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Selene: How was your first week?
Zephyr: More important is what is your ranking? You should be in the top 10 at least.
Aria: Who do you think I am ? I'm ranked fourth of course.
Aria: And life in the academy is hell! I envy Selene actually, thanks to her father, she won't go to the academy.
Selene: But I want to go.
Me: Just stay cautious there, the academy isn't safe .
Zephyr: Are you sick in your head ? It's the most secure place in Eldoria .
Me: And what would the demons and traitors try to do to the most secure place in your opinion? I bet there is one traitor there at least.
…..
Me: hello ?
Celestia: I never thought about that before.
Me: You are really Zephyr's Sister.
Zephyr: hey !
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One year had passed quickly.
Aria finally reached the age of 18 and went to the academy one week ago .
I couldn't help but be wary about her. If I learned something from the academy novels, it would be that even the hell is safer than the academy.
If even a normal hospital wasn't safe from the Dark Order, then I can't imagine the academy situation.
I tried to make Selene speak with her father to give Aria an excuse to not go to the academy. But he refused saying that he can't give special treatment to anyone, and the government gave Selene an excuse only due to her race.
Again, I was…. powerless .
There was nothing I could do.
'I can just train for now and hope nothing goes wrong.'
I felt like if an author was writing my story in a novel, he would only write slice of life chapters about my training.
My routine was wake up, eat, train, eat, train, eat and sleep .
It might look boring, but it was actually fun. It was all about magic.
That last year especially was too productive.
6 months ago. I finally made my cultivation technique.
I made 3 aura rings around my brain, each ring has the properties of one affinity.
The lightning ring would send small bursts of lightning towards my core. The space core would compress the lightning, turning it into small spheres. And in the end, the wind would cover them and make sure they reach my core and refine it.
I was sure that my aura core would be tier 3 before the academy. It was slow but it was still progressing.
Only the first steps were hard. But once you take them you would start running.
Or in my case, it was flying. Not really flying but I was looking really cool right now.
Standing in the middle of air while holding a stone slab and a bottle of ink. I was now able to make a tiny wind Spheres under me. Just enough to make me stand without consuming much mana. And thanks to my perfect muscle control, balancing myself wasn't a problem.
I was looking at Alfred who was raising his right hand.
He opened his mouth. "As we discussed, Just do it and I will save you if something wrong happens."
I nodded, then summoned a feather pen from my storage, then put some ink on it and started inscribing the stone slab while channeling my lightning mana into the ink.
It was a boring and slow process, but patience was needed. After all, if I made a small mistake in one line, it would explode.
After half an hour, it was finally done without any incidents. The slab now had a purple square on its centre with multiple sections and complex runes inside it.
'Please work, please work.'
I aimed the slab face towards Alfred and channeled a small amount of mana into it.
Suddenly, a huge ball of lightning materialized. It flew towards Alfred with a high speed.
*BOOM!*
The sphere exploded, making a cloud of dust and lightning. But the next moment, green wind cleaned the dust.
Alfred was completely okay. Even his clothes were clean. He looked at me with his usual warm smile.
I looked at the stone slab on my hand. It was turning into dust now.
I sighed."I used almost all my mana on that. At least act surprised."
I wasn't joking about what I said. That was really all my mana in one attack.
After reading the runes basics, I kept trying to master it, but it was hard as hell!
For inscribing runes, you will first need aura or mana depending on how you would use the runes.
Then you will need a medium to inscribe the runes in, which also depends on how you would use them.
And the last thing is magical liquid which may be monster's blood or magical ink that is actually made of blood. They were expensive, illegal to sell publicly and hard to get, and I only got some because Zephyr and Alfred bought them from the black market.
I wanted to go to the black market too, but they refused, saying that I shouldn't go into that path. Unfortunately, I couldn't tell them that I worked in the underworld for years, but I will go there someday.
Anyway, the runes had 2 usages in the basics guide. The first one was what I just used, Recording.
It was recording or storing a spell into a medium to use it later anytime with barely any mana consuming. Just use some mana as a signal and it will activate.
