Hugo was kneeling in the corner, bound, and trying not to cry. The hedge mages had him cuffed and his power suppressed. They were probably going to kill him after they pumped him for information. He tried again to solidify a barrier, but nothing happened. He tried to fabricate a knife, and it wouldn’t work either. He needed to get out of here, and his magic wasn't going to be any help.

The guard had moved the furniture to the opposite side of the room and was watching him like a hawk. Hugo considered attacking the guard even though he was tied up. He still had his soulmarked stats, and he guessed that the guard wasn’t soulmarked himself. The only thing that held him back was the wicked looking mace the man held.

He pulled up his stats while he thought about it.

Cristian Fieraru [Barrier Domain]

Strength 16

Dexterity 27

Resilience 9

Regeneration 13

Intelligence 10

Wisdom 10

Charisma 11

Perception 11

Rank 8

158/900 Points

Health 14/14

Mana 72/86

Skills: Mana Dart 2, Mana Sight 2, Fabricate 5, Solidify 7

Frequencies: 400-700, 8-200

Elements: Mithril, Titanium

Hugo cursed internally, his attempts at creating a barrier had still used up his mana. The way the old lady had talked, the cuffs would probably prevent him from regaining his mana too. He tried to subtly squirm out of the cuffs. Even if he hurt himself doing it, he needed to get out of these mana blocking cuffs.

“Hey, stop that,” the guard said and lifted his mace menacingly.

Hugo stilled immediately. It wasn’t any use anyway. The cuffs were ratcheted too tight to his wrists. He would have to lose a hand before they would come off.

He looked back to the guard. It looked like he would have to take him on, and he had to do it soon. The others would be back soon and his slim chance at escape would drop to zero. Hugo just wished that he knew how powerful hedge mages were. A check with mana sight showed that the guard didn't have a soul core, but was suffused with a small amount of mana. So he could work magic, but it probably wouldn’t be very powerful. Still, it was more that Hugo could accomplish at the moment.

Wait a minute. He had just used his mana. The cuffs didn’t block mana sight. Why was that? He turned his gaze inward. The skill was still active and showed his own mana core, and the thin wisps that were heading up towards his eyes. He couldn’t see the cuffs at all, his hands were blank spots in his vision. What was going on?

He deactivated the skill while he was thinking. He didn’t want the guard to see his eyes subtly glowing blue and think that he was up to something.

His mana core was still working, and he was able to use his mana sight skill. Was it only his domain that was blocked? He tried to shoot a mana dart to test it. Nothing happened. What was the difference?

The more he thought about it, the more he realized that it was just his hands that were blocked. The cuffs dissipated any mana going from his core to his hands, but they didn’t touch his eyes. That was enough for most mages, they used their hands for everything. But not Hugo, he had one skill that worked through his eyes.

Could he create a barrier with his eyes? No, the system did most of the work and it automatically used his hands. His only other non-domain skill was mana dart. He would have to relearn the skill, using the pathway exiting his eyes instead of his hands. He immediately got to work.

He didn’t have much time, so he quickly grabbed a chunk of mana and sent it rushing through the pathway towards his eyes. It didn’t work. Doggedly, Hugo tried again. He knew he could make it work, given enough time. He just needed to get the mana moving faster.

Footsteps announced that his time was up.

The old lady returned with the second guard and a beautiful young woman. The new woman was wearing a long robe and her eyes were solid black. She was obviously a high ranked shadow mage. Hugo didn’t know that a high ranked shadow mage like her was real. He thought that only happened in two copper novels. Even the leader of the fox gang didn’t have solid black eyes.

“Alright, tell me what you need to know and take off the cuffs,” the shadow mage said and sat down on the chair in front of Hugo.

“Are you sure that is wise, my lady? He is soulmarked and likely dangerous,” the old lady said.

“My power won’t work on him while he is cuffed, idiot. Just hold his arms down or something. My domain takes a few seconds to take effect, you will just have to hold on for that long,” the shadow mage said.

The two guards grabbed Hugo’s arms and held him up at eye level to the shadow mage. Hugo knew from experience that the shadow magic would feel like she was just making suggestions, but the longer he listened to her, the more he would do what she wanted.

The old lady stepped behind him to release the cuffs. It was now or never, Hugo had to act. Desperately, Hugo cycled the mana in his core and sent it shooting forward.

The worst mana dart Hugo had ever created appeared in front of Hugo’s eyes and shot forward. Despite its low quality, the mana dart was aimed right at the shadow mage’s own eyes and blinded her. She stumbled back as Hugo threw his head back, knocking the old lady away.

He tried to wrestle out of the grip of the two guards, but he was still cuffed. He had attacked too soon and the old woman hadn’t uncuffed him yet. Hugo’s struggles weren’t working. He might have been able to overpower one, but the two of them were too much for him. Being a hedge mage must grant them more power than the average human.

“Stop!” the shadow mage shouted, waves of mana shaking the air at her proclamation.

