Guilt and Punishmen

by Sophia Schmidt

  After discovering that Warden's arrays could seal off dimensional items, he didn't feel safe storing it in the pocket dimension, so he took it out whenever he was going out of his room or of a classroom.

  Lith had decided to enrol into the academy because he hoped to hoard knowledge and connections with powerful people, but so far only the former was proceeding smoothly.

  Between the Specialization courses and the library, from which he never stopped borrowing and copying material, his magical knowledge was ever expanding.

  As for the connections though, he was still at square one. Climbing the social ladder had proved to be impossible. The only choices were to either submit to a young lord/miss and become their gofer or get a Ballot and be isolated.

  "It was already bad before, but now I have lost even what little company I had. I knew that getting all emotional with a bunch of kids was a bad move. It's just you and me, Solus. What's worse is that without Quylla's help, mastering dimensional magic will be much more difficult."¨C

  It was one of those rare times when Solus didn't know what to say. On one hand, she wanted to scold Lith for considering his companions like tools instead of people, but on the other one she was glad to see him back to his uncaring self.

  It had been her pushing Lith to open up and share his burden. Now that it had backfired, Solus couldn't help feeling partially responsible for the break up. At least with his cold attitude Lith would avoid further suffering.

  That was one of the many reasons why she was really surprised when someone knocked on the door of Lith's room, and even more when they discovered it wasn't a clerk sent to deliver the new books.

  It was Yurial.

  "Hi Lith, can I come in?"

  Lith opened the door letting him inside, while noticing that Yurial didn't seem to be in good shape. He looked emaciated, paler than the last time Lith had seen him and had lost a few kilograms.

  "I don't know what the girls have in mind, but I prefer this talk to be private. I'm afraid I am not as good as you at public speaking." Yurial sighed, looking around the room like he was searching for something other than the courage he needed to say what had to be said.

  "I thought a lot about what you told me. I'm not talking only about the part concerning how to face my current hurdle, but about everything we rubbed in each other's face.

  "You were right, I didn't approach you looking for a friend, but I was really happy when I thought I had found one. You were also right about my apology. The only time I did it I wasn't sincere. I was just trying to rope you into my group to make my life easier at your expense."

  Yurial spoke while looking Lith in the eyes, his hands tightly clenched.

  "I have changed, though. Everything we went through together turned me into a different person. Someone that maybe is a little too reliant on tranquiliser potions, but still someone I believe is a better person than who I was before."

  Yurial extended his right hand towards Lith.

  "Hi, I'm Yurial Deirus and I'm a murderer. I'm really sorry for what I did to you guys on the first day of academy. I treated you as a second rate person and Quylla as a pet. I am sorry for having always taken you guys for granted until it was too late.

  I may be a little stuck up, but I'd really like to be your friend."

  Lith smiled, shaking hands.

  "Apologies accepted. We can't change the past, but we can learn from it and not repeat our previous mistakes. Since we got ourselves a second chance, we should do our best to not waste it."

  "Are you serious?" Solus was flabbergasted by the turn of events.

  "Yes. I too tried to manipulate them all for my own gain, so I can't blame him for playing the same game. Since I'm trying to change too, maybe we can help each other.Find authorized novels in Webnovel£¬faster updates, better experience£¬Please click for visiting.

  "I consider him on probation though. Talking is always cheap, Yurial has to prove with his actions to have really matured, otherwise it would be like trusting a new year's resolution at face value."¨C

  Yurial was so happy that his face regained colour, turning the handshake into a hug.

  "Thanks, man. I was really worried that you would just kick me out of your room. I've really been a sh*tty friend so far."

  Lith patted Yurial's back, waiting a couple of seconds before escaping the embrace.

  "You and me both Yurial. I should have called you earlier."

  The sound of the first gong forced them to hurry towards the compulsory courses' class, they had only fifteen minutes before the start of the lessons. Using Warp Steps inside the academy was impossible, so they had to fly.

  At their arrival, the girls had already taken their seats, keeping a couple of empty ones for their missing companions. Lith was happy to see all of them smile at him, yet it left him wondering why they had never contacted him in the previous days.

  When the second gong resounded, Professor Nalear entered the classroom. Lith couldn't help but think that she had gotten even more beautiful, but his heart was at peace now.

  "If only I was ten years older."¨C He sighed, relinquishing once and for all his romantic dreams about her.

  "Welcome back, boys and girls. I'm glad to see that so many of you managed to pass the second trimester. This year's promotion rate is way higher compared to previous years and that's good.

  "Yet many of you have seen their grades drop compared to the first trimester, and that's bad. So I expect for you to work extra hard to make up for the lost time. Remember, perseverance and hard work are what real talent is made of."

  The class gave her a short round of applause for her kind words, to which she responded with a small bow.

  "Let's get started. Today I'm not here to teach you Principles of Advanced Magic. We are done with that subject, at least for the fourth year. What I am going to introduce to you, is something that every mage must know, since it's part of our everyday life.

