The university of magic loomed over Alex as he walked down the marble streets. The moment he had spotted the building, he had started fidgeting and contemplated going back to his house, forgetting everything related to Miss Song, and politely mailing the book back to her.
That indecision was wiped out when he spotted the precautions the university took at the entrance. The entrance was wide enough for two carriages to squeeze through, but now it was closed off with a barricade and a checkpoint.
It was now just a blocky stone building with two guards posted outside and who knows how many inside. Curiosity got the better of him and he waited in line at the entrance. The students in front of him were whispering, so he didn't abandon the chance for a little gossip.
"-een like this for like a week or so." A student grumbled to his friend. "I would have climbed the walls, but they are now patrolling every section."
"You will get in a lot of trouble, so don't do it knucklehead." His friend pointed out, then nodded at the entrance building. "And this system works, I heard they caught a dozen or so of the new Swarmling type in total."
"Yeah, in like first few days, but a week later the Swarmlings either caught on to what we are doing or got better at hiding their mana." He replied.
"Oh shut it Solis, it is still working-"
At that point the duo had entered the building and their conversation was cut off by the guards inside. Alex patiently waited his turn, and after a few moments, the guard inside gestured him over.
Entering the building, he was faced with a mirror on one side of the wall and a mage accompanied by two grizzly guards. The mirror was made of glass and was polished until he could see the individual hairs on his chin from a few feet away. Activating his vision, he saw a runic script underneath the mirror that strengthened the disillusionment aspects. Apparently the enchantment department was quick to figure out better methods.
"Turn around facing towards me and take a step to the right." The mage dead voice brought him out of his vision, he followed the orders. "Alright, where is your uniform and what is your business here?"
"I don't have a uniform because I tore it up." That got a slight reaction from the dead faced mage. "And I am visiting my student councillor."
"Which councillor are you attached to?" The mage asked. The guards to the side had their hands on their swords and their stances wide.
"Miss Song." The mage opened his mouth to say something but closed it. He waved his hand and the guards returned to their relaxed stance. "Go on, that lady could take care of a dozen doppelgangers with one hand behind her back while blindfolded."
Alex regarded the mage with some scepticism but moved on to the campus nonetheless. He went right to the reception and checked if Song was present. Getting the affirmative, he made his way to her office.
His arm wasn't hanging loosely anymore. He had hired a doctor to give it a checkup and he gave him a sling. It hurt far less now that it was not in danger of hitting objects near him. Arriving at the door, he took in a deep breath and entered the room.
Inside was the ever ephemeral Miss Song, with the same ebony thorn wreath and a stiletto on her back. Surprisingly, when he looked at her with the mana sight, her soul was far less vibrant than he remembered. She seemed fine though on the surface.
"Hello." Alexios awkwardly hung around the door while Miss Song was leafing through some paperwork. "It's Alexios."
"Welcome, come in and take a seat." She smiled and waved her hand, one of the seats on the opposite side of the room sliding in front of the desk. "Give me a minute to sort through these papers."
Alex obediently sat down and deposited the book she had given him. Now that he was closer, she seemed a small touch paler than he remembered.
"All right, thanks for your patience." She dropped the paperwork and stretched her arms above her head, making his eyes involuntarily wander down. With some effort, he brought his eyes back to their place before she noticed. "Been a while since I've been in the City, I am due for a break anyways."
"You seem less vibrant, or your soul is." Alex remarked, fishing for an answer.
"That's what you get for stretching your mana self to the limit for several days." Song then reached over and took the book off the table. "So, how is your progress going? And what happened to your arm?"
"I broke it when the new swarmling type threw me aside like a ragdoll." Alex explained while he pulled a simple dagger and a plank of wood from a satchel on his side. "Can I do a practical demonstration?"
"I want to hear about what happened, but go ahead." She waved her hand.
He brought the plank on the desk and slashed across it with the knife, making a small divot on the wood. Song nodded at him to continue.
Alex took only a second to immerse himself back and control his overactive mana sight, a major improvement to when he had to take a dozen or so seconds just trying to enter it.
Inside the mana conceptual plane, he turned his mana self towards the dagger and extended tendrils of his mana aspect into the dagger. He enhanced the sharpness effect and reduced the concept of dullness. He pushed himself out of his vision and repeated the same slash beside the earlier one, mimicking the same force.
The divot he had made earlier was tiny compared to the gouge he took out with the knife when it was mana reinforced. The normal slash was a few millimetres deep, while the mana enhanced slash was a few centimetres deep, reaching half way down the plank.
