*****
Let's just say that Crystal's "request," if you can call it a request, didn't exactly surprise me, but it managed to puzzle me. Find an heir? And judging by her emotions and intonation, she at least suspects someone. Although, if you look at the whole situation at school, there is not a single person (with the exception of me and the Heir) who would not suspect Potter. It's painful for him to set himself up, and the herd instinct is obvious. If the majority believes in something, then sooner or later others may believe it too.
However, I didn't give my answer that evening. Neither consent nor refusal. This wish is worth seriously thinking about, but I already have things to do this evening.
Our conversation did not continue further. Penelope stood up first and left silently. Only when she was right next to the stairs did I manage to feel another fluctuation in the magical background. Having followed these "circles on the water", I saw how some of the threads from which the spell was created, cast on the castle, were again "filled" with life. Like a dry branch that in one moment became "alive and blooming" again.
Hmm, so these are the charms that are responsible for the very fact of tracking. It is worth looking for the same ones in other parts of the castle. Perhaps I will be able to use this somehow in the future, unless of course these enchantments are individual for the astronomy tower.
I didn't stay at the top either. And just three minutes later, under visa and with a changed appearance (you never know what might happen. As they say: healthy paranoia has never harmed anyone. If it is "healthy"), he went down the spiral staircase.
Well, there is something interesting ahead.
*****
Already my home room (and during all this time, it had already become so) greeted me as usual: emptiness and calm. Having covered the entire path from the tower to the room of help in about fifteen minutes, I found myself here again.
The hall with the altar was unchanged, as if the very concept of time did not exist for it. Although that may be true. Magic can do a lot, if not everything.
Having taken off my robe in advance (it would get in the way) and folded it at the entrance, I confidently walked towards the altar. Having reached the intended point, I froze in place, immersed in myself for a brief moment. Even if this is not the first time, this moment cannot be less exciting. And what knowledge awaits me...
"I, Calder Wilson," once again my voice "shaked" the vaults of this hall. — Mage of the School of Cryokinesis, I ask the Spirit of the room to conduct an exam for increasing rank.
The voice fell silent, and with it the world itself froze. As before, nothing happened at first, but a moment later the old elder appeared above the altar. Opening his eyes, his gaze caught on my figure.
"Calder," even though his voice was empty, as before, I was still able to notice that there was something else in it that was not characteristic of this spirit. "I'm glad to see you, for the umpteenth time," the spirit continued after a second of hesitation. But I see that something is eating you.
"And I'm glad," bowing a little, while not taking his eyes off the figure of the spirit. And my guess was correct. Each time the old man looks more and more alive. His body itself acquired a certain semblance of materiality, filling with life. I wonder why this is?
— Are you ready to conquer a new peak? — the spirit asked me, smiling like an old man.
"I wouldn't call it testimony," I disagreed with him. - It's more like the beginning of sunrise. As people like to say: The road to heaven.
"That's how it is," for a brief moment, from the depths of the old man's eyes, someone so strong and ancient looked at me that I broke out in a cold sweat. But after a second, this someone disappeared, leaving this puppet in its place. "Then there's no need to wait any longer." You already know the rules. Let's get started.
And what was that? Who is hiding in the depths of the essence of the spirit? Or maybe this someone is imprisoned? It's not clear whoever it is is dangerous. Deadly.
In the meantime, I was immersed in my thoughts, time did not stand still, and with it the space around me.
Cracks spread across the space, as if across some glass. An incredibly cold, chilling wind blew straight out of them. The moment and the surroundings shatter into a thousand glass fragments, revealing to me a world beyond ours.
A boundless snowy wasteland covered with tons of snow. On its surface there was the strongest blizzard that I had ever seen. It covered almost the entire view. But even she was unable to hide the green glow of the heavens, or more precisely, a certain semblance of a greenish river.
Before I had time to enjoy this splendor, I was thrown with force into this passage. With the creak of glass chips, the broken pieces fell back into place. At the last piece I heard words coming from the other side:
"The test is simple," the calm voice of the spirit penetrated no worse than a cold wind. - Survive for three days. Any magic other than karyokinesis has no power here.
The last piece fell into place, cutting me off from my world. Crap.
