the way, how was your report card?" Quylla had become much more talkative and straightforward compared to the past.

  "Pretty good. With only one sour note."

  "Let me guess." Friya scoffed. "Dimensional magic?"

  "Got it in one." Lith smiled.

  "Did Rudd give you an A- too?"

  "The f*cker did much worse!" Friya slammed her fist on the desk, drawing the attention of most of the class.

  "Hush! Last time I hadn't the opportunity to tell you, but somehow the report cards of those who passed the second test leaked to the public." Lith whispered.

  "Most of our classmates are already envious of our success, don't give them the opportunity to report you to Rudd and give him an excuse to lower your grades even further."

  The piece of news took them all by surprise. Friya looked at their classmates with anger and only after taking a few deep breaths, she managed to calm down.

  "Yurial and Phloria got an A+, Quylla got an A- like you and I only an B+." Her voice was quiet, but her hands snapped a quill in half over and over, until the biggest piece was the size of a bean.

  "It's beyond unfair." Phloria chimed in.

  "We are more or less at the same level, but only thanks to Quylla giving us real lessons about dimensional magic and thanks to you teaching us how to multi cast properly.

  "It should be you two having a better grade instead of us. I bet Rudd looked at our family's status first and at our performances later. Friya's grade makes no sense unless¡"

  "Unless he is punishing me for what my mother did, implying that since I belong to a family of traitors I must have cheated somehow." Friya completed the phrase for her, rage and sadness resounded in her voice.

  "I think I would have popped a vein if it wasn't for you, Lith. Thank you very much." Friya suddenly hugged him, causing the onlookers to start gossiping about it.

  "What did I do exactly?" Lith had been caught by surprise and was unable to make heads or tails of her words.

  "You were our supervisor during the second exam, dummy. You must have embellished our performances quite a bit, otherwise I doubt my report card would be this good." She handed him a piece of paper, on which was written:

  "Friya Ernas:

  Principles of Advanced Magic: A-; Mage Knight: A-; Healing: A; Dimensional Magic B+. School points gained from daily evaluation: 3,362. School points gained from the second exam: 1000/1000

  Headmaster Linjos."

  The candidate demonstrated to be cool headed even under stressful situations, capable of excellent teamwork and brave enough to put her own safety at risk to ensure the success of her team's mission."

  One after the other, his companions gave Lith a copy of their report card. They had all scored full points during the second exam, while their grades went from a minimum of A- to a maximum of A+.

  The only exception was Quylla, who had received an S- as a healer.

  "We received our report cards just a few days ago. I would have never expected to be considered a Rank A magician." Quylla was brimming with joy.

  "I honestly doubt we would have got full marks if you told Linjos how we puked our guts out after facing the first group of goblins. Did you paint us out like fearless adventurers? And if you did, how did you manage to sell it to Linjos?"

  All eyes were fixated on Lith, eager for an answer.

  "Sorry to burst your bubble guys, but you are overestimating my acting skills and underestimating Linjos. He would never believe such tale, I had to tell him the truth. Especially after what he did to you during the last test.

  I wanted him to understand how hard the whole exam had been on you and how despite that you had managed to overcome every hurdle without my help." He winked.

  "I simply forgot to tell him about the time you panicked, losing control of the lighting spell, and about the night when you all fell asleep leaving me to stand guard alone. And even if I did tell him, I'm sure you would have got full marks. You owe me nothing."

  As soon as he finished his speech, Lith fell victim to a group hug.

  "Thank you so much." Phloria said. "When my parents heard the Headmaster praising my talent as a leader, my mother was moved to tears and didn't nag me until I left home."

  Considering that the report cards had arrived after Lith's visit, he was left pondering how terrifying Jirni Ernas had to be to make a couple of days nag-free so precious.

  "Yeah, man." Yurial added. "Reading over and over my report card, especially the part where Linjos highlighted my strategic skills against the ogres gave me the strength to get up from my bed and return to the academy.

  "Rest assured that when Linjos will summon us in his office to evaluate your performance, we'll return your favour in full."

  Being careful about who he touched and where, while trapped in the mass of clinging bodies, Lith managed to free his arms and return the embrace.

  "Thanks guys, but there is no need to. Just tell the truth and everything will be fine. Of course, if you could share my selective memory loss it would be peachy."

