“What are we doing?” Polaris asked, as he kept pace with Liliana.

It was their second day in the Academy, and most of her classmates had not yet awoken. Liliana had been waking up before the sun rose for over a year now, either because of her schedule or because of her nightmares, and it wasn’t a habit she’d broken. Nor did she see a reason to. There were only so many hours in a day, and she had much she wanted to accomplish daily.

Besides, it was easier to forget the horrors she saw so often at night if she had something else to focus on. If she could do it fast enough, and long enough, those scenes that haunted her nights would fade away like mist under the light of the sun.

“Exploring. You wanted to do that yesterday.” Liliana mentally responded. Since mastering telepathic communication with Polaris, she saw little reason to verbalize their conversations unless he was including someone else in them.

“You didn’t want to bring your friends with you?” Polaris asked as they left the dorm building into the early dawn air. The Academy might be more southern than the Rosengarde manor, but it was still spring and there was a slight bite to the air.

“I know this might startle you, but despite how charismatic I am, I’m not, in fact, a social butterfly,” Liliana responded drolly as she looked around.

She knew the layout of the Academy, so there was little point in exploring for the sake of familiarizing herself with it to prevent becoming lost. But she did very much want to look around the place that had once been nothing but a series of code and graphic design to her.

“Oh. What a grand shock. I may very well perish on the spot from this unbelievable revelation,” Polaris teased, dodging Liliana’s swat with a yipping laugh.

“Besides, I love my friends, but they can be a bit much. And there are some places I want to look around today that aren’t very conductive to socialization,” Liliana explained as she turned right and headed down the pathway.

She saw other dorms for first years as she walked, all quiet at this early hour. Size wise they looked the same as the S dorm. Likely, class S got bigger rooms while the lower classes got smaller, shared dorms to maximize space. Liliana shivered at the thought of being shoved into a closet sized room with another person. She really needed to keep her spot if she wanted to retain her privacy.

“Will they be a problem?” Polaris asked her when they cleared the dorms, approaching the thickly forested area behind the dorms. He was referring to Diana and Zir’elon, Liliana knew. Polaris had access to her Earth memories. Liliana had not hidden those from him. He understood as much about the game as she did and knew the threat the heroes posed to her.

“Maybe. The heroes were catalysts in the game. I’m not sure if it’s the same in this world, or if maybe they were randomly chosen in the game. If their personalities remain much the same, Diana shouldn’t become an issue if I don’t interact with or antagonize her, but Zir’elon will probably be a problem.” Liliana responded as they walked past the first few trees standing sentry to the peaceful forest.

Liliana could feel the Mana density in the air strengthening as they walked further in. It would do little good for humans, dæmons, and beastmen to attempt to absorb the Mana from the environment. All of their abilities came from their internal Mana core. But beasts could take in Mana from surroundings, which could raise their Magical Power and Control.

According to Polaris, who had heard it from Minori, beasts could also absorb enough Mana to advance their stats. But it required such absurd amounts of ambient Mana and time it was a foolish endeavor. However, practicing in high Mana areas was beneficial for any living being. The pressure from high density Mana on one’s core could help them strengthen their core and advance their skills and spells faster, like how pressure deep in the earth created diamonds over time. The gains were more noticeable for beasts, but it was useful for humanoid races as well.

Liliana had noticed that Acacia had not shown their class this. She wondered if it was purposeful, or if the second year did not realize the benefit of this forest, either. Perhaps it was something the Academy wanted students to learn on their own, a secret test. Perhaps many students thought it was simply here for decoration, not realizing nothing in the Academy was for decoration. Every last thing in the Academy existed for a purpose. One just had to be smart enough to figure it out. Or have a cheat sheet.

Class S might be the only class with personal training and study rooms, but the forest was open to everyone. While it might not be able to change its terrain or offer automatons programmed to be the perfect opponent, the forest could prove to be a priceless tool in itself. Practicing skills, spells or Magic Control and Power here could enhance gains tremendously.

Liliana doubted many had figured out that the reason Dungeons could give bonus experience was because they naturally had higher densities of Mana, which created the dungeons in the first place. Liliana doubted she’d know, had Polaris not revealed it to her. Perhaps she would’ve figured it out, eventually. But high density areas of Mana would always be beneficial to any living thing willing to put in the effort to utilize them.

“There are a lot of rare plants here,” Polaris said, sniffing at a bush with leaves as large as her hands and flowers resembling stars, but in shades of orange.

Frianna, a plant native to their continent but not overly common. It was used for enhancement potions as a main ingredient, be it reflex, speed, strength it was a necessary component and with how popular such potions were for adventurers and nobles alike, demand was always greater than supply.

