Walking through the halls, flanked by two bored looking healers wearing plain clothes, Cyrus walked whilst wondering what was in the tube but he stayed his curiosity until he was in a place free from any prying eyes.
Travelling through the mostly empty corridors, on account of the still ongoing assessments, three pairs of lonely footsteps rang out as the small group traveled onwards.
Out of the corner of his eye, Cyrus spotted shadows moving from place to place and the flutter of a black cloak from time to time.
Sighing at the timidity of his enemy and that his scheme had failed, Cyrus lamented at the loss of his Fidem,
'Damn, I had hoped that by asking the healers to remove their robes that would bait those ambushers into attacking. They would have been easily dealt with by my hired help... It looks like whoever is the mastermind is quite cautious, which sadly saved them in this case.'
Still aggravated, he almost considered seeing if he could spend the rest of his Fidem to get the two allies he had hired for escort to attack...but that thought dissipated quickly as his rationality took over.
'Even if it would help me understand my enemy, there is no sense in crippling myself financially to discover who they are. If their goal is to injure or weaken me, causing me to spend all my Fidem would have a similar effect. No Fidem means I will not be able to hire people to strengthen Ares, have test subjects for both of my domains research, and I would not be able to restock all many tricks I have up my sleeve.
'Though I do wish I could see these seniors of mine in action, it would surely aid my research on the Vita domain.'
Setting his grumbling aside, Cyrus dutifully followed the two third years he had hired for a hefty fee.
---
Having parted from his two silent seniors, the masked Cyrus was now sitting at his desk and finally opening the tube that he had been given by Caligo.
The first document he pulled out was a notary of his recent gains from the assessment, something that he was most interested in as he had just lost quite a bit of Fidem.
"Quintus Cyrus,
Your master account has had 250 Fidem added to it.
10 from your first victory.
20 from your second victory.
30 from your third victory.
40 from your fourth victory.
50 from your fifth victory.
100 from weekly stipend from Quintus title.
Continue to earn and continue to grow.
-Glacies Fidem Management
"
The amount was pleasing to Cyrus, for this meant that he could earn more than enough to meet his consumption so long as he did a little better than his current performance. Though his rate of consumption would only increase, but so would his strength.
Setting down the first note, he pulled out the second which was just a small piece of paper with some writing scrawled onto it.
Barely able to decipher it, Cyrus struggled to read it for awhile until he could finally make out its contents,
"Dear worm,
Your new spell has been noticed. I went to register you with the Tower so as to stop any other mages from getting a little too handsy, but who woulda guessed that you were already registered. And a student of a Grandmaster as well, huh.
Either way, I included some 'fun' for you as the third and final item in the letter container. Enjoy.
Oh, and I highly suggest you leave out a key element of the spell until the Tower gives you something more substantial. Classic newbie mistake is to give the entire bit of your research over, when in fact you can easily milk them dry and get a lot more back.
-Professor Caligo"
Surprised at the actually helpful advice, Cyrus noted it down and opened the final letter in the tube. This one was far thicker than the rest, made up of several pieces of parchment stitched together.
Reading what was contained, he could already feel a headache coming on.
'This is the form for turning in a spell to the Tower for merit. While this will give me my official designation as a Novice and put me on the fast track to be promoted to Adept when I graduate...the hell is with this amount of detail required?
'This will take days...and they want it by the end of the week. My free time......'
Suddenly an idea came to him, but such an idea was met with a laugh from his other half,
'No, I will not do your work for you. I already have my hands full with the Vita domain, Adara's notes won't decipher themselves. Have fun with that, but don't forget that tomorrow is my day.'
The dark half slumped in his chair, lamenting that his usually empathetic other half was being so reasonable all of a sudden.
'This is still a good thing," thought Cyrus, 'as with this the Tower will recognize my worth and start to back me seriously. All I have to do is find a way to explain away the method I used to create the death seal...maybe I should just say it was random chance?'
Flipping a pen in his hand, the dark half considered how to make up a convincing lie to fool the Tower but he soon came to the conclusion that lying to them would probably do more harm then good.
