Interrogation turned out to be the correct word, as he wasn’t allowed to leave until he explained exactly what happened. Considering he didn’t really know what he had done either, it mostly involved him trying to recreate the effect on the councilor. It didn’t come as easy as other chants and it took a few hours to recreate the effect. When he finally managed it, he realized the chant had really failed. He had merely been pushing his Ein into the other, all the chant did was direct it.

After doing some more testing, it turned out that one of the reasons his Ein felt so unlimited had to do with the quality of it. It was something that was rarely considered, as most people had similar levels of purity. Further use only made it more Impure, and in most situations that wouldn’t matter. Naturally, he would be different because nothing about his abilities could be normal. As it turned out, his Ein was truly pure, and it seemed like his use hadn’t changed that. That sounded like both a blessing and a curse. While it meant that he could do things like transferring power, it also stopped him from forming an attunement.

He didn’t really care as forming an attunement just seemed to make use of Ein easier, but he still hadn’t run into any problems yet. His Ein still felt unlimited, and he didn’t think that forming an attunement would be all that useful. The more he used the variety of chants, and saw what it could do, attunements just felt like unnecessary shackles. However, he trusted those with more experience and had worked towards one. That is why he was particularly unhappy when he was told that it would be better to avoid getting an attunement. It felt like he had just wasted the past two weeks.

Currently, they were running some tests to see the long-term benefits of transferring so much Ein into someone. As it turned out the Ein, he gave someone only lasted temporarily, but it did let him give someone a lot more Ein than they currently possessed. The effect only lasted around an hour though, and there was still a limit to how much he could boost someone’s capabilities. He could double a person’s reserves. Even a temporary boost like that was immense because it seemed like he could do it for anyone. He had enough Ein that even people like councilor Pali should be able to get the benefit.

The testing had lasted late into the night, and he never got to do any of the other things he had wanted to do. Finally, he wanted to go to bed and excused himself. He probably should have waited to be dismissed, but he was tired. It wasn’t like he was low on Ein, but the day had weighed on his mind. Seeing someone almost die had thoroughly exhausted him, although the person in question seemed fine. He snuck out of the room and started walking down the hallway.

“Wait!”

Hearing the voice, Wilt stopped and turned around. He recognized Stella’s voice and waved towards her as she approached. The gesture was probably unnecessary, and he felt a little foolish doing it. She didn’t seem to mind and stopped just in front of him. Wilt noticed that there was some worry on her face, and he wondered what she was concerned about.

“I wanted to ask if you wanted to work together again tomorrow. You know since today kind of went crazy. I can help you finish that present for your sister. “

Wilt nodded his head, glad for the opportunity to work on something he wanted to do tomorrow. Plus, he was glad to see that Stella was able to run around now. Was she worried about whether he would work with her or not? He never really considered abandoning her for something like this, though he was a little frustrated. He knew that he felt that way because he was worried, and decided to try and comfort her.

“Yeah, that sounds good. I’ll see you tomorrow.”

As he spoke, he couldn’t help but feel a bit excited. Even after spending so much time with her, he couldn’t help but be aware of their closeness. She was too pretty to ignore, and he found himself wanting to say more.

“Do you want to get food sometime?”

He wasn’t sure where the courage had come from, and it took serious effort to stop himself from looking away. He wanted to squirm a bit but settled for wiggling his toes. It was a trick that his father had taught him, and he had used it a lot when he first started working at the library. It had been a while since he last needed to do it, and he was surprised when he saw Stella nod her head. She blushed a little, but she was better at maintaining her composure.

“Sure…”

She trailed off as she replied, and Wilt felt himself get excited. She had accepted, and his mind raced with what he needed to say. His next words came out a bit too quickly, but he didn’t really care.

“We can go as soon as the week is over. The thirty days will be up by then. I will see you then. No, I mean I will see you tomorrow, but I also on that day.”

Wilt was blabbering and stopped when she raised her hand. She was looking at him with some amusement now, and he caught her trying to hide a smirk.

“You don’t need to worry so much. We have been working together for a while now, and I’ll see you later too.”

Despite her words, he noticed that she was still blushing a little. That little bit of color on her face was probably matched on his own, and seeing it was enough to make him nervous. He didn’t know what else to say but managed to say his farewells.

