(Alex, 16)

What in Midlaris… Jason! What is this doing here?

Here I am, walking to a blacksmith's shop, and I come across one of those red crystals Jason had in his workshop a couple of weeks ago. Or, well, that he made in his workshop. I'm pretty sure he's keeping them in his dimensional space, since I've never seen them again, other than the grey one, whose pedestal with a slanted top disappeared after that first time I saw it. That crystal still floats in his workshop.

The crystal here, while similar to the one I saw in his workshop, has one of those stone pedestals with a slanted top. The crystal itself floats without that magical circle beneath it, too, though I know Jason mentioned that the circle was only there for while it was in creation.

That was one of the only things he would say about the crystal, though I'm not sure why the grey crystal still has it.

In addition to the stone, the crystal is surrounded by ropes fixed to metal poles three feet in height, creating a space three feet clear around it, each post roughly three feet apart. A wooden sign is fixed to each segment of rope.

PROPERTY OF SAGESON MAGICAL TECHNOLOGIES

ON LOAN TO THE KINGDOM OF VARIL

BY ORDER OF KING ZACHARY: DO NOT CROSS

The signs even have King Zachary's seal embossed onto them beneath the warning, the emblem of Sageson Magical Technologies above the message.

"First time seeing this?" Someone asks, and I look over to find a man in his fifties, maybe late fifties.

He's dressed rather simply, his hair and clothes rough. A regular commoner, not someone who would ordinarily be in this district. He's holding a map of the city and a pen, though he does not look lost.

"No," I answer. "But it wasn't here yesterday."

"Indeed," he nods, looking at the crystal. "The Master Jeshema and a team from Sageson Magical Technologies were out here setting them up earlier. My granddaughter lives over this way, and I was walking with her when we saw them setting it up. Strange boy, that Master Jeshema."

Yes, Jason is very strange. And this makes him even stranger. What in the world did he set up here that took that much magical power to make just one of?

"My granddaughter," the old man continues. "Bless the girl, she walked right up to them and asked what these were. And Master Jeshema, bless that boy, didn't treat her like she were a commoner and tell her to bug off. All he would say was that, once he received the clear from the king, the purpose of these crystals would be made public, and they would ease the daily lives of many. After leaving my granddaughter at her home, I began exploring the city to see where the crystals were set up at. I made a map of them, if you would like to look."

He shows me the map, and I notice X's that he made on it. There are twenty-six of them. They seem to be located randomly across the map. There are several in the living districts, and several in shopping and business. Each one is spaced out, though, positioned at least a fifteen minutes' walk from any other.

This doesn't make any sense, and I know Jason is going to be even more mysterious about it if I ask him why. Then again, he does have a sweet tooth and a love of stuffies. Maybe I could bribe him?

What in the world is this project of his that he managed so quickly? I know he already has several big ones he's working on. The permanent gates, the trains – well, Sage Jared is the one working on those – the magical power readers, and golems.

I'm not sure why he wants to make golems, but he does, and he's succeeded in making around thirty of them. And he made each of those stuffies, too – they aren't something he bought from a store. In his own words, it was just easier to make them as golems by making them himself.

His plans for the stuffie golems are as a children's toy. I'm not sure how well that will work.

But what on Midlaris are these crystals?

"How odd," I tell the older man. "Perhaps we'll learn soon."

"Perhaps," he smiles. "You have a fine day, young man."

Why do people think it's appropriate to call us 'young man'? If I were to call him 'old man', he would likely be offended. That annoys me.

"You as well, sir," I tell him, then he walks off.

I give the crystal one more look, sigh, then continue following the directions Adam gave me after I spoke with him. He came out front while I was talking with Mikey to thank me again for taking him to Jason, as they never would have guessed they had been cursed.

When I reach the Blue Anvil, I step inside and look around. There are a few racks of basic weapons, such as short swords and knives, set up. Stuff that they can make cheaply and easily and sell to students.

The Blue Anvil specializes in equipment enchanted for water properties, though that's not all they can do. They also take special orders, and I have considered coming here and asking for something commissioned before.