The wind howled, lifting tons of snow with its gusts. All these ice crystals flew at me with force, scratching my skin and getting into my eyes. Having tried to reach metamorphism, I could not achieve anything. The situation was similar with space and healing. All the mana in my body instantly acquired an icy "color," simply not allowing me to use other schools.
The body was artificially limited, the prana seemed to have frozen in me. So I was right in my theory, cryokinesis does not stop when it reaches absolute zero. Then it moves to the energy level.
A fleeting message and a kind of film of icy mana formed around my body, which repelled all the cold from me. Let's see how profitable this method is.
My guesses were correct, the spirit purposefully creates such tests for me that one way or another they can lead me to death. Even though earlier they treated life differently than they do now, but first of all, all this was created for schoolchildren. Which parent would send their children to a school where students are dying like flies.
Perhaps at this stage the uninitiated may experience dissonance in his thoughts. After all, my previous trials (especially healing) were also not easy, and there's nothing to say about the chance of death. And here I am contradicting myself. Alas, no.
Each test (exam) has a threshold, a level, a milestone - call it what you want, the complexity of which cannot be alleviated. This same test, from the very beginning, was aimed purely at my elimination. Very interesting. What prompted the spirit to take such decisive action? What changed? Is it really my unknown "gift"? But how is all this connected...
However, the mental debate did not last long. Within ten minutes I plunged into this brave new world with renewed vigor. And all because of one detail - he pumped mana out of me. Not much, but enough to, together with the consumption of the spell, interrupt my regeneration. But this is no longer pleasant.
My initial method of fighting the external environment was declared unviable after an hour. Too much mana to waste on this. In search of a new solution to the problem, I wandered around in the desert for another half an hour (and at the same time I became convinced that there was nothing here: trees, rocks, living, dead. As if someone had created an artificial wasteland). And the solution turned out to be very simple, but at the same time effective.
I simply created an ice pyramid out of ice, in which I sat down, simply sitting on the floor (also made of ice). Fortunately, I won't freeze from the cold in this design. Why? My mana circulates in it. What about oxygen? Creating a hole for a brief moment through which it enters.
Initially, I wanted to create something like an ice armor or film that would also protect me from the cold. However, the creation of such constructs requires much more mana than an ordinary, simple pyramid. Therefore, the second option was more preferable.
Further time nothing significant was noted. To save mana (and it was leaving more and more every hour), I "removed" all consumers of this energy, except for maintaining the structure and giving me slight immunity to the cold.
Yes, in the end this test turned out to be the easiest, but also tedious. Sitting in meditation for three days when there is nothing you can spend your mana on. Although I understand why it is carried out at all and why, this does not make it any less tedious and lengthy.
But this did not last forever, because after only three days I again felt the transference effect.
As soon as my body had overcome the film that fenced off one world from another, prana flowed through it again, and mana began to flow again (and there was only about thirty-two percent of it left. I wouldn't have survived another day. What is this, an exact calculation?) .
Having dispelled the pyramid (and it was transported with me), I happily stood up and stretched. It's so good to feel complete again.
Slowly, the Spirit of the Room floated out of the void and looked at me with an unreadable gaze.
"You are amazing, Calder Wilson," he finally began to say after five minutes of staring. — Once again you not only live up to the expectations placed on you, but also exceed them.
"Work and perseverance are the key to success," I said, smiling slightly at him.
- Perhaps, but let's drop this topic. After all, it can be discussed endlessly," the spirit said, smiling slightly through his beard. — Accept my congratulations, young magician, from now on you are an apprentice of the second star of the School of Cryokinesis.
- Second star? — I feigned surprise.
"Yes," he nodded. - you passed this test so well that you can receive this title.
Hmm, if I didn't know the truth, I would believe it. But it all comes down to the fact that the test is designed for a certain level. And based on its results, you cannot assign any other. Even he himself had talked about something like this in previous conversations.
"Thank you," I said with a slight bow. Turning around on the spot, I headed out, picking up my robe with telekinesis.
"Calder," the spirit called to me at the door.
— Yes?
- Were you able to find out what the last gift is hidden in you? — he seemed to ask kindly, but I again felt that ancient creature that was dormant within him.
"No," I wave my head negatively. - And you? - I ask again with "hope" in my voice.
"Alas," he threw up his hands.
"I see," I drooped slightly. "See you soon," he said goodbye leaving the room.
"See you soon," I heard behind me.
*****