'I'm beat.'
Simon has spent some time window shopping after returning the money to the alchemy shop. He is shocked seeing how expensive some of the items are but for the majority of the cases, they are surprisingly reasonable. For example, a health potion produced by a potion master can cost the amount equals to the annual income of a common household. Instead of that, people can either purchase student-grade potion or diluted master-grade potion. There is also potion for animals, the first time Simon has heard of that.
'Getting horses drink potion to go farther, only a rich merchant can afford that.'
He has settled his eyes on a small book cafe, the smell of grilled sandwiches and confectionery invades his nasals. After giving a look at the price, Simon decides to go with a cheese sandwich with a side of coffee. In the time waiting for the order, he goes around checking out the books available for peruse. Some are covered in a hastily swept layer of dust while others are picked up so often the cover has finger dents.
'Magazines and romance novels, collection of short adventures, cooking book for busy researcher, ...'
The variety of topics fails to impress Simon. All of them are unrelated to one another, as if the book collection is from a donation rather than carefully taken care of. As Simon reaches deeper into the bookcases, his eyes ache as he is knocked backward. Soon after, a heavy mass rushes him and drowns him beneath.
Simon takes a breather as cold sweat forms on his outreach hand.
'Why is it happening now?'
Pulling the hand back, Simon analyzes the book he was about to touch before the vision. The cover is torn by scratch marks of a large animal, the paper material a yellow deterioration.
'Syph, Chron. Support this bookcase.'
'We are in a library Master?'
'In a way.'
'That book...'
'Chron, it cannot be that bad of a book if the book is in a public place?'
'I'll keep the bookcase firm. Pull it out, carefully.'
Simon heeds the warning and pulls the book out slowly and cautiously. The case creaks as one of the supporting book is removed. Just as Simon pulls the last inch out, the book opens on its own before a black mouth opens in the middle of a page. Simon stares at the eye, the eye stares back. Simon just blankly slams the book shut before bring it back out. Unbeknown to him, the vacant space is quickly refilled by a similar book down to the scratch mark.
After returning to his seat marked with a small bag, he finds his order already placed on the table. The sandwich is good.
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"What do you mean I can keep it?"
"The books in this store has a paper label attaches either to the back or inside the cover. The labels is attached via a special glue so it is impossible to use normal strength to rip it off. And as far as I can see, this book seems to be a hidden donation to our library from someone. Finder keeper they say. Just keep it. I don't want to be stuck in there rechecking the books."
"Okay? Here is the pay for the food."
"Hope to see you around."
As Simon is stuck on the public carriage going back to the academy, he fondles with the necklace in his possession, a necklace with the royal engraving inside the locket. The string is of high-quality and smooth to the touch. He just throws it back into his Inventory. Pulling the weird book he has gotten for free from his corner, he materializes it out of the Inventory out of sight. As he flips it open, the eye meets him once again. He ignores it and flips through the pages to find other strange things.
The trip takes long enough for him to count the pages and to mark them. There are a total of 150 pages not counting the index and cover. The eye is on page 64, a mouth is a little further at page 84, a pair of ears earlier on page 36. There is nothing else of concern except for the cover material. The elasticity of the leather is unlike that of the normal cow leather of books in the Rhea Academy.
Furthermore, as he inspects the book using the Inventory interface, the book appears as "----- (V)" without any additional context. The language is something he cannot make out so he ignores it for now.
'Maybe I can ask someone to check this out for me.'
"Rhea Academy Stop!"
Simon gets off the carriage and walks his way back into the academy. Shift has changed and another person checked his pass. As he enters the Knight Department area, he finds Janus and Emilia having their sparring. The smooth movement of the spear carves the fighting space up into chunks whereas the sword's brutally rip it apart. Both clash in the middle; the aura layers devour the opponent in a frenzy for domination.
Simon shrug at the normal activity for his friends before getting on his exercise regime. He knows that when they notice his presence, they will be joining with him automatically. Simon begins the jog, the personal technique of mana infusion works overtime to increase the speed and to cut down stamina consumption. For most people, he is running but from Simon's perspective, he is maintaining the usual intensity.
Without any talent in aura manipulation, Simon has incorporated the spells boosting vitality in plants and animals on his calves. The mana flow has getting faster and faster as the body adapts to the pressure. After running for ten laps, Simon drops to the ground to do push ups when his friends join in.
"Hey Simon, I have not seen you from the morning. Where were you?"
Janus, who is doing one-hand push ups beside him, asked. The golden locks sways in the air as the speed increases.
"I am just going out to buy something. There is a lot of shops in the north of the island so I just spent my time over there. What about you two? Have you two been sparring from morning to afternoon."
"No. I and this loser have to finish the homework so we were just warming up when you returned. This Emilia has been informed with your visit to the shops. Any things for me?"
"Sadly no. The price of any good stuff is ridiculous and the student-made ones are not guaranteed to be good quality."
"Oh, so it's indeed a good thing I have to stick with her during homework session. I have no spare money for these things. I suppose having you done the reinforcement runes on our training weapons is good enough."
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"What do you mean the academy is introducing live combat starting from the term exam?"
Shuron is shocked hearing the summary of the meeting from her secretary. The archmage has been at the royal palace to deal with the curse there. Even after her investigation, the only thing she could do was to lessen the curse temporarily. The problem is that the curse function on a time-basis. That mean the very existence of the royal family bloodline will maintain the curse forever. To destroy the curse, she either needs to inject a more powerful curse in place of it or killing every person with Durolinth royal bloodline.
"Exactly as I have said. There has been discussion among the royal families and various leaders of different races. A prophecy detailing the arrival of, as I quote, 'Hell upon the land'. Preparation is needed and thus they demands the incorporation of combat into the curriculum. Of course the military force cannot influence the school and I have guaranteed that in your place. Here is the reformed curriculum with the new final exam for this term."
The secretary hands Shuron a stack of paper filled with timetable and long description of faculty, funding, training material, and many more aspects. The archmage takes no time reviewing the content with her mana, grasping the main points before answering.
"Change the requirement for the first year. We cannot expect any students aside from the Knight Department to be fighting directly with fierceness. Muscle training program for paper students should be implemented as a voluntary thing, not a requirement. The structure of converting combat record into plausible credits for graduation needs to be revamped."
"On it."
"Also, if they are promoting combat training, we can finally pressure the elves and the dwarves to hand over testing equipment and illusionary dungeon technology."
Just after returning to the office, Shuron has been plunged into another hell made from protocols, paperwork, and coffee.
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In one particular day, screams of disbelief and despair fill the academy following the urgent announcement of the content for final exam of that term. Everyone grovels at the thought of having to change their target on the fly and be faced with a new curriculum.
In one particular magical engineering class.
"I am going to leave it to you."
The teacher passes the class to a senior student with sportswear stuck with black oil. The former retreats from the latter's lively eagerness and teleports to her office to tackle with the material for the classes. After waving at the abruptly disappearing teacher, the senior turns back to face the class and proclaims one line.
"Hi everyone, I am going to teach you how to make a bomb!"