"Good morning, students." Professor Merton said, pacing in front of the classroom. I glanced around, noting that the class had shrunk down. It was not unheard of for apprentices to abandon courses early and focus on other skills, but spellcasting was an unusual choice.

Then again, for someone planning a career in clerical duties, or research, spellcasting was not an essential skill. Learning just the absolute basics was more than enough for those purposes.

"Today, we will be focusing on learning a spell built for convenience and survival rather than combat applications. To start, this is a spell known fully as an 'autonomous self-controlled life-support climate.' The name disguises a surprisingly complex bit of magic, which creates a sustained effect directly linked to your mana pool. While the spell is not incredibly useful in battle, it teaches a vital skill. Specifically, the ability to maintain a magical effect automatically."

I felt a shiver down my spine, realizing the potential strengths of such a skill. Fighting while focusing on maintaining a defensive spell and properly using my weapon in the heat of battle was extremely difficult. And that was only against a single foe. In the chaos of a real battlefield against an army, it would be nearly impossible.

But if I could maintain a defensive spell or even multiple spells, all without conscious thought? That would leave my thoughts open to plan and adapt to changing circumstances, increasing my effectiveness. I had theorized before about stacking multiple magical effects at once, but dismissed it as impractical. With this skill, that might no longer be the case.

It looked relatively simple, with a short chant and a meager mana cost. Interestingly, the skill was similar to enchanting, requiring a powerful force of will to "bind" the spell temporarily. A master could even use this to maintain multiple effects at once, increasing their power.

Excited, I copied down all the notes of the spell, resolving to learn it as soon as possible. Iron Forging while conducting classes, practicing sensing, telepathy, and telekinesis whenever possible and mastering this linked spell casting ability all worked perfectly into my plans. Of course, I felt a headache building at the thought of balancing all these skills, but it would be worthwhile.

And a spell that kept its user comfortable and dry in any climate was very appealing. I hated feeling discomfort, and if it took a small bit of mana to solve that, I would jump at the opportunity.

Magic Theory was mostly a review of topics I already knew, mainly skills on mana control and efficiency. I had studied a hundred minor exercises for Sophia, and nothing Professor Clemons covered was new to me. If this remained the same, even if I stayed in the Academy for longer, I would consider dropping this particular class.

When I stepped into Martial Combat, I was more than ready to blow off frustration in training. Amelia looked annoyed, and I wondered if it was due to my implicit rejection of her the previous day. I had not given her an answer, but I doubted she had not picked up on my conflicted feelings.

"Vayne," she said, her tone cool. I nodded in greeting before turning to Sig, doing my best to put her anger at me out of my thoughts.

"So, I've decided to give you two a break from sparring. Instead, we will be working on a new skill. Defense."

Turning, he flicked one hand, and I noticed a ring on his index finger shine brightly before a sphere of orange mana popped into existence, roughly a dozen feet across. Sig saw my surprise and smiled before saying, "I can't cast magic myself, but I can still use enchantments without much trouble."

Amelia and I watched as Sig walked into the center of the orange sphere, twirling his staff and loosening his shoulders. After a few seconds, an orb of orange mana launched from the boundary of the area flying towards Sig, who flicked his weapon and hit the projective dispersing it into motes of mana. Two more flew towards him, and Sig spun his staff, knocking them aside with effortless grace.

"This boundary attacks you, increasing in speed and frequency the longer you are inside. Those orbs hurt like hell if they hit you, so I'd recommend staying alert. Oh, and whoever wins gets a reward. Just a little treat to keep you two motivated." Sig explained, flicking his weapon around, apparently without paying attention. By this point, a dozen orbs flew at him at lightning-fast speeds, and I found myself marveling at his focus.

Stepping out of the sphere, Sig waved another hand, and a second, yellow-green sphere popped into existence twenty feet to the side.

"No time like the present to get started."

I managed to block the first orb, batting it aside with a quick sideswipe. The second one, I deflected away with a spin, and I smiled, feeling a surge of confidence. That confidence evaporated when I felt a sharp, stinging pain between my shoulder blades, sending me down onto one knee. While it could not compare to teeth and claws shredding my flesh, this caught me off guard.

