She had been procrastinating for long enough. Too long, really. Jia had been making excuses about being too busy, or focused on other priorities, or any number of other reasons, but at some point she was forced to admit the truth—she didn’t like Do Hye. There was just something off about him that she couldn’t quite place. Something about his smug, self-assured attitude, or the way he always seemed to be hiding something. He was friendly enough now, but she couldn’t shake the feeling that if she was ever more useful to him dead, then she’d be dead.

So she didn’t like Do Hye, and as a result she had been avoiding his class until fate had suddenly conspired against her. There were no other lessons, no other appointments or engagements—no excuses. She could either attend one of Do Hye’s lessons on formations, or she could sit at home doing nothing while Yue complained of boredom, and Eui complained about Yue’s complaining. It was almost as if Do Hye had planned it himself, and Jia was starting to understand how Magus Hwang had become so paranoid of the Grand Magus.

The lecture hall wasn’t as packed as it tended to be during Magus Hwang’s lectures. Apparently, Do Hye spread his classes out a bit, like Master Ienaga—though not nearly to the same extent. That was probably for the best, since his classes were extremely popular.

Something about him had clearly struck a chord with the Qin disciples, who made up the majority of the academy’s population. Perhaps it was his self-confident demeanor, or the raw power he had displayed during his introduction—while Qin culture typically preferred a more reserved attitude, they clearly respected power when they saw it.

Among the Yamato, his straightforward and bombastic attitude seemed to fit right in. Though that might have been because of the higher number of common backgrounds among them. Jia had developed a picture of the Yamato people based mostly on the likes of Rika or Yuuko, but she couldn’t discount the more taciturn demeanors of Ienaga or Hayakawa, both of whom came from nobility.

As for the Goryeon students—well, there was a certain amount of nationalistic pride for one of the greatest mages in history. And it was quite a history, indeed. Jia had been doing her research, and the Grand Magus had been around for a long time. There were mentions of him in historical records going back as far as five hundred years—and even then, he had still been ‘Grand Magus’.

One particular quote she had read stood out, from some ancient diplomat from Qin that she’d long forgotten the name of.

“The most sinister thing about The Snake is that one’s revulsion of the slippery beastkin never seems to survive a meeting with the man himself. He is irritating, tactless, and yet eerily charming. One cannot help but let their guards down in his presence, as he gives the impression of a genius intellect that lacks practical wisdom. You will be impressed by his knowledge, even as you outmaneuver and outwit him—which only serves to boost one’s own ego. It is a sweet, intoxicating poison.

“Only after he has left—when his plans begin to take form and the poison takes hold—will you realize the true nature of The Snake.”

Jia wasn’t sure if the author considered Do Hye to be his best friend or worst enemy, but from what she’d seen of the empire’s people so far, she wasn’t certain there was a difference. The point was that Dae’s master was incredibly famous in all three nations—and also wildly eccentric. It was weird to be attending a lesson being taught by a person who was literally written about in history books.

Eunae was already present and waved Jia and Eui over as she spotted them. As they joined her, Yue made a point of avoiding eye contact and took a seat a few rows down. If one didn’t know that they were roommates, it would be easy to think that they were complete strangers—which was probably the point. Jia still had mixed feelings about their complicated relationship with Yan Yue, but this wasn’t the time or place to air them out.

“Good morning, Eunae! Where’s Rika? I’m kind of surprised to see you without her.”

Eunae covered her mouth and giggled playfully.

“We can’t all be as inseparable as the infamous Yoshika!”

Jia froze for a fraction of a second before remembering that it was Rika’s nickname for them. It occurred to her that they should probably formally introduce ‘Yoshika’ to their more trusted friends—she’d talk to Eui about it later. Eunae either didn’t notice, or ignored her reaction to the name as she continued.

“Rika isn’t terribly interested in formations, and has volunteered to watch over your dorm while the rest of us are away. Speaking of which—I haven’t made much progress in uncovering the ones targeting you. If it is Sun Jaehwa, then her network has no overlap with my own, which is hard to believe—she must be quite good at this, for a lesser noble.”

Jia wasn’t sure what ‘this’ was, and wasn’t sure she wanted to. Eui was nodding, and her eyes had a bit of a nostalgic look as she recounted her own experience.

“She’s always been like that—punching up. It’s part of what I admired about her, back then. I could really identify with it, being a commoner in a prep school that was mostly for nobles. I can’t say I like being on the receiving end, though.”

Eunae cocked her head to the side and put a hand to her cheek with a concerned frown.

“I’m sorry I haven’t been more helpful. I’m sure I’ll uncover something, eventually.”

Jia shrugged. After suffering through Yan Zhihao and Zheng Long, she wasn’t that concerned with a bit of vandalism or false rumors. The upcoming tournament was much more interesting to her.

“Don’t worry about it, Eunae. If Rika’s already nearby, do you want to come back and join us for tea after the lesson?”

Jia noticed Yue tense up out of the corner of her eye, but Eunae brightened up considerably as she nodded.

