Jon took a deep breath, mentally preparing himself for the task ahead. All the curtains were closed, and a single lightstone shined brightly behind him, covering Professor Willow in his shadow. He extended an arm forward. A dark tendril emerged from the shadow cast on the floor. It rose steadily until finally reaching and wrapping itself around his open hand.

The tendril contracted, turning taut as it tried to pull his hand down with no success. Jon flexed his arm, and the tendril snapped in half before dissipating into a shadowy mist. After more than a month, his condition had improved enough that he was finally ready to leave.

The waiting had been torturous, in some ways even worse than the time he spent imprisoned, strangely enough. Back then, with the prospect of death looming over his head, he had a lot of time to appreciate how valuable his life was. Time couldn’t pass slowly enough.

This period at the infirmary, in turn, felt like torture. He could’ve been enjoying his vacation, learning new spells, or even earning some coin by helping his professors’ research. Instead, he was stuck in bed watching the days go by.

It had been weeks since his last lapse in memory. Certainly a good thing, but it also carried the drawback of being forced to endure repeated days of mind-numbing boredom. Fortunately, he received a lot of visits from Aeron, Deon, and Willow which helped make the waiting a little more bearable.

“Well done,” said the professor as she opened the curtains, causing Jon to squint at the afternoon sunlight shining onto his face. “Tell me how you feel. Any pain, weakness, or dizziness?”

“Some headache when casting the spell, but you told me that would be normal until I was fully recovered.” He cast another tendril underneath a table in the corner. “Other than that I feel as good as before. No weakness or anything.” The tendril crept toward a fruit basket atop the table, snatched a bright red apple, and then threw it in the air for him to catch.

“That’s good. You’ve recovered to the point where constant care is no longer required.”

“So I can finally leave?”

“I would say yes, though don’t forget that it will be a few more months until you’re fully recovered. During this period, you’ll have to make use of your better judgment… that’s what worries me. If you had any you wouldn’t have ended up here.”

Jon grinned. “Don’t worry, I’ll restrain myself to only casting weaker spells when I’m alone. Anything more advanced will be reserved for classes, under either your or Cedrick’s watch. I promise you that.” Expectantly, he stared at her until she finally conceded with a nod. “Thank you,” he said, immediately rushing out of the room. He returned moments later, realizing he was still wearing only a nightshirt. After getting fully dressed, he finally left the infirmary for good.

During the vacation period, the academy grounds were mostly empty of students. The few who remained still remembered what Jon did to Garrel at the tourney, so they opted for avoiding him. The workers and servants were more numerous by comparison, all of them focused on getting everything ready for the next academic year starting in a couple of weeks.

Jon paid them little mind as he ran towards the dorms. Running out of air by the time he reached the building, he pushed open the door and found the bedroom empty. Perfect, he thought. Nevil and Bella were still with their families. Meanwhile, Aeron and Deon were likely either drinking or whoring.

Part of him wanted to follow their example, but there was something that needed to be tested first. He took off the robes and threw them on the bed, the wooden box with only Kollion’s Concoction still inside it. The other potion had already been consumed as it served to help treat the damage to his brain.

He sat down, elbows against his thighs and the apple in his right hand. While he had to admit that trying to overcharge the photons with mana had been a terrible idea, that didn’t mean he completely abandoned the wish to turn invisible. The weeks stuck in bed gave him a lot of time to ponder his options, and he realized the unique advantage he held over most people: His opposite elements.

Light and darkness were intrinsically linked given that the latter was a result of the former’s absence. For example, a shadow veil spell worked by absorbing the light that came in contact with it. And if there was no natural light to worry about, then any illusion cast by him would have a much easier time passing for the real thing.

Jon willed and a ball of darkness materialized on his left hand, roughly equal in size to the apple. He wasn’t crazy enough to make this experiment with more advanced spells. Besides the obvious fact that he hadn’t started learning them yet, Jon wished to avoid another serious backlash in case anything went wrong.

After casting the spell, he then cast the illusion of an apple on top of it. If his theory was right, then it should result in an indistinguishable image. Instead, the ball of darkness fizzled out the moment he attempted the illusion as both spells conflicted with one another.

“Dammit,” Jon cursed. There shouldn’t be anything wrong with his reasoning other than the spells being so close together. He took another deep breath. The headache persisted at a manageable level, which should allow him a couple more attempts at least. If nothing came out of it, then there was always another day.

He created another ball of darkness. Any light spell on top of it would lead to another disruption, so he instead cast the illusion around it, like an outer shell. The image of an apple the size of a basketball appeared, covering his whole hand. From there, he proceeded to shrink the apple, little by little drawing both spells closer together. The closer they were, the more they began to interfere with one another, which made it harder to maintain them. Half an inch from touching, both spells felt on the brink of dissipating, so Jon stopped and measured the result.

The illusion had somewhat of a shimmer to it that intensified whenever he moved, and the edges had the usual double image due to both spells not properly overlapping. Despite this, the illusion looked much more realistic than usual. If he wasn’t actively looking for it, he might not even notice the imperfections. To someone unaware, it could very well pass as a simple apple at a glance.

Even the flow of mana looked the same as normal, as both spells seemed to annul each other’s disruptions.

With a smile on his face, Jon let the spells die out. After the fake apple disappeared, he turned his attention to the real one. Realistic illusions were great to have, but now it was time for the real goal.

He covered the fruit in a shadowy mist and created an illusion around it, copying the light coming from one side and emitting an exact copy on the other. The apple disappeared, and Jon found himself staring at his own hand.

His smile spread into a wide grin and his laughter echoed inside the empty room.