Guilt and Punishmen

by Sophia Schmidt

  'As soon as a mage loses their powers, the scheme would be revealed. Killing someone with this stuff takes weeks. Also, why send all this terrible contraption? Why didn't they just give their accomplices the flask?'

  Lith received the answer to his question a few minutes later, while he was still remembering the details about his vision. Both the droplet he had extracted from his body and the liquid in the flask became cloudy before turning into a fine dust.

  'That's some first rate paranoia!' Solus blurted out.Find authorized novels in Webnovel£¬faster updates, better experience£¬Please click www.webnovel.com for visiting.

  'That's why. Once the stopper is removed, the toxin must be used quickly or it self destructs, leaving no proof behind. Still, it doesn't make sense. You, Marth, Manohar, there are a lot of people in the White Griffon that would immediately recognize it.

  What's the point of making the students or the Professor lose their powers?'

  'Maybe they were planning to use the toxin to make them helpless during an assault?' Lith realized how idiotic the idea was as soon as he thought it out loud.

  Even without their magic, the Professors could still rely on the arrays. Fueled by the power core, they were the academy's greatest weapon and defense at the same time. Also, even if completely powerless, Linjos could still use the communication amulet and the Warp Gate in his office to call for help.

  Lith searched the rest of the cabinet for clues. Aside from the magical ingredients, all heavily protected by thick enchanted glass, there was just a single drawer. Inside, Lith found three envelopes.

  Each one contained a different item and several pills of unknown purpose. The quality of the items varied greatly. One was a plain ring, identical to the magical ones students would exchange points for.

  Another was a precious necklace with several diamonds embedded and the last one looked like a cheap bracelet, something that only someone of humble origins would wear. No matter if their design was elaborate or plain, they all had the same enchantment.

  When he used Invigoration for the first time on one of them, he was amazed by the complexity of the forgemastered spell matrix. It held five pseudo cores that required so many mana pathways that there was not an inch of the item that wasn't filled with runes.

  He also discovered several small magic crystals embedded in each one of them, crafted so masterfully to be almost invisible unless one knew where to look.

  Lith had no idea what could require such a complex enchantment, so he imprinted the ring with his mana and then he wore it. After several attempts, Lith realized that, whatever was its purpose, it wasn't something as simple as point and shoot.

  After taking the ring off, Lith opened two more boxes. Each one contained the portable lab and had its own drawer with a different set of accessories. No two were alike. Each magical item was accompanied by several pills. It was the only thing they had in common aside from the enchantment.

  'All this time and effort and I've just moved from square one to square two. I need to understand the reason they smuggled the toxin inside the academy and what the heck these things are.

  'I wish I could ask the Marchioness or Lady Ernas for help, but I have no way to explain to them why I have more boxes nor how I managed to open them. Damn, I could really use a vision right now.

  Useless dryads and their half baked gifts.'

  After a long hot bath, Lith went to sleep. He was exhausted, only rest could help him recover from the damage his body had sustained. It took him some time to fall asleep. It wasn't just that he couldn't stop thinking about the boxes, but he also really missed Phloria.

  He had got so used to her presence that, ever since he left house Ernas, he had trouble sleeping. His rest would be disturbed by nightmares about Protector's death and by the recurring visions of his loved ones dying over and over again.

  'From tomorrow onward, I'll train myself to stop Death Vision whenever my focus is not required for something important. I'm starting to get tired of this sh*t. I still have too many things to do before I can allow myself to waste time on self pity.

  'No matter what the future holds. As long as my strength keeps increasing, the number of threats to whoever I hold dear will become less and less. We're in this together, right Solus?' Lith thought.

  'Always.' She replied, giving him hope.

  ***

  The next morning, the first lesson was the Magic Crystals class. However, the Professor that entered the room after the second gong wasn't Nalear. The students were curious and worried at the same time.

  No one had seen Professor Nalear since the attack, so they were naturally concerned something may have happened to her. On the other hand, there was something majestic in the newcomer's appearance that piqued everyone's curiosity.

  The new Professor was a woman, around thirty years old with chin length red hair. She was very tall, almost 1.8 meter (5'11") high with a muscular build that was more suited to a front line soldier than a Professor.

  There was something noble about the grace of her movements. Each one of them seemed to be full of strength yet incredibly delicate. She exuded an aura of power that Lith had never experienced before, completely different from the killing intent he usually employed.

  He felt like he was staring to a natural born leader, someone that people would gladly give their life for, even if they had only known her for a few hours. They were polar opposites, if she was the sun then he was the moon.

  "Good morning, students. I'm Professor Amyla Farg. I will replace Professor Nalear until she makes a full recovery. During the three days of siege, she was tainted by a Valor's life force while attempting to protect you.

  "She didn't receive proper care until the undead was disposed of, so she fell into a coma and has yet to recover." Many students became pale while remembering that night, Lith included.

  "Don't worry, the worst is over. Her condition is stable and slowly improving. If she has managed to survive until now, I'm sure she will overcome the hurdle and awaken soon. Very few among those tainted managed to survive, she is one of the lucky ones."