Hugo shrugged off the suggestion, the cuffs helping him resist the command. He continued to struggle against the two guards. He wouldn’t give up even though it seemed hopeless. The old lady behind him and the shadow mage swore at him as they dealt with their injuries.

Slowly, their grip grew lax and he slipped out of their hands. A glance showed that the guards and old lady were motionless, staring blankly. They had been affected by the shadow magic, the mage hadn’t been specific with her stop command, so the three of them just stopped everything.

Hugo looked forward to see the shadow mage walking forward, her hands in front of her. Her eyes were still screwed shut though, so Hugo ducked under her arms and slipped out of the room.

His arms were still cuffed behind himself, but Hugo’s legs still worked. He raced through the abandoned warehouse. He didn’t know where he was going, but he ran as fast as he could away from them. In moments he was already at the outside door. It was closed, but Hugo didn’t slow down. He ran at the door and kicked out at the handle.

He collided with the door, falling on his shoulder and rolling. His kick had done its job though and he found himself outside the warehouse. It took him a moment to roll to his feet and he started running again.

He had gotten turned around in his escape and ended up in an unfamiliar part of town. He ran uphill, towards the nicer part of town and the academy. He kept an eye out for the shimmer corps. He bet that their guns would take out a hedge mage just as well as a real one.

Luck wasn’t on his side and he didn’t encounter anyone but a few curious laborers as he ran through the night. The moons weren’t out tonight but he was quickly able to find street lights shining in the distance and headed that way.

Eventually he figured out where he was, he had ended up several blocks west of the academy. He turned and jogged towards salvation. The academy lights grew closer and closer.

Hugo stopped as soon as he rounded the final corner. There were a trio of people standing about, watching the entrance to the school. It had to be hedge mages, waiting there for him since they knew where he would run to.

Hugo smiled. This was actually a good thing. It meant that they couldn’t get inside and wait for him there. He would be safe as soon as he got inside. He had a different way in. He turned around and snuck up to the south side of the academy walls. He couldn’t use his barriers to walk over the walls, but luckily he had recently learned a different way in.

Mana sight showed him the correct section of the wall and where to press. He had to channel mana through his nose to light up the runes, but eventually, he made his way inside the academy walls.

...

“This is bad. We need to get help. I think we will have to tell the dean so he can improve the wards,” Mia said.

After she had gotten the cuffs off of him, Hugo had told her all about his capture and escape. He trusted her since she had time traveled, but didn’t know who else to trust.

“The last time I asked for help, I ended up getting thrown in chains. How do we know the Dean is trustworthy?” Hugo threw up his hands in frustration.

“By not being an idiot?” Mia replied, “I have been carefully arranging a meeting with sentinel command, a well respected institution. You just strolled into a meeting with an organization so shady that you had to be blindfolded just to meet with them. Did you ever consider that maybe the shimmer corps were right to hate hedge mages?”

“Well, now I know that. But at the time I thought they were trustworthy. They knew about the shimmer veins exploding and were trying to get the city to cut them off. They started a whole riot about it and everything. Same night as the earthquake. Although, now that I think about it, it is possible that there are different groups of hedge mages.”

“Now we know better. We need to go to the dean and tell him everything. Dean Artjom is a good guy, trust me. I talked to him a lot during my resets, I even told him about them a few times and he was cool with it,” Mia said.

“Fine, fine,” Hugo said, irritated. He knew she was probably right, he just didn’t like her pointing out all of his mistakes.

Hugo was willing to go talk to him right then, but Mia convinced him to wait until morning. He spent a sleepless night in his dorm room, jumping at every small sound. Finally, he found himself sitting in front of the Dean, with Mia at his side.

“Hello Dean Artjom, thank you for seeing us today,” Mia said with an easy charm.

“Of course, of course. Mia, you are always welcome here, you know that. Congratulations again on your azad win. And Hugo, I was happy to hear that you took my advice. I hope you are following the rank up guide,” the dean said with a smile.

“Yes, sir,” Hugo said with a nod.

“I have to admit, I am rather curious about the nature of the meeting. I hope it isn’t a pregnancy announcement,” Dean Artjom said.

They both looked at each other and said simultaneously, “No! No, No.”

Mia turned back to the dean and said, “We aren’t together at all, far from it. I am afraid this conversation has more to do with death than it does life.” She sighed and said, “I wanted to talk to you about hedge mages and Project Artifice.”

“Ah, a much more boring subject,” the dean said casually. He reached his hand over to a rune embedded in his desk. It lit up as he touched it, and several things happened at once. Metal shutters dropped over each of the windows, a bar dropped across the door, and red light washed over the whole room. A metal band whipped around the chairs they were sitting in, securing the two students to their chairs.

The dean held out his hands and a series of blue knives appeared, each of them pointing directly at Hugo and Mia. He leaned forward and said seriously, “Now. Be very careful with your next words, I would hate to have to kill you. How did you find out about that project?”