Midnight release! (in my timezone that is) Please do write down any thoughts or suggestions about my story, and as always, enjoy the chapter and have a nice day. :)

~ Artemis University, Capital Marth

“Mistress, it seems he has returned”, I reported to Mistress after I got back from my grocery trip for her afternoon tea and dinner.

“Really? Hmm… I want to meet him. What's good against mind mages again… hmm... was it fire mages…”

“It's the water mages.”

“Yes, the water mages. Please tell Wyn and whoever’s available to capture him and bring him here, if they are free. A little mind mage should be nothing for them to handle.”

“Yes, Mistress Fenjel. However- no, nevermind.”

“As I said before, don't hide your opinions. What were you going to say?”

Ahh... there's no way to hide anything from Mistress. “I'm sorry, it was just that when I looked at his record, it showed that he does not need go for the general magics course, which was supposed to be compulsory for all students, magicless or not. And that he also came to this school under the recommendation of a great sorcerer, though it does not say who.”

“Ohoho? He's more interesting than I thought. Let's see what happens then.”, Mistress said with a large grin. I projected her mana sight onto the wall and watched as I relayed the order to the leader of the water mages, Wyn.

---

Ahh~ we finally made it back to the capital. It was hell yesterday, I had to fix back the half of the lodge that was blown away by Salty during her emotional outbreak.

However, it was a rather interesting event for me. During the short period of her rampage, where she blew away half of the lodge with powerful shockwaves, it didn't feel like my own mana was being drained other than the mana that I was using to create an air-shield.

It was as if the mana she used came from the sealed and hidden power-well in the ring. Maybe it has some form of trigger? I don't have enough evidence yet, so I will just have to wait for more opportunities...

“Here are 20 pieces silver. Keep the change for your family.”

“T… t-thank you so much Ed. I-I don't know how I can ever repay you…”

“The best way you can repay me is to take good care of your family.”, Ed replied with an honest smile before getting off the carriage.

“Let's go already!”, Pion was already getting impatient as we waited in front of the side gate of the Artemis University, at the north-east corner of the school.

“I can feel four water mages heading towards your location, with unnatural intentions towards you. And also a somebody using mana sight to spy in this area, though I have to say it is quite well concealed.”, Salty suddenly reports to me after a long period of silence.

“So that uneasy feeling in the sky is called mana sight? Let me guess - it can let you see something from some other place while you don't even have to move a finger?”, I smiled and waved at the seemingly random point in the sky like it was a camera.

As we just entered through the gate after showing our passes, we were greeted by a group of fangirls- just kidding.

“Ack- the water mages. What do you want with us? Wasn't the earth mages enough?”, Ed and the rest went into defensive mode along with their pets, except for Hylia’s little snake, which seems to be still asleep in her bag. The group of four girls with blue accented uniforms did not budge at all with their nonchalant expressions, clearly showing their confidence in their abilities.

“Umm, no. We didn't come for you guys. Can we ask you to hand over this umm, guy? Our boss wants to meet him.”, One girl with braided blue hair and a yellow armband pointed at me.

“What if I said no?”, I replied before the rest provokes them any further.

“Umm, worst case we will use force I guess. But a negotiation would be better.”

“It's fine, I'll go with you to meet your boss. It is only but a detour.”, I said as I winked at the rest of the team. The water mages also seemed to be more relaxed after hearing what I said.

I left the rest behind as I followed the group of four girls, which should be the water mages that Salty mentioned. We went round the school compounds, and ended up in one that’s roughly in the middle, where there was a large spiral staircase going upwards what seems to be a short tower.

We reached the top, in front of a door which is big, but not quite as big as the one in the headmaster’s room. Still uselessly big nonetheless.

*Knock knock*

*Door creaks*

“Thank you Wyn, you four may leave.”, A maid holding the door open told the water mages. So the one with the yellow armband, which I assumed to be the leader, is Wyn? Mmm.

“That was rather boring. I would have expected you to at least put up a fight. That might have been fun.”, A girl sitting on a chair opposite said, her background being a large pane of window giving a good view of the school compound.

“Well, there was certainly no need for a fight. They said that you wanted to meet me. What business do you have with me, a humble student?”

“Ahh- now that you say it, what do I want to do with you... I've never expected you to just come so I haven't planned for this yet. Hmm…”

“May I suggest to show you a magic trick?”, I said in a relaxed tone.

Amused, the girl said, “A magic trick? Sure, why not?”

I went on to slowly lower the room the temperature and dimmed the lights to the most comfortable level. I listened in on their heartbeats and sent out subtle electromagnetic waves which interfere with their brainwaves towards a certain level which according to normal human anatomy would be a state of relaxation. Just weak enough such that they would not be able to feel them at all.