Liliana was surprised to see it in the forest as opposed to being cultivated in the greenhouses she knew were on campus, but not shown in their tour yesterday. Likely because they didn’t want a bunch of sixteen-year-olds around rare and dangerous plants unsupervised.

The urge to harvest some flowers for alchemy was strong, but Liliana held off. She didn’t have a personal alchemy set up here, and she wouldn’t start her alchemy classes until she selected it as an elective and was enrolled at the end of the first week of classes. Besides, while harvesting in the forest was fine in the game, she wasn’t sure it was alright with the Academy. Games let you walk into people’s houses and break their pottery too, didn’t mean you could do that in reality.

“Leave them. Try to remember what you see so if we can harvest we can come back, but for now, let’s not commit potential theft,” Liliana cautioned her Bond as they moved on, meandering deeper into the forest.

She had a rough idea of where she wanted to go, but for the most part, she was enjoying the peace of the forest. There would be no beasts on the grounds that would attack her, so she could relax her guard a little and truly enjoy the scenery.

“I should be warning you of that. Or were you not the one who scaled a wall to get into someone’s personal gardens and steal a rare berry?” Polaris replayed the memory in question, causing Liliana to blush and puff her cheeks as she turned her head away in a huff.

“I don’t know what you’re talking about. I’d never do something so undignified.” Liliana responded.

“Of course. You’re the epitome of grace and poise. A proper lady.” Polaris sarcasm was heavy as he trotted ahead of her with a yipping laugh.

“I smell cherry blossoms,” Polaris alerted her a few moments alter, perking Liliana up from where she’d been muttering darkly about smartass foxes. Her steps picked up and soon enough, she could see pink through the branches of the surrounding trees.

“Someone’s there.” Polaris mentally hissed, drawing Liliana up short. Both dropped a bit, reflexes honed by many battles coming to light as they proceeded silently and cautiously towards the trees.

“Polaris. To the shadows.” Liliana mentally ordered as she activated [Invisibility].

She knew that there wouldn’t be an enemy of the Academy grounds. There wasn’t a humanoid alive, powerful enough to break through the barriers around the esteemed campus. But she didn’t know who was in the grove she’d been searching for.

It could be a professor, in which case it would be best to slip away quietly and not bother them, or a student. If they were an upperclassman, it might be best to slip away from them, on the chance they took her presence as spying or annoying and took offense. However, if they were an upperclassman and didn’t notice her, she could perhaps get a bit of spying on, maybe learn new techniques before class even started.

If it was one of her year, she could watch for a bit, see if it was someone who had figured out the benefit of this area and mark them as a future threat and challenge to monitor. If it was someone simply trying to get some peace away from others she need not bother them, as she’d prefer to avoid conflict over something as inane as rights to sitting in a grove in a forest.

Polaris slipped into the shadows, his [Dark Manipulation] and [Shadow Step] making him as invisible as she was in the shadows of the forest. They both crept closer until they came upon the protective ring of cherry blossom trees that circled a small pond, reminiscent in a way of Minori’s domain. It was part of why Liliana had wanted to come here, knowing Polaris would appreciate a little taste of home.

Past the trees, heavily laden with pink flowers, a form in a dark uniform sat cross-legged, leaning back on his arms on a protruding stone by the pond, staring blankly into the water. He was immediately recognizable, his tall form obvious even sitting, his riot of fire-orange hair and darker horns twisting above it. Koth’talan, the bastard prince of the Alfein Empire.

Liliana’s eyes scanned him, seeing the relaxed way he was sitting, and she deduced he hadn’t come out here to practice or train. He had been looking for a private place to relax, nothing more. Though it was surprising to her to see someone not only of her year but of her class out in the forest so early. She felt herself relax a bit, and she began to draw back. She’d find another place to enjoy the early morning and leave him to his thoughts.

“I know you’re there.” A voice called out, dark, deep but with a slight rasp. Liliana would compare it to the sound of a fire crackling, if she had to. Her movements froze and her head whipped to look at the boy, whose glowing amber eyes had locked with her form.

How high is his [Perception]? No one can usually spot me when I’m invisible unless they have a Wind or Earth affinity and can sense the disturbances my form makes. Liliana thought as she stood stock still under his gaze.

Her mind ran through the possibilities. He likely didn’t know who she was, so she could run, and he’d never know it was she who stumbled upon him. She doubted he’d catch up, not with her Speed. Or she could reveal herself and greet him, as was proper.

After weighing the options, Liliana saw little reason to run from the boy. She was no coward, and he wasn’t a threat to her. He hadn’t attacked her or made any move to stand from his reclined position. A part of her had also itched at the thought of running anyway, so with a sigh she straightened her form and turned off [Invisibility]. Koth’talan kept his eyes on her, his eyebrow twitching a small amount when he recognized her as one of his class.

