The following morning, Lily sat in a small, private garden with Madeline. The academy had numerous small, private places, each set with wards against eavesdropping and other magical means of spying. Everyone needed a place where they could sit and talk without fear of their secrets being aired to strangers, and it had been Madeline's idea to use one this morning.

Lily would never have even dared to request one since even if she was a student, the faculty still largely held the view that a commoner is a commoner. However, with the daughter of an archduke making the request, it was simplicity itself to reserve one for breakfast. The two sat on a picnic blanket, eating what Lily would admit was probably the most delicious breakfast she'd ever had. Nobility certainly comes with benefits.

"So," Madeline began, "what's your plan for humbling Crassus?"

Straight to the point, without any idle chit-chat. Given how tight Rine's timetable was, that suited Lily just fine. She smiled, nibbled at a small muffin, then said, "It's complicated, but for everything to work, I need Crassus to think that I have a plan, but not the plan I actually have."

Nodding in understanding, the young noblewoman said, "Classic misdirection. You'll give him a plan he thinks he can thwart so that he can't thwart your real plan." Madeline was raised in the court of an archduke, so games like these were likely second nature to here. Plans within schemes within deceptions were common amongst the peerage.

Smiling, Lily agreed. "Exactly. So, I'm going to make a run to the labyrinth today. If anyone asks why we met this morning, you'll tell them because you asked me to make a quick expedition to collect some mana crystals for you, so you can get some last-minute practice in before the tournament. When I get back, we'll have another meeting to 'deliver' them."

Lily made weekly runs to the labyrinth, the magical maze that seemed to generate ceaseless monsters and magical items. While there were many across the world, Academy City had one within its walls, which was a rarity. Allegedly created by the ancient gods, this mysterious structure was open to anyone with the courage and strength to explore its halls. Lily, being able to create magical barriers, could freely wander the first floor without any problems, as the monsters and traps within were barely a threat, and lacked the strength to do any damage to Lily's defenses.

They were so harmless that the young commoner actually had a habit of feeding the creatures out of pity. It was fairly common for her to go once a week to search for items that she could pawn for pocket change, plus the occasional more valuable item that randomly appeared. Of course, it wasn't unheard of for a rare and superbly valuable item to appear even on the first floor, just like how, every once in a while, a powerful monster would appear that was far stronger than normal.

Madeline, quick on the uptake, guessed, "And afterward, you'll want me to spread a rumor that you came across a rare magical item, one that would give you a major advantage over Crassus in the tournament?"

Lily laughed and then nodded. "Exactly. He'll raise a fuss to make sure I can't use it during the tournament, which won't be hard since using magic items is banned from the tournament anyway. So, he'll be so satisfied with himself in having foiled my 'plan' that he won't even consider that I've got something different up my sleeve." She paused, as this was the tricky part since she'd actually be lying. "I've actually got a lead on a magic item that would do the trick, so it'll help sell the deception."

The young noblewoman raised an eyebrow, and asked, "Oh?"

Lowering her voice, Lily said, "A few weeks ago, I stumbled across a secret chamber on the first floor. It's not on any maps, at least as far as I know. It had a lot of stuff in it, but most of it is warded beyond my ability to safely collect it. I'm pretty sure that there was a magic ring in there without any major wards or traps protecting it, so I can take it safely. But that's not the real prize I found there."

Eyes wide, Madeline seemed to be absorbed in the story and asked, "Really?" An undiscovered room in the labyrinth was a really big deal, even if there wasn't anything in it. The top twenty floors were well mapped out, but hidden chambers still popped up from time to time, and treasures could often appear just about anywhere, even in hidden chambers like the one she'd described. More importantly, when an item did appear in a hidden chamber, it was often far more valuable than the ones found in the well-traveled corridors of the labyrinth.

A chamber filled with magical items, however, was something else entirely. Being the one who found it, Lily could report its location to the Adventurer's Guild, and expect a 20% cut from the profits of the sale of all items found within. If they were valuable enough, she could even report it directly to the king when he arrived tomorrow. Depending on what was inside, the reward could easily be more money than most commoners saw in an entire lifetime.

But the idea that something even more valuable than a room full of magical treasures might be inside, something that was worth keeping the discovery a secret despite its already fabulous value, definitely caught the young noblewoman's interest.

Lily paused, then said, "Keep this a secret between the two of us, but I found something really incredible there. There was a mural on one wall. I didn't realize what it was at first, but after I studied it for a bit, I realized that it was a depiction of how children were trained in the use of magic in the distant past... with runes in Elderscript that explained how it was done in further detail. Translating it was a chore, but I've always been a bit of a nerd when it comes to the old languages..."

That part, at least, was true. If there was one thing Lily liked about the academy, it was the abundance of books on every subject, including ancient history and the legends of the wizards of old, and any study of those stories relied upon a working knowledge of Elderscript. An ancient language from a long lost age, it was one of the few things left from a time when mages were allegedly so powerful that they could do battle with the gods and win.

However, after that time of myth and legend, the knowledge of the ancient wizards was lost, and modern mages have struggled to find even the barest hints of the secrets of that bygone era. A training method, even one intended for children of that ancient time of wonder, was so valuable that no price could be attached to it.

"Of course, I didn't believe it myself," Lily continued as Madeline listened in rapt attention. "I kept it secret until I could confirm whether or not it was true. So, I started training in secret, when no one was watching. Then, after several days..."

Lily paused for dramatic effect, then held up a hand and cast a spell, creating a small flame that hovered above her palm.

"I made a breakthrough," she concluded.

As Madeline stared at the tiny floating flame in surprise, Lily added, "And being able to use offensive magic is the least of what I can do now. Crassus is expecting to fight a weak little turtle who can't fight back. He's going to learn that this little turtle can bite."