You will need to get a medium that could hold the spell power, a suitable ink or blood and the required affinity for the spell itself.
Then all you need after this is some math and equations. The lightning sphere for example needed many sections to determine the size, the volts, the temperature, the explosion power, the speed and even the direction.
They all would affect the used mana, and that's why using the wrong amount of mana in a random line may make the rune explode.
The only reason I was able to make something like that in only one year was my perfect talent with inscribing.
But it was worth it. Imagine having multiple spells ready to launch at any time, but unfortunately, they can be used one time, but you can sell them for high prices later and use the money to make more.
Then comes the second usage, Enchanting.
Unlike the recording, the enchanting isn't for one time use but permanent. There are even 2 types of Enchantment. Additionally, even the Cultivators can do it without mana.
For the first type, let's take a sword for example. I can inscribe some runes on it just like recording but using the aura instead of mana. Like Increased sharpness if I used pure aura and fire properties using fire aura.
Then the person that would take that sword would only need to make an aura signal to turn the sword into a sharp flaming sword ready to use.
The advantage of that is it doesn't use mental power, barely uses aura and allows you to use your own aura to enhance the sword even more.
The second type of Enchantments require mana. They are spells with cooldowns. By refilling the rune with mana after each use by making a mana absorbing rune, you can keep using it as long as the sword is okay.
The sword durability will keep decreasing after each use, but as long as you keep fixing it, it will stay usable.
Well, that's all the basic information at least. I still don't know how to make passive enchantments like my necklace.
"Your inscription improved too much." Alfred suddenly said, before vanishing from his place and appearing behind me.
He wasn't standing on air like me. He was flying!
"But I think you should focus on your space affinity a little. From all your affinities, it has the highest and most terrifying potential."
I tilted my head."Why are you so sure? I thought the phantom wind had the highest potential."
"You didn't see the Exalted Academy's principal. She didn't have any weapon talent, her mana talent was only high and wasn't lucky enough to get a soul-bound artifact."
His expression turned serious.
"But despite everything. She is acknowledged by the government and guilds as the strongest and youngest tier 8 Exalted with only her space affinity."
I rolled my eyes. 'Of course, the strongest and Youngest tier 8 exalted is a woman. I bet on my right kidney that she is also single.'
Alfred's expression returned soft again.
"Additionally, She might take you as her student if she saw your talent. So it's hitting 2 birds with one stone."
After saying that, he left to watch Zephyr and Cel training. Leaving me in my thoughts.
'What a coincidence, haha.'
Something wrong was happening around me. All those coincidences were making me... uneasy.
'Maybe I got plot armor instead of a system.'
—hey Ray.
I heard Aria's voice in my head, cutting off my thoughts.
'What now.'
—Help us in making something to celebrate our ranking. Lilith wants to try the chocolate cake. We are in the supermarket. In front of me there is….
I kept nodding while giving her instructions.
She was now living in a room with some other students. But unfortunately, none of them can cook.
So, they started asking me for some help.
I kept talking until….
*Kzzzzt!*
"....!"
One of the training dummies… Glitched?
I could swear that I just saw it glitch like a game.
My Danger Sense started alarming.
"Alfred, did you see that ?"
No response….
That wasn't normal. Alfred could hear even the ants' footsteps in my house.
Then I noticed it—I wasn't hearing Aria anymore nor feeling her place.
'Aria, can you hear me? '
....
'We have to leave.'
I tried to enhance my body with my lightning aura… But nothing happened.
Then I noticed that the wind balls under me weren't draining my mana nor mental power.
*Gulp*
Instantly, I shifted my gaze to where Zephyr and Cel were training, it was the fight sec… section?
"W-what."
The moment I turned around to go to them, I found myself standing in a dark room.
"...."
I turned around again, but couldn't find the training area. Only a black wall met my gaze .
"...."
I stared silently, taking deep breaths, trying to make any sense of my situation...
But nothing came to my mind.
'Shit.'