“I apologize. I was seeing who was here first. I have no plans to challenge you for this area.” Liliana said with a slight bow. He might be a prince, but in the Academy they were equals, and she wouldn’t be showing him deference while that held true.

“I don’t care. If you want to sit here, it’s fine by me. If you want to leave, do so. I don’t own this area, so it matters little to me what you choose to do.” Koth’talan said bluntly, turning his gaze from her as he seemed to become bored.

“I’m simply exploring the area.” Liliana said, getting a silent half shrug from the prince.

She felt herself bristling at his cold demeanor before she reigned in her temper. It was best if he showed little to no interest in her. It meant she wouldn’t need to deal with his brother if the two of them didn’t develop any kind of friendship.

Still, he could at least look at me, Liliana thought grumpily. Feeling a bit petty, she mentally asked Polaris to reveal himself. It was obvious the prince hadn’t detected the Rank 4 Kitsune, and she wanted to see the cold prince surprised. Polaris mentally sighed but stepped out of the shadows, dropping his cloak of darkness to stand beside her. Liliana got the pleasure of seeing Koth’talan jolt, his head turning sharply to look at the beast that had just revealed his presence.

“We’ll be off then. I’ll see you around,” Liliana said smugly, waving one hand flippantly as she turned and walked through the trees. She could feel the dæmon’s eyes on her until the trees blocked his vision.

“Was that smart? To reveal me so early?” Polaris asked, though his thoughts were tinged with amusement. He loved a bit of mischief in the morning.

“You’re not my secret weapon or anything, and I’ll probably need to reveal all of my Bonds in training soon enough. Besides, any noble in this queendom knows I have a Rank 4 Bond. Little reason to keep it hidden. More importantly, his expression was worth it.” Liliana said with a cheerful hum as they walked on.

She wanted to get a chance to practice a little before lunch. Afterwards, she’d be heading to the library to take advantage of the culmination of more than a continent’s worth of knowledge. Other students might think the school year hadn’t yet started and use the days before classes began to relax, but Liliana would be utilizing every second she had here to advance herself. She had four years here and she wouldn’t let a moment of that go to waste.

“You could’ve had me dump him in the pond if you wanted to really give him a shock,” Polaris said, with a bit too much glee at the thought.

“No, his brother will probably end up an enemy. I don’t need to make more enemies in this school. There will be enough nobles who have a problem with me. Besides, if Zir’elon does end up targeting me like in the game, I might need to user Koth’talan to counter him.” Liliana said with a sigh. She hoped, fervently, that Zir’elon would ignore her existence entirely. But she doubted she’d be so lucky.

She wouldn’t go out of her way to antagonize him, but if he picked a fight, she would not stand down. And the most important factor in any battle was information. Know thy enemy. She might have knowledge from the game, but Koth’talan had grown up with Zir’elon and nothing could compare to that kind of knowledge. Polaris didn’t respond, but she felt his acceptance of her reasoning.

“This will do,” Polaris decided after they’d walked for another twenty minutes.

It wasn’t the same as the clearing with the cherry trees, but it was still a beautiful spot. An old tree had fallen, opening the canopy next to a stream. The tree was covered in moss and made the perfect seat. Liliana settled down and summoned several objects from her storage. They were weights, starting at one pound and increasing to ten.

Her [Thread Of Control] could only lift four individual objects that weighed just over one pound each. She’d been trying to increase her weight limit, but each half pound over her weight limit tripled the Mana cost for each additional object. It took a 200 Mana channel spell and could quickly turn it into a spell that cost 2,400 Mana a second. Which would exhaust her in two seconds.

However, she knew if she kept pushing the spell, it would eventually level, and in the process, preferably increase its weight limit. The spell had started with barely being able to lift half pound objects when it had first evolved from [Grasp] but time and effort had gotten it to over a pound for each object. It was a slow gain, but Liliana was patient. Her goal wasn’t to simply be like Natalia, guiding hundreds of daggers, but to eventually advance to controlling multiple swords.

Swords were larger, sturdier and had a longer reach than daggers. They’d be able to block more effectively than daggers could, and if she had to worry less about her defense in fights, she could be a more effective fighter. Her build’s largest weakness was her abysmal Vitality and lack of defensive abilities. She didn’t want to divert her stat points into Vitality when she desperately needed them elsewhere, and she didn’t want to divert her focus on her offensive abilities to defensive ones. Learning and mastering defensive skills felt like a waste of time to her when she could instead turn offense into defense.

With her goals in mind, Liliana took a deep breath and began her exercises, grabbing first a single one and a half pound weight and holding it until her Mana dropped to concerning levels. She meditated while she waited for her Mana to regenerate, doing two the next time and then three, then four weights, meditating between each channel. She knew Polaris was practicing his own abilities, but she paid him little attention as time passed her by.