--------------------------------------------------

*You have a gift for telling stories,* Rine stated, as Lily rode in a carriage down the streets of Academia City. Madeline had insisted that her 'friend' take the carriage down to the labyrinth. Admittedly, it was pleasant enough, being the personal carriage of an archduke's daughter, granting an incredibly smooth and comfortable ride.

Of course, this assistance came with the promise of teaching Madeline, or 'Maddy' as she insisted Lily call her, everything about this secret training method after the tournament was over. It seemed a fair trade, and Lily did plan on spreading the knowledge of 'Cycling' after the tournament was over.

"I don't like lying to her," Lily admitted quietly, as she was starting to like Maddy despite herself. Even if the young noblewoman might be helping her classmate for unknown and potentially selfish reasons, it was still more kindness than Lily had seen since her enrollment. Maddy was probably the closest thing Lily had to a friend since she'd been enrolled at the academy. It was a pity that she'd only come to realize it in the last twenty-four hours.

*Don't worry about it,* Rine replied, *when we're done, there will be a chamber exactly like you've described in the labyrinth, so it won't be a lie anymore.*

He'd refused to go into detail on how he expected to manage that, saying that it would spoil the surprise. Still, it was a half-hour ride to the entrance of the Labyrinth, and there was precious little to do between now and then, asides from Ebb and Flow training. Given how little she knew about her mysterious benefactor, she decided to see if she could pry any information from him. As she cycled her mana, Lily asked, "So... what did you do that caused you to get locked up?"

*I killed two of my friends,* came his prompt reply, sadness coloring his tone.

Lily stiffened in shock, then asked, "Care to run that by me again?"

His tone sounding mournful, he explained, *Long, long ago, there were three very powerful mages. In an era where magic was powerful beyond anything you can imagine, these three towered above their peers as a dragon towers above an ant. They were known as the Three Celestial Sages, and many believed that their innate talent with magic was a sign that they were incarnations of the ancient gods. Complete nonsense, but two of those sages were my friends, and they used that perception as a means of getting whatever they wanted, including being worshipped as gods by the majority of the populace.*

*I didn't buy into that sort of thing, having known them since childhood, but almost everyone else believed it. Meanwhile, my passions were for learning and for magic, so I was often more engrossed with arcane studies, rather than more earthly matters. One day, I went on a long journey, exploring distant realms and plumbing the depths of magical knowledge. I was away for far longer than normal and went much further afield than I'd ever gone before.*

*Then, word came to me that my two friends were quarreling, and what had started as a small disagreement had escalated to a violent battle, one that was raging out of control.*

He paused for a moment, then explained, *When mages that powerful fight one another, it's enough to permanently change the shape of the world and endanger entire kingdoms, if not the world itself. Many treaties between countries in that era stated that wizards above a certain level were never allowed to participate, to ensure that kingdoms didn't annihilate each other completely. Two of the strongest wizards the world had ever seen fighting it out was guaranteed to be catastrophic, perhaps even cataclysmic.*

*I returned as swiftly as I could, but it was already too late for far too many: Kingdoms had fallen, countless thousands were dead, continents had been radically reshaped or sunk to the bottom of the ocean, and worse. When I finally found them, my friends were fighting each other using magic that twisted and warped the fabric of reality itself, risking the end of the world if they lost control for even a fraction of a second.*

*If they continued to do battle as they did, it would be impossible to rebuild anything afterward, as all life as we know it would end. So, I tried to reason with them, to convince them to stop. I could not get through to them. I had been gone so long that they no longer recognized me, and their hatred of one another so great that nothing could stop them from continuing the battle to its final, fatal conclusion. So, I was forced to choose between saving what was left of the world and the lives of my two friends.*

*The choice was obvious, even if it was heartbreaking.*

Curious, Lily asked, "And the third Celestial Sage did nothing?"

*The third Celestial Sage was the one who killed them,* came Rine's reply.

It took a minute for two and two to be put together, but Lily didn't need any help coming to the correct answer. "So... after you killed your two friends, what happened next?"

*As I mentioned earlier,* Rine stated, *the Celestial Sages were viewed as beings equal to the gods, if not literally the gods themselves. My friends had gathered thousands of worshippers, some of which were decent mages in their own right. I'd been away so long that people had forgotten that there had ever been a third Celestial Sage, so I was seen as an evil heretic who had somehow murdered the gods, rather than a hero, in the eyes of those who remained.*

*Those worshippers who still lived joined forces and imprisoned me using forbidden magic since they lacked the power to actually kill me. So, my reward for saving the world was to be sealed away outside of reality. Thus, instead of helping rebuild what my friends had broken, I was stuck here in a place that does not truly exist, an eternal observer as everyone fumbled around, trying to rebuild what my friends had destroyed.*

*I watched as my name, and the names of my friends, faded into myth and were eventually forgotten completely. I watched as the world devolved into a primitive age of barbarism, compared to what it once was. I watched as kingdoms slowly rose once more and some semblance of civilization was restored, a pale imitation of what it once was. In all of that time between then and now, I could only watch, but not interact with the world... at least, until you came along.*

It felt like a lot was being left out of this tale, even if it were true. Still, the history of that distant era was more myth than fact, so she could hardly disprove any part of what he'd said. All anyone knew was that, long ago, there were powerful mages capable of unimaginable feats, then some unknown disaster came about and everyone was struggling to survive, centuries of knowledge lost in the blink of an eye. Two extremely powerful wizards fighting each other made as much sense as any other theory she'd ever read regarding the source of that disaster.

"And what is so special about me?" Lily asked, curious.

*I honestly have no idea,* Rine immediately replied. At Lily's shocked reaction, the entity chuckled and said, *I never said I had all the answers, apprentice.*