A True Genius Worries

by Sophia Schmidt

  beginning of the lesson, my subject is really complex.

  Is better to avoid filling your heads with useless notions. Focus at the task at hand. One must

  first learn how to crawl, then to walk, and only then can worry about his running speed.

  Dismissed."

  Almost at the same moment, the gong signalling the end of the lesson resounded. Many

  students had a worried look on their faces, and Lith was one of them.

  "This is really bad. Not only I have never practiced anything like this, but sensibility is not

  exactly my strong point.

  Whenever I encountered a difficulty, I either cheated my way in with true magic until I

  understood the true core of the problem, or relied on fake magic's auto pilot to understand

  the magic flow.

  What's the average success rate per year for this course?"

  "According to the academy's records, is a little less than 60%." Solus replied.

  "How many graduated students managed to score an A despite failing it?" Lith was

  considering dropping the subject, to avoid it affecting his grades. He could always copy the

  book and study at his own pace later.

  "None." The answer left him dejected. "Turn that frown upside down! Even the most

  experienced kid here has barely six years of magic practice, you have more than twelve. Not

  to mention the Hexacasting and true magic."

  "I know, but practice is not all. This seems a discipline that requires quite a lot of talent, and

  we both know I am no genius. Invigoration and true magic cannot help me like they do for

  Forgemastering and Healing. I'm afraid I have just hit a wall."

  Chapter 96 A True Genius Worries

  After dimensional magic, it was time for the specialization lessons. Professor Nalear's course

  was on forced hold. The number of students requiring a second evaluation had far exceeded

  expectations, a day hadn't been enough.

  Phloria had the rest of the morning free, while Lith and the others went to the Master Healer

  class. Once at the academy's hospital, the students discovered that Professor Vastor had

  organized a small refreshment before officially starting the new trimester.

  The class had gone down from thirty-four to twenty-eight student, and some of them had

  barely broke a C. Between those who had lost a friend and the ones terrified at the idea of

  suffering the same fate, very few were in the mood for celebration.

  Vastor didn't seem to notice, though, and even if the report cards were supposed to be a

  secret, it wasn't hard to guess grades based on how he treated the different students. He

  devoted a lot of attention to Quylla and Lith, arousing the envy of many.

  Those who like Professor Rudd were biased against commoners' bloodlines, would have given

  an arm and a leg to get the opportunity to teach them a lesson.

  Yet they were well aware that because of the Ballots, the best they could do was get demoted

  from unsuccesful mages to expelled ones. Not to mention that instead of being reprimanded,

  Vastor had received an award for beating unruly students during the mock exam.

  "Keep working hard, my dear pupils. And remember what I said at the beginning of our

  lessons. After the second trimester the class will be halved. We will be lucky if twenty of you

  manage to actually graduate as healers."

  From how he was looking at the angered students, he had got a taste for it.

  During the lesson, Lith's group had finally the opportunity to take the lead in delicate

  procedures like re growing lost limbs and organs.

  Previously, the three men teams, one responsible for the regeneration and the other for

  keeping the patient's vitals stable, were both comprised of two professors and only one

  student.

  Now the balance had shifted, and only a professor remained in each team.

  When Quylla and Lith weren't in charge of one of the teams, Professor Vastor would always

  put them as second in command, ready to take over the procedure in case anything went

  wrong.

  It took Lith a few patients to understand all the quirks and risks of regenerating a lost limb.

  The tier four spell couldn't be handled by just mindlessly pumping mana, or everyone could

  have done it, even without a specialization.

  The whole process revolved around a delicate balance between the two groups of healers,

  with the patient as their fulcrum. The mage leading the regeneration had to keep the spell

  active, while giving the patient's body the time to rejuvenate.

  With too short intervals between mana pulses, most of their effectiveness would be lost,

  making the procedure longer and more difficult. Also, it would put a great stress on the

  patient's body, with the risk that the new limb would be defective.

  One had to give the vitals support team the time to reintegrate the patient's lost vitality

  during the process, burdening his metabolism as little as possible. The second team acted as a

  life force IV, but the drip rate had to be manually adjusted depending on the circumstances.

  Too fast and the energy would be lost, just giving the patient a sensation of euphoria. Too

  slow and the massive drain caused by the regeneration could kill or permanently incapacitate

  him.

  The teams had to coordinate between themselves, the first sending mana pulses spaced

  enough to allow the life force infusion to be effective, the second adjusting the flow

  whenever was necessary, to avoid the regenerative spell to be interrupted by a too prolonged

  pause.

  Lith and Quylla quickly mastered both roles, receiving many compliments from the medical

  staff and thirty points from Professor Vastor. They were the only ones that despite

  occasionally losing control of the spell, would manage to fix things on their own, without

  needing a Professor to take over.

