* GONG, GONG *

The bell tolled twice like most mornings, the heart attack and panic was no smaller than yesterday, nor was the swearing.

The morning routine was almost the same as normal, get up, get dressed, get ready and go to eat some breakfast. The main two difference was that there was a stack of clothing in the hallway right outside Gilliam’s door, a stack of servants' clothing for Petal. They looked nice on her even though they didn’t look as nice as the student or teachers attire, it was still plenty and saved her from walking around half naked or in ragged clothing. The other difference was that Gilliam made another one of the fist-sized mana crystals before they set off. Savia was the same as normal, she woke up on his face but was put in his hair for now. Even though it had not been long it seemed that her healing was coming along nicely, she was eating and sleeping more than normal so her body was definitely doing something. Gilliam was just looking forward to the time where she could fly again, he felt that she had similar feelings.

Both the walk to the mess hall and breakfast passed by as normal, weird looks and talking as they came along, some people trying to get chummy with him but mostly people reacting weirdly to him with his demon in tow. He still couldn’t blame them for their thoughts, he did really mess with the social order of things when attacking Garend, at the same time as he had one of ‘the enemy’ enslaved to him, it really was a unique situation.

The main difference from the norm was that Rotia came over again, she seemed like she wanted to sit down but clearly changed direction as soon as she got close, it seemed like she had some conflicting ideas. Gilliam decided to not consider it, if she wanted something she could speak up.

He also had to wake Savia up. The poor thing was drained of all energy, but she still ate like she was paid for it so there was nothing wrong with her appetite. Gilliam wanted to just channel healing energy into her all the time but even the healers said that without the specific knowledge about feather growth, that won’t work.

Once they had eaten, part of yesterday’s plans with Angela was that Petal should meet her at the dome with another one of the Mana Crystals, that was the one he made earlier today which was given to her once they were ready. Gilliam should go find Jial and see if he could either sign up to his speed-casting classes or if he could get some special tutorship.

They left together out into the Air field and walked together through the 4th Wing into the Earth field. On their little walk they saw that there were considerably more people here than yesterday, more tents and just more activity than before. Based on the information about the Circle recruitment these were most likely people wanting to be recruited. He was a bit unsure why they didn’t swarm him as he came walking, he assumed that they would know who he is, if nothing else based on his companion who was pretty unique all things considered. Not that he minded, he was fine not getting swarmed but it just felt off with all the eyes on him without anything happening.

In the end nothing came out of it so he decided to ignore it for now, he and Petal parted in the Earth field, she headed to the Dome in the Light field and Gilliam headed into the main building to speak to the reception.

The activity level in the main building, in fact most places, were much higher than normal. Most of the increased activity was due to the extra amount of servants running around. Some carried notepads, some carried weapons and others had food. It seemed they were doing various tasks based on the extra people outside. Which made sense, Gilliam assumed that they charged for food and services so this was probably a decent income for the Academy.

Dodging the people running back and forth, and making sure he was not in the way more than needed, he found himself at the reception soon enough. Behind the desk is the same middle aged man as last time.

“Good morning-” Gilliam started to get his attention, as the receptionist didn’t seem to have noticed him walking up to the desk. “-I wonder if it’s possible to know where Jial is at the moment.”

“Certainly:” The man commented as he started looking up some notes in his big book. “Can I ask what it is about?” The question came as he was flipping a few pages back and forth.

Gilliam just assumed this was to make sure that time isn’t completely wasting anyone's time.

“Sure, I have some questions about his speed-casting class.”

The man didn’t react to the explanation but he didn’t seem to deny the reasoning either, so it was probably accepted.

“Here we go, he is teaching that very class now in 4-1-1.” The man smiled and seemed just all around nice.

“Thank you.” Gilliam smiled back as he headed for Wing 4.

Navigating through the people heading in seemingly random directions he entered the door to Wing 4, after that the room was literally the first door to his left!

Considering if he should knock or just barge in like a ruffian, it was clear what the correct response would be. He knocked on the door a few times and entered only after he heard a raised voice respond.

Hearing a questioning ‘yes’ he opened the door and stepped in. This was the same classroom he had his very first class in, with the same teacher even. It felt strangely interesting to just consider the fact that it was not even that long ago, he hadn’t been in this world for a month yet and all of this had happened.

As he entered he saw Jial sitting behind the desk, and not even a single student was present. Jial didn’t look bored and was more working on his own thing with some notebooks and papers spread across his desk.

“Slow day?” Gilliam joked at the stern looking man.

“I was supposed to have a student today. But I don’t think he will be coming.” There was a strange accusing tone to the statement forcing Gilliam’s curiosity.

“Oh, how come?” There shouldn’t be any remnant problems from the gate incident, that was a while ago.