"Impressive progress for half a month's work." Song leaned over to look at the plank and took the dagger he offered. "You've got an affinity for controlling multiple mana tendrils in unison, most people could only pull a single tendril from their mana self in the beginning, it gives you a little more oomph in your reinforcement."
Alex thought about it and concluded that his two mental doublings were the cause. People usually weren't this much of a superhuman on the mental side.
"What method did you use to awaken?" Song as she put down the two items back on the desk. "Meditation? Dialogue? I am very curious."
"I used a mirror, but I thought everybody used a mirror." A lingering question that was shelved in the back of his mind suddenly came to the fore. Why hadn't the book just included the answer to unlocking the inner self and not ask the reader to find a way.
"No, self-reflection is a subjective term and everybody interprets it differently and therefore their mana selves, which is their souls radiating mana, have varying revelation triggers." Song steepled her fingers and donned the lecturer's voice. "One person will unlock their inner self with solitary meditation, others through conversations with people, you apparently have a very practically minded idea of self-reflection."
That made sense, if the book had outlined some methods then people would have been wasting their time going down rabbit holes rather than trusting their extincts.
"And what was yours Miss Song?" He was curious, it probably spoke a lot about her character.
"I unlocked it when I saw myself bleeding and broken in the reflection of a dead swarmling's eyes." She smirked at him and he shivered. "Good old times, simpler times. Anyways, you've completed the tasks to my satisfaction."
"Thank you for the help." He half-bowed in his chair, careful to not hit his broken arm against the handrests. "Not to seem greedy, but you mentioned a reward."
"Ah yes, of course, I will take you out of the city and train you against some swarmlings." She casually uttered and smiled when she saw his terrified expression. "Oh don't be a coward, I'll be watching over you the whole time, nothing will even come close to killing you."
"Ah….eh…I have a broken arm!" The fear was replaced with jubilation. He really didn't want to poke the Swarm when he was only two doublings deep, he would consider it at least ten doublings in. "I can't fight shit with a broken arm."
"Hold on a second, the second part of the reward is this!" From under her desk she pulled up a giant alchemist's bottle that was filled with a red liquid. "This is my health potion, a little sip of this bad boy and you are going to be in tip top shape!"
Excuses came to his mind instantly, the terror overwhelming him. But he regained control and thought about it logically. From all he had seen, Miss Song was exceptional even among the full fledged mages he walked by in the university. Her soul was a beacon compared to the bonfires of other mages. And from all the little remarks and comments he had heard, she was renowned and reliably competent.
Still, he was only a week away from his next doubling.
"I have one condition." At that Song lit up with happiness, Alex assumed it was just her bloodlust fueling it. "We can only do this a week from now on, I need to prepare."
"That is fine with me. Grab yourself some equipment from this store." She wrote down a note and handed it over to him. "Just give them this and they will give you anything you will need. Be at the gate at sunrise a week from now."
"Alright." He pocketed the note and gazed at the health potion. "So how do we do this?"
An hour later he was outside the campus with one limb unbroken and his mind dizzy from the pain of his bones resetting themselves into position.
The best part was now the priority of doubling his natural healing had lowered and he could focus more on doubling what he wanted. Although having superior healing powers is cool and all, potions - that he didn't know existed, for good reason considering their absurd prices - could handle the burden of healing him.
Song had given him direction to the store and it was conveniently in the direction of his home. A short walk later he ended up in a bustling boulevard with various shops filled to the brim with people. He looked out of place in his rough but sturdy clothes.
Shrugging, he went up to a stall and gasped at the prices. With a small bit of trepidation, he ordered a noodle soup and feasted on it. His appetite was abnormal these days, he went from two full meals a day to three full meals. A side effect of thought acceleration since that was when he started feeling really hungry. Hopefully he could find a way to offset it.
Thanking the stall owner, Alexios travelled along the roads and admired the scenery. He stopped at a shop with armours and weapons on display, seeing the name on the plaque matched the one Song suggested to him, he marched in.
The insides were covered in all sorts of battle regalia. Everything from gladius to throwing spears and gabisons to full plate. There was only one person in the whole shop and it was the receptionist, a bright eyed yellow haired child staring at him and smiling.
"Hi." He waved at the little kid. "Where is the shop owner?"
"You are looking at her, welcome to Joads Emporium!" She threw her hands out and climbed on the counter, her childish voice ringing across the room. "How can I help you?"
Alex took some to steady himself, he had seen more bizarre scenes by now.
"I was told to give you this note, it's from Miss Song." Alex passed it over and watched as the kid squealed.
"That little minx finally got herself a pet student." The kid did a little victory jump before rolling off the counter and appraising him. "I will be having fun with you! So fresh, so malleable."
Alex had a brief flash of fear before he got dragged over and asked a thousand questions.