“Of course! Though—perhaps we should stop at my place first. Your selection of tea is a bit...”

Jia chuckled and shook her head at Eunae’s pained expression.

“Don’t worry about that. Yue has stocked us up ‘properly’. Apparently the nobility of Qin take their tea as seriously as you do—or maybe just Yue.”

Eunae relaxed a bit.

“Oh! Well in that case, I’d love to!”

Moments later, Grand Magus Do Hye arrived with his two apprentices in tow. The Grand Magus strode confidently up to the podium with his usual smile in place while Dae and Tae In-Su dutifully set about preparing some kind of formation behind him. Dae seemed right at home as he drew the glyphs, having clearly done this often enough for it to be routine.

Conversely, Tae In-Su looked a bit haggard. He was older than most of the academy students by a few years—closer in age to Yue than Jia—and didn’t seem to share Dae’s enthusiasm for the task. His wolf-like ears drooped, and his dark grey hair was unkempt. The dark circles under his eyes betrayed his lack of sleep—which was impressive, given that cultivators didn’t need nearly as much as regular mortals.

He had seemed much happier back when he was the administrator of Nayeong, and Jia almost felt bad for him as he miserably corrected an error pointed out to him by his much younger brother-in-craft. Almost. She still remembered the beating he had given her before crudely ejecting her from the city.

It still struck her as odd that Tae In-Su was here. She didn’t trust Do Hye’s motives, but she couldn’t really fathom them, either. He hadn’t caused any trouble for her, aside from a minor confrontation when they’d first met here, but that didn’t mean he wouldn’t. The vandals had written ‘thief’ on the walls of her home—could he have had a hand in it?

Jia’s rumination was brought up short by the Grand Magus’ voice resounding loudly through the auditorium.

“Welcome students! By now, most of you already know how to draw and activate formations, and perhaps you’ve even memorized a few particularly handy ones, eh?”

Do Hye paused to allow the class to respond with a half-hearted collective mumble. There wasn’t really any single distinguishable response, but Do Hye nodded happily anyway.

“Good, good! Well, memorizing and replicating a formation is fine—and the vast majority of mages never progress beyond doing just that—but today we will be discussing how to create a formation. I believe my apprentices have just finished drawing the first circle—the skeleton of any good formation—some of you may recognize it!”

Jia was already lost, but she supposed she only had herself to blame for missing all the classes before this one. She couldn’t expect the class to wait for her. A student raised their hand, and Do Hye indicated for them to speak. The student stood up and—was that Xin Wei? Jia hadn’t even noticed him! Ah, no Guan Yi—without his mountainous friend nearby, Xin was much harder to spot.

“That’s a mana gathering formation, is it not? You demonstrated it for us in the very first lesson. One of that size can be used to passively charge basic talismans, saving a mage time and effort better spent on more complicated projects.”

Do Hye applauded happily.

“Well spotted! Now, can anyone tell me why such a basic formation is the backbone upon which nearly all other formations are built?”

Jia’s hand went up before she even realized it. She blushed as she received strange looks from some of the surrounding students—they knew this was her first time attending. The Grand Magus seemed amused, but indicated for her to speak. Jia stood up, suddenly nervous—why had she done that?

“Um, to...gather mana?”

Jia cringed at her own words as the students laughed. That wasn’t what she’d meant to say, but her nerves got the better of her. She took a deep breath and pressed on before Do Hye could respond.

“I mean, for the other parts of the formation. A spell can’t do anything without energy, and that energy has to come from somewhere. So...unless you want a mage to be actively pouring mana into the formation, you need to start with mana gathering, right?”

Dae grinned at her from behind Do Hye and flashed her a subtle thumbs up. The Grand Magus himself simply applauded as he had with Xin.

“Absolutely correct! This particular formation is the first that is taught to all mages among the colleges because it is the most versatile! A few small modifications can quickly adjust the element gathered, and it’s simple enough that it can be arrayed with another formation without much interference.”

Well, Jia was lost again. She was glad she’d been able to answer at least one question, even if it was a really easy one. Come to think of it, the pattern seemed pretty familiar, when she looked at it. Magus Hwang had shown them something similar, but it wasn’t that...something closer to her—that was it! It was the same shape as the elemental converter that Eunae had gifted her.

“To demonstrate, my apprentice will quickly make some modifications to gather specific elements.”

Do Hye turned to Dae, who was ready with a cloth, a brush, and two buckets—one of paint, and the other water. The tools of hasty, impermanent formation drawing.

“Fire.”

At the Grand Magus’ command, Dae made two swift brush strokes, and the formation flashed red momentarily. The room began to warm up, but Do Hye didn’t wait.

“Water.”

Dae quickly wiped away the previous modification before filling the space with a new one just as quickly—Jia was impressed. She knew that Dae was good, but it was always interesting to see him in action. Before the room could cool down much, Do Hye barked out another element.

“Ice!”

This time Dae didn’t remove anything from the formation, only added. The demonstration continued for a few minutes, with the Grand Magus slowly ramping up the complexity of the elements as Dae rushed to comply.