“He lost an arm a few days ago.” Jial replied dryly, not even putting his books aside for the conversation. “He claimed that he was ready to resume studies but that didn’t seem to have happened.”

Gilliam didn’t even feel the slightest of guilt at the statement, if anything he was more miffed at being reminded that the little shitstain still existed. “I suppose that means you have a slot open?” Without a hint of subtlety Gilliam attempted to just take the slot.

Jial seemed to consider a few things for a good solid few seconds. “I suppose you’re right. I do have an available slot and extra time.”

The statement was as Jial normally spoke, to the point and oddly commanding.

Gilliam was smiling widely as he pulled up a chair behind the desk closest to Jial.

“So, how does this work?” Almost as if he was expecting a simple yes or no answer to a question he blurted out a simple question for what he expected to be a complicated subject.

Jial looked at him with no change of emotion or any reaction at all. “Name and image association.”

It didn’t seem like he was going to have Gilliam register, pay or anything, he simply started explaining.

“Much like how if I say the name of someone you know. You will know exactly who it is as well as imagine their face to a staggering level of detail. You need to name your spells and make the circle again and again until the name instils the image of the magic circle and effect.”

Gilliam was a bit shocked. This was not too different from one of his tested ideas but... It seems the main problem was that he wanted a result immediately, instead of being willing to repeat it over and over until he just associated it properly.

“If the answer is that simple... Why is this a class at all? Can’t this just be told in passing normally?”

He didn’t mean this insulting, he just felt it was a bit weird that you needed anything more than this explanation and time.

“It already is. This is not a mandatory class but more a deeper aid if the student feels they need it. It usually only lasts for one class per student. The student usually fails at this for a short while so I give individual pointers and information.”

Jial’s dry and weird way of pausing felt like he was berating Gilliam for doing bad things and was listing it all up.

“The main problem is that you haven’t had enough classes to be told this. And your ability to make up spells on the fly makes this counterintuitive as it will not affect new spells. Only spells you want to be able to repeatedly cast.” Jial’s tone was almost like he was talking down to him for not even realising this.

That last part made a lot of sense... Gilliam was trying to find a way to instantly ‘store’ a new spell for immediate casting, however since he can make up a spell at any time he’s more focused on that side than on actually mastering single spells. Normally mages would not have access to the whole alphabet and use considerable time to research or obtain new runes. In that format it made much more sense to master casting a fewer number of spells until you learn how to expand. Gilliam’s mindset was damaged from having too many options, so he didn’t even consider specific mastery of a few spells since he could just ‘make up whatever on the fly’.

“That...-” He wanted to defend his position and comment but... No matter how hard he thought it made too much sense. “-Actually makes a lot of sense... So I just name a spell and make the spell circle over and over again, and it’ll eventually go faster?”

Jial shrugged. “That is about it. Though for many it helps to draw it over and over. Whatever works best for you. The goal is to project the whole circle with the runes in an instance. Not draw the circle and fill in the runes as one starts learning.”

During his explanation he returned to his notes and books, almost like he felt done with the class already.

But, this made a lot of sense. Since most mages learn to project the circle with the needed shape and circles in a go, there shouldn't be a problem to just add the runes to that same construction. He just had to get used to the spells enough that the image is clear enough, and like most other things repetition and drawing it over and over will make this automatic eventually. It was actually frustrating how simple this was, but like Jial stated it just didn’t occur to him due to a weird habit having already formed.

However, the good thing was that now that he knew the secret, he just needed to decide on a few spells and start drawing them over and over and over again.

This also meant that the class was over not more than 10 minutes after it started. “Well. I suppose we’re done here, then. You’re a good teacher.” Gilliam complimented as he got up from his chair.

“I know.” Jial dryly replied as he properly went back to focusing on whatever he was doing. Though Gilliam could see a slight smirk on his lips, compliments get you far in a lot of cases.

Leaving the room, Gilliam felt that this was almost too fast, it was a pit-stop experience but he left with exactly what he needed. He would have to thank Jial later, though it could be argued that it is his job, he really has taught and explained a lot of things that have helped tremendously over time. But that would have to be another time, now he had to go over and see how the girls were doing.

Gilliam had left the classroom, walked in through the central hall and was aiming for the door leading into the Light Field. On the way through the hall he randomly considered that there had been so much happening lately, that he really hadn’t gotten to know anyone properly in the world yet. He did consider both Angela and Petal his friends and companions, but it still felt a bit odd that he didn’t know much about them. Petal had an excuse given how she grew up but, once things calmed down he made a mental note to try to get to know them more.

Exiting through the door into the Light Field to find that there was a decent crowd around the Dome, which made a lot of sense but it was still interesting to see the amount of people that would get drawn to this kind of thing.