Not for enchantments, but just to support a place that caters to my elemental alignment. Most gear enchanted for elements work better for slayers going after things weak to it, such as flame boars or fire elementals for this place's equipment, and not for just general hunting.

"Welcome to the Blue Anvil," the man behind the counter greets me. "How can I help you today?"

"I was wondering if Elise was here?" I ask. "I met her while she was traveling here, and was wanting to see how she was doing and if she wanted to do something."

"Do something?" He raises an eyebrow, suspicion in his voice.

"I know she's engaged," I hastily tell him, aware of what he's wondering. "And I ain't the type to try to steal someone else's woman. I know she's wantin' to attend the Royal Knight University, and thought I'd see if she wanted to train with me a bit, since coming in after a term has a harder test than the original exam. I's a student there and am currently going through its training, so figured it might help her."

And I have a suspicion about her, too. Her and Adam. I can't test it with him, but I might be able to test it with her.

"Kristina!" He hollers. "Fetch Elise, would you? She's up in the apartment! She's got a guest here!"

"On it!" A woman calls back.

"It'll be just a few minutes," the man tells me.

I nod, then start browsing their weapons, checking out the knives and swords. Damn, these are expensive. The pair of knives I have for easy access were a thousand varru each, though I did get them for a pretty hefty discount back in Varilar. Free knives were pretty popular among those on the streets.

A basic, unenchanted knife here costs two thousand varru. An enchantment for durability adds on another thousand, and an element is another thousand. And these are the non-commissioned ones.

"It's Alex, right?"

I turn and face Elise, whose hair is tied into a tight braid behind her, dressed in brown leather boots, brown pants, and a dark blue tunic, her sword on her hip. She does not look like she had been training, so was she about to begin?

"Yeah," I answer. "How are ya doing, Elise? Settling in alright?"

"I am, thank you," she smiles at me. "Varil City is a large place. In the last few weeks, Adam and I have barely managed to explore a small section of it. We are working as much as we can before we begin university next term, though Adam will have an easier time with keeping his hours, as he can switch to an earlier shift without too much trouble. We have been wanting to thank you, again, for suspecting a curse and bringing us to your friend."

"No problem," I smile back. "I'm sure anyone as observant and skeptical as me would have done the same thing."

"I doubt it," she responds. "Many would have just let us be. You, on the other hand, noticed, suspected, and then brought us straight to someone who could both confirm and remove it."

"I'm glad to have assisted ya," I tell her.

"Thank you," she says. "Adam mentioned that you were a street rat before coming here? He said he heard it from Mikey, one of the workers there, who says he was a part of your former crew."

"That is correct," I tell her. "I know my accent's slipping right now. I decided to change my life and try to become a slayer."

"We were both curious," she says. "Who taught you how to use a sword? I grew up with swords, but from what we know, most street rats never learn how to use them. They take too much training and are far too big to make for a street rat."

"I'm largely self-taught," using the knowledge of my swords skills as Quinn, even if I have yet to recover my actual training memories. "But I saw some guards sparring in a Sparring Plaza and practiced moves I saw them using as well. Had I an actual instructor before now, I might have managed to become C-Class or B-Class, rather than D-Class."

That, and some proper education as well, rather than the rare times I entered a church for the free lessons they gave orphans and street rats, then the studying I managed by sneaking into the library at Varilar over the few months before I left for here.

"That is impressive, then," she tells me. "For you to have managed to qualify for the Royal Knight University."

"Qualifying," I say. "Is actually why I am here. I was wondering if ya would like to spar or train with me? For the most part, I train with my crew or Jason, but I was thinking earlier that ya might want to train with someone as well, and that training with a student might help ya. Though I'd understand if you declined, or if you already have someone to help you train."

"Where would you like to train, if I accepted?" She asks.

"As a student," I pull out and show her my university I.D. "I can enter the university and use its training rooms, even on weekends. I'm permitted one guest, or non-student, when doing this. There are instructors on standby at all times while the rooms are open. Officially, they are there to make sure no one is injured, but the real reason they are there is to give advice to students to help them improve, as well as to give advice to any potential slayers, knights, and hunters that may take the entrance exam. Officially, they can't do that, so that's why the official reason is just that they're there to ensure safety."