  "I'm talking about mana crystals. You have already seen them plenty of times, but probably you never stopped asking yourselves what they are. At the academy there are mana crystals embedded in the tables of the canteen, at the prize hall, basically everywhere.

  "Mana crystals light every room, provide fresh air where there aren't windows and running water in your showers and toilets. Everything in the academy relies on mana crystals to work.

  "During this class, I'll teach you what mana crystals are, how to find them and most importantly how to use them. In their raw form they are just pretty, shiny stones. It takes a mage to refine them and harness their power, turning them into all purpose tools.

  "No specialization is needed to become a Crystalsmith. Any one of you can become one as long as you have patience, precision and steady hands. I'd add it's a well paid job, but I never heard of an alumnus struggling with money issues. All mages' jobs are good jobs."

  The eyes of the students that had no specialization or that had flunked them already lit up with greed.

  "First of all, what are they? Mana crystals are naturally formed minerals which hold an amazing quantity of magical power. How they form is still a mystery, we only know that usually they can be found in precise spots where wildlife thrives the most."

  "They really have no idea the world is filled with magic power." Lith thought. "Probably those spots she is talking about are like the mana geyser we use for your tower form, Solus. If I'm right, the world energy crystalizes over time into mana crystals.

  This means that with your mana sense we can find them easily and get filthy rich."

  "Sorry to burst your bubble¡" Solus said.

  "¡ but both the mana geysers we know of have been squeezed dry by Abominations. I doubt they left anything behind."¨C

  Lith's dreams of wealth shattered, right when Nalear gave him another piece of bad news.

  "Only the poor quality ones can be found in forests, woods or oases. To get to the motherlode, one needs to go digging quite a bit. We don't know if magical beasts, plants or monste
rs use the crystals too, leaving behind only scraps.

  "What we do know, is that mana crystal veins can be found underground and that usually the deeper you go, the better the quality."

  "It makes sense." Lith thought. "Probably plants and beasts consume them to enhance their cores, or maybe they naturally absorb the world energy for triggering their evolution and that prevents high quality crystals from forming.

  "Below the ground though, the world energy not only should be more abundant but also unused, so it can accumulate over time forming the veins. It's like a bank for unspent energy."¨C

  "A mana crystal's purity can be easily assessed by its colour."

  From her dimensional amulet, Nalear took out eight crystals perfectly cut like a precious gem. Each one was the size of her first.

  "As you can see, worst to best are red, orange, yellow, green, cyan, blue, violet and white."

  Lith almost couldn't believe his eyes. Mana crystals quality grade was identical to the one for mana cores, but with one exception.

  "A white one? Does this mean that white mana cores actually exist?"

  Chapter 189 Once More, with Feeling 2

  Completely unaware of Lith's inner turmoil, Professor Nalear continued her explanation.

  "Red, orange and yellow are classified as low grade crystals. These crystals are the most cheap and common. They hold the smallest amount of mana and once it's consumed, they crumble to dust.

  They only have a limited number of uses as mediums for Wardens' and Alchemists' most simple creations, while they are useless to Forgemasters."

  "Cheap?" Lith was stunned by Nalear calling something worth dozens of gold coins cheap.

  "My staff runs on a red crystal, and so did Yurial's array during the second exam. Even he was reluctant consuming one. I'd better ask him for explanations later."¨C

  "For example, red ones can be used to prolong the duration of an array or to grant its control to someone different from the caster. In the former case, the Warden places the crystal inside the formation, giving it an extra mana reserve.

  "In the latter one, the Warden sets his imprint on the crystal while conjuring the arrays. This allows whoever holds the crystal to turn them on and off. Red crystals are considered to be 'dumb', since despite being imprinted, anyone can use them, even against the Warden's will.

  "Orange and yellow crystals work the same way, but contain much more mana and are a little 'smarter'. They can be imprinted multiple times, but only with the consent of the original caster. This makes them thief-proof, but using them for a one time array is like using a fireball to kill a fly."

  The red, orange and yellow stones disappeared in her dimensional amulet.

  "This leaves us with the good stuff. Green and cyan crystals are classified as middle grade. They are used by Alchemists only for their most powerful creations, while they are much more important for Wardens and Forgemasters.

  Middle grade crystals not only contain a much bigger amount of mana, but they are also able to self recharge over time. As long as they hold even a tiny speck of energy, they do not crumble.

  The recharging process can take hours, days, or weeks depending on the size of the crystal and its purity. A deep cyan stone recharges slower than a bright one, the more vibrant the colour, the purer the gemstone is."

  The number of analogies between mana cores and crystals was making Lith's head spin.

  "Thanks to this property, Wardens can use them to make their formations semi permanent. Fueled by a sufficient number of crystals, a defensive array can remain active always, since its mana expenditure is covered by the crystals that recharge themselves non-stop.

  "Of course, the more damage the barrier sustains, the more mana is consumed, until the array is deactivated either by the magician himself or because all the crystals have been consumed

  "Forgemasters can instead embed them into their creations. Thanks to the magical gemstones, items not only become able to receive multiple powerful enchantments, but also gain a mana capacity of their own, allowing their wielder to use spells that he doesn't know or that he wouldn't be able to cast at all."

