Frances shook her head. The demigod next to her seemed to take in the news. Iris meanwhile, met her eyes straight on.

“If your wife...” Iris started.

“Don’t worry. We have a pact. Apparently, if either of us tried to hurt the other without consent, we’d just die.”

“Oh. The Existence Covenant or something, right?”

“Close enough. So you don’t need to harm her.”

“Alright. I just want you to know that I will not let you die. No matter what.”

“Sounds quite a bit like a threat. You’re saying that if I wanted to die, you wouldn’t let me?”

“I’ll cut you down from your rope if I must.”

Noah opened his mouth. A soft mumble started spewing out.

“How do you know how to slay a god, Lady Iris?”

“It’s just something that I picked up on my travels.”

“Does that have anything to do with the smell of Stasis on Lady Frances?”

“My. So you already knew?” she asked.

“It's faint, but certainly there. What did you do?”

“Nothing of significance. Still, what sort of spells were placed on me?” Frances asked.

“There was a tracking element on you from a mutual pact, and the protection spell that I accidentally shattered. That should be all, I believe.”

“I don’t recall a protection spell being cast. I’ll ask Hye-Sung about that later.”

And speak of the devil, she walked out. She draped a white towel over her wet hair, with a fresh change of clothes. In the same archaic fashion sense, all she had were white robes and loose dresses.

“So what kind of spell did you put on me?” Frances asked as Hye-Sung sat down on the floor.

Despite the centuries, the area was clean. Pristine, even. The automata went through the entire library. Sweeping, dusting, even taking care of the humidity. Noah sat with his legs crossed, while the ladies were positioned slightly differently.

“A basic spell, designed to protect you from anything particularly strong. I assume it was triggered by the nuke walking around?”

It wasn’t hard to tell who she was referring to. So even without getting too much information, she could sense how powerful Noah was. She shot him a glare, and moved closer to Frances.

“Yes,” Iris answered. “He was the only one nearby when it triggered.”

“So when did you place it?”

“In your sleep. Had to make sure you didn’t know.”

“Damn.” Noah commented. “You live a weird life, Lady Frances.”

“Please, this is nothing. My ex-girlfriend held my sister hostage if I didn’t love her, then threatened me.”

“What the fuck?”

“Yeah. Stuff like Stockholm Syndrome. I won’t deny the fact that she was abusive, though I didn’t really care.”

“Sounds right for a criminal,” Hye-Sung chimed in.

Frances laughed. She wasn’t wrong. Who else would try to court the person they loved by holding their loved ones hostage? Certainly no one sane. Most people described their relationship as a pair of insane people.

“You worked as a back-alley doctor, so you don’t have a right to criticise us.”

“Ah, but I didn’t abuse anyone did I?”

“Yet you sneak into my room? To cast some unknown spells?”

“I had to do that because you shouldn’t know. If you knew, you would think you were invincible and act rashly.”

Well, that wasn’t too far from the truth. Not invincible, but much more capable.

“Still, I didn’t think that you would be entirely unaware of it. That was my bad.”

“Did you mean for me to notice?”

“Yeah. Usually, people would notice if a spell was cast on them. But you...”

“I know. Haein told me that I have pretty much no mana at all.”

“Ah right.” Hye-Sung turned to Noah. “With him here, the three main archetypes of mages are here.”

“What do you mean?”

“Our dear Empress Rayleigh can’t be helplessly foolish with magic, right?” She leaned in closer. “And Haein asked me to teach you about magic theory too. Said that you might need to engage in diplomacy with mages.”

“Fine. So what are the three archetypes?”

“Simply put, there are 3 ways of learning how to use magic. We live in a world of mana, and humans can project our imagination and visualisation via mana. As such, a mage needs to be able to visualise what we want to do.”

“That’s the foundation of magic, basically.” Noah nodded.

“Right, and though we say visualise, even blind mages exist. Anyways. There’s a spectrum to learning magic. For reference, it’s like a chef versus an engineer. Iris, if I’m not wrong, you go with the instinctual method, right?”

She nodded. Iris closed her eyes, and took in a deep breath.

“On the other side, I’m the theoretical side. She goes through magic with feeling and intuition, while I have to study the concepts of the spell itself. There are pros and cons to both sides though. She’ll be able to cast spells that she just gets, while I might have to spend hours or days studying it.”

“And Hye-Sung can understand the spells she learns, and thus adapt it to her own needs. While I can’t.”

Frances nodded. Hye-Sung continued to go further into the intricacies of magic, but Noah cut her off. The muscular man handed her several volumes.

“The Chronicles of Magic. Written by the Lich himself. When he was alive. And human.”

Frances skimmed through the book. Along with some supplementary information from Hye-Sung, Iris, and Noah, she got the basic gist of it. Though, compared to the three mages themselves, there was no doubt that the knowledge and abilities she had was but a drop of water.

In summary, there were two particular schools of thinking amongst mages. Those that wish to integrate themselves with mana, and those that wish to control mana. And, the source of mana was unknown. Even with modern knowledge and theory.

“Mana by itself, moves slower than our physical bodies. Hence why, mages, especially highly experienced ones that allow mana to flow through, age much slower,” Hye-Sung explained.

That explained why despite the years, Hye-Sung seemed to barely age. It was probably true with Noah too.

Though there were three sources of mana, they all came from the same source. The unknown, undiscovered, realm of mana. Much like the water cycle, actually.

“Ah, that’s right,” Haein said once she stepped out. “Your sisters had a message for you. Something to do with Friaren.”