Standing, I spun my staff and shrugged off the pain before getting back into position. This time, I managed three deflections before another strike to my blind spots, the back of my knee this time, sent me to the grass again. After a half-hour, I was able to deflect away four successfully, and I noticed with annoyance that Amelia could manage six before an attack pierced her defenses.

Despite growing used to it, I noted that I had already begun to plateau. I had well-honed reflexes, and my skills with a staff had improved over the months, but I did not have eyes on the back of my head. Even rotating constantly, and staying alert was not able to altogether remove blindspots.

A defensive spell could help with this problem, but I did not trust that to keep me alive. My philosophy is to patch any holes in a style not just once but several times, and that meant I needed to find a solution.

Stepping out of my sphere, I looked to Sig, who raised an eyebrow at me.

"How can you deflect attacks you cannot possibly see? Skill is one thing, but it looked too easy, almost like you could see the orbs coming without looking at them." I asked. I had an idea, but I wanted to check with Sig first, just in case I missed something.

Sig nodded, a grin on his features. I noticed from the corner of my eye that Amelia also stepped out of her sphere and stood a few steps away.

"I noticed that you both have learned to sense mana in other people and objects, which is a handy trick that a shocking amount of mages never bother to learn. This skill is an expansion of the same technique, applied to a broader scope. These orbs are much smaller concentrations of mana, so if you can learn to sense them coming, there won't be many things you can't see coming."

"And why didn't you just tell us that?" Amelia asked, crossing her arms.

Sig shrugged, saying with a grin, "I wanted to see if either of you would figure it out first. The greatest weapon in a fight is your brain. A smart warrior sees every skill that you have as interconnected parts of a whole."

His words made sense, and I dropped my breathing back into Iron Forging, feeling the comforting surge of mana. I turned to step back into the sphere, but stopped and glanced back at Sig.

"What about physical weapons? I could sense a mana attack sure, but what about an arrow? Or a spear?" I asked, curious about his answer.

Chuckling, Sig shook his head and replied, "Unless you plan to gain superhuman reflexes, you won't be knocking arrows out of the air."

Despite his clarification, it was much harder to sense mana flying through the air at high speeds than in a stationary human. By the end of the class, I could deflect around five or six regularly, while Amelia jumped ahead to nine. She did not say anything to me, walking from the area without a word to either of us.

Sig looked at me and shook his head with a grin, and I turned to him and tilted my head.

"What?" I asked, crossing my arms.

"Just remembering why I'm glad I'm not a teenager anymore. Whatever you said or did, good luck. Oh, and when you see Amelia, give her this." Sig replied, tossing me a small orb. I examined it, noting swirls of mana rotating inside it, before nodding and slipping it into my pocket.

Unfortunately, Amelia was not in the dining hall, and she did not meet me for our usual extra training session at night. Part of me wondered if she was still mad at me, while another felt worried. She did not seem like one to hold a grudge.

Alchemy the next day was mostly review, and I realized that Simon's tutoring had advanced my skills enough that I could mostly keep up with the workload. In Enchanting, Professor Hamilton finally gave us the chance to try our hand at something practical. He was a stickler for foundational skills, but I guessed he must feel we had progressed enough.

The assignment was to bind a gust enchantment to an unmarked wooden wand, set to activate on command. It took me fifteen minutes to carefully draw the symbols for "wind" and "push" onto its surface in black paint. Another fifteen minutes went into preparing the suspension of crushed mana crystals and water to hold the energy of the enchantment.

Over the remaining half-hour, I painstakingly worked, using the hollow tool to carve the symbols into the wood, filling the cavities as I worked with mana-infused liquid. As I went, I continually focused on the image of a blast of wind flying out of one end of the stick, imbuing the enchantment with my will.

By the end of class, I had a wand capable of producing a gust of wind just strong enough to blow out a candle. Simon's effort was much better, his runes near-perfect, but I had long-since accepted that he was more skilled than me in these fields. Professor Hamilton allowed us to keep the fruits of our labor, and I pocketed it, wondering how much gold I could get for selling it.