  Nalear took out what seemed to be a miniature sword, little enough to fit the palm of her hand. One second later, it grew to the size of a long sword, with two shining cyan gemstones on its hilt.

  "This is Professor Wanemyre's most recent creation. For those who don't know her, she is our best resident Forgemaster. This sword has been enchanted with multiple spells that allow it to shrink, to be sharper and sturdier than normal.

  "It also allows its wielder to summon a protective barrier and cast tier three lightnings, even if he/she isn't a mage at all. It's all made possible only thanks to the mana crystals. Aside from special materials, most inorganic matter crumbles if imbued with too much magical energies.

  Only mana crystals can harness such power, even managing to use the conflicting energies deriving from the multiple spells to recharge themselves faster."

  Thinking about all the precious materials and resources he had wasted until the previous day, just to discover the same things he had learned in the last half an hour, Lith didn't know whether to rage or cry.

  "Random really hates me! Why couldn't this lesson have happened a month ago? I hate Professor Wanemyre so much right now. If I still had her gift, the silver plated hammer, I would bash it on her head!"¨C

  Lith raised his hand to ask a question. Nalear noticed it and gave him permission to speak.

  "I'm specializing in Forgemastering, why I have never heard about this before?" The pain resounded from his wallet up to his voice.

  "Because embedding magic crystals and infusing multiple enchantments is something you'll learn on the fifth year, after you have passed this subject and learned how to refine and handle the crystals." She replied with a warm smile.

  "We have already studied how to apply more than one spell though. The Professor had us trying and failing again and again. With all due respect, but it's unfair to us students." Many colleagues from Forgemastering nodded.

  They also had spent a lot of time, effort and money in a fool's errand, just like Lith.

  "It's unfair to the students, but fair to the academy's budget. This way Wanemyre knows who have worked their hands to the bone gaining solid foundations, and who instead have relied on tips from their families in violation of the academy's rules."

  Looking at those who had remained indifferent to Lith's lamentations, her smile turned into a grin.

  "High quality magic crystals are really expensive. We can't afford you students wasting them while taking your baby steps as Forgemasters. It was her way to separate the wheat from the chaff and save a lot of her budget.

  Two birds without even a magical stone." She winked at Lith, who contrary to her expectations instead of turning red became pensive.

  "Solus, is it me or Professor Nalear is a bit strange?"

  "Yeah, flirting with a student is really going overboard. All those smiles and winking¡" She replied with more than a tinge of jealousy in her voice.

  "Not that. Look at the sword, she's holding it with one hand."

  "It doesn't mean much. Maybe it's just enchanted to be light too."

  "Then explain how does she know about the conflicting energies of multiple spells? She isn't a Forgemaster and even if she was, they know nothing about pseudo cores. We learned about them only because of Invigoration."

  "By my maker! Are you implying she is an Awakened one?" Solus was shocked.

  "It would explain her trick on the first day that seemed so similar to spirit magic, her strength and knowledge. What does your mana sense perceive?"

  Solus focused all her attention on Nalear's mana core, ignoring her long legs, the full lips and the wavy hair that pissed her off beyond reason.

  "Her mana is still, just like that of a fake mage. Now that I think about it, though, the Marchioness had a magical item shielding her core from detection. Maybe Nalear has a similar device."Find authorized novels
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  "Or maybe she has learned how to control her mana flow. I can't ask Nalear if the sword also has a weight reducing spell, it could tip her off. I'll ask Professor Wanemyre as soon as I see her."¨C

  After the enraged chattering of the students died out, Nalear made the green and cyan gem disappear before resuming her explanation.

  "Blue and violet are high grade crystals. Only the best and richest Wardens and Forgemasters can afford them. The white ones are a tier of their own, you'll never see them outside of the royal palace or powerful artifacts.

  What sets high grade crystals worlds apart from their lesser cousins, is that beside the ability to recharge at great speed over time, they can also be manually recharged. Take the academy, for example." She waved at the wall, pavement and ceiling.

  "The reason why even the canteen can use Warp Steps to deliver you your meals is the same that makes this castle an impregnable fortress. Not only it has been built with countless crystals that empower all of its spells and arrays.

  It is also able to feed on the mana of its residents in case it needs some extra juice. Every time we practice magic, make a call with a communication amulet or activate a dimensional item, the academy takes its toll in the form of a minuscule fraction of the magic employed."

  The students gasped, looking at their hands like expecting to find fleas under their clothes.

  "It's at the same time a sword and a shield. A shield because it protects us all from internal and external threats. A sword because whoever doesn't wear a uniform can have their mana sucked dry in an instant.

  Whatever spell an intruder could use, the castle would throw it back at him tenfold.

  Oh, right. Only gemstones from blue and above are capable of sustaining complex functions, like projecting holograms, copying documents and such. That's why all your communication amulets have a blue gemstone embedded and are so expensive."

  At the thought that Wanemyre had showed him the blueprint for the amulet without explaining anything to him, Lith felt the desire to make the Professor and her present have a violent encounter grow even stronger.