Walking over he had to force himself through the students and people that were watching, the students didn’t seem to say or try to keep their spot and let him go through once they saw who it was. The outsiders were a bit harder to handle, though oddly subtle he did get a slight insight in how the students viewed him compared to outsiders considering him just another dude.

Getting to the dome he could see what was going on, as expected Angela and Petal were fighting and they were nothing short of amazing. Both of them were acrobatic, movements were surprisingly fluid, punches, kicks, throws and all other kinds of attacks and defences. Angela landed many more attacks and were much more consistent with dodging and parrying than Petal, though this made a lot of sense given their training time so far.

However, Petal had seemingly improved a lot in this short time, already feeling like she would be a hassle to fight, which in this cast was a very good thing.

Standing there and looking at them for a short while he was halfway waiting for the moment they took a break before butting in, but it took a few more moments than he’d like to admit for him to realise that they wouldn’t get tired due to the dome...

Deciding to not wait until nightfall, he stepped into the dome.

“Think that should work, I mean he*” Angela was saying something between sparring and suddenly stopped as he seemed to have interrupted.

“Did... I interrupt something?” Gilliam asked somewhat confused. He knew he interrupted their training but at the same time the way the sentence stopped made it seem a bit... Weird.

“No, don’t worry about it. How did it go with Jial?” Angela changed the subject with zero subtlety at all. But that was fine, if they didn’t want to share that was their business. It was at least good seeing them be friends.

“The answer was easier than expected, I just need to train on it a bit, test and get used to it.” Gilliam sounded happy about this, he was on the road to improvement, so now he just needed to do some testing. Luckily this could be done at any time as he only needed to manifest the spell circle, there was no need to activate it.

He had a mental list over spells he wanted to git gud with as soon as possible.

“Well, in that case, why don’t we train together a bit? Get used to things?” Angela suggested, which was not a bad idea. He needed training and they might need some variation from each other.

“That sounds like a good idea, but there is three of us, how should we do th-” his sentence was brought to an abrupt end as Angela’s foot landed in his chest, the force was more than enough to not only take out several ribs, but also slam the air out of him as he hit the dome’s shield. He felt certain this broke something in his back as well.

He needed a few healing seconds to be able to speak, let alone breathe properly. He briefly saw a moment where Petal tried to attack as well but was weirdly stopped, which made sense as it was most likely due to her slave brand.

“Very well.” Gilliam replied sounding somewhat annoyed, he was getting his revenge. “Petal, for this specific training, as long as we’re inside the dome and it’s active, until you’re told to stop or we leave you're allowed to attack me.”

He had to give her somewhat specific instructions, it was not that he didn’t really trust her but he felt it might be more for being on the safe side as well as any people listening.

As he gave the order he had walked over to the control unit and placed Savia on it, if they were going to be fighting it wouldn’t be fun for her in her weakened state to be flung around. He also took the broken sword out of storage and manifested the slender blade on the way back to them.

“That’s cheating!” Angela complained.

“Oh, this isn’t cheating, I intend to use magic as well, so come at me properly!” He smiled a bit. He knew they were skilled, Angela more so than Petal, but there was an odd feeling not fighting against a master.

Not waiting for a confirmation, Gilliam opened with an attack against Angela, just in case Petal would have some problems with the order or otherwise. Sending out an Aether dart he aimed at Angela’s core. The magic circle used a short moment to be created and as it collapsed into the dart it appears that Angela was ready. Even though there was a targeted factor involved in the circle she still managed to dodge it. It seemed that the dart tried to curve to perhaps still hit its target but there was not enough space and it slammed into the ground, digging a deep hole and dissipating shortly after.

Angela took this moment to run towards Gilliam, she launched a feint with her right arm that successfully camouflaged a left kick, trying to parry the incoming punch Gilliam fell victim to the kick. It landed in his side and though it didn’t move him as much as her last kick it absolutely broke something. Pushing through the pain he made a halfhearted swing at her with the sword, this was more to gain some distance but also all he could do until the healing took care of his wound.

If single target spells don't work, he had another one that might, repeating a weaker form of the carpet bombing spell he used in the demon world, he removed a few of the power runes as that power was not needed at the moment. Aether, Orb, Small, Speed and Multiply was enough for now. Angela seemed to assume she could dodge this one as well, potentially because it looked similar to the dart with the same five rune setup, but as the circle collapsed into its spell the cone of marble-ball sized orbs peppered the field, absolutely tearing both Angela and Petal apart. On purpose Gilliam aimed so Petal wouldn’t get the brunt of it, this was more an incentive to actually fight.

Both of them did their best to dodge but seemed to not expect this, had it not been for the healing dome they would be full of enough holes to die in seconds.