'Although with this, now I will have to worry about whatever faction politics comes with being identified as a member of the Tower. Considering their strength though, it is but a small price to pay for joining the institution.'
Thus Cyrus spent as much time as he could painstakingly describing his research into the undead and all of his conclusions and theories, while also making sure to leave the crux of each idea out.
From the time he learned that he could feed the undead, as well as the most optimal 'food' for them, to when he began to experiment with the strength of the undead as well as the decay rates...all of this was outlined quickly and efficiently so that he could fill in later.
'Hey, aren't you forgetting to address something?'
Ignoring the annoying fly buzzing around, he continued his work and started outlining his thoughts on the origin of the glowing orbs in the eyes of the undead as well as the possibility for qualitative changes in its strength.
'Something rather important? Perspective changing, worldview changing...life changing even?'
The fly was rather loud, and also impossible to silence, but the work continued. Next was to outline the theories that the undead can be controlled if the individual who is turned to unlife is a willing participant who submits wholly to the mage.
'The cold, the callous, the uncaring, the one who does not care for anyone else but himself. The manipulator, the scorner of emotions himself! He who has agreed to make a change to his actions, one born of out rational thinking based on increasing your survival chances.
'Do we not have a little something to address, something that you agreed upon wholeheartedly?'
The pen that was being used to write was crushed in hand, causing ink to spill all over the palm tha twas holding it, whilst the masked Cyrus took a deep breathe to expel the useless emotion of anger.
Unable to ignore the 'fly' any longer, he went over to his bed and assumed the meditation pose whilst letting himself be immersed completely in the technique.
----
Coming to in the world within, the dark half saw his other half waving at him from a distance...a very far distance.
"What is with the timidity?" asked the dark half, his voice travelling as there was no concept of air resistance in the soul.
The bright half shrugged in the distance and said, "Oh, just so we can have a cordial discussion without any violent distractions. A discussion on your new companionship with Minerva, congratulations! How does it feel, having initiated your first...er, whatever is between the two of you."
Conjuring a chair for himself, something he had learned to do in Ares' soul world, the annoyed half sat down and leaned back in relaxation.
"I am not angry at that, but rather you made things far more complicated than they needed to be. For one, I have absolutely no idea how she will react when she does eventually awake. Whether this makes her a more loyal ally or pushes her off the deep end into her insanity, the very fact that I cannot predict the outcome is extremely unsettling.
"I do not like not knowing what will happen as a result of my actions, I do not like not knowing in general in fact. If something is not in my control, then how will I be able to ensure that the results are favorable to me? To my survival, which by the way can also be said to be OUR survival."
Despite the serious words and dire tone, the pleased half did not seem to think it was that much of a problem.
"Relax, what you are describing as a problem is in fact one of the positives of humanity. Not everything is completely controlled, not everything is for certain, some things are just vague and can only be discovered by plunging head first in.
"Think of the amount of time and effort you waste into preparing for each and every little thing, such time could mean dozens of opportunities wasted just to eliminate the uncertainty.
"Take this case for instance, your actions could be the impetus for something more substantial than just how well you can control the other through twisted means."
The seething half was not convinced in the slightest to say the least, a dark aura emanating from his body as his emotions affected his very soul,
"And? What if the consequences of these actions are too great? What if I end up losing a valuable asset do to you wishing to take a chance? Minerva's mental state was already piss poor at best, what would it be now that such a thing happened?
"Even if she has been tolerating me for now, maybe even warming up to due to my promise to get her vengeance, she still instinctually rejects all men. Especially when they look at her not for her usefulness but as a sex object instead.
"Aaaand what did you just suggest me to do again?"
The cheery half thought for a moment as realization dawned upon him,
"Hmm, I see. That could perhaps be bad, but either way could you honestly say that you had a better method to hide what you were doing?
"And will this not also provide you an excellent way of further figuring her out? Just like what you did with Imran, where you used something shocking to break the barriers of his heart down one by one. Except this time its not some calculated, and rather insidious, plan but just a hasty decision made to save a friend."
Cooling down, the manipulative half responded,
"We will see for sure...I will stand by my words and experience a true 'bonds', but know this will be the only time. If our little stunt blew it, I will stick to my own far simpler ways."