Alastor returned to his room, but did not start his experimentation directly.
He trained as usual, ate as usual, and acted normal.
As he lay on his bed, he infused a small spherical object with a hint of his mana.
The object began rolling away and jumped into the shadow of Alastor's bed.
Far away, in the headquarters of Nine, the same spherical object rolled out of William's shadow.
William, who had been planning more terrorist attacks, to 'enlighten' the masses about the greatness of demons, immediately dropped everything and picked up the object.
As he received the message, he changed the top priority from unleashing a Count rank demon in a small town nearby, to procuring what Alastor had asked for and ensuring his orders were carried out.
...............................................................................
As days passed, Alastor still did not experiment with the Rune, waiting patiently.
He added minor inputs in the research, and made himself of help, leading to positive feedback from the researchers themselves.
Despite all of this, Alastor did not slack off on the most basic training.
From the simplest stab, slice and block motion, to complex and specialized movements in case of certain scenarios.
Alastor could feel that he would be an Adept soon, but he wasn't satisfied.
'Before the second year begins, let's aim to be a Knight.'
With a goal that was impossible for most people, Alastor began increasing the intensity of his training.
He also finally got to know which second year he would be fighting to enter the mercenary program, a familiar name.
Dana Argen.
A sorceress who also held an Initiate Mastery of swords.
When she began training with both, she was called foolish, but when she defeated most of the ones who called her names, there were no more complaints.
'She's still not the strongest in her year, however.'
Alastor wasn't worried for his fight at all.
On the contrary, he was enjoying messing with Alicia's attempts to discredit him.
Any ill rumour about him changed into praise.
Any attempt to make him look bad did the opposite.
The only way she could do anything at all, was try a head on confrontation, and she wasn't the type to do that until she was absolutly sure she could win.
She had her suspicions when these failures happened one after the other, but coud not pin the blame on Axel.
Currently, Alastor was learning to deal with projectiles better, with Karna's help.
His Instinct was a major factor, but what he wished to learn was sensing a 'gaze' on him from afar, and react to faster shots with less visual dependency.
Karna was out of sight, not even in the training ground, as Alastor readied his spear.
His Instinct flared, and his spear slapped an unnaturally quiet arrow out of the air.
Right behind that arrow, however, was another one.
Alastor grabbed it with his hand, and used to block another arrow that had curved around him.
He dropped it and said into thin air, "Get serious."
His Instinct exploded with a sense of danger.
An extremely fast arrow, looking like a streak of light, went past where his head had been a second ago.
His began using the spear to effectively counter the arrows, but some still got through.
Suddenly, the quality of the shots increased further.
The seemingly infinite arrows carried much more power than before, and despite being blunted, managed to make cuts as they grazed past him.
Faced with such a situation, Alastor finally felt the wall of Mastery break, as the spear became a part of him.
He could control it like his own body part, or even better.
As long as it remained in contact with him, he could make it do anything.
The spear spun in his palm as he countered the arrows.
Finally, the barrage stopped.
And yet, Alastor did not ease up.
And that was proven to be the right option, as another arrow whizzed towards his head.
Finally done, Karna returned to the grounds, and recollected the training arrows that weren't broken.
He commented idly, "You became an Adept."
Alastor felt the spear in his mind and nodded.
'Not enough. If I want to put on a good enough show against Dana, I need to win much more thoroughly. To the point where revenge isn't an option.'
'Yes, this much time should be enough for them to procure the required materials for the experimentation.'
'I'll order them to do it now.'
That night, a Count ranked demon attacked the Academy, and all classes were halted for a week as investigations were held.
It was confirmed to be an attack from Nine, but just in case, students would be checked for demon possession.
Alastor, who should have been the one to worry, did not particularly care.
He knew he had multiple layers of security around his identity, and was different from other demons from the beginning.
The one who would be pressed, was the other demon spy in the Academy.
Alastor just needed to leave them a hint, and they would come running to him for salvation.
Even if they ratted him out, nobody could prove that he was a demon, especially after he mastered the skill of 'moving' his demonic part.
He could move it from his Astral Body, to his soul, and when it reached his body, he would transform into his full Ohr Jinn form.
He even learnt to protect his mind in a way unique to him.
By simply chanting what he called the 'Great Transmigration Mantra', no being, God or Devil, could enter his mind.
After all, no matter what being tried to learn about this phenomenon, they would be 'dealt with' by the being that brought Jace into this world.
As the students were given a week off, Alastor was called for the investigation on the very first day.
He knew the moment he felt the aura coming from the room he was to enter.
A God was inside.
He knew he had prepared all he could, but plans never went the way they were meant to.
He simply had to adapt to every change.
He saw Karna leave the room and nodded to him.
He put on his most benevolent smile, and entered the room.
...............................................................................
Karna frowned as he exited the room.
The God inside had been extremely polite to him, and treated him with courtesy, unlike what a regular God would do to a human.
'Again, someone trying to curry favour with that person.'
Karna wasn't even inspected, he was simply invited to chat for a while before being allowed to leave.
All because of the being he called his creator.
As he left the room, he saw Alastor waiting to enter.
They simply nodded at each other, understanding that this was not the time to chat.
Karna thought to himself,
'I should tell Alastor sometime soon.'
'If my status can help in the future, it must not be a secret to be discovered only at the most difficult of times.'
Unfortunately, Karna got lost in watching butterflies flutter about a hill, staying absolutely still till it was late at night.
...............................................................................
Alastor entered the room, and identified the God.
He seemed like an ordinary, albeit handsome man, but his Divinity could be felt, a powerful force affecting the lesser energy of mana.
Alastor estimated him to be about the level of a First Heaven God, or a Viscount rank demon.
However, unlike the Silver Shadow from before, he was in perfect health and not weakened.
He seemed annoyed by Alastor's mere presence and said, "Don't waste my time and sit already, human."
Alastor sat as slowly as possible, then settled himself into the chair comfortably.
The God didn't seem to care and placed his hand on the table palm up.
Alastor stared in puzzlement.
The God said in an irritated tone, "Put your hand in mine!"
Alastor did so, again as slowly as possible.
He felt a wave of Divinity, tinged with the authority of 'Seeking', enter his body.
It swept through his body, and sought to enter his soul.
He heard the young God say, "Open your soul already!"
He allowed the Divinity to enter his soul, and the wave of Divinity rushed through his soul, and then receded.
Alastor prepared to switch his demonic part from his Astral Body to his soul, when the Divinity vanished.
Alastor paused, 'What? That's it? They're not going to check the Astral Body?'
The God quickly waved him out of the room, the next person already waiting outside.
Alastor held back the urge to laugh.
It seemed that he was too paranoid at times.
'No, no such thing as being too paranoid.'
He had the next six days off to himself, where the Academy allowed students to leave the Academy as long as they returned in time.
Alastor left the gates of the Academy, and wandered the city for a while, before he entered a warehouse that seemed empty at frst.
As he entered, he felt a barrier shimmer, before letting him in.
William stood there, with a hundred human forms tied up behind him as he bowed.
"Sir Alastor, we have procured all the equipment you wished."
Alastor smiled and thought to himself,
'Yes, Nine is indeed quite a useful piece.'
Alastor said to William, "You have done well. I will ensure that the Patriarch hears of this matter, William."
"Now, leave."
William bowed and disappeared quickly.
Alastor smiled, and said to himself, "Let's start with the fresher corpses, shall we?"