"Ah, my worthy opponent finally arrives!" My mysterious senior greeted me as I entered the 5th floor baths. "How come I haven't seen you all week?" he asked with a frown.
"I do beg your pardon," I replied with a slight bow. "My friends and I had been very busy. Several students asked us for assistance to challenge their senior mentors and help get them out of unwanted apprenticeships..."
"Tell me about it."
I sighed as I removed my clothes to join him in the pool.
"C'mon, tell me about it!" he repeated.
I stared at him, confused.
"Well? Tell me what you've been doing all week?" he went on.
"Oh, were you not aware about first Prince Nigellus' duel for his apprentices last Monday?" I asked him.
"Hmm," my senior rubbed his chin. "I did hear that he lost a new apprentice and one of his guards," he chuckled. "I've always known that he was all bark and no bite."
Sometimes I wonder why my senior seems to be oblivious of the things happening on campus. I was tempted to tell him that it my friends and I were involved in this incident, but decided to keep it to myself.
"Well, after Nigellus lost to two neophytes, the rest of the students started to fight for their freedom as well!" I told him excitedly. "Some of our classmates who excelled in military arts even helped out, and now, most of our fellow neophytes are free from unwanted apprenticeships. Only a handful willing ones remain. Quite a lot of apprenticed seniors were freed as well."
"Hmm, now that's good to hear!" my senior grinned at me. "That's definitely a huge improvement from what the academy turned into after Nigellus came up with that 'mentor-apprentice' bullshit! I bet Nigellus is moping in his private residence right now!"
"It sure looks like it," I replied. "As a matter of fact, we haven't heard from him all week. We're actually looking forward to next Monday so we can challenge him again."
"Good luck to your troupe, then! And I hope those two released apprentices find better partners to comfort them."
"Partners?" I asked.
"They must have been quite traumatized. Nights would be particularly difficult until the effects wear off."
I thought of Darius and his nightmares. I wonder how senior knew about his trauma. Could it be that he really is or was one of Nigellus' former apprentices? He is, after all, very beautiful as well.
"Anyway, don't trust that bastard. That Nigellus is like a snake on the grass that hides in plain sight and strikes when you least expect it."
"I know what you mean, senior, we're getting ready for such an attack, but for now, I think he's still too humiliated to make a move."
The two of us laughed heartily until my senior reached out both hands to pinch my cheeks.
"And now your cheekbones are getting rounder!" he frowned.
"Huh?" I felt my face turn hot.
"I knew this would happen, that's why I came prepared!"
My senior stood up suddenly and went to one of the stalls where he left his belongings. He took a small lamp and a large drawing pad out of his bag, then placed a stool near one of the torch lights, and beckoned me to seat there.
"I've been bringing these things every morning for a week, waiting for you to show up!" he pouted as I tied a towel around my waist. "You didn't even visit the library, and with the way things are, you would probably gain more weight by next week, and then I wouldn't be able to draw you properly anymore!"
"So, you decided to draw me here right now?"
"We can play chess some other time."
"Well then... what do I need to do?"
I was surprised when my senior opened the small lamp. The light from it was so brilliant, I had to raise my arm to cover my eyes.
"Perfect!" he cried out happily. "See how the light makes your bones stand out more as it passes through soft muscle tissue? I can even see the outline of your interior organs!"
"You can?" I looked at my arms and saw what he meant. My bones did look more visible against the bright light, I can even see my veins and ligaments as well!
"Now, stand behind the lamp and stretch your arms out to your sides. That's it, now stay like that for a while... wow! I can vaguely see your heart pumping and your lungs contracting!"
My senior positioned another stool in front of me where he sat with a sketchpad in one hand, and a pencil in the other. He stretched out his left arm, thumb out, and squinted one eye as he stared at me.
"Will this take long?" I asked as he started sketching.
"Of course. I plan to draw every bit and detail, after all..." he mumbled in reply.
"My arms are starting to hurt," I told him, moments later. "Are you not done yet?"
"Just a bit more and you can put them down."
A couple of minutes later and my arms are drooping to my sides. I was a bit surprised when a gust of wind suddenly pushed my arms back up and kept them level to my shoulders.
"Does that help?" he grinned at me.
"Yes, thank you..." I replied. "Senior, how old were you when you manifested?" I asked him to help pass the time.
"I was nine..." he answered absentmindedly. "You?"
"I was 10. But I don't think I actually manifested," I said with a frown. "It was then that I found out that I had two cores."
"You already had 2 cores at age 10?" my senior looked at me with his brows raised. "What do you mean, you just found out about it?"
"Well..." I hesitated a bit before continuing. "I found this... book, you see..."
"What book?" he asked with interest.
"J-just something I found in passing... I read there about a certain... meditation to strengthen your mana, so I tried it out myself and felt something circling in my chest... like two spiders spinning their webs in opposite direction..."