After healing up it seemed that Petal had found her motivation, they both made for him at the same time, Gilliam went on the offensive and aimed a hard horizontal slash at the both of them. They had to dodge, but where Gilliam hoped they both would jump and become vulnerable in the air; only Angela did so. Petal crouched down and slid along the ground. Trying his best to gain a little distance only further had him fail everything in its entirety. He managed to deflect the incoming kick from Angela by slicing at her as it was more telegraphed, but the low-angled stomp-kick from Petal landed in his gut. Though he split Angela’s leg in two it didn’t affect Petal’s attack in the slightest, it felt like what he assumed being kicked by a horse would be.

Both Angela and Gilliam needed a few seconds to get healed up before they continued, Petal was still fine. Taking advantage of the moment she kept up her attack during Gilliam’s healing.

She started a flurry of punches, claw attacks and kicks, Gilliam managed to dodge and parry a few of them after his healing was done but before the healing properly kicked in she landed a few, only extending his healing time needed.

By the time Angela was again good to go, Gilliam had landed a solid cut in Petal’s thigh, forcing her to step back for a moment. Though some distance was created there was no moment of pause before Angela came running in. She was stopped for a second by the manifestation of a shield in her path of running; having her run into a wall, quite literally. Stabbing through the wall as it was dismissed was enough cover and brought Angela to her knees.

This back and forth lasted for quite a while, Gilliam would win most of the trades when magic was involved, in a few cases they were fast enough to destabilise the magic circle, but most of the time he was either fast enough or used Unstructured to work around this. In the cases where he tried to just fight with the sword or hand-to-hand; the girls would come out on top in almost all cases. When activating the Wide blade the cuts slowed down but the extended range caught them off guard, though since that level of cutting power was not needed he ended up using the slender blade’s increased speed and dexterity much more.

He also quickly found out that Angela was holding back when sparring with Petal, as she was quite devastating and hard to properly land attacks on, not as bad as Kintas but she was out there.

In the end there was a weird alarm coming from the device that had the Dome created, it also flickered the dome in various colours, clearly a warning that was literally impossible to ignore.

Angela stopped the active fight at the time. “It seems the dome will collapse in a few minutes. The alarm will tell you that you should stop what you’re doing.” She smiled as she seemed to calm herself down a bit.

This logic made sense, if it just shut off it could happen mid-attack and people would die. Rather having a buffer of several minutes means that if you’re in the middle of something and somehow don’t notice, you’ll still be fine as the Dome will still last.

This was really a marvel of magical logic.

“I could just put in another crystal if you want. I got like eight more of those large ones.”

Gilliam didn’t like losing the fights but he really enjoyed the experience and training, it helped him not only cast better, think faster and improve as a mage, but it gives him valuable experience as a swordsman and in close combat. And this was on top of getting a bit used to what they were capable of.

“Since it’s slowly getting dark, I think we should call it for today.”

Angela had a good point, before she mentioned that he hadn’t even taken a look around.

Through the haze that was the dome he could see that the sun was setting and there was a large group of both students and other people gathering around. He could see discussing and exchanging pouches back and forth, it seems like they were betted on again.

“I suppose that’s a good idea. Let’s get some food and discuss what to do tomorrow.” Gilliam smiled as he deactivated the sword and stored it back in the Ring.

“Actually. My Lord, could you go ahead... I need to speak to Angela about something...” Petal requested.

Gilliam felt that this was a bit odd and wondered what this was about, however at the same time he was extremely happy that she was coming with requests for her own sake, seeming to develop fine in that aspect. It didn’t look forced and more reserved, so he just saw this as a talk between friends.

“Sure, I’ll go to the Mess hall in Wing 3.” He had an oddly satisfied smile, not knowing what this actually was about he felt it wasn’t that important.

Leaving the dome caused other problems, there was a torrent of students and.. non-students that flooded him asking about a lot of things at the same time. He heard something about his Circle, about wanting to learn, wanting to... there were so many requests in there that he couldn’t even follow along. It made the walk to pick up Savia somewhat problematic, let alone leaving the area entirely.

As he was about to shout for the group to stop, a young student spoke up with enough volume to overpower the volume of the crowd. “Circle recruitment is not until tomorrow!”

This calmed them all down considerably, Gilliam knew that it was indeed tomorrow but... was there any rules on this?

Deciding to complain about the help, he made his way through the crowd and towards the Mess hall. Passing by the student that yelled he saw that it was Rotia, giving her a thumbs up and a thanks he left them all behind, if he stopped and talked to her it would most likely just have others break in anyway.

Being curious about what the girls were speaking about in the dome before it collapsed, he gave them their privacy and left the Light Field.