As I walked towards Principal Raymond's office, I prepared myself for a lot of questions, the main ones surrounding my artefact.
The Ring of the Forgotten Sovereign.
Artefact to the most powerful skill I had ever heard of, {Archive of the Forgotten Sovereign}, which allowed me to access pathways into every single magic aspect, as well as one physical aspect, Stealth, a new path named Alchemy, not to mention a final unknown path that I wasn't aware of yet.
This ring could do literally anything, from copying other people's skills to being able to make my own when I finally got the skill to do it. It even came with its own little keeper and-
I'm not some keeper, and I'm not little either, you bastard. I heard in my head from my companion, Orebrul, the final member of a Serpentine clan called the Yurvepians. They were a clan of cannibalistic white-scaled snakes who were hunted to extinction during the Human-Serpentine war several years ago.
I chuckled and shook my head, running my hand, now my only hand, through my hair as I stepped up to the door of the Principal's office. 'You are little and you just don't want to admit it'. I responded with a mental poke. 'Besides, why haven't you been out of the ring in your bubble form recently?' I asked curiously as I grabbed the door handle.
'Just don't feel like it'. He muttered with a huff, and I could practically see the pout he had on his face, even if he was a snake or a bubble of silver liquid most of the time.
Entering Principal Raymond's office was like stepping into a magic library. Books were open and floating around, pages turning endlessly and sorting themselves out on different shelf categories. The wood of the desk and shelves was clearly expensive, a shiny dark oak wood that was definately made personally for him. It was a spacious room, and I could feel the magical presence surrounding it, likely some kind of Alteration class artefact that gave it soundproofing.
Like usual, the Principal was dressed to impress everyone, with rich blues. The centerpiece is a deep royal blue tailcoat, tailored with a sharp, structured silhouette that broadens the shoulders and narrows at the waist. Running across the front and down one side is an intricate pattern of silver embroidery in the shape of vines. Matching silver trim outlines the edges of the coat and cuffs, reinforcing its luxurious appearance. With a black belt around his waist, the cream coloured trousers just made it even more fashionable when added with everything else. Everytime I saw him I was left speechless at the difference in presentation between him and everyone else.
Despite the flowing white hair on his head, his looks had not faded, likely due to always being in the presence of magic, his skin flawless and lacking wrinkles. Rounded glasses sit on his nose as he looks through them to read the book in his hands, which are encased in black gloves.
"Mr Freed, can I call you Lough?" He said without looking up from his book, having sensed me come in.
"Yeah, sure." I responded casually, even though I was surprised by how calm he was considering it had been months since we had last seen each other. The Principal gestured for me to take a seat and I did so quietly as I waited for him to speak. We may have fought each other, and I was unsure if I was stronger than him since he had a time based artefact, however his aura and the way he carried himself was no joke.
"It is good to see you again, Lough, I am glad you are doing..." He trailed off as he saw my missing left arm. "I take it that was caused by that behemoth that appeared six months ago?"
"You catch on quick. Is that from all these books you keep around?" I surmised as I looked around and followed the path of books flying around with my gaze.
"You could say that," He answered, setting his book down and leaning back in his rich leather chair, the furniture making a quiet, rubbery creak, "Even despite your unfortunate injury, your presence and the feeling I get from you seem even more so than that day in the arena. That is to say, that you seem stronger... and more at peace with yourself."
My eyes widened. He was alarmingly perceptive. Though it was nice to know that my mental state and acceptance of my past had leaked into my demeanour. "Yeah, I feel much stronger and calmer than I was before."
"I am glad, I knew you would be alive somewhere, fighting with everything you had. I sensed as much during our fight and I imagine that if we were to fight again now, I would no doubt lose again."
That surprised me. He thought I would beat him in a fight now? I mean, sure, I did beat him six months ago and had only gotten stronger since then, but when we fought during the tournament, I was driven solely by the will to be stronger than everyone else, so I had just unleashed every bit of power I had and barely gave him time to show his powers.
"I'm not so-"
"You would win. There's no doubt about it." He stated firmly, cutting me off before I could even contradict his statement. "The feeling I had that day, I'll likely never forget it." He continued, taking off his glasses and looking at me clearly, "That doesn't mean I think you would beat every S-rank, though. For example, there is a noble house within this empire that produces a single S-rank hunter every generation. They are the Zsigmond family, a house of masters of the sword. They have one of the strongest S-rank artefacts in the empire , a sword that they pass down from generation to generation each time their sucessor becomes of age to inherit the weapon. They are the strongest family in the empire, alongside our notorious house of assassins, the Black family."
"The strongest weapon in the empire? Even stronger than the King's artefacts?" I asked incredulously. Just who the hell were the Zsigmond family? More importantly, why hadn't I heard of them before now? Surely they would be amazing on the front lines instead of grunts like me, right?
"Maybe, I have never seen records of them ever being compared, so it would be hard to tell unless they were to clash, which they never will since the Zsigmond family personally serve the Laexanad Royal family."
"Oh I see, makes sense if they have so much power."
Principal Raymond hummed in agreement before speaking again, "Tell me about your journey back home, I daren't say it was easy."
I knew this was going to come up eventually, and while I could omit things here and there, I wondered if it was worth telling him about my artefact. After all, he witnessed, and had to fight, me when I was using a combination of lightning, fire and ice, which for normal Destruction artefact users is impossible.