"They give help to non-students?" She asks.

"Sort of," I nod and put my I.D. away. "The purpose of the universities is to train up warriors, after all, so helping prospective warriors meet the requirements is in their interests. They won't do much, mostly things like 'by the way, ya might want to keep your shield a little lower', or 'try striking at their left side if someone does that to ya'. When I train with my crew, we just use a Sparring Plaza or head out to the fields. If you're worried about being alone with a man without an escort or somethin', I understand."

"We're commoners," she says. "We aren't as obligated by that as nobility, especially since we will be in public and at the university, under supervision by professors. I will accompany you there."

"Okay," I say. "Shall we go now, or do ya need to get ready, first?"

"I am ready now," she answers. "Let us be off, then. Roland, I will be back later."

"See you, Elise," the man at the counter dips his head to her.

We leave and make our way to the university. Rather than going to one of the training yards, where most students practice, especially the D-Class first-year students, I lead Elise to one of the enchanted training rooms. Usually, only A-Class or S-Class in the first year use it, as well as the classes in the upper years that use magical training techniques that might be damaging to the area around them.

"I was expecting a training yard, not a room," Elise comments as I dip my head to the trio of instructors sitting on a bench along the wall with the door.

"We have those, too," I tell her as the instructors dip their heads back.

I know they're curious why we're in here, as two of them teach first-year students, one of whom is my combat training professor.

"But this is better," I tell her. "Adam mentioned ya know a few magical fighting techniques, and I don't get to test myself against someone new who does often. Jason, the guy who broke your curse, has a training group he hosts six days a week. The advanced training group he runs meets for three of those days, and I'm a part of it. That is really the only chance I have to truly test myself against others."

"Oh," she says as I draw my sword, and she draws hers. "How much should we hold back? We're using real swords?"

"The room's enchantments," I say. "Were placed by Sage Alyssa, and they cause a magical dulling of the blades while providing a passive enhancement to the physical resiliency of those within the room. It's a potent enchantment. We should be fine."

"Okay," she says. "Are we sparring, then?"

"First," I nod. "Then, we'll work on our moves."

"Okay," she says, then lunges forward, striking from my right.

I block her sword as I realize I didn't think about whether or not I should do chants for my attacks or not. Most students need to at first, which takes up extra time, but does help them with their visualization until they grow accustomed to using the spells.

My answer comes with her next attack, her blade coated in a layer of frost without a word spoken. Okay, then!

I sheath my own sword in a light layer of water, one designed to resit the effect her ice no doubt has. I've seen that move before, in this life. My blade connects, and the way my magic reacts confirms to me that her ice was designed to freeze whatever it touched other than her sword. That would be damaging to my weapon.

Probably, she would offer to repair or replace it after.

As we spar, moving around the room, I let water form in my steps. Harmless at first, and she seems unhindered by it, probably using magic to allow her to resist slipping and falling when she steps on the small puddles that begin to form.

Our blades continue to clash without much additional magic use, but I can tell she's wondering what I'm doing with the water, especially since I leave behind more with every step I take, no matter how short.

Not that she is bothered by it, considering that as I strike towards her throat while her sword is too low to bring up in time to stop, she jumps back, one hand releasing her sword as she casts a spell that uses the water I've left behind.

"Frozen Wall!" She chants, gesturing up with her hand.

Some of the water lifts up, increasing in volume as it shifts into the path of my blade and freezes with my sword inside. So she's talented enough with turning water to ice that she only needed to chant the name of what she needed to visualize to create that from my water and add more to it.

I send a burst of heat through my blade, melting the ice enough for me to pull my sword free in time to block her attempt at striking my neck in turn. At this point, we're sparring in four inches of water.

Time to take things up a notch. This does require me to chant, but only because I have never cast these spells in this life before and I want to make sure I perform them properly while in this sparring session.