  Professor Khavos Rudd walked in just in time to hear their laughter.
<
br />   His left upper lip curled up in an expression of unbridled disgust.

  "Damn Linjos. Seeing the heirs of proud magical families mingle with dirty commoners and a traitorous b*tch makes me sick. In the old days, I would teach them a lesson or two about respecting the hierarchy and keeping the mana-line pure.

  To add insult to the injury, not only are those five among this year's top percentile, but also that Lith is one of the Queen's favourites, like Linjos wasn't enough already. I didn't survive this long by antagonizing powerful people for petty reasons, but the gods know how tempted I am to do it just this once."¨C

  "Sit down. School's in session." Rudd's stern voice put a stop to the chattering, forcing the students to return to their seats.

  "My dear students, I would like to say that I'm happy to see you still so numerous, but the truth is that I'm not." His tone was so full of bile that it could melt steel.

  "In my long career I had many classes, but this is by far the most disappointing. The only reason so many of you are still here, is because despite my subject being compulsory, my evaluation is irrelevant towards your promotion."

  Some students lowered their heads out of shame. The others stood tall, either because their grades were good or simply because they didn't care. Professor Rudd had long lost the respect and admiration of many of them.

  The nobles saw him as someone unable to stand his ground against Linjos, the others as a relic of the past. As an annoying, pompous old coot.

  "Whoever already succeeded casting Warp Steps raise his hand, please." A little less than half the class answered the call.

  "Those of you that still haven't mastered the spell and fail at it sometimes lower their hands, please." Barely twenty raised hands remained.

  "Three months of patience and effort brought us to such a pathetic result. Since some of you worked hard while the rest of the class twiddled their thumbs, I'm not going to waste my precious time anymore.

  "I'll explain to you how to turn a Warp Steps into a Blink or a Switch and then we will all go to the practice hall. You'd better take notes, because I'm not going to repeat myself."

  Rudd waited only a few seconds before resuming his lesson, many students had yet to take out their books and inkwells.

  "Those of you that have actually read my book, should have already noticed that the two spells that will get you out of my face once and for all are only mentioned but never described.

  "That's because they aren't new spells, they are simply variations in the execution of Warp Steps that require a lot of talent and skill in the art of dimensional magic. You already know the magic words and hand signs. You just need to take one last step.

  "To turn a Warp Steps into a Blink, all you need to do is to make the entrance Gate move towards you and close it as soon as you have crossed it. Switch is the same thing, but requires generating two sets of gates moving at the same speed and leading almost to the same coordinates.

  "Very few can do it, that's why learning Switch is purely optional while Blink it's not. To make a Gate move, you need to use the other one as an anchor and stretch the dimensional corridor without making it collapse.

  "This requires boosting the energy flow by adding fire magic at the very last moment, and a further injection of air, earth and water magic so that the balance remains unchanged.

  Between the further mana consumption and the speed required to make it work, Blink has a range of thirty meters (33yards) tops, despite consuming the same amount of energy it would take to Warp a kilometre (0.6 miles) away.

  Switch is similar to a Blink done twice but with a single spell.Find authorized novels in Webnovel£¬faster updates, better experience£¬Please click for visiting.

  By adding light and darkness magic in equal parts during the first steps of the spell, it's possible to induce a resonance that doubles the number of energy cores, creating two entry and two exit points.

  Using six elements in such short time not only is a rare feat, but also requires a lot of focus. Hence why its range is further limited to 10 metres (11yards) and needs a clear line of sight between the caster and the target."

  After finishing his explanation, Professor Rudd Warped them to the training hall, splitting the students in groups according to their skill level.

  Over an hour passed, many Gates were opened, but none managed to Blink.

  Half an hour later, much to everyone's surprise, Friya disappeared from her spot reappearing a few meters away. In a matter of minutes, she managed to Blink several times in a row.

  Professor Rudd was seething with anger, but managed to hide his feeling and even congratulated her, encouraging the class to follow Friya's lead.

  Before Lith was forced into another group hug, a furious bellow resounded.

  "It's not fair, she cheated!" Lyam Lukart walked toward Friya like he wanted to beat her, but despite being fifteen centimetres (6 inches) shorter than him she stood firm, her hand resting on the hilt of her sword.

  "She cheated and I can prove it!"