"So, you just 'felt' it then, huh?" he asked thoughtfully.
"That's right, senior, how about you?" I asked him.
"People manifest in different ways, but most of them awaken their powers violently," he told me. "They say it's this life or death situation that triggers mana to collect and form a sphere around your heart. I was already born with one, though, and manifested when I got my second core, though this is only possible for people with the right constitution, of course."
"I read something like that as well," I nodded in agreement.
"In my case, I accidentally turned water into ice when I fell asleep while bathing. I was so alarmed that I cracked the marble bathtub in half," he chuckled. "I had to cover it up by saying that the tub was already cracked in the first place."
"It was good that they believed you, then!"
"Well, the things in our manor are not exactly in the best condition," he said with a snort. "In fact, I'm actually thankful that I was sent to the Royal Mauve Academy. I wouldn't have been given a proper education, otherwise."
"Oh, I feel the same way!" I concurred. "I heard that the library here has all the books in the whole empire! I knew then that I just had to study here!"
My senior laughed at my tale.
"We had the same objective, then!" he confessed. "If only I could read those magic books in the forbidden floors..."
"Would you like to?" I asked, excited. "I know of a way to get inside the library at night without anyone noticing us!"
"Seriously?!" he looked interested.
"Yes, you see, most of the spells I know are mainly for surveillance, defense, and repair. I think perhaps the tome used to belong to an undercover magician or something."
"Can I see this tome of yours?"
"I..." I was suddenly taken aback. Should I show my senior my book? "I'm not sure if I can take it here with me..."
"You're right, it would be a problem if you're caught with a magic tome..." he said without much concern, though I was afraid I might have insult him.
"Would you like to come to my room, then?" I found myself asking.
"I'm afraid I'm stuck here in the 5th floor," he grumbled. "The library is actually the only place I'm allowed to visit for now, I'm not even allowed to interact with other students."
"Why?"
"I'm currently under probation," he replied with a mischievous grin. "I can't even attended my classes since my punishment isn't over yet."
"So, that's why you don't know what's happening in campus!" I blurted out. "I was thinking, perhaps, you were one of Nigellus' concubines..."
This made my senior laugh out loud.
"Oh, please, I'd much rather blow my head off!" I laughed with him as well. "Now, come a bit closer and hold your arm up to the light," he instructed me. "I want to see the veins and arteries in your hand."
The wind propped my arm up once more as I changed my position, letting me lean comfortably on thin air.
"So... you're an elementalist, right?" I asked when he was in the middle of sketching my left hand.
"That's right..." he mumbled. "My main element is water, but I can use wind as well. And you?"
"Well, mostly just spells... I can turn myself inconspicuous, and inaudible, move through shadowy places, and create masks to change my appearance. There's also an intangible spell that could turn my body to smoke, but it's a higher 6th circle spell."
"Hmm, a mentalist, then. And how many cores do you have right now?"
"Three."
"Ah, I'm one core higher. No wonder you couldn't control the elements properly."
"How did you get your cores, senior?"
"Through meditation," he answered as he continued sketching, "it helps collect more mana from your surroundings. As you should know, you need to fill your current cores to bursting to be able to create a new one, and it helped that I'm usually stuck in my room being punished," he joked. "So, how did you get your third core?"
"Well... I was trying out a teleportation spell, when..."
"A what?!" my senior dropped his pencil as he looked up at me. "That's a forbidden spell for a 7th circle magister!
"Yes, well... I actually had a blunder two years ago and ended up at the top floor of our family library's tower. In mid air, actually..."
"You fell?!"
"From the eight floor..."
"And you survived?!"
"I knew a little wind spell and was able to cushion my fall a bit... I got a leg broken, though, as well as my left arm... that was before I started using my rewind spell."
"A rewind spell?"
"It turns an object back to the condition it was originally in before a given time frame. I was able to amend the spell for living creatures to undo injuries."
"And you created your third core when you fell?" he asked in disbelief.
"It was like... taking a deep breath before jumping into ice cold water," I tried to explain. "I guess I took a deep breath of mana when I fell, and that forced my third core to materialize."
"It's true what they say, then, that cores manifest in near death situations! The more terrible, the better."
I came to thinking then.
About the high fever and splitting headache I got, days after I was plagued with nightmares after meeting the emperor on my 7th birthday.
Could it be that that was actually a manifestation due to the mental strain?
My mother no longer visited me then, and the servants left to look after me were so worried I might die, that they forced bitter medicine down my throat.
I started losing weight after then, partly because my servant neglected me so much, but I somehow made it through until I discovered the tome hidden beneath our library's staircase three years later.
Running around the estate undiscovered became much easier thereafter.
"You do know that you need an open environment when you gather mana, do you?" my senior asked me as I was lost in thought.
"An open environment?"
"Preferably somewhere close to nature, mana comes from living organisms, after all."
"Oh, I'm usually stuck in a room in my tower, but I meditate near my window, so..."