  She looked for a moment at Lith's group and many students did the same. Yurial's and Phloria's miraculous survival was a well known fact, so they couldn't help but wonder how they managed to come out unscathed.

  Farg tried not to stare for too long at Lith. Professor Farg was actually a member of the Queen's Corpse, the secret unit of Awakened ones at the service of the Crown.

  Tyris had sent her to keep an eye on the hybrid and make sure he wasn't a threat. Her orders were clear: "Observe him without interfering and kill him at the first sign of danger."

  "Today's lesson is a little special. It's something that you were supposed to learn during your trip to the mines, but I doubt any of you want to go back to the mining town again. Hence, the Headmaster was kind enough to reinforce the protections of the classroom and transport high tier crystals here."

  She clapped her hands, making a mana blade required for crystalsmithing and a deep blue crystal the size of a coconut appear on each student's desk.

  "Before we start, I want to warn each one of you of the risks this exercise involves. The array surrounding the class will keep you perfectly safe, but the same cannot be said for your academic career."

  Chapter 232 Mana Breath

  "Even if they are just deep blue crystals, they are still very expensive. If you fail the following procedure, the gemstone will be destroyed and you will receive another one. There are only three crystals for each one of you.

  "Destroying them all will mark the end of the lesson, of the need of attend this subject as well as of any chance of becoming a Crystalsmith."

  "Since you have come so far, you will still get a passing grade, but no Master Crystalsmith will take an apprentice incapable of handling a blue crystal after three months of practice." Professor Farg explained.

  "What's required from you it's the same thing you have already done countless times, but with a major difference
. When you'll use the Crystalsmith spell Scope on the gemstone, you'll notice there are no lines inside.

  You will only see a dot moving at a speed that will change from time to time. That's because, unlike the mid tier crystals, high tier ones are able to replenish their mana quickly. This property gives them a unique mana flow that is called Mana Breath.

  A true Crystalsmith must be able to perceive the Breath clearly enough to follow its movements and cut the gemstone accordingly. Remember, the density of the mana blade must be kept constant.

  If you focus too much on the Breath, the blade will damage the crystal. If the crystal receives too much damage, it will explode. Like everything in life, the key is to find balance in what you do. Good luck to everyone."

  The Magic Crystal course was the reason why Lith's mana sensibility had improved so much during the last months.

  Scope was a spell that relied entirely on the caster's perception and he had always used it instead of Invigoration during the exercises. It was the first opportunity he had to train his mana sensibility without endangering anyone.

  Unlike healing magic, there was no life on the line, wasting a crystal scrap meant nothing to him. Also, it was much simpler than dimensional magic, since he didn't have to feel and manipulate multiple flows at a time, but only a static one.

  Lith cast Scope, becoming able to see the dot Farg talked about. It moved with an irregular pattern and speed. Lith studied it for a while before understanding that the Breath had no fixed route. He was forced to rotate the crystal from time to time to follow its movements.

  'Let's see what Invigoration reveals.' He thought.

  Lith discovered that even the size of the dot changed with time, but most importantly, he was now able to see the circulatory system of the breath. It was like a maze, the branches of which crossed over several times.

  It was still a chaotic mess that allowed the Breath to change direction most of the time, but Invigoration would still give him a great edge compared to the Scope spell. With Invigoration, Lith would know when the Breath could change direction and when it would be forced to move in a straight line instead.

  'My mana sensibility still needs some work. I'll use Scope on the first two crystals and save Invigoration for the last. I don't aim to become a Crystalsmith, so I better use this opportunity to practice at the academy's expense rather than mine.'

  No matter how much pain or grief Lith was going through, he was still stingy beyond belief.

  After conjuring Scope once again, Lith began cutting the crystal. The more progress he made, the more the gemstone shrunk, increasing in power and quality. The problem was that the smaller it became, the more sudden the turns the Breath would take.

  It was like an Earth roguelike game. At each new level, the difficulty would go up and what he learned from the previous run was useless. It was all a matter of focus and precision, never letting the mana blade stray too much from the dot.

  Lith almost managed to refine the first crystal, but one error too many made it crumble and he had to start over. At the second attempt, his efforts were rewarded with success. He took a short break to relax, discovering that even Quylla had failed once.

  "I got too cocky and paid for it." She explained while shrugging. Lith used Scope on the third Crystal too. He had already passed the exercise, but he needed all the training he could get to sharpen his senses.

  By the end of the lesson, Lith's group had successfully cut all of their crystals. Only Lith and Quylla had lost one.

  The second lesson of the day was the Healer specialization. The group performed the house calls under Professor Ironhelm's escort. Professor Trasque was dead and Ironhelm had been assigned to replace him.

  Lukart had long fled the Griffon Kingdom thanks to the traitor's help, so no one was making attempts on Yurial's life anymore. Their rounds were peaceful, traveling from town to town and seeing many different cities bustling with the daily activities helped them to relax.

  It also gave Yurial an idea that he shared with the others during dinner back at the academy.