  In Lith's case, he did it on purpose. Thanks to Invigoration, he was capable of having complete

  awareness of the patient's status.

  Lith could understand with a glance when more life force was necessary or not, instructing

  the other team to speed up or slow down, and time the regenerating pulses so that the next

  one would arrive only when the previous was already losing effectiveness.

  Yet he had to make mistakes, achieving perfection from day one would have been too eye-

  catching.

  Even with the help of true magic, the task took a heavy toll on both his mind and body. The

  stress of handling a human life put a huge pressure on everyone, the patients were real

  persons and not test dummies anymore.

  Because of the long pre operation phase, the students had been forced to spend time with

  them during the previous semester, to talk and know them personally. It was impossible to

  consider their lives just a number in their success/failure ratio.

  And while Lith used Invigoration, the others could only rely on their magic sensitivity, listening

  to the patients' pulse and keeping an eye on their complexion and pain.

  It was something incredibly hard, Lith had no idea how others could manage to do it.

  The scariest thing was that despite all that, Quylla was just a few steps behind him. Even if

  stuck with fake magic, she was able to absorb like a sponge all the notions and suggestions

  Professor Vastor gave them, managing to get in tune with every patient.

  Lith would have never been capable of doing that, at least not that fast. He learned by
<
br />   experience, little by little with every procedure, using Invigoration as a guiding hand

  whenever he had a doubt.

  The more time they spent together, the more aware he was that it was only a matter of time

  before she revealed herself to be a genius. Her mana core was already on par with Lith's.

  "I can only pat myself in the back for taking care of her for all this time. If necessity ever

  arises, she can become an invaluable asset.

  If she really is an S class healer, she'll relieve me of all the unnecessary attentions, avoiding for

  a simple A class talent like me to be pressured.

  Besides, it's not like she can threaten my position. With my knowledge of biochemistry,

  biology and anatomy, I will always be the top in the theoretical field.

  Who would ever guessed that all the extra credits seminars for the college would pay off like

  that?" -

  All the other students didn't know if to laugh or cry at their helplessness. Envy and shame

  fought in their hearts, like two lions tumbling down a cliff. No matter which one would win,

  the result would be the same.

  Even Yurial and Friya felt a tinge of jealousy while comparing themselves to them. But most of

  all, they were proud and happy for their friends. Lith had helped them countless times in the

  past, never asking anything in return.

  What had started as a simple business relationship, had evolved in honest friendship.

  As for Quylla, they could never resent her. At the beginning, Yurial had approached her just

  out of curiosity. He had considered her like a pet, someone talented that would be easy to

  manipulate due to her childish naivety and poor background.

  But Quylla's growth as a person and mage had stunned him, leading Yurial to shed his

  prejudices and accept her as a peer. Now, after three months together, he felt deeply

  ashamed of his initial attitude towards her, and was trying to make amends.

  Friya, instead, liked to think of her as the little sister she had always wanted. Quylla was

  honest and had a big heart. Their friendship had developed naturally from their first meeting,

  both suffering from the constant harassing from the other students.

  When Quylla's body had started to change due to the rapid growth induced by the tonic, Friya

  had helped her managing her first period, teaching her everything about what being a young

  woman meant, becoming her confident.

  When Friya had hit a wall during the Healer specialization, Quylla had volunteered to help

  her. Thy had started studying together, and whatever difficulty Friya encountered, Quylla had

  been always there for her.

  She had never talked about her private lessons to anyone, not even trying to impress Lith, for

  whom Friya knew she had a huge crush. Quylla's humble and gentle nature had moved her

  beyond what words could express.

  Friya had found in a stranger, something that even her own family had always denied her. She

  was ready to do anything for her little adoptive sister.

  As for Quylla, she was thankful for tier four magic being so hard. Her work as a healer, with

  the constant pressure of having another human's being in her hands, was the only thing

  forcing her unruly heart to rest.

  When they had first met, Yurial was like a Prince Charming out of the fairy tales she read as a

  kid. He was noble, powerful, rich, handsome, smart, and gentle. Almost too good to be true.

  Lith, on the other side, had been more like a demon lord. Cold, scary, brash, talking to

  everyone like they were ants, glaring with soul chilling dead eyes. But after the first two days,

  something had changed.

  She had noticed how indifferent Yurial actually was, sometimes even forgetting about her

  existence. Friya was the one actually caring for her, while Lith was¡ complicated.

  When the first magic private lessons had started, he had lost most of his edge, becoming

  more supportive and helpful than Professor Trasque himself. He was the only one not staring

  at her for the amount of food she gobbled every day.

  On the contrary, he would even encourage her to eat more, and help her keep her diet

  balanced. Lith would always worry for her safety, encouraging her to pick up a Ballot, even

  defending her when she still had to get her own.