“Goodnight.”

With that, they separated and slowly walked away. She was heading back to her aunt’s office, and he headed back to his room. He passed a few people on his way, but he ignored them. He considered going to see the terrasix as they usually helped him calm down, but he decided against it. They would be asleep, and his presence would wake them up. Instead, he would go and feed them in the morning, for now, he just needed to get some sleep. Sleep didn’t come easily, but he was very relieved when it came.

Waking up, he was surprised to hear several people talking. The hallway outside of his room was filled with noise, and he realized that a few people were shouting. Begrudgingly Wilt pushed himself out of bed. He would need to get himself ready for classes, but first, he wanted to check what all the commotion was about.

He slightly opened his door and saw several kids holding papers and talking animatedly. He heard a few things. A couple of words provided him with a serious shock. Something about dead chanters and Larkin. Well, that was enough to get a more active response out of Wilt, and he stopped a student that was walking past his room.

“Hey, can I get that paper?”

The student turned to him, and Wilt noticed how tired the man looked. He had black hair that looked like it had been cut roughly. Some sections seemed oddly longer than the others, and it hung over one of his eyes. The student turned toward him, and Wilt realized that he was in the same class as him. He was kind of a friend, and Wilt knew he was called Roland. His hair was different from before though. Something must have happened, but Wilt wisely chose not to comment on it.

“Oh, hey Wilt, here you go. I’m gonna go get some breakfast, you want to join?”

Wilt considered the offer as he grabbed the offered paper. He was hungry, but he also wanted to take a bath.

“Thanks, but I’m going to take a bath first. I will see you at class though.”

Roland nodded and continued to walk towards the kitchens. The two of them were often paired up for the physical portions of classes as they both had similar heights and builds. Roland was stronger than he was, but not by much. Closing the door to his room, Wilt started reading the announcements.

He froze realizing what it was. The announcements, and important stuff at that. There were two lists, one with the names of ten cities posted on it. The other was much longer containing the names of over a hundred chanters. The lists described places that Larkin had conquered and those that died trying to resist them. Honestly, he had grown used to his new schedule and had been taking them lightly. They were interesting and he tried his best, but he didn’t really feel concerned. This information was a reminder, and he felt like he shouldn’t be wasting so much time.

He continued to read the document, learning of what exactly had happened. Larkin’s invasion had begun in full force, and none of the border cities had managed to hold against their force. Wilt had heard that Larkin had developed new strategies, but how could so many chanters die. It felt impossible. Wasn’t Larkin supposed to be of normal people, how in the world did they manage such a thing?

Despite the amazement of the events, Wilt didn’t feel much else from it. It didn’t make him particularly angry, or even all that concerned. Even though they succeeded in winning a few battles, he didn’t think they could beat the councilors. Wilt had seen some of Janette’s wards and other projects and didn’t think that anyone could beat her. Even with all of Pali’s strength, the man wouldn’t be able to beat Janette. After reading the other announcements, he finished up his morning routine. He grabbed a quick meal and started walking towards class. Again, he decided to skip visiting the terrasix, and wanted to see how the other students were taking it, especially those in his class.

Everything they had done for the past two weeks had been in preparation for the war. Then it started ahead of what the councilors had predicted. Plus, they had lost every battle and so many chanters had died. Even with the large size of the kingdom, there were only several thousand chanters, and most of those aren’t capable of fighting. Losing over a hundred chanters would be a major blow to the kingdom. Although, he was sure that Larkin would have suffered more than they did.

As he entered the room, he was surprised to see both of their teachers in the room. After that first day, there hadn’t been any lessons with both Pali and Janette. He wondered what was going on and was even more surprised to see that the other students were already there. For a second, he thought that he had been late, but he didn’t think that was the case. The lesson obviously hadn’t started yet, and the councilors were talking to one another rather than to the students.

Wilt took his usual seat, sliding past Stella to get there. Once he sat down, the councilors turned to face them. It seemed like he was holding up the class and he felt a little bad for it. However, the councilors didn’t seem to mind and none of the students would speak against them. There was a lot of tension in the room too, and it was clear that everyone was waiting for the councilors to speak. He could feel his own heart rate increase with the anticipation.