  "Why don't you all come to my house after we graduate from the fourth year? In my Duchy, the weather is nice even during winter. We could travel together and I would show you the best places my lands have to offer.

  "If I go back home alone, I'll be forced to spend all the winter break before the fifth year studying magic and so would you. I say we deserve a couple of weeks of vacation."

  The girls unanimously agreed. When Orion was home with them, he was a great father, but also a strict teacher. He left them little time for slacking off. When he was away for work, Jirni would turn everything into a competition.

  She wouldn't force them to do anything, but she always seemed to know which buttons to push to make them dance in her hands. Compared to her, the academy was a relaxing environment.

  Lith was the only one still on the fence. Two weeks was a lot of time for him. He had yet to inform Selia of her loss and had no idea how to give her the bad news. In his experience, no matter what he said, it would break her heart.

  With the baby coming, she would need all the help she could get. Even if Lith had never agreed with Protector's request, he was determined to fulfill his friend's last wish.

  No matter what the others said to convince him, the best they could get was a hollow:

  "I'll think about it."

  Later, after much thinking, he went to Phloria's room.

  When she opened the door, her hair was arranged in a strange updo, held in place by hairpins and curlers Lith had never seen before.

  "Nice hair." He said, failing to suppress a chuckle. "What's that stuff?"

  "Something you were never supposed to see. Having long hair is a hassle. Or did you think they are naturally that wavy?" She replied with an annoyed tone.

  "I never saw you using them at the mining town or when I was a guest in your home."

  "Well, duh! I had more important things to care about at the moment. In fact, I was always a mess."

  "So you say, I never noticed any mess." His words turned Phloria's mood upside down, making her smile from ear to ear.

  "Well, come in. Sorry for the mess, I have just finished bathing. Your visit caught me by surprise." She let him inside her room, but aside from a bathrobe on the bed and more curlers on the nightstand, there was nothing out of place.

  "Yeah, sorry. We need to talk." Phloria froze in place. In her mind, those words still meant: "We have to break up."

  "Please, it's better for you to sit down. Some of the things I have to say aren't exactly good news."

  Phloria did as requested, followed by Lith that sat right next to her.

  'This should be a good sign. If he was going to dump me, he would keep his distance. Or so my brother says at least.' She thought.

  Lith took a deep breath to calm down and then told her about everything that was troubling him. He explained to her how Death Vision was torturing him, how nightmares still haunted him, and how his body was still recovering.

  "I didn't tell you any of this before because I wanted to leave you some space. You deserved a break from the drama that is my life. If you want¡"

  Lith was going to say that he would understand if she wanted to take a break from their relationship or find someone less complicated when he realized that, after he had spoken of his nightmares, she had stopped listening to him.

  She had stars in her eyes and a big smile on her face.

  "Let me get this straight." She said once she noticed he wasn't talking anymore.

  "Death Vision stops when you are with me, like right now?"

  "Yes." Lith had noticed that if they were close enough, Death Vision's effects disappeared. That was the reason he sat close to her. He lacked the willpower to dump her and hold Death Vision back at the same time.

  "Also, you have no bad dreams when I sleep beside you."

  "Correct again." Phloria closed in, her face was now centimeters from his own.

  "Doesn't that
mean that I'm special to you? As in really special?"

  "You are, but that's not the point. You¡" He tried to make her listen to reason, but she put her index finger on his mouth, stopping him.

  "Just answer one question. Do you like me? Even with this contraption on my head?"

  "That's two questions, but yes to both."

  "That's all that matters to me." She gave him a deep kiss, making all his fears and worries fade away like a dense fog in front of the rising sun. Her warmth and her gentle touch over his skin were all Lith could think about.

  "One more thing." He said as soon as she gave him a second to breathe.

  "I can't take you out on a date during the weekend. I plan to go back to the mining town and visit Protector's grave. I can't keep being chained to the failures of my past. I need to face them and have my closure. That's the only way I can move on."

  "Great idea. When do we leave?" Lith's surprised expression made her giggle.

  "Did you really think I would let you go there alone? Then you are crazier than you think." She kissed him again, this time just a peck, before accompanying him to the door.

  "Sorry, but you can't stay. Let me know when you decide about the trip. We could ask the others to come with us. They need some closure too, especially Yurial."

  After another goodnight kiss, Phloria closed the door behind her. Now that she was alone, she couldn't stop to giggling and smiling like a little girl.

  'I still can't believe Lith told me I'm special to him, nor that I'm the only one that makes Death Vision stop.'

  Lith returned to his room. When he opened the door, his mind was still arguing with his body about lost chances. He spent half the night using Accumulation, to further refine his mana core and improve his abilities.

  The other half he slept to help his body recover. Even alone, he managed to sleep peacefully.

  ***

  The rest of the week passed quickly. Aside from home calls during the morning, Lith only had the Magic Crystal and Forgemaster classes to attend.Find authorized novels in Webnovel£¬faster updates, better experience£¬Please click www.webnovel.com for visiting.