  In the last months, whenever students tried to "casually" bump into her, Lith would switch

  place with Quylla. No matter how big the other guy was, Lith would remain immovable like a

  mountain, while the other would fall on his a*s wincing in pain.

  After a month from their first meeting, when she had her first period, he had been the one

  noticing her distress, relieving the pain with one of his personal spells and bringing her to

  Friya to get help.

  As a healer, he was bound to know everything about it too, yet he had the sensitivity to avoid

  embarrassing her, letting another woman help her face that awkward situation.

  It was after that moment that something inside Quylla had changed. Whenever she saw him,

  she would get butterflies in her stomach, her mouth would go dry. Each time they spoke, she

  needed sheer willpower to not speak fast, or giggle at everything he said.

  Over time, he had become gentler and kinder, helping them whenever he could during the

  private lessons, answering all their questions and giving them pointers.

  She started to admire his cold attitude towards strangers, not giving a damn about what they

  thought or said, having eyes only for his friends. Lith soon revealed to be wise beyond his

  years, knowing many things and having anecdotes about almost everything.

  Sometimes, when they walked side by side, their hands casually touched. In those moments,

  she felt really hard to resist the compulsion to take his hand, to feel his warmth.

  Other times, when she was alone in her room, her mind would go crazy with fantasies and

  delusions, making her feeling hot and fuzzy in the strangest places. When Quylla talked about

  that to Friya, she told her that it was perfectly normal, even though she blushed listening to

  the question.

  When Friya explained what it meant, Quylla thought she would die of embarrassment.

  Luckily, there were just the two of them, and she knew that she could trust her friend.

  Over time, she had learned to manage her feelings, mostly because she was too scared to do

  anything about them. Except that towards Professor Nalear, Lith seemed to be completely

  uninterested in girls.

  Quylla was conscious that even if thanks to the tonic she was now 1.5 meters (4'11") tall, she

  was nothing special. Her figure was still undeveloped and very childish. She lacked Friya's

  curves or Phloria's innate charisma.

  The only thing she could do was stay strong and hope for her feelings to fade away.

  Chapter 97 Just a Warning

  After the end of the lesson, the group went to lunch, finding Phloria waiting for them at their

  usual table.

  "I seriously think I have overestimated myself, thinking to be able keeping my nice guy

  fa?ade for two whole years. If it wasn't for my big brother instinct, I don't know how many

  times I would have snapped already.

  I really don't get these guys at all. To make things worse, no matter how much I force myself, I

  keep feeling I don't belong with them." ¨C Lith inwardly sighed.

  Solus had no idea what to say to make him feel better. Returning to the acade
my, right after

  spending some time with the people he loved, had made Lith depressed.

  "Hey guys, how was your lesson?" Phloria asked.

  "Same old, same old." Yurial shrugged. "Vastor keeps pushing forward those who are good,

  and spreads salt on the wounds of those who aren't. And while the class struggles with each

  task, these two monsters keep running circles around us mortals."

  "How did your morning go?" Lith tried changing topic. Ever since his encounter with the

  Scorpicore, every time someone called him monster, he could not help but shudder.

  He had realized that calling what happened to him 'reincarnation', was far from correct. He

  was more like an evil spirit from a horror movie, possessing the bodies of the recently

  deceased.

  "Depressingly so. After Professor Rudd's speech, I was eager to check if his subject is really as

  hard as he says. Well, he lied. It's much worse than that. I spent the last two hours trying the

  'parlour trick' we are supposed to perform tomorrow.

  I read his book over and over, but I didn't succeed, not even once." She sighed.

  "Are you serious?" Friya asked. "We have passed the first part of Professor Nalear's course.

  Could it be that the spell requires something she has yet to cover in her lessons?"

  Everyone at the table turned gloomy. Two hours were the regular duration of a class, Phloria

  failing so badly was unprecedented, not to mention a bad omen. If she wasn't able to, it was

  unlikely that any of them could succeed.

  Even Lith was on the same boat. Without true magic or Invigoration as crutches, he wasn't

  much better than them.

  "Solus, what is the average time for succeeding in the pebble trick?"

  "More bad news." She replied. "The school records are not helping this time. The only thing

  reported is the number of lessons for opening a Gate."

  "Lessons, not hours? This is worse than I thought. How many for geniuses, and how many for

  regular students?"

  "Geniuses usually need around three lessons, the others around twenty." ¨C

  Lith almost chocked himself on bread when he heard that piece of news.

  "Normally, I'd propose to gobble our lunch fast and go practice dimensional magic, to not let

  that old coot embarrass us." Friya said.

  "But Phloria and I have yet to take our Mage Knight class for today."