“Please sit back and relax the show.”, I said with a smile.

At that precise moment when they have let down their guard even just a bit, two of my invisible mana strings which I have extended towards them penetrated through their auras and into their minds, effectively creating a backdoor for me to alter their realities.

After that, it was simple. I made them lower their guard without their consciousness knowing it at all, allowing me to maintain the connection with the mana string without any problem.

What's in it for them? Well, I'm literally showing them the world! Top-of-the-line, first-rate virtual reality movie about this tower itself actually being a rocket and is now flying into space for some reason and on course for a faster-than-light self-destruction path towards the suns. Ninety-nine point nine percent real! Well, in their minds that is.

Now they look a bit like idiots in reality, eyes blinded and ears muffled, moving around and looking out the large window pane, shocked for no reason. It's scary now that I think of it, the level of mind manipulation I can do.

While they are dumbfounded and still not realizing that I have long invaded their minds, I have set their minds to lucid dream mode and eventually they'll come back to reality. I made my way back down the tower and planned out the most efficient route back to the Magical Beasts Research Laboratory. Well, the lab.

After reporting my safety to the slightly-worried team, I went to the training grounds. At this point, the girl and her maid had probably regained their sanity, and I could imagine her laughing loudly at herself for falling for my ‘magic trick’.

I had a new ‘idea’ I have been itching to test out, so I thought the training grounds would be a great place to test it.

The training grounds is a large area of land which included expansive open fields around a large stadium, which when not used for any official events, can be booked by students for things like group battles or training sessions.

I don't need such a large space for myself, so I just found a quiet spot in the open fields under a large tree and started my testing.

...

The lights are on, suns are down and the school facilities engulfed in darkness but gently blanketed over by dim moonlight. The brick pathways are lit up brightly by magic lamps along it, the wind chilly enough to make me shiver until my body adapted to it. I walked down the brightly-lit hallways in the school dormitory, expecting a nice, warm bath when I reach my room. And a cup of hot chocolate too, if only that existed here.

My testing took longer than I thought, and it was quite some time after the sky had went dark. Salty didn't seem to have said anything the whole time though, hope she didn't faint or anything.

“Who would faint?”

“Ahh, you're still alive.”

“What a stupid question, who do you think I am?”

“Yes - you are my queen, Salty.”

“I am the great dragon queen of the Marth Forests! But I guess I'm fine being your queen…”

As I was turning round the corner after walking up the stairs, I saw somebody walking out of a room. It was my room.

That must be my roommate. She is wearing a hood, making it hard for me to see her face. Carrying a small black bag over her back, she took quick peeks around the area before proceeding. Her behaviour is a dead giveaway sign of her doing something suspicious.

She headed towards the stairs at my location. Not wanting to be found, I quickly solidified the air at the entrance of the stairs so that it is soundproof.

I feel the adrenaline rush, trying to get to the bottom of the stairs before she reaches the air barrier. I rushed all the way back down with my heavy backpack, using telekinesis to fight the inertia.

As soon as I made it, I hid behind the building and released the barrier. I waited for a few minutes, and sure enough, she also came out of the building.

I followed her on her suspicious trip, as she walked back the path where I came back from. The path to the training grounds.

And as I guessed it, she made it suspiciously to the stadium. She took a quick look around again, before going around the circumference of the stadium, occasionally taking out something from the large black bag and placing it on the ground near the stadium walls, which at first glance, looks like rocks. But surely nobody would come out at this time of the night, suspiciously walk to the stadium just to plant suspicious rocks is there?

Suspicious indeed. I took one of the suspicious rock when she went over to the other side of the stadium, and put it inside my bag.

Watching her for a while, she heads back on the path towards the dormitory after going around the stadium.

Assessing that she does not have any other motives, I flew back to my room, this time using telekinesis and at a slower speed, together with a sound barrier so as to make sure that nobody can hear me.

After taking a nice warm bath, I made myself a warm cup of water. I sat at the table with my bathrobe, sipping the water with just the lamp lightly lighting up the room with a warm orange tint.

I looked at the stone, then carefully ripped apart half of it with telekinesis, revealing some sort of circuitry inside.

*Doorknob turn*

*Lamp turns off*

*Door creak*

*Light footsteps*

*Door creak*

*Doorknob turn*

*Door shuts close*

*Lamp turns on*

“Hi roommate, can you explain what *this* thing is? Oh, the door and windows are locked, and every side of this room is reinforced by my barrier. You can *try* to get out, but *nobody* can hear you scream if you do try, not that you can get out anyway. Speak.”

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