“Mud!”

“Stone!”

“Light!”

“Wood!”

“Gravity!”

“Lightning!”

“Force!”

“Destruction!”

Dae’s brush stopped an inch before making contact with the formation before he turned to his master with an exasperated expression. Do Hye laughed heartily.

“Hahaha! Just keeping you on your toes, my boy.”

He turned back to face the class.

“He was right not to finish that last one. It probably would have evaporated the entire formation in an instant, and most of the dais along with it. To say nothing of my poor apprentice.”

Tae In-Su paled and edged away from the now-incomplete formation, while Dae simply sighed and cleaned up the modifications, returning it to its most basic form. Meanwhile, Do Hye continued to address the class.

“This simple formation is the core of nearly all other formations, from the stoves and showers in your homes to the great shield formations that protect Goryeo’s cities. Even the formation that surrounds this very academy started with a humble mana gathering circle.”

That wasn’t particularly surprising, since gathering mana was one of the primary functions of the academy’s shield formation, and the main reason the campus didn’t have to be built up on the mountain.

“In order to create more advanced formations, one must layer other formations into the same circle. The trick is preserving the meaning of the glyphs while integrating multiple formations into a single circle. We call such layered formations ‘arrays’. Even the most basic self-powering formations are made using formation arrays.

“While many mages can get by with rote formations, you will be much better served by memorizing only the most basic versions and learning to craft your own arrays as needed. For example—Dae, make a formation which gathers water into a container of...hmm, let’s not be too difficult—air!”

Dae’s brows furrowed for a moment, but he nodded and set to work, mumbling to himself as he did. While he drew the formation, Do Hye continued to speak.

“There’s no predefined formation for something as useless and frivolous as that, yet it can be achieved! A mage is only as powerful as they are prepared, and no mage—not even me—can memorize formations for each and every possible problem they might face. Rather than a tool for every occasion, a true magus—a Grand Magus—arms themselves with the ability to create whichever tool they might require.”

As he finished speaking—with suspiciously good timing—Dae’s formation lit up and water began to condense into a floating ball in the center of the circle. Jia couldn’t see the air holding it in place, but it had to be there, keeping the water from splashing to the ground. The crowd exclaimed excitedly. It was a fairly simple display of magic, but as Do Hye had pointed out, it was essentially a brand new spell that had been created in the span of a few seconds—by a student, no less. Jia already regretted not having attended these lessons sooner—she would need to get Dae to help her catch up.

The rest of the lesson consisted of a much less exciting review of basic formations. Do Hye described them as the puzzle pieces that went into creating formation arrays, but all Jia saw was circle after circle of complicated glyphs. She wished she could just use Absolute Awareness to memorize the boring part of the lesson for later without having to pay close attention to it.

“That concludes the lesson for today. I recommend that each of you spend some time practicing creating your own simple arrays. It doesn’t matter what they do, just get used to writing overlapping spell circles. Oh, and you may wish to do so outdoors—failed formations can create quite a mess!”

The students slowly filtered out of the class, chatting among themselves. Jia hoped to catch Dae, but he left along with the Grand Magus and Tae In-Su—he must have been busier than she expected. Instead, Eui, Eunae, and Jia began making their way back to the dorms together.

“Where did you say Rika was? We should meet up with her before we go back—”

As if on cue, Rika’s shouting voice could be heard coming from Eunae.

“Eun-eun, are you there!? I’ve never used this thing before, can you hear me!?”

Eunae blushed and pulled a faintly glowing stone out of her sleeves and spoke softly into it.

“We can hear you, Rika. You don’t need to shout.”

“Right! I mean, right, sorry. Uh, you told me to contact you if I saw anything suspicious. There’s a group of girls approaching Jia’s place, and they’re all wearing hoods. They don’t seem to have any of the stuff they used to wreck up the place last time, what should I do?”

Eunae’s brows knitted together tightly.

“That’s not good! Stay there, we’re on our way!”

Eunae and Eui both began running, and Jia quickly followed after them with confusion on her face.

“Wait, what’s going on? It’s a good thing if they aren’t vandalizing the place, right?”

Eui glanced back at her and grimaced.

“If you’ve already vandalized a place you don’t usually de-escalate from that. If they aren’t bringing stuff to throw with them, that means that they don’t need to bring anything with them. It means they are going to use magic.”

Jia felt the blood drain from her face as she redoubled her pace.

“To do what?”

Eunae’s frown deepened.

“In the best case, they will use wind and earth magic to break shutters, dig up gardens, and wreak as much havoc as they can without actually entering the house.”

Jia’s panic was rising rapidly. That was the best case!?

“What’s the worst case?”

Eui scowled angrily.

“They know we’re not home, and as long as they aren’t threatening our lives, they’re not likely to get in much trouble even if they are caught. The worst case is that they take full advantage of that along with the fact that the rules here basically amount to ‘don’t kill each other’.”

“Meaning?”

“The worst case is that they use fire.”