'Only tell him what he needs to know.' Orebrul said in my mind, and I agreed to a certain extent. At some point, someone would need to know that future problems related to Gods are because of me rather than them.
'But I think we can trust him, don't you?' I retorted as I started explaining my story to Raymond, starting from when I fell through the portal up till now. All the while, I was having a conversation in my head with Orebrul.
'I dunno, he's very cautious and could deem you a threat if you tell him.'
'I don't think that Principal Raymond is going to kill me, besides he said himself that he can't defeat me'. I snorted at Orebrul in my head as I said so, my confidence increasing as I prepared to tell Raymond the truth.
'Not just that, idiot, what if he tells others? Then what are you gonna do?'
Not for the first time was Orebrul correct, so with that in mind, I told my story without talking about my ring or about the warrant for my death with the Gods.
Raymond listened to my story, nodding along and asking a couple questions here and there before standing up and rounding his desk to grab a floating book nearby. "You are no amateur, Mr Freed, so I assume you know something about my artefact, right?" He asked suddenly, a question I hadn't been expecting.
"Well... uh..." I mumbled, unsure of what to say and what he would want me to know and not know. This was a dangerous line I was treading on. The Principal was a powerful man, and if he had connections to other powerful families, then it wouldn't be crazy to assume that if I knew too much, he would tell the other strong, influential families about me.
"Do not worry, this is not some sort of interrogation where I assess your answers and decide if I should kill you or not because you know too much. No. I simply want to know how much you know so I can tell you the rest." He assured me with a gentle smile, or what could be called one since his expression didn't move much, and instead was more of a less-stern look than an actually gentle one as he slid his glasses back on.
"Well it's a time based artefact, I suppose. I remember us having a discussion briefly after our fight that you can rewind time by 10 seconds or something?" I mused, thinking back to our conversation during the tournament.
"You would be mostly correct, however I left some parts out during that conversation for reasons I will discuss now." He sat down with the book in hand and flicked to a certain page before leaning back in his chair and gazing at me through his clear, rounded glasses. "I can rewind time by an amount of time proportional to the mana I choose to input. For the sake of saving mana, I ususally do around 10 to 20 seconds at most, but that is not the full extent of my artefact."
I listened carefully, wanting to know as much as I could. If i could understand this, then I guessed that I would have a good chance at potentially copying one of the skills he had available. Whether it was rewinding time or whatever else he could do, either way, it would be a massive gain in my power. After digesting his words, I nodded for him to continue.
"My artefact allows for three things. The first is the rewinding of time. The second is pausing time for a maximum of 30 seconds, but this drains mana faster than any of my abilities. The third is the ability to see a certain amount of time into the future through my eyes, in other words, I can see the next few possible moves someone can make. That is what I used on you during the tournament." He paused for a moment to let me think, which I appreciated, before carrying on, "You shattered my expectations when you did one of the very few things I did not foresee, since my power works on probabilities and information that I already possess."
My head was spinning. He could see potential paths that the future would take and could also rewind time until he got one of the most suitable paths. His power was insane, and he said there were stronger S-ranks than him?! Surely that was impossible. Then I remembered that I had beaten him myself, so it must be possible.
Principal Raymond must have noticed my thought process and conclusion since he chuckled gruffly before leaning forward and continuing to speak, "Yes, I imagine you are thinking about how there could be anyone stronger than someone who controls time, and yet you beat me. There is a simple explanation. My ability combines probability and information, I need both to complete a full future. In other words, it is simply just showing me calculations that are likely to happen given the information I know. Since I was not aware you had more than just the fire element during the tournament, I could not see a path in which you used the lightning element against me, thus I was unable to predict your movements and counter you in time."
This whole conversation was making my head hurt with the brain capacity I was using to keep up with the dialogue. "But you said you reset over twenty times against me, didn't you?"
"I did say that, and in all those other timelines, you used fire and gave me enough time to react and rewind time again, but in this timeline, you used lightning and caught me off guard, not giving me chance to activate my rewind spell, prompting me to attack you head on instead." He said it all so matter-of-factly, not annoyed by the result and not overly impressed, just calmly.
There was nothing else I could reply with except for a small nod and smile. "Well I suppose this version of me is a bit of an anomaly then, huh?"
"I suppose so, Mr Freed." He answered calmly before shutting the book and placing it on the desk in front of him. "Now you know the truth about my artefact, and am I right in assuming you will not tell anyone what I have told you now? I am not without ulterior motives, Mr Freed, as I consider you an ally to the empire, and would like to give you information on powerful things such as myself and the Zsigmond family in return for your continued allegience to Aurora University."
My lips tugged up in a grin. I should have known he had ulterior motives from the beginning, and I played into his hand without realising since I was greedy for the information. The first thing I should have checked was what he wanted in return, but I let my greed get in the way.
"That's fair, I gained a lot from this conversation thanks to you, so thank you, Principal Raymond," I replied respectfully as I bowed to him and extended my hand to shake his. When he shook my hand, I tried copying a skill but I was met with an even stronger barrier than when I tried copying one of the King's spells. Holy crap was he strong.
"I look forward to your continued loyalty and studies at this University," he declared, making sure I knew exactly what I had agreed to and what was expected of me.
"I look forward to my classes when they come back," I retorted before leaving out the door, satisfied with the outcome of our conversation.