"No wonder you're so emancipated!" he suddenly blurted out, to my surprise. He stood from his stool and pulled up my arm. "This is mana autophagy1! Every living organism has innate mana, so without enough mana in the surrounding, your core is forced to gather mana from your own body! You're basically eating yourself!"
"That's a thing?" I asked, genuinely surprised.
"Anyone who knows anything about magic should–" my senior trailed off mid sentence and frowned at me. "Don't tell me all you had to guide you was that one tome you found 'by passing'?" he asked.
"Well, you know how magic books are banned across the kingdom..."
My senior covered his face with both hands and shook his head slowly.
"Ugh... I should have known the minute I saw you..." he grumbled. "It's a wonder you're still alive! I may have been detained in my manor all the time, but my maternal granduncle dotes on me quite a lot. Also, there's a lush garden right outside my room's balcony and my estate is located at the edge of a forest, so there was never any lack of mana in the surroundings, but you... locked up in a tower with only a window to look out from..." he muttered some more.
"Oh, I only got this emancipated after my teleportation accident two years ago," I pointed out.
"You probably exhausted all the mana in your body, thus never got to truly recover!" he snapped at me. "And even now, you have a rather advanced spell on yourself at all times to hide your mana!" he threw his arms up in exasperation. "Just how dense are your mana cores?!"
"Dense? Is there a difference? And how did you know that I have a spell of concealment to hide my cores?"
My senior gaped at me and sighed in resignation.
"You obviously entered the academy without triggering the first class charms on the main gates," he said in a matter of fact manner. "I have a concealing spell as well, but I only activate it whenever I cross the academy gates," he continued. "Regarding core densities, it is said that the first core is usually the most dense. A denser core can store more mana, thus, it can give you enough mana to perform spells higher than your level. Consequently, it also means it would take more time for you to fill it and create a new core. Perhaps your third core is denser as well since it came from a terrible near death experience," he said thoughtfully.
"Oh... so that's how it works..."
My senior gave another deep sigh.
"That's the problem with self taught magicians," he grumbled, "you hardly know the basics, and it seems that the tome you found was too advanced for you."
Come to think of it, the lowest level spell in my tome was meant for three circle arch mages. I used to feel so drained when I first tried them out with my two cores.
But he didn't need to know about that.
"From now on, I forbid you to try any spells beyond your level!" he nagged at me. "Two spells a day should be your limit, particularly for third circle magic. You'll literally end up as skin and bones if you carry on like this!"
I was about to complain and try to bargain with him, when we heard the clock tower begin to chime the 7th hour.
"Ah! It's 7 am already?!" he cried out in disappointment. "I haven't finished sketching your hand yet!" He hurriedly picked his pencil and pad from the floor.
"We can continue tomorrow."
"I need to go somewhere today, be back Monday..." he mumbled as he sketched on the pad. "Just a little bit more..."
I had no choice but to wait for him to finish.
"So, when do you plan to sneak into the library?" he asked later.
"I thought you said you were detained here on the 5th floor?"
"During the day," he corrected me. "I may be able to sneak out at night. Meet you here by the baths? I would need your inconspicuous spell to make it down the 5th floor."
"Let's go on Monday, then!" I replied with a big smile on my face.
"Monday at midnight, to make sure the dorm head is done with his rounds."
"Deal!" I reached my right hand to him.
"Done!" he replied as he closed his sketchbook before shaking my hand.
"And now it's time for us to leave."
I was surprised when a voice suddenly spoke up!
We both turned towards the entrance and saw Senior Rian standing there with an amused smile on his face!
"Rian!" my senior called out to him. "It's time already?! We're still talking!"
"It's already ten minutes past seven, the other vassals will come to take their baths shortly," Rian replied. "It would be wiser to go back to your room soon," he added, looking at me.
"Y-yes, of course!"
I quickly gathered my things and dressed myself up.
"So, have you discovered his name yet?" I heard Rian ask my senior as I fixed my belongings.
"Not yet," came his reply. "I am yet to defeat him in a game of chess, and I was busy sketching him all morning."
Rian laughed. It sounded so genuine that I was tempted to look back and saw them both staring at me.
"My friend here really likes you a lot, young neophyte," he called out to me while clapping my senior on the back, "please make him taste defeat a little bit longer. Serves him right for rubbing it in our face whenever he beats us at anything!"
"I'll keep that in mind, senior Rian," I replied with a smile, noticing Rian's brows raise slightly.
"I'll see you next week," said my senior with a wide grin on his face.
"I'll be seeing you then, Seniors," I replied with a nod before leaving.
1Autophagy - A process by which a cell breaks down and destroys old, damaged, or abnormal proteins and other substances in its cytoplasm. The breakdown products are then recycled for important cell functions, especially during periods of stress or starvation. From National Cancer Institute.
________
Next update will be every Tuesdays and Fridays :D