  Chapter 191 Pride Goeth Before a Fall

  In his decades long career, Khavos Rudd had been forced to listen to ridiculous theories, stupid questions, and excuses to justify incompetence or failure so imaginative that they would put a bard to shame.

  Yet never before he had ever heard something so blatantly preposterous.

  "Unfair?" He echoed placing himself between the young Lukart and the bloodthirsty girl. Clearly one of them needed protection, but he was unsure about which one.

  "Cheated?" His voice rose in intensity while astonishment was replaced by rage for his wounded pride.

  "Are you telling me that it's possible to cheat in the noble art of dimensional magic? During my class and in front of me? Are you calling me stupid, incompetent or both?"

  Knowing how Professor Rudd loved and respected magical bloodlines, Lyam Lukart was taken aback by his vicious retort.

  "No. I would never dare to say something like that." Lyam swallowed a lump of saliva. Whenever a Professor took out his communication amulet it was never a good omen.

  "I really hope so. Just like I'm dying to hear why do you think lady Ernas has cheated. If I don't like your reply, prepare to say goodbye to one thousand points." Rudd replied with his thumb already placed on the administration office's rune.

  Lyam started to panic. One thousand points were more than he had to spare. He was used to spending them as soon he had enough for a new magical trinket.

  "Sir, she has clearly cheated. First of all, she comes from magicless family, hence it's impossible for her to outclass a pureblood like me. Not to mention she received only a B+ in dimensional magic, while I got an A+.

  How can someone with such a low evaluation be this good at dimensional magic? This is all the proof that I need!" He replied puffing his chest with pride.

  In recent years, the ancient noble families had seen their privileges being slowly extended also to younger and more talented magical households.

  With the Court's new policies, their influence over the Kingdom was fading and their loyal servants that occupied key roles in every region were being replaced by new bureaucrats only loyal to the Crown.

  Seeing someone of lesser upbringing perform better than him was more than a wound for his adolescent pride, it was like feeling everything that had been promised to him, his very birthright, slip through his fingers like a handful of sand.

  "Really? A B+?" Professor Rudd became pensive, losing his edge and letting Lyam breathe a sigh of relief.

  "How do you know it?" Professor Rudd's ice-cold blue eyes were suddenly just a few centimetres from Lyam's, burning with anger and mana.

  "H-how do I know what?" Lyam stuttered at each word

  "Her grades. They are secret, my secret to be precise. You two are not friend, hence I doubt she told you." Friya shook her head to confirm his suspicions.

  "I'll ask you only once. How do you know?"

  "A friend told me."

  "Then give me the name of
this friend." Rudd's tone was becoming more menacing by the second.

  "I don't want to get him in trouble. He simply shared with me something that everyone knows. It's not his fault."

  "Really? Everyone knows?" With a wave of Rudd's hand, the training hall's door closed shut.

  "Then we have much to talk about, my students."

  Those present looked at Lyam with hatred and scorn, he had managed to get all of them involved in barely one sentence.

  "Young man, you are in a lot of troubles. If you don't give me the name of your friend, forget the points. I'll get you expelled for breaching the academy's network. After that, I'll make sure no matter the academy, you'll find only closed doors in front of you."

  Lyam knew that he had no way out of that situation. His father was a rich and powerful man, but Rudd had outlived countless Headmasters and even the Queen's attempt to have him retire.

  Khavos Rudd was an archmage with such knowledge, power, and connections that Lyam was certain that his words were far from being an empty threat. After Lyam gave Rudd his friend's name it took barely a few minutes for the Professor to work up the pyramid discovering who was involved and how.

  "Very well, you bunch of idiots, we'll discuss your punishment later in the Headmaster's office.

  "As for you, young Lukart, let me give you a lesson of humility. You may not like a person, you may despise their family, but you always respect the talent once it's slapped right in your face."

  Professor Rudd dragged Lyam in the middle of the training hall, in front of the cold gaze of his friends that couldn't wait to watch him fail and share their misery.

  "I may be old, but my memory works just fine. I remember clearly how you and mister Lith here were the first ones to get ahead with the loop spell. Let's do something simple."

  Judging from his wolfish smile, what he was going to propose was anything but simple.

  "Mister Lith, do you mind opening a Loop (*) for me? Do it very slowly, step by step please."Find authorized novels in Webnovel£¬faster updates, better experience£¬Please click for visiting.