Magic Beasts was another class I would have to drop if I stayed at the Academy for much longer. Although it was an entertaining enough subject, I needed to focus as much as possible on only topics that could make me a more powerful mage. Learning about beasts was useful, but I might have better luck focusing on more directly relevant subjects.

When I stepped into Espionage, I realized the class, just like Spell-Casting, had shrunk to only five other students, including Amelia. She glanced over at me, and I saw surprise flicker across her face before she pushed down the reaction.

"Good afternoon, students. So far, I have taught you all skills to hide your mana, and disguise yourself as a normal person. While this is certainly useful for your survival, this is far from the most effective tool. Ideally, you will never put yourself directly at risk, and with that in mind, we will go over how to establish a network of contacts."

Scanning the room, he continued, "No person, not even me, can be everywhere or know everything, regardless of individual skill. Because of this, spies and contacts are essential, and it's best to have eyes and ears everywhere. There are countless ways to obtain them, but my favorite by far is the universal language. Greed."

Professor Morell held out one hand, his fingers blurring, and suddenly, a gold coin danced along the tops of his knuckles.

"Money drives the hearts of men, particularly the sort of greedy, desperate and conniving people willing to tell you secrets. But why don't we go over some ways to get information that doesn't involve bribery?"

After an hour of class, we had gone over intimidation, blackmail, favors, and extortion. Each had their benefits and flaws, and often the best manipulation of others required the use of several strategies. Much like Girem, Professor Morell noted several times that fear was often the most effective weapon, but he also commented that generosity could be equally useful if appropriately applied. In his words, "kindness often creates loyalty that fear can never replicate."

I copied everything down diligently, noting with amusement that I had already used some of these ideas. Although I felt some distaste manipulating others, I was not able to take the moral high ground.

Packing my bag, I stepped outside of the room, making my way through the halls, but before I could get far, I heard footsteps behind me. I did not have to think hard who it could be, and when I turned and saw Amelia approaching, I gestured to a classroom I knew would be empty at this time of night.

"Since when are you in Espionage?" she asked as soon as we were alone.

"I pointed out to my lords that I could stand to learn more about spycraft, though they despise underhanded tricks. Still, knowing the tactics our enemies will use is never a bad idea."

"And when were you planning to tell me?" Amelia replied, leaning in closer.

"Why would I? I had no way of knowing you were in that class, and it should not matter either way." I answered, lying through my teeth.

"And it's just a coincidence that you somehow learned to sense mana, or that you showed up just as that boy who sat in the back disappears? Or that your own mana signature is almost imperceptible? I'm not an idiot, Vayne. You disguised yourself and attended this class last semester." she commented, crossing her arms.

I did not give her enough credit, it seems. After a few seconds, I nodded and replied, "Yes, I did. And frankly, I will not apologize. I have my reasons, as do you and you know I cannot tell you everything. I have to maintain my loyalty to my lords, and if I told you their secrets, it would betray them."

Amelia sighed, shaking her head after several seconds.

"Fine. I trust you, Vayne. I'd just rather you not keep secrets from me."

I felt a twinge of guilt but pushed it down and smiled.

"I am sorry as well. I know I am not being upfront with what I am thinking. Truthfully, I am worried about what would happen if we got...involved."

"Involved?" she replied, raising an eyebrow with a smirk.

"You know what I mean," I said, feeling a blush spread across my cheeks. "It seems like a bad idea for several reasons, the biggest one being that I am a commoner, and that will never change."

"I know, but there's a saying that my mother is fond of repeating. 'Opportunities don't come twice.' Just something to think about." Amelia responded, before turning to leave.

"Before you leave, I have this for you. Sig wanted to give it to you, but you left before he could." I said, tossing the orb to her.

Amelia caught it with a smile, nodding once and left the classroom. I shook my head, still uncertain of what to do with her. Pushing aside my romantic woes, I straightened and exited the classroom.

First, I would jump-start my training with those potions and see if my experiment turned out successful. If it did, I could reconsider what to do about Amelia.

And if it failed, it would not matter. I could not worry about my woes if I was dead, after all.