"Dancing on the Four Seas," I chant the shortened version of the spell, confident enough I can manage that.

I step forward again, my foot stepping on the water as if it were the ground. Due to the fact that most people don't lift their feet four inches at a time, I have to take several steps before I'm actually on the surface of the water. This spell is something I've seen a few other people use before in this life, though I'm the one who invented it, back as Quinn, so it is nothing too flashy for the professors.

That will come later.

Walking on the water doesn't give an inherent advantage in such shallow water, as our spells to allow us to move around allowed us to do so with no hindrance, but it's better for what I'm going to do. A lot more water is about to appear in this room, and the professors didn't trigger the spell to allow it to drain out yet. Which means that moving without this spell will become ineffective.

Elise continues to block my attacks, chanting as she does.

"With the grace of those that be, I dance atop the four seas!"

So she knows it, too. That's good, at least. I'd feel bad if she became hindered by the several inches of water that will soon be added. This is supposed to be testing other things, after all, and height gives an advantage while water slows one down.

As she strikes at me, stepping up to the surface of the water as she does, I block and retreat. She has a good guard, and that icy spell is still active.

Kicking forward with the heel of my right foot, I propel myself backwards as a wall of water sprays up into her. Elise cuts through it with her sword and charges at me as I cut the tip of my sword through the water and run out of her reach, chanting as I go. Whether or not she notices that the parted water doesn't close back in on itself is unknown to me, as I am barely keeping an eye on her as I move.

"Rise from the depths of the darkest seas, defend and strike along with me, Leviathan!"

From the parting I made in the water, a leviathan of pure, clear water rises up, complete with fins, whiskers, and a pair of eyes of shimmering light. I spin and strike at Elise with my sword, our blades connecting, and the Leviathan attacks as well. As she musters up a wall of water to block it, I catch the shock in her eyes.

"Come and battle, eight by eight, ten by ten, aid my soul by the dozen!"

Elise strikes with her sword again as twelve thin blades of razor-sharp ice three inches wide and four feet long form around her, half devoted to protecting her from the leviathan, which attacks each time I do. Our blades clash as the other half of the blades of ice strike at me, three helping intercept my attack while the other three strike at me directly.

I summon tentacles of water to grab the blades aimed at me and toss them across the room, stepping back and striking at her again, the tentacles grabbing at her. The three blades I threw across the room soar back to her and the three that had attacked my sword with hers all move to protect her, the other six still defending against my leviathan spell.

As that happens, I summon a tsunami behind me, shielding myself from it as it crashes forward and into her, my leviathan pulling me back and up, the wave adding an additional eight inches of water to the ground.

Elise is soaked from the attack, which her blades of ice had attempted to shield her from. It's a nifty spell; mostly autonomous, like my leviathan, but I know their weakness. Area-of-effect attacks. They aren't enough to completely shield her from them.

She rushes forward, stepping up as she does, but my leviathan keeps hold of me as my blade coats itself in frost. I stab my sword into the water, pouring a lot more power into the spell than she is. She has avoided keeping her sword touching the water for too long because the ice would continue to spread.

Too late, she realizes what's happening, and the water turns to ice, this spell targeted at only water. Elise jumps twice, managing to land on top of the water, then she jumps again as the water beneath her turns to ice. She lands, and I smile at her as she raises her blade.

She correctly read the spell, but forgot one important thing: it's still in effect.

The water on her begins to freeze rapidly, and in only a second, she's covered in frost. In some spots, there are even thin layers of ice.

"Curse you!" She laughs, moving as best she can to break the ice as I pull my sword out of the ice beneath us. Once she's free, she looks at me. "You knew my blades couldn't protect me, didn't you?"

"Yep," I answer as she takes a step, then another. My leviathan sets me down on the ice. "Want to continue?"

Her answer is to stomp on the ice, pulsing magic into it to turn it back into a liquid state, then to propel herself back with the same spell I used earlier, kicking forward with her right heel to do so and chanting as she moves.

"From within the moonlit lake, I summon thee O fog of chaos!"

Fog begins to rapidly rise from the lake, obscuring my vision. The leviathan is unhindered, though, its vision powered by magic rather than physical biology. I tap into its senses and become aware of the battlefield, the shifts in the fog that signify where she's at. She can move during this, but that doesn't surprise me.

I block her blades of ice, the leviathan snatching several out of the air and breaking them in its jaws, turning them back to water. This spell is taking a lot of mana out of me, I really need to use it more often. Maybe I can ask Jason to let me train somewhere?

I need to end this battle soon.

Blocking a blade of ice formed from her blade cutting through the fog, I move around, confirming as her individual attacks follow me that she isn't just guessing or basing it on where her blades of ice are. She's probably using a scan spell to keep track of my location.

Coming to a decision, I command the leviathan to suck in the fog and turn it into extra water for itself. Depending on her spell, either more will form, or it will disappear for good.

As the fog rapidly sucks into my creation, Elise charges towards me, the air for four feet around her shimmering with a light mist.

I command the leviathan to attack two feet in front of it, and the beast does. Even its senses were fooled by that trick, but when it strikes, her blades move to defend her, and I take advantage of that moment to strike her chest with my sword.

"I win," I say, the 'Elise' disappearing with the fog as the real Elise becomes visible.

"You do," she smiles. "And I'm exhausted."

"Same here," I release my spells, the leviathan disappearing as I sink down into the water, my feet quickly touching the floor. Elise sinks down as well. "Maybe we can do training after we grab something to eat? There's a cafe not far from here that my crew and I enjoy."

"Sure," she responds, then we turn to leave and find all three professors staring at us eyes wide and jaws slack. "Did we break the professors?"

"You're only a D-Class!" My combat training instructor exclaims as one of the others puts his hand on a rune by the door, the water level of the room beginning to drop. "Where did those moves come from? How come you've never fought like that during sparring on Sordays?"

"Sir," I say. "We don't fight using more than enhancements during the sparrings. I've also been training outside of lessons with my housemate and a few others, in addition to the times you have seen me in here."

"Right," he nods. "You're a part of Master Jeshema's training group. Does it really make someone with a status like yours that good in just two months?"

"No!" I laugh. "Most of his training is focused on magical control and mana increase, as well as practicing the basics of the four base elements. Foundational work to improve magic. He does teach some martial arts and swordplay, though. I probably do train more than most students here do, but the magical combat side of that didn't come from his training, that's only increased my magical power and mana pool. I'm aiming for S-Class, even if it might take me a few terms, and am training hard with the sword for that."

"If you keep at it," he tells me. "I would not be surprised if you reached it for first term of next year."

"Thank you, sir," I dip my head to him. "I doubt I will advance that quickly. S-Class truly is the elite of the elite of the elite's elite elite. There isn't a chance I could do it that soon, and my academics still need raising as well. I only barely passed well enough on those to make it into this university."

"Good luck," he says.

"Thank you," I say.

Elise and I leave, and not for the first time, I marvel at the enchantments on the room. Even though we left unhindered, the water soaking through our clothes remaining, not a single drop of the free water flows out of the opened doorway.

"It is a bit chilly outside," I say. "And we are still wet. Would you like to be shown the changing rooms so you can attempt to wring water out of your clothes? Or will you be fine?"

"I'll be fine," she tells me. "A little chill doesn't bother me."

I thought so, but wanted to check anyway.

"Alright," I say. "Come, the cafe is only a few minutes from here."

I lead Elise out of the university, regretting not taking a few minutes to wring out my own clothes and towel myself off. Maybe I should have insisted on it with her, even if for selfish reasons?

Doing my best not to shiver while noticing Elise doing the same, I walk down the street. A few minutes later, we reach the cafe, which sits on the corner of the street. On the sidewalk, Jason is setting up another of those crystals of his, half a dozen people of varying ages helping him as he does something on a grey crystal tablet.

"Jason!" I walk over to him, Elise following. "What on Midlaris are those crystals?"

"It'll be revealed soon," he glances at me, then Elise, then his gaze returns to me, his brows furrowed in confusion. "Why are you two soaked?"

"We were just sparring," I tell him. "She and I are both water-based warriors."

"Ah," he gestures towards us, and a warm breeze wraps around me, then fades, leaving me dry. "There, now you two won't catch the chills. You should have dried off before leaving the university. No, move the access panel a quarter of an inch back."

Two of the workers move the stone pedestal, and Jason checks his tablet, then nods. Is that English on it?

I suppose that's one way to keep people from being able to use it. Before I can make out what it says, however, he's turned away from me.

"Yeah, that's it," Jason says. "Alex, I'll see you when we're both home tonight. Elise, it's good to see you doing well. I'd chat some more, but we have four more of these to set up before noon, then I have other stuff I need to take care of."

"It was good to see you again," Elise curtsies to Jason. "Thank you for breaking the curse."

"You're welcome," Jason responds. "Uncle Zach found out who cast it, by the way. You shouldn't have to worry about them again."

"Thank you," her frown makes it clear she doesn't know who he was talking about.

"I'll explain," I say quietly. "Come, let's eat, yeah?"

I lead her into the cafe and we take a seat, her on the other side of the table from me.

"Did Jason really dry us off like that?" Elise asks after our orders are taken and food is put in front of us.

"That's Jason for ya," I laugh. "He does things like that all the time, and I hadn't even thought about it when I went up to him. Those crystals make me curious, and I know he'll avoid answering."

"I see," she says. "So how do you think I'll do?"

"I think," I say. "That we should spar without using magic to find out, but from what I saw of your abilities before we started adding in more magics, I would say you'll probably make it in."

"That was an interesting spell you had there," she tells me.

"You mean the leviathan?" I ask, and she nods. "Thanks. I was called 'Leviathan Alex' as streetlord in Varilar. Figured I should have a spell that worked with it. My sacred beast is the leviathan."

"Interesting," she says. "How did you know the trick of my last spell? Not many people have seen it before."

"Probably because I invented it," I tell her. "Or rather, Quinn did."

Elise sits back a little, and I know she knows exactly what I'm talking about. She's Kiera, the Magi of Force and Queen of Winter. Her sacred beast is the kraken, if it matches up with back then.

She leans forward.

"Is Nolan-"

"Yes," I lower my voice and lean forward. "He's here. I won't say who he is, though. I know he knows of several others here, but he won't tell me who they are. I doubt that they know who he is. We only know about each other because we showed each other our Crystal Crests. If Adam is William, warn him that the S-Class students are the Royal Knight University and Royal Mage University are learning what is known of the true history of magic – including the war."

"He's one of the S-Class students?" She asks.

"Yes," I nod. "And if he suspects you're one of us, he'll probably do something subtle to check."

"I see," she says. "Why are they being taught it?"

"According to what he said," I tell her. "Last summer, at the meeting of world leaders, there was a divine message given that said the Gathering will occur soon. These are the people who know the truth – including about the lack of a certain faction of beings interacting with us."

"So they think it might be necessary?" She asks.

"Yes," I answer. "They no doubt believe the information will be important, and want to give it to the top students first."

"I see," she says. "I will warn Adam of it."

"So he is?" I ask, and she nods. "I figured, with you two being together. I have a question, now that I know you are who I suspected."

"What?" She asks, and I lean forward, dropping my voice even lower.

"Do you remember any of the training we went through under Nolan?"

"No," she answers. "Of all the memories that are yet to return, those are among them. Adam says the same is true for him."

Then Jason's theory is probably correct, and it was done intentionally to slow our own growths.

"Is it alright if I inform him who you are?" She asks.

"Go ahead," I answer. "But ask him to keep quiet about it. We have to be careful. As soon as word gets out about the true history, anyone claiming to be a Magus of old will be faced with religious zealots who deny the truth due to their faith."

"I will," she tells me. "I take it you are still interested in training together?"

"Yes," I nod. "It would be good to brush up on my skills. I can ask Jason if he has a place we can train without holding back as much or inconveniencing others. He will probably do it, he knows and has plenty of private places we could use."

Especially